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Chapter 29: In the Sun, the Lion Roars

(Que Seven Deadly Sins Ost "Sky Peace")

'This is... worrying.'

That was the only thought going through Sephiroth's head as he stared in shock upon the Dark Longinus. In all his time in hiding even away from the supernatural and his subsequent vanquishment seven centuries ago, he had never looked upon a weapon flooded with darkness. It wasn't that emitted darkness; the blade of the hacked gear was the very concept of the dark void concentrated into the likeness of steel. Even though it was now shaped into the greatsword, that could not contain the darkness writhing off like a flood and writhing creature in one. His very body that of a holy being shivered to the core as if trapped within the ice that has never seen the light of day. The only thing Sephiroth could relate to this potent, all-consuming demonic energy, born from the recess of God's light that never reached, was Satan himself.

Meliodas held the Dark Longinus upright and to the fright of those gathered it gave off a horrid scream. Darkness erupted like a plague through earth and air, dimming all light it came close to. Pitch black shielded most of Meliodas' form away and that of the school building. Whatever it touched, the matter instantly blackened to reach just a shade shy of the Dark Longinus's shadow. Sephiroth flinched at his body's instinctual chill to the massive amount of demonic energy. He needed a distraction; a single lash from the darkness created by the Dark Longinus was almost sure to be fatal to an Archangel. Any holy being of lesser status would be feeling immense pain as if their insides were freezing just being around it. Fortunately for him, Sephiroth had risen above the limits of an Archangel a long time ago.

When Sephiroth saw Meliodas heft the Dark Longinus, he teleported away in a shower of ash-like remains of the Whispers to avoid the flood of pitch-black demonic energy coming down like a tidal wave. Even as it missed, the black-matter-like mystical "substance" writhed as it went, producing sounds akin to rabid rats feasting in sickness. By Meliodas' will, this black wave slowed to a pause and turned back onto an escaping Sephiroth with a predator's zeal.

Sephiroth's cheeks twitched in agitation as the all-consuming wave now chased him no matter where he went. His only choice was to summon his own flood in the form of Whispers forming from all manner of matter that made up the Earth. They swarmed in their limitless numbers around the semi-living demonic energy in an effort to contain it. It only served to slow down and confuse the wave as the darkness consumed as many Whispers that appeared, but it was enough for what Sephiroth needed to do.

In two more bursts of teleportation, Sephiroth had gathered the last two of his so-called allies remaining. Held over his shoulder was his now fallen brother Raphael and at his other side was Katerea Leviathan. His last use of teleportation placed them at the gates of Kuoh Academy where the ground was drenched in the blood of the slain demons risen from the Hell Gate. Sephiroth turned his attentions first to Raphael as he carelessly dropped him to the ground. He held his right palm out glowing a light green before an orb of the same color shot out. Once in contact, the orb burst open like a droplet, and the energy surrounded the fallen Seraph in a subtle green glow.

Whatever injuries Raphael had faded away and a second later his eyelids fluttered open. He abruptly gasped for breath, eyes darting around frantically. His last memory Raphael could bring up from his freshly conscious state was the pain ignited upon his soul when Ruby touched his forehead. Holy lightning automatically crackled from battle adrenaline flowing from the memory that sparked both shock and outrage. All of those rabid emotions gave way to terror when he lifted his head and the first thing he saw was the smirking face of Sephiroth.

"Y-YOU!" Exclaimed Raphael, his body betraying him from wanting to fly away as fast as possible. "You're a-alive?!"

"Last I checked." Sephiroth responded curtly. "It may come as a surprise, but we are now on the same side, little brother. You're no longer a denizen of Heaven, so do what you do best and deal with our shared enemy. You know perfectly to not dare question me."

Raphael flinched at the open secret in Sephiroth's words. If he didn't fight alongside one of Heaven's traitors, he will simply kill him to rid of the annoyance of his existence. It wasn't like Raphael couldn't fight against the new Biblical Alliance. He has already walked the path of the traitor himself; survival and raging vengeance were all that clung to him now.

"Same goes for you, devil." Sephiroth told Katerea, making the devil flinch from his tone to her ire. "So far, you have not proven your worth despite your great confidence in acquiring any sort of victory here. Frankly, I am appalled you are in any way related to my sister with the utter disappointment that is doing anything."

Katerea seethed with the grip on her staff straining the object. "Well, it's not like I can pick up any slack with the injuries. Why don't you use that magic to heal me as well?"

