Nexus: Heroes Will Rise

by tmb1112

Universal borders have been erased and beings from thousands of universes now live on the same world: Nexus. In the first Saga of Nexus, Awul was saved, but the mysteries of Nexus remain. Now our heroes sail across the sea to Aebrith to search for lost loved ones and save the world. MCs from DBZ, KH, Soul Eater, FT, Blue Exorcist, Bleach, 7DS, OP, Ben 10, SAO, HxH, and many more!

102. Nexus HWR 14-7 Betrayal

Nexus HWR 14.7 Betrayal:

Boar Hat

The Seven Deadly Sins and some guests were in their traveling bar moving south through a forest on the Northern Continent. They were in the middle of a snowstorm that was even thicker than it was a few hours ago when they left Yaminoshi. King was upstairs getting some rest after using more strength than he thought he was going to need with Chastiefol in his possession again.

Two of the other slaves who had started traveling with the Sins just recently were sitting across from each other at the side of the main bar room. They sat at a small table, both Soul and Liz looking out the window next to it at the snowy landscape rushing by. Mama Hawk was moving fast away from Yaminoshi, but Liz could not help but feel nervous as she looked behind her. Even though she was not able to see far in the snow, she was afraid she would spot some powerful figures coming towards them any second now.

Soul was looking more the direction they were heading though as he stared out the window, because he was focused on the conversation between his Meister and a teenage girl a few years older than her. Black Star, Tsubaki, Soul thought, a deep sense of dread filling him.

"We were, the only four?" Maka asked, falling back in her seat that she had snapped out of.

Weiss grimaced but sat down across from Maka and put the papers she had in her hand onto the table. "Wanted posters for the four of you," Weiss began. "And a newspaper from the day after," she added and put a copy of the Aebrith Daily next to the fliers.

"How could no one else…" Maka whispered. She looked at the paper, and she froze mid-question at the picture right below the headline. Maka's hands lifted up and she covered her mouth at the sight of the image on it. The newspapers that circulated all of Aebrith did not care about how old the viewers who saw their graphic papers would be. "Big News" Morgans had a virtual monopoly over the newspaper business, and his headquarters was in the Capital, so the paper had no sympathy for the "terrorists" who broke into the Capital and tried to "steal" the gladiators from below the Colosseum.

I don't see Tatsumi, Maka thought while staring at the horrifying "exclusive" photo of the gladiator cell blocks. But, everyone… Maka bit her bottom lip as she recognized more and more of the figures in the picture of Cell Block B which had a caption below it briefly describing what she was looking at. Maka flipped the page with a shaking hand, and she started reading the article from the day after they escaped. On the right page after she opened up the paper so there were two pages in front of her, were the four pictures from the wanted posters she had the Aebrith Daily over right now, only those pictures were in black and white and had some information about them written below other than just a reward for bringing them back. On the left side of the pages was a full written article with a few more smaller pictures mixed into it. One picture showed a line of the cells in Cell Block A, along with High Commander Ginyu posing proudly in front of the cells full of gunned-down gladiators. The picture closer to the bottom was taken from higher up in Cell Block A, but pointed towards Block B so that it showed the line of broken down walls and all the bodies that littered the mess of the gladiator cell blocks.

Maka gasped, and tears fell from her eyes, and she curled her fingers in to the edges of the paper. All of them, Maka thought. Even if I don't see Tatsumi, or Mine… Maka kept reading and she came across a quote from a Chimera Ant guard who was in there during the attempted escape. "The King arrived just in time. The terrorists tried teleporting out with some sort of device, but before they even had the time to use it, BAM! The King ripped all their hearts out! It's only a shame their bodies still teleported away, I would've like to see them hanging from…" Maka threw the paper down and leaned back in her seat. "It failed," Maka whispered. "Tatsumi, and all the others."

"Tatsumi?" Meliodas asked from the bar that he stood behind, cleaning out a glass with a washcloth. He frowned as Maka looked towards him and nodded, then he rubbed his forehead and shook his head a few times. "That's too bad," Meliodas said, looking down at the counter in front of him with a small smile. "I mean it Meliodas. Things can change!" Meliodas' small smile lowered down to a flat lip. He was having a nostalgic memory of that man sitting at his counter, but the memory itself made Meliodas frown. He shook his head again then smiled once more, No matter how much everyone else gave up, you didn't care about the change of the world. Charging into the Capital? Some people would say you were doing a suicide mission, or you were desperate, but I know you thought you could really win. And maybe, your riot gave Merlin the chance to get King out of there.

Meliodas stopped cleaning his glass at that thought, and he reached behind him and grabbed another glass. He reached under the bar and filled up both of the glasses, then clinked them together. This one's for you, buddy, he thought, making a little toast without saying anything aloud. He downed his own glass first, then he poured out Tatsumi's right into the sink behind the counter.

Maka had looked back down after Meliodas spoke, and she reread the article over and over again. She flipped past the page with their photos on it, and then she flipped back again since different news continued on after the front page story. The newspaper covered events all over Aebrith, but seeing that the mostly failed escape only took up a few pages of the paper made it feel all the more terrible to the girl whose hands started shaking over the table. They saved me. They saved me when I knew I was too far north for the Resistance to get to me! I had, given up hope. "Never give up hope. Never again, okay?" Tatsumi, I took those words to heart. Even for someone who quit the Resistance, you were still the biggest hero I've ever known.

"Hey," Soul spoke suddenly, and Maka snapped her head up. Soul had seen the girl before she looked up, staring at her lap and crying with a look of hopeless despair on her face. Soul said 'hey' to her, but he turned his head to the bar next and continued, "You mind taking us to Resistance lands? We're already heading south now, and the whole Cooperative's gonna be on the lookout for you guys now too."

Meliodas chuckled in a way that confused Soul, because the man was laughing like the idea of the whole Cooperative considering him an enemy did not bother him much at all. "I agree we can't stay on the Northern Continent," Meliodas admitted after getting that chuckle out of his system. He scratched his chin and continued, "We would definitely rather not have to go up against Aizen, that'd be pretty difficult."

"I've already plotted out an exact course, Captain," Weiss said, humphing and sitting up straight like there was no need to worry about this.

"Have you now?" Meliodas questioned in some surprise, his eyebrows raising. "You do remember-"

"I did," Weiss cut him off before he could say what she knew he was going to say. "Luckily, if we continue moving at this bearing to the south-southeast, we can cut through the northern portion of the Capital's lands while staying inside for as short a period as possible."

"Wait," Liz started, and she stood up and stepped towards the girl with long white hair tied in a ponytail. "You're seriously bringing us into the Capital's lands?" Weiss turned to her and frowned that the girl was questioning her path. "How can you think about getting that close to the King?! He'll come after us for sure!"

"It's not my idea," Weiss said, keeping calm because it was a reasonable thing the girl was saying to her. "But the city of Colossus that we need to check before starting our real journey south is in northeast of the Capital's surrounding territory. After we make a quick check of the city, we'll cut straight east until we reach the Androids' lands, then head south from in there."

"That doesn't sound much better," Soul mumbled from behind Liz, still at his seat near the window.

Weiss rolled her eyes and then snapped at him, "Three choices: south through the Capital, south through Lucifer's lands, or south through the Androids' territory. Now I personally hate demons, and as you've all said, we can't get close to the Capital."

Soul grunted but did not say anything else. He turned towards his window again and looked out at the snow falling past them.

"If we're heading through 17's territory," Merlin said while walking into the room, though she was acting like she had been there the entire time from the start of her sentence. "I will be heading on ahead to the Library."

Meliodas looked over towards her and waved a hand, "Alright then! We'll be there in a few days!"

"H-Hold on," Liz called out, looking towards the powerful witch who looked towards her to see what the girl had to say. Liz hesitated after speaking up, then she said, "What if we're attacked while you're gone? What if Aizen comes for us?!"

"As King already told you," Merlin began. "Everyone here is plenty strong. You'll last without me," Merlin flashed the girl a smirk, then she snapped her fingers and vanished leaving nothing behind where she was just standing. Liz had her mouth open to call out how Merlin could teleport them all away if they could not win the fight, but instead she had to bite down hard as the woman was already gone.

"She never stays for very long," Weiss told the teenage girl on her left. Weiss held out a palm and said in an exasperated voice, "With a power like teleportation, where you are at the moment doesn't really limit your options." Weiss sounded annoyed by that, and she grumbled as that was a power she wished she had as well.

Maka finally calmed her nerves a little from that look Soul gave her a minute ago. She wiped her eyes then lifted her gaze back to Weiss who she asked, "Why are we going to Colossus?"

"One of the other Seven Deadly Sins," Meliodas explained while hopping over the counter. He walked over and pulled a chair up to an empty side of the table Weiss and Maka were at. He sat on it backwards with his arms crossed over the top of the back and his chin resting down on them, and he continued, "Is a giant named Diane. On our way up to the Northern Continent, I heard from some of our bar patrons who had recently been there that the population's really been going up. Since only giants can live in Colossus, I'm hoping she's made her way there. We checked once eight months ago or so, but if the population's been steadily rising, there's a chance I can find her."

"You haven't seen her since you've gotten here though?" Maka asked the man in some confusion.

Meliodas shook his head, but then with a more serious look on his face he said, "That doesn't matter though. She's an important friend, so I'm going to keep looking," he smiled again towards the end, and he finished, "Don't worry. We won't spend too long there if we don't find her. One night, two at most if the city's really gotten to a size too hard to search in a day. Promise," he said with a big smile that made Maka feel at ease for some reason.

"You're not, a kid, are you?" Maka mumbled.

"Nope," Meliodas said, before getting back up and heading for the bar again. "Hey Ban!" He called out towards the kitchen door. "Food almost ready?"

"Don't rush perfection Cappy!" Ban yelled back. "Give me ten minutes," he added, and Meliodas grinned as that was closer than he thought from the first response.

Maka saw the smirking Captain head around the counter then start arguing with the pink pig that ran up and yelled at him for something. As Hawk and Meliodas argued, Maka frowned at how much he really looked like just some kid, despite that sword hilt sticking out over his shoulder. "Who is he?" She whispered, turning and looking at Weiss who had pulled out a map and was looking closely at one section of it. Weiss looked up at her, then turned to Meliodas, then back at Maka who she sighed at.

"He's the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, and he's certainly no kid. I think he's like hundreds of years old or something, but maybe even older than King," Weiss said.

Liz had just turned to walk back to her seat at the window with Soul, as she had stayed closer to the table Meliodas sat at for a moment to listen to their plans. She froze though when she heard what Weiss just said, and she looked back before asking, "How old is King?"

Weiss looked to Liz and hummed for a few seconds, then said with a shrug, "At least a thousand." Liz dropped her bottom lip, then she thought about what Elaine talked about earlier while King was facing Yammy. She wasn't saying that the Fairy King protected their forest for that long, but King- Harlequin, specifically. I thought, I don't know, maybe it was passed down. He's that old?! He looks like a kid; he looks younger than me!

Right at that moment, King came down the stairs floating with his arms wrapped around a green pillow covered in small black circles. He patted his mouth in a tired way but he had none of the bruises or cuts that he got in the earlier fight. Elaine floated down behind her brother who smiled at her gratefully. She smiled back at him then flew off for the kitchen where Ban was, while King turned and floated towards Liz who was staring at him with some big eyes.

