Merlin had managed to awaken King and the two of them collected themselves. Their injuries made them much slower and weaker than usual; taking out two of Vladimir's elites was quite tiring. With that being said, Asher and Yama had noticed their comrades had fallen and decided to finish the remaining sins. They played a game of rock, paper, scissors and they decided that Asher would fight King and Yama would take Merlin. The likelihood of the sins defeating 2 of the elites in one day was low and they desperately needed assistance. Meanwhile there was another battle taking place in the courtyard.

The battle between Meliodas and Vladimir was fierce. They exchanged blows, parried attacks, blocked any punches that came their way and managed to avoid any magical attacks their opponent could conjure. They were examining their opponent's strength and had no intent on using their full power until absolutely necessary. Meliodas's experience at Danafor caused him to flinch at the thought of using his demon powers. He knew that, in front of the sins, he could not release this power unless he had no choice. Vladimir had heard rumors of his sin and believed that as long as one of his comrades was alive he would not fight him seriously. It was the reason that he punched Escanor into the river… it was surprising that he survived the punch, and it was very surprising that he was capable of moving afterwards. Vladimir had weakened his punch, leaving Escanor alive and using his life to pressure Meliodas into containing his power.

Merlin and King were being beaten quite badly, their magical power was low and they had no strength left to battle. Asher had been wailing on King with a flurry of punches and Yama had been cutting Merlin's magical barriers to pieces, leaving her defenseless.

"Oxygen bomb" Yama called out, as she launched a strange orb of compressed wind at Merlin. It burst upon contact with the ground.

*Pop*

Her attack seemed to do nothing, but, Merlin was not one to take chances. Hoping to dodge the attack she teleported outside. Her magical power, as it was, took her into the nearby forest at the other end of the stream. Yama knew she could not run far and simply threw more of her bombs into the forest. Eventually one of them would get close to Merlin's position…

*POP*

Merlin turned around startled at the sound and began to run. She fell over because of the damage she suffered earlier and watched as the dark material began to surround her. She began coughing up blood and would eventually lean on a small tree.

"My oxygen bombs manipulate the air in the atmosphere causing all the oxygen to compress into a gust of wind, once it dissolves into the air the carbon dioxide takes over and begins to poison any living organisms around" she cackled, clearly proud of herself for taking out two sins.

"I won't let you suffer, I will kill you with my own two han…" she said before being abruptly interrupted.

"Boulder Bash" yelled a familiar voice. Yama was pelted into the side of a mountain. She removed herself from her situation and gazed at her next opponent startled and lost for words.

"I killed you… how are you alive?" she yelled. She seemed scared now that the Giantess was no longer cowering in fear.

"I helped her out." said Escanor, waving at the knight with a cheeky grin on his face. Diane picked him up and placed him with Merlin so that he could help her out.

"Looking for more Giant girl?" asked Yama.

"No… I intend to finish this… I won't let bugs stop me from protecting the people I care about." Diane yelled out.

"Ground Gladius" she screamed as she slammed Gideon to the ground. An earthen pillar rose from the ground and hit the arrogant knight. She was sent flying before she had time to process what had happened and she would land directly on the tip of the blade. Yama had not only been defeated effortlessly by Diane, she was dying. This was Diane's true power; the power to protect her friends.

Diane returned to Merlin and Escanor. She saw that Merlin was badly beaten and began worrying about the captain and King. She always felt safe around King, but, she never knew why. Meanwhile Escanor's treatment of Merlin called for some unusual methods.

Escanor had no other choice, but, to cleanse her system of Carbon dioxide and give her some pure oxygen. He picked her up and carried her over to a safe location where Merlin's breathing became stable and she gave him her usual smile.

"Thank you" she said, before coughing up some blood. Escanor proceeded to bandage up her wounds and give her the same ointment he used on Diane. With a quick gestured sent over to Diane, the giant looked away. He turned back to Merlin and pulled her close to him. She became flustered with what he was doing.

"The carbon dioxide is still in your body, letting it stay there will cause it to damage your lungs." He said with a concerned face.

"How do you plan on removing it then" she asked, concerned with her safety. However her concern turned to embarrassment as Escanor blushed and told her.

"I have to perform mouth to mouth, it will help your lungs balance out the two separate components." he told her as his face grew bright red. He was clearly uncomfortable, but, he needed to do it. So he pressed his lips on Merlin's and began performing his duty as a doctor. Upon finishing his task, he looked at her. She was blushing, more than he was and in that split second her expression turned from shock to embarrassment.

"Do not tell anyone about this, please." She pleaded, as she did not want anyone to know of this incident. Diane had been looking out the side of her vision and saw the whole thing happen.

She came up to Escanor and asked him "Did you really have to do that?"

"Yes, it was necessary, she would have died otherwise. Don't get any wrong ideas… I…I don't like Merlin or anything…" he stopped and simply began to blush instead. This feeling was wonderful and it filled his body with joy. This is what it meant to be in love, but, the sins were still in trouble. Diane saw the top of the keep explode and saw the last of the elite knights pummeling King.

"Leave King alone you jerk" she yelled. Escanor put his hand on Diane's and simply said one thing.

"Throw me" she looked at him blankly.

"Throw you, why?" she questioned, knowing that if she did he would not survive.

"Throw me as gently as you can to hit that guy whose hurting King, that's the only way we are going to stop it from here." he explained, whilst picking up a Yama's chest plate.

"Ok, but, if you get hurt…" she complained

"I'll treat it later" he reassured her. She picked him up and angled her arm at the best direction. She threw him as softly as she could whilst still covering the distance. He placed the chest plate in front of him and braced for impact.

*BANG*

He hit Asher right in the gut and kept flying through. Escanor stood up unharmed, to his surprise, and stared at King with a smile.

"Hey King, your welcome" he said. Not noticing that Asher had not been defeated by his "attack".

"You dare hit me when I'm attacking someone else, how disgraceful." He exploded, throwing a tantrum on the floor.

"King, you might want to go to Diane and Merlin. They are in the forest and the have medicine in my backpack, you should take some and heal your wounds." He said, more worried about King than his fight with Asher.

"What about you?" King asked questioning Escanor logic.

"I feel much better than I did before, it must nearly be morning." He said, cracking his neck.

Time until sunrise: 5 minutes ;)