OVA
Description
Kardia di Scorpion is the Gold Saint guarding the eighth house of the Sanctuary in the Saint Seiya prequel, The Lost Canvas. A Greek man of 22 years, he stands 185 centimeters tall and carries a diagnosis that defines his very existence: a congenital and incurable heart condition. This illness, which caused him immense suffering since childhood, is the central engine of his character, transforming a potentially fatal weakness into the source of his volatile power.
At the age of ten, after doctors gave him only a year to live, Kardia fled his sanitarium. His goal was not to seek a cure but to live intensely before dying. His wanderings led him to the ruins near the Sanctuary where he encountered Krest, the former水瓶座 Gold Saint and teacher of the later水瓶座 saint, Degel. Krest recognized the boy's fiery will to live a meaningful life, however short, and offered him a gift: the sacred blood of a previous incarnation of the goddess Athena. This divine blood did not erase his ailment but instead embedded his illness with a paradoxical power. His heart began to generate incredible, burning heat, becoming a furnace that could fuel his cosmos at the cost of consuming his own life. However, this heat could become uncontrollable. It was Degel who would later use his freezing techniques to stabilize Kardia's burning heart, forging a deep and practical bond between the Scorpion and the水瓶座.
Kardia's personality is explosive, prideful, and unapologetically arrogant. He is a merciless combatant who is often introduced as a sadist who enjoys torturing his enemies with his signature technique, deriving pleasure from their pain and terror. He is boastful, impulsive, and has a notorious lack of patience, despising boredom above almost all else. This aggressive demeanor, however, conceals a noble and surprisingly insightful core. He is brutally honest, speaking his mind without regard for politeness, yet he possesses an unerring ability to perceive the truth of a situation and the strength of another's heart. This is most evident in his relationship with Sasha, the reincarnation of Athena in the 18th century. In one of his most audacious and memorable acts, Kardia, unaware of her divine identity, took the young girl on a journey to America simply because she was bored and lost in the Sanctuary. He treated her not as a goddess but as a child, and in doing so, he gave her the confidence and normalcy she needed to eventually accept her terrifying responsibilities. He is perhaps the only person ever to have pinched the face of the goddess Athena, an act that perfectly encapsulates his fearless and irreverent spirit.
Kardia's primary motivation is not duty or abstract justice, but a deeply personal and almost hedonistic quest for a meaningful death. He does not wish to live forever, nor does he fear his end. His overriding desire is to burn at full power, to fight an opponent so mighty that he is forced to use every last erg of the heat in his damaged heart, dying in a blaze of glory rather than fading away in a sickbed. He fights for the sheer thrill of battle, seeking out extreme danger as an addict seeks a fix. This makes him a terrifyingly effective, if unpredictable, warrior for Athena. He plays a crucial role in the Holy War, most notably when he accompanies Degel on a mission to Atlantis to awaken Poseidon. There, he faces the terrifying冥界三巨头, Radamanthys of the Wyvern. Abandoning any pretense of strategy or self-preservation, Kardia willingly ignites his own heartbeat to its maximum temperature, unleashing a variant of his technique designed to boil an opponent's blood from within. In this suicidal final stand, he defeats the powerful judge of the underworld, finally achieving the ultimate combat he had always craved.
His key relationships are few but intense. His bond with Degel of水瓶座 is central, anchoring his existence. Where Degel is calm, calculating, and rational, Kardia is hot-blooded and impulsive. They are a classic study in opposites: ice and fire, reason and passion. Degel's cold keeps Kardia's lethal fever from killing him prematurely, while Kardia's fire often reminds Degel of his own humanity and the urgency of their mission. He is also a mentor figure and protector to Yato of the Unicorn, having saved the young boy and his sister from a specter and inspiring him to become a Saint.
Though he appears as a static agent of chaos, Kardia undergoes a subtle but profound internal development. He begins as a character resigned to an early death, focused solely on finding a worthy opponent to take him down. Through his interactions with Sasha and his final battle against Radamanthys, his perspective shifts from a selfish desire for a thrilling demise to a heroic, selfless sacrifice for the sake of his friends and the cause of Athena. His death is not a defeat but a deliberate, triumphant act of will. Ultimately, his spirit joins the other fallen Gold Saints in a final, united assault to aid in the defeat of Hades himself.
As a fighter, Kardia utilizes the星座 of Scorpius. His primary technique is the Scarlet Needle, where he uses his elongated, poisonous nails to strike the fifteen pressure points on an opponent's body, corresponding to the fifteen stars of the scorpion. Each strike inflicts excruciating pain and progressively shuts down the victim's five senses, leading to madness or death. His ultimate techniques are powered by his heated heart. The Scarlet Needle Katakaio injects super-high heat into the wound, causing the opponent's blood to boil and their flesh to burn from the inside out. The fatal final strike, the Scarlet Needle Antares, concentrates his entire life force into a single, lethal blow that is as destructive to himself as it is to his enemy. He is capable of using this attack with both hands, his left hand being more dangerous as it is closer to his flaming heart. For Kardia di Scorpion, every battle is a dance with death, and his own body is both the weapon and the timer, counting down to a fiery and brilliant conclusion.