"Hey," he greeted as he flew towards her. "You guys doing alright?" He dropped to the chair Meliodas had brought up before to Maka and Weiss's table. Liz finally went back to sitting across from Soul but she nodded in King's direction.

"Yeah, we're fine," Soul said as he looked back over too. "Didn't think you were that strong, man," he added.

King scratched the back of his head and his cheeks turned a little red. "Oh I'm not that strong," King said, though he was smiling like he enjoyed the praise. "It had been so long, I was actually worried I was going to embarrass myself out there when I saw how strong that guy was."

"Speaking of it being a long time," Meliodas said as he leaned forward over the counter. King looked back towards him, and Meliodas said with a smile, "You won't believe who we ran into a month back."

"Who?" King asked. "Liz? Escanor?"

Meliodas shook his head. King grimaced as he figured he should not have brought up Elizabeth if they really did not find her, and he should have known that if they did find her, she would have been there with them. Meliodas did not lose his grin though, and he just continued, "We saw Gray."

King's eyes opened wide in surprise, while at a table against the wall, Soul's head twitched as he stared out the window with eyes growing much larger than King's did. "Gray," he muttered under his breath, and Liz turned to Soul in confusion as she heard his whisper.

"Really? I thought he died," King said in surprise.

"Nope," Meliodas countered. "Apparently he was just across the world over on Awul."

"That other continent?" King asked.

"Yep! We've been talking about heading over there to check the place out. Gray made it out to be pretty amazing, said there were no monsters, or slavery." King's eyes widened again at the sound of that, and Meliodas nodded to show he was serious and that this was a real place he was describing.

"What was he doing there?" Soul muttered, his voice louder this time. He turned and glared over at Meliodas who turned to him in surprise, and Soul said in a serious voice, "Gray, Fullbuster?" Meliodas' smile vanished as Soul's fists clenched over the table.

"You were-" Meliodas began. "One of Gray's comrades that day," he said in realization. Meliodas frowned, then he said to the boy with white hair, "He didn't tell me all the details, just that he got brought over to Awul and got caught in the middle of a fight over there. He's back though and trying to find his old team," Meliodas added.

Soul stared blankly at Meliodas for a few seconds, then his eyes darted down and he stared at his fists that were clenching so hard in front of him. Gray, what the Hell? How did you, why did… You're fine? You were, in a nice place? This whole time? Soul bit down and then growled, "He's too late."

---

Colossus

Mama Hawk marched on the city of Colossus, a city so massive that its tallest buildings stretched straight through the clouds. "This place is…" Liz started from the front porch of the Boar Hat bar.

"I guess if it's a city of giants, it has to be proportional to the size of its inhabitants," Maka reasoned from next to her friend. "I'd heard of it before, but I didn't think the giant population was that big."

"It isn't," Weiss said from the left sides of the two other girls. "But even a thousand giants living in one place would be bigger than most cities on this continent. This is the biggest and most modern of any of the giant settlements though, so of course it's going to be huge."

"Make it out like you've been to all those settlements," Liz muttered.

"We check every giant town in Aebrith," Weiss replied curtly. "Every region we enter, we check the places where giants are known to be to search for this Diane giant."

The way Weiss worded that confused the girls next to her. "Hold on," Liz began. "You don't know her?"

Weiss shook her head. "It's also my first time in Colossus," she added before the others could ask her all the questions her last answer arose. "As I'm not an original member of the Sins, as in I'm not from their world. The rest of them came from the same place, just like the three of you," she mentioned. Weiss grinned internally at the surprised looks the other girls gave her since they had never told her they were from the same world as each other, but Liz still saw that smug look in Weiss's eyes and grunted while turning away to show she was not impressed.

The group headed into the city and Meliodas had them split up to ask about Diane. He gave the three new members who did not know what she looked like descriptions as well, then told them they could go check out the city too. Maka, Soul, and Liz were all hesitant to leave the Boar Hat. The giant green boar they had been riding on ran up the outer stone steps on one of the massive towers climbing into the sky, and after rising a hundred stories or so, Mama Hawk stepped out onto a thick platform that connected five of the towers. The huge platform in the sky had giants all over it who looked down at the green boar in amusement, though some had to look up, while others were at eye level with it.

"What counts as a giant?" Soul wondered while looking off the left side of the boar from the porch outside the Boar Hat. A group of teenagers were running towards them, all just about as tall as Mama Hawk was herself. There was one other with the group though who looked a few years younger than the others, despite being three times their heights.

"This is a bar," Weiss scolded from the edge of Mama Hawk's back. She had her arms crossed and her head tilted back far so she could still look down her nose even at the tallest of those teenagers. "No children allowed."

"My mom lets me drink all the time!"

"Y-Yeah, mine too too!" A booming voice called down from the tallest giant.

"Weiss," Elaine began. The girl with a white ponytail at the edge of the boar was getting an annoyed look on her face at these teens all younger than her talking back. She was nineteen years old and did not think any of those giants were even within two years of her age. She turned to Elaine who was floating over to her, and the smaller girl held out her hand, "Here you go."

"Thank you," Weiss said, then turned back to the teens while promptly putting the pill in her mouth. She hopped off the side of Mama Hawk and the giants leaned back, then they stumbled or fell backwards as the girl falling off of Mama Hawk grew in size. Weiss was already not wearing her usual white combat skirt, but a tight black material with orange stripes on her sides from under her armpits all the way down to her ankles, as well as down her arms. Her different outfit stretched while her body grew, keeping its position around her even as she grew to around five times her original height. She was still only as tall as the shortest of the giant teens in front of her, just below the top of Mama Hawk's back, however her extra height gave the younger teenagers less confidence about talking back when she returned her sharp gaze to them. "If your parents are fine with you drinking, then go get them to come here. If they want to buy you drinks that would be fine."

"I didn't even want to drink anyway," one of the teens said while turning away. "I just wanted to see what it was."

"Yeah," one of the others who had complained a minute ago about not being allowed to drink agreed. "Let's go back to the cloud fort."

"Yeah let's go!" The young teens started running off, and Weiss sighed as she watched them go.

A giant Ban dropped down on the opposite side of Mama Hawk as Weiss did. Then two fairies floated up to his sides, and though both King and Elaine had taken the pill as well, they were still only about twice as tall as normal humans as they floated around Ban's tall broad shoulders. "It's alright you guys," King called over his shoulder when his new friends yelled towards him. "Colossus is known to be pretty anti-Cooperative, anti-slavery."

Meliodas walked up behind the surprised teens who had run off the porch and were close to the edge of Mama Hawk's back. "That's right," he said, and they looked back to see the Captain grinning at them. He held out his right fist, then opened it into a palm facing-up. "When we get back to the Resistance, you'll reimburse me for these, alright?" He asked. Then before waiting for an answer, he tossed a red pill up to each of the three teens in front of him.

The three of them caught the pills and then watched as the short blond Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins jumped off Mama Hawk's back. He did not transform like the rest of them however, and he just started jogging across the thick stone platform in the sky. Mama Hawk sat down on the ground, unable to morph into it because of its hardness, but her head bowed like she was going to take a nap anyway. There was heavy cloud cover at the moment and it was windy and chilly so high up that it felt nice to the giant pig who did not like sleeping out in the sun when it did not have to.

Maka and Liz looked at each other and then back down at the pills in their hands. Soul glanced behind him though and stared at the Boar Hat where there was a single figure in the doorway. Are they really leaving that guy here alone? Gowther stared back at Soul, then he cocked his head to the side and put two fingers in a 'V' up against his right cheek like he was posing. Soul just got weirded out by that strange action and turned from the purple-haired man.

"Let's go," Liz said. She scratched the back of her head then added, "We should help them look for their comrade, since they are helping us out."

"And the more area we search, the quicker we can keep moving," Soul added, as he did not want to be this far north any longer than they had to be. King says it's anti Co-op, but it's in Co-op territory isn't it? Don't think there're many places outside of Resistance lands the King doesn't own at this point. Now that the Saiyans are gone, he thought about the newspaper they had read the day before after getting out of a snowstorm and seeing a News Coo close to the Northern Channel. It was before they crossed from the Northern Continent onto the main part of Aebrith, while they were still moving along the coast to find a sturdy bridge for Mama Hawk to get across, as the Channel was too full of sea monsters to ask it to swim. Meruem's the strongest. There's no doubt about it, Soul thought while popping his pill into his mouth. He started feeling the effects immediately and had to jump off to prevent from turning into a giant on Mama Hawk's back. Whoa this is weird, Soul thought, his mind getting off of more worldly matters to focus on what he had just done to himself.

Soul turned into a giant in midair and he stumbled forward and fell on his face once he landed. "Ugghh," he groaned, not at all used to his legs being that long. His body grew proportionately so he thought it would be easier, but he just was not prepared for landing when his eyes were still so far off the ground. Soul pushed himself up and then saw a bunch of giants looking his way with disapproving looks, and he spotted a mother cover her child's eyes with a hand. Soul realized it and he spun his head around to see Liz with her back to him from the side of Mama Hawk, while Maka was just shaking her head at the boy who was now no longer willing to get up off his stomach, since all of his new clothes had been ripped off.

Damn it King, Merlin, Soul thought while dropping his head back to the floor. Couldn't one of you have made stretching clothes? The magic clothes Merlin made for him first, then the ones King had woven for his friends as presents that morning, Soul had been wearing a piece from either, yet both had ripped apart when he enlarged to a man twenty-five feet tall.

"I have your suits here," Gowther said to Liz and Maka who spun around to the figure behind them. Gowther looked down through his glasses towards Soul's back, and he remarked, "It is a good thing you have so many scars, or I believe the giants would be accosting you." Soul's expression darkened while he was looking at the ground, and he lifted his head to see those same giants who had looked at him disapprovingly at first turning away when he re-rose his head their ways. All the scars on his back, his disheveled and patchy hair that was only long on a single part of his head, everyone could see what Zarbon had done to him.

Liz looked up and gave the man in front of her a harsh look, but Gowther just tilted his head to the side in confusion at why she would be doing that. "Though it will be hard to get into it now. It is supposed to stretch while your body expands," Gowther looked at the suit thoughtfully, then he hummed and said that he would be right back. Gowther went inside and returned a few seconds later dragging a suit similar to the others that he handed to Maka and Liz, only this one was made for a giant. "The Captain ordered one for Diane," Gowther said while tossing the suit off Mama Hawk's back at Soul who had curled his knees up and put his back up against Mama Hawk's side. He reached a hand up and grabbed the suit as it fell to him, then he shoved his legs into them fast to cover up his lower body.

"Let's search for her far, far from here," Soul said while standing and turning to Mama Hawk's back. Neither of the girls were there, and Soul frowned. If I have to change outside… The girls came back out of the bar a minute later and then they enlarged in their suits as they dropped down next to Soul. Both of them were taller than the boy between them who finally got up on his feet, with Liz being a little taller than Maka too.

Soul grimaced as despite having clothes on now, he knew his hair and the top of his head still looked a mess. Where's my stretching beanie? He thought in annoyance, averting his gaze from giants he saw staring at him. He turned his head to the right and looked up as a pair walked out of one of the towers near them, and he gulped as despite growing in size, he was still only up to those giants' shins.

