Mars

Mars (マルス, Marusu), the God of War, born Ludwig, is the central antagonist of the first season of Saint Seiya Omega. He was sealed by Seiya years ago, though his resurrection was imminent. Mars' goal is to destroy the world as it is and create a whole new world using the planet of his namesake. Mars can use the element of darkness, including the ability to inflict debilitating wounds called the "Mark of Darkness".

Before the God of War Mars
Main Article: Ludwig

War against Athena
Mars appeared for the first time against the Saints of Athena during the temporary peace that followed after the Holy War of the twentieth century. Leading a group of warriors called the Four Heavenly Kings, Mars struck Earth and attacked Athena (Saori Kido), who alongside Sagittarius Seiya, Andromeda Shun, Dragon Shiryū, Cygnus Hyōga and Phoenix Ikki would rise to combat this new evil.

When the battle was about to be decided, a huge dark meteor fell on the battlefield, stopping the fight. Athena tried to stop the meteor until she saw two newborns, a redheaded boy (Kōga) and a girl with light blue hair (Aria). Athena then used her Cosmo to save them, but could not fully stop the meteor, which struck Mars and transformed his body even further, as he once again came after Athena in a clash of light and darkness. Athena's Cosmo went to Aria while the dark Cosmo went to Kōga, tenporarily greying his skin to indicate its control for the first time. Ironically, it was Kōga who Athena was able to rescue while Aria was taken by Mars.

A New Power
Mars and his army later resurfaced with a new power to attack Saori while Kōga was still a baby. Porting his new Galaxy armor, Mars and his army now dominated the element of darkness, thanks to the meteor that ended the previous conflict. He was thwarted again by Seiya and the Legendary Bronze Saints, this time sealed away, but not without cursing his enemies with darkness to prevent them from burning their Cosmos.

Third Head
Despite having been defeated by the Saints, Mars was not out for the count. Alongside his new wife, the dark witch Medea, he raised Sonia into becoming the Hornet in his army of Martians in addition to conceiving a second child, Eden, who he planned to place as king to his new world. When Eden was still small, Medea took him to where his father was sealed. Mars was able to manifest and reveal to Eden his ambition to create a world without conflict and pain, inspiring the young man to fight for the goals of his father.

Thirteen years after the last confrontation with Seiya, Mars returned to face Athena for the third time, now recovered from his previous battle. He launched a surprise attack on Athena as she and Kōga were talking on her private island. With Seiya and the other Saints out of play and Athena's cloth nowhere to be found, Mars easily overpowered Ophiuchus Shaina, Kōga, and Athena, cursing the latter with darkness as well as abducting her.

Next on the agenda was the deception of Gold Saint Capricorn Ionia, who Medea had manipulated into joining Mars' goals through, ironically, his love for Athena. Under orders from Mars, the Palestra headmaster would formulate and execute a plan to steal the Cosmo of everyone there, destroying the barrier erected to protect Athena's school and leaving an army of invading Martians free to take over.

Construction of the Babel Tower
Mars waited patiently at the Sanctuary for Ionia to complete the invasion and bring Aria back, before using a fraction of Aria's Cosmo to completely destroy the sanctuary and in its place erecting the Tower of Babel, a necessary tool to achieve their goals. Mars then had all Saints of Athena that were subjugated in the Palestra trapped in the central pillar of the tower so their Cosmo can be extracted, and kept Aria in one of the lower floors of the tower so as to stabilize it with her Light Cosmo.

In addition to all this, five elemental ruins located in different parts of the world were being used to suck their element's Cosmo from the Earth itself and send it to the Tower.

While contemplating the Tower, Mars felt a familiar Cosmo during the fight outside with Kōga and the other young intruding Bronze Saints (Lionet Sōma, Wolf Haruto, Aquila Yuna, Dragon Ryūhō) against his right hand man Leo Mycenae. Not taking any chances, Mars intervened and quickly overpowered Kōga, ready to put down the new Pegasus Saint, before being interrupted once again by the sudden appearance of Seiya. As the Sagittarius Saint and the God of War fought once again, releasing a great burst of Cosmo in the process, Mars was surprised at Seiya's feat but still noted that the renowned Saint's light was running out.

When the Bronze Saints took advantage of Seiya's intervention escape with Aria, Mars would have Mycenae protect the tower while sending his daughter, Hornet Sonia, out to take Aria back.

Control over the Sanctuary
Mars, who'd also become the Sanctuary's Grand Pope prior to the start of the series, was able to gain and manipulate the trust of the Saints in the Sanctuary. To stop Kōga and his friends from interfering with the elemental ruins and also to take back Aria, Mars used this position to send other Saints after them by branding them as traitors, blaming them for the Sanctuary's destruction and for "kidnapping" "Athena" (Aria).

Eden eventually retrieved Aria and brought her back to Mars. Shortly thereafter, father and son would have a short conversation as to the necessity of bringing Earth to ruin for the creation of the new world.

Darkness Ruins
After the destruction of the Thunder Ruins, Eden, Aria and the Bronze Saints were all engulfed by darkness and brought into the Darkness Ruins. Observing from afar with Medea, Mars would enter the ruins himself hoping to secure Aria's return. However, Aria rebelled and awoke Athena's Staff of Nike with her light Cosmo, strengthening the Bronze Saints enough that they were able to fight him. Despite Mars dropping them several times and tapping further into his power, the Aria-boosted Saints continued to persist to the point Kōga was able to strike a blow to his face. Infuriated, the god attacked Kōga, then impaled Aria's chest with a huge red spear, much to Eden's anguish, before taking the Nike staff and leaving with his wife and children in tow.