At the age of ten, after doctors gave him only a year to live, Kardia fled his sanitarium. His goal was not to seek a cure but to live intensely before dying. His wanderings led him to the ruins near the Sanctuary where he encountered Krest, the former水瓶座 Gold Saint and teacher of the later水瓶座 saint, Degel. Krest recognized the boy's fiery will to live a meaningful life, however short, and offered him a gift: the sacred blood of a previous incarnation of the goddess Athena. This divine blood did not erase his ailment but instead embedded his illness with a paradoxical power. His heart began to generate incredible, burning heat, becoming a furnace that could fuel his cosmos at the cost of consuming his own life. However, this heat could become uncontrollable. It was Degel who would later use his freezing techniques to stabilize Kardia's burning heart, forging a deep and practical bond between the Scorpion and the水瓶座.
Kardia's personality is explosive, prideful, and unapologetically arrogant. He is a merciless combatant who is often introduced as a sadist who enjoys torturing his enemies with his signature technique, deriving pleasure from their pain and terror. He is boastful, impulsive, and has a notorious lack of patience, despising boredom above almost all else. This aggressive demeanor, however, conceals a noble and surprisingly insightful core. He is brutally honest, speaking his mind without regard for politeness, yet he possesses an unerring ability to perceive the truth of a situation and the strength of another's heart. This is most evident in his relationship with Sasha, the reincarnation of Athena in the 18th century. In one of his most audacious and memorable acts, Kardia, unaware of her divine identity, took the young girl on a journey to America simply because she was bored and lost in the Sanctuary. He treated her not as a goddess but as a child, and in doing so, he gave her the confidence and normalcy she needed to eventually accept her terrifying responsibilities. He is perhaps the only person ever to have pinched the face of the goddess Athena, an act that perfectly encapsulates his fearless and irreverent spirit.
Kardia's primary motivation is not duty or abstract justice, but a deeply personal and almost hedonistic quest for a meaningful death. He does not wish to live forever, nor does he fear his end. His overriding desire is to burn at full power, to fight an opponent so mighty that he is forced to use every last erg of the heat in his damaged heart, dying in a blaze of glory rather than fading away in a sickbed. He fights for the sheer thrill of battle, seeking out extreme danger as an addict seeks a fix. This makes him a terrifyingly effective, if unpredictable, warrior for Athena. He plays a crucial role in the Holy War, most notably when he accompanies Degel on a mission to Atlantis to awaken Poseidon. There, he faces the terrifying冥界三巨头, Radamanthys of the Wyvern. Abandoning any pretense of strategy or self-preservation, Kardia willingly ignites his own heartbeat to its maximum temperature, unleashing a variant of his technique designed to boil an opponent's blood from within. In this suicidal final stand, he defeats the powerful judge of the underworld, finally achieving the ultimate combat he had always craved.
His key relationships are few but intense. His bond with Degel of水瓶座 is central, anchoring his existence. Where Degel is calm, calculating, and rational, Kardia is hot-blooded and impulsive. They are a classic study in opposites: ice and fire, reason and passion. Degel's cold keeps Kardia's lethal fever from killing him prematurely, while Kardia's fire often reminds Degel of his own humanity and the urgency of their mission. He is also a mentor figure and protector to Yato of the Unicorn, having saved the young boy and his sister from a specter and inspiring him to become a Saint.
Though he appears as a static agent of chaos, Kardia undergoes a subtle but profound internal development. He begins as a character resigned to an early death, focused solely on finding a worthy opponent to take him down. Through his interactions with Sasha and his final battle against Radamanthys, his perspective shifts from a selfish desire for a thrilling demise to a heroic, selfless sacrifice for the sake of his friends and the cause of Athena. His death is not a defeat but a deliberate, triumphant act of will. Ultimately, his spirit joins the other fallen Gold Saints in a final, united assault to aid in the defeat of Hades himself.
As a fighter, Kardia utilizes the星座 of Scorpius. His primary technique is the Scarlet Needle, where he uses his elongated, poisonous nails to strike the fifteen pressure points on an opponent's body, corresponding to the fifteen stars of the scorpion. Each strike inflicts excruciating pain and progressively shuts down the victim's five senses, leading to madness or death. His ultimate techniques are powered by his heated heart. The Scarlet Needle Katakaio injects super-high heat into the wound, causing the opponent's blood to boil and their flesh to burn from the inside out. The fatal final strike, the Scarlet Needle Antares, concentrates his entire life force into a single, lethal blow that is as destructive to himself as it is to his enemy. He is capable of using this attack with both hands, his left hand being more dangerous as it is closer to his flaming heart. For Kardia di Scorpion, every battle is a dance with death, and his own body is both the weapon and the timer, counting down to a fiery and brilliant conclusion.