[Saint Seiya] Every Reincarnation, I'm Hades' Human Vessel's Best Friend

The moment Hodely's first incarnation opened his eyes, he discovered that he had become the villain god whom every Olympian wanted dead.

He hadn't even had time to get used to his new godly powers when two blows hit him at once: his soft, curvy figure had become a boy's angular, solid frame, and he was forced into the hellish from-the-start scenario of being a male villain god.

His mental state shattered on the spot, and he went straight into misanthropic mode. The righteous gods in the sanctuary were always putting on airs about "love and justice," and he thought they were all pretentious, empty frauds. The mortals on Earth fought until they were bloody over half a sack of grain, and he thought they were all petty, confused fools. Every day, he lounged around on the Black Cliff, doing nothing. There was only one thought in his head: Let the world end already. Then nobody would have to deal with anybody else.

It was around then that he kept running into a boy shrouded in black mist, half asleep and half awake. The other boy kept his face hidden in shadow, but he always had the perfect response to every one of Hodely's complaints. From the pretentious gods to the scheming people, he mocked every class with perfect clarity. Hodely immediately decided he was the only person in the world who understood him. In the middle of the night, the two of them slapped their thighs and chanted slogans in their dreams, joining forces to proclaim the destruction of humanity. They even laid out a detailed countdown to doomsday.

But anyone who's ever had a dream knows that this kind of tough talk is really just helpless rage at reality.

When the horns of war shook the mountains and the earth, and heavenly fire spread from the sanctuary to the underworld, Hodely immediately lost his nerve. He didn't want to be reduced to ashes along with the world. To save his own skin, he grabbed a battle blade and charged onto the battlefield, shouting louder than all the righteous Saints: "Long live Athena! Protect world peace!"

In the end, he and Pegasus fought back-to-back with all their might, shattering the black mist around Hades's true form. The face that had been hidden for countless years finally lifted, and a pair of huge, black, Western-looking eyes fixed on him. The voice was as cold as if it had been dredged up from the bottom of the River Styx: "You betrayed our agreement, Hodely. Liars belong in hell."

Hodely stood frozen, clutching his battle blade, his head full of absurd questions. What the hell? So the confidant who'd been complaining about the world with me in my dreams all this time was you? You're the mighty Lord of the Underworld, and you went into another villain god's dreams to chat with him about destroying the world, pretending to be a kindred spirit without revealing who you were. Now you're accusing me of betraying you? Why didn't you tell me you were Hades sooner? And you have the nerve to act hurt?

When he opened his eyes in his second life, he found himself in an orphanage in the Italian countryside, surrounded by fields of ripening wheat.

Warm sunlight carried the scent of wheat. Familiar faces surrounded him: Sasha, with her braids, secretly slipped him freshly baked bread, her fingertips sticky with the sweet juice of wild strawberries; the soft-hearted Aron sat by the window painting, his face smeared with paint like a kitten that had gotten into the crayons; even Pegasus, who had fought back-to-back with him against Hades back then, had become his childhood friend, always chasing him around the old oak tree three times to fight over the honey jar. Hodely had thought he could completely escape his villain-god identity in this life, grow up in peace, find a job at a little tavern by the village gate, mooch a glass of fresh grape juice every day, and live out his life doing nothing, never getting involved in the mess of holy wars again.

But the gears of fate gave him no chance to laze around. Sasha naturally awakened as Athena's reincarnation and was taken away by people from the sanctuary. Blood began to seep from Aron's paintings, and the brush automatically sketched the underworld. He became the mortal vessel chosen by Hades. As soon as he and Pegasus turned twelve, a Silver Saint came to scout for promising candidates and bundled them away, leaving them no chance to resist.

The Holy War followed exactly the same script all the way to its end. The moment Hades's true form was forcibly dragged out of Aron's body, those familiar black eyes fixed on him once more. His voice was wrapped in an obsession that wouldn't fade, like vines that had clung to Hodely for hundreds of years: "Hodely... once again, you chose to betray me."

The obsession nearly cracked Hodely's Bronze Cloth. He almost dropped to his knees before the Lord of the Underworld on the spot. Big brother! Fate forced my hand! I don't even want to fight!

As soon as his consciousness emerged from the gap between cycles of reincarnation, Hodely sprang up halfway through being reborn and frantically shouted for everything to stop while still in his soul form.

No more, no more! I really don't want to be a villain god or a Saint anymore!

Lady Athena, I'll be your support staff and sweep the floors of the sanctuary. I'll make sure every single step shines. Lord Pegasus, I'll help you fight for your Cloth and the honey jar. I absolutely won't compete with you for the damage-dealer spot. Lord Hades, I'll join you in complaining about the world in our dreams, and I won't turn against you again. If you say we should destroy the world, I'll raise both hands in agreement!

Please, all three of you, take pity on me. Whoever wants to keep this stupid cycle going can do it. I, Hodely, just want to find some empty corner and live an ordinary life in peace. I never want to get involved in any more of this nonsense related to holy wars!

Theme: What's the difference between reincarnation and resurrection?