Golgius held out a hand for Elizabeth.

'Hey, not so fast.' Hawk burst in between them. 'You're gonna have to go through the Captain of the Order of Scraps Disposal first.'

Hawk's defence was short-lived, however. Golgius kicked the pig and Hawk started ricocheting around the room.

Golgius reached for the blanket covering Sir Meliodas. 'Now then,' he said and flung it off revealing the shirtless Sir Meliodas still grasping the dragon sword. 'Seems it's become rather pointless for you to keep this sword any longer.' Golgius grabbed the sword but Sir Meliodas didn't let go. 'So I shall take it with me.'

The knight started to shake with the force he was using to pull the sword but he couldn't pull it away from Sir Meliodas. Dead Sir Meliodas.

'Stop!' cried Elizabeth. 'What are you doing to Sir Meliodas?'

Golgius finally managed to get the sword. 'It's mine now. You've no use for it.'

Sir Meliodas sat up. Quick as a flash, he grabbed the sword again. Noises of shock came from everyone in the room.

'Impossible,' said Doctor Dana. 'No one could survive after that much poison.'

'Too stubborn to die I see,' said Golgius, 'but you will release this sword.'

A strange dark aura filled the room. Elizabeth felt her mouth drop open but could only stare at the strange battle taking place.

'Even if I die, this sword is the one thing I'll never let go of,' said Sir Meliodas. 'It's the only thing I can do, the only way I can ever atone.'

'Sir Meliodas,' said Elizabeth.

Golgius sniggered. 'Spout all the nonsense you wish, the princess and your weapon will still be mine.'

Sir Meliodas glared at Golgius and Elizabeth gasped. The boy's normal green eyes were flat black and there was a strange mark on his forehead. Was this really Sir Meliodas?

¾

Dalmally was getting closer. Slowly.

You staggered on, now using your sword as a crutch. Your breath rasped out of your throat like it was being pushed over sandpaper. It felt like you were wading through water. But you couldn't stop. Even if the ground had started moving up and down like waves on the sea. But you couldn't rest. Even if the blood that had been dripping into your eyes was now a stream.

The ring on your finger pulsed.

You looked at it, barely registering what happened. As you stared, it pulsed again. Black flames started to lick up and down your arm. Slowly your magical power returned. You could feel it, trickling through your veins like thick syrup. Your wounds began to close.

Thank goodness. No sooner had you thought that, you fell. You barely noticed your ring slipping off your blood slicked finger. Darkness closed in on you. You couldn't fight it.

¾

Meliodas glared at the knight in front of him. He wrapped his fingers tighter around the sword hilt. A strangled noise came out of the knight and then he turned and jumped out the window.

Thank goodness. The words floated across his mind so weakly Meliodas only just heard them. A feeling of relief so strong it almost made him fall over was coming from the ring on his left hand. Just as Meliodas went to reply, to apologise, the ring went cold. Damn it.

'I'm sorry, but is it really you standing there, Sir Meliodas?' Elizabeth's voice came from behind him, quieter than usual.

'It's me.' He turned to her. 'Hey, Elizabeth. Hey, Porky.'

'Oh, thank goodness. You're back to your old self again,' said Elizabeth.

'Except that he called me Porky for some reason,' said Hawk.

Meliodas looked around at the room they were standing in. It wasn't the Boar Hat. 'Hey, where are we right now?'

'The town of Dalmally, which is right by Baste Prison,' said Elizabeth.

Dalmally, huh? Meliodas looked down at his ring. It was still cold.

'Who was that weirdo?'

'A Holy Knight who said his name was Golguis,' Hawk said from his perch on the windowsill. 'From the looks of things, it's pretty clear that he's after Elizabeth and that broken sword of yours. That quack over there was working with them, too.'

They all turned, but the "quack" was missing.

'He was?' asked Elizabeth.

Hawk jumped down. 'He hightailed it. Come on!'

And he went to run out of the room but Elizabeth grabbed his ear. Hawk squealed.

'Wait,' said Elizabeth. 'Sir Meliodas's injuries haven't fully healed yet.'

'Elizabeth, that hurts.'

My injuries? thought Meliodas. He couldn't feel the pain on his shoulder anymore. He reached to unwind the bandages covering the wound. But there wasn't a wound, just a big pink scar. [Y/n]! I told you not to. As soon as her ring was back on, he was going to tell her off.