"Come on," Maka said, and Liz and Soul turned to see her motioning to their left in a direction she had not seen any of the Sins head in. Maka was on-edge as she started walking towards the tower while wearing her tight, black, stretchy suit that had red lines on the sides unlike Weiss's that had orange. Soul's had purple lines and Liz's suit had bright green ones, giving slight differentiation between their outfits, though not much.

The three of them headed off to go explore Colossus and search for Diane. They only had a description of her, and Soul muttered as they walked, "Anyone ask how long those pills are going to last for?"

Both of the girls sweatdropped as they had not asked. Everything had happened so fast. "I feel like they really don't stop and plan things ahead," Maka mumbled. "I don't know how they survive in this world acting like that," she added.

"Well, what if King's really one of the weaker ones among them?" Soul asked. "He looks it," he added.

"Hah, I bet he could kick your ass any day of the week," Liz scoffed at the boy on her left.

Soul wanted to retort, but the memory of King's fight against the Espada came to his mind and all he could do was grumble back at her.

I wish you had come with us, King, Liz thought while glancing over her shoulder in the direction King went with Ban and Elaine. Until I get back to Kid and Patty, I want to stay where I know I won't get caught. Then again, Liz glanced to her left and watched the two at her side who had quieted down as they walked. I haven't seen them fight since we got back together, as Merlin handled all the monsters we came across on the Northern Continent on her own. But you two were so strong together. I bet if you weren't separated at the time, like I was from Kid, you wouldn't have been captured either.

The three of them headed into one of the towers only to find that it was as strange-looking inside as it looked on the outside. The center of the building was hollow, and each of the floors that did exist every few hundred feet had a large gap in the center of them, leaving one large opening from the ground level to higher than the teens knew. As they started descending the stairs that wrapped around the big hollow floor level they were on, a figure dropped down from the hole above them. They spun and watched as the giant three times as tall as any of them dropped down the room with her arms crossed in front of her chest, keeping in a straight line as she dropped straight through the next floor's gap as well.

"Dropping, pretty fast there," Maka mentioned.

"Giants are known to be strong," Liz said. "Maybe they don't need elevators, or maybe at the bottom there's a gravity alteration zone."

"If so, let's just drop down ourselves," Soul suggested.

"And if not, you really think you can land? You can't land a twenty foot drop, let alone two thousand," Liz scoffed at him. Soul frowned as she brought back up him falling next to Mama Hawk, though Liz started laughing after saying it, and Soul noticed Maka on his other side cracking a smile too.

"Whatever, then we walk," Soul said. "But if we turn back small when we're down there, we're finding a different way back up. No way we can take these stairs," he said, while looking down with the others at the steps that would have been at their neck levels or higher if they were still human-sized. Imagining climbing up all these tall steps to get back made them hesitate, then a giant behind them on the steps snapped down for them to keep moving, and the teens regrettably had to keep on going or turn back now.

They kept walking and then they sped up into a jog as they really were getting paranoid about how much time they would have. They wanted to look around and then head back up to the level they left the Boar Hat within two hours, which they agreed on was a safe amount of time to assume the pill would at least last for. They reached the ground floor of the tower before long and found what looked to be some kind of restaurant, considering there were people eating everywhere, though most everyone was standing and talking as they ate too which seemed strange for an eating establishment. The giants were loud and boisterous, and there were giant animals walking around the room with the giants as well.

As the three left the tower and headed back onto one of the streets between tall stone buildings around them, Maka mentioned, "It's an interesting culture. All these giants from different worlds coming together; they must have integrated parts of each other's home worlds into this place." Maka and the others stayed to one side as a pair of huge oxen dragged a cart covered in dead animals back towards the tower they had just left, a giant twice any of their heights marching next to the oxen that were also taller than them.

"It's a brand new culture then," Liz agreed. "Not that I care," she added, before turning and putting her hands behind her head. "A group of giants this large could really make a difference down south. Imagine an army full of them."

"My thoughts exactly," Soul muttered, having been thinking of that as soon as they arrived.

"It's not like there aren't any giants in the south," Maka began. "But here must feel so much more natural for them. All the doors, all the buildings, everything is their size. Some Resistance bases try to accommodate, but with the few giants we have in our ranks, not everywhere sees the need to make giant-friendly buildings. It'd be a waste of time making buildings so large that we'd all have to walk for minutes through them just to get to the other side, for the off chance that a giant would one day need to enter the building."

"Yeah, I guess," Soul agreed. "I'm sure they don't see it that way though," he added, getting the reason he was looking for yet not feeling any better about it.

The three of them jogged down a road that was so long that they got nervous going only one block away from where they started. Luckily the building they exited was one of the tallest around, and the streets had signs on them too so they knew they would be able to make it back to an intersection where they could easily see that building from. They did not know what they would do if they suddenly shrunk down, but Maka theorized that even if they did start to shrink, it would happen slowly or in intervals, so they would have some warning time in which they would be able to run back. It was not a sure thing, but it made enough sense that they were able to relax a little.

They only relaxed for a few minutes though, because the three of them saw something that made them all tense up and hide back behind the corner of the building they had just walked past. They did not know what part of the city they were in, as to them most of the stone buildings looked the same other than their heights. There was a shop across the road from them where a man behind a counter was cooking up some meat on a metal spike, and next to that was a taller building touching the clouds. Around the next corner though, the buildings all got smaller to a point where looking straight ahead they could see a far distance, which also led them to believe they were somewhere close to the edge of the city.

"You think they saw us?" Soul asked in a hushed voice, his back up against the corner of the building behind him. The girls on his left did not say anything, and he frowned but had to check. If the one they were worried about was coming, he needed to know. He looked back around the corner and down the road several hundred feet to the position he saw the figure before. They were in the same spot which he was relieved by, talking to three giants who were actually facing Soul's direction. None of them had looked down the road towards him though, even though he was sure one would have noticed the three of them stepping out only to duck back in fear of the figure the giants were speaking to. Two of those giants were huge in comparison to most Soul had seen so far, while the one in the middle was only ten feet taller than the teens around the corner, much closer to the height of the figure in a black cloak standing thirty-two feet tall in front of him.

A Nobody giant, Soul thought. He stared at the hooded figure's back and then at the figure's muscular arms that were at its sides. The cloak had its sleeves ripped off at the shoulders, tatters sticking out of the shoulder holes just above the giant's very large biceps. He pulled his head back behind the corner before the Nobody would have the chance to turn and catch a glimpse of him. Soul turned to the girls at his side awaiting news, and he shook his head at them and motioned back the way they came. I hate Nobodies. That bitch who visited Zarbon… well, not all of them I guess. Soul remembered something as they started walking off that made him frown even more, Why did Axel lie? Is it because we think all Nobodies suck? I mean, if he had just told us… everyone probably would have thought he was a spy actually. Which he wasn't, Soul added, making sure he did not give himself a wrong idea as he thought about it.

"Thought this place was anti Co-op," Liz muttered.

"Maybe it is but-" CRASH Maka's voice caught in her throat. The three teens stopped in place and they spun around, staring back at the intersection they had turned away from in fear of being seen by the Nobody.

Skidding back into that intersection on her butt, with her hands at her sides digging into the floor to slow herself down, was a giant woman with long brown hair and a pained expression on her face. She stopped skidding right after hitting the intersection, and she climbed to her feet fast while lifting up the giant war hammer in her hands. The woman's brown hair fell straight behind her back halfway to her waist, she had purple eyes, and she wore an orange outfit that was tight to her body and consisted of a long-sleeved shirt and a skirt along with matching orange boots. Over her hands were black fingerless gloves that grew thicker at her wrists into rounded black gauntlets with little silver spikes sticking out of them. The giant woman got up and stared down the road she just came skidding down in the same direction that Soul looked when peeking out around the corner a minute ago.

"Not good," Soul said, taking a step back as he looked towards that intersection.

The giant in front of them had her body turned so they could only see her right side, but Liz was staring closely at the woman's upper left leg, trying to get a glimpse of the other side of it. This giant, she's, Liz opened her mouth, then she shut it just as fast as she heard thunderous around the corner. What am I thinking on a hunch?! There are giants fighting and I want to get in the middle of that? Liz was not as tall as the giant she was facing, but she was not all that much shorter either. She forgot about that though as the giant girl holding the war hammer slammed the butt of it down and yelled down the other street, "Who are you?! You're not Matrona!"

"Oh man," Maka whispered. She just realized what was happening, and she was even more keen on getting out of there right now considering it. "Guys, let's get back," she suggested, while other giants were leaving buildings around them to see what the commotion was about. Maka stumbled back closer to the intersection after turning around, as three giants dropped down behind her and then gave her harsh looks for almost walking in their path. Maka lifted her head and her jaw dropped as she saw giants leaning out of windows to see what was going on, and a few of them were climbing straight out and leaping into the air over the street.

"Guys," Liz started while her friends were trying to come up with a good way to get back without having giants rain down on top of them. "I think, that might be," Liz wished she could see the side of the giant girl's legs farther away from them. The left side of her left thigh, Liz thought, leaning to the right to try and look around the girl, though it was not working out very well.

Soul and Maka looked back and their eyes widened as they noticed the similarities between the giant and the one they were supposed to be looking for. "How do we know for sure?" Maka wondered.

The giant woman brought her war hammer up and held it in both hands with an angry look on her face. From the direction down the street she was glaring towards, a voice spoke in a low but feminine, and menacing voice, "My name is Troxamna. You are mistaken, giant girl."

"I'm not!" The woman in all orange yelled. "You recognize me! I see it-"

"Are you Diane?" Soul called down the road towards the intersection.

The giant with long brown hair turned her head and stared at the strange giant a head smaller than her. She looked at the weird patch of white hair over his mostly bald and scabbed-over head, then she looked at the two girls next to him who had spun to the white-haired boy with dropped jaws. The woman turned her head the other way, then she looked back towards those teenagers, then frowned and muttered, "I don't know who you are. But when they said my name, you reacted, Matrona!" Diane yelled down the road at the giant woman in a black cloak who let out a sigh and started raising her muscular arms.

Troxamna reached up and grabbed her hood, then she pulled it down and revealed her face to the giant girl whose eyes re-widened. Just a glimpse before and she thought she knew who it was, but seeing her face, her purple eyes a shade brighter than Diane's herself, and her long blonde hair tied into a ponytail, Diane was shocked by how identical the appearance was since she was now unsure if it was the same person. Diane noticed as she was about to continue, that the three giants the woman who looked a lot like Matrona had been talking to were all giving the cloaked giant darker looks after she had hit Diane.

"Your kind are not welcome here," one of the massive giants growled down at the woman. "Because you are a giant we heard you out, now get out of here."

Troxamna started to turn her back to the brown-haired giant girl and look at the men behind her, but she froze when two voices roared over each other from even farther back than Diane. Diane spun around, the teenagers who had jogged up to the intersection to try and talk to her spun to the left, and everyone around watched as two giant women forty feet tall each started charging down the road. They had on yellow and black furs over their breasts and waists, and they were screaming war cries while raising weapons. "YOU!" One of them screamed down the road towards the blonde giant in the black cloak.

