Ragnar kept on chanting, hoping he could complete casting the spell in time.

'Meliodas, I beg you, please don't wake up," Ragnar pleaded. 'The forbidden spell will be complete within 10 minutes.'

Ludociel was now fending off the Original Demon, who was attacking him relentlessly.

"I'll show you the power of the leader of the Four Archangels," said Ludociel and created a barrier of light around the Original Demon.

Beams of light then shot in all different directions hitting him constantly.

"He's wounded," Alvin stared. "Sir Eret was even format for this Demon. Amazing."

"Hellblaze Omega!" the Original Demon roared, firing a concentrated burst of darkness.

Ludociel nearly knocked it aside with a wave of his hand. "Ineffective."

Eret, meanwhile, was still being carried by Mael as he and the others were making their way to the battlefield.

"Reuniting like this with a former enemy, someone that you faced on the battlefield, is a strange twist of fate," said Mael. "A miraculous one brought about by the Grace."

"Estarossa? You are one of the Ten Commandments?" said Eret recognising him. "No, wait, you're Mael, right? Of the Archangels?"

"Whoa, Eret, you're a total wreck," Heather stared.

"Looks like they got you pretty bad," said Astrid.

Eret looked at her and frowned. "Lady Astrid, is that you?"

Astrid gave him a blank look and then looked down at her body. "Oh, of course. Yeah, it's me; I just got a real body now. It's a long story."

"I see," said Eret. "I do apologise for being in this pitiful state."

Ruby then flew up to him. "Be Vigorous!"

Eret's wounds then began to heal themselves. "Thank you very much, Lady Ruby. I do appreciate it. Though I'm still surprised that you found me after I was blown away like that."

"I had assistance," Mael admitted. "The Fairy King was watching everything."

Eret looked at Fishlegs and stared. "What the? Is that you, Sir Fishlegs?"

"Another long story," said Astrid.

"I'm glad that you're alive, but I have to say that Xeovell is in a pretty dire situation," said Fishlegs.

Eret nodded. "We have to get there fast before it's too late." He then quickly looked up at Mael. "Sir Mael, I have heard a lot about you from your elder brother. If I recall, my magical power Sunshine was originally you're Grace was it not?"

Mael just remained silent.

"Sir Mael, I asked you that you lend me your power, and if you do so in exchange, I would be more than happy to return Sunshine to you."

"Eret's magical power is what?" Heather stared.

"Did he just say that it was Mael's Grace?" Luna asked.

"I beg of you," Eret pleaded.

"I fully intend to help you all however I can, of course," Mael assured him. "However, I am not able to accept the Grace."

"Why ever not?"

"Your its host, the Grace, disowned me long ago. I've been tainted with darkness; it shows you as its new home once I became unworthy. To this day, I remain unqualified."

"Sir Mael, we need your help, and I do not have enough life force to withstand Sunshine anymore. Understand, if we do not have that power, we cannot defeat them."

Mael just remained silent.

"We are running out of time! We must hurry, or otherwise, this situation will become irreparable!"

Mael closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame. "But I—"

"If there is no way for you to accept it, I'll simply lend it to you," said Eret.

"Whoa, scrawny human just forced his power onto the strongest of the Four Archangels?" Luna stared.

"Yeah, he did," said Toothless, equally gobsmacked.

Astrid just merely smiled. "That's our Eret, all right."

Mael just looked at Eret, stunned and could see that he was serious.

"I beg of you, we must do this!" said Eret strongly. "We must save those people no matter the cost!"

Zeldris was still fending off Chastiefol in its Increase Form, making sure that he never got an opening to attack Ragnar.

'Only eight more minutes, then the forbidden spell will be complete,' said Ragnar as he continued to chant.

Ludociel then blasted the Original Demon with a powerful beam of light, and it took everything he had to knock it back.

"Hellblaze Omega!" he roared, attacking Ludociel with the attack from earlier.

"Laughable," said Ludociel and attempted to swat it aside just like before.

However, this one was more powerful than the last, and the moment it hit, it pushed him backwards. He barely had time to get his footing before he stopped.

"What's this?" he said. "The technique's power level suddenly increased?"

The Original Demon smiled as blood poured out of his mouth.

Ludociel glared at him. "Wipe that smirk off your face!"

He then blasted him with a bolt of light, but somehow he managed to shrug it off. He then attacked him with the attack from earlier in. This one was even more powerful than the second one. It hit Ludociel with so much force that he was sent flying and crashed into Ragnar.