'Looks okay now,' he said out loud.

'It can't be,' said Elizabeth touching his shoulder. 'No way!'

'What's with you?' Meliodas looked at her. 'You're being really aggressive today, you know that?'

'Huh?' Elizabeth immediately sprang away from him and blushed. Meliodas smiled as she stammered out apologies. So cute.

'Just get dressed already,' said Hawk.

As he put a new shirt and vest on, Meliodas began to worry. [Y/n] had sounded so weak and now the ring was cold. What if she had been fighting when...? No, she'd be fine. This is where they said they'd meet up so he just had to have faith she was coming.

So, to distract himself from the worry gnawing at his insides, Meliodas turned to the new mystery of this "Golgius". He, Elizabeth and Hawk left the surgery to track down the Holy Knight.

With Hawk's nose leading the way, it wasn't long 'til they spotted Golgius muttering to himself as he walked through the streets.

'Gotcha,' said Meliodas, capturing the knight's attention.

'Impossible,' Golgius said. 'How did they find me?'

'My nose can sniff out slop from a mile away, so you better not underestimate it,' Hawk bragged.

Elizabeth looked down at the pig. 'Is that honestly true?'

'Yep. Disgusting, huh?'

Meliodas ignored them. 'I'm gonna have you give up the name of the person who ordered you to swipe my sword and the princess,' he said to the knight. 'Otherwise, I'll have to beat you black and blue.'

Golgius raised his arms in surrender. 'Of course, I surrender.' Elizabeth gasped, but Meliodas didn't move. 'To be honest, I'm very much a coward by nature. Combat isn't to my liking, particularly when my adversary is the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins.'

Without turning, Meliodas deflected the blades heading straight for him.

'I released those blades when I raised my hands. You were able to see me do it?' Golgius sounded impressed, angry and afraid.

Meliodas kept his face neutral. 'My eyes can spot pants from a mile away, so you better not underestimate them.'

'You're kidding, right?' said Elizabeth.

'Of course.'

There were footsteps behind them.

'There you are, Sir Golgius,' said a voice. They all turned to see who it was. It was a man dressed in what looked like a doctor's uniform. 'I've been looking for you.'

'Hey, it's that quack,' Hawk said, confirming Meliodas's suspicions.

'Now I know I wasn't able to end the boy's life, all right, but I still poisoned him as I was told,' said the doctor. 'A deal's a deal. Please return my daughter as promised!'

Golgius vanished.

'He's gone.' Meliodas looked around.

'Woah, where'd he go?' said Hawk, also looking.

'You need to stay close to me, Elizabeth.'

'Right,' said the princess.

'And, come to think of it, when that guy first showed up in your room it was from out of nowhere too,' Hawk observed.

'No need to shout, I shall reunite you with your daughter.' Golgius's disembodied voice floated through the streets.

'Thank you, sir. She means everything to me,' said the doctor.

Meliodas felt the unnerving power of the Holy Knight too close to the doctor. 'Doctor!' he warned. 'Get away from there!'

But it was too late.

Golgius faded back into view right behind the doctor. 'I shall send her to join you in the afterlife.' And Golgius pierced the doctor through the back. His three-pronged weapon stabbed through the front of the doctor's chest along with a spray of blood. The doctor yelled in pain and shock.

Meliodas and Elizabeth gasped.

'He got him bad,' said Hawk.

Golgius withdrew his sword with a sickening squelch. With nothing to support him, the doctor slumped to the ground.

'We can't have you ruining the Holy Knights' good name,' said Golgius, 'by revealing that we ordered you to poison the boy now, can we?' And, once again, the knight faded from view.

'No!' Elizabeth ran to the doctor.

'Elizabeth, wait,' Meliodas shouted.

'Hey, just forget about that guy,' said Hawk.

Elizabeth knelt by the doctor's side and gently turned him over. 'Doctor Dana, hold on.' She cupped his head in her hand.

'It isn't safe here 'cause we don't know where or when that guy's gonna show up next,' Meliodas implored.

'We can't just stand here and watch this man die,' she protested.

But Golgius was back. He towered over Elizabeth. 'I have you now!' He brought his sword down in a vicious arch. Elizabeth braced herself.

