Disclaimer: I do not own The Seven Deadly Sins. I'm merely borrowing the characters and having some fun with them.
I do own this story.
A Genie Named King
Chapter 45
With the addition of the other reincarnations, they were winning.
Soon it was the Ten Commandments who were surrounded and looking battered and bruised. There were no longer teams against certain opponents. It was a plain free for all. A brawl.
Thankfully, they had trained for this.
Diane had never thought that she would be so grateful for the scolding King gave them a few months ago. Back on their first day of group training. His lesson when her, Jericho, and Howser had teamed up on Ban was shining through now. To still strike their enemy, but be aware of where your allies were and what they were doing at all times.
A skill she'd like to say she mastered like a boss.
She sent one of the commandments flying — she really only knew the fairy and giant. She had no idea who she had just sent across the clearing.
"Thanks for the save, Diane!" Arthur beamed up at her brightly. He held a large sword. The item looked like a thing of legend and she idly wondered if it was the legendary sword.
"No problem, Artie!" She winked down at him. "Ah!" She screamed as something knocked her off her feet.
She looked around and found nothing but vines.
"Damn fairy." She cursed loudly as they began climbing up her legs.
"Hey!" Three unexpected voices responded.
Diane flinched as she realized there was technically four fairies in the battle.
"Not you guys!" She assured King, Hayden and Elaine as they all frowned at her. "I mean that Commandment! His damn vines are everywhere." She started tugging them off with more gusto. No luck. Damn things were almost unbreakable without some kind of tear for her to exploit. "Uh… help?"
Fifty kunai grazed over the top of her skin, just enough to cut the vines most of the way. Plenty of room for Diane to work with. She ripped them from her skin and hopped up, looking for Gloxinia. She'd thank King later. He appeared busy fighting anyway.
"Where are you?" She mumbled under her breath, eyes scanning the immediate area.
She spotted him on top of Drole's shoulder. Go figure. Did those two ever separate? They were distracted, backs to her. The giantess smirked.
Diane twirled her hammer around and slammed it on the ground. Her teammates jumped out of the way as a wave of rock soared towards the commandment pair.
Drole stumbled to the side, not expecting an attack from behind while fighting Meliodas, Griamore and Howser on the other side.
Howser used the enemy giant's misstep to send a large gust of wind to push him all the way to the ground.
Grimaore's more immediately encased the pair. His shield trapped them low to the ground.
Diane walked up and knocked on the barrier to get their attention. The fairy and giant duo stared up at her. Their gaze… surprisingly amused.
"Shoulda just left me alone, Gloxinia." She told him with a wink.
The old fairy king merely smiled at her as he lounged back on the giant blue shoulder of his comrade. "Didn't wanna fight anymore anyway."
Drole nodded, resting the top two of his four arms behind his head. An extremely relaxed position given the circumstances. Which was weird. Like… what was up with these two? Did they really not care that they just got their asses handed to them?
She tried to catch Meliodas eye, but he and the others were already off and fighting again. She admired Griamore's strength to keep up the barrier while helping the others. But still…
Something about the fairy and giant enemies seemed off.
Before Diane could open her mouth to ask, the past fairy king spoke.
"Better hurry up." Gloxinia glanced up at the sky. "You guys are gunna lose if you let this drag into the dark."
Diane stiffened at the warning. Spine straightening as she searched for an obvious indicator that his words were true. Her gaze landed on Escanor first. She inhaled sharply, eyes widening in realization that the day was starting to wane.
Escanor and Meliodas were their best fighters.
And Escanor appeared to be losing power.
King blocked a blow from Estarossa. The force of it pushing him into Hayden.
His friend held firm, helping King to push back.
The larger man chuckled darkly. "Please. As if a few fairies could stand against me."
Estarossa followed through on his swing. Like the combined force of King and Hayden meant nothing. The two went soaring backwards. The only thing saving them from a horrible landing was the fact that they could fly.
"Fuck." Hayden cursed as he spat blood out of his mouth. He wiped the red from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. "This guy's no joke."
King snorted and winced immediately after. Everything hurt. It was like Elizabeth hadn't healed him at all with damage he'd taken since then. "He isn't one of the commandments for nothing."
