Cosmo (小宇宙（コスモ）, Kosumo) is the main source of power in the Saint Seiya universe, but it's more than that. Cosmo is described as a philosophical concept and seems to take inspiration from both western and eastern religious
A typical picture of Cosmos in Saint Seiya.
philosophies. Cosmo is the source of life for all living beings and also the reason all matter in the universe exists. It seems that Cosmo may also be related to the movement of atoms, so it's clear that with a sufficiently powerful Cosmo it's possible to alter the nature of any object, from destroying atoms to stopping them. The origin of Cosmo is the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe, and any time Cosmo is burned inside a body, it's a smaller scale reproduction of the real Big Bang. All human beings have Cosmo deep inside themselves, but only a few are aware of it, and even fewer are able to burn it and/or increase it until it explodes. Being able to burn Cosmo gives a person superhuman abilities like breaking rocks, hitting faster than the speed of sound, firing up to
Tenma has been feeling his Cosmos since childhood.
100 blows per second, etc. But the more the Cosmo is increased, the more extraordinary the power becomes and the harder it is for a human to control. Saints are those who are typically trained with the purpose of awakening their hidden Cosmo and thus becoming able to accomplish extraordinary feats. It doesn't matter how strong a warrior is, without the use of Cosmo they will never be able to stand a chance against even the weakest Saint. Among Saints, the Bronze Saints
Dohko explains the nature of Cosmos.
have a relatively superficial awareness of their Cosmo and while being far beyond any normal humans, they just scratch the surface of what Cosmo is capable of. Silver Saints are significantly stronger and while they are not yet fully aware of Cosmo, they have skills that greatly outclass a normal Bronze Saint. It's implied that not only Saints awake their Cosmo, but the same is true for warriors of other Gods, although they often don't face the same harsh and deadly training a Saint does to awake his/her Cosmo. At any rate, Cosmo is heavily driven by emotions, so it happens that a great willpower or a desperate situation could allow a Saint to greatly surpass his usual limits, although without the right awareness, this happens to be a brief power increase.
Seventh Sense
A Saint that is deeply aware of the nature of their Cosmo discovers that Cosmo is actually the seventh of the human senses, after the normal five senses and the sixth that is considered intuition. With this awareness, a Saint is able to draw out the true potential of their Cosmo and achieve exceptionally powerful feats far beyond those of even a normal Saint, like wielding a power destructive enough to pulverize a star, reach the speed of light, or being able to punch billions of times per second. The Saints who are typically aware that
A scene when Mu explains that Cosmos is actually Seventh Sense.
Cosmo is actually the Seventh Sense are the Gold Saints and this is the main factor that makes them the strongest among Saints. Although, there are some talented Saints that, even being of lower ranks, are able to awaken to the knowledge of the Seventh Sense. This allows them to fight on the same level as Gold Saints and sometimes they are so skilled as to overcome Gold Saints themselves. The most famous example are the 5 main protagonists Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun and Ikki, that during the battle at the 12 Zodiac Temples they awakened their Seventh Sense and defeated some of the Gold Saints. Although never mentioned with the name of Seventh Sense, it's clear that the high ranked warriors of other deities' armies have a Cosmo that is equivalent to that of Seventh Sense, for example
Seiya awakens his Seventh Sense and burns his Cosmos beyond that of Aldebaran.
Poseidon's Marina Generals or most of Hades' Celestial Star Specters, but also many other anime-only fighters like God Warriors of Asgard or movie characters. Generally it's shown that all the elite class warriors of any army have this kind of Cosmo. Being aware of the Seventh Sense is not a definite level of power, because the rule "the power of a Saint relies on how much he burns his Cosmo" still applies to those aware of Seventh Sense. Two Gold Saint level warriors may be stronger or weaker the more they burn their Cosmo, so there can be a particularly skilled fighter or a naturally
Seiya reaches Supreme Seventh Sense exceeding even the Gold Saints and turning his Cloth to gold.
gifted genius of battle that is able to burn his Cosmo far above the average. The 5 main protagonists are again a good example because they managed to overcome Gold Saints themselves many times. There seems to be a level called "Supreme Seventh Sense" or "Extreme Seventh Sense" that appears to be the maximum extension of the human Cosmo, a level so high as to generate a small-scale Big Bang, and also an extension far above even the capacity of many Gold Saints. Seiya and the others reached this ultimate extent many times not only against the Gold Saints, but especially during later battles against Marina Generals (and probably God Warriors in the anime-only Asgard saga). On these occasions their Bronze Cloths were reborn with the golden blood drawn out from their true nature, shining with a golden light similar to Gold Cloths. Because of the fact that Cosmo is actually a human sense, it happens that with a loss of one or more of the other six senses, the seventh refines itself. This strategy is exploited deliberately by all the known Virgo Gold Saints: Shaka, Asmita and Shijima. This allow them to always have a superior Cosmo. It happened that other Saints exploited this effect but without having planned it. During the Myth Age all human beings were aware of the Seventh Sense and thus the distinction between humans and deities was less marked.