And Meliodas blocked it. Sparks flew from the weapons. Meliodas went to attack, but Golgius disappeared again.

'Sir Meliodas,' said Elizabeth, still kneeling besides the doctor.

Hawk sped around frantically. 'He vanished again! Is this guy teleporting or what?'

'Indeed. What a clever pig you are.' Golgius's voice hovered in the air. 'Despite your strength, it is no match for my powers of teleportation.'

Behind. Meliodas blocked the attack. Left. Blocked that one, too. Meliodas grabbed Elizabeth's wrist and dragged her to her feet. 'Let's get out of here.'

They started to run, Hawk right behind, Meliodas not letting go of Elizabeth. Which was good, because suddenly Golgius was attacking again. Meliodas pulled Elizabeth out of the way every time but couldn't land a hit on the knight.

'Dammit,' said Hawk. 'He's definitely leaving behind a metallic scent trail, but now I don't have enough time to track it with him attacking us at the same time.'

Meliodas looked back at the pig. 'A metallic scent trail?' He barely blocked the next attack but finally managed to land a kick that pushed Golgius back.

'No matter where you hide, I will always find you.' The ominous warning lingered in Meliodas's ears as he ran.

Eventually they came to an abandoned, derelict building. Meliodas led the way inside and up the stairs. The house smelled like mould and dust and old forgotten things.

'What exactly are we doing hiding in this rundown building?' asked Hawk. 

'Think it through,' said Meliodas as he climbed. 'D'you wanna get the townspeople caught up in this?' A floor board creaked under his foot. Perfect.

'Well, I guess you have a point there.'

'Why don't we just try staying here and see if we can wait him out?' Meliodas stepped to the side so Hawk could come into the room. Elizabeth sat down on the wooden floor.

Hawk wasn't impressed. 'I'm surprised this place is still standing. Man, it's musty.'

Meliodas waved his sword over the doorway too fast for either of his comrades to see.

'Whatcha doing there?' asked Hawk.

'Hm?' Meliodas looked at the pig. 'A little spell to keep him from coming inside.'

'A little spell my pork butt. Since when have you been able to use magic?'

'Well how d'you know I can't?'

Hawk turned serious. 'Is it really safe here though? We're stuck on the top floor of a cramped dump of a building. There's nowhere to run in here. At least close the door if we're trying to hide.'

'Doors don't have much effect on someone who teleports,' Meliodas pointed out. 'And you never know, he could just pop up between us out of the blue.'

'Don't say that.' Hawk cowered.

Golgius was behind Meliodas, sword drawn. 'Good guess. Try behind you.'

'Good guess,' said Meliodas turning to grin at the Holy Knight. 'Try under you.' And, as he laughed, there was a great cracking sound.

The floorboards beneath Golgius, already weak to begin with but now thoroughly unstable after Meliodas's quick sword work, split apart. The sound of tearing wood joined Golgius's scream as he fell through floor after floor of rotten wood.

Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk looked at the new hole in the floor.

'Geez,' said Hawk. 'It's so rundown here he fell straight to the bottom.'

'Then, that spell earlier...' Elizabeth mused.

Throwing a quick grin over his shoulder, Meliodas stepped into the hole. He fell quickly and landed in a light crouch in front of Golgius. The knight was sprawled awkwardly, trapped beneath several beams.

'Your power's invisibility, isn't it?' said Meliodas. He pointed at the knight. 'There were gaps in time between when you would vanish and when you would show up again. That was kinda buggin' me for a while. Someone who could teleport leaving a scent trail was weird too. In other words, it meant that you must have been moving on foot, just like we were. And it also meant you'd be forced to come in through the room's only door. Plus, fighting down here means I don't have to worry about protecting Elizabeth from you.'

Golgius grunted. Meliodas narrowed his eyes and swung his sword. The huge blast of power sent Golgius flying from the building and slamming into the wall of another. Meliodas walked after him casually.

'All right,' said Meliodas, resting his sword on his shoulder, 'let's get down to business. Now will you answer the question I asked you before? Just what was your reason for going after Elizabeth and this sword of mine? And who was the person who ordered you to?'

'Sir Meliodas!' It was Elizabeth. She ran up to him with Hawk right behind her.