They sprinted straight past Diane towards the giant who turned fully back their way and started walking towards them. The other of the most massive giants behind the Nobody lifted an arm, calling out to the women to hold on for a minute. Neither of them listened though. The giant with long purple hair held a massive wooden club, she had bandages wrapped around her forehead, her entire right arm, and both of her legs where the wounds must have opened up from her sprint as those bandages were turning red. The other woman had on white bandages covering the right side of her face as well as wrapping around her stomach all the way up under the fur covering her breasts, and unlike her comrade she held up a giant steel axe.

"H-Hey!" Diane called out to the two who looked to be charging her old mentor.

"Diane!" Liz called out, and Diane turned again to see those same people from before had gotten much closer to her. "Listen, we're here with-"

Squelch Everyone spun back towards the women who had been charging at Troxamna, and all of their eyes opened huge at the sight of the purple-haired woman lifting up into the air, blood splashing up all over the cloaked woman in front of her whose expression stayed straight the entire time. Troxamna now held a giant two-handed sword in her hands though, a sword that had appeared out of nowhere for all the people who had been staring at her. Troxamna ducked as the other woman spun her axe, and then she slashed down diagonally herself across the woman's entire body, cutting through the pelt over her breasts as well as all the bandages on her stomach. Then, right as she finished her slash, she spun around while still crouched and lifted her sword up behind her, blocking the club swing from one of the giant leaders who was over five times as tall as her.

Troxamna's arms shook as she held off the club, but the fact that she was holding it back at all had giants all over the place gasping in shock and muttering about how that was one of the leaders of the Giant Clan she was facing. "Your response displeases me," Troxamna said, then she slashed upwards with her sword in a powerful movement that knocked the huge giant's club up. She then stood straight and created a portal on her side that she turned towards. She spoke in a low, bone-chilling voice as she took a step for the black portal rising thirty-five feet high in the air, "If either of them survive, you should ask why they were so angry. By then though, it will be too late to regret your decision," She stepped another foot forward, into the portal this time, but her eyes darted to her left before her head went in. She stared over at Diane in the final moment before entering the portal, but Diane met her gaze and knew.

That is Matrona! Diane thought while stepping forward, reaching an arm out for the portal. The giant in the black cloak stepped fully into it though before Diane could say a word, then the portal disappeared into fading black wisps behind her. Half a second later, a massive club slammed into the road where the portal just was and blasted a huge crater in it that threw huge rocks in every direction. Giants crossed their arms in front of them to protect from debris, and all of them were even more amazed that the Nobody had held it off before.

Diane stared straight at the spot where the woman just vanished, moving her war hammer, Gideon, small amounts in front of her to deflect any of the rocks flying her way. As everyone started settling down, Diane turned from the spot and stared back at those strange smaller giants who had known her name. "So, who are-"

"Yo, Diane." The three teens and Diane all looked down and towards the middle of the road behind the giantess holding a war hammer. Standing there at only five feet tall was a blond-haired man who lifted a hand and waved at the giant girl standing before him. "Long time no see."

Soul, Liz, and Maka all felt a warm feeling inside them as Diane's face shifted emotions from shocked, to realization, to teary-eyed. "CAPTAIN!" The warm looks on the teens' faces turned into slack-jawed shock themselves as the giant had sprinted forward so fast they were barely able to see her, and now she had Meliodas gripped in both of her hands pulling him into her giant cleavage so powerfully that they were afraid she would crush him. Despite how hard the giant was squeezing though, Meliodas did not look to feel anything more than mild discomfort, though he smiled despite it.

"That's so," Maka began, then she froze and her eyes snapped to the floor behind Diane where the war hammer she had thrown up in the air finally crashed back down. A crater blasted in the street almost as large as the one from the Giant Clan leader's club swing, and Maka gawked while imagining how heavy that weapon be. "Scary," Maka finished.

"Lucky us," Soul began, and the girls on his sides looked in at him. "Guess this means we can leave earlier than we thought."

He thought the girls would agree with him, but both just stared blankly at him after he said it. He looked at Liz first, then to Maka who gulped while looking down at her shorter partner. "Weren't you a little taller a minute ago?" She asked.

Soul thought Maka looked a little too much taller than him, but right after she asked him, the girl shrank down a foot before stopping. Liz shrank down at the same time, and she shrank such a small amount that she thought if she was not already focusing on how Soul had shrunk, she never would have noticed. "You just had to say something," Liz muttered at Soul for bringing up luck at a time like this. "Let's get back!" Liz shouted, getting more worried as she saw Soul shrink a little more while they were talking about it.

The idea of walking all the way up to the sky platform they had left the bar, on tiny legs, made each of them start running. Diane watched as they ran off, then she pulled the Captain from her chest and asked, "Who were they?"

"Hehe, come on," Meliodas said, and he jumped out of Diane's hands and motioned after them with a nod of his head. "Everyone's going to be happy to see you."

Diane stared at Meliodas' back after he said that, and her heart started racing while her eyes opened wide. Everyone? Does he mean…

---

After everyone had returned to the Boar Hat and returned to their original sizes, not exactly in that order, they all stood out on Mama Hawk's back and greeted the giant girl who was elated to see them all. Some of the reunions, (King and Diane), were warmer than others, (Diane and Ban), but everyone was happy to see her.

"Elizabeth is here too?" Diane asked in surprise, her happy look getting a notch even happier as she spun around in glee.

Meliodas frowned though as she said it, and Liz Thompson remembered how King had brought that name up before too. Is my being here bringing up bad memories for them? They knew an Elizabeth too? I mean, it's a common name though…

"No, Diane," King began to the woman whose head he was floating in front of. He pointed over at the blonde girl who gave the giant a small wave. "This is Liz. She's my friend," King continued. Liz thought that maybe the giant would look more friendly after King said that, but Diane just frowned more at that sentence and looked discerningly at Liz.

"Your friend?" Diane asked, leaning her head down towards the girl. "Hmm," she hummed loudly, then turned her head and looked back at King who had a confused look on his own face.

Oh geez, Liz thought as she recognized that expression on the giant's face. Is this chick, jealous? They look close too, a giant and a fairy… What is up with this group? Hey hey, don't be judgy. "I'm Liz Thompson," she introduced before the giant could give her any more strange looks. "I'm a Demon Weapon," she added. It was the first time she had properly introduced herself to anyone in this group, which she realized as every member of the Sins around her all spun to her in surprise. She lifted up her right arm and pointed it forward, and then that arm transformed into the barrel of a gun. She turned it back into her regular arm after a second though, and King flew down towards her and said that he didn't know she could do that.

Liz became more hesitant as King started talking to her again, but what King said about not knowing her power made Diane lean back as it seemed the two were not as close as she first assumed. Diane still frowned as she kept looking down though, Why didn't I get to spend time with King here? I looked for him. It's not fair.

"So Diane, we're heading south," Meliodas called up to the giant girl still reacquainting with her old comrades. "You coming with?"

"Of course!" Diane shouted, standing back up straight with a look on her face saying that should have been obvious. She got a little confused though, and she asked, "Why were you in Colossus anyway?"

King flew up in front of Diane's face, and he said to the giant girl, "We were looking for you."

Diane bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes filled with water, and then she smiled wide. "You were?" She asked. "I was looking for you too!"

"Ehh?" Ban said, looking up with his hands shoved in the pockets of his shiny red pants. "Looking for us in a city of giants, were you?"

Diane frowned down at the man with spiky white hair, and she snapped, "I only just got here! I asked around and some of the giants said I should try looking in this place called 'Capital,' since it's really populated."

"'This place called "Capital?"' Does she mean, wait a second. "Diane," King began to the girl in front of him. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I showed up on a different part of the world," Diane replied to the fairy she went back to smiling at. "I was on this big island for a while, then I got on a boat to a nearby continent. I checked the whole continent from almost the north pole all the way past the south pole! Then when I got to the bottom I went back the other way to check again in case I missed the Captain! That was how I spent the first couple of years," Diane said and scratched her chin.

In case she missed the Captain, huh? King thought, lowering his gaze a bit though he kept smiling.

"…Then I heard that Silvior was actually really small compared to the rest of the world. It's thin, so even though I traveled the height of the world, twice, it was mostly a straight trip both ways." Diane smiled brighter again and she said, "So I just got here, not to Colossus but this land, a week ago! I can't believe I found you so soon!"

"Pretty sure we found you," Weiss remarked. After she said it, Diane stared down at the girl with her white hair tied back in a ponytail. She then looked back over at King's friend Liz and the two with her, and then she looked over to Meliodas and asked, "Hey Captain, who are these people?"

"Well those three are King's friends he made while he was a slave," Meliodas started, then he turned towards Weiss to continue, but Diane shouted too loudly for him to do so. She grabbed King and started shouting questions at him with a worried look on her face that made King blush and look away, especially because of how close Diane had pulled him towards her while asking.

"Oi!" A booming voice called out. Meliodas turned around and lifted his gaze to see two men who were ten feet taller than Diane each. Both were only wearing loose rags around their waists, and if those giants were just a little taller it would have been a very precarious place for them to be standing. The same man who called out and got Meliodas' attention continued, "You're that traveling bar right? I heard you had some good ale last time you were here!" The man did not have a tone like he was trying to speak extra loudly, but for the people much smaller than him, his normal voice was bellowing.

"Hey Gowther, break out the giant glasses!" Meliodas called over his shoulder. He then looked back up at the giants and shouted to their heads, "We have the best ale in all of Nexus! Different brews from all over!"

"Tell your friends!" Diane shouted at the men across the Boar Hat from her, putting her biggest cutesy smile on her face and acting as a poster girl.

"Ooh, that might actually work here," Meliodas said while scratching his chin thoughtfully. I gave her that job just because she couldn't work as a waitress inside. But here she could be both! Meliodas rubbed his hands together with a smirk on his face, then he started shouting out to the rest of the Sins to prepare the bar for the night.

"Guess we're not leaving as soon as I thought," Soul muttered, as it was starting to look like they would be there until at least tomorrow.

"Maka, Liz," a sweet little voice spoke behind the girls standing outside the bar. They turned and then their jaws dropped at the sight of Elaine holding up two pink uniforms with small black skirts, while the fairy girl herself was already wearing one. Ban was throwing on a white apron as he headed back inside, and Meliodas walked up while Elaine held the outfits, a slight pink blush on her face.

"I hope you don't think I'm putting that on," Liz said to the shorter man who walked up in front of her.

"It's to work off your debt," Meliodas said, and Liz's jaw dropped even further again. "If we're going to be giving you a ride all the way back to the Resistance, you could at least earn your keep."

Maka's bottom lip was lowered, then she heard a resigned voice from her side, "It seems there's nothing we can do but accept." Liz and Maka turned to Soul with darkening expressions, and they could see Soul was trying very hard not to start laughing as he pursed his lips together.

As Maka started scolding Soul for going along with this so easily, Liz lost her annoyed look and found a small smile forming on her face. Not a week earlier, she had believed for a few short minutes that she was truly in Hell. When Zarbon opened up the secret panel in his wall and revealed all he had done to Soul, when she had seen the way the two in front of her had acted that night they escaped, she had lost all hope. Even Soul, can still smile, Liz thought. She turned back to Elaine and with a reluctant look on her face she rose her right hand. Maka spun to her in shock, then continued in a defiant tone to the barkeep who was smirking more as one of the two accepted without much resistance. Liz's mind was already far from the outfit she was about to change out of her giantizing-suit into. Patty, Kid, I'm on my way back to you. I think I can handle being a waitress for a little while, as long as we can see each other again. Her eyes glanced back over the uniform she had grabbed and she grimaced, As degrading as it might be. Then a thought came to mind and Liz chuckled darkly to herself while walking towards the bar, And look at this, that experience as a slave is actually going to come in handy. Thinking about all the parties she had worked at for Dodoria, refilling drinks and bringing around food, Liz could not help but smile at the outfit that was less revealing than anything she had been forced to wear for a long time.

