History NightmareFuel / SaintSeiya

** The Cygnus Cloth includes going into Siberia's winter in light clothes. Also, this is the one where you punch a glacier and not a mountain.

*** Even the way he dies is nightmarish: Seiya throws him in the sea with the Pegasus Rolling Crash and takes advantage of his concussion to drown him - and even as he dies, Misty has enough strength to rise up and walk back to the beach.

** Perseus Algol at first doesn't seem that strong, about on Shiryuu's level. He also has a shield that [[TakenForGranite turns to stone whoever crosses the gaze of the Medusa head that decorates it]]. And no, closing your eyes doesn't work - Shiryuu tried it, and the gaze bypassed his eyelids and turned his shield arm to stone. Only fully blinding himself allowed Shiryuu to defend himself from Medusa's gaze.

** The Hades Arc introduces Lyra Orphee, the strongest Silver Saint ''alive'' (Shaina being the strongest in Sanctuary because Orphee lived somewhere else). His music can [[ForcedSleep make even gods sleep for a long time or even forever]] as long as they can appreciate it (Rhadamanthys escaped that attack because he didn't like music and didn't listen) or cause electric shocks, and his Stringer Fine just shreds his opponents.

** During the Hades saga he reveals a new attack, Tenkūhaja Chimimōryō-with which he summons evil spirits and sics them on his victims. The Specters facing it, [[HorrifyingTheHorror who live in service of the setting's literal hel]] were ''terrified'' by it.

** During the Twelve Temples Arc, Shun attacked him with the Nebula Chain. This is when the AttackReflector trope makes its debut, as the chain stops, ''turns on Shun, and nearly strangles him to death'' before Shaka decides to just throw him on Seiya. That was terrifying enough that Seiya and Shiryu were ''stunned in horror''.

* Everything Shaka does in combat. Unless you have a very good reason, ''accept his offer to spare your life and run whence you came'':

** During Tenma Kōfuku, an illusion of paradise appears ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UnkBnmhfmA and in the anime, it's accompanying by an incredibly ominous, heavily voice-filtered reciting of the Heart Sutra]])... Then Shaka appears, you hear the screams, and that's when you see the poor guys he just blasted with his Cosmo and that Shaka is levitating, towering over a vision of hell. Until the Sanctuary Arc, nobody had survived this attack unless he wanted them to.
*** In the manga, this attack is so terrifying that Shaka took away Ikki's memory of their first encounter to ''prevent him from going insane'', and when he restored it Ikki tried to ''run for the hills''. '''[[TheStoic Ikki]]'''.

** During their fight, Ikki nailed him with the [[MindRape Phoenix Genmaken]] at one point. [[NoSell He wouldn't have noticed]], had he not heard Ikki [[CallingYourAttacks shouting its name]]-just as [[AttackReflector he sent it back to him]], sending Ikki to [[https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/sai-no-kawara.html#sainokawara The Riverbed of Death]] where he must carry Shun as a baby through an endless riverbed of sharp rocks while Shun keeps getting heavier, with Shaka offering him relief from the torment if only he'd drop that baby brother of his.[[note]]This is supposed to be an extension of his previous offer of mercy to Ikki; If Ikki can actually abandon his friends (he doesn't) to save his own skin, Shaka will let him go.[[/note]]
** During the Hades saga he reveals a new attack, Tenkūhaja Chimimōryō-with which he summons evil spirits and sics them on his victims. The Specters facing it, [[HorrifyingTheHorror who usually live in hell itself]], were ''terrified'' by it.

** And to make everything worse-no matter what, he may slip a monkey joke or two into the context of his attacks, just for the hell of it. ''He's having fun doing it''.

*** However, the man is still so skilled and adept at his mimicry, that Shun still falls prey even as Kasa impersonates Ikki ''[[WhatAnIdiot IN FRONT OF HIM]]'', in part due to an AdaptationInducedPlotHole : in the anime Ikki had survived Asgard just fine, but in the manga, Ikki was supposedly dead from having been blasted to smithereens by Saga and gone missing ever since, so at least this version makes it more credible that Shun would desperately want to cling on to the hope that his brother was alive.

