The Headless Monster

You patted Gowther's shoulder as he seemed to drift off into thought, he shook his bright pink hair and blinked at you, then his gaze turned to the leader of the Roars of Dawn, "could you leave him be? Please"

Your skin seemed to jitter under the dark, looming aura the armoured creature gave you, doubled over slightly above yourself and Gowther.

It roared fiercely and you clutched your hands over your ears.

The Roars of Dawn flinched and rose their weapons, Gowther pulled on the bottom of his jumper, "after seeing his magical powers first-hand... do you still think you can defeat him?"

The main Holy Knight, a long haired muscular fella with an ominous mask concealing his whole face, cracked his neck, "we can defeat him".

One of the female Knights, who clutched her long sword between her cuffed hands, nodded to her captain, "of course two... no, one of the Roars of Dawn is certain to die" her eyes grew narrow with anger, "but we're also certain to get his head".

"Such cool judgement" Gowther established himself into the conversation again, nudging you aside gently so you stumbled out of the shadow of the armour, "then I have no choice".

In an almost flash of movement, Gowther's bare hand had sliced the head off the armour clean off, and caught the helmet upright on his steady hand. Meliodas jumped over in front of you, both of you in shock. Even Ban and King were astounded at the action, had Gowther not wanted to protect it a second ago?

"What? What's the meaning of this?" The Roars of Dawn captain sunk his shoulders, standing opposite the strange sin of lust.

"Its the most peaceful way of resolving this" the pink-haired boy continued, "a three way battle between the sins and angel, the armoured giant, and you roars of dawn would only end in your decimation".

"Are you sure about this Captain Slater?!" The Holy Knight female called to the long-haired knight, he moved to take the giant's helmet and clutched it to his chest.

"No comments from the peanut gallery" He waved his arm and his team began to leave, "I like you, Goat Sin of Lust, Gowther". He leapt up over some trees out of the clearing, "bye bye!"

Gowther waved "bye bye!", he reached to grab your hand to get you to wave too. This certainly seemed like the same Gowther, but he's less curious than he used to be...

"EEK!" You jumped into Meliodas' arms as the beheaded monster in the armour began to move, drawing itself sluggishly to its feet, the armour falling off of it. Underneath, the beast had several more scary faces bursting out of its chest, and its long arms turned into hands with hands on each massive figure, "what the hell is that!?"

Your face turned white and you held onto Meliodas tightly hoping he might protect you from this creepy thing, this creature is so freaky looking!

"(Y/n) itd.. okay" Meliodas' voice was muffled as his face was forced against one of your boobs in your death grip on his face.

"It smells like it could've been human once" Gowther's glasses turned white under the glare as he looked up at the horrifying creature.

"What part of that is human?!" You shrieked back. Ban walked over to you and patted your hair to try to comfort you, Meliodas kneed the sin of greed in the thigh to keep him away.

"So this thing used to be a Holy Knight?" Meliodas crossed his arms as you stood beside him, patting yourself down now that you were a little less skittish.

"I believe so, my armour simply kept him from changing completely I presume" Gowther said as he sat looked around to the fallen knights, "you four can take care of this I'm sure".

"Hm?" Ban smirked, "not fighting Gowther?"

"No"

You rolled your shoulder back and rubbed your forearms, "Ok well, best get rid of this thing, its looking at me weird". You snapped your fingers, your ring glowed and the immense growl of the Jungle Crawler silenced the forest.

The dark-leaved beast dove over the herbage between it and the clearing and bit down onto the creature, its massive jaws almost covering its whole body. But it was seeming to be strained, its jaws forced apart slightly trying to crush this thing in its mouth.

"Jungle Crawlers not looking so good eating that" Ban snickered, jumping to kick one of the monster's eyeless faces. The Jungle Crawler made a beautiful but aggressive sound (sounds like Palkia) and tried to bite the arm of the monster as it tried to punch Meliodas.

The beast turned its head and the monstrosity of muscle and armour punched out one of its teeth. The massive sharp bone tumbled along the dirt and the Jungle Crawler riled away from the giant.

"Ah! Jungle Crawler are you ok?" Your wings dove out of your back and you flew up to grab onto its muzzle between your arms as it backed away, blood dripping from its mouth as it growled.

Meliodas, Ban and King continued to attack the creature, but it seemed to have an advantage somehow. It was scary.

One of the mouths of the monster vomited up a bright venom towards Meliodas, and the sin of wrath lifted up a discarded short sword to counter it. As you drove the Jungle Crawler back through the tree it crawled out of when you summoned it, the tree reforms back to normal with tremendous cracks and twists. And all traces of the magical beast disappear.

Meliodas blocks the venom with a swipe of the dagger, then slashes it across the chest "Enchant Hell Blaze" he cried out as the sword cut down the monster's front surrounded by black flames.

"Black flames?" King enquired to you as you hovered down to him, you shrugged as if you knew nothing of it.

"Cap'n!" Ban shoved his hands into his jeans, "Drown him in that stuff!"

"On it!"

Elizabeth looked towards the tavern door as she heard a knocking, "a customer?"

She answered the door and was surprised to find Cain standing in front of her, a sheepish grin on his elderly face. "Uh... Sir Cain right?" She smiles gently, "you fought Sir Meliodas in Vaizel".

"Aha so he survived that Holy Knight attack" Cain poked his thumb in the air, "good for him, he was always the toughest Knight in Danafor".

"I don't mean to pry Sir Cain" Elizabeth sat down on the stool beside Cain at the bar, "but it seemed as if you knew Sir Meliodas and Lady (Y/n). May I ask how?"

"Oh" Cain's cheeks turned pink as he remembered the warmth he felt being in the presence of those two, "I gave them a place to live after the village they were staying in was destroyed".

The princess turned pale, "I- I didn't know sorry, to be honest I don't know much about them in general" she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, "sometimes I think that makes me a bad friend".

The old man patted her cheerfully on her silver head, "you remind me a lot of (Y/n), she used to doubt she was good enough too. But ill let you in on a little secret" he gestured for her to lean in, the princess did so.

He smiled kindly, "true friends will love you no matter what! So why waste time worrying" he chuckles and clutches his belly, she smiles.

"I guess, yeah" she looks down sadly.

"It feels like such a long time ago" Cain frowns, looking off out of the window.

"Did you know any of the other sins too? Diane or Ban or King?"

"No" he shook his head, "back then the Seven Deadly Sins didn't even exist". The elderly man fixed his cloak, feeling a little guilty that he may have made the princess upset, "do you know why Meliodas doesn't carry a proper sword on him?"

Elizabeth's fingers laced comfortably together, she lay her hands on her knees, "no I don't". Her features were soft, as delicate as a flower, and for a moment Cain likened