I do not own Seven Deadly Sins or any of their characters. As of now, I've started the manga, and am about halfway through the fight with Hendrickson.
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Oswald crouched on the top of the wall, watching the city in silence. Twenty. Forty. Fifty five. There were so many New Generation Holy Knights he was starting to lose count. Guila had agreed to allow Ban to remove her Demon Seed. Jericho, once Oswald had woken her up after the fight with Hendrickson and explained what was going on, had refused, saying she needed the power in order to prove that she's a better Holy Knight than her brother. Oswald planned to have Ban take it out of her anyway, but he hadn't bothered telling her that. That left dozens more to find and purify before they could mutate, and then there was also Hendrickson. As they had left the battlefield and walked down the road toward the castle, Oswald could still sense him, despite the others arguing that he was definitely dead. Only Merlin seemed to agree with Oswald. Or at least, after she got done dealing with the teleporting mage, Vivian, and revealed her identity, she did.
Merlin was a bit...unique. Oswald could sense her too, but not the same way as he could sense demonic power. To his senses, she felt confused. Mixed up. In fact, it so closely resembled another power he knew of, that he was a little afraid to ask her what she was. Of course, before he had gotten the chance, she had teleported them all, dropping him and him alone on the outer wall of the castle. He assumed the rest of them were with Elizabeth right now, but he couldn't be sure. And he understood his one task was to keep watch for any interruptions. him being on the wall of the castle simply allowed him to figure out that the others were somewhere inside.
Oswald sighed, sweeping his gaze over the ground. Suddenly, his entire body jerked and burned like he was on fire. His eyes widened and he tried to scream, but he couldn't. A power so overwhelming it made it impossible for him to breath began to press down on him, the presence seeming to focus even more intently on him after a moment. Pressure began to build up inside of him, burning and squeezing his body. It centralized itself in his head, making it feel like his head might pop at any moment. Then, it was gone.
"W...What the...hell?" he panted, sweat pouring down his body. "What...was that?"
He stood, beginning to turn toward the castle, only to freeze as he spotted a more immediate threat. Hendrickson. He had darkness spread across his torso, like when Meliodas used his demonic power, and he had reattached his arm. He raised the sword he had picked up at the end of their fight and grinned wickedly. Oswald swore, holding out both arms and shoving all the power he could at one time into Heaven's Shield, forming a gigantic version of it, blocking the shockwave Hendrickson caused as he slashed. Five of the shields shattered, but the attack failed. Oswald let the shield fade and drew his sword, standing, glaring down at Hendrickson.
"You just don't know when to quit," Oswald growled, spiking his power a second time, this time as a warning signal to the others.
Hendrickson raised his left hand in front of his face just as the wall to Oswald's right exploded outward, Meliodas stepping into view, the King's bedroom on the other side of the hole. Just as Oswald turned toward it, Guila and Jericho both collapsed, screaming and clutching at their throats.
"Dammit!" Oswald swore, darting into the room. "Where the hell's Ban when we need him!"
Just then, Jericho's scream went silent, he armor exploding off of her as her body swelled and deformed, a massive monstrous form much like Dale's beginning to form, Jericho's upper body exposed in the monster's chest. The monster was about the same size as Diane, with a mouth just above Jericho, then a pointed nose above that. It didn't have any eyes, but Oswald seriously doubted that mattered.
It lunged at King instantly and Diane stepped into the way, grabbing its forearms and struggling to hold it back. Oswald prepared to remove the Demon Seed, but before he could, Guila went silent as well. He spun, only to see Gowther kneeling beside her, a stream of pink energy extended from his hand to her forehead. Oswald turned back to Jericho as Diane turned, hurling her out through the wall and off the castle. Oswald swore, rushing to the hole in the wall and looking down, and seeing Meliodas and Gilthunder had both gone to face Hendrickson. Oswald turned back to where Jericho was pushing herself up, the monster she was stuck in roaring. He jumped off the wall, falling toward her quickly.
"Sorry about this Jericho," Oswald growled. "Try not to be too mad!"
He drove his sword into the top of the monster's head, dragging it to the ground before wrenching it out and spinning, driving the blade into Jericho's abdomen. Then, he ripped it back out, swinging it around and smashing the Demon Seed against the ground in a splatter of dark blood. The monster's body crumbled instantly, Oswald catching Jericho and kneeling, sighing as he set her down.
"There you are," Ban's voice said from behind him, Oswald turning his head slightly.
"Ban, the New Generation are out of control," Oswald said. "You need to get the Demon Seeds out of them."
Ban remained silent. Oswald stared at the object in his hand, a metal three-part pole that was connected by chains, meant to be used sort of like extended nunchucks. He looked up to Ban's eyes, seeing the serious and calculating look he was giving him.
"W...What...happened?" Jericho asked, stirring slightly.
"Your demon blood formed something like a Demon Seed inside of your stomach, which then mutated you into a sort of half-demon," Oswald said, turning away from Ban and gently setting Jericho against the side of the castle. "I managed to take it out, but you need to rest. Try not to move or you'll bleed. Here." He pulled his shirt off and pressed it against the stab wound in her stomach, Jericho shouting in pain, but placing her hand over his, applying pressure as well. "Sorry I couldn't do it without stabbing you."
