Come With Me - Meliodas x Reader

Chapter 23 - Despair Descends

The Red Demon was enormous. It was suspended in the cavern by chains pierced deep in its body. One of its horns was gone and the other was broken.

Hendrickson was still laughing. You wished he would stop.

'Look at that monster's corpse,' said King.

'So red and flabby.' Diane clutched Gideon to her chest. 'It gives me the creeps.'

'Impossible. Is that what I think it is?'

'Yeah,' said Meliodas. 'A demon.'

Your eyes flickered to Ban before returning to the demon. He was still. Too still.

'So they really existed then?' King's eyes were wide and you wondered if he was unwilling or unable to blink.

'The magical power emanating from that corpse matches what I sensed from Dale and the New Generation,' said Gowther. 'It appears to be the root of this evil.'

Hendrickson stood up straight. 'Twenty years ago, when these remains were first discovered deep in the Fairy King's Forest, this journey began.'

You swallowed. No one moved.

'All that I have accomplished has been made possible by this Red Demon,' Hendrickson continued, spreading his arms wide. 'Both the Old Generation and New, the experiments that gave us those compatible with Demon blood, the partial deciphering of the Dark Magic system and now this.'

The dark markings on Hendrickson writhed into the air. They burst from him, deadly ribbons that snaked towards the six of you. You hopped quickly to the side to avoid the one headed for you. Meliodas knocked his aside with his sword. Diane deflected hers with Gideon. King somersaulted in mid-air. Gowther leapt upwards. And Ban just stood there.

The tentacle punctured Ban's chest. He did nothing. Not as it knocked him back. Not as his blood fell through the air like crimson rain.

You reached out to Ban but had to dodge back quickly as the black tentacle swerved and came at you again.

'At last, I myself wield the power of the Red Demon,' Hendrickson crowed, the mad grin back on his face.

'Ban!' Diane called, but she was held back from helping him by another tentacle.

You ducked under the pointed end of the tentacle after you and tried to look at Ban. Was he smiling?

'If the Red Demon's power's your only ace in the hole' –without breaking free of the tentacle, Ban ran at Hendrickson– 'your best bet is to fold and walk away from the table.' Now Ban was right in front of Hendrickson. He raised a hand and slammed it, with incredible force, into the top of Hendrickson's head.

Hendrickson grunted and collapsed. The tentacles disappeared. The ground cracked.

''Cause I'm the one who killed that fat freak!'

Dust billowed into the air. You stared at the new hole in the ground, your mouth slightly agape. Hendrickson had fallen down it and hadn't come back up. Yet.

Ban turned away from the hole and walked over to his three-section staff. Everyone watched him. The weapon rattled. And then grew, glowing with a pink light. Under Ban's control, it whipped through the air, striking the Red Demon. The demon's head exploded.

'Ban, you really killed that thing twenty years ago?' King asked.

Ban didn't look at King. 'Who killed what and when isn't important.'

Meliodas walked to the hole and you followed, crouching at the very edge. Cold air was rising from it and it smelt like dirt and old things. You shivered.