"As I said," Sephiroth repeated, shooting an annoyed glare that cowed the Leviathan descendent, "thus far your performance has been disappointing, especially after you were so sure of yourself to defeating the new Satans. Healing you would be a waste, but I will grant you this small mercy. If you desire new strength for your vengeance, look to the blood around you. Demon's blood has always been favored to bring about greater power when consumed."

Katerea didn't even look disgusted at the implication of drinking blood off the pavement. Greed brought a wicked grin to her face at the thought of having more power. She didn't waste time going over to the pools of demon blood where it was the most plentiful in order to siphon it out for consumption. Raphael on the other hand made a face between a grimace and confusion.

"You do know with that much demon blood, she may end up killing herself." Raphael noted.

"But of course." Sephiroth agreed with an amused smile. "Such is the fate for the foolish. Now get to work, brother."

Raphael made a small nod and flapped open all twelve of his wings to ascend to the sky. His eyes looked back momentarily, but for him, it may have been an eternity to take in the visage of black feathers instead of the pristine white he has always known. Shock and sorrow first took him, but then that turned to rage when his mind connected to the one being who did this to him. It was Ruby who used whatever trick that enforced Heaven's system to banish from the home he always knew, and he set his sights on the so-called heiress of Heaven still knocked out.

Fueled by vengeance, Raphael unleashed a great cone of holy lightning thundering like the crack of a thousand cannons. Its brightness lit up the school grounds with the blast making its way to smite down its target. Raphael did not even care that his sister Eliza was in the way of the blast. However, instead of Ruby and Eliza engulfed in an atomizing explosion, the holy lightning hardly reached halfway before there was the sound of tolling metal. Raphael gaped at the sight of his holy lightning suddenly deflecting almost in the opposite direction into the sky, and he faced forward to see what dared to stand in the way of his justice.

Rather it was who. The apparent defiler of Raphael was the giant angel Escanor, his golden armor glimmering from the light of his ten white wings. Smoke stemmed from his axe Rhitta but totally undamaged from deflecting Raphael's holy lightning himself.

"How far you have truly fallen, Raphael." Escanor said cooly, his blue eyes glaring up at Raphael. "Shame upon you for stooping so low as to attack a defenseless girl."

Raphael gritted his teeth in outrage before the second holder of the Power of Sunshine. He was such a being Raphael absolute loathed at his very existence, starting from the time when the Seraph knew Escanor as the Lion Sin of Pride. It enraged Raphael how a man so filled with the sin of pride was accepted into the halls of Heaven where he should have been burning in the pits of Hell. The intense animosity grew when Escanor in some unexplained way willed himself to become. Escanor, once born as a man, remade his existence into what he should never have been. What broke the camel's back for Raphael that resulted in despising Escanor was when he slept with that filthy fallen angel Merlin, daughter of the original Merlin from Camelot, and from that came that filthy half-breed spawn.

It didn't matter the situation Raphael placed himself in. His only thoughts were on how much he was going to enjoy destroying Escanor for the living heresy he is.

"I'm going to do what should have been done long ago, Escanor." Raphael spat. "How dare you, a man filled with pride, make yourself a pure being as that of an angel. You were never one of us, and your existence proved more of a disgrace when you bed with that fallen whore."

Reflexes born from thousands of years of battle were the only saving grace of Raphael to brace both arms coated in lightning to block a herculean punch of a giant fist from Escanor. Holy lightning crackled off the point of impact as it clashed with pure strength capable of reducing iron to dust and flesh to a bloody smear. Though unharmed from the blow, Raphael could feel the force in the opposing strike belonging to Escanor separated by potent holy lightning acting as a shield. His eyes glowing with blue electricity stared back at Escanor's gaze now refined to cold fury.

"As of this moment, you have surely thrown away any hope for forgiveness, traitor." Escanor growled venomously. "I will not let you go without harsh punishment for besmirching the honor of the lady I love. Perhaps your life will do so."

A change in light from the right was Raphael's only sign of an incoming attack, and rather be safe than sorry he gave a mighty flap of his wings to disengage away from Escanor and gain distance between them. It was the right move to do as a millisecond later Rhitta swung across the air where Raphael's head would have been. The former Seraph took the new opening to unleash concentrated holy lighting that looked more like a stream of plasma. Escanor blocked the beam with the flat of his axe acting as a shield, making the lighting part around his body.