** And the final bit: aside for Coma Berenices, all the information above is the training for ''Bronze Cloths, '''the lowest level'''''. Silver and Gold Cloths have likely even ''harder'' training, that we're mercifully not shown.

*** Before the fight can start, Marin apparently murders Seiya and buries him. [[NoNonsenseNemesis Misty dugs him out just in case, and when he finds him alive he gives him a free shot because he knows Seiya can't harm him before hitting him with the same attack that destroyed Mount Fuji]]. Seiya almost died then and there, and the only reason he managed to scrape a victory is that a quirk of Misty's personality revealed that his best attacks don't work underwater.

* Ikki is already the bringer of MindRape and horribly bloody fights, but he actually tops himself in one memorable fight against Capella, a Silver Saint who threatened Seiya and Saori. Capella's WeaponOfChoice is [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe a set of shields attached to his armor]], which can be also thrown as projectiles - so far so good, huh? Well, Ikki uses his powers to trick the guy into believing he cut off his own hands with said disks/shields (no GoryDiscretionShot here), and goes further when the guy ends up HoistByHisOwnPetard by having said shields fatally injure him in the chest and stomach before he is shown physically unharmed but with his mind broken, as he falls off the cliff they're fighting on.

** During Tenma Kōfuku, an illusion of paradise appears ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UnkBnmhfmA and in the anime, it's accompanying by an incredibly ominous, heavily voice-filtered Buddhist prayer]])... Then Shaka appears, you hear the screams, and that's when you see the poor guys he just blasted with his Cosmo and that Shaka is levitating, towering over a vision of hell. Until the Sanctuary Arc, nobody had survived this attack unless he wanted them to.

** In the anime, the fact that the five Bronze Saints gave Seiya their Cosmo for a Pegasus Comet Fist [[UpToEleven so powerful it disintegrated what remained of his Bronze Cloth and very nearly put Saga in orbit]], and that he... [[NoSell just came back for more]]. Or so he thought, until Saori pointed out that Seiya had dealt a lethal blow to his evil side. But the moment he came back was a major OhCrap moment for everyone present, and we are talking about the five surviving Gold Saints nearly going ThisIsGonnaSuck.

** The Asgard movie features an illusion of Ikki getting ''impaled'' by Thymir Rung’s boomerangs, which serves to conceal the actual outcome: Rung’s boomerangs hit him in the chest.

** Then, when Seiya managed to land in a hit, [[BatmanGambit which Saga fully counted on]]... He literally turned in a ruthless murder machine, with all good in him removed.

** All scenes showing the Yomotsu Hirasaka and the poor wretches falling down the pit to the Underworld with wails of despair. The horror and despair factors are further upped from the original anime: is this the fate awaiting every human living in the Saint Seiya world? This implies the gods are deliberately letting Hades make the afterlife a CrapsackWorld for humanity and have been doing so for untold millenia.

** According to the Saint Seiya Taizen (the series Encyclopedia) not only the Gold Cloths are alive, but they hold a faint ember of their former owner, usually a righteous warrior yearning for justice, thus able to abandon their owner when he's going closer to darkness and evil. Go figure what an utterly despicable, evil and cruel Knight could do if the "moral compass" inside his armor happened to be the embers of the late Deathmask's personality...

* Gemini Saga, appearing to be a sincerely pure and good man, having a seizure in front of Seiya, before turning into evil incarnate out of the blue. YIKES.

** During Tenma Kōfuku, an illusion of paradise appears ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UnkBnmhfmA and in the anime, it's accompanying by an incredibly ominous, heavily voice-filtered Buddhist prayer]])... Then Shaka appears, you hear the screams, and that's when you see the poor guys he just blasted with his Cosmo and that Shaka is levitating over a vision of hell. Until the Sanctuary Arc, nobody had survived this attack unless he wanted them to.

** Benetnasch Mime, aka DissonantSerenity incarnate. Master of illusions, capable of giving even Gold Saints a run for their money with light speed blows, and to top it off, a MusicalAssassin with RazorFloss. The DissonantSerenity part? Shun's Andromeda Chain is capable of sensing hostility and killing intent, YET it did not react at ALL to Mime using RazorFloss to entrap and very nearly END Shun.