Twelve Houses of the Zodiac
Mars would retreat to the planet of his namesake, which would soon be twelve hours away from eclipsing the Sun, at which point he could finally fulfill his plan to destroy Earth's society and create the new world on his planet. They connected the planets using a Sanctuary-like stairway in the sky with twelve new Houses of the Zodiac. To obstruct the Bronze Saints' path up the stairway, they had all the Gold Saints in their employ stationed at their houses.

Mars and Medea could at first be seen together in a dark chamber atop the Zodiac tower observing the Bronze Saints' journey up the Houses of Zodiac through a crystal ball. However, while Mars later took in the view as time approached for his plan, Medea stayed in the chamber and began to work her manipulations. It was during this time that we began to see the differing perspectives between the two. Mars scolded Medea when she briefly stepped out alongside him for giving Sonia the Scorpio cloth, a decision which led to his daughter's tragic downfall, and lamented the loss of Mycenae, who Medea had killed by her brother Pisces Amor.

Last Battle
When Kōga and Eden finally reached him, he explained to them his life story and his true plan, before showing them his face, which was seemingly made of fire on the right side, causing Eden to remark that he wasn't even human anymore and that he truly was the God of War.

Mars' power would only grow during his fight against Eden and Koga. However, Eden was able to force Mars to remember who he really is by telling him how its plans to build a new world ended with all those who supported him eventually leaving him. This spurred Ludwig into taking control of the body for a moment, during which Koga would attack, destroying the darkness that dominated Ludwig. Still alive, Ludwig tried to make amends by going to get Aria's staff to prevent the destruction of Earth, only to be struck by a huge red beam from Mars the planet, killing him.

Special features of the Galaxy Armor
The attires of Mars and his subordinates are called Galaxy armors. Mars' Galaxy is a single garment, has a black tone and is accompanied by a long red cape covering his shoulders, with long spines on the elbows and shoulders. His helmet, also black, is detailed with red lines and yellow adornments, with a flame burning steadily at the highest point. This flame would turn out to be emanating from his face.

His garment completely covers both his body and his face, with his eyes only being visible in a diabolic red glow during certain expressive moments. The most striking part of his armor is the breastplate, which differs from any other outfit already seen before, including the other Martians' Galaxy armors: the area from his chest all the way down to his waist was covered with the mark of darkness, which in this series is represented by a clear view of stars in space. His flashback reveals that this came from when he was struck by the meteor that came down in the middle of his first foray against Athena, his armor being more or less normal if extravagant until that point.

Fighting Skills
Mars, unlike other Gods, leads his army at the forefront in battle, also preferring to face stronger opponents directly instead of leaving them to his subordinates, as seen when he fought Sagittarius Seiya several times as well as when he came forward to eliminate Pegasus Kōga at the Tower of Babel. Mars is also able to control the element of Darkness.During his battle with koga and eden he got more and more stronger and was strong enough to proclaim himself the strongest in the universe

Mark of Darkness
Mars' ability to manipulate the darkness is extended into the unique ability to inflict dark marks on his opponents. These scars are represented by a view of space, the same way as the effect surrounding the body of his armor caused by the meteor strike which gave him control of the dark in the first place. These wounds cause constant debilitating pain upon those afflicted, with no known means of treatment, and continue to spread from the point of origin. The rate at which the scar expands across a victim's body is directly proportionate to the burning of their Cosmo--it will spread at a crawling pace under normal circumstances, but burning Cosmo at an intense rate causes it to quickly consume the body. Because of this, the marks effectively prevent the victim from fighting with all his/her might, lest they risk their body being completely taken by the darkness. This also prevents saints from using their Cloths, due to the Cosmo necessary to wear them.

Mars is able to inflict these marks via different methods of attack: either directly or indirectly, as well as from point blank range or long distance. It's with this ability that he was able to take the Legendary Saints (with the exeption of Seiya) and Shaina out of commission, directly influencing the results of his third venture on Earth.

Following Mars' defeat and the destruction of the evil Primordial God Abzu, Aria's staff lead to a phenomenon of rain-like Cosmo, which cured all those afflicted by the Mark of Darkness upon contact. Abzu's death appeared to have caused the Mark to vanish entirely, as other previously afflicted peolpe were shown to have made full recoveries.

Techniques

 * Rubel Sidus Gungnir (ルーベル・シドゥス・グングニル, Rūberu Shidusu Gunguniru): Mars uses his cosmo to launch thousands of red spears in the air, falling on an opponent with devastating force. If the opponent is close, while spears fall on it, creates a Mars in his hand and strikes against its target in the form of a powerful punch.
 * Murus Ignis (ムルス・イグニス, Murusu Igunisu): Mars creates three flames from his fingers, going towards the opponent. When touched, the little flames turn into a huge wall of fire, engulfing the victim in a whirlwind of flames.
 * Rubel Sidus Storm (ルーベル・シドゥス・ストーム, Rūberu Shidusu Sutōmu): Mars, using the cosmos of Darkness, casts a huge storm that covers the opponent. While the enemy is inside the storm, he is hit by numerous energy beams.
 * Rubel Sidus Meteor (ルーベル・シドゥス・メテオ, Rūberu Shidusu Meteo): Mars launches many meteors from his own body to hit his opponent. These meteors can also unite and form a single powerful attack.