The Eighth Sin

Episode 20 - The Courage Charm

~Meliodas' Perspective~

As Ban and I ran through the city, dodging panicked citizens, I feel myself growing angrier and angrier. I was worried earlier, but at this point I'm just mad. I was so close to getting Y/N all to myself and now the Grandmasters have gone and kidnapped her?

Absolutely not.

Ban and I hit an intersection. There's a moment where we stare at each other before we nod in agreement. I go left, he goes right. I hear Hendrickson and someone else battling up ahead and make it just in time to block the stranger from a fatal attack. "Well, it looks like you've gotten a lot stronger since the last time I've seen you." I tell Hendrickson. He faintly mumbles something about recognizing me and I say, "Yeah, it's me alright. And I'm not gonna leave without Elizabeth." And Y/N, of course, but I'm willing to bet that Hendrickson doesn't know about her presence, and I'm definitely not going to be the one to tell him.

Suddenly, I feel a familiar thunderstorm coming up on the horizon and Gilthunder falls out of the sky to accompany it. He strikes me, but luckily I was ready to block. He attacks me ruthlessly, throwing me backwards. The stranger catches me. "Sorry about that." I say. "I owe you one."

"It's nothing, forget it." He replies.

We land across the plaza fro Gilthunder and Hendrickson. "You mind lending me a hand a little while longer?" I ask him, seeing that he's also in fighting stance.

"Sure, it's my pleasure!" He says enthusiastically. "By the way, my name's Arthur Pendragon. With a reputation like yours, I've heard about you for years." He practically gushes.

"Cool. But maybe we should chat after we're done with this." I say. There's no time to deal with fanboys right now. He agrees, thankfully.

Since that alliance is secured, I turn my attention back to the pink haired man in front of me. "Let's pick up where we left off, Little Gil!"

"I'm only doing what I must." Gilthunder says, baring his weapon. "Nothing more." The emptiness in his voice doesn't escape me. Just like when we fought before, it seems that Gilthunder isn't passionate about his actions. It's strange for a young man who had seemed so dedicated to protecting his beliefs.

Unfortunately, now is not the time to think about who the boy I used to train with grew up to be, so I simply say, "I'll warn you now, I'm not gonna hold back."

I charge at him and we engage in our second battle of the day. It keeps me on my toes, one of the faster paced fights I've had in a while. He even outwits me by delaying one of his attacks to knock me off balance. This gives him the opportunity to throw my sword out of my hand.

Immediately after, he sends a strong lightning bolt my way. I'm growing impatient. Instead of trying to dodge the attack, I simply channel some of my demon energy to keep the lightning form ever leaving the sword. Soon, he manages to wrench his sword from my grasp and we go back to the seemingly endless cycle of striking and countering.

Eventually, I decide this must come to an end. I'd been hoping that Gilthunder would stop at some point, but clearly that wasn't on his agenda. "Little Gil!" I call to him from where I stand on a wall. "You sure you're not gonna regret going against me like this?"

"Your eyes can see through wickedness. Your mouth utters only truth. You're heart is filled with justice. Your sword shall crush evil." Gilthunder recites. "From the first day I learned the Knight's Code, I haven't forgotten a word. But the Eight Deadly Sins turned their backs on that code and betrayed the country. And so I'll say this once more to you," He says, "I am now more powerful than any of the Eight Deadly Sins."

I sigh. His conviction is strong. "Alright then. Why don't we finish this?" I yell down, jumping off of the wall to attack. We battle for a few seconds before Hendrickson joins the battle. He seems shocked that I could dodge his attack.

Arthur calls to me that he tried, but he's a disgrace. "Don't sweat it!" I say. He did far better than I had expected in the first place, anyway.

~Y/N's Perspective~

It's about time that I return to my body, and I wake up to see a grand room. The King rests on his bed, coughing from disease. I walk over to him. "So I see the illness wasn't a lie, then?" I ask, placing my hand on his forehead.

He opens his eyes weakly. "Elizabeth..?" He asks, coughing in between words.

I smile softly, revealing my true identity for a moment. "No, your Majesty. Only Y/N the Polar Bear Sin." The King nods, resting his head on a pillow. "I hope that you don't mind that I'm borrowing your daughter's appearance for a while. I swear it's to protect her." I tell him, helping him down to sleep.

The Holy Knight that took me here appears out of nowhere, which is starting to annoy me. "I suggest you enjoy your touching reunion while you can." She drawls. "Because this will be the last time. Your beloved Sin will meet his end at my sweet Knight's hand any minute now."

I spin around to face her and take a few steps toward her. Internally, I frown. Has she not met Meliodas? That man is to powerful to be defeated by a mere knight. Although, from the thunder I'm hearing outside, I assume he's fighting Gilthunder. It promises to be an interesting battle, and I wish I was there to witness it.

Alas, I have to pretend to be clueless, so I only say, "He must be here. Sir Meliodas came for me!"

"We'll see how long you'll be able to keep that twinkle in your eye." She says. After pausing for a second, probably to communicate with whoever her boss is, she says, "I've been invited as well. As a special courtesy I'll bid that Sin of yours farewell for you." She taunts,

"I don't think so." I say, this time voicing my own opinion. "He'll win!"

"Keep praying then, cradled in the warmth of your daddy's arms." She says. I keep myself from lashing out. This woman is really starting to get on my nerves.

The moment she disappears, I turn to the King and tell him, "If anyone comes in, shake me." Then, I let my conscience enter Meliodas' memories.

He is indeed in the midst of a difficult battle, Hendrickson and Gilthunder turned on him at the same time. I keep to the back, hoping that he won't be able to sense me. At least I'll be able to keep that pesky woman out of his way. When she tries to use attacks, I simply remove them from her memory, snipping out the incantations and hand movements. She seems confused, and I hold in my laughter.

The moment this happens, Meliodas calls out, "Y/N! Don't interfere. I've got this!"

I scoff, crossing my arms even though he can't see them. "It doesn't really look like it." I say, watching as he takes hit after hit.

"I have a plan!" He shouts, getting blown back.

"Is that plan getting battered to death, because that's not a really good one." I call out.

"Just. Get. Out. Of. Here!" He yells, bracing himself in fighting stance.

"Fine, fine, but I'm still going to watch." I say. It's not like there's anything else to do.

He sighs before resuming the battle. He finally begins charging an attack, just as they all do. However, before he fires it at them, he swipes it backwards. I turn in that direction to see Princess Margaret falling, and a parasite being sliced in half by Meliodas' power. It came to me at once what his plan had been. It wasn't a terrible one, except for the part where he let himself get hit by three Holy Knights' attacks.

Luckily, Gilthunder was there to handle it. I was free to keep Margaret from falling to her death. After she was safely returned to her beloved Knight, I turned to Meliodas and his new red headed partner. He was thanking him for being a life saver.

Then the mage Holy Knight approaches, furious that her Gilthunder had been taken from her. A cloaked figure quickly stops her from exacting her rage.

I narrow my eyes. I knew I had been sensing a familiar power, or I should say, lack of power. "Hey Merlin!" I call. "She's a real pain, can you take care of her once and for all!"

She turns and smirks.