Pegasus Seiya

In Greece, Seiya trains under Marin's mask and competes for the Pegasus Cloth against Cassios, a giant who is Shaina's student. He wins and goes back to Japan only because the Graad Foundation promises to help find Seika.

In the Galaxian Wars, Saori's tournament, Seiya beats Bear Geki and then faces Dragon Shiryu in a fight that nearly kills them both. He comes out of it with a friend. When Phoenix Ikki steals the Sagittarius Gold Cloth, Seiya goes after the pieces with Shiryu, Hyoga and Shun. In the final showdown, he resists Ikki's illusions and helps beat him. Saori, the spoiled girl he never liked, reveals that she is Athena.

The Sanctuary brands Seiya a traitor and sends the Silver Saints after him. The first is Lizard Misty, who thinks he can't be touched and falls to the Pegasus Meteor Fist. More hunters follow, each more dangerous than the last.

Ophiuchus Shaina wants Seiya's head too: in Greece, he broke her mask and saw her face, and under the rule for female Saints she must kill him or love him. Little by little, she starts protecting him. Seiya also wonders whether Marin, the Japanese teacher who reached Greece around the time Seika vanished, could be his sister. Marin denies it.

After surviving the Silver Saints, Seiya goes with Saori to the Sanctuary. She is hit by a golden arrow, and he has twelve hours to climb the twelve temples. Nearly every Gold Saint he meets beats him down. Against Aiolia he almost dies, and he only survives because Cassios sacrifices himself for him.

In the Sagittarius temple, Seiya reads Aiolos's message and finally understands why he fights. Running on empty, he reaches the top and faces Gemini Saga, the false Pope. The Sagittarius Cloth comes to his aid, and Seiya reaches Athena's shield and uses its light to pull the arrow from Saori's chest. She wakes, and the light frees Saga from his evil side.

When Saori locks herself inside the Main Breadwinner of the undersea temple, Seiya goes down after her. He brings down the first pillar, takes on Mariner Generals and reaches Poseidon's throne in tatters.

Poseidon, in Julian Solo's body, is too strong even for all five Saints together. The Sagittarius Cloth crosses the ocean to help, and Seiya fires the golden arrow that strikes the god. Saori comes out of the pillar and seals Poseidon's soul in an urn.

Seiya enters the land of the dead alive, following Athena, together with Shun. The two cross the river Acheron with the ferryman Charon and descend through the prisons of the Underworld, fighting Specters every step of the way. Along the way, the group learns that Shun is the body Hades has chosen.

After Athena drives Hades out of Shun, Seiya moves on with the others to the Wailing Wall, where the twelve Gold Saints give their lives to open the way.

In Elysion, Seiya faces Thanatos, who threatens Seika and the people Seiya loves. The Pegasus Cloth awakens a divine power, and Seiya beats the god of death. Then he climbs to Hades's temple, frees Athena from the urn and faces the god himself.

Hades raises his sword against Athena, and Seiya throws himself in front of her. The blade runs him through. Athena defeats Hades, but Seiya is left badly wounded and unresponsive as Elysion collapses.

In Kurumada's first draft the hero was named Rin, and the series was Ginga no Rin. The name Seiya came once the Saint concept was locked in. The manga also reveals something the anime leaves out: the hundred orphans sent to train are all sons of Mitsumasa Kido himself. In Japan, Tōru Furuya voiced Seiya from 1986 through Hades: Sanctuary; Masakazu Morita took over for Inferno.