"I'm sorry, Ragnar," he said as the two of them got up. "Don't get it. Something is wrong; this Demon should have accumulated quite a bit of damage by now. However, it seems like his output just continues to increase. How is that possible?"

Ludociel then noticed something off about the Original Demon. "Wait a minute."

When he examined him closely, Ludociel noticed that he was slowly disintegrating.

"Look at that; it's not just his wounds. Is he destroying himself?"

Ragnar immediately recognised the danger they were in. "Don't attack him any further! It's far too dangerous!"

"As expected, you have good judgement," said the Original Demon. "What perplexes you is this… the more that I use up my life, the more my power increases. This is my true magical power… Crisis!

He then slowly began to advance towards them. "And for acting against my punishment sentenced by the Demon King and returning to my original form. My flesh will soon crumble."

"Huh, so this is a test of endurance," Ludociel simplified. "Are you going to self-destruct first? Or will we be the first to perish?"

Ragnar continued to chant despite the danger they were in. 'This isn't good. If he continues to power up at this pace, it will be impossible to hold out before he self-destructs.'

"For the birth of the new Demon King, there is nothing that I wouldn't do," said the Original Demon raising his swords. "I will offer my life to bring it to fruition!"

"Careful, Lord Ludociel!" Alvin yelled.

Then suddenly, a light shot through the dark clouds that covered the entire capital. It was almost as if the sun had just pissed through the darkness like a ray of hope.

"What?" the Original Demon stared. "My technique, Darkness, shouldn't allow this."

"What's going on?" Zeldris frowned.

"Sunlight in the dark of night?" said Alvin confused.

"Oh, thick night glooming below, you will hereby dissipate and vanish before my Grace," said a voice.

Immediately the light began to dispel the dark clouds covering the capital.

"The night in dark clouds, it's all vanishing!" Alvin stared.

Everyone was completely dumbfounded, and when the light faded, they could see floating directly above them was Mael. Moments later, Astrid and the others had arrived, ready to do battle.

"Estarossa, your back," said Zeldris. "It's good to see you. No, wait, you're Mael."

Mael floated there, conjuring a bright sun within his palm. He finally accepted Eret's request and took back his power of Sunshine.

"He returned," said Ludociel joyously. "I am so glad to see you alive."

Mael looked down at him with a sad smile. "Dear brother."

"What business do you have in this place now?" Zeldris asked, looking up at Mael. "If your awake, you should just hurry back to the Celestial World where you belong."

"I have come here as I am partially responsible for bringing about the Holy War," said Mael. "However, I did not come here with the intention of settling things through combat. If you promise to allow the prevention of Meliodas' transformation into the Demon King and withdraw the Demon Clan's invading force, I will not get involved in this matter at all."

"I hope this works," said Ruby.

"How dare you attempt to disrupt the birth of the new Demon King!" the Original Demon roared furiously.

He then launched himself at him, with every attention to strike him down. Mael responded by chucking the miniature sun at him with all his strength.

"Your attacker is futile! I'll swallow that thing a whole!" the Original Demon yelled, catching it with his flaming hair.

"Now, Greatest Sun!" said Mael.

At first, it seems as if the Original Demon was spinning the sun around, but it quickly became the other way around. Everyone then watched as the sun took him away and crashed into the horizon, creating a massive explosion of fire.

"Is this the power of the originator?" Eret stared.

"Even after 3,000 years, he still has perfect mastery over his Grace," Astrid noted.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of threat?" Zeldris asked, not looking concerned in the slightest. "You probably haven't forgotten that any kind of attack magic will not work on me."

"Oh, I remember, and that's why she's here," said Mael.

Astrid then quickly swooped down, swinging her battleaxe down at Zeldris, who barely had time to block it with his own blade.

"Ah, so you regain your original body," Zeldris observed. "Though I must ask why you are fighting alongside the man who killed you originally."

"It's called forgiveness; you should try it sometime," said Astrid.

"Like hell!" Zeldris roared, pulling away from her and then swung his sword, sending a dark slash of magic at Ragnar.

Ludociel quickly blocked it with a beam of light, but it dispelled in dark creatures began to swarm around it. Both Ruby, Fishlegs, Heather, Toothless and Luna immediately struck these creatures with their attacks as Ragnar continued his spell.