"Not sure I've ever had a fight like this before." His friend confessed with a frown.
"We need a plan." King stated plainly as Estarossa slowly walked towards them.
"No shit." Hayden rolled his eyes. "Any bright ideas, genius?"
He bite the inside of his cheek as he thought about it.
It was obvious that he and Hayden weren't a match for the man. He had to be one of the strongest of the Commandments. And while King would stubbornly argue that a good strategy would allow him to take down Estarossa, he knew that they didn't have the time to fully vet it out.
Estarossa closed in on them.
Only for his path to be blocked by Escanor.
"Let's continue what we started, shall we?" Escanor spoke smugly to the Commandment.
King couldn't see the face Estorass made, his form blocked by the large blonde in front of him. But he did hear the condescending chuckles. "You couldn't beat me at your best. What makes you think you can take me now? Have the little fairies help you. Maybe then you'll stand a chance."
"I don't need anyone's help." Escanor's voice remained calm despite the day nearing its end. "I'll make you regret even suggesting such a thing."
The two lunged at each other.
A second later Escanor's large form came straight for them.
Hayden yanked King out of range, the pair just barely missing getting squashed by their teammate.
"Escanor!" King shouted in his panic. He floated down to check on him.
The blonde smiled through a mouthful of blood. "Don't you dare worry about me."
King bit the inside of his lip as he nodded.
The Lion Sin of Pride hadn't earned his title from nothing. Even with the man's obvious injuries and impending end of the day — he remained consistent that he didn't need help. That he was fine.
"Now leave me be." Escanor ordered as he stood. For his part he didn't even look off balance. "Others need your help, Fairy King."
He sprang back into battle with Estarossa, not even giving King the chance to respond. Escanor appeared to be faring better this time around and the fairy knew that his help wouldn't be appreciated here.
He resolved to move on.
He followed Hayden, finding the fairy assisting Jericho, Gulia and Arthur in battle.
King sent Chastiefol to protect his best friend from getting crushed by a large tree one of the commandments pulled out of the earth.
"Thanks!" Hayden shouted before directing his attention back to the fight.
The battle continued for what felt like hours. But realistically only a few minutes had passed when King paused during an odd lull in the battle.
A message popped into his head. Gowther.
"We need to finish this quickly. Diane was informed by Gloxinia that we will lose if night falls. I believe she was fed correct information."
His heart stopped as he saw the fast approaching sunset.
"Shit." He cursed.
The setting sun had been a blip on his radar when he'd been watching Escanor, but with the man out of site, he'd focused back on his own opponents and teammates near him that would accept his help.
His eyes searched for Diane. She fought against two commandments along with Howser and Gilthunder. They appeared to be winning so he moved his focus on.
He found Merlin next. The sorceress supervised adding two more commandments to the barrier Griamore was using to hold the commandments. The barrier wielding man no longer able to fight with the newest additions.
That left six left against their fifteen. Seventeen if he counted Hawk and Oslo. The pig had admittedly gotten much more useful in battle then he had been.
They could do this — if they hurried.
With renewed vigor, they took down half of the remaining commandments.
Three left.
Estarossa, Zeldris, and one covered head to toe in armor.
In the span of five minutes, one more down.
Just Meliodas' brothers left.
Neither looked ready to quit.
"Please." Meliodas spoke quietly, but with how quiet everything was, his voice carried more than he meant it to. "This is pointless. Just-"
"What?" Zeldris spat. "Give up?"
Estarossa snorted at the thought. "Please."
"Now you want to play brother again?" Zeldris hissed. "After denying it and beating us down?"
Meliodas frowned. He hated this. Hated not knowing how to feel. Because he was conflicted. He may have no blood relation with the two enemies that stood before him. But that didn't mean his soul didn't feel the connection. The pull of family long forgotten.
It had been similar with the sins.
The leader of the sins had avoided fighting either of them for that very reason.
It had been too confusing. He couldn't focus if he fought one of them for too long. So he had simply avoided them when it became possible.
But now.
Well now he didn't really have that option.
So he tried talking.