It was already mid-afternoon when the first patrons arrived, but word spread about the Boar Hat's location in Colossus quickly, and the more satisfied customers they had, the more giants showed up. Soul was working back behind the kitchen, helping Elaine who was using her magic to create the ingredients needed to brew so much beer. The fairy's power of Nature Manipulation made it easy, but the other steps involved required the use of different materials that they did not have an unlimited supply of, most importantly the rapid-aging-spice. One sprinkle of the spice in would age the beer a week, another sprinkle aged it to perfection. The first few times Soul tried it, Meliodas scolded him for wasting batches that he would not sell to the giants and risk his bar's reputation.

Maka had relented to her job after Liz asked her what the big deal was, and the two of them came back outside right away ready to work as waitresses. They were confused as to how they were going to do so though considering all of the patrons coming around were so massive that they doubted they would be able to lift up the glasses that Gowther brought out. He had brought out a capsule case from inside and tossed a single capsule out next to Mama Hawk which opened up into a table with over a hundred giant glass beer mugs on it.

Even those hundred did not seem like they would be enough, so Diane, wearing a giant-sized waitress uniform that she could not be happier that her friends had already made for her, used her Creation magic on the floor beneath them. Out from the ground emerged hundreds of stone mugs that giants grabbed. '7DS' was carved into each of them, and Diane shouted that they would be complementary mugs, as in each of the giants could take one home with them. Not all giants had the same Creation magic that giants from the Seven Deadly Sins' world were inherently born with, so they were grateful and the mood rose even higher as the suns were going down.

Meliodas brought Liz and Maka more giantizing pills, though this time he did not say anything about the Resistance reimbursing him for them when they got there. Since he was having them work for him, they figured he was giving them these ones for free. While Diane and the two recently-giantized girls worked as waitresses, Liz stopped next to Maka for a short break as no giants were shouting out for more beer at the moment. "So, how come Princess over there doesn't have work like the rest of us?"

Maka looked back towards the bar and spotted a the older teen with long white hair in the middle of a spar, with herself. Weiss was sliding across the green back of Mama Hawk, and then all of a sudden her body split into three separate people. Each of the Weisses all looked to have the same movements as they shot towards the fourth Weiss standing in front of them. The single Weiss had her thin silver rapier lifted straight up in the center of her body while the others were all pointing their weapons out at her, then she slashed down to her right while flipping up in the air. The Weiss sliding on the right pulled up short and blocked flipping Weiss's blade, while the other two spun around and pointed their weapons up. A beam of yellow and a jet of flames shot out the tips of those two Weisses' blades, then the one above them slashed her sword down after getting it parried by the third.

Five hawks made of ice came out of the flipping Weiss's rapier, and they pushed straight through the beam of yellow and jet of flames. She landed as her hawks hit the girls behind those initial attacks, knocking them backwards where they hit the ground and skid back, only for white magic circles to appear beneath them and curve their direction back towards the one who hit them. The third was already sprinting forward while the others rose up behind her, then the single Weiss facing off against the rest lowered her readied weapon and tapped a button on a bracelet on her left wrist. A red light flashed and the other three Weisses all sucked into her body, and Weiss took in a deep breath of air as the final one absorbed into her.

"What is she doing?" Liz muttered to the girl next to her. After she said it, she looked behind the girl who was now much shorter than them, over to the door of the Boar Hat where Meliodas was holding up a waitress uniform similar to the ones they were wearing. Maka had tried to argue about taking off the uniforms when Meliodas offered them the size-altering pills, but he told her "not to worry" because the uniforms were made of the same expanding material as the stretchy suits. The girls could see the look of disdain on Weiss's face, and then they watched as the girl with a white ponytail pointed her rapier at Meliodas and called out a challenge at the bar owner who chuckled as he seemed to be expecting it.

Before they could keep watching, they heard giants call out from different parts of the area around the bar for more drinks and had to go run off. Diane had also used her Creation magic to make tables and chairs all over the platform around the Boar Hat as well, so the entire platform was starting to look like a bar, which made Maka start to wonder if anyone was going to have a problem with their set up.

Over in front of the Boar Hat, Weiss's eyes narrowed at the bar's owner. "This time, it's going to be different," Weiss said to the man who had laughed at her challenge like he always did. Weiss glanced back at the new tech she had on her wrist just below her PB-4.

"I bet," Meliodas said, and he tossed the waitress uniform back where it landed hanging over the doorway. He walked out onto Mama Hawk's back and crossed his arms while grinning at the serious girl in front of her.

Diane looked over towards the bar to call something to Meliodas, but when she looked over she spotted the girl with the white ponytail facing off against the Captain. She turned to the girl with blonde hair tied in long pigtails on her right, and she said, "What's your friend doing? Why's she trying to fight the Captain?"

Maka turned back and then shrugged her shoulders at Diane. "She's not with us. Weiss was already traveling with your friends when we joined a couple of days ago."

Diane started walking back to the Boar Hat, while Weiss steadied her breathing in front of Meliodas. Gowther stuck his head out the bar's entrance and said, "This will be Weiss's two hundred and fifteenth loss in-"

Weiss did not snap at him to shut up, but the girl instead shot forward in that exact moment when she usually barked at Gowther to be quiet. The past eight times he had appeared out of nowhere to remind them of their statistics, she had made sure to always interrupt him around the same moment with an angry reply. "Soru," she appeared in front of Meliodas slashing her sword across the front of her body, but Meliodas snapped his body back and avoided the blade that passed right over him. A white magic circle appeared beneath both Weiss and Meliodas's feet in that moment, and when Meliodas leaned back forward to knock Weiss down, the magic circle separated in opposite directions, dragging both fighters over ten feet away from each other.

As Weiss slid back across the floor, she rose her rapier and spun it around as it started to glow. She put her left hand behind the flat of the blade while holding it in front of her, and behind her arose a fifteen foot tall knight made of ice holding a broadsword wider than Weiss's body. Weiss turned her body side-face and rose her sword, and the ice giant behind her did the same while lifting its much larger one. Meliodas pointed his right hand up at the ice knight and right as Weiss started running forward, the entire statue shattered, only it did not break apart into hundreds of ice shards. Meliodas did not expect it to, as Weiss had used her semblance like this before only for him to cancel it out with his magic: Counter Vanish. As the ice knight vanished this time though, a boulder replaced it falling out of the air.

Meliodas started turning around to where the white circle that had dragged him backwards had continued moving. He thought it would just disappear behind him, so the fact that he could still see it meant that Weiss was using it for something. The girl slashed her rapier at the same moment that he started turning away from her, creating a dozen spikes of ice that flew towards the Captain's side. "Too slow," Meliodas said, and Weiss's eyes opened wide as the voice came from behind her. The ice knight that was only a quarter of the way out of the magic circle behind where Meliodas had been standing started to shatter, while the ice shards Weiss shot at him had moved slow enough for Meliodas to just weave in and out of on his way behind her. Weiss grit her teeth and started spinning, and the man behind her who gave her the chance to give up sighed as she chose the hard way, again.

A second later Weiss was upside-down with her weapon laying twenty feet away from her. She blinked a few times in confusion, then she bit down hard at the recognition of the position she was in. "Damn it," she whispered. "Damn it damn it," she bit down before saying it again and flipped herself back onto her feet. I'm still not strong enough! "Well, I'm pretty sure I could take them all on by myself…" If I can just beat Meliodas once! I'll be as strong as I need-

"Here you go." Weiss turned and then rose her arms fast to catch the uniform Meliodas tossed to her. She grimaced while looking at the outfit, but she nodded her head at the man who added, "Still not going to give it up?"

"I will beat you," Weiss said matter-of-factly, shutting down any idea he had that she would give up soon. He shrugged and then chuckled at the girl before turning to go back into the bar.

Weiss started to follow him back in to get changed into the waitress uniform that she thought of as her punishment for losing; she knew the embarrassment she would feel wearing it would be another incentive for her to win the next time. "Hey you," Weiss stopped as that voice sounded directed at her. She turned and saw Diane standing right next to the Boar Hat, staring down with the left corner of her lips curled down. "Who are you?"

"My name's Weiss," the girl replied curtly. "It's nice to finally meet you, after all I've heard."

"Hmmm," Diane hummed. Weiss frowned back up at her at the tone of that hum, then Diane asked, "What are you doing here?"

Weiss crossed her arms in front of her chest and replied, "I'm a member of the Seven Deadly Sins."

"No you're not," Diane said.

Weiss's forehead scrunched up but she kept a calm air around herself. In a steady tone she began again, "Maybe not on your world, but I've been on this team-"

"You're wrong. You can't just be one of the Sins because you've been traveling with the Captain." Diane crossed her arms now over her huge bust pushing against the pink uniform she was wearing, not budging from her position on the matter.

"That's not the only reason," Weiss said, and the bangs of her long white hair shadowed over her eyes. The platform was covered in lights and the Boar Hat had more on the roof to keep their bar area lit up, but Weiss's head bowed and her hair covered the top half of her face with a shadow. "You're right," Weiss said. "For someone to be a part of the Seven Deadly Sins, they need a sin…"

FD + 758

Deadlands, Southeast Aebrith

"Don't slow down," Yang Xiao Long yelled at the girl running on her right side who was panting much too hard. The two of them had on long-sleeved shirts and pants covered in horizontal stripes of black and white. "We're still far from the coast!"

"We lost everyone," Weiss said, then she panted a few times before biting down hard and digging her heels into the black ground to push harder. She pushed to keep up with her older friend at her side who had long, thick blonde hair.

"We got separated, but that doesn't mean they were all sent back to the camp," Yang snapped. "I bet when we make it back to Lagann, a ton of them are going to be there." Yang smiled as she said it, and Weiss looked in to see an optimistic look really on her face.

This isn't how the escape was supposed to go though! Weiss Schnee thought worriedly. Unlike you, I can't just roll with improvising. My plan, all the POWs we were supposed to escape with last night, they were supposed to come with us after we pushed through the work camp's guards. But then the mechs, and the Scourge, did they really all just get scattered? Weiss could not shake the intense feeling of dread filling her. How many miles away is the camp from the coast? How many hundreds of miles? Weiss bit her lip and darted her eyes to the left and right over the empty landscape. There were no geographical landmarks, no water sources that she could really use right about now, but there were no monsters either. Everything around them was just empty, and if it were not for the suns in the sky, the girls would have no idea which direction they were actually running.

Yang and Weiss ran across the flat, empty Deadlands for hours with nothing but the two of them and the suns moving slowly across the sky. They slowed down and started having to take more and more breaks, and the lack of water was getting unbearable. At another of the breaks, Weiss said, "I can't, take it!" She calmed down her breathing and then stood straight up and clapped her hands in front of her.

"Wait," Yang started. "We don't know, when you might, need your magic."

