"Merlin, I'm sending you ahead"
Meliodas ordered as he jumped two hundred feet in the air "Full Counter!"
The sky erupted with vivid colors of crimson as clumps of scales and searing meat fell from the heavens.
The vast field just beyond the outskirts of Bernia had become a warzone of sulfur and smoke, the sky roared as winged beasts bigger than farmhouses circled the skies. The Sins had been separated, but it was easy to spot their location as explosions and magical spells erupted from different directions.
"There are still too many" Merlin shouted back as she casted her exterminator ray towards the sky. The deafening sounds of the winged beasts' collective roars vibrated to the very soil beneath their feet and the sky lit up a magnificent electric blue, as if lightning had showered the atmosphere.
"The job is almost done" The Dragon Sin of Wrath declared as he hacked his brilliant emerald and golden sword and slew a beast on his descent back to the ground.
"Sacred Treasure, release" Meliodas glimmered and four of his identical figures appeared in his place. Each of the clones ran off in different directions and wrought destruction wherever they went. The original had stayed and surveyed the skies as the Boar Sin of Gluttony cleared her end.
"Escanor and I can handle this." He assured. "We're almost done here. But it will take another day to clear this place up and get the reinforcements we need. Three days is too long"
"What about the ring leader?" The mage asked from the top of her lungs as the cacophonous sound of magic, cries, and roars resonated the field.
"It's around here. I can feel it somewhere. I can handle it" Meliodas declared.
Merlin frowned but nodded in response. "Fine. Don't overdo it" She glared.
"Yeah, yeah" Meliodas rolled his eyes and leaped again from his bombarded spot towards his fellow Sin. "How do we get back when we're done?"
Merlin snapped her fingers and three beads appeared in her palms. "Luckily, I prepared these as a precaution. Just break one, and it'll create a portal straight to Liones"
Two onyx beads landed on Meliodas' outstretched palms. "Why two?"
"Because I know you'll find a way to lose one"
"Fair enough"
Merlin crossed her arms "I'm serious. If you lose both you'll travel the normal way" the mage warned.
"I can fly and just carry the two" Meliodas shrugged. "and it'll be easier with a nighttime Escanor"
"You'll kill him knowing the speed you'll go" Merlin shook her head in disbelief. "Besides, even if you did, it would still take you a day and half at best"
Meliodas sighed and kept the beads in the pockets of his armor. He was never really good at keeping small objects when he was on a mission, he was surprised his armor hadn't been reduced to a melted puddle of iron yet.
"Perfect cube" Merlin casted. She then broke her bead and a small crack appeared from inside the cube. "The portal will disappear before the cube will, so don't worry about guarding it."
Meliodas nodded. "Will you let me know if something happened?"
"I'll try to reach you. But I'll take care of her if something did" Merlin promised.
"All right"
Meliodas turned his gaze towards the skies. He heard the buzz of the portal, indicating Merlin's leave and jumped atop the perfect cube she left behind. The sky roared again, and Meliodas counted four of his clones still intact and fighting in the distance. Not bad, he thought. He can wrap this up in minutes with Escanor and Gowther's help. But he needed to take care of the demon rounding up the beasts that swarmed the skies.
Zeldris was clearly not playing around. He had prepared, rounded up, and lured Chimera Dragons to ravage Brittania in his lesser demons' place. They were winged, scaled creatures that breathed fire and were as big as farm houses. But they can only be found in the far desserts of Britannia, miles away from Bernia. So Zeldris spared no effort in leading them at such a great distance.
Chimera Dragons were sturdy creatures that destroyed everything in its path, and they were extremely impossible to control. They couldn't be tamed nor tortured into obedience, and any living thing that disturbed their den in the deserts were melted into atoms. And Zeldris just set them lose in some random area in Brittania with a higher demon rounding them up so they can be led to the right place.
Zeldris had clearly calculated that he would be at a disadvantage when Merlin had disposed of Greyroad, the Commandment that birthed a dozen lesser demons overnight. Zeldris would have other means to create or summon them still, but not as fast as Greyroad. And with half of the Commandments gone, he was not about to waste time summoning them the normal way. The second demon prince also knew his traitor brother would turn to the humans for reinforcements, and killing the populace would solve his problem.
