"And what part of him was once human? Could he be any more bizarre?" King yells.
"Needless to say, not a normal human.That's-"I cut Gowther off as my eyes widen.
"A Holy Knight."I breath out.
"Precisely, a shadow of a former Holy Knight."Gowther explains the beast suddenly roars. His chest had now become four heads with mouths a upper half of a human stuck up in the centre.
"I'm sure you can feel it too. Floating like dregs below the mad torrent of evil magical power. The magical 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.
"I see. Then we just kill it?" I question as I raise a hand, ready to KO the thing.
"Ye-" Gowther was cut off when the beast suddenly roars loudly and smashes his arms towards us we all jump up out of the way, I float in the air with King as Ban and Meliodas charge towards the beast, throwing a few punches.
"You guys should see what your opponent would strike first before going in."King smirks smugly as he leans back.
"Man, you're arrogant!" Ban yells at him.
"Spirit spear Chastiefol, second configuration- Guardian. To protect against external enemies it's own 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 boasts proudfully.
"Thanks for the description, you can take a break now." I yell as I place my palm in front of me with a wide smirk.
"You forget that I'm the only goddess alive in this realm." I mutter as a blistering ray of light erupt from my palm, it burns off one of the heads and roars loudly.
"Eh? I missed?" I shake my head, with a sheepish smile.
"Ah I guess it's been a while since I released a spell like that- lets try again." I laugh it off as I dodge another attempt to grab me.
"Incoming!" Meliodas yells loudly behind me, I move out of the way as he slashes the beast on the other shoulder with hellblaze.
"Beat him up Captain!" Ban yells loudly.
"Don't...please..."The man in the center of the beasts chest mutters lowly and Meliodas's freezes and the tongues of the beast wrap around him.
"Ah crap."Meliodas chuckles.
/(ಠ_ಠ)\
I was just going to cast Ark but now you're in there, it's going to destroy you too- now what?!
Ban slashes his whip across the beast, letting Meliodas go. Meliodas comes down and they start yelling at each other.
"What are you doing Captain?! You could've gotten him just now!" Ban yells.
"He just said something!" Meliodas yells.
"I heard it too." I mutter as I pause for a second.
"It must've been the former Holy Knight!" Meliodas yells.
"So what if he did?! Just slay him already!"Ban snaps.
"But he's alive!"
"What kind of naive crap is that!?"Ban fires back.
"Ban is right- look at it." I mutter, our eyes fly back to the beast who now stands still on the field.
"Wait he stopped moving..!" I yell as I lower myself.
"Did you take him out...?" King questions with a gulp.
"No. He's trapped inside an illusion." Gowther explains as he lifts his energy bow up.
"That's my magical power, Invasion. Right now, he's inside the illusion of the distant days he most wanted to return to." Gowther explains as he lets his arms loose back to his sides.
"You're still the same sneaky, tedious guy as ever. We should just kill him."Ban scoffs placing a hand on his hip.
"I'm not capable of killing him."Gowther states, I raise a brow.
"Huh?" I blurt.
"It's not as if he wished to be born this way. Therefore, I can't kill him."Gowther explains.
What a respectable heart...
Ban scoffs before looking to the side and closing his eyes.
"As if anyone in this world was born because they wanted to be. Move- I'll kill him." Ban announces as he lifts his hand up. I dive down and grab his wrist, lowering it.
"Stop, apart of him is still human." I say as my feet touch the ground. Bans eyes widen before it narrows towards me.
"You're still as kind as ever..."Ban trails off, my eyes suddenly widens a bit, I turn and look him in the eye.
"How would you know how I am?" I whisper in slight shock.
I'm not kind- no, I'm far from it.
"They're looking at each other closely- does that mean they're close?" Gowther pipes up, I let go Ban's wrist and fly up higher.
We're not close- I barely know him-
~
"Hey, (Y/n). Why are you being so kind to me?"
~
The memory suddenly flashes through my mind.
"I don't think they're close."King states.
"I think being close is a beautiful thing..."Gowther comments.
"You're too kind- back then," Ban whips out his whips and pulls out the clutched the heart of the man in the chest of the beast.