"Well we'll die out here if we don't get something to drink," Weiss snapped, then she started panting again. She calmed down and focused her magic power that she had recovered since their last fight after escaping the compound they had been prisoners in. A white magic circle appeared on the floor in front of Weiss. Out from the center of it arose a single pole of ice that split after rising seven feet up in the air. It split off then arced down to either side, one of those sides curving down just above Weiss's head.

Yang sighed and walked over to stand under the other curved point. They stood there with their mouths open, allowing the sun to melt Weiss's ice creation so it could melt into their mouths. Weiss took off her shirt while this went on, as somehow standing in place under the hot sun, even with cold water dripping down for her, was even hotter than running over the black wasteland. She held her striped shirt up to her side to block the sun's rays, but her arms started getting tired holding it there while also keeping her head tilted back so she could keep drinking. She lowered it, then she stepped back and tied her shirt around her head leaving a space for her face. It was a good way to give her face some shade, but Yang mentioned while leaning her head away from the dripping water that had just increased its rate into a small stream on her side, "Careful there. Someone as pale as you's gonna cook out here without anything covering you up."

"My face is already red as a tomato," Weiss said. She no longer had the hairband she had in when she was caught, so her long white hair was covering up much of her back, but she lifted her hands and draped some more of it over her shoulders for some extra protection. "But thanks."

"Thanks for the water," Yang replied, then they both leaned back under the ice that was quickly depleting. When they finally ran out of dripping water, neither of them felt very satisfied from the short water break. Weiss did not make a new ice creation though and Yang did not complain. The two just made eye contact, Weiss's light blue eyes and Yang's lilac-colored ones. Then they turned the direction they had been running earlier, though they had to make sure for a moment since the suns were straight above them now.

Then they kept running. They ran from their break spot, picking up speed closer to what they were running at over an hour ago. Even just a small water break gave them the strength they felt they needed to make it all the way to the coast. They were still thirsty, and hungrier than ever, but they were deep in enemy territory and had no idea how long it would take for someone to come after them. Little did they know, someone was already watching their every move.

The girls were caught off guard. The had been sprinting in a straight line, so the trap they ran into sprung up from all sides of them at once. Yang spun to her left and Weiss to her right so their backs were to each other, then they each kept spinning with wide eyes while dark spheres appeared out of thin air all around them. Out of those dark spheres formed small creatures in suits of armor. They had black wisps seeping out of their helmets and beady glowing white eyes in the center of their dark faces. The Heartless Soldiers emerged and surrounded them, twenty of them in total.

Yang smirked after a second, though she was still panting as she had felt more exhausted than ever right before the monsters appeared. "What? They're just Heartless?" Yang asked, then took a few deep breaths and chuckled to herself.

"Why are they, surrounding us?" Weiss asked, also panting like Yang though feeling more nervous about it since she had used some of her magic power recently.

"They're monsters," Yang said, lifting up her fists and then stepping into a strong stance. Her blonde hair waved behind her as Yang called out, "Ha!" Then she clenched her fists tighter and bent down her knees. "We can't slow down here. Let's take them down fast and keep moving." She kicked off the ground fast and punched forward straight into one's face.

Weiss calmed herself and nodded a few times. "You're right." Weiss flipped backwards to avoid the first Heartless that lunged at her, then she twisted in midair to dodge another that leapt up towards her. Weiss kicked out as she flipped, nailing the second Heartless on the bottom of its head. The creature got knocked backwards but landed on its feet near the others, then the other ones that had not attacked Weiss yet ran forward and tried slashing at her as well.

Yang punched her fists into the Heartless every time one came at her, dodging and weaving around as the creatures tried attacking her. She caught a glimpse of two of them in the air on her left, swiping their right arms forward. The Heartless Soldiers had four red claws at the end of their dark blue arms, and they slashed them down at the blonde who ducked down and rose her arms to block either of the Heartless' swipes down at their wrists to avoid being cut. After their arms hit hers though, they dragged them backwards and the first of their sharp nails cut into her skin. Yang's right leg was spinning around as soon as the first of the claws nicked her though, and she slammed one leg into the Heartless on her right, before plowing that one straight into the other. They flew back and tumbled away, then both of them hopped back up on their feet.

Yang did not relent, sprinting forward and leaping up in the air, then slamming down a fist into the top of one of those Heartless' heads. She smashed it into the floor where it cracked the black ground, then broke apart into black bubbles that disappeared as they floated up. Yang smirked, then she saw the other creatures leaping up behind her and she spun with another spinning kick. She hit one, then planted that leg and slammed her other leg up, kicking it three times into the other Heartless lunging at her. Yang winced as she got slashed on the leg she had planted down, she she darted her gaze back to see the second of the ones she knocked backwards a minute ago had just swiped at her and now had red dripping off its already red claws.

"Rrrg," Yang stumbled forward after getting slashed, then she planted both feet down hard and punched her feet down in front of her. She spun faster, nailing that Heartless that hit her in the face so hard that it flew backwards almost into another one charging her way. Before it even collided with the other though, it was already breaking apart. Then Yang jumped up twice the speed she had been moving before, and she flipped backwards over the Heartless slashing at her. She landed behind them and when they started turning, she rapidly punched forward into their chests right in the middle of the black and red Heartless symbols imprinted in each of them.

"Ah!" A yell of pain drew Yang's attention and she spun, only to go wide-eyed at the sight of creatures very different to the Heartless Soldiers she had been facing attacking her friend. The Darkballs were floating purple spheres much faster than the Soldiers Weiss had already been having difficulty with, and these fast and stronger Heartless were bouncing around and nailing the white-haired girl on every side with strong blows that made her wince or yelp in pain as she tried spinning to them and dodging the attacks. She stumbled back and forth, and then two of the Soldiers that she had stopped focusing on to pay more attention to the stronger Darkballs leapt up and tackled her to the floor.

"Weiss!" Yang shouted.

"Ahh! Get off me!" Weiss struggled and swung her arms out to the sides, trying to push herself off the ground.

Yang started running towards her, but a Soldier on her right side leapt in and slashed at her right leg, the force of which made the blonde trip and skid across the black ground. Yang flipped herself over after skidding on her stomach, and her eyes opened wide at the sight of the Heartless Soldiers dropping down at her with their claws slashing. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and felt them get slashed back and forth, and her teeth bared while she heard Weiss yelling out in pain not far from her. "Get. Off. Of. ME!" Yang uncrossed her arms and a gust of wind expelled from her. She kicked her legs up and threw her body up on her feet while spinning towards Weiss, then her eyes opened huge at the sight of the pile of Heartless surrounding a darkened figure on the ground. Yang's eyes turned bright red and she screamed, "HAAA!"

Sinking… falling… descending, into darkness. Weiss felt herself sinking. Her eyes were wide open but all she saw in every direction of her was an eternal blackness like nothing she had ever seen before. She was falling as if through the air via gravity, but she was moving slower as if sinking through water. The space around her did not feel like air or water, liquid or gas, she was just enveloped in- darkness. Weiss's panic started fading, all of her pain, and her fear. Then, she found herself staring at the black ground, and she could see dark arms on either side of her head pressing down. I'm here. I'm, where? That feeling. She started lifting her head, and she felt something inside her that resembled hunger. What is that? She turned a bit and then turned her head the other way. Where is, that light?

"…iss! …eiss! Weiss!"

Weiss? The girl looking around for the light lowered her gaze back to the dark arms below her, and then she felt a strong jolt and snapped her head up. Someone was in front of her, someone whose body had a white veil around it that made her want to grab at it. That face looked so familiar though, and she stared closer at it. Her hands started tightening while the person in front of her screamed something, then right as she started leaning forward, a hand smacked across her face and she felt a sharp jolt of pain through her body. Her mind that had been dazed, hazy, it focused all of a sudden as the person before her yelled, "WEISS!"

"What was that for, Yang?!" Weiss yelled right back at the feeling of the intense pain on the left side of her face.

Yang stared forward in shock as the glowing white eyes in front of her lost their glow and regained blue irises. As soon as the girl shouted back at Yang, her eyes returned to normal, then the blackness around her eyes shred off of her face as wisps that rose into the air. Weiss could see those wisps rising in front of her eyes, and she lowered her shocked gaze down to the floor where she could still see dark arms with claws digging into the dirt. She watched as the darkness surrounding those arms shredded away, and Weiss regained a hot feeling to them. She could feel the black dirt underneath her fingernails that clenched in that dirt, and though the darkness stopped covering her arms, goosebumps did instead. Weiss realized that she was on all fours as she looked back up at Yang who was on her knees in front of her. Weiss could see the tremendous relief in Yang's eyes, but she did not share that feeling at all.

"What, was that? What, was I?" Weiss's lips trembled, and her arms shook in terror, barely able to hold her up anymore. She felt drained. She was wheezing out breaths of air, and she could not tell whether if it was from exhaustion or if she was having a panic attack and needed to breathe.

Yang's eyes were still blaring a furious red, but the enraged girl with long blonde hair reached forward and put her arms around Weiss's head, pulling the trembling girl into her chest. "I got you. We're-"

"A very impressive show," a high-pitched, but bone-chilling voice said behind where Yang was kneeling. Weiss pulled her head back from Yang's chest and stared behind her friend at a tall figure standing not ten feet behind the blonde girl. Yang turned her head to the side and glared at this woman whose smirk was so evil that there was no point in asking what the woman's motives were. She had palish-green skin, two large black horns curving up over her head and dark fins pointing up and out to the sides where she should have had ears. Her narrow, light yellow eyes had small black pupils in the centers of them, her sharpened fingernails were painted red like her lips, and she held a staff in her right hand that had a green orb at the top of it full of swirling dark colors. "To return from that deep in the darkness, the bond you share must be a strong one, as the girl herself does not look strong enough to manage it."

"Whoever you are," Yang started, standing up and turning towards Maleficent with her eyes flaring a blazing fiery red. "You don't know who you're messing with!"

"I don't?" The woman questioned incredulously. "Do you know who you are talking to?" She called out, her voice getting some anger in it at the insolence of the teenage girl before her. Five Invisibles appeared behind her. They were tall, muscular Heartless that looked like demons with blood-red horns sticking out the tops of their dark heads, bat-like wings sticking out of their backs, and each one held a thick broadsword that they only needed one muscular black arm to hold up. A dozen more armored Heartless Soldiers emerged out of the ground in front of her and to the sides of the girls she was speaking to, which made Weiss fall back on her butt in terror, especially as a half dozen more Darkballs appeared at the same time. Three Darkballs floated on either side of the witch who smirked while yelling at the blonde who had been so defiant towards her, "You dare insinuate that you are stronger than me? Maleficent?! The mistress of all EVIL?!" She slammed her staff on the ground and green flames rose up in a wall behind her over twenty feet tall.

Weiss let out a terrified 'eep,' and she started pushing her hands down on the ground at her sides, skidding herself backwards on her butt. She spun around and started running, creating a magic circle beneath her that increased her speed five times and shot her away from there like a rocket sliding across the ground. "Weiss!" Yang shouted back, before spinning again to the enemies in front of her who all started moving at once.

Weiss turned her head, and she yelled, "Let's go!"

"There's no way we'll escape from her!" Yang yelled right back. "We have to fight!"