'We were wondering what was going on down here,' said the pig.

With no one watching him, Golgius disappeared again. Elizabeth pointed at the space the knight used to be.

'Well, what do you know?' said Meliodas. 'Guess he ran away.'

A horse's whinny pierced the air along with a pig's squeal.

'Why's a horse headed this way?' Said pig watched the other animal gallop by. 'All that racket from before must have spooked it. Horses are such scaredy cats.'

'So that's where he went,' Meliodas said, also watching the horse.

'Huh?'

The group watched Golgius rematerialise on the horse's back.

'Looks like that horse is headed to Baste Prison,' said Meliodas.

'All right, let's go,' said Hawk.

Meliodas turned just in time to see Elizabeth run off. 'Uh, hey, Elizabeth?'

'Baste Prison isn't that way, you know?'

Meliodas and Hawk looked at each other before running after Elizabeth. She ran through the streets until they arrived back where the doctor was still lying in a too-big-to-mean-anything-good puddle of blood.

Elizabeth knelt by his side once again. 'Doctor! Doctor Dana, please hold on. Why did this happen?'

She started to cry. Meliodas watched the doctor's final words with a blank expression.

'Dear Sennett, I just wanted to keep you safe.' And with that, the doctor was gone.

Meliodas looked down at his ring. It was still cold. His stomach twisted.

'This is all my fault,' said Elizabeth.

'What are you talking about?' asked Meliodas. 'It was Golgius who killed him.'

Elizabeth didn't take her eyes off the doctor. 'If we hadn't come into this town in the first place, Doctor Dana wouldn't be lying here dead and his daughter never would've been taken by the Holy Knights. It wouldn't've happened.'

'Yeah, but Elizabeth...' tried Hawk, but the princess wasn't done.

'Not to mention,' she continued, 'it's my search for the Deadly Sins that brought me to Sir Meliodas. If not for that, you never would've fought Gilthunder and gotten seriously injured.' The tears were pouring down her face in earnest now. 'And then you wouldn't've been in a position to nearly be killed by Golgius.'

'I know you wanna cry right now, I get that,' said Meliodas. 'It's just... I also know how much you wanna protect the people of this kingdom from the Holy Knights.' Elizabeth stared at him. 'Is a tear or two all it's gonna take to make you give up on that?'

Elizabeth's tears stopped.

'I made up my mind to search for the Seven Deadly Sins with you and to stop the Holy Knights.' Meliodas walked over to her and bent down so his face was mere centimetres from hers. 'Even if you die somewhere along the way, I'll make sure to keep the promise I made to you.'

'You would do that for me?'

Meliodas looked away. Her eyes, the tears, it was too much like last time. 'We all die someday,' he said remembering the words [Y/n] whispered to him all those years ago. 'But, as long as someone keeps a person's wishes alive, they won't die. Once you've decided to follow them, no matter how much you bleed and even if your tears run dry, you stick to it. That's what a knight stands for.'

He couldn't stay here. Without looking back, Meliodas walked away, twisting the ring on his finger.

Meliodas walked in silence to the edge of town, the only sound was Hawk's trotters on the cobbled path.

'Well, guess we should head out to Baste,' Meliodas said to his pig companion as they came to the last of the houses.

'Do you plan on leaving Elizabeth behind?' said Hawk. 'She hasn't come out since you carried that quack to his clinic.'

'Hey, don't be stupid.' Meliodas twirled his sword on one finger. 'She's definitely better off staying put here in town. Besides, the Holy Knights over there in Baste are after her. Geez, you really are stupid.'

'You called me stupid twice. People who call people stupid are stupid.'

'Well sorry about that, Porky.'

Hawk flattened his ears and jabbed his snout towards Meliodas. 'That's twice you called me Porky, you bastard.'

Meliodas just laughed and pinched Hawk behind his ear.

'Sir Meliodas!' It was Elizabeth. She ran up to the two, catching up to them halfway across a little arched bridge.

'What'd you run out here like that for?' Meliodas asked.

'For this.' Elizabeth held up Meliodas's scabbard. 'I mended your scabbard for you while you were still asleep. I can't really attest to the quality though.'

Hawk teared up. 'You're such a thoughtful girl.'