Eighth Sense
If Seventh Sense is the Cosmos of natural life, there is a Cosmos of the soul and of supernatural life. At the same
At the very edge of death, Shaka awakened the Eighth Sense.
rate as any living being has Seventh Sense hidden deep inside, while not being aware of it (besides a few people), the soul of a deceased person has not Seventh Sense anymore, because he/she has not any life left, but he/she has Eighth Sense instead. The Eighth Sense is called "Arayashiki", a word from Buddhism that means "source, storehouse", and it's the eighth level of human consciousness, not only overcoming theories but also overcoming axioms. Most people, also counting Saints and even Gold Saints, by the time of their death lose the Seventh Sense and become souls with only the Eighth Sense, but they are not aware of it, so they become like ghosts or zombies (superego, the false power up) and are subjugated by the rules of the Underworld, being condemned to the pain of Hell. Those few enlightened that in the moment of death burn their Cosmos to the extreme limit overcoming the power of Seventh Sense, wake up at the Eighth Sense, a Cosmos superior to Seventh Sense and burning it they exceed death, being able to
Seiya instinctively burns his Cosmos up to the Eighth Sense while falling into the world of the dead.
reach the Underworld remaining alive and transcending the concepts of life and death. Since 'life and death' is bigger than the derivative 'meaning of life and death', and the 'dignity' of a Saint is bigger than 'life and death'. It is even transcending one's dignity which has been being insulted, stopping this way the reincarnations circle and becoming close to the nature of the Gods. Shaka has been called "The closest man to the Gods" because he was one of the few aware of the Eighth Sense. He went Nirvana at the Sala Trees after the Athena Exclamation assault and it was not just a common 'feign death'. Being the Eighth Sense a transcendental concept, it's not easy to guess all its features and it's power stays definitely beyond the human limits. It is abstruse, esoteric, unfathomable... What all 1-7 senses constantly maintaining, all solved problems, all volitions, all quirks, all nuances, are still far from the Eighth Sense. For too long, most people are still unable to access to it. The path of awaking the Eighth Sense is to awake the causality. A good example when Kanon is being punished by Milo, Milo feels great. Later, in Virgo Temple, Saga is unconsciously driven by the 'emotion between twins', attacks Milo offensively and is considered a revenge. Milo then feels lost. Saga even finally decides to use Athena Exclamation again. Reminding this but not a common 'backfire' and some other entire chain of events can awake the causality and Eighth Sense. Putting it into personal skills but not an ordinary 'conclusion' will wield this great power. Facing ones own demons that once feared. The strongest
Seiya damages even Rhadamanthys shooting his Ryu Sei Ken with a Cosmos burned to the Eighth Sense, but at the cost of Orphée life.
Saints appeared in the series, while in the need to, have shown to be able to wield Eighth Sense, Seiya and the others that many times have shown to be able to achieve even miracles, or Kanon, equal to his brother Saga and thus among the strongest for Cosmos and abilities, or the legendary Dohko, considered an invincible master even by the other Gold Saints. Eighth Sense power hasn't being used only to overcome death, but also during the battles against the most powerful Specters like the 3 Judges, for example Seiya against Rhadamanthys or Sisyphus to gain the upper hand against Aiacos. Eighth Sense has been also exploited by Virgo Asmita to create the rosary with 108 beads to trap the souls of Specters. He had to reach the same Cosmos as the Mokurenji tree that grows in the 7th Prison of Hell, the sole form of life in the whole Hell. And of course, during the time 12 Gold Saints breaking the Wailing Wall.
Once completely awakened, the Eighth Consciousness will be transformed into the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Seventh Consciousness into the Equality (alt. Universal Nature) Wisdom, the Sixth Consciousness into the Profound Observing Wisdom and First to Fifth Consciousnesses into the All Performing (alt. Perfection of Action) Wisdom.
Big Will
This is the name as the divine Cosmos it is often referred. It's mentioned in the Hypermyth as the true essence of Cosmos, a source of power and existence without boundaries. Gods possess this full awareness of Cosmos, as
Greatest Eclipse: Hades can easily manipulate the whole Solar System with his unlimited Cosmos.
they would be Cosmos itself. Powers granted by this knowledge are absolutely infinite, but only higher Gods are fully aware of this power, while minor Gods, although being hundred times stronger than even the strongest human warriors, are far from the absolute and unlimited power. With this infinite Cosmos, there is nothing impossible to achieve up to deeply alter the core rules of nature and universe. The real powers of this Cosmos are not yet fully explained in the series, but it is so far beyond human comprehension that may be not easy to fully understand it. Poseidon and Hades used this divine Cosmos to empower Mariners and Specters since they were normal people originally. Being the absolute power, things like blasting 5 Gold Cloths to pieces with a single blow like Thanatos did, or surpass the power of Absolute Zero like Hyoga probably did, can be still seen as insignificant feats. The only way a human could oppose this absolute Cosmos is called a miracle, the sole force that the supreme God granted to mankind and that still worries the Gods, a force that Seiya and the others or Tenma have shown to possess, as the destruction of the Poseidon's Pillar. Like some other mangas. Saint Seiya story also encourages heroic deeds. In some great moments of Hades arc, the Eighth Sense Cosmos can challenge the Big Will Cosmos, disrupting Hades' deployment and Hades himself.
