"Pfft! Now this look really fits you, King!"
Seeing King's face, Ban laughed out loud. Charles had struck with quite "measured" force—no serious injuries, but King had puffed up a whole size. Aside from the big bluish-purple patches on his face, he actually looked a lot like the visage he usually disguised himself with.
Normally, if Ban mocked him like this King absolutely wouldn't let it slide, but right now all his attention was drawn to Elaine.
"Elaine, is it really you?"
His face was so swollen his voice sounded odd, but anyone could hear how worked up he was.
Elaine smiled. "Long time no see, brother. I'm so happy to see you again."
Charles, off to the side, said, "If a certain someone hadn't up and left for a few hundred years, you wouldn't be meeting only now."
King wanted to say something; he opened his misshapen mouth but nothing came out, and his already unfortunate face fell even more.
Elaine looked to Charles. "Mr. Charles, I also need to thank you for protecting Ban!"
Ban curled his lip but didn't say anything at a time like this.
Charles waved it off. "No need for pleasantries. He should've already told you what we discussed. We can't stay in this world too long, so let's begin now."
Ban gazed at Elaine expectantly; she met him with the same gentle look.
Charles, oblivious to the mood, said, "Alright, alright—you'll have plenty of time to be lovey-dovey later."
As he spoke, Charles took out a forearm-length crystal cylinder fitted with metal at both ends. He twisted one end of the metal fitting; Elaine's body turned into points of light and was drawn, every last mote, into the crystal cylinder. He then casually tossed the soul-containment magitool to Ban.
Ban snatched it in a panic, bared his sharky grin, and yelled at Charles, "Hey, be careful! What if you hurt Elaine?"
Charles said helplessly, "How could a magitool I made be that fragile?"
Even so, Ban still put it away with the utmost care.
King, completely lost, asked, "Hey, what's going on? What are you going to do to Elaine?"
Neither Charles nor Ban paid him any mind; both were focused in another direction. There'd been quite a commotion over there for a while now.
Ban said, "Did the captain run into an enemy?"
Charles nodded. "Yeah, a Holy Knight made it in too. They've probably already started fighting."
Ban shot Charles a look. "Then why are we wasting time here!"
Charles was unhurried. "What's there to rush for? The manager isn't about to get taken down by a single Holy Knight."
Before entering the Capital of the Dead, Charles had sensed a peculiar magic reaction nearby. If he wasn't mistaken, that was the Holy Knight Guila. In the original story, Meliodas and Diane were indeed suppressed by Guila, but that was because none of them had their Sacred Treasures on hand. Once King stepped in, they'd firmly take the upper hand.
But now they all had substitutes Charles had made, enough to bring out at least eighty percent of their own power. And with eighty percent, Meliodas and Diane could swat a Holy Knight aside with ease.
Besides, Stella was with them too. If you still run into trouble three-on-one, this trip might as well be called off and everyone go home.
Even so, Ban couldn't relax and ran toward the source of the noise. Charles shook his head and followed at no slower a pace. King was silent for a moment, then chose to go with them.
Sure enough, when the three arrived they saw Meliodas pounding a long-haired female knight.
The Holy Knight Guila was one of the "New Generation" that had emerged during Liones's military buildup. Her magic was "Explosion," the ability to freely control detonations.
The hallmark of the "New Generation" was magic far beyond the "Old Generation" Holy Knights—and a creeping madness as human hearts were steadily eroded.
Unfortunately for her, that wasn't enough before Meliodas.
"Full Counter" was, in Charles's view, a power that made no sense at all. With only a tiny bit of magic, Meliodas could reflect an opponent's magic attack back at them with multiplied force. Charles had personally experienced Full Counter and still couldn't figure out where the extra magic in the reflected blow came from.
Right now, the one being driven into a sorry state by it was Guila. The explosions she released were all batted back by Meliodas's short staff; the blast-flames, already destructive, became even more terrifying after being doubled.
With no choice, Guila had to fight Meliodas with her sword.
But while the "New Generation" had gained power quickly, one of the prices was a lack of tempered strength and battle experience. Meliodas, after all, was a warrior with a true age of several millennia. Even stripped of most of his power, in that regard he remained formidable.
The result was Guila having no way to fight back.
Meliodas flickered up to Guila again and drove the short staff into her abdomen. The eyes she always kept half-lidded flew open; she dropped to her knees and vomited up a mouthful of sour water.
Meliodas had thought that strike would knock her out, but unexpectedly she grabbed his wrist—and generated a massive explosion at point-blank range.
At such close distance, even if he used Full Counter to send it back, the blast would swallow them both. In other words, not just Meliodas—Guila herself couldn't escape it. She clearly intended mutual destruction.
Meliodas sighed, lifted his other hand, and the massive blast vanished in an instant.
"Counter Vanish!"
It was a special application Meliodas had developed from his "Full Counter," allowing him to erase all offensive magic.
Guila clearly hadn't expected Meliodas to be capable of that. She froze for a beat, then tried to attack again.
But how could Meliodas give her the chance? He chopped her with a hand and knocked her out.
Guila fell to the ground, and her body began to turn insubstantial.
Charles walked over. "Looks like she used a feigned-death method to let her soul enter the Capital of the Dead. Now she's returning to her body. And we can't stay here much longer either."
Charles's palm began to turn to light, and so did everyone else's bodies. As Charles had said, this was a world of the dead; the living couldn't remain long. To be honest, watching your own body break apart was a bit frightening. After a brief panic, the scene before their eyes returned to the familiar world.
Most conspicuous was Guila, hand plunged into her own chest.
Perhaps because her soul had just reentered, Guila hadn't woken yet. For the moment, no one knew how to handle her.
With King's explanation, everyone also learned about the "New Generation" among the Holy Knights.
Charles glanced at Meliodas and Ban. "You two in particular didn't notice anything off? This Holy Knight's body reeks entirely of Demon blood."
He said it because what coursed through Guila's body clearly wasn't human power—that savage, dark force was unique to the Demon Clan.
Meliodas himself had once been a member of the Demon Clan—the Demon King's eldest son, leader of the Ten Commandments. He should be more familiar than anyone with demonic power.
And Ban had faced the Demon Clan head-on; the Demon Clan's power in Guila's body belonged to the very demon who killed his lover Elaine—and whom he himself had then killed.
Who knew whether they truly hadn't sensed it, or were pretending.
Charles said, "If I'm not mistaken, the so-called New Generation are war weapons created by fusing them with Demon Clan blood. Bold, I'll give them that. To fuse Demon blood into a human body—never mind the success rate—even a 'success' will be constantly corroded by the Demon blood and ultimately become a monster."
Elizabeth covered her mouth; she couldn't imagine Holy Knights, who were supposed to protect the kingdom, doing such a thing.
Meliodas's expression was also ugly. He knew that prophecy about the Holy War. The Meteor Cross from a few days ago had already put him on guard; he hadn't expected to run into this today.
There were problems in the kingdom's ranks—he'd known that ever since the former Great Holy Knight was murdered and the blame pinned on the Seven Deadly Sins. He hadn't expected the Holy Knights would already dare to make use of demonic power.
The Holy War hadn't even begun, and Meliodas felt as if a storm was about to break. His gaze turned stern. This war that had dragged on for millennia needed an end. And this time, he would also sever the curse binding him and Elizabeth.
(End of Chapter)
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