Cancer Deathmask

Cancer Deathmask (蟹座のデスマスク, Kyansā no Desumasuku) is one of Gold Saints. He is the most vicious and cruel in comparison to all of them. His constellation is Cancer and initially was a guardian of sanctuary alongside 11 other Gold Saints.

Personality and background
Deathmask was one of the first Gold Saints to be shown in both manga and the anime adaptation. Since his first appearance, he was depicted as a very sadistic and malevolent man who used his power as he wanted without bending to Athena's will. Deathmask covers his temple with the faces of his fallen victims - warriors and civilian men, women and even innocent children. Deathmask is one the few Saints who knows the truth about the Pope and the Gemini Saint, along with Pisces Aphrodite, but he continues obeying his orders. He believes that justice is not a real concept and is just a name given to the will of the stronger, since those with power can force their wills on the weak and call it fair. Even after joining sides with Athena, Deathmask remains a diabolic, sadistic person, facing Aries Mu and Pegasus Seiya without showing remorse and even attempting to kill the latter. In the US version his name was changed to Mephisto. It is unknown if Deathmask is his real name or a title since he collects the faces of his victims.

The Sanctuary saga
Deathmask first appeared in Rozan Peaks. He was there to reclaim the Libra Gold cloth from Dokho and to kill him under the order of Pope Ares (or Gemini Saga). Before he could reclaim the Gold Cloth and harm Dokho, Shiryu stepped in and challenged him. Although Shiryu was a strong saint, he was no match to a Gold Saint. The battle between Deathmask and Shiryu came to a halt when Mu, the Gold Saint of Aries, stepped in. He told Deathmask that he will not allow anyone to harm Shiryu because Shiryu is his friend. Seeing the fact that facing two Gold Saints is a huge disadvantage, Deathmask decided to retreat. Although Shiryu was not able to defeat Deathmask, he did prove to his master and to himself that he could still battle as a Bronze Saint even if he was blind. After this incident, Shiryu rejoined Seiya and the others as Bronze Saint of Dragon after the long hiatus. He would face Deathmask once again at the Temple of Cancer in the Sanctuary.

Shiryu faced Deathmask for the second time when he and Seiya reached his temple in the Sanctuary. When the two Bronze Saints arrived, they were surprised to see so many masks on the walls of the temple, even those of children.

Suddenly, Deathmask appeared, and explained that these masks are the faces of the "enemies of justice" he has defeated as well as the innocent victims that were caught in the fire while he was "dealing justice", and finished by saying that he intended to add them both to his collection. Shiryu told Seiya to go ahead to the Temple of Leo while he finishes the business between him and Deathmask; to make this possible, Shiryu attacked Deathmask first, and Seiya jumped over Deathmask's head to get away.

When the battle began, it was obvious that Deathmask had the upperhand. Not only was he a Gold Saint, he also observed Shiryu's attack before at the Rozan Peaks. Using his technique, he sent Shiryu to the gate of hell. There, he tortured Shiryu to his own pleasure.

After he felt satisfied, he tried to throw Shiryu into the death hole, a pit of hell. However, he was interrupted by the prayers of Shiryu's sworn friend, Shunrei. Angered, he uses his telekinesis to throw Shunrei off the cliff in the Five Old Peaks. Angered for his friend's apparent death, Shiryu started to fight back, swearing that he'd kill Deathmask.

During the fight, Shiryu was again almost thrown into the death hole, and again Deathmask tried to torture him. Shiryu, in turn, smashed Deathmask's ankle to defend himself. Deathmask laughed and told him that it was useless because he was protected by the Gold Cloth. Yet, to his shock, his ankle's armor suddenly disintegrated. Then, piece by piece, his entire cloth left his body. Obviously, the Gold Cloth of Cancer abandoned him due to his evil deeds and more importantly, because he completely forgot what true meaning of justice was.

Wanting to preserve his honor and defeat Deathmask in a fair match, Shiryu took off his Bronze cloth. Using his seventh sense, he defeated the evil Gold Saint by throwing him into the pit of hell with his rising dragon blow.

