In the end, Bobby Bourbon was the King of the XWF, and Raion Kido was once more back to square one.

But there was no time to dwell on it now. It was time to rebuild, to begin the road again. Whatever came next, Leap of Faith awaited, and he would earn his way there.

“And every time the Saints of Athena got knocked down, they came back stronger.

Every. Single. Time.”

Deep inside himself, however, the question lingered. This was supposed to be his time, his comeback, in his land and with his people. But one more time, it was not to be.

“But how is any of it fair?”

These were Raion’s thoughts as he moved through the halls of the Saint Seiya Expo. The franchise’s 35th anniversary was being celebrated, and there was no way he would miss it. That certainly warranted lingering in Japan a bit longer before traveling to Canada, and; after the events of March Madness IV, nobody could begrudge him some time for himself.

So there he was, clad in his Golden Cloth of Leo, as mistakable as one of the show’s character statues that graced the convention stage. He stood perfectly still as he gazed at the shining armors on the mannequins, at the toys and memorabilia on display inside glass cabinets, at the people admiring the sights just as he was.

“Wait a second! Hey! Raion Kido! Is that you?!”

“Yes, it’s him! It’s the Lion himself!”

The Lion’s pensive face switches to a startled expression at the sound of the voice that calls his name. Once he has turned around in its direction, he finds himself staring at a group of people of various ages. Teenagers gasping, young parents with their children, eyes wide and mouth agape. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but he had been spotted, and there was no use trying to hide.

“Oh! Y-yes, it’s me.”

It isn’t long before the Osaka wrestler is rushed by the people charging at him, almost cornering him towards one of the walls decorated with Saint Seiya images. Fortunately the edge of the center stage proved a good place in which to lean on as he knelt for children to approach him, lest he hurt someone unintentionally.

“DUDE! Please let me take a selfie!”

“Can I have your autograph please?”

“Mommy, can I have a photo with him?”

“Well, we’ll have to ask him, dear!”

It’s all the Lion can do to smile politely and give the fans what they want, but part of him felt like he didn’t deserve it.

“Yes, yes! Thank you all very much for your support, but you know that I have lost, right?”

“So what? You were the fuckin’ best, Kido-kun!”

“I have seen you go to the very finals of the tournament on an injured leg, and you beat the guy responsible. Plus you ruined their meeting, so you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“We were there watching, and my kid got a sore throat from cheering when you won! He was heartbroken at the finals, but only because he wanted so much to see you win!”

Those comments only drove the Lion into further despair. These people should be cheering for him for having won. He had not, but here they were still. For what reason were they cheering? It was difficult for him to come to terms with what had happened. It was never meant to be like this, but alas, that was fate.

And he would not be worthy of being called the Lion if he did not face it head-on.

“So… you are not disappointed?”

“In what? Having one of the best names in the XWF show he deserves to be called that in front of his own people? Like hell!”

“I don’t have anything to fault you for, and neither should anyone else. This was your very first tournament and you were the runner up to one of the most established people in the XWF. Other people wouldn’t have made it past their first round, and all others in the tournament had an easy challenge. You did not.”

“I just want to tell my friends that I hung out with the Gold Saint of Leo!”

And at that point, it dawned on him. These people were rooting for him exactly because of what they had seen on T.V., just like he had seen, and saw it happen in real life.

And somehow, despite it all, these people were still on his side. He was one of their own.

By what right dare he surrender?

“Is your leg better now?”

“Oh, yes, thankfully it’s healed up fine, and I’m cleared to go vs. Jenny Myst next Saturday.”

“Then what are you kneeling on the floor for? Stand proud, Raion-kun!”

Stand proud.

Those were the words. He could not fail these people one more time, no matter how many times they were there for him. If he was to stand proud, he would make his way into Leap of Faith, and he would come out victorious.

But in order to stand proud, he had first to stand. So stand he would against Jenny Myst, when the time came.

And stand he did at this very moment.

Drawing himself erect, he looks at the child whose cap he’s just signed.

“Okay! Let’s do this, friend! You ready?”

Eyes bright, the boy nods, and Raion throws a one-two punch as he bellows out his mighty roar.

“LIGHTNING PLASMA!!!”

Their pose is captured in a perfect picture by the boy’s mother, and both the child and Raion share a laugh as they look at how they came out. The Lion ruffles the boy’s head playfully.

“You’re the best, Kido-san!”