Meliodas buckled it across his chest and sheathed his sword. 'Thanks. It looks like it's holding.'

'I'm glad,' said Elizabeth. 'And on that note, let's get going now.' She pumped her fist into the air and set off. Meliodas stared. When she was a few steps ahead of him, Elizabeth stopped. 'I'm not a knight, but I'm gonna keep on fighting, too, so I can keep protecting the kingdom and its people.' She turned to look back at him. 'Even if you were to die now, that still wouldn't change things at all.'

'Don't go killing me off yet, 'kay?' Meliodas said.

'Sorry.'

Hawk ran up to the princess. 'Elizabeth, how would you handle it if I was the one who died?'

'Well, honestly,' Elizabeth replied, 'I'd try to move on.'

As Meliodas watched her, he felt his heart swell. To make a nice moment even better, the ring on his finger began to warm up. He almost sagged with relief. There were no thoughts, but Meliodas felt so at peace he didn't mind.

'You can rest easy, Hawk.' Meliodas joined the conversation. 'If you end up dying, we'll make sure that your meat doesn't go to waste. Isn't that right, Elizabeth?'

'Right!'

'Wait a minute, what about what I want?' Hawk protested.

Meliodas ignored him and looked up at Elizabeth. 'Let's get going.'

'Right,' said Elizabeth again. 'Let's save Sir Ban.'

'Not him,' said Meliodas without stopping walking. 'Think her name was Sennett, wasn't it? We've got to make sure that we save the doctor's daughter first.'

'Sir Meliodas.' She and Hawk ran after him. 'What about Sir Ban?'

'As soon as he finds out that we're all headed his way, I think he'll probably bust himself out.'

'Oh, you really think so?'

A loud bang shook the ground. Instantly, Meliodas was in front of Elizabeth, one hand on his sword. But what made the bang was a giant foot. And it was attached to a giant person.

'Diane?' Meliodas looked up her. Something seemed wrong. Her eyes were dull. 'What the heck are you doing way over here?'

'What are you doing here?' Diane asked. Her eyes were back to normal. Meliodas shrugged, guess he imagined it. 'You should still be in bed and trying to get a little rest.' She bent down. 'You know you shouldn't be outdoors like this. What would [Y/n] say?'

'Forget about me for a sec, are you doing okay?' said Meliodas.

'What are you talking about? I feel fine.'

'After you squashed all the bugs over in Dalmally,' said Hawk, 'you charged full speed ahead to Baste Prison.'

Diane frowned. 'Wait...I did?'

'What's wrong, Lady Diane?' asked Elizabeth.

Meliodas cupped his chin. 'Can't put my finger on it, but something's not adding up.' He wished [Y/n] was there. 'You really sure you're all right, Diane?'

'Uh, yeah.' Diane straightened up. 'My head's just a little fuzzy.' She played with her hair and, as Meliodas and the others watched, gasped as if she heard something. Her eyes went dull again and then suddenly she was in a defensive stance. 'There's a Holy Knight here! Captain, you go take care of the princess.'

Meliodas cocked his head feeling the same confusion present on Elizabeth and Hawk's faces.

'Captain?' Diane was asking. 'Wait, where did everybody go?'

Meliodas waved his arm. 'We're right here, Dia-'

'Give the captain back right now!' Diane brought her foot down to stomp on Meliodas. The force knocked him into the air and Diane's fist caught him in the stomach. He grunted as he hit the ground hard.

'Sir Meliodas!' Elizabeth and Hawk ran over to him. 'You didn't get hurt, did you?'

Meliodas hopped out of the hole he made on the dirt path with ease and dusted off his trousers. 'What the heck made you go berserk out of the blue like that?'

'Lady Diane, Sir Meliodas is right in front of you.' Elizabeth tried to reason with the giant.

'What are you spacing out for, mountain woman?' shouted Hawk.

But Diane ignored them all. 'I'm gonna tell you here and now, I'm not losing to some Holy Knight.'

Meliodas looked at her eyes again. 'Hm. Those eyes... She can't see us at all even if she wanted to.'

'What are we supposed to do now?' asked Hawk.

Meliodas tossed Elizabeth over his shoulder. 'We run, for starters.'

And he did just that with Hawk beside him and Diane chasing. The three of the dodged all of Diane's attacks and kept running. Up ahead were some townspeople, a man and a boy. Meliodas balked but kept running.

