Fox Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 1)

~~ SIXTY FIVE ~~

"I thought for sure they'd be at what remains of the castle," I questioned as we ran onwards, deviating away from the half demolished castle and heading towards another half demolished building.

"The Magical Research building is where..." Leraj cleared his throat, throwing me a glance, "where he made the knights. It would be only fitting for him to be there."

I pursed my lips. "You sure the others will be there then?"

"Not really anywhere else for them to go," King said.

"Plus, I'd say that's a pretty big indicator of where they are," inputted Ban, pointing in the direction we were headed to, Diane running ahead of us.

"Good, we aren't far behind." We sped up and appeared in Diane's shadow. "Hey, Diane!"

She looked down. "You guys made it!"

"No time to waste," Leraj said before she could speak further. "I feel Hendrickson and Meliodas ahead."

I smacked my fist into my palm. "Not long now. Guess we go in guns blazing?"

"Diane, lead the charge," Leraj said, and she sped up, swinging Gideon around her head like a toy. We followed the path winding upwards.

Something must have caught her attention because a moment later, she brought Gideon down. Dust exploded but we careened onwards, pulling out the dust cloud to Diane lifting Hawk and an injured Elizabeth into her free hand.

King circled round, dodging Hendrickson's gaze. His eyes darted at the four of us standing in her shadow.

"But she had one foot in the grave," he exclaimed. "This can't be."

"Surprise," I simply said, King's chastiefol in Bear form hitting Hendrickson on the head with all the Fairy King's power.

The ground rumbled, a chasm splitting the Magic Research building – or what remained of it – into half. I gave a long whistle staring down and out the other side where I could see the blob that was the Grandmaster Holy Knight. He's going to have a killer headache.

"You all made it?" Meliodas said as he swung slowly by the foot. Ban had caught him before he'd freefallen too.

"We couldn't let you have all the fun, Captain," I replied, stepping away from the edge.

Ban righted Meliodas. "Most of the Holy Knights in Liones should be assembled... Captain," Leraj said, coming to a stop in front of Meliodas.

"Nice to see you again, Leraj," Meliodas said. "Glad you could help."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," the demon replied, the corner of his mouth quirked up.

As a group, we ran back down to Hendrickson's sprawled form. At the bottom were the Holy Knights as Leraj had said, at the ready for a fight. I even spotted one of the three we had saved from the demons, sword in trembling hand. We made eye contact and he seemed to straighten, nodding at me. I nodded back then took my place at Leraj's side, not far from Diane.

Hendrickson got to his feet. His right arm was missing but most of his right side was covered in black so I had the sneaking suspicious he could do what Meliodas did in the fight with Ban.

"The Seven Deadly Sins. Well, I must admit, I'm extremely honoured and humble that the legendary Sins have graced me with their presence. And more?"

"These are the Holy Knights of Liones but they're not after any of us this time," Meliodas said. "They're here to stop you from escaping."

"We've wiped out all the demons from the capital too," said King.

Hendrickson cackled. "We'll if you didn't, what fun would this be? I'm not sure how you managed to rid the city of all that scum in such a short amount of time, but excellent all the same, Seven Deadly Sins!" He drew his weapon and his arm returned to its rightful place. "However, you can't defeat me."