Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

18 - Castle of Illusions

Leaving the valley and rocks behind, the group reached a flooded area. A swamp that separated them from a huge castle on the horizon.

"What does the compass say?" Shun asked Alice.
"It says the Golden Urn was back there in the Valley of Diamonds."

They were all confused looking at her.

"They must have found the tracker and left it where they wanted us to go."
"A trap." Shiryu guessed while holding Xiaoling.
"We have to be more prepared. This island is full of illusions, but also real threats. We need to be aware and not trust so much what our eyes are seeing. We must trust our cosmos."

Seiya kicked some puddled water.

"This swamp looks like real."
"The chains are tense." Shun said.
"Let's go. Be alert." Alice finished.

And off they were.

They plunged their feet into the swamp, a huge waterlogged region with thin, sparsely plucked trunks. There was also a thick fog that gave a strong ethereal feel to the swamp in the afternoon. Deep in the marsh, they could no longer see the castle in the distance.

The sound of his own footsteps in the pooled water soon gained the company of the noise and the tremor of many clapping hooves. Ahead, a herd of mares seemed to come towards them.

Impossible mares, as some ran through the marsh, dodging trunks, walking on water. Others jumped for an impossible dive into the huge puddles, as there was no depth to hold a full mare. Still, they dove as if they were deep, only to emerge powerfully to the surface a few meters later. That spectacle put themselves on their edges and the Saints began to dodge the mares coming in their direction.

"Seiya. They are only illusions." Alice said noticing that Seiya tried in every way to avoid the mares' advances.

Seiya saw how Alice was absolutely still, the mares emerged from the depths and ran through her without causing any harm. Seiya then finally gave up on dodging and noticed how the figures crossed him causing a cold sensation, but without any pain.

"Keep your guard up, Seiya." Shun said with the chains moving in his arms.

Andromeda then burned his cosmos and released his Chains into the air; they zigzagged like lightning across the swamp, and it wasn't long before it hit one of the mares, knocking her into the water.

But as soon as the mare sank into the swamp, she immediately emerged just below Shiryu, no longer like a mare, but with the Dark Armor of the Warrior that had commanded the action on the ship. Shiryu was hit full in the chin and lost her helmet with the enemy's hook, who hid again in the swamp waters.

"We'll be an easy prey like this." Alice said, lighting up her cosmos.

The water around Alice began to bubble up. She reached out in front of her and her cosmos intensified violently, sucking up the flooded water and creating a typhoon. All she wanted was to dry what she could around her to take advantage of that opponent.

The dark figure appeared inside the typhoon, as if it had been sucked in by Alice's power. The typhoon exploded and from the column of water the Warrior jumped to attack the girl, who was helpless while conjuring her technique. But the Dragon Shield defended her from a terrible blow.

Shiryu's huge hair fluttered along with the water around her, forming a Dragon behind her. Her resolute voice sounded through the swamp sealing that Warrior's fate.

"Rising Dragon!"

The Water Dragon consumed the Warrior in Dark Armor and caused him to break through several naked swamp logs to fall defeated to the bottom.