'Hey!' he shouted. 'If you don't wanna die, you better start running!' For a second, Meliodas imagined how they must look to the two strangers. It must be strange. But he forced himself to pay attention and found a grassy bank they could hide behind.

Meliodas leant back against the dirt. It was cold through his shirt but that wasn't a problem right now. His left arm was curved around the boy comfortingly and Elizabeth was pressed up on his right. Diane wasn't far away; he could hear her threats and footsteps.

'What's going on here?' Elizabeth asked him. 'Did something happen to Lady Diane when she went to Baste Prison?'

'Well, whatever it was, it really made her nuts.' Meliodas handed the boy to Elizabeth. 'Look after this kid for a sec, okay?' And he ran off.

Meliodas peered over the grassy ledge to look for Diane. But what he saw instead was an absolutely humongous knight and, for some reason, there was the sound of a bell twinkling in his head. 'Where'd you come from?'

¾

When you came to, a good deal of your injuries had gone. You sat up and groaned as your head span. Leaning back against the rough bark of a tree, something shining caught your eye. It was your ring. You reached out but saw your hand was now caked in flakes of dry blood. You shivered.

After cleaning off what you could, you went to put the ring back on. But then you stopped. You wanted to surprise him after all. So instead you threaded the ring back onto the thin chain around your neck and tucked it under your shirt.

Immediately you could feel the warmth and relief of Meliodas. You mentally apologised for the worry you must have caused him and closed your eyes, letting the feelings of him just wash over you. There was relief, joy, peace and... pride? Something extra good must have happened. You felt your lips quirk up at the corners.

Dalmally wasn't far at all, so, after downing the rest of your water supply, you got up. The movement made your head spin again and your leg protest. You bit your lip but pushed on. There was no rush now and so you allowed yourself frequent rests on the way to town.

In fact, your journey was going so smoothly it made you feel twitchy. Something bad was going to happen, you could just tell.

And then it did.

The ring nestled on your chest turned cold. That wasn't the bad thing. Well, not too bad. Meliodas must've just taken it off. But then it turned to ice, so cold it burned. You gasped.

Someone had taken his ring.

¾

Elizabeth held the boy in her arms and tried to send soothing thoughts to him.

'What were the two of you doing all the way out here?' she asked, cupping his tear soaked face with one hand.

The boy took a shaky breath. 'We both work as shepherds in the area,' he said, 'and we were on the way home from the pasture. Please, I don't want anything bad to happen.'

Elizabeth smiled after the way Sir Meliodas had gone. 'Now don't worry. It's gonna be all right. He can fix this.'

She and Hawk looked over to where Sir Meliodas was facing down Lady Diane.

'Hey, tall and gruesome,' Sir Meliodas said to Lady Diane, 'you're the one who cast that weird spell on Diane, aren't you?'

'You know that is Diane, right?' said Hawk. Elizabeth started to feel a little more worried.

They watched as Sir Meliodas and Lady Diane fought, tearing up trees, breaking the ground and generally making a whole lot of mess. Maybe some people would like the opportunity to see such a battle, and it was impressive, but with each strike and blow that landed, Elizabeth felt her stomach twist a little more. She stared at Sir Meliodas as he shouted and frowned. There was something off, other than the fact he was fighting Diane. But what was it?

'This is hard to believe, but I think that Meliodas is caught in the same illusion as Diane right now,' Hawk said as he watched the fight continue.

The fight got worse. Diane used the same spell that killed all the bugs. Meliodas was able to dodge it easily, but it was heading straight for Elizabeth, Hawk and the two shepherds. Quick as she could, Elizabeth put the boy on Hawk's back and they began to run.

'Hurry up, it's almost on top of us!' Hawk screeched.

As Elizabeth ran, she couldn't help but look back. And something caught her eye. In the little shepherd boy's hand was something glinting gold. A lucky coin perhaps? Had he always had that? But she couldn't stop to think right now.

Finally a safe distance from the calamity, Elizabeth and the others looked back at the carnage.

'What do we do, Elizabeth?' asked Hawk.

'I'm not sure,' said the princess, feeling herheart squeeze. 'If this goes on, they'll die. But how in the world can we stopthis?'