Raphael soon canceled the stream and projected a blue hard light construct of a broadsword and shield. A smirk made its way on his face seeing the results of his attack on Escanor. While the giant man did defend himself, the breaking of the stream grazed at the flanks of his massive bulk specifically his arms that sported noticeable burn marks from the electricity.

"You are too weak, Escanor." Raphael taunted. "Dawn has not even reached us, so there is no sun to empower yourself. While impressive that you, once a human, managed to gain power for five pairs of wings, I am still a Seraph, my Father's finest creations. From my birth, I am always you're better. This is the day you die forever."

"...You talk too much." Escanor simply replied, hefting Rhitta in his right hand as it gave off a golden glow.

Escanor took the charge to the now black-winged Serapah and swung down Rhitta with more speed than any have the right to. Its golden steel met the holy lightning of the ancient Seraph and as it was followed for the rest of their battle in the sky.

(With Katerea)

Where Katerea was left to her own devices, the devil woman worked her magic with greedy desire till she felt her invisible grip onto the blood as she did with water. A flick of her wrist summoned every drop from the ground and gave it all conjoin just above her raised palm. The dark-purple blood flowed like many rivers through the air till it coalesced into a sizable ball. She opened her mouth almost grotesquely wide and, by her will, all the demon blood gathered into a single flow into her mouth swallowed down her throat.

Even the revolting taste of demon blood straight from the ground did not deter Katerea's literal thirst for more power. Once it was all gone in her gullet, there was a tense pause and for a scant second, Katerea thought she had been fooled by Sephiroth. That thought and any after it ceased to be when her whole body was racked with pain.

The demon blood forced itself to metabolize faster into the devil's body, causing veins to bulge all over her body and her skin to turn a few shades of red. Muscles spasmed and bones creaked from the demonic liquid life seeping into every power of her body, but from that pain came a flood of power. At that point, Katerea's whimpers of pain turn into insane cackles feeling the unadulterated power growing within her. It was far more pronounced when Katerea had previously ingested the snake from Ophis, thus her power was soaring to a power above that. Unfortunately, Katerea was not able to see the physical mutations on her body from the small sharp bone growths on her limbs, her teeth growing into fangs, and her ears becoming more pointed. She became less of the voluptuous woman that was Katerea Leviathan and more of a monster she praised herself to be.

"Yes," Katerea hissed as a forked tongue slithered from her mouth, "with this power, I can do everything. Hell, I won't even need the others or even Rizevim anymore. I'll take this world all for myself."

"I highly doubt a rat like yourself will ever achieve such a thing." Raynare said flying over Katera with her wings still blazed in orange. "Not only do you hide away, but you're also feeding off the filth from the ground. Truly, detestable."

"How funny." Katera laughed darkly as more mutations contorted her jawline similar to a predator's. "You know what else is funny? How I am about to feast on your guts!"

Even Raynare was surprised when Katerea pounced on her hands outstretched with a mouth wide open to chomp down on whatever flesh they could take. She dodged out the way, but not without having Katerea getting a hit on her bottom left wing. Raynare winced from the pain of some her feathers forcefully pulled away, the very same that were in Katerea's mouth before she spat them out.

'She's actually gone feral.' Raynare thought as she created twin swords of hard light to defend herself.

Katerea had long ago abandoned sense and went out on the offense yet again on Raynare. Her hands were outstretched sporting sharpened claws that swung down to rake on the fallen's face. They were stopped by the guard of Raynare's hard light swords, creating sparks on contact. The block took effort on Raynare's part as she was forced back on the ground.

'Whatever that demon's blood is doing, it's making her stronger by the second.' Raynare thought feeling the raw strength boring down on her. 'There has to be more to this demon blood though.'

Raynare's attention came back to reality when she heard the sound of flesh ripping apart. Since she wasn't feeling pain, the source only came from Katerea. She did not have look more thoroughly than the devil's arm where the flesh at the forearm ripped apart along the whole length. Once Raynare saw the tip of something coming out, she wisely chose to duck and successfully avoid a pair of blade-shaped bones jutting forward where her head was.

Raynare sent out a kick to get Katerea away from her and give herself space to think of a plan. The devil tumbled over the ground before anchoring her new bone blades down to steady herself. She stayed there on the ground as her body contorted with more mutations. More bones jutted out of her skin like thorns, mainly her arms, and her face took on a more monstrous appearance. With each change came a pulse of power bigger than the last that showed her magical strength was also increasing from the mutations. The fallen angel could not help relate to how Stray Devils mutated into such monstrosities when their demonic magic was going out of control, but Raynare was sure all of it was coming at a cost as Katerea continued to bleed where the changes were more prominent and she could hear bones snapping.