"Are you nuts, Meliodas!" Hawk squawked next to his side. Ever the faithful and truthful pig. "They were just trying to bash our heads in! Don't give them the chance to fight back against us!"
He tried not to wince. Leave it to the pig to call him out like this. Meliodas and him had yet to have a conversation but he felt the familiarity of the pig's criticism. It hit a little too close to home.
"No, I think Meliodas is right." Elizabeth joined his side. She shot him a small smile before narrowing her gaze at his past brothers. "You will not win. If you conceded now, perhaps we can come to some kind of agreement."
He stared in awe at her.
Leave it to Elizabeth to simultaneously defend his more impulsive actions while managing to make it sound like a well thought out plan. God he loved this woman. If they made it out of this whole thing alive…
He may just ask her to marry him.
But that was a line of thinking for another moment.
Meliodas wasn't the only one completely thrown off by Elizabeth's sudden diplomacy. Though he and Diane were probably the least surprised by it. The others just didn't know this Elizabeth like the two of them did.
"What?!"
"You can't be serious!"
It seemed like everyone had an opinion on the matter. All of them shouting to try and get their point across.
Meliodas whistled sharply. The noise immediately stopped. "Guys, chill."
"Meliodas." King stated calmly. His voice remained steady despite the fearful look in his eyes. "Now isn't the time to offer up such ideas." His gaze flickered to the oddly quiet pair of commandments. "We're so close."
He frowned. "But…"
"But what, Capt'n?" Ban pressed with a scowl. "These fuckers are the reason you died."
Okay, so yeah, that thought in mind — the idea of offering them some kind of out did sound a little ridiculous.
But still.
"They were just a group of soldiers, right?" He placed his hands behind his head casually. His attempt to fight off his anxiousness over this whole thing. "Just like we were. They followed orders."
"Some did more than that." Merlin interjected, eyeing Meliodas calculatingly when he met her unwavering gaze.
He had no idea what her situation with the demons was, nor did he care to at this moment. If the sorceress wanted to keep her feelings on the matter to herself, that was fine. Not like they had the time for it. And, well, right now it didn't exactly matter.
Especially as one of their opponents flashed by them.
A second later they heard a loud pained shout as Griamore flew across the clearing their destructive fighting had caused and slammed into a tree.
Esatrossa now standing where the dark haired man had stood. A maniacal grin spread across his lips. His dark gaze stared straight into Meliodas' green.
Meliodas eyes widened as the horror of the situation began to set in.
They had gotten distracted.
Because of him.
The barrier holding the other commandments shattered. Freeing their captured foes. The demons sprung away. As if staying in that spot would guarantee their immediate recapture. And for all Meliodas knew, it was true. He wasn't exactly well versed in the extend of anyone's powers outside of the sins.
"Fuck!" The blonde heard someone curse loudly. Multiple people actually if he focused on it a little more.
But he didn't.
"What was that you were saying, Meliodas?"
He whipped his head around.
Zeldris stalking slowly forward, a wicked smile on his lips. "Something about talking to us? Wanting to work something out?" A dark laugh fell from his lips. "Well, what about now? Now that all of us are free once more. Still feel like talking?"
"Uh… kinda?" He flashed a sheepish smile.
Someone slapped their forehead so hard the sound was audible. The exasperated action quickly followed by, "for the love of…"
King.
Meliodas set his lips in a tight line to keep from laughing.
Ban didn't have the same qualms. His friend let out loud boisterous laughter. "You're still a crazy fucker, you know that, Capt'n?"
Meliodas flashed his best friend a goofy smile. Leave it to Ban to always be on his side, even when he didn't understand the why behind Meliodas' reasoning.
"Crazy or just plain stupid!" Diane shouted as her anxious shifting caused the earth to shake beneath them. "What are we supposed to do, Captain? Uh, I mean, Meliodas, or — ugh!" She shouted and Meliodas turned in time to see her throw her hands up in frustration. "Fuck it. I'm calling you Captain for the rest of this shit storm."
"I see that even now you guys still lack focus." The fairy looking commandment commented dryly.
"Seems to come and go in spurts." King responded just as flatly.