The Hades
Cancer Deathmask, wearing his Specter Surplice, in a screenshot from the animeLater in the Hades Arc (both in the manga and the anime), Deathmask returned with Pisces Aphrodite and Aries Shion with one apparent intention: to kill Athena. In the showdown against Aries Mu and Pegasus Seiya, he was banished into Hades' Castle by Starlight Extinction. Then, he was thrown into Yomotsu due to his own Mekai Ha attack which was reflected during a fight with Wyvern Rhadamanthys, one of Mekai's Judges, with only 10% of his original strength, Deathmask and Aphrodite were easily defeated and thrown into the Yomotsu Pit. Shion revealed his plan of awakening Athena's Cloth even at the cost of being called traitors by history, thereby revealing that Deathmask was not evil at all. Later, Deathmask arrived with the Cancer Gold Cloth to break The Wailing Wall. Surprisingly, he showed that even in death he remained loyal to Athena.

Power and abilities
Cancer Deathmask, in a manga color illustration by the author Masami Kurumada.As a Gold Saint, Deathmask mastered the 7th sense, hence he can move at the speed of the light. He has shown strong psychic powers, using his telekinetic abilities over a target in China while he was in the Yomotsu Hirasaka. He often uses this power to levitate in the air as well, as shown in his first fight against Dragon Shiryu and when he fought the Giant Kyanos Phlox. So far, he only showed a single special technique: Deathmask himself can freely travel from the living dimension to the Yomotsu Hirasaka without suffering any consequence. However, enemies sent there through the Praesepe Underworld Waves are heavily affected and their bodies lose almost all strength. Normally it is impossible for someone's soul to travel back from the Yomotsu Hirasaka. It is implied that, like the other Gold Saints, Deathmask reached the 8th sense at the end of the Hades's saga to be able to regain his will on the underworld and help the other Gold Saints.
 * Praesepe Underworld Waves (積尸気冥界波, SekiShiki Meikai Ha?): Tseih She Ke, pronounced in Japanese as Seki Shi Ki, is the Chinese name for the Beehive Cluster (also known as Praesepe). Deathmask blasts his opponent with a spiral cosmic-wave attack. As a result, his opponent's soul is sent into the Yomotsu Hirasaka, the Japanese gateway to the underworld, a dimension between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

Cloth, constellation and Temple
Deathmask's guardian constellation is Cancer, and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : The crab that Hera sent to attack Heracles while he was battling the Lernaean Hydra.

The temple he guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as KyoKaiKyuu, the "Temple of the Giant Crab".

Movies
Although the events depicted in it are not canonical to Kurumada's original manga storyline, in the 3rd Saint Seiya movie, Deathmask returned from death to duel with Shiryu once more. By this point, Shiryu had matured in power and, having fought Deathmask once before, he put up a better fight. Deathmask still seemed to have the upper hand. However, Shiryu was only pretending in order to lure Deathmask into telling him the whereabouts of Athena. After he realises there's still a chance to save her life, Shiryu turns the tables on him. Taking advantage of a handlock between he and the gold saint, Shiryu managed to land a point blank, full power rising dragon blow to Deathmask's face. The blow proved lethal to the gold saint as his face was not protected.

Previous Saints: The Lost Canvas
Note: The Saint Seiya Lost Canvas status as canon is unknown. As revealed in the sidestory Saint Seiya Lost Canvas, the Gold Saint of Cancer in the 15th century Holy War was Cancer Sage. Sage functioned as Cancer Saint until the ordination of his student, Manigoldo, as the 18th century Cancer Gold Saint. Originally, Sage's twin brother, Hakurei, was to become the Cancer Gold Saint, but he left the role to Sage, Hakurei himself becoming the Altar Silver Saint. As revealed in the sidestory Saint Seiya Lost Canvas, the Cancer Saint in the 18th century was known as Cancer Manigoldo. Manigoldo shares some personality traits and the look possessed by the 20th century Cancer Gold Saint, though he isn't evil. Also, Manigoldo possesses three more techniques besides Praesepe Underworld Waves.
 * Cancer Sage
 * Cancer Manigoldo