"cloth!"
Shocked by the terrifying Cosmo of Hades, King of the Underworld, all five of them—Saga, Camus, Shura, Aphrodite, and Deathmask—except for Shion, unleashed their Cosmo and summoned their respective gold cloths.
In an instant, the Gemini, Aquarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Cancer cloths, stored in the Twelve Palaces, transformed into streaks of light, flew out automatically, and then adorned the five Saints.
"Galaxian Explosion!"
"Aurora Execution!"
"Excalibur!"
"Bloody Rose!"
"Sekishiki Meikai Ha!"
"Starlight Extinction!"
Including Mu, the six Gold Saints simultaneously launched their strongest attacks against Hades.
"Hmph, is that all you've got?"
The preliminarily awakened Hades glared, and a powerful surge of death energy instantly erupted, directly deflecting all the attacks back.
Camus, Shura, Aphrodite, and Deathmask were struck by their own techniques and sent flying. Mu dodged the attack with instant transmission. Saga, possessing the greatest strength, managed to withstand it head-on.
"To unleash such an attack in the initial stage of awakening, it seems Hades's true power exceeds my estimation."
Adam, who was observing from the side, did not rush into action. Instead, he retreated to the vicinity of Seiya and the others who had just been knocked back, and continued to observe.
The awakening of Hades's human vessel has six stages. As time progresses, the later the awakening stage, the stronger the power will be.
Upon reaching the final stage of awakening, the human vessel's appearance will be similar to the true body, capable of wielding half of its true power.
However, Adam had not anticipated that even in this first stage of awakening, Hades could effortlessly break through the combined attacks of six Gold Saints.
Nevertheless, it was understandable. After all, compared to the strength of the Gold Saints in the previous Holy War, this generation was indeed somewhat weaker.
Especially the "Seafood Duo"; the Pisces and Cancer Gold Saints of the previous Holy War were among the strongest.
Crucially, Athena had not yet erected the Sanctuary's Barrier to suppress Hades's Cosmo.
"Old comrade, it seems we can fight together again!"
Dohko tossed aside his staff and let out a mighty roar, his powerful Cosmo erupting from within. His body immediately began to reverse its aging process, transforming from a frail old man back to his prime at eighteen years old.
Simultaneously, the Libra gold cloth flew to him and adorned his body.
"Master!"
At this moment, Mu, who had dodged the attack with instant transmission, let out a loud cry and voluntarily allowed his cloth to disassemble and fly towards Shion.
He knew that for the Aries gold cloth to unleash its greater power against Hades, it needed to be worn by his teacher, Shion.
Meanwhile, Athena, in her temple, also sensed Hades's power below. She immediately took Galleon, who had originally come to atone for his sins, and rushed down towards the Gold Twelve Palaces.
She intended to gather the Gold Saints guarding each palace and descend together to provide support.
In truth, the Gold Saints guarding each palace had already noticed the anomaly in Aries Palace, as the Fire Clock had been lit.
However, without orders from the Pope or Athena, they could not leave their guarded palaces, to prevent being lured away and thus endangering Athena's safety.
"Hmph, you annoying ants, all of you, die!"
Hades, inhabiting Shun's body, sensed Athena's Cosmo approaching and no longer delayed, immediately expanding his power.
"Death Dimension!"
With a gentle flick of his hand, an energy filled with the aura of death spread outwards from Hades, causing all plants it touched to wither and turn to ash.
The Underworld King's Death Dimension could instantly kill any living being it touched.
"Stardust Revolution!"
Shion unleashed his strongest ultimate technique against Hades, maximizing his Cosmo.
This technique uses super strong psychokinesis to summon fragments of cosmic stars, then accelerates them to light speed, creating an attack like a falling galaxy of countless meteorites, forming a high-speed rotating cosmic stellar cluster that destroys everything.
Dohko also attacked alongside him.
"Lushan One Hundred Dragons!"
Countless azure giant dragons, condensed from Cosmo, roared as they attacked Hades.
Any single one of these Blue Dragons, taken alone, could defeat a Gold Saint like Aphrodite.
The two techniques combined, their power escalated, actually obliterating Hades's Death Dimension.
Waving his hand to dispel the lingering shockwaves of the attack, Hades's face began to show signs of anger.
"Mere mortals, dare to slay a god!"
And with his anger, the Cosmo within him grew even more terrifying. His hair gradually began to change from red to black, seemingly about to enter the second stage of awakening prematurely.
"Genrou Maou Ken!"
Just then, Saga, having appeared behind Hades unnoticed, launched his mental control ultimate technique.
Hades, caught off guard, was fully struck by Saga's sneak attack.
"How is this possible!"
Alas, the Genrou Maou Ken, capable of controlling Gold Saints of the same caliber, only made Hades's eyes vacant for less than three seconds before he returned to normal.
Although Hades was not using his true body, but Shun's flesh, his soul was his own, naturally terrifyingly powerful.
To be hard-controlled for three seconds was already incredibly impressive.
"Audacious! To dare try and enslave the mind of a god, I grant you death!"
Hades, having recovered, was furious. He turned to look at Saga, his eyes glowing red, and a terrifying death energy, a thousand times more potent than before, was about to erupt towards Saga.
"That's enough!"
Sensing that Athena and the other Saints were about to arrive, Adam no longer stood by. He instantly flashed above Hades's head.
"Super Kamehameha~~~"
Instantly gathering eighty percent of the ki within his body, an incredibly terrifying Kamehameha shot directly towards Hades.
"What!"
Feeling the terrifying energy above him, powerful enough to destroy his current physical body, Hades immediately redirected his attack, shooting the death energy from his eyes towards Adam's Kamehameha.
The two energies collided, and for a moment, it was impossible to tell who would win.
"Saga, hit him again."
Just then, Adam's telepathic message echoed in Saga's mind, and he immediately launched the Genrou Maou Ken at Hades once more.
Because he was clashing with Adam, Hades was struck a second time, falling into a three-second hard control.
And the death energy erupting from his eyes instantly dissipated.
"Don't hurt Shun!"
Seeing Adam's Kamehameha heading towards Shun's body, which Hades occupied, Seiya and Ikki, fearing Shun would be killed, immediately shouted loudly at Adam.
Adam was also prepared. He immediately raised both hands, and the Kamehameha that was about to strike Shun's body made a sharp turn, flying into the sky.
However, that alone was not enough. Taking advantage of Hades being hard-controlled for three seconds, he immediately used the Sealing Technique he had used to seal Ego last time.
"God Sealing Formation!"
A powerful Sealing Technique spread to every corner of Shun's body. Shun's hair, which had begun to turn black, gradually started to return to its original color with the help of the God Sealing Formation.
However, how could Hades, the mighty King of the Underworld, be so easily sealed?
As the hard control ended, Hades's power erupted wildly, and the God Sealing Formation immediately became unstable.