"Be warned, our will and resolve will not falter," Ruby vowed and then looked back at Ragnar. "Ragnar, how much more time until the spell is complete?"

"Not long; five minutes should do it, and then I can suspend the cocoon in time," he said.

"Like hell, you bastards!" Zeldris roared and flew down at them.

Astrid then quickly blocked his path, knocking him back with her battleaxe towards Mael. He then caught him and began spinning him around ferociously before sending him crashing down to the ground.

When the dust cleared, Zeldris stood there looking at the two of them. With a smile on his face, he then created a powerful vortex to suck them in, not only those two but everyone else as well.

"What's going on?" Heather asked. "My body is getting sucked in!"

Heather quickly held her ground as everyone grabbed onto her.

"This is really bad!" Eret yelled.

"Mael, look out!" Ludociel yelled.

Both Astrid and Mael were now being pulled in towards Zeldris, who then thrusted his sword at Mael. However, when he pulled it back, he found the blade had melted.

"He's sword just melted," Heather gasped.

"That's incredible," said Eret looking at Mael. "He is able to circulate the explosive power of Sunshine within himself. Not just on the surface of his body, that won't let Zeldris' magical power obstruct the attacks."

Astrid then promptly punched Zeldris hard in the face, pushing him back.

Zeldris spat out a bit of blood and looked at Astrid. 'So, this is a magical power Overdrive. I heard that she is able to channel anger into energy, whether it's her own or if it belongs to others. 3,000 years ago, it was said that she was the most feared warrior among the Dragonborn, even more, fearful than Hiccup.'

"If we hold you back for five minutes, the victory is ours," said Mael. "If you defeat us in five minutes, the victory is yours."

Zeldris faced down both Astrid and Mael a split second later, and they were trading blows with one another. They moved so fast that the others could barely keep up with their strikes, but Zeldris somehow managed to go behind Mael and kick him in the back. He then quickly blocked a punch coming from Astrid and then kicked her in the chest.

He then began attacking Mael relentlessly. "What happened to you, Mael? Is this all you got?"

"Mael's is being attacked relentlessly," said Heather.

"And that's even with Astrid helping," said Toothless.

"It's true his physical power certainly matches his brothers," said Fishlegs.

Mael then looked as if he was in deep meditation.

"Huh? He's concentrating the sun's power that circulating in his body?" Eret observed.

Zeldris then launched himself at Mael, but he blocked the blow with his wings. We parted his wings and revealed that his fist was now glowing writer like the sun.

"Helios Fair!" he said and punched Zeldris.

His punch hit Zeldris hard as if you just collided with the sun itself, hitting him up into the air. Then suddenly, Astrid appeared directly above him with axe in hand.

"Valkyrie Clash!" she yelled, slamming her axe down onto him.

Zeldris was then slammed into the ground hard, but somehow he managed to withstand both attacks.

"No way, he withstood the attacks?" Heather stared.

Zeldris just smiled at them but then toppled over, spitting blood. "The strength…"

"Why must we do this?" Mael asked. "Let's put an end to this sad and futile war once and for all. Although it was a fabricated memory, you and I were brothers for a moment. I'm certain we'll understand each other if we just talk."

"I don't think he wants to talk," said Astrid looking at Zeldris. "That look in his eyes tells me he's gonna fight to the end no matter what."

Zeldris smiled and held out his hilt, and a dark blade emerged from it. "At least one of you has a warrior spirit."

"Must we, Zeldris?" said Mael.

"I'm afraid we must," said Astrid.

All three of them took up fighting stances.

Alvin then jumped down and joined the others.

"Everyone, are you all right?" he asked.

"We're good, but what about you?" Eret asked.

Ragnar was still chanting, and his spell was always complete.

"Three minutes left!" said Toothless.

Zeldris waited no time began engaging both Astrid and Mael, and despite the fact it was two against one, there were evenly matched.

"Two more minutes!" said Luna.

Suddenly both Astrid and Mael were getting the upper hand; in fact, Astrid's straight was increasing rapidly. With one swing of her axe, she was able to knock Zeldris to the ground.

"You seem to be concerned," Mael noted. "You're usually so calm and collective."

"Yeah, I can feel your anger bubbling up inside," said Astrid. "I know the reasons behind why you're doing this, but there is another way. You don't need Meliodas to become the Demon King to get what you want."

"Say whatever you want!" Zeldris glared and then suddenly appeared right in front of a swinging his blade. "This is exactly what Meliodas wants, and it's what I want to!"