"Seriously." One of the women commandments chimed in. "Life and death battle here and you guys still feel the need to mingle amongst yourselves?"
"What can I say?" Melidoas shrugged. "We like to have a good time."
Way too many groans and a few whoops of agreements met his statement.
"Meliodas," Elizabeth's soft voice scolded him.
"Yeah, alright…" His eyes fell over each of the commandments. "If you guys are sure…"
No one responded to his silent question.
Figured.
He forced a wide grin on his face. "Well let's beat them down again then."
The battle resumed.
It was, if possible, even harder to fight this time around.
Everyone was exhausted. And there was only so much continuous healing that Elizabeth and to an extant, Merlin, could do before their power waned.
The sun was dangerously low.
Merlin began to panic.
Elizabeth caught her eye and paused, almost tripping in her rush to get to the next person who needed her help. Worry etched heavily across her features. Then, a sudden look of determination rippled across her face as her eyes glazed over. A moment later, they flashed back to normal.
"Tell Gowther to get a message to everyone!" The past goddess shouted to Merlin.
Merlin didn't question it. Given her history with Elizabeth's first life, she knew better. "What's the message?"
"We need to gather them all together." Elizabeth shouted, already turning around to continue on her previous path. She shouted over her shoulder, "We have the numbers."
"Then what?"
A rare confident smile spread across Elizabeth's face as she responded with a wave, "leave that to me."
Merlin stared after her. Extremely confused as the young woman threw herself back into battle. To helping others. But Merlin quickly shook off the intense feeling of deja vu and teleported to Gowther.
"Elizabeth wants us to herd all the commandments together." She relayed the message swiftly.
"Ah." Gowther nodded. "She has a plan then." Not even questioning it.
"It would seem so." Merlin answered with a small frown.
The doll tilted his head at her expression. "You do not know it?"
Merlin's frown deepened and she shook her head.
Gowther simply studied her for a few more moments before he pressed two fingers to his forehead. A sign he was doing as told — relaying the command from Elizabeth.
It was an odd thing to see Gowther's mind magic at work. Merlin of course had become used to it over the years, but it had been a long while since she'd seen it's wide effects. She could tell the exact moment the message hit everyone. Their faces all shifting to confusion — likely not used to Gowther's magic yet — before settling right into determination.
Merlin smirked.
That was her young team of misfits.
They weren't the same as they had been in the past, but that was okay.
She wasn't the same either.
With a deep breath, she leapt back into battle with the rest of them. Fierce determination gripping her the same as the rest of them.
They had managed to heard all the commandments together once more.
But to everyone's surprise — this time it wasn't Griamore's skill that contained them. It was Elizabeth's.
Elizabeth's goddess power subdued them all.
This was it.
The moment Merlin had spent years and years preparing for. What her and Gowther had strived to correct. Why she had this spot in the city specifically.
She glanced down and her signature smirk flashed across her face. She slammed her hands on the dirt. The long ago dug in markings begin to press up from the earth. They then lit up on the ground, covering a large chunk of her property.
A gateway.
One she had been working on perfecting for decades.
Their last chance to send the commandments back to the demon world.
"Everyone! Give them everything you got!" Merlin called loudly as she felt the drain, meaning the enchantment was almost complete. "Now!"
The group sent their unified powers at the frozen commandments just as they broke free from Elizabeth's hold. The goddess cried out in pain. Meliodas caught her before she even had a chance to hit the ground.
The sudden combined force of magic sent the enemies sailing backwards into the portal Merlin had created. She chanted quickly under her breath.
Her magic slowly closed the door. But it wasn't fast enough. A few of the commandments started to break through. She gritted her teeth, urging the magic to work faster.
"Range magic users!" Meliodas shouted out an order swiftly, " stop the commandments from getting out! Merlin needs more time!"
Magic of light, wind, ice, and several kuni raced towards the opening. The elements just enough to push back the few that had managed to make any headway. As soon as they were forced back —
The magical door slammed shut and disappeared.
That was it.
They had done it.
"It's…" Merlin blinked back tears.
She couldn't believe it. A century of work and heartache. All of it. It was finally —
"It's over."
A/N: One more chapter left folks...