Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sea that had been calm under Hilda's prayer suddenly erupted, towering waves rising like walls and crashing toward the platform where she stood.
Before Josh's eyes, the unsuspecting Hilda was swallowed by the raging tide.
At once, Josh understood. This was Poseidon making his move against Hilda. His brow furrowed deeper.
Now the question was—after she was taken, could she still trade with him? Would the one before him be Hilda's true self, or the corrupted persona born from the cursed Nibelungen Ring?
Such a situation, Josh had never faced before.
The storm didn't last long. Soon, the surging waves receded, leaving Hilda unconscious upon the altar.
But now, something was different—on her hand gleamed a golden ring. The cursed Nibelungen Ring, without a doubt.
Josh's mind churned, wondering how best to deal with this new partner.
At that moment, three Asgardian guards rushed up the cliffside path toward Hilda's platform. At their head was a proud-looking young man with a noble bearing.
Just as they arrived, Hilda stirred awake.
Yet the woman who opened her eyes was not the same as before. Gone was the warmth in her gaze; now there was only ice and emptiness.
And to Josh's surprise, the newly awakened Hilda seemed completely unaware of the trading system. She gave him no attention at all.
As he puzzled over this, Hilda moved.
But her target was not Josh—it was the three guards who had just arrived.
Her power was still unstable, but even so, the guards immediately sensed something was wrong. Worry and caution flickered in their eyes.
Before they could act, Hilda raised her left hand, the cursed ring gleaming.
A flash of dark light erupted, and in an instant, the three warriors were blasted away by an invisible force.
Two of them, mere ordinary soldiers, died on the spot. The young man survived, but only barely—he lay broken and gravely wounded.
Josh's memory stirred—he had seen this scene before.
This was Sigmund, elder brother of Siegfried, the Alpha Star God Warrior. Sigmund had been the strongest candidate for the God Warriors, the true successor to that title.
But during this very event—when he came to save Hilda—he discovered her abnormality. For that, he was stripped of his position as God Warrior candidate and cast into prison.
Only then did his younger brother Siegfried take his place as the first Alpha Star God Warrior.
This wasn't from the original Saint Seiya manga, but from the spin-off anime Soul of Gold, produced by Toei.
And now, judging by what he saw, the Saint Seiya world connected to him included this branch of the story.
Which meant… things were about to get very interesting.
There are a lot of interesting things in Soul of Gold—the World Tree, the evil god Loki, the Spear of Gungnir, Odin's protective relic… and so on. There are even two series of God Cloths.
Very interesting.
As Josh was recalling those scenes, the screen of his system suddenly split in two. The left side still showed the actions of the darkened Hilda, while the right side showed another Hilda.
Josh immediately understood: the Hilda on the right was the true self, the real soul of Hilda—because the Nibelungen Ring circling the other Hilda was far too obvious.
"My body… why can't I control it? That ring, that evil little cosmos… Sigmund… No! Mr. Kahn, did you do this?" Hilda's true soul realized she could sense everything outside but couldn't control her body. Seeing "herself" kill two guards and badly wound Sigmund, she grew frantic.
She soon found she could still talk to Josh. In her panic, she blamed him.
"Hey hey hey… Your Majesty, don't accuse me out of thin air. This has nothing to do with me. I can't directly interfere with everything in your world. See that ring on you? It's your world's cursed artifact, the Nibelungen Ring. It sealed your soul and created an evil personality to control your body. It has nothing to do with me!" Josh rolled his eyes.
"…The Nibelungen Ring? I see… who would harm me?" Hilda was startled but not stupid. After hearing Josh's explanation, she quickly understood her situation. She was, after all, Odin's representative on Earth in the Saint Seiya world.
"Think about where the attack came from," Josh reminded her.
"From the sea? Poseidon!" Hilda's face changed. "What does he want?"
"What else? Another Holy War. Don't your gods always play that game every few hundred years? Don't tell me you didn't know!" Josh replied matter-of-factly.
"But that's the Olympian gods' Holy War—what does it have to do with Asgard? Why drag us in?" Hilda was angry. She knew what the Holy War was. In the past, it was the Olympian gods' fight, not Asgard's business. Their world was ruled by Olympus; Asgard was far weaker. Odin must be out of his mind to get involved, so Asgard stayed neutral before. Since Odin's strength was not much less than the twelve Olympians, they never made him a enemy. But Poseidon's actions now clearly broke age-old rules.
"Heh, I don't know why they want to pull you in. I only know you're in trouble," Josh said with a smile. "Want me to help?"
"Help me? Can you remove the Nibelungen Ring's seal?" Hilda, angry and frightened before, asked with sudden hope.
"It's an easy little thing… but earlier, Your Majesty didn't seem keen to trade with me," Josh said with a half-smile—ha, she tried to hang up on me earlier, serves her right!