“Oh no, don’t call me that! Raion is good, I promise.”

“Thank you so very much! You really are a good person, Raion-san. I hope all the best for you from now on.”

“And speaking of that, dude, any idea what you’re gonna do next?”

The Lion looks at the crowd before him.

“There is only one thing to do for me, friends.”

He finds the teenage girl that asked him to stand, palms clasped together in excitement.

“Stand proud.”

There is now a sizable audience in the stage of the Saint Seiya Expo, and that is where Raion Kido is now found - the golden armor glimmering in the lights of the convention center, and his white cape and wild hair flowing freely in the air. Looking directly at the camera, the Osaka native thrusts his fist forward before beginning to speak.

“Twice now, have I run into the wall that is the Brotherhood of Bastards, and I am tired of that already. The more I run into that wall, the more I’m focused on finally destroying it once and for all. But that, however, must wait until the next chance, which I understand shall be at Leap of Faith.

And in order to get that next chance, I must ensure I earn my place there. And that is the goal for me - to rebuild. A solid foundation for a strong building. A building, in the end, that shall stand the test of time, and stand proud.

That road, ladies and gentlemen, starts now, and it shall start on the next edition of Savage Saturday Night… over the body of Jenny Myst.”

Standing now in center stage, against the background of the Saint Seiya universe - the golden armors of all the Gold Knights of the Zodiac behind him, and the statue of the Goddess Athena presiding over them, does Raion Kido begin his speech. As he talks, the murmur of the convention attendees dies down.

“I know that she must be upset knowing that the truths I said about her hit the mark one more time, but I’m also certain that she’ll be happy about us meeting. Because, for all the spite that she has accused me of, she must be chafing at the fact that I didn’t lose my semi-finals match. How do I know this? Because everything she’s said in her addresses towards me is oozing with jealousy.

I mean, you’ve heard her already - the audience eating from the palm of my hand, I’m treated like the second coming of wrestle Christ. For all accusations she makes towards me of resentment, and even with no titles to my name, it is patently obvious she wants but a sliver of the recognition that I have.

But while these are great compliments to have, I do not intend them to stay at just that. I mean to prove once and for all that I can make it to the best of the XWF, and every step I take has that single goal in mind. Nothing else comes close. Nothing else matters.”

The Lion grinds his teeth and peels back his lips, letting his canines show. There is a visible glint in his eyes - a barely contained anger just one inch left away from unleashing. The audience’s support notwithstanding, it grinded against Raion that things should be this way. But if this was the hand he had been dealt, he would play it and win the game.

Time to let the cosmos burn.


“That, ladies and gentlemen, is what has made me distinguish myself - especially from our dear psychotic Jenny Myst - and the reason I come into Savage Saturday Night to bring her down to the depths where she crawls out from.

So Jenny, tell me now what part of all I’ve said isn’t true. Don’t you slash open your tiny little wrists every single chance you get about how you were once a Queen, stuck now in midcard hell? You were very explicit about that when addressing Thunder Knuckles. Answer me this, then, Ms. Queen in the Rags: if you’re here because you like it, because you need it, because it’s your literal addiction, why are you complaining exactly?

I mean, you’re having fun screaming “Notice me Centurion-senpai!” like those Anime jokes I know you’re just itching to make, and beating inconsequential names, and you are fine with that. Next up, you get the greatest chance you have had in months, win an easy round, and go into your biggest match talking about how everyone knows you’re going to lose already.

So which is it, Jenny? Are you satisfied with the place you have here? If that’s the case, you and I have no business being in the same ring. I’m here because competition catching up to me only makes me want to go even further. I’m here because I want to be the guy that everyone wants to be!

Do you think, Jenny Myst, that I would settle for the comfortable little world that you have built in your own feeble, deranged mind!?”

Among the stunned silence of the audience, the sound of Raion’s shout is that much stronger - almost as if the voice of the heavens echoing across the vastness of the starfield pictured in the walls behind him.

The Lion’s voice, across the cosmos itself.

“Oh, and before we forget. I know what you’re likely going to say, Jenny, but do the XWF Universe a courtesy and save it. Like you, I didn’t win this tournament. But unlike you, at least I made it to the finals, and to do that I went through the hardest road. I didn’t get someone who didn’t even want to show up on camera in the initial round.

