In 1990 (previously 1986, but Kurumada moved dates), in Elysion; the
five Bronze Saints Seiya, Hyōga, Shun, Shiryū and Ikki, having wreaked
havoc in the Underworld's army and succeeding in resurrecting the God
Cloths, engage the god Hades in a final duel to the death.
During
the battle, Hades remembers that he has seen Seiya's face before and
comes to the conclusion that he faced him before. He thus starts
reminiscing about his previous host body, and the story starts 247 years
prior, in the 18th century.
The protagonist, the Pegasus Saint
of this era, is an orphan who is best friends with a boy named Alone,
the host of Hades. Former Bronze Saints Dohko and Sion, two prominent
characters in Kurumada's original manga as the sole survivors of the
holy war of that century, have just been promoted to Gold Saints and
eventually the two duos meet.