The Pope of Sanctuary is
the zenith of all the Saints. In every generation, a Saint is chosen by
God from the Gold Saints, a Saint that is benevolent, wise, and couragous.
The Pope will pass the throne to that Saint. Many times, this succession
ceremony is performed right before the start of the Holy War.
The so called Holy War
means, since when the God of the Sea, the ruler of Sea World, Poseidon
tried to invade the earth, the power struggles arose from those who have
found the 'Big Will.'[Gods' Will]
When evil is upon this
earth, Athena will be born. Before the fighting starts, The Pope will give
an order out to all the Saints in the world to return to Sanctuary.
The Holy Wars occur in
every 230 to 250 years. The last Holy War was 229 years ago At that time,
79 Saints was there to fight. It had the most number of Saints to participate
in a war ever but only a few survived. It was a heated war.
One of them was Shiryu's
Master who is right now living in Rozan Five Old Peaks, Libra Gold Saint,
Roshi(Dohko), and one more person, it is the now Pope.
"Uoh! Shura, you
finally came back.", expressing his appreciation, the Pope is sitting on
the throne, his aged face and body has been hidden by a mask and a noble
robe.
"I wish you good health...",
following custom, Shura answers the Pope respectfully.
"Tonight, take a good night's
rest."
"Yes! Thank you very much."
"Shura, you have
grown strong.", says Ares standing next to the throne. He is The Pope's
little brother.
"Ares, my Lord...that is
because of you...." [Ares here in Japanese
is A-resu. The offical English Spelling is Ares but we could spell it Arles
to distingush it from the War God Ares, Aresu.]
Ares is to aid the old
and diseased Pope. He takes part in the jobs for the Pope. He is a Silver
Saint. He cannot become the next Pope but his loyal personality has the
trust of all the Saints. He gets great respect and support that is not
less than the Pope.
"Now, the Gold Saint for
the Capricorn Temple is back, too."
"Ares, tomorrow give a
mission to Shura," says the Pope while slowly standing up.
"Yes! Shura, you can leave
now. Go and make yourself home."
Ares follows the Pope.
"Thank you very much.",
while Shura takes a bow and was about to leave, from behind, he feels a
very powerful and challenging Cosmo. His whole body gets nervous and tenses
up. (Wh, what, this Cosmo?)
The Pope shouts, "Saga!?"
"Ah!!" Shura remembers.
Chapter 3 Excalibur is Born Click Here