"This determination is ghastly," said Mael as they withstood the attacks.

"That's why you should get out of my way!" Zeldris roared, swinging his sword at him.

"Oh no, Mael!" Ludociel cried as his brother fell to the ground.

Zeldris quickly spun around, swinging his sword at Astrid, who barely had time to block it with her axe. However, the sheer force of the blow was strong enough to send her flying into some rubble.

"Astrid!" Heather cried.

"One more minute!" Ragnar announced.

Zeldris then quickly charged towards Ragnar; he then jumped into the air and created a ring of darkness. Then shooting at the ring were beams of darkness that rained down across the battlefield.

"We must protect Ragnar!" Ludociel yelled as he fired beams of light at the beams of darkness, cancelling them out.

Heather quickly spun her hammer around to block the attack, and Toothless and Luna used their plasma blasts to attack the beams as well.

"Not sure how long we can keep this up!" said Toothless.

"Just keep firing!" Luna yelled.

Fishlegs quickly had Chastiefol take on its Pollen Garden form, creating a shield around them.

"You can't win this," said Fishlegs pointing at Zeldris. "Better give up now."

However, secretly, he knew they couldn't keep up this defensive posturing for much longer. 'Or else we might not be able to last.'

Ragnar's spell was seconds away from finishing, but Zeldris wasn't giving up. He immediately swung his sword down on the shield, using all the strength he had despite his injuries.

"Zeldris, please," Ruby begged.

"He seems to be getting desperate now," Toothless observed.

"Yes, but this barrier will buckle under this kind of assault soon," said Luna.

Everyone just watched as Zeldris continued his assault, as it was the only thing they could do. However, he was so preoccupied with the barrier he failed to notice that both Astrid and Mael had gotten back up.

Mael struck him in the back with blades of light, and Astrid dealt him a very powerful punch right across his face. Everyone watched as he was sent flying straight towards the ground.

He tried to get back to his feet but struggled, and when he did, he was completely bloodied and exhausted. His thought went to Meliodas and his promise, but he witnessed Ragnar's spell completed, and everyone could hear the sound of a bell.

"Was he really able to make the cocoon time stop?" Toothless asked.

"It seems so; look there," said Alvin pointing at a bird that was completely frozen. "The bird is frozen."

"Gelda," said Zeldris weakly. 'I will see you. Wait for me until that day comes.'

Zeldris was overcome by exhaustion and collapsed.

Everyone just stood there looking down at him.

"It was short, but it felt like forever," said Fishlegs.

"Regardless, we did it," said Luna. "The Holy War was finally over!"

"Hurray!" Heather cheered, jumping up into the air and causing a small earthquake.

"Ragnar, thank you so much," Ruby smiled.

Mael approached Ludociel. "Brother, I just…"

"No need to say anything right now," said Ludociel placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm glad it's finally over," said Eret.

"Me too," said Astrid as she returned to normal.

Ragnar then toppled over in pain.

"Sir Ragnar, are you all right?" Eret asked.

"As one would expect, the forbidden spell took a toll on me," said Ragnar. "Of course, far from done; now I have to think of a way to remove the Commandments from Meliodas and break the curse surrounding Ruby. I'm I go to need several drinks after this."

Eret chuckled.

Ruby then approached Alvin. "Alvin, I want to thank you for everything you did for Sapphire and Gil."

"How do you know that?" Alvin frowned.

"Sir Fishlegs was watching through Chastiefol the whole time," Ruby explained.

Alvin looked, looking for Fishlegs, unaware that he had taken a new form.

Toothless looked at the cocoon curiously and flew up into the air, followed closely by Luna.

"What the matter, Toothless?" she asked.

"I don't know. I just have this feeling we're not quite done yet," he said as he flew over the cocoon.

"I admit that we still have to break Ruby's curse, but we should still celebrate."

Ruby just smiled. 'Meliodas, as long as you're safe, we will find a way to sort out the rest.'

Toothless eyes widened when he finally reached the top of the cocoon and found a tear, and inside, he found it was empty. "The cocoon is empty!"

Everyone immediately stopped smiling as looked of horror appeared on their faces.

They then heard footsteps, and Ruby saw a blonde-haired man emerging from the shadows. "Meliodas, is that really you?"

Zeldris copped out some blood and laughed. "That means it's your turn to feel our promise. Do it, Demon King."