*** And also, Ikki does give something back in kind with his illusion upon browsing through Kanon's memories.

** All scenes showing the Yomotsu Hirasaka and the poor wretches falling down the pit to the Underworld with wails of despair. The horror and despair factors are further upped from the original anime.
** What Ikki pulls on Aphrodite sounds like a very mild example at first, but with a helping of FridgeHorror does a very good job of reminding us of the true fear of the Phoenix Demon Illusion Fist : Showing him enjoying his beauty, and then [[JumpScare turning into a grotesque mineral abomination]], which is supposed to be what his soul looks like. THEN, a [[BerserkButton very pissed Aphrodite]] strikes with his Bloody Roses against Ikki's Phoenix Flaming Wings Takeoff. He ends up taking the blow in the face, and as he tries to stand up for more... He realizes [[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own heart was pierced by one of his own roses]]. That's right, not only does the illusion inflict the obvious MindRape, but even if it doesn't kill/neutralize you on the spot, the effects will also not wear off immediately and end up messing with the victim's reflexes and body control, so bad they run the very serious risk of ending up HARMING THEMSELVES if they try a poorly timed counterattack at full force. Once under the spell, WHEN does the illusion wear off exactly?

* In the manga, Cassius collected the severed heads of the opponents he defeated, and was planning doing the same thing with Seiya.

** And to make everything worse-no matter what, he may slip a monkey joke in his attacks just for the hell of it. ''He's having fun doing it''.

*** To make it worse, the attack also wounds the body. In the Hades Saga the Surplices worn by [[spoiler:Saga, Shura and Camus]] get damaged every time he takes a sense, and when the attack debuted against Ikki his Cloth ''disassembled, fell on the floor and disintegrated''.

** Almost forgetting... Even if you kill him, ''he won't stay dead''. Ikki used a [[HeroicSacrifice suicide attack]] to take him down, and all he could manage was to warp the both of them in AnotherDimension, from which Shaka could have ''still'' come out on his own. The only reason he asked for Mu's help in teleporting back to the Sanctuary was because at that point, [[FaceHeelTurn Shaka decided to spare Ikki's life]], and couldn't bring him along on his own. And when he ''did'' die in the Hades Saga, [[spoiler:something that happened only because he threw the fight and even then he had to instruct his opponents on what to do because he was just that superior]], the end result was that [[spoiler:[[StormingTheCastle he had finally found a way to invade Hades' realm and wipe out his army in their base before attacking Hades himself]]]]. There's a reason if Hades, an actual god, was ''[[OhCrap terrified]]'' when he found out Shaka was coming for him...

** During their fight, Ikki nailed him with the [[MindRape Phoenix Genmaken]]. [[NoSell He wouldn't have noticed]], had he not heard Ikki [[CallingYourAttacks shouting its name]]-just as [[AttackReflector he sent it back to him]], sending Ikki to [[https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/sai-no-kawara.html#sainokawara The Riverbed of Death]] where he must carry Shun as a baby through an endless riverbed of sharp rocks while Shun keeps getting heavier, with Shaka offering him relief from the torment if only he'd drop that baby brother of his...

** During Tenma Kōfuku, an illusion of paradise appears (and in the anime, it's accompanying by an incredibly ominous, heavily voice-filtered Buddhist prayer)... Then Shaka appears, you hear the screams, and that's when you see the poor guys he just blasted with his Cosmo and that Shaka is levitating over a vision of hell. Until the Sanctuary Arc, nobody had survived this attack unless he wanted them to.

** During Tenma Kōfuku, an illusion of paradise appears... Then Shaka appears, you hear the screams, and that's when you see the poor guys he just blasted with his Cosmo and that Shaka is levitating over a vision of hell. Until the Sanctuary Arc, nobody had survived this attack unless he wanted them to.

** During their fight, Ikki nailed him with the [[MindRape Phoenix Genmaken]]. [[NoSell He wouldn't have noticed]], had he not heard Ikki [[CallingYourAttacks shouting its name]]-just as [[AttackReflector he sent it back to him]].

* In the manga, Cassius collected the severed heads of the opponents he defeated, and was planning to doing the same thing with Seiya.