"You're on a time limit." Raynare concluded. "That demon blood may give you more power, but it's eating at you from the inside. I wouldn't be surprised if you might explode. But if I simply wait till you kill yourself, you'll simply go on a rampage and put everyone else in danger. That I can't let happen, so it's better for you to burn you away."

Raynare emphasized her words by raising her hand. She opened up her palm and a ball of Cruel Sun lit up to life. Katerea hissed from the burns already being inflicted on her flesh in the presence of the potent holy power concentrated into a literal sun. A flick of Raynare's wrist sent Cruel Sun forward to burn the mutating devil. Too fast to dodge, Katerea's magic acted automatically in defense of its user. Numerous black magic circles bearing the insignia of the Leviathan appeared around Katerea and gushed out a flood of demonic black waters on the incoming Cruel Sun.

Rather than Cruel Sun pushing through, these waters were further enhanced by the demon blood and canceled out the miniature sun. The result created thick steam that engulfed both Katera and a surprised Raynare. The fallen angel clicked her tongue in annoyance not being able to see anything in the steam she was caught in. She relented a flying into the air and going backward till Raynare was out of the steam cloud, but made herself ready for an attack as the sound of her wings flapping was bound to attract Katerea's attention.

An attack did come, but not in the way Raynare expected. Instead of streams of black water or Katerea herself barreling out for blood, a swarm of what can only be described as tentacle arms reached out to swat her. Raynare blanched disgustingly at the sight of the lengthening limbs as each one grew another set or even multiple fingers like some eldritch flesh tree. It was worse that the continuing mutations wracking Katerea drenched them in fresh blood from bone growths tearing through flesh to the skin.

"Oh fuck no." Raynare muttered, revolted.

She instantly rose back up to the air with a flap of her wings to escape from being shred and torn apart. The swarm of tentacle-like arms crashed into the ground, the pavement proving to be brittle clay in comparison to the flailing limbs. Dust and debris flew up while the arms tried to find their prey. They soon turned their reckless flailing to the air at frightening speeds. By Raynare's unfortunate luck they were coming in Raynare's direction.

Raynare clicked her tongue, the fiery aura around her now centering at the middle of her back. "Crazy Prominence."

From the buildup of Power of Sunshine concentrated at her back, Raynare unleashed a storm of small fireballs resembling Cruel Sun. Despite their size, each one carried incredible heat and was as numerous as raindrops in the sun. Their constant barrage on the approaching swarm of limbs held the danger back for a moment before the Power of Sunshine proved too much and burned Katerea's extra limbs to ashes.

The resulting power unleashed from Raynare produced a shockwave powerful enough to blow away the thick steam and reveal what was supposed to be Katerea. An inhuman snarl was Raynare's first sign of something terribly wrong, and she trained her head to the sound's direction only to balk at what her eyes found. Loath she would admit, Raynare hold to steady herself for a moment when bile was rising up her throat.

No longer was there any resemblance to the beautiful Katerea Leviathan and in her place was simply a monster. Her arms had turned thin yet monstrous having lengthened nearly three times their size to where they now served to mainly support weight while squaring the shoulders, and across the forearm where bones jutted out like thorns and blades. The knees of the legs have been cracked backward for a more quadrupedal form, but the mutations were so abrupt the bone stuck out the flesh where it then grew into a spike. Katerea herself was unrecognizable; her jaw having unhinged having by the flesh of her cheek and muscles on her jaw while her nose sunk into her skull. All of her teeth were now rows of razors to tear into and her tongue hanging out to dry in the air. On top of her head was a mess of horn having grown out of her head unevenly and tied themselves up into a gangly mess.

The most grotesque to Katerea's transformation was from her back were writhing masses of those tentacle arms. They moved in the air above like maggots out in the open and constantly rained blood from the torn flesh of their bones growing out of control. All over her body, Katerea's reddened skin portrayed veins sickened black, and with each pulse, Katerea's magic power grew.

'She's literally turned herself into a bomb.' Raynare thought in alarm.