Elements
In Saint Seiya Omega it is discovered that Cosmos can possess an Elemental Attribute (属性 , Zokusei lit Attribute) that can strengthen the power of the Cosmos when used. There are seven Elements with their respective Strengths and Weaknesses. The Elements are Water, Fire, Wind, Thunder, Earth, Light and Darkness. Much on a similar sense to the Naruto manga and anime series, the elemental strength chain is the following:
Water -> Fire -> Wind -> Thunder -> Earth. Light and Darkness are special cases, not affecting (and not being affected by) the other Elements, though they do directly counter each other.
Regardless of the elemental advantage, if one's Cosmos is superior to the opponent then that element will still be superior even if it would be naturally impossible, when Water faces against Earth, the water is easily absorbed by the Earth element, but a strong use of Water can potentially break through Earth.
Element is of great importance in the era of Omega and as noted and evidenced by old veteran Saint Hydra Ichi those who are not aware of their Element or cannot control it, can simply not succeed as Saints or overall users of Cosmos anymore as those who can control their element have noticeable advantage in combat by being capable of using the elements to not only fuel their own sheer power, but also because it can create several new techniques based on the element itself.
For this particular reason the Palestra a school for Saints puts special attention to Elemental Training, with a strict training regime that not only forces its students to learn Elemental control but also to strengthen it.
The Element of Cosmos seems to also be related to not only Cosmos but also Physical abilities as well. According to Volans Argo Fire users are terrible swimmers. Moreover as seen in Palestra's training camp known as Cosmo Delta, which is a massive geographical location with several different kinds of nature such as forests, mountains, rivers, etc. The very nature itself can be advantageous or disastrous to Element users. For example Volans Argo could use the water of the river to easily use his attacks, while in the same sense a deep forest with several flowers is detrimental to Water users as the flowers seem to be "draining" the Cosmos of the traveling Saints in the shape of a dark vapor. This same vapor is seen when Aquila Yuna and Dragon Ryuho enter a cave filled with lava, and Yuna eventually falls while walking.
The Gold Saints seem to contain all the Cloth elements, however none of the twelve out of Thirteen Gold Cloths has yet to be assigned the element of Darkness, making Fans assume that if there is a Ophiuchus Gold Saint that its element would be Darkness in contrast to its Evil history.
Omega (type)
In the Saint Seiya Omega setting, instead of the Eighth Sense, what comes beyond the Seventh Sense is something which apparently no Gold Saint has ever achieved - Omega. Virgo Fudō spectulates unless the current generation of Saints, regardless of rank, are able to reach Omega, then they would stand incapable of defeating Pallas' primary Pallasites. Due to comments dropped by Genbu and Ikki, Omega is the ultimate Cosmo. Aegaeon notes that it can match a god. In episode 83, Omega is first seen when Ryuho pushes his Cosmo beyond the maximum which allowed infinite power to well up in Ryuho's body. Even though it could defeat Rhea's army, the power was too sudden for the Saint and he collapsed soon after. Omega is also the power of friendship , meaning that if people work together, they will be able to reach it. In episode 86, koga and his friends awaken part of omega since they combined their cosmo as one just to reach infinite power. They were able to transform their cloths and acieve miracles like ryuho, soma, haruto, and yuna breaking parts of the phonotector, eden destroying the war god manifestation blade, and koga killing galia. Koga states this the power of humanity. Virgo fudo says that was a gateway of greater power.
In episode 89, Koga and his team's cloths got destroy but they still stood up and they still got beat by hyperion but they never gave up. They kept moving forward stand up. The power to care each other make them strong. Hyperion was shocked since they weren't dead yet and he began to fear them when he saw subaru hyperion thought that Subaru was the reason they never give up. Hyperion tried kill subaru but kouga team they blocked Hyperion's attack. Hyperion sensed the macrocosmo, the power that created the universe. Everyone awakened their omega and gained a power that surpasses Hyperion and new cloths. with this power, they saved Subaru and defeated Hyperion
The power that created the universe - Macro Cosmo's light engulfs Koga and his group, evolving their cloths to Ultimate Omega cloth.
in episode 96
Omega power of Friendship and Love.
9th sense
all saint saints turn into stop time but athena with her will power she help kouga has been beat by saturn and she awakening saints who turn into stone. they will of soul all of them awake and they go where kouga place to help and
Ultimate Omega power of Care Each Other.
they trust him give all they power for him The Cosmos of the Saints crystallize in the form of a "Super Omega Cloth" worn by Koga . This power puts him at the same level as Saturn. Koga face Saturn with
Super Omega power of Trust and Believe.
questioning and he felt his blood boil like never bofore and they fight star to begin. with help anyone trust and kouga believe him seft can do it to stop his friend subaru turn into Saturn. Koga he unlock Super Omega.