* During the Black Saints arc, Seiya has a nightmare about [[spoiler: Mu killing Shiryu]]: In the anime, this is portrayed with a JumpScare moment of Mu pushing Shiryu off a cliff, but in the manga, [[spoiler: Mu beheads Shiryu and uses the blood of his severed head to repair the broken armors. And Mu is sown with a big smile on his face while doing this.]]

* Ikki is already the bringer of MindRape and horribly bloody fights, but he actually tops himself in one memorable fight against Capella, a Silver Saint who threatened Seiya and Saori. Capella's WeaponOfChoice is [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe a set of shields attached to his armor]], which can be also thrown as projectiles - so far so good, huh? Well, Ikki uses his powers to trick the guy into believing he cut off his own hands with said disks/shields (no GoryDiscretionShot here), and goes further when the guy ends up HoistByHisOwnPetard by having said shields fatally injure him in the chest and stomach before he is shown unharmed but with his mind broken and falls off the cliff they're fighting in.
** The manga rendition of his attack against Wolf Nachi in his first appearance is even worse. In the anime, his illusion punches shatter Nachi's cloth and knocks him senseless. In the manga? They shatter his ''body'', ripping off his arms when he tries to defend himself and eventually ''blowing open his torso,'' spilling his guts, giving a clear shot on his spine, before only leaving his smiling head. Ick.
** His attack against Virtue Eligor in the Lucifer movie is nothing to laugh at either. The illusion starts with Eligor ''decapitating'' Ikki, only for his headless body to walk towards Eligor (which he proceeds to stab to no avail) while the fallen head is taunting him. Then said head screams maniacally about sending him to hell while a swarm of locusts comes flying out of it's mouth towards Eligor, only for the head to ''melt'' afterwards, while Eligor is pierced through the chest and falls dead. Jeez!
* Anything that [[BloodKnight Cancer Deathmask]] ever does [[spoiler: until his HeelFaceTurn in the Hades Saga and the ''Soul of Gold'' series.]] Specially the little matter of [[AndIMustScream these "masks" in the Cancer Temple.]] And how he can send his opponents to a really scary fighting field where lack of fighting spirit will make you join the legions of the moaning dead going to Hell, and where one misstep might send you down to your death.

* During the Twelve Temples arc, when the Sagittarius Gold Cloth makes its return, Saga starts doubting whether he actually [[NeverFoundTheBody really managed to off Aeolus or not]]. Saga is sitting in his throne room when all of Saori's ten Bronze Saints barge in to attack. The Gold Saints, all twelve of them and fully armored, jump out of nowhere and put themselves between the invaders and Saga... And then, before Saga can realize there's something wrong with the situation, ''the Gold Saints turn toward him, faces obscured by shadows and only their eyes visible, and come close to kill him themselves''. And there's ''all'' the Gold Saints in the group, including ''[[CardCarryingVillain Deathmask]]'' (who by this point was already killed), ''[[PhysicalGod Shaka]]'' (presumed dead), ''Aeolus'' (who is long dead), Aphrodite ([[TheDreaded described as the most terrifying of the Gold Saints]] by ''Saga himself''), and ''Saga himself''. [[AllJustADream That's when Saga wakes up in terror]]... But this literal nightmare left him so shaken he can't help but look around in fear.

*** Then Saga takes the gloves off and obliterates him with his Galaxian Explosion.

** In the anime, the fact that the five Bronze Saints gave Seiya their Cosmo for a Pegasus Comet Fist [[UpToEleven so powerful it disintegrated what remained of his Bronze Cloth and very nearly put Saga in orbit]], and that he... [[NoSell just came back for more]]. Or so he thought, until Saori pointed out that Seiya had dealt a lethal blow to his evil side. But the moment he came back was a major OhCrap moment for everyone present.
** In the manga, Saga's defeat: he's touched by the light of Athena's shield... And ''something'' comes out of him screaming while he goes back to normal. Apparently he was under a DemonicPossession the whole time... But we don't know ''what''.

** Benetnasch Mime, aka DissonantSerenity incarnate. Master of illusions, capable of giving even Gold Saints a run for their money with lightspeed blows, and to top it off, a MusicalAssassin with RazorFloss. The DissonantSerenity part? Shun's Andromeda Chain is capable of sensing hostility and killing intent, YET it did not react at ALL to Mime using RazorFloss to entrap and very nearly END Shun.