After the agreement to keep Meliodas in Istar and let the Seven Deadly Sins visit every other day, it had become a schedule. The boar hat would close for a few hours, and then the sins would come by to visit. Merlin had only come by to do little blood tests on Meliodas to cure his weak body.
Currently, everyone had been sleeping peacefully around each other. Elizabeth had been able to convince Zaneri and Jenna to let them stay for a few nights after Jenna specifically told them they couldn't.
But Of course, Meliodas wasn't anywhere near them that night.
The group slept peacefully through the night, and the next thing they knew, it was morning.
"Zeldris! Wake up!"
Zeldris immediately bolted awake after hearing his name being called out.
"Hawk? What's the matter?" Zeldris grumbled. Hawk blew out a small puff of air.
"Finally! You took ages to wake up." Hawk sighed.
"Your the last one awake! Everyone woke up about an hour ago." Hawk explained. Zeldris rose a brow. He had never slept In this much before. He was usually the one who woke up the earliest and went the bed late at night.
"Come on. Breakfast is almost gone!"
Zeldris stood up slowly, before following Hawk out the cave he had been sleeping in with the others. Everyone else had been walking around Istar after eating breakfast. Zeldris then found himself in a green patch of grass, and a blanket where all the food had been set upon.
"Oh, you're finally awake?" Zeldris looked to the side and noticed Meliodas sitting near the blanket. He looked extremely tired, and he didn't even look hungry. But he looked like he had been forcing himself to eat something.
"Morning." Zeldris greeted. Zeldris took a small bowl of grapes next to him before slowly eating them.
"Hawk!" Meliodas suddenly whined.
"What's the matter?" Hawk asked. Meliodas frowned before handing Hawk his plate which still had a good amount of food on it.
"Eeek! All this for me?!" Hawk exclaimed. Meliodas nodded. Without another second passing by, Hawk quickly dug into the plate of food, eating it as quickly as possible.
"Meliodas. Are you okay?" Zeldris asked. Meliodas nodded.
"I guess. I'm not kinda hungry today." Meliodas smiled before walking over to Zaneri.
"Zeldris! I challenge you to a sword fight!" King suddenly shouted. Zeldris whipped his head around to see King, Diane, and Ban behind him.
"Huh? But why?" Zeldris asked.
"He's jealous because Diane thinks you know how to use a sword better than him." Ban laughed.
"It makes sense! Don't you remember being told he's like really good at using a sword?" Diane reminded.
"W-Well!..." King cut himself off. He noticed everyone else had been watching them.
"When was the last time he picked up a sword? 16 years ago? He probably doesn't even know how to fight anymore!" King shouted.
"Uh...What?" Zeldris's sweatdropped. King twitched.
"Well? Do you expect my proposal?" King spoke. Zeldris looked at the others for a moment before speaking.
"Sure...but maybe sometime later," Zeldris said. King nodded before flying off.
"You better give it your all Zeldris." Elizabeth smiled. Zeldris smiled weakly In response.
"Mom, are you hungry?" Meliodas suddenly asked. Zeldris looked to his side and noticed Zaneri who was now sitting next to Meliodas. Something about Meliodas calling Zaneri his mother caused him to feel a small amount of jealousy within him. Probably because he wished Meliodas had been calling him his little brother. As much as he hated the thou of it, he missed the way Meliodas spoke to him. Even though he was quite scary in the past.
"No, it's alright. I'm not hungry. But are you okay? You look tired." Zaneri spoke with a concerned tone. Meliodas nodded his head before smiling.
"I'm fine. No need to worry." Meliodas assured.
...
Later was finally the time where Zeldris and King would have their little face off. As dumb as it sounded, King only wanted to prove to Diane he would use a sword better than Zeldris. Then again, he probably didn't stand a chance.
"Alright! Now that you both have your swords we can go over a shortlist of rules." Jenna announced.
"No using any magic! This is physical combat. And the only thing you're using are the swords you have received." Jenna said.
"In case you haven't noticed already, I placed a while line shapped like a box surrounding you on the ground."
"That is your limit. If either of you go out of those lines, you lose automatically." Jenna added.
"And lastly, please do not break anything! Or even damage the damn ground." Jenna sighed.
"Don't hurt each other! Please!" Diane begged. King nodded in understanding before glaring over in Zeldris's direction. King gripped his sword tightly as he waited for Jenna to start the countdown.
"3...2..." Jenna started. Zeldris focused his attention on King as he watched him glare back at him with the same look on his face.
"1!" Seconds later, King watched as Zeldris vanish from his sight. He knew it wasn't magic. He was just extremely fast.
"Clank!" King gasped when he saw Zeldris' sword making contact with his. The two continued to clash their swords together in a sync rhythm.
"I'm shocked. I thought King was completely useless when it came to physical combat." Ban uttered. Hawk only made a small sound in agreement as the others watched silently.
"Woah! Look at them go!" Elizabeth cheered. Meliodas smiled slightly and nodded softly.
"I agree. The way Zeldris wields that sword and swings it around hitting King with every attack is quite impressive." Meliodas commented.
"This looks so..." Meliodas was cut off by a sudden shout.
"King has been disqualified! He was pushed back out of the white lines." Jenna confirmed. Zeldris smirked when he saw King sitting down on his butt bellow him.
"You actually did great. I'm surprised." Zeldris complimented. King sighed in defeat before smiling,
"Thanks. But then again, I couldn't even last 5 minutes." King laughed. Zeldris offered his hand to King so he could get up. And of course, King gladly excepted it.
"King you did amazing!" Diane cheered. King only blushed in embarrassment. In the end, he was happy with the result.
Then there was a sudden scream.
"Everyone get over here!" Elizabeth shouted. Everyone made their way over to Elizabeth who was trying to calm Meliodas down who had been holding his head while groaning in pain.
"What happened?!" Jenna shouted while panicking.
"I-I'm not sure! He suddenly began whining right after the fight." Elizabeth explained. Merlin stepped forward trying to get Meliodas to calm down.
"Does it have something to do with his illness?" Escanor suddenly asked. His question was never answered, as the others watched what was happening in front of them.
"I...I don't understand...why are you all-?" Meliodas continued to blabber out random questions as he felt his head begin to spin.
"Meliodas...look at me.." Merlin spoke softly. Slowly, Meliodas lifted his head to reveal his face.
That's when they all saw it...
Pitch black eyes.
And a demon mark above his head.
Zeldris gasped in shock.
"T-This is-!"
Before he could finish, Meliodas fell unconscious in Merlin's arms.
"What the..."
"D-Do you think his demon powers have finally awoken?" King asked. Zaneri started in shock.
"I-I don't know. At first, I believed so. But then I came to realize the only way his powers would awaken was if he..."
"Regained his memories."
...