“Thus, the current predicament of the World’s heroes is almost at its peak” muttered the voice in Kuro’s head.

The hero Avan, together with the other heroes Julius, Genya, Yoko and Hammer, made haste to Sanctuary in order to help Athena Sapphire and the rest of the Gold Saints of Athena in trying to hold the barrier against the horde of the Dark Lord. Avan planned to use Minakatoru in order to strengthen the barrier casted by Sapphire by 5 times, buying them 5 years of additional time.

Unknown to the World’s heroes, a plot that has been conceived for the past decades was being brought into fruition. Before being sealed in the Eclipse, Dracula directed Death to seek help from Vearn, an evil existence on the same level as the Evil Dragon Velther who was defeated by Dai’s father Baran, the Dragon Warrior who wielded the dual powers of Dragons and Heroes. Vearn, by using the power of the Eclipse, sealed his body to become undying, enabling him to last for several years while awaiting the awakening of Hades, the God of the Underworld.

Several years after, Hades was defeated by Seiya and the other Bronze Saints with Saori Athena. In order to revive the consciousness of Seiya who was struck with Hades’ Sword, Saori used all of her divine power in order to revive all of the destroyed Gold Cloths for the successors who will inherit them for the next generation (prelude to Saint Seiya Next Dimension Timeline).

“I command all of Athena’s Cloths, be restored!” Saori fiercely uttered.

Saori channelled all of the power of Athena’s Cloth and Athena’s staff into bathing all of the Athena’s Cloths all over the world (regardless of plane) with her divine cosmos. This allowed the Athena Cloths to restore themselves and even strengthen themselves (with or without bearers).

On the other hand, before being struck by Hades’ sword, the Sagittarius Gold Cloth sought to protect Seiya and blocked the thrust, thus sustaining tremendous damage and erosion from Hades’ Dark powers (Seiya wielded the Saggitarius Gold Cloth once, thus binding it to him). After Athena’s act of reviving all of the Gold Cloths, only the Sagittarius Cloth remained damage, only half of it was repaired.

Afterwards, Athena Saori journeyed to the past with Andromeda Shun, Phoenix Ikki, Cygnus Hyoga and Dragon Shiryu. Their mission was to destroy the Hades’ Sword in the previous Holy War. (This is supposed to be the beginning of the Saint Seiya Next Dimension Arc.) However, Vearn was able to trap Saori and the other Bronze Saints by impersonating as Saturn/Kronos, the God of Time. He used the powers of the Eclipse and the Castle of the Dark Lord contained within to trap Saori and the rest into the vestiges of time.

This event marked the succession for the next reincarnation of Athena and the successors of all of Athena’s Cloths, except for the Sagittarius Cloth, which was bound to Seiya who has yet to regain consciousness up to the present date. Seiya was in the same state as Saori and the others, with their time stopped and their physical bodies preserve. In order to assist the reincarnation of Athena, Saori embodied her will into the Athena God Cloth and transported it to Sanctuary in the last .01 seconds before finally falling into the trap of Vearn.

A notification rang inside the consciousness of Saori before being trapped.

“Athena’s cosmos and will have been bound in the Athena God Cloth.”

“Initiating transfer to Athena’s successor.”

The Athena God Cloth disappeared together with Athena’s Staff and reappeared in Athena’s Colossus in Sanctuary.

Meanwhile, in order to establish trust, Death willingly exchange his Death Scythe with the Hades Cloth in the possession of Vearn. Vearn is expecting that the next reincarnation of Dracula will also be the reincarnation of Hades, multiplying the power of darkness by exponential value. Thus, he temporarily sealed his true body at the exact same time that Dracula and his castle was sealed on the Solar Eclipse of 1999.

After being struck by Hades’ Sword, Seiya infused his willpower and Cosmos in the Pegasus Divine Cloth. This caused the wings of the Divine Cloth to be clad in his 8th Sense. Afterwards, he directed the Pegasus Divine Cloth to help the half-damaged Sagittarius Gold Cloth to flee to safety. The cloths arrived at earth and the Saggitarius Cloth was found by Kuro. However the years of travel and the crossing of planes and worlds caused more damage to it. Since Kuro has the bloodline of Seiya (he is the nephew of Seika), the Cloth responded to him and his blood.

The Pegasus Cloth, on the other hand, made its way towards Sanctuary, were it will be inherited by the next Pegasus Saint.

Meanwhile, Saori, Andromeda Shun, Cygnus Hyoga, Phoenix Ikki and Dragon Shiryu were thus trapped in a different realm. They will neither die nor will their bodies age. This is similar to the effects of the Solar Eclipse to Vearn’s act of sealing his body within the Eclipse. Only their consciousness remain intact, which in-turn became a form of torture for the 5 of them. But due to the rich cosmos within the environment, they were able to strengthen their cosmos at the same time, bringing it to the peak of the 8th sense (the same thing happened to Seiya while being in a semi-coma state).

A notification rang inside the minds of all of the surviving Saints of Athena, as well as Genya and Avan.

“Saori Athena has infused her will and cosmos in the Athena God Cloth and Athena Staff.”

“Her will indicates the finding of the successors of the Cloths without owners/deceased owners.”

“All of the ownerless Saint Cloths will be transferred to Sanctuary for safe keeping.”

“All of those hearing this, heed Athena Saori’s will and find the successors!”