He's in the Marvel universe, and his first step is marrying Scarlet Witch.

Chapter 364 The Identity of the Fake Pope (Second Update)

"So, I really am Athena. What my grandfather said when I was a child wasn't a joke after all."

No wonder he always told me to lead everyone to defeat evil and protect humanity!

At this time, Saori Kido had only begun to awaken and had not fully transformed into Athena. After the awakening ended, she reverted to being that helpless young lady.

However, as she gradually adapts, she will also be able to master Athena's power and eventually become the true Athena.

Unfortunately, if she had grown up in the Sanctuary, she probably would have mastered Athena's cosmos under the guidance of the old Pope long ago. It's a pity that she only just awakened it today.

"Sharina, Durades, as Saints, how dare you oppose Athena! Do you know your crime?!"

Wearing the golden armor, Li Chuan turned to look at Sharna and the others, and reprimanded them sternly.

Sharna and the others hurriedly knelt on one knee:

"We are foolish and have been deceived by the Pope. We do not intend to betray Athena. We beg Athena to forgive our sins and allow us to atone for them through good deeds."

At this moment, they were certain that the person in front of them, Saori Kido, was the reincarnation of Athena.

Athena stepped forward and said gently:

"As long as you can truly repent, you will still be my most loyal Saints."

"Great, at this rate, conquering the Twelve Palaces will be a breeze."

Seeing this, Li Chuan nodded in satisfaction.

His previous attacks only injured the enemy without killing them, in order to transfer all these Saint Seiya warriors to this side and expand his own advantage.

Why has the Holy Land always won in previous Holy Wars, defeating all other forces?

It's not because Athena is so powerful, but because the Saints under her command are strong, and she provides support, healing, enhancements, and other benefits.

Why was this holy war so difficult to fight? Every time something went wrong, it was a near-death experience, because the difference in strength was so great.

The main reason is that after the Saga Rebellion, a large number of Saints in the powerful Sanctuary died due to internal strife, greatly weakening its strength.

Most Silver Saints are not very strong, but some have outstanding abilities. For example, he remembered that one Silver Saint had a petrification ability similar to Medusa's.

Moreover, if these Saints were all alive, their strength might increase further during the Holy War, and it's not impossible that some of them might even awaken the Seventh Sense during the battle thanks to Athena's blessing.

Just like Seiya and the other Bronze Saints.

As long as they aren't killed by their own people beforehand, with Athena as a god-level support, anything is possible.

Li Chuan felt that now that he had become the Sagittarius Saint, he definitely needed to expand the strength of Athena's group so that he could safely obtain enough benefits.

So his idea was that if the Sanctuary sent Saints over, he would take them all in and convert them all to Athena's side.

If you encounter those stubborn ones, imprison them first, and release them for punishment only after the Saga Rebellion ends and Athena's identity is fully recognized.

But we definitely can't kill them; they're all excellent fighters for dealing with other forces in the future.

"Speak! Tell us everything you know!"

After the dust settled, Li Chuan went forward to treat the injuries of Duradis and the others, and began to inquire about relevant information.

This time, Sharna, Duradis, and the others no longer concealed anything and revealed all the information they knew.

"Seiya, Li Chuan, the day after you left the Sanctuary, Pope Shion of the Sanctuary suddenly passed away. Before his death, he passed the position of Pope to his younger brother Alex. From that day on, the Sanctuary began to change."

Sharna said slowly:

"The once harmonious sanctuary became exceptionally cruel under Alex's rule, with many reservists dying every day due to the brutal training."

Under the orders of Chief of Staff Gigas, many Saints were dispatched to carry out judgment missions, adjudicating those small countries that disobeyed the Sanctuary's orders and transporting large amounts of gold back to the Sanctuary.

"But the Pope betrayed us thirteen years ago, so why is it only starting now?"

Seiya raised his own doubts.

Li Chuan replied directly:

"The Pope has managed the Sanctuary for over two hundred years and is highly respected by everyone. It was unreasonable for him to suddenly assassinate Miss Saori thirteen years ago. Therefore, it is still uncertain whether the Pope thirteen years ago was Pope Shion."

If Pope Shion was already being impersonated by someone else thirteen years ago, then in order to avoid being discovered, he might continue to act like Pope Shion openly while secretly cultivating his own power.

He probably thinks he has control of the Sanctuary now, and after learning that Athena is still alive through the Galactic Tournament, he suddenly pulled this stunt.

"Sharina, have you ever seen what the Pope looks like?"

Through reasonable reasoning and speculation, he revealed the truth.

Sharna and Duradis exchanged a glance and replied simultaneously:

"No, I saw Pope Shion a few times when I was a child. He was a very kind old man, but after Aiolos's betrayal thirteen years ago, he has been wearing the Pope's mask ever since. It is said that no one has seen his face since."

Oh, by the way, I heard that some of his personal attendants are frequently executed for various crimes.

Hearing the two say this, everyone suddenly felt that Li Chuan's guess made more sense.

Clearly, those personal attendants were killed because they accidentally saw the Pope's true face.

"Then who exactly could have killed Pope Shion?"

Glacier frowned.

"Could it be related to the holy war?"

Shun replied, having just hugged his resurrected brother, Ikki.

"I heard my master say that every few hundred years, when evil descends upon the world, Athena will be reincarnated and lead the righteous Saints to launch a holy war to drive away evil."

"But the legendary targets of the Holy War all came from the underworld. Even if they had the power to kill Pope Shion, how could they have disguised themselves as the Pope so perfectly for so many years without being discovered?"

Ikki shook his head, rejecting his younger brother Shun's guess.

"So could it be Alex? He's Pope Shion's brother, knows all of the Pope's habits, and the Pope has no suspicion of him. After killing the Pope, he replaced the Pope for thirteen years, and now he's pretending to abdicate in his own name to officially take over the Pope's power."

Zilong rationally offered his own guess.

This guess was immediately accepted by everyone, because this was the most reasonable explanation.

Only Li Chuan knew that this was not the case.

The one who actually assassinated Shion was Gemini Saga, not Alex. Alex had already been killed by Saga thirteen years earlier.

Actually, the root of the problem doesn't lie with Saga. The root of the problem is similar to what Shun said, which is with Hades.

Geminis are generally seen as having two sides to the same coin, but this doesn't mean that one person has two personalities. Rather, it means that only twins can inherit the Gold Cloth.

So Saga also has a younger brother, Kanon, who looks exactly like him and is about the same strength.

(End of this chapter)