Weiss's eyes rose over Yang's head and she stared at the monstrous dark creatures flying at Yang all at once. The girl with long white hair took a step back, her entire body shaking. The feeling she had after being swarmed by the Heartless returned to her. She remembered that empty, cold feeling. She remembered how it felt to look upon Yang's face like that, unable to even recognize her friend. She thought about how she had almost attacked the blonde-haired girl, and she took another step back while chills ran down her whole spine. "We need to run," Weiss called out, her voice cracking and preventing her from shouting it any louder. She focused on the floor below Yang and tried to make a magic circle like the one she made for herself. On top of feeling too much exhaustion to create another one however, Yang leapt up in the air and punched right as one of the Invisibles slashed at her with its sword. The two of them pushed against each other for a second, then Yang spun in the air and kicked at its slashing arm with her right leg. She then spun and punched to her right side with her left arm, but the other Invisible that was about to reach her disappeared into a cloud of black wisps that started swirling around the girl.

The Invisibles dropped their swords that lodged into the ground below them, and clouds of black ash surrounded Yang, followed by the blonde screaming out in pain as they all condensed on her at once. "Weiss!" Yang called out, and the terrified girl a dozen yards away froze in place. Her blue eyes opened huge as the Invisibles reformed in their normal bodies on all sides of Yang. What am I doing? Weiss thought in terror. I don't have my weapon. I don't have any Dust… what am I doing?! She screamed at herself in her head. Yang was on her hands and knees, panting with her head pointed down, but she turned her head in Weiss's direction.

Weiss could see the need for help in Yang's fiery red eyes, and she saw the Aura that Yang usually had her body covered in drop, opening her body up to actual life-threatening attacks from the enemies. Weiss already had lost her Aura however though, back when she was being beaten back and forth by the Darkballs. She bit down though despite her own vulnerability, and she started running forward while yelling, "Yang!"

Weiss saw the green spark on the floor in front of her and tried to stop short, but she still let out a yell of pain as the huge green flames rose from just in front of her feet. She crossed her arms but the outsides of them got burned and she had to back up, only to stare through the flames in helpless horror as Maleficent walked towards Yang. A dark circle had formed beneath Yang's body, while the Darkballs bounced down and slammed into her before retreating too fast for the girl to punch up and hit them. Yang swung and missed at Heartless she could not even see anymore as the darkness surrounded her. She flailed out in different directions, screaming as she felt the tendrils of darkness wrapping around her legs, her arms, her throat.

"Yang!" Weiss yelled through the flames. "Hold on!"

Maleficent stood next to Yang who pulled her arms in while curling up on the ground. She let out a scream, an agonized scream, but one that transformed midway through. "AAAHHHHhhoooOOOAAARRR!" Her voice got darker, it turned into something that sounded inhuman, and Weiss once again backed away.

"Yang," Weiss let out a strangled gasp of her friend's name. She lifted an arm up while the flames in front of her were dropping down, and she clenched her right hand into a fist as she saw that pitch black form on the ground. In between her and that form though, were a dozen Invisibles, Heartless Soldiers, and Darkballs, not to mention the witch standing at Yang's side. "Yang," Weiss repeated, and the figure on the ground turned its head her way. Then the long-haired figure covered head to toe in darkness started standing at Maleficent's side. "Come back," Weiss whispered. "Come back!" She yelled louder. "If I can do it, so can you!" Weiss yelled it, but when she took a step forward, all of the Heartless in front of her also stepped or floated the same distance towards her.

Sweat covered Weiss's entire body. Yang. Yang. Yang! I need to, I need to help her! Why didn't I stay there with her?! Why am I such a coward?! "Yang!" Weiss called out, her tone desperate.

"What an odd ability," Maleficent remarked while lowering one hand onto the far shoulder of the Heartless girl next to her, standing very close to Weiss's friend who did not react to the touch. "The more she was hurt, the more she damaged the Heartless. Defeating my creations in single blows even, amazing. She will be a magnificent first pawn, for my new plans here in the Deadlands." Maleficent grinned and her eyes narrowed at the terrified girl who stared back in her eyes with shaking ones of her own. "And you, will make a nice second…" Maleficent stopped and her eyes darted to her right. She did not turn her body, but she frowned at the sensation she felt coming from the north.

At my current power, it is too dangerous to stay here. "Finish her off," Maleficent said, and Weiss's eyes opened huge as she thought Maleficent was going to capture her or make her evil or something. At that command though, the Heartless in front of her started moving forward. All of them, except for Yang that is. Weiss stared forward in shock as Maleficent tapped her staff down on the ground and created a dark portal behind her. "Yang? Yang!" Weiss shouted, and she tried running forward as the dark figure turned its back to her. "Please! Don't do this! Don't go! I'm going to help you, like you helped me!"

"It is too late for that," Maleficent said, while turning and walking into her dark portal alongside her new minion. Weiss reached forward, then the dark portal closed, and then the Heartless attacked. The shock was too much to handle, and though Weiss turned sideways and dodged the first Invisible's slash down, a Darkball slammed into her left side and sent her sprawling over the dirt. She skid on her side but spun onto her back and looked forward in fear of her life as the monsters all charged at her again. "No," Weiss whispered, and she scrambled up to her feet and spun around. She focused as hard as she could, the feeling of life and death weighing over her, and she created a single magic circle beneath her feet that sent her shooting across the ground for ten yards before fading and releasing her. As soon as she was thrown from her magic she stumbled forward, then kept running through the stumble, breaking out into an all-out sprint while panting and wheezing.

Weiss dared a look behind her and saw the Heartless giving chase, but they were no faster than she was. She was tired though, and getting more exhausted every second. Whereas the Heartless did not seem to ever get tired, they never felt fatigue, and Weiss had tears coming out of her eyes as she felt her legs slowing down. "Yang," she whispered, tears coming out of her eyes and sliding across her face as she ran. She clenched her eyes shut but saw herself scrambling up to her feet and sliding away without a second thought, she saw herself backing up while Yang looked towards her with that desperate expression, and Weiss bit down in so much regret.

Her feet were dragging as she tried to keep running, and she had no idea how long it had been. The Heartless were even closer to her now, she was beyond wheezing to the point of coughing up every breath she tried to take, though she kept running despite it. Her run was slow now though, her legs wobbly, and as she tried picking her right leg up again, her toes got caught behind her left calf and she tripped forward. Skidding on her knees, she ripped up her already dirty and damaged prison fatigues. The pant legs tore off, and they tripped her up even more as she tried scrambling back to her feet. Tripping again while already down made her arms fall from beneath her too, so her face fell into the dirt on its right side and scraped her cheek.

Dirt got on Weiss's tear-streaked face and stained it, and Weiss pushed down as hard as she could while trying to hold back any more tears. She heard the growls and footsteps of the approaching Heartless, and she gasped in the black ashy ground beneath her while lying with her hurt cheek pressed hard against the floor. "I don't want to die here," she whispered.

The footsteps she heard behind her stopped, as did all the growling. Weiss felt a strange sensation form inside her, and she started turning her body to see a short man with blond hair with his back to her. None of the Heartless were there, and Weiss's ragged breathing caught in her throat. The short man turned his head to the girl covered in dirt and her own blood, and he flashed her a smile, "Then why don't you get back up?"

---

Present

"You're wrong. You can't just be one of the Sins because you've been traveling with the Captain." Diane crossed her arms defiantly, not budging from her position on the matter.

"That's not the only reason," Weiss said, and the bangs of her long white hair shadowed over her eyes. "You're right," Weiss said. "For someone to be a part of the Seven Deadly Sins, they need a sin…" She lifted her dark gaze into Diane's eyes and said, "My sin is Betrayal." She spun around after saying it, and her white ponytail shifted from one side to the other. While it rose up, for that brief moment, Diane was able to see a red tattoo of a rat on the back of Weiss's neck.

Diane did not know what the girl's past was, or what her reason for being there was, but she humphed as she lowered her crossed arms. In a low voice she mumbled, "That's still not one of the seven deadly sins."

Weiss had just walked into the entrance of the bar, but she heard Diane and a big tick mark grew on the right side of her forehead. Meliodas laughed on her side though as he was just inside the entrance too, and he admitted when Weiss looked towards him, "Well she does have a point." Weiss grumbled to herself and turned away, heading to the bathroom to put on the uniform she was still holding.

Meliodas had just gone back into the bar, but he didn't go into the kitchen like he was originally planning on. He stood there and watched as Weiss walked off, Business got much better once I got her as a waitress. A smirk spread on his face, Since Merlin wouldn't work and Elaine… well not many people besides Ban are into that sort of thing. Her just working as a waitress was the original deal, but when that blonde Nobody… Meliodas stopped staring after Weiss and he turned his head. Soul had just come out of the kitchen and was going to ask the bar owner something, but Ban and Gowther each flanked him right as he got there and a confused look spread across the teen's face.

Soul spun back towards the main room as he was pushed in by Ban, and he and the three Sins in the room all stared at the black circle that just formed on the floor. Meliodas got a dark look in his eyes as he stared at it because of something he was just thinking about, but then a confused and interested look replaced that as the dark circle did not have the feeling he thought it should have. Instead, the dark circle on the ground swirled around like a strange gooey liquid. A mass of black ooze started to rise up, and Soul stared in fear as the entire main bar room around them darkened a few notches. Red glowing orbs formed at the top of the growing ooze, and a hissing voice filled the room, "Meliodas. I have a proposition for you."

---

A/N Diane returns to the Sins, Weiss gets some background, and we see the first sign of Maleficent for a few millions words. The last we saw she was fleeing Castle Oblivion with Pete. This flashback at FD + 749 would have been soon after that since the original story of Nexus started two years after the First Day on Nexus (FD + 0). Yang saves Weiss from the darkness, but Weiss fails to do the same when Yang is taken. The Rat sin of Betrayal, Weiss declares herself a member of the Seven Deadly Sins, desperately trying to get stronger. And at the end a dark figure appears with an offer for Meliodas. This chapter of bouncing around the continent continues next part, but that dark figure will be revealed. Prepare for Nexus Heroes Will Rise 14.8: The Root of All Evil. Hope you all enjoyed! Thanks for reading! This chapter took longer than I thought it would to finish, but in the time it took me to write it, I finished up writing two of the next 4 chapters. The other two of those were already finished, so a chapter a day all week! Okay, time for review responses:

Limit-Breaking chapter 101 . May 9

Hmm and here i thought you like one piece charcters, boa and camie death were very cruel but so damn shocking that i had to keep reading, These types of chapters has my full attention especially since you make the characters quite evil in the story. Also if you say you do love one piece charcters i won't believe it, why because of all the suffereing you make them go through.
It's basically your revenge against one piece for making you watch over 800 episodes, granted you probably enjoyed them but it must have gotten taxing and a bit tiresome to catchup.
Also can i just say Amazing job with the slaves story you do an amazing job when it comess down to it, but it does make me wonder what type of person you are sometimes. i wonder if mine will just leave aebirth at this point or will she meet up with gray and the rest.
Also can you please answer me this question you brought in kale and caulifla into this story, How exactly does that work they are from universe 6 and they come from a world of good saiyans. Also was there a civil war between the evil saiyans of universe 7 against universe 6 saiyans or are these two versions of kale and caulifla the universe 7 versions.
Are the good saiyans even in this world of nexus.
Also can't wait to read more about the seven deadly sins charcters, they are awesome to read, also have you caghut up in the manga, Cause there power levels keep getting higher and higher, and i kid you not king power level in the manga is around 40,000, Yeah yeah i know king vs zarbon and dodoria who are planet busters is retarded. But it's true it's literally in the manga as king power level im not exaggerating at all, but then again their power levels can mean two different things comparing it to z, Since in DBZ all it takes to blow up a planet is a power level of 10,000, but for seven deadly sins it may take alot more power in there version of the series, since they show no feats capable to destroy planets. Also if you are wondering about the 10,000 power level planet busting requirements it's from the guides for the show and kazenshuu a website dedeicated to dragon ball and has connections to akira toriyama.
But i got off topic there, I really enjoyed the chapter for what it's worth and i can't wait to see 17, though i feel like you portrayed him as something evil in this chapter and i hope im wrong on that. Either way krillin get's to finally see android 18 again unless you killed her off as well, i wonder how 16 is doing and 21 from db fighterz... ok maybe not 21 since she is from a video game but it would be cool to see her.
Either way i look forward to the next chapter and the mvp android