Instead, I got someone who at least had held a belt in the XWF before, weak as his reign might have been, and I made sure to prove that I was more than the February Star of the Month - which may be of little consequence to you, but it’s more than you’ve done since your return. Let’s be honest here, Jenny - you never stood a chance, and like Thunder Knuckles, you want to paint yourself as an underdog when all you’ve demonstrated you are is mediocre.

But let’s take that even further. Unless you’re not even trying, everyone is mediocre by default - it takes the best of us to rise. And here’s the part that should give you pause - that’s where you’ve chosen to stay. Everyone can claim they’re the underdog when the odds are against them, just to have an easy excuse when they lose.

And while it might be great for you to believe that, while you may feel comfortable in saying that title belts and main events do not define you, here you have someone that did better than you have in every aspect of the wrestling game since January, and thinks of the situation he’s in as an insult, a wrong to be set right. Call this a narrow view if you can’t fathom what it really entails. I call it spirit - that very same spirit that leads me to be what I am and do what I do, to be something more than just another wrestler like you’ve apparently settled for being.

I mean, you take offense at me calling you vapid? Start showing that everything I’ve said before is wrong. Do something to make that impression the world has about you change. Something, preferrably, that doesn’t involve the kind of antics we see in every B-list road movie or manic pixie girl gone bad story. The world has seen it all, heard it all, and moved on long ago.”

A smirk creeps up on the Lion’s face. If Jenny Myst had not realized her folly already, Raion Kido was eagerly willing to assist her. It was, after all, the same standard he held for every other wrestler across the ring from him.

The very standard, ultimately, that he held for himself.

“But then again, you’re still daubing yourself in heavy layers of make-up like you’re Harley Quinn - another fad that lost all meaning from its sheer abuse. And remember, this comes from a guy that likes an Anime from the ‘80s. So before you point fingers at me for anything, take a good look at yourself and see how devoid of substance you are.

And once you do, Ms. Mental Patient, answer this. What can you say to me that I have not heard already? Some stereotypical jokes about sake and dojos because I’m Japanese? I’m sure you felt like a big girl bashing the Latina Submission Machina on account of her heritage, but I come from a country that has rebuilt from the greatest catastrophes in human history, from the most terrible war to the combination of two natural disasters simultaneously.

That very same will to rebuild is what drives me to come back stronger from every time I get knocked down, and the XWF universe has already seen that. From the loss to Nickles I made it to the finals of the King of the XWF tournament, and from here to Leap of Faith. You just happen to be in the way, but rejoice, for you’ve been given a position of privilege to see it once more, and experience it yourself.

What else do you have? Some warning about how I will be used up and spat out like you were? Not all of us give up as easily as you have. I’ve come to the XWF because it’s the longest-running in a world where wrestling promotions rise and fall every day - sometimes one right after the other. I’ve come to the XWF because it’s the best place in the world, and I mean to be one of its best names, if not the best name of them all. I’ve had two chances of showing it and I failed to get it done.

That shall not happen a third time, and if it does, it shall not be because of you. Stay in your own little world, keep making excuses for yourself, and let the fights that mean anything be fought by actual warriors.”

Raion closes his eyes as he utters that last word, for a brief second before opening them again. Wasn’t a warrior what he was, after all? It was time to act like one, and Savage Saturday Night would be the place to do it. Jenny Myst or no, this was a test of his own character.

One he would not fail.

“But you know what, Jenny? Despite your safe space of complacent mediocrity, despite your resentment, despite your entire lack of self-awareness, I’m going to tell you, just like I said I would, that I’m going to do exactly what you said. You said I should win a title before putting down your own belt that no longer exists? Alright then! Every road to a title begins with a single match, and this one just happens to be over you.

Because that’s what this match means to me. The beginning of a road to set a wrong right. The first step to the ultimate victory. The culmination of a path that has been twice derailed since it began in January, and shall not be stopped once more.

So when the Lion’s fangs rip out your throat at Montreal, Quebec, know that this was nothing personal - this was only the fulfillment of your own mandate to me. And once that realization dawns on you before your world freezes and everything goes dark, let your last thought as you fade into obscurity be that you, at least, served to be the first stone, the foundation, of what ultimately will become my triumph at Leap of Faith.

The very first step in my vision to rise again…”

The Lion closes his eyes and crosses his arms over his head in an X-shape, as one of the very characters that are featured behind him, before letting them down at his sides and roaring his last words - to the complete ovation of the crowd.

“... and STAND PROUD!”

Fade to black.