Saintia Sho volume 5 - Masami Kurumada and Chimaki Kuori

 Time to get to the next instalment of Saintia Sho!

 

 

And with Athena brought before Saga, as she was captured by Aphrodite at the end of volume 4, the truth behind Sanctuary might be revealed!

 

Here she is met by a Saga in total duality, as his sane side begs her to kill him, while his evil side threatens her not to approach him, but she can`t bring herself to deliver the strike. But before his evil side can attack her, his good side sweeps her away through Another Dimension, where Aphrodite delivers her back at the mansion.  In the arena, Katya reveals it was all part of the plan, and that she is actually loyal to Saori, instructing both silver saints to protect her as well.

 

While still in the hospital recovering, Shoko is visited by Aquila Marin.  She brings the grave news that Saint's Academy, where aspiring saintia are trained, has been destroyed by Cancer Deathmask.  Cassopeia Elda, one of the saintia's that is present, engages him but is no match for the gold saint.  He brings her to the mouth of the Underworld, where he reveals that Eris's followers still lurk around, and wanted to posses the bodies of the students, so killing them all was the fastest way to stop him.  Enraged by his cruel methods, Elda is left behind frustrated in the ruins of the academy.

In the meantime Saori sends the other saintia's to train with Marin, in order that they get more powerful for the battle to come, while the pope gathers the gold saints to put Sanctuary on full alert.  As the battle for Sanctuary is about to begin, Mayura meets with the trained saintia's near the ruins of Eris's temple, where evil souls are flocking.

As Athena is struck by the golden arrow, the battle has now begun in earnest and Seiya and his friends fight their way to the Pope's room.  Here Seiya overcomes Saga and saves Athena, but when she later confronts him, he kills himself in shame of what he had done, his evil side driven out by the light of Athena's shield... but it seems this side is ressurected at the ruins where the others wait.

And so the fifth volume ends, and we are already near the end of the (sadly only one season made) anime.  Considering there are 18 volumes in total, that means there is still a lot to discover for me in this series, and I'll happily read along!