Ban ignored King following them, fixed solely on the collection of lights flying further and further away from the others. Eventually, the lights vanished as they entered a clearing.
No, vanished wasn't quite right.
He couldn't see them, see her, but he could feel her. Ban took a deep breath, the only sound with King frozen. At least- he assumed King was frozen in place. And then he started speaking, floating up next to Ban. He was glaring.
"What are you doing here, Ban?"
Ban leaned back, away from the fairy, and forced a bored expression across his face. He hummed low and waited a moment before answering, watching King's expression sour further. Then he let a smirk form, no matter if he actually felt smug or not.
There was one thing Ban would always be good at, after all. And it was pissing off King.
"I think you know what I'm doing here."
King scowls further. "How dare you even come here, after all you did? How dare you smile to my face, if you know well what you've done?"
"How dare I?" Ban's expression grew disbelieving. King didn't respond for a moment, cooling his expression and lifting off Chastiefol. Before Ban could finish blinking, the sacred treasure was behind him and suddenly his limbs were gripped and pulled apart. "What the-?!"
"After the Sins split up, I decided to return home. I hadn't been home in centuries. I was horrified to come across the Fairy Forest burnt to the ground. The Fountain of Youth gone, the forest abandoned and trees charred as far as the eye can see. No sign of the Saint who was guarding the fountain and the forest…
"It took me a while to realize what had happened." King tilted his head at Ban. "I never questioned why a human seemed so indestructible, unkillable. We have all committed grave sins, but I never… I didn't even think that anyone had committed one so heinous. I didn't think you had killed the Saint of the forest and drank from the Fountain of Youth."
Ban barely held back a scoff. "So what, is this a ploy to avenge her? You just said it yourself- I'm unkillable!"
A small, self-satisfied smile graced King's face. "Maybe not normally, no," he said, holding out his hand. "Spirit spear Chastiefol, third configuration: Fossilization." Ban's eyes widened as behind him a whirring sound pierced the air, followed quickly by the squish of flesh and guts being torn out. "You never did pay attention to anything anyone else talked about. If it wasn't something to fulfill your greedy desires, it went in one ear and right out the other."
Ban stared at his chest where the spear impaled him - and King sure did have a thing for impaling him, huh? - and watched as a gray started to crawl over his body outward from the spear. It felt… odd. Not painful. A tingling sensation, as if his body was slowly falling asleep.
"Are you watching, Elaine?" King murmured, only audible to Ban because it was otherwise so silent.
Ban took a deep breath a moment before he could no longer properly feel if he was actually inhaling air still, looked back up at King as the petrification spread to his neck, and smiled as gently as he would ever smile in King's presence.
"Do you have any last words, a deathbed confession perhaps? I won't forgive you either way, but still."
Silence, as the last of the petrification enveloped Ban. "Then suffer alone for all eternity here in the Necropolis without dying it ever finding peace," King said quietly after Ban refused to say anything.
King was left staring at that infuriating smile. "Goodbye, Ban," he said softly, smile disappearing. Chastiefol withdrew from Ban completely. King took one last look at Ban, committing his stone face to memory.
"Maybe we should turn back and look for Ban and King?" Hawk asked. "We haven't seen anyone!"
"We'll meet up with them soon enough, have patience," Zeldris scolded lightly.
"We have been walking for a while, are you sure they'll be alright?" Elizabeth asked. "You said Sir Ban might see someone he cared about a lot here."
"Zel," Meliodas sighed, tone toeing the line between exasperated and disappointed.
"She was going to talk to him earlier, I don't know what you expected me to do, telling her not to talk to him out of seemingly nowhere," Zeldris huffed before looking up at Elizabeth. "I'm sure they'll be fine, Ban included. I'm not saying it won't hurt, that he might not spiral later whether he sees them or not. But he'll be alright in the end, I promise."
"Still, at this rate, I doubt there's any of the other Sins here, I haven't sensed any of them or any powers like them…" Diane chimed in, looking around over the crystal walls. She slowed to a stop and the others followed suit, Hawk sighing in relief as they finally stopped moving for a moment.
"Mmmm… that is true. We don't have a lot longer here, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to-" Meliodas cut himself off abruptly.
Everyone stopped at the odd sight before them. A young woman, bent forward slightly with her eyes closed, long hair drawn over some of her face. A hand was resting across her chest - no, not across, Elizabeth realized with dread forming a pit in her own heart, the hand was in the woman's chest.
The power radiating from the woman was strong enough for Elizabeth to feel it. It felt like she was being suffocated slowly, her breath hitching as the others tensed around her. Elizabeth chanced looking away from the woman for a brief moment, taking in even Meliodas' stiff shoulders and Zeldris' hand twitching over his sword. Gelda stood straighter, her eyes narrowed at the woman, only raising Elizabeth's unease further. Diane had taken a step back upon seeing the woman, confusion and apprehension flitting across her face and switching frequently with annoyance. Hawk also took a step back, placing himself between Elizabeth and the woman but keeping the brothers between him and herself.
The power felt… less than Gilthunder's, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. Elizabeth couldn't feel the Sins' powers, and they were the most dangerous beings in the world as far as she was aware.
The woman finally moved, moving her hand from her chest to rest on her own sword but not drawing it. Her eyes seemed to remain closed, but Elizabeth could still feel her calculating gaze.
"How do you do, Dragon Sin Meliodas? Serpent Sin Diane?"
"And you are?" Zeldris asked, eyes glued to the woman's sword and his hand tightening over the hilt of his own.
"I am Holy Knight Guila."
"How did you get here?" Hawk asked, taking another half-step back.
"By dying," Guila answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Hawk's breath hitched and he looked at Meliodas. "Did she just say she came here by dying?"
Meliodas hummed in affirmation. "She sure did."
Before anyone could say anything else, Guila unsheathed her sword - rapier, Elizabeth realized - and propelled herself forward quicker than they were prepared for, going between Meliodas and Zeldris and they had moved before remembering who was behind them, but Guila was already past them.
Elizabeth had only a moment to dodge Guila's attack, a mangled shout of surprise bursting from her lips before she was toppling to the side and just barely managing to duck under Guila's body.
Guila landed far more gracefully, spinning around and about to attack again. She was forced back as Gelda appeared in front of her, a ball of fire in her palm aimed to hit Guila at short range, and forced back even further as Diane knelt and brought some of the earth up from under Guila.
Elizabeth stumbled back onto her own feet, Meliodas already in front of her and backing up, putting even more space between her and Guila. His jaw was set tight and Elizabeth couldn't see his expression, but she could imagine it wasn't a pleasant one.
"Hawk! Take Elizabeth and run!"
Hawk was at their sides instantly, and Elizabeth only hesitated for half a second before clambering onto Hawk's back. As soon as she was secure Hawk booked it, squealing the entire way about how strong Guila was and how he couldn't believe she just attacked Elizabeth. Elizabeth spared a glance back just before they turned a corner, catching sight of Meliodas and Guila locked together in a small crater, and then they were gone.
Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and hoped with all her might that the Sins would be fine.