If Bartra hadn't foreseen this attack, they would have lost Bernia and the Chimera dragons would have been lured to the outer villages of Liones, reducing their already depleting army into less than half.
Meliodas and his little brother were yet again playing against each other, and whoever had the slightest misstep, loses.
But with all things considered, he wasn't really needed for this mission, the rest would have handled it easily. One of the soldiers had scouted the Chimera Dragons a day before they had arrived, which was enough to evacuate the whole Kingdom of Bernia and its surrounding villages to the farthest little town down south. They had also asked for the human soldiers not to interfere, as no normal being could survive the rainfall of fire and the sea of razor-sharp teeth. It still irked him that he had to be here, but Meliodas just had to think that if they hadn't gotten to Bernia on time, there were no reinforcements left to negotiate with.
The demon who had lured the dragons all the way here probably ran away the moment they appeared, but he felt a feint familiar dark magic within the area, which could mean it was still lurking about. It would be unwise not to kill or capture it, there could be more dragons under reserve, and he mainly wanted to interrogate the demon to know what other plans his brother might have.
Meliodas kicked off from the ground, and from his back formed marvelous wings made of darkness, and the Dragon Sin of Wrath flew with speed like a missile in the skies. Gowther and Escanor were effectively clearing the dragons on their end as he surveyed the field from above, while the rest of his surviving clones also did a good job in slaying a few beasts. The battlefield was chaotic to say the least, and he had to do something about the fires once they were done, or else it could spread to nearby forests, or worse, the town where they had evacuated the kingdom to.
He flew for a good long while, killing the dragons with his body alone as he passed them, with no sign of any demon on the field. It wouldn't waste it's time protecting the dragons when its job was just to lure them to the humans. But just as Meliodas was about to head back, he saw it, a cat like creature with an unusual color lingering safely atop a nearby tree.
The cat had not noticed him yet, so he slowed down and quietly approached it from behind. It should have already sensed his presence from a mile away, and Meliodas had a good idea why it hadn't. But he approached it still.
"It's been a while, Peronia" Meliodas greeted in a light tone as he appeared just behind the cat. The demon prince had indeed not seen his old caretaker in a thousand years, seeing her out in the open was rather nostalgic and odd.
The devilish cat's mint colored fur stood on end, and just before the cat could jump, Meliodas grabbed it by the tail and it struggled wildly while it dangled in Meliodas' hold.
"Don't go so soon, we have a lot of catching up to do" Meliodas teased as he tried to avoid the sharp claws of the demon cat that tried to swipe its way to freedom.
When the cat grew tired of its struggling and knew there was no way out of the demon prince's hold, its small, devilish body began to morph. The fur became skin, the claws became hands, but the wide cat-like grin stayed in place on a small woman's demonic face.
"Ah Lord Meliodas. As handsome as always I see." The small demon purred as she suspended still upside down.
"What brings you here, Peronia?" Meliodas casually asked. "You don't usually leave one of my brothers' side"
The small demoness laughed. "I'm touched that you know I wouldn't"
Peronia didn't look like much, but she was a higher demon that was made to be very loyal to the Demon King's three sons. She was almost on par with Chandler in terms of magical ability, and she needed to be, especially when she was taking care of the sons of the Demon King who never went home unscathed. She also needed to be the eyes and ears of the Demon King whenever his sons were out and about on unusual escapades that no demon prince was supposed to do. She could create anything and see everything without moving a muscle.
"So, where are you?"
"Taking care of Lord Estarossa. The poor boy had almost been burned to ashes thanks to that brute of a human" Peronia snarled as she shifted her gaze to the far distance, no doubt where Escanor was.
"Hmm, so he survived" Meliodas mused. Out of his two brothers, Estarossa was the one he was most cautious of. Zeldris could at least be reasoned with, especially with the card he could play. But Estarossa had motives that Meliodas still couldn't grasp. The moment he got a hold of his Commandment, his little brother became so bloodthirsty he was almost unrecognizable.
"Well, I'd better go Lord Melidoas. Lord Zeldris wouldn't like to find out that you caught me and interrogated me rather harshly"
"Aww come now, Pers" Meliodas cooed. "I would never. I just wanna know what little old Zel is planning. We're friends here. You can even tell Zel you did such a good job until I came along."