Already, Katerea's magic power had grown to a point it surpassed Raynare. The crux of the matter was that Raynare, and to an extent Escanor, were harshly limited since the battle had been taking place in the middle of the night when she was at her weakest. Raynare had only been capable of using Sunshine by use of sheer will, but it was still a far cry to what can be done during the day under the sun. Crazy Prominence had taken a significant toll to pull off, leaving Raynare winded from the drain on her stamina and magic pool. Sunshine's true power manifested under the glow of the sun to empower Raynare further to not only do away with Katerea before she explodes but change the course of the battle against Sephiroth.

There was only one solution and Raynare's eyes flickered to the sword sheathed at the right side of her hip. The powerful holy sword she was entrusted by Meliodas in case of an emergency. This was not like using Excalibur Ruler or the fractured whole of Excalibur that agreed with her. If holy swords were intelligent, then the one sheathed at her hip was only condoning siphoning a small fraction of its power. Never had Raynare dared to fully grasp the hilt of the sword lest she risk being judged poorly by the powerful blade, but...

'It has to work.' Raynare resolved, her hand going into a grasping motion. 'I just need your power just for a little bit.'

As Raynare's hand inched closer to the hilt of that sword, her mind went back to the few hours before Kokabiel's invasion. When he gave Excalibur Ruler to unite Excalibur to a whole if still damaged state and the other holy sword for her own use.

(Flashback)

"Oi little Ray, come over here for a sec." Called Meliodas from a distance.

Currently, Raynare was recovering from another training session in the underground training flats beneath the Boar Hat. She panted heavily from exhaustion and dripping sweat. The cause of her fatigue was worth it though. All around her, the flat plains were scorched black from the usage of the Power of Sunshine, and heavy heatwaves still persisted above them. It was the fact the damage was less than what previously happened that was what earned a small victory to Raynare in mastering her father's power. Her body awakened with Sunshine in the middle of the day was tiring in simply controlling it, much less not letting everything burn around her.

Wiping her brow, Raynare looked towards her honorary uncle and noticed he was holding a sheathed sword. It was obvious he was holding it for her to take it. She didn't need to bother bringing her senses to know it was no ordinary sword, with the guard being iron shaped into a thick diamond shape and outlined in black to the hilt. However, when she asked what the sword was, Raynare freaked out.

"I-I can't have this!" Raynare squeaked.

"Sure you can." Meliodas replied casually, not even missing a beat. "Go on. Take it. He won't bite."

"Do you realize what you're saying!?" Raynare exclaimed. "I-I shouldn't have this sword! No. Natta. Zilch!"

"I don't see the problem here." Meliodas said with a quizzical tilt of his head.

Raynare swiped her hand slowly down her face, growling in frustration. Just why couldn't he not see the point in trying to give that sword to her of all people? Ever so steadily, Raynare regained her composure and leveled a stern glare on the still smiling dwarf of a devil.

"Let me explain this slowly." Raynare said in a level manner. "I can't have this holy sword. Period. This thing has the same origins as Excalibur. Why in the hell do you think someone like me - someone so unimportant - could ever hope to hold this!?"

"You really don't hold yourself so high, do you?" Meliodas noted.

Raynare sighed, turning her head to the side. "Not anymore."

100 years taught her what she was born never determined strength. A century flaunting herself as a fallen angel, a natural superior - all of it wasted to meet a sore truth that she wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. It was that sort of pride that earned her father's position among the Sins, even if she herself didn't believe she had the strength to uphold it.

"Let me tell you something." Meliodas perked up, holding out the holy sword in his hands further out. "This sword will not care about what you. It won't care who you are as Raynare. It won't care if you're a fallen angel, a devil, a god, or a human. It certainly won't care anything about royalty or whatnot. If that were the case, then every royal snob across the Holy Roman Empire could pick up Durandal. Hell, I don't where the idea of 'holy element' came into the picture, but something like that was never a part of how a holy sword chooses its wielder.

"The only worth these swords care about is what they see in your soul. Or you wicked or heroic? Are greedy or are you selfless? Do you uphold honor or are you prone to betrayal? It is what they find in your heart will they decide to see if you are worthy to be their wielder. An, if I am going to be honest I am betting you have a good chance."

Raynare just stared incredulously at the blonde midget of a devil and switched glances with the sword offered to her. The logical part of her mind was screaming to push the holy sword back and get the fuck away from it. Maybe find someone who has more worth to wield it - not someone like her. And yet Raynare ignored it all and decided to take the plunge anyway. Her hands gingerly reached out to the sword by its sheath, curling her fingers around it slowly and gently as if she was treating fragile glass.