"It's alright," Jericho said. "Thank you for saving me."
"I've got to go," Oswald said. "Rest here. Someone will be along soon."
Jericho nodded and Oswald stood, picking up his sword and turning to Ban.
"You're getting funny ideas aren't you?" Hawk was asking Ban from beside him.
"Hawk," Oswald said, glancing over Ban's shoulder, seeing Meliodas and Gilthunder both lying on the ground, Margaret kneeling beside Gil. "Meliodas is wounded. Go and get him and Gilthunder and take them to King."
Hawke looked around before shouting in fear and taking off toward Meliodas at a sprint. Oswald turned back to Ban.
"Who told you to kill me?" Oswald asked. "You didn't care whether I was there or not before, so whose orders are you following?"
"A member of the Goddess Race," Ban said. "I used the Horn of Cernunnos to ask for them to bring Elaine back to life, and one of them told me that they could revive her, but would only do so if I killed either you or Meliodas. Meliodas I can understand, since I'm pretty sure he's a member of the Demon Clan, but you...You're supposedly a blacksmith. I can't figure out why they'd want me to kill a human. But since I like you less than Meliodas, you're the obvious choice."
"I'm also a lot weaker than Meliodas, making me the smarter choice all around," Oswald said. "So, that's what I was feeling. Well, the first thing you should know is that it wasn't some random member of the Goddess Race. The Horn of Cernunnos only contacts one member. The leader of the Goddess Race, known as the Supreme Deity. The second thing you should know, is that she lied to you. She can't revive Elaine. There are very few ways to do it, but the Goddess Race is incapable of doing it."
"Maybe, maybe not," Ban said. "I don't know if I believe you, since you've been claiming to be human and clearly that's a lie."
"I never said I was human," Oswald corrected. "I said I was a blacksmith. You all just assumed that I was human. Any race can be a blacksmith. It's a profession, not an ethnicity. You're correct. I'm not a human. I'm a mistake. As I told you before, my entire existence is sin. Conception to death, all I am is sin."
"Then I'd be justified in killing you," Ban said.
"Entirely," Oswald nodded. "But you wouldn't see Elaine again. The Supreme Deity doesn't care about what you want, or about whoever Elaine is. The Supreme Deity killed her own daughter and cursed the man her daughter loved, just because her daughter disobeyed her. The Goddess Race aren't the saviors, or the purely good beings the world believes. During the last Holy War, all they wanted was to destroy the Demon Clan in order to clear the way for them to take over the world. The war only ended because their most powerful warrior died, leaving them demoralized and unable to continue fighting, so instead they sacrificed their power to seal the Demon Clan away in order to keep the Demon Clan from wiping them out instead."
"I take it you were there," Ban said.
Oswald looked over at the city, where the New Generation Holy Knights were still rampaging. "If you're going to fight me, hurry up. But after the fight, I want your word that if you win, you'll stop the New Generation Holy Knights without killing them. And don't trust the Goddess Race. Destroy the Horn of Cernunnos. The Supreme Deity can't be allowed to manipulate anyone else."
"You have my word about the New Generation," Ban said. "And if the Goddess Race can't bring Elaine back, I'll definitely trash their stuff."
Oswald nodded. "Alright then. Seal."
A glowing ring of white light appeared around Ban before shrinking into him. Ban blinked, then swung his weapon, only to growl in frustration.
"You can't use your magic power," Oswald said. "Only your physical skills will respond until I die or release the seal."
"Fine then," Ban snarled. "Let's go!"
He leapt at Oswald, swiping at him from above, only for Oswald to catch the weapon, then push kick Ban, sending him crashing backward into the ground. He tossed Ban's weapon aside as Ban stared at him in shock.
"If you knew who I really am, you wouldn't have been so hasty to challenge me, or so careless in how you went about it," Oswald said. "I don't have time to deal with you Ban. Nor do I intend to die just because the Supreme Deity doesn't deign to allow my existence to continue. If she wants me dead, she can come down here and crush me herself. Otherwise, I intend to continue being a stain on the world the Supreme Deity wants to believe is hers. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a city to save. Feel free to help if you want."
He waved a hand, the seal on Ban's power breaking before Oswald turned and leapt away from the castle, landing on a building and taking off at a sprint. He moved quickly, moving from one New Generation to the next, pausing only just long enough to impale the Demon Seed and fling it into the air before moving on. As he did, Ban was moving in from the other side, using his powers to do the same thing. Then, each that was sent into the air was killed by King's small blades. They made very quick work of the creatures, and within a matter of minutes, Oswald and Ban removed the last two Demon Seeds and met in the middle. Oswald blocked the magic whip Ban tried to rip his hear tout with using a small Heaven's Shield the size of a normal shield, then sliced off Ban's right arm as he passed, the arm spinning to the ground with his weapon.
"Ban, we need to deal with Hendrickson before he can revive the Demon Clan," Oswald said. "If you still intend to kill me after that, I'll fight you."
"Alright," Ban said. "That's fair. Can you sense Hendrickson?"
"Yeah," Oswald nodded. "He's in the mansion over there." Oswald pointed to the building he and Diane had been teleported into.
"Alright," Ban nodded, his arm reattached. "Let's go help the Captain."
Oswald nodded and they turned, both of them sprinting toward the building, King flying along above them.
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