"You're saying this kid is one of the Seven Deadly Sins?" One of the men say
"I don't believe it!"
"No, he totally stopped my fully-charged arrow, I just can't imagine some random kid'll be able to pull a stunt like that!"
"That is correct, I am the one and only Gowther the Goat Sin"
"Huh? So back then you were the one wearing that armor? I was always convinced that it was stuffed with a giant old man" Ban says circling Gowther
"Your gaze, your stride, tone, attitude, the scar on your cheek, are you Ban the undead then?"
"Now that's the Gowther I remember!"
"He's one of the Seven Deadly Sins to? So that means that young boy who is a dead ringer of the Meliodas I knew from long ago must be..." a girl soldier speaks up
"Yep you got it, I'm Captain Meliodas! Over there is my wife Lexi, nice to meet you!" Meliodas points to himself then Alex
"This little squirt is the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins? And that's Alexandria?! I thought she was like old and..." A man says looking over at Alex
"I am not wrinkly! Please delete that image from your minds! It's a drawing!" Alex runs a hand down her face dramatically
"Yep! Anyways you guys surprised?" Meliodas asks
"Yes!" The man says
"It's astonishing," Gowther says
"What, you mean you don't see it in him? Then what about that guy!" Ban points to King "your so gonna flip! That's King!"
"No, that's someone else. The bone structure, the tome, the body odor is nothing like King's."
"Ew body odor? What do I smell like?" Alex says
"Like the Captain but with a hint of strawberry" Gowther turns to look at her for a second while speaking to her
"Oh wow" she pulls her shirt up to smell it "but I don't smell the strawberries" she frowns and Gowther turns back around to see King switched back to his other form
"It is undeniably King"
"Way to backtrack" Ban grins
"Wonderful! I got to run into not only Gowther but three of the Seven Deadly Sins, plus Alexandria... so happy! I would love to ask you for a match, but... What a pity! Our mission today is solely to bring home that Armor Giants head" The man with the mask speaks up
"By the way, who's inside the armor?" Meliodas asks
"I'm not really sure" Gowther answers
"Now then! Time to get to work!" The masked man says
"I'd actually prefer if you left him alone? Please."
"What's going on Gowther? Why not just let them do what they want?" Ban asks
"Yeah the fact is the only reason we tried to protect him was because we thought he was you"
"If Gowther wants him to live so be it, if you guys don't get up on this front line to protect him I will personally kick your asses. Thank you." Alex looks at all of them and they scramble to get beside her
"Even after sensing this power firsthand, you still think you can defeat him?" Gowther says
"Yes, we can. I'll admit, I'd say two of us... no, one of us is sure to die, but it's a sure bet that we'll be claiming this one's head" the masked man answers
"A cool-headed decision. I have no choice then" everyone gets into a fighting position, then Gowther cuts the monster's head off "take it with you"
"What are you doing?"
"That's the most peaceful way of resolving this, If a three-way battle erupted among us, the blowback will inevitably wipe out the villagers of Ordan. Also, this way the knights who died below won't have died in vain"
"Alright then, I accept your offer"
"Are you sure about that, Slader?" A man with long blue hair speaks up and continues to mumble
"Be silent. I like you, Gowther the Goat Sin. Out of respect for your strength and your legend, we'll withdraw, but if someday we're ordered to go after your heads... at that time. Oh never mind - bye-bye!" Slader responds as he retreats
"Like you would be able to defeat us then" Alex rolls her eyes, crossing her arms.
"Yes bye bye" Gowther waves
"But that was a bit shocking, it looked to us you had a bit of sympathy towards this monster," King says
"Oh really? Was I sympathizing with him?" Gowther tilts his head and everyone looks at each other
"He was wearing your armor, wasn't he? We're you using him as like a stand-in or something?" Meliodas questions
"Stand in? No. But that's what ended up happening anyway, after all, you did mistake him for me, didn't you?" Gowther answers as he looks at the monster than to Alex who is leaning up against the monster taking a nap.
"Well, since we've never seen your real face..." Ban says
"I see... so in other words, my disguise was unnecessary..."
"Still, I've never seen a monster like this before," Meliodas says
"There's a faint odor wafting from the very depths of his magical power. Most likely, he was once human" Gowther says
"Human?!" King says as the monsters finger arms start moving and Alex falls back, waking up
"Woah Woah, what's going on here?" Meliodas asks
"As I said before, the chaos that would've erupted if we battled a three-way battle would've been too destructive"
"You chopped off his head but he's still alive!" King says
"Right, that head is now merely ornamental" Gowther answers
"And what part of him was once human? Could he be any more bizarre?" King sweat drops
"Needless to say he was no ordinary human. That's the shadow of a former Holy Knight" Gowther says
"The shadow of a former Holy Knight?" King repeats
"I'm sure you can feel it too. Floating like dregs below the mad torrent of evil magical power. The power of a Holy Knight. I had him wear my armor to suppress this evil, tremendous power, but after repeatedly sustaining damage, the seal was broken." Gowther explains
"Ah, so that's it," Alex says rubbing her head, where she fell earlier. Meliodas nods agreeably and gets into a fighting position "Well he doesn't seem like the type of guy to listen! Let's do this!" They all charge forward kicking and fighting with the beast but it stays unfazed and even gets a big hit on Ban and Meliodas, sending them back into King's pillow. He chuckles
"Come on guys! In battle, you should wait to see how your opponent will strike first"
"Ah shut up, King!" Ban responds by flipping him off (a/n I'm sorry am I the only one just now realizing Ban flipped king off??)
"Oh, how fluffy!" Meliodas says
"I know right??" Alex responds by not bothering to join the fight but floating with King instead
"Spirit spear Chastiefol, second configuration - Guardian. To protect against external enemies, its moss is given shape by the Holy Tree and sent into battle. Made of moss, its body can parry any attack, and with its high concentration of water, it's highly resistant to fire!" King says as he sends the giant teddy bear to fight, only for the monster to send ice its way and break it in 2.5 seconds
"But it choked against the cold!" Meliodas puts his hand on his hips "Gowther! It's your turn next!"
"My glasses fogged over" Gowther brings his glasses down to inspect them "You four hold him off for a little while," he tells everyone and they all watch him walk away
"Oh what a pain, fighting him barehanded might be tough!" Ban says
"Not like beggars can be choosers, huh?" Meliodas responds "I'm borrowing these!"
"Will normal weapons work on that thing?" King shouts
"Enchant hell blaze!" Meliodas screams
"Ark reconsidered!" Alex shields Meliodas while he strikes
"Black flames?" King says
"That's- Captain! Just blast him relentlessly!" Ban says
"Right! Lexi cover me!"
"Got ya!" Meliodas goes to strike but he and Alex both hear the "don't... please..." the beast gives off, making Meliodas hesitate.
"Hurry up and finish him off!" Ban screams
"No wait he said something!" Alex screams back letting her ark reconsidered fall. The monster grabs Meliodas in mid-air.
"Crap this is bad"
"Well fuck!"
"You dumbass" Ban goes to fight but an arrow of light beats him to it
"An arrow of light? This is your chance Ban!" King shouts
"Wait don't do it! Barr-" Ban just grabs Meliodas out of the monster's reach
"What are you doing, Captain! You could've gotten him just now!" Ban says
"I just heard him say something! It must've been the Holy Knight!"
"So what if he did! Just slay him already!"
"But he's still alive in there!"
"What kind of naive shit is that?" Meliodas and Ban continue to bicker
"What's up? Are you two fighting?" Gowther asks
"Gowther... Wait, he stopped moving? Did you take him out?" King asks him
"No. He's trapped inside an illusion. That's my magical power, invasion. Right now he's inside of an illusion of the distant days he most wanted to return to" Gowther answers
"You're still the same sneaky, tedious guy as ever. Now can we stop yapping and kill him already!" Ban says
"I'm not capable of killing him"
"Huh?"
"It's not as if he wished to be born this way, therefore I cannot kill him"
"Right? I think it was an experiment, I think the Holy Knights are doing this!" Alex says
"As if anyone in this world was born because they wanted to be!" Ban says
"So we're just gonna ignore my theory? Great." Alex says once more
"Move it! I'll kill him!" Ban walks up to him
"Back off. There's still a part of him that's human" Meliodas grabs Ban's arm bringing it down. Alex just steps him in front of him.
"If they're fighting... does that mean they're close?" Gowther asks
"I don't think it's a fight" King's response
"It's said that friendship is a beautiful thing, is that true?" Gowther asks again with a head tilt
"Excuse me?"
"Hmm, don't go ordering me around" Ban effortlessly grabs the heart of the beast with his whip
"Ban... why did you kill him?"
"All I did was bring the curtain down on the miserable life of a man who became a monster. Trust me I did him a favor"
"Ban! I swear to go-" Alex starts
"Guys, look!" King shouts to the three of them "I think he's whispering something"
"Even though his heart's been gouged out, he's still seeing that illusion..." and then the monster starts screaming
"What is this? I know I ripped his heart out! Dammit! So he's a demon, too?" Ban says and Alex looks at Meliodas
"Now I remember! That's Dale" Meliodas says
"Oh yeah, he became a Holy Knight about 10 years ago!" Alex finishes
"And he was a father! Who was always saying he wanted to be like us, so his daughter could be proud of him? How'd he end up like this?" King asks
"He's coming" Gowther states the obvious
"Hey, Dale! You remember me, don't you? Snap out of it! Dale!" Meliodas screams
"What are you doing dumbass!" Ban kicks him out the way and gets his head blown off
"Stay down, Captain. Let's do this! Fight fire with fire! Huh? They're not piercing him?" King says
"Stop it, King!"
"But Captain.."
"Watch out, King!" Alex pushes him out of the way getting the acid that the monster shot out all over her
"Dale, enough is enough!"
"There's only one guy that outta cut it out. That would be you!" Ban hits Meliodas
"Ah Ban! You're lucky I'm covered in this green mess at the moment!" Alex scolds him
"Ban struck the Captain. Why is that?" Gowther asks
"Because they're both idiots, that's why," Alex says still trying to get the slime stuff off of herself
"Gowther, why don't you go pitch in and help us fight a little, too?" King says
"Can I think it over a bit?"
"Seriously?!"
"If you are not into this then get the hell out. You can't save anyone with naive half-measures! You'll only get us all killed" Ban says
"Sir Meliodas!"
"Elizabeth?!" Alex shouts
"Take this!" Elizabeth throws him the sword Liz tried to gift him, both Meliodas and Alex have wide eyes.
"It's not that Liz wanted you to fight! It's that she wanted you both to live! I feel the same way! You are someone who stands up for what he believes in! And if that's your sin, then I'll carry that burden with you guys!" Elizabeth shouts
"Are you really okay with making a little girl say-" Ban starts but Meliodas is already gone
"Forgive me, Dale" Meliodas says
"That was amazing, Captain!" King says
"Just as expected," Gowther says
"I knew you could do it if you put your mind to it, Captain!" Ban compliments
"Lexi, sorry about that" Meliodas says to the limping Lexi walking up to the boys. As soon as Meliodas reaches her she starts hitting him.
"You guys-" she moves onto Ban, head-chopping him relentlessly
"Make me worry-" she then moves to King
"So gotdamn much-" then goes back to Meliodas and climbs onto his back.
"But back to the big problem" Alex points to the remains of Dale
"A human transforming into a demon? Is that even possible?" King asks
"A curse? Or maybe some kind of experiment or spell..." Meliodas starts while Ban picks up a purple leech-looking thing off of Dale
"Don't tell me it's possible to create man-made demons?" King says
"Not only that, but using a Holy Knight of Liones"
"But there's no way someone could pull that off behind the backs of two grandmasters, could it be?!"
"Yeah. It's highly likely that a grand master is involved."
"Meaning Dreyfus... or..."
"Hendrickson" Gowther finishes the sentence
"You figure out something?" Meliodas asks
"Yes. The person likely to be involved in this incident is... Grand Master Hendrickson"
"Alright, I'm getting hungry, so wanna head back?" Ban says
"Yeah, Lexi's falling asleep" Meliodas shuffles her on his back a bit
"No, I'm not... I heard everything" Alex says sleepily
"I'm sure Diane must be worried, too!" King says
"Yeah, about the Captain and Mom" Ban teases
"Oh, shut up" King retorts
"Gowther," Dale says
"Yes, I am indeed present" Gowther fixes his glasses
"Thank you... so much... my friend"
"Friend? Am I your friend? I heard that a friend is someone very dear to you. Was I able to become your friend? Please, Dale, tell me. I wonder do people shed tears at times like these?"
The group walks up to Elizabeth
"Thanks to you, I had some kind of breakthrough! Let's go! There's a fight to the death up ahead!"
"But she still shouldn't have been on the battlefield!" Alex gets down and head chops her easy "what if you had gotten hurt?" Alex runs her hand down Eli's face.
"Lexi! She was only helping!" Meliodas pouts
"But-" Meliodas swoops down and puts her over his shoulder
"Let's head back everyone!"
"Sounds good!" Ban says
"Uh, okay!" King says
"Wait where's Gowther?"
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Hey guyssss, so I am gonna try going back to weekly. It will be posted from Sunday night to Monday morning ( eastern daylight time, I hadda look that up lmao). Uh yeah, I got the lifeguarding job and I'm still binging op so nothing new lol. Anyways hope you enjoy!
xoxo