Even as Raynare now held the sword close to her chest, her mind still screamed at her that she shouldn't have this at all. But her heart spoke to her differently the longer her eyes roamed one the world's greatest holy swords lost as it had been since the fall of Camelot. Her fingers squeezed tighter on the sheath, and from the hilt it gave a welcoming warm golden glow that invigorated with her Power of Sunshine as if it were the break of dawn.

On that day, Excalibur's sister had found someone worthy

(Present)

Raynare took a calming breath as her hand gripped around the hilt of the holy sword properly. As she drew it out, the glow from the hilt intensified to a degree that lit up the whole of the school grounds, catching everyone's attention. Until the whole sword was fully drawn out, a golden dial suddenly lit up on the ground directly below her.

Raynare intoned. "Before this brilliance that sets aside the night, pay your ostentation to the holy sword of the stars!"

As Raynare spoke, the golden dial below her increased the speed of its spinning. The golden glow around the holy sword grew to a degree where the actual blade was no longer invisible. People watching her from the sidelines expected her to unleash an attack at the monstrous version of Katerea. To everyone's surprise and shock, Raynare tossed it up straight into the air, and the sword slowed to stay that way.

"Unleash the Sun, Galantine!"

Galantine, a sister sword to Excalibur and not inferior either. Where Excalibur's light is the collection of hope and dreams of the life of the world, Galantine's power was akin to the sun. From the hilt of the holy sword, a small compartment slid open to the outside world. The sky lit up from an unveiled pseudo sun that was the source of Galantine's power, lighting the once dreary school from the dark of night. It was as if day had finally broken through, but the light show was Raynare's intention. By unlocking the pseudo sun within Galantine, she had given a way for those holding Sunshine like herself to gain power.

Which meant her father as well.

At that moment in the battle between Escanor and Raphael was at the state where the former was on the ground holding Rhitta before him to hold back a massive and constant stream of holy lightning. Yet it served as a distraction for Raphael to use the cover of his own attack and get in close. His right hand was prepped back wreathed in holy lightning honed to a point where it would pierce through like a hot knife through butter. Flying at near lightning-fast speeds, Raphael was in front of Escanor and before he could react in time the former Seraph thrust his right hand forward in the intent to pierce into his gut.

"Now you die!" Raphael gloated.

Immense sparks flared out on impact, revealing Raphael before the bigger Escanor with his right hand forward in a stabbing motion. Raphael expected the warm feel of blood on his hand as it passed through Escanor's guts and the splash of it on his face. However, his face scrunched up in confusion when he felt none of that.

"How pitiful." Escanor spoke, but his voice was noticeably deeper.

(Cue "Escanor's Theme Rearranged")

Raphael gasped in disbelief that his hand only managed to punch through Escanor's armor but refused to even pierce his skin. The man in question stood over the fallen Seraph while his form glowed gold. Only now did Raphael feel the unbearable heat pushing down on him, and he looked up to beheld Escanor wreathed what he can only be described as the golden shine of the sun. His eyes looked down on him not as an opponent, but as an annoying creature that had no place in fighting him.

What scared Raphael was the power radiating off of Escanor. To Raphael, Escanor was insurmountable, his mind hallucinating the giant angel as a being the size of mountains reaching the heavens themselves. Unconsciously, Raphael's body began to take steps back from Escanor.

"Now do you realize it; the hopelessness in your victory." Escanor said, his left hand coming up to produce a Cruel Sun the size of his own body. "It was useless to fight against me. It was worthless for you to turn traitor. In your foolishness, you thought to topple someone such as I."

Raphael realized he was starting to whimper, and he noticed his knees becoming wobbly. He would chastise himself for such weakness, but he couldn't muster the strength to snarl. Who could blame him? The power from Escanor was already at God-class and continuing to rise exponentially.

"I'd offer you mercy, Raphael in memory for who you were and as an ally that I had to honor to serve with." Escanor continued, the Cruel Sun in his hand intensifying to the point it was scorching the ground. "But you have gone too far from that. Now burn in the glorious radiance of the sun!"

And in the brilliance of that golden glow, the lion roared once again.

PRAISE THE SUN!

Praise Escanor the strongest of the Seven Deadly Sins. Woe to those who insult Merlin.

Up next is Chapter 30.

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