Whew, that was a long chapter, (though not the longest you posted this week XD). Alright, for everyone saying this, because you were not the only one, I love One Piece. Might be my favorite show of all time. Nexus could even be considered a One Piece x Misc Crossovers story if I wanted. More OP characters were in our main group than any other source, and arguably the most important non-main-group MC (Zoro), is also OP. Anyway, One Piece has just so many great characters in it with fleshed-out backstories, as well as hundreds of background characters too. I bet if someone ever marked down all the characters from all the different media in the Nexus stories, they would find more One Piece characters than anyone else. However, OP also gives me a large batch of supporting characters to pick from then. As for punishment for having to watch 800 episodes +... you might be onto something there. Def a little frustrated at the current pace of the anime compared to when I binged 700 episodes straight a few years back, so much so that I wound up reading the manga (though I've just stopped and am going to let the show catch back up, so no more spoilers manga readers). Alright next part, Saiyans! Admittedly, I don't think all the Saiyans from Universe 6 are good Saiyans. I think the Saiyan King in Universe 6 is probably a better King that from Universe 7, and the line of Kings before him led the people on the right path just as Bardock was trying to do. However as we see with Caulifla and her gang, they can be very similar to the Saiyans of Universe 7 too. There probably were good Saiyans, maybe a lot of them showed up even, since I did mention how there were Saiyans from other universes there. However when Bardock talked about Frieza and how Goku beat him, since most of the Saiyans burst out cheering, it should be pretty clear that the majority are from U7. Maybe the good ones got in fights trying to protect people early on and were killed, maybe not many of them showed up on Nexus, of maybe you were right and there was a civil war, or maybe they died in the war against the Kryptonians. I did not think very much on that, though it could come up as a later plot point now that I am thinking of it. I believe you with King's power in the manga, and we're already seeing in the anime him being pretty badass, though I'm betting in the next few weeks he's gonna get stronger, maybe getting his wings and fighting that first Fairy King Ten Commandments guy. Haven't played DB fightersZ so not gonna include any characters from that just like what I said about Xenoverse (sorry), but the Androids will be making their appearances soon, and we heard mention of them again this chapter. Fwew *wipes sweat from forehead* that was a long response, but I got out what I think I needed. As for your PM, the chapter sizes vary and most of the time I just end it where it seems like a nice place. Sometimes however, I have to add more scenes because of the way I've formatted the story. Each of the decimal points for a single Full chapter have to be related to the others. Like Pyraxas was all of chapter 10, with maybe one or two cut in scenes from around the world, but the major point was the same. Chapter 9 was Gray's group's travels after they split, and 8 was Luffy's. Chapter 12 was the Saiyan Mountains, and 13 the Wizard King. In the Saiyan Mountains one though, the war started halfway through the chapter so I had a lot, A LOT, to fit into a short few parts, as I did not want to expand into another chapter while the plot was remaining focused on the Chapter 12 point. Anyway, that's just my reasoning behind it. Thanks for the reviews and PMs, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

kg833998 chapter 101 . May 9

all right finally got over that whole thanos snapping his fingers thing oh look 3 new chapter's of nexas time to read ... HANCOCK CAMIE GARP VIRGO NOOOOOOOO oh and sengoku BUT NOOOOOOOOO don't have much to say I am in too sad but I have one question are six stones that could possibly reverse this on nexas beside that great amazing 3 chapter's as usual can't wait for the next one

Thanos! Haha, glad someone mentioned it, because I mean damnmnnn! I watched it twice, and both times I watched that scene I'm just like jaw lowered, staring at everyone I love disintegrate before my eyes. Drax and Starlord were my saddest though, (but I mean Spidey too ;( ), for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, it's been over a week so Spoiler warning be damned. XD That was probably my favorite movie moment ever, even if it did make me walk out of the theater depressed. Haha, the characters are dropping all over the place ahh! No comment as to the infinity stones, nor the purple monster who used them. Thanks for the review, glad you liked those chapters! And hope you enjoyed the new one!

joebob323 chapter 101 . May 10

Okay, so it appears that the 7 sins are pretty much reunited, with some notable exceptions. I do want to know where Escanor is, especially since his power is pretty broken. Also, I get the feeling that you're laying into the One Piece Universe pretty harshly recently with all this character death, with Garp, Sengoku, Camie, Hancock, Knia, and more...You might want to lay off them for a few chapters?

Haha, now they're really pretty much reunited. Escanor, where you at man? And Merlin breaks off once again to head to the Library... As for One Piece universe, check above responses^^. Too many characters to sift through, can't make all of them into MCs, can't even have all of them survive two years on Nexus. Think it would have been weirder to have almost all of the OP characters showing up in the present, so I think having them with scattered deaths back in the first week (Kizaru), just after the first month (Garp and Sengoku), near the end of one year (Kuina, Hancock, and Camie), as well as all those who died in the Battle of Metropolis, and now the Spire too... Okay, maybe there've been a lot recently XD. Can't promise I'll lay off, but I might run out of OP characters at this point if I don't! Thanks for the review!

Espada-001 chapter 101 . May 11

:( The fewer words I use for the first half of the chapter will be better for everybody. Lets just say it took longer than it should have for me to read through this one. So I'm just going to skip to Kings part, which was pretty good. Sorry Yammy but if King can get hit by an attack that can split the base of a mountain at a distance then your base form just wont cut it for this fight. Honestly I'm way behind in the Seven Deadly Sin's series, I'm only at the part where King just beat the giant Demon Golem. And now I'm going to back track in the story a bit back to the Spire. I'm pretty sure that Gokudera is going to be pissed when he finds out what happened to Tsuna. Honestly looking back I'm surprised that he wasn't the one behind Tsuna at the meeting to bad too since he's far more used to dealing with close range explosives, although I guess he's guarding the girls for Tsuna although those are just my thoughts for his location since we haven't seen him since the battle of Metropolis. I know that it's unlikely but do you think you could add the future Vongola family or maybe even just add Reborn himself without the curse on him since it's no longer necessary for the planets protection? Also hoping to see Batman make one of his power suits so he isn't left behind later on in the series when all the final big shots show up. Well I can't say I'm happy with this chapter but like always have a good day and I look forward to the next one! Have a good day!

;( ;( Sad times but it's gotta be shown. Can't just have something like slavery mentioned scattered through the story without really showing the terrors of it here on Aebrith, and it really does make the heroes' side seem more righteous. Yammy underestimates King, doesn't use his Resurreccion, gets cut in half for it :P. 7DS new episode just came out, and I'm personally enjoying it, def suggest catching up soon. In the Spire were almost exclusively military personnel if they weren't part of the Council, which is just the reason I thought of when you mentioned Gokudera's not being there. The extra people in there were part of the Covenant forces, other Marines, other State Alchemists (or Hawkeye who is still Mustang's number 2), Griamore is a Holy Knight, and even Grim could probably be considered a military force in the city alongside Mandy. Hibari being there might have been because Gokudera's a citizen and couldn't go to the meeting, so Tsuna brought a Vongola member who he could have at the meeting: the Marine- Hibari. I won't say it's impossible for the future Vongolas to show up, as I have brought alternate timelines(Mirai Trunks)/universes(Mystogan, Edo-Natsu and Lucy) before, but won't say if it'll ever happen either. Another semi-depressing chapter here at the end, but also the reunion of Diane with the Sins, so... heh, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for the review!

flo463 chapter 101 . May 11

You're welcome
Sorry but I've been reading chapters for a long time ', I read many of fanfictions at present so hard to remember what takes place in the previous chapters
If Asuna and Suguha have the possibility to resurrect, who from the rest of Kirito's harem? (I love Sao and Kirito, the Kirito's harems fics: The Prince of Swords, Sao The Eroge, Stand Together And Smile, How the Littlest Change Makes the Biggest Difference are part of my favorite ) Argo, Libeth, Sinon, Silica? Yukki and Saichi eventually
it's been a while since I asked myself the question but I see you add Tokyo Ghoul. do you intend to add other universes (Highschool Dxd, Higschool Of The Dead? Gundam?, ...)
and I see you add Tyrant Tatsumi from Akame Ga Kill
Tatsumi is my character of Akame favorite Ga Kill and I had appreciated the fact that the use of Incursio is not without consequences and that he is transformed into Tyrant. With his capacities of adaptation, Tatsumi risks to be a formidable opponent!
Happy to see Tatsumi and Mine finally gathered! They are cute together

Yeah I totally get that. After 2 and a half million words it's gotta be tough recalling everything. I've admittedly reread Nexus a few times to make sure I don't start writing in huge plot holes by forgetting earlier character deaths or something. Saying that though... this entire review... ... Alright, so, Suguha isn't dead yet, or at least we haven't seen her die. Sachi, Lisbeth, and Silica were all seen in Metropolis after the battle (and during it when Kirito was fighting Blackbeard in front of the school). I do plan on adding some of those universes, but I won't say which ones ;). As for Tatsumi... now, it was mentioned again in this chapter, as well as the last one, but I feel like you must have forgotten. Remember the prison break a couple chapters back? Black Star broke out of the infirmary and fought Pitou, and Merlin showed up to save King, Soul, Maka, and Liz from Zarbon's penthouse while Zarbon and Dodoria were at the Colosseum gladiator cells. They were at those cells, because Tatsumi broke in with Incursio, leading the entire slave-freeing force with Mine and Lily, and then Meruem showed up and wiped them out. Tatsumi threw the teleportation cube down, but Meruem ripped everyone's hearts out except for him, Mine, and Lily. Then, Tatsumi went "I think he killed me," ... because Meruem had sliced through his neck, decapitating him. That scene of Mine and Tatsumi together was in a flashback, while the first part of the chapter that showed Mine giving up in a bar was because Tatsumi was no longer there. Sooo, sorry about that if he's one of your favorites. Anyway, we'll get back to Kirito and the rest of the group after two more parts in this chapter. Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoyed!

cyber chapter 101 . May 13

another cool chapter, I'm glad to see mine again, and I'm glad to see zoro's team cant wait to see more.

Thanks! Zoro's team will return again by the end of chapter 14, so look forward to some more of them within the next few days! Thanks for the review! Anyway guys, as I said I've got the next chapters done and ready to edit and post already, so I'll be getting those out every day this week, finishing up chapter 14 and going right into 15. Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing, and as always, 'Till next time!