The little demoness cackled. "I'm sure there's nothing I could tell that you haven't already thought of yourself, your grace."
Meliodas raised his brow. Peronia gave him too much credit, probably still blinded by pride of what she felt like she had contributed to how profound the demon princes had become. But Meliodas couldn't deny that the demoness was right. He knew his little brother all too well, as does Zeldris, and maybe that's why this game was the hardest to play. It was almost as if he was playing against himself.
Meliodas didn't respond, and in his silence, Peronia muttered something that caught him off guard. "You know I never told on you, your grace."
His eyes widened slightly in shock, not wanting to show Peronia that his guard had been down because of her words. But he couldn't help responding.
"I know." He said flatly.
There was a fault to Peronia's design; she was too loyal to the demon princes. One of them could be a traitor or be galivanting around with vampires, but just as long it was them, Peronia would never tell the Demon King. Hell, if Meliodas just asked, Peronia could tell him everything or sneak him inside Camelot if he asked. But knowing Estraossa survived was all the information he needed. There was really no use in interrogating Peronia any further, and invading Camelot alone would be too hasty and impulsive.
"Be wary, Lord Meliodas" the demoness cackled mysteriously.
Wary? What is she talking about? Meliodas frowned. Had the demoness done something he didn't know about?
But before Meliodas could raise his sword and ask the demoness, Peronia had already moved and leaped out of his grip.
"Hell blaze" The demoness casted as she swiped her razor-sharp claws at the chest of Meliodas' armor. As it hit, Meliodas torso had been set ablaze, and he was momentarily blinded as Peronia jumped into the fires of the forest below, and her cat-like appearance shimmered and disappeared, acting as fuel to the flames as they roared and towered the skies.
"Agh" Meliodas cried.
Being engulfed in a higher demon's Hell Blazewas excruciating. The flames now spread across his arms and down to his abdomen, slowly melting his armor that singed his skin from within. Meliodas ripped his armor from his body like it was made of paper, but the fire had already caught on his arm and it lingered on his very skin.
He landed to what seemed like a safe zone and rolled on the dry, prickly grass. After a few good rolls, the purple flames had finally dissipated. Fortunately, his shirt armor had survived, but with several singed holes. At least he wasn't going to walk around shirtless. The skin where his armor had melted off on were pinkish, but not burnt. But the areas where the Hell Blaze had touched his skin had left a dark mark where his skin was severely charred, almost cracking apart and revealing the flesh underneath.
It hurt like hell and it looked utterly gruesome, but nothing he couldn't manage. He just needed to use a bit of his darkness on it and wait until he could get to Elizabeth.
Meliodas surveyed the area where he saw Peronia disappear. She would be long gone by now, and he didn't feel any traces of the feint dark magic he felt before when Pernonia was present. Besides, the demoness wasn't really physically here, she created a double while her real self was back in Camelot looking after Estarossa.
Meliodas looked towards the horizon and saw that it was past noon, so that means Escanor had also passed his noon time form, which would mean it was much safer to execute his plan.
He flew towards where he saw Escanor last and found that he had done more than a good job at taking care of the beasts from his end. There was a large crater on the ground from where Escanor stood, along with a pile of dead Chimera Dragons. And from the distance, Meliodas saw that Gowther was using two hi-jacked dragons to kill off the others.
They actually made pretty good time, but the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins wanted to end this and return to Liones tonight.
"Gowther" Meliodas called, and the doll quickly looked towards his captain. "We need to speed this up. Amplify Escanor"
The Goat sin of Lust tilted his head, but his expression remained neutral. "What of the fire that could spread, Captain?"
"I can handle it. Read my mind and brief Escanor. This is taking too long" Meliodas ordered impatiently.
"Roger that" Gowther replied, unphased by the sudden hostility. "Broadcast"
And a small beam of blue light flew towards Escanor's location. And in a few moments, he appeared next to them.
"I agree. These feeble creatures have taken up too much of my time as well" The Lion Sin of Pride complained.
"Remember to keep it within the vicinity" Meliodas ordered. "I don't want to have to deal with stragglers"
His plan was risky, and it could go sideways the instance one of them mis-fired. But the results would all depend on him regardless if the aim was sloppy or not. The plan required him to go into full demon mode, and Meliodas had been extremely cautious about using his powers to the fullest. If he gave himself to the darkness at this stage, he could never go back. But with the looming threat of the Holy War, he can't keep making that excuse. He just needed to control himself.
The intricate demon mark appeared on his forehead, his emerald green eyes turned onyx, all the wounds on his body disappeared, but not fully healing, and he sprouted wings of darkness from his back once more.
The only good thing that ever came out of the Fighting Festival, is that he wasn't afraid to reveal that he was a demon anymore. Not that Escanor hadn't already knew, and Gowther, well Gowther was a different story.
As he reached the ideal height in the heavens, he looked down and nodded at Gowther and Escanor who were positioned below, and gave the signal to begin.
Escanor leaped from his spot, the force of his jump left a crater on the soil as he ascended, and just before he could reach the maximum height of his jump just below Meliodas, Gowther shot an arrow towards Escanor.
"Power Amplify!" Gowther casted.
And just as it hit Escanor, he summoned a ball of fire as big as the sun itself. "Cruel Sun."
Escanor threw the ball of fire with all his might below the open field of Chimera Dragons. And just as his fire engulfed everything in sight, Meliodas summoned from his hands a blanket of darkness.
The darkness enveloped the entire field that was set ablaze, trapping the burning embers of the fire, the dragons, and even the smoke itself towards the ground. Nothing escaped his blanket of darkness, and Meliodas gritted his teeth as he concentrated to widen the range of his powers.
It's been a while since he had used this magic, how he used it in the past wasn't a very fond memory. But if he wasn't careful now, he could lose control of the cocoon while the fires weren't out, and everything from within would explode from the contained pressure, making the fires harder to control.
After waiting for what feels like centuries, the oxygen from within the blanket of darkness had completely gone and the fires had slowly extinguished on its own.
Meliodas let go of his hold of the darkness and the contained smoke erupted like a strong gust of wind. The smell of toxic, rancid sulfur filled the air, and any creature who breathed oxygen would die in an instant if they were close proximity. Fortunately, this air was not toxic to the demon prince, as it was the exact same air he breathed in the demon realm.
Everything went according to plan, more or less. The fire and destruction stayed within the field, there were no other creature was around to breathe in the toxic smoke, expect for him and Gowther. And he had sent Escanor away to the villages the moment he had casted his magic.
It took almost two hours for the smoke to fully disappear before it was safe to leave it and go back to check on the small town where they had evacuated the whole kingdom of Bernia. And when Meliodas and Gowther made their way back, the townspeople were already packing and were starting to go back to their homes, just like he had instructed Escanor to do.
Good, Meliodas thought. Too much time had been wasted back at their contained field, he didn't need to waste time on helping the villagers pack up. All he needed to do now was look for the king and ensure that he'd stick to his word and give them the reinforcement that they came here for. Otherwise, somebody was going to find themselves with dragon's bone stuck up their asses.
"Escanor, where's Oran?" Meliodas asked his fellow Sin who was waiting for them.
"H-he's by the center of the crowd along with the knights" Escanor stuttered a bit. It was almost sunset, and the Lion Sin of Pride was nearing his night time form. "He's been looking for you"
"Let's hurry it up so we can go home" Meliodas ordered.
Escanor lead the way to the king of Bernia who was at the center of the crowded town square. People started to pour out from the small village where they had been evacuated, and the short captain of the Seven Deadly Sins would be lost in the sea of people if he had not stood out too much.
Despite his puzzled face and innocent look of bewilderment, the Holy Knights of the kingdom gave him a wary look and the people who hurriedly went back to their homes forgot their haste as they gave the small man a wide berth.
King Oran, a middle aged, bearded man, stood with his wife and two children who helped farmers load sacks on their carts and distribute to what looked like food rations. The royal family had opted to stay with their subjects during the dragon attack instead of cowering behind the walls of their castle. Meliodas could see why Bartra would align himself with this kingdom. But the demon prince had met many kings during his time, and it doesn't take a mere few days to earn his full respect.
"Sir Meliodas!" King Oran exclaimed as he saw them. "How amazing! Y-You defeated all of the Chimera Dragons?"
"Every last one" Meliodas replied flatly.
"And what of Lady Merlin? Has she...?"
"No, she's fine. I sent her ahead to attend to another urgent matter."
"I-I see. I'm glad she's alright." The king sighed with relief. "You are in our debt."
The queen of Bernia paused with her work and stood next to her husband, arms stretched out in welcome. "You must be exhausted. We are actually on our way back to the castle, and there are rooms already ready for y-"
"Actually. That won't be necessary." Meliodas interrupted. "We're actually on our way back."
"So soon? But it would be too dangerous to travel at night. At least stay for the night." The king offered.
"It's really fine. We actually have a portal to make our journey quicker." Plus, the only dangerous thing that would travel the roads of Brittania, would be him, Meliodas thought.
"If you insist. If there's anything you need for your travels, please do not hesitate to ask" King Oran offered, already tilting his head to a servant who was ready to fetch whatever they asked for.
"Actually, we'll be taking our gold and we'll be on our way." Meliodas replied, deadly serious and made sure that he had a threatening tone.
The middle-aged king's expression turned from warm hospitable to pure confusion, and just a little hint of fear. "Gold?"
The two Sins behind him didn't react, but then again, the two had always been absolutely horrible when it came to jokes. It was kind of sad and awkward that no one was here to nudge him in the elbows to break the tension of the atmosphere.
"I'm just kidding" Meliodas bared his teeth and made sure his fangs were more than prominent. "We're just here to make sure your people are fine. Can you manage from here?"
The king and queen's expression relaxed, but their eyes still screamed of wariness and fear, which was what Meliodas had intended.
"Y-yes." The queen stuttered. "The knights can assist everyone back to their homes safely"
"Great!" Meliodas exclaimed, sounding like a whole different person from who the kind had met this morning and just moments ago. "Then, we'll be on our way. How soon can your knights travel to Liones?"
"They can travel first thing in the morning tomorrow." The king assured. "They just need to prepare for the journey of course and see their family safely back in their homes."
"Good. Then we'll be on our way." Meliodas said hastily, not allowing any room for further discussion. They could be invited for dinner or some other nonsense.
"Won't you at least st-"
"No, no. It's fine. We should really be off." He insisted.
"I-if you insist. Give Bartra and the princesses my best" The king finally said, sounding utterly disappointed. If Meliodas didn't know any better, the royal family had probably prepared a feast for them. He motioned the two Sins to start moving before they were forced to
Meliodas nodded and motioned for Escanor and Gowther to the trees just behind the village. Within just a few paces, Meliodas was quickly rummaging from his vests the travel bead Merlin had given him.
The sun had set, and the moon and stars twinkled in the velvet blankets of the night sky. Escanor was back in his night time form, already shivering from the cold. They were a day early from their scheduled return, thanks to Meliodas' haste in ending the mission. He couldn't be away for too much any longer, and he wasn't going to fucking rest in some other kingdom just because he was tired. Although, he did admit the two Sins behind him didn't look too great, but they were just a portal away from Liones, so why waste any more time here.
His hearts almost skipped a beat when he couldn't feel the beads in his vest pockets, but luckily enough, he had foreseen that his armor would eventually be melted off in the battle, so he put one in the pockets of his pants.
He asked the two if they were ready, and when they nodded, he didn't waste any more time breaking the bead so he can go back home to Elizabeth.
A few notes on this chapter:
I thought it would be an interesting concept of making Peronia this loyal caretaker and high ranking demon. And it would make sense since it took her a while to get out of the seal, like Chandler and Cuasck.
I really don't know what Meliodas' power is called, the one that he uses to subdue Zel and Estarossa in Camelot, but it's the same one he uses as a blanket. And I head cannon it to be kind of like Merlin's Perfect Cube, but different and much more powerful and he can manipulate how he uses it. So here, since he hasn't gone Assault Mode yet, it's not quite as powerful yet.
The next Chapter will be soon, assuming I don't go over it excessively again, since it was already made and was originally supposed go together with this Chapter. So I promise and will try to upload it as soon as I can.