"And now too." Ban finishes. The whip lets go of the heart and blood splatters on the ground.
"Ban- why did you kill it?" Meliodas asks sternly.
"I just brought the curtain down on the miserable life of a man who'd become a monster. I'd say he should be grateful to me." Ban grunts.
"Ban!" Meliodas yells his name angrily.
"Both of you! Look!" King calls out to us and we all turn to look at the half-alive man in the chest of the beast. His lips move and inaudible words flow out.
"He's whispering something..."I mutter as fly down towards him.
"Even though his heart's been gouged out, he's still seeing that illusion."Gowther explains.
His consciousness is leaving...
The beast suddenly bursts out in loud roars, my heart quickens and in an instant I'm behind Ban, I look below my stomach and someone had pulled me back- on instinct. I glance over my shoulder at Meliodas whose expression was of worry and slight anger.
I slip out of his grasp and into the air as the beasts roar echoed throughout the forest.
"What the hell is going on? I know I ripped out his heart!" Ban growls in disbelief.
"Dammit! So he's a demon too!?" Ban growls angrily as the idea hit me.
A demon- a lower class demon- a human experimentation where they try to make demons from the blood of lower-ranked demons...? It's just a theory- but this is the kind of result that will result from a experiment like that...!
"It's not human- not anymore." I whisper as its arms split apart to form four arms in total.
"I remember now- it's Dale, who was still a fledgling Holy Knight ten years ago!" Meliodas recalls.
"You mean that doting dad, Dale? Who was always saying he wanted to be just like us, so his daughter could brag about him? How did he come to this?" King mutters in disbelief.
"It's coming-" I yell as it rushes towards us.
"Dale! Do you remember me?!" Meliodas yells. The monster throws a punch.
"Idiot! He won't hear you!" Ban yells as he pushes Meliodas out of the way. Ban takes the hit and his body tears in half.
"Ban!" Meliodas yells out again in attempt to call out to Dale.
"That's enough! He's long gone!" I yell as I cut in front of them.
"Ark!" Light erupts from my palm and it obliterates the demon in front of us.
"Is everyone okay?!" A voice calls out as the light clears. I look up to see Elizabeth running towards the hill we were below.
"Meliodas-sama!" Her lips curve into a smile as she spots the blonde man.
"But, a human transforming into a demon...is that really possible?" King questions.
"A curse? Or maybe some kind of experiment or spell..." Meliodas trails off.
Human experimentation...who could be behind this...?
"Don't tell me it's possible to create a man-made demon?"KIng blurts.
"Not only that, but using a Holy Knight of Liones."Meliodas adds.
"But there's no way someone could pull that off behind the backs of the two grand masters.." King mutters.
Unless-
"Unless it was a grand master that was behind it." I conclude as I stand up straightly.
"Meaning Dreyfus or-"
"Hendrickson." Gowther finishes.
"Did you figure something out?" Meliodas questions Gowther.
"Yes, the person likely to be involved in this incident is- Grand Master Hendrickson." Gowther concludes.
"All right, I'm getting hungry, so wanna head back?" Ban stretches his arms, walking towards the direction of the tavern. Everyone follows him, I look back and see Gowther thinking deeply as he looked at the remnants of the demon. I walk over to him.
"Tell me (Y/n), do people shed tears at times like these..?" Gowther asks me. I look over towards the distance.
Your death is one I mourned over endlessly, even now.
"....If you cry, it means that the person was dear to you- but now-" I sniffle as I cross my arms warming myself.
"...I'm not even sure." I mutter. Something suddenly touches my cheek, I glance over and see familiar pink hair. Gowther leans over my neck and breathes in deeply.
"Your odor, it's pleasant- unlike others and your magical power- it's..heartwarming." Gowther whispers as he breathes in my scent again.
"My...magical power...?" I mutter as I look at my open palm.
My magical power- yeah, that's right you had all this magical power but you still couldn't do a goddamn thing. Useless.
"What are you wai-"My head whips up and I see Ban peer over the cliff, looking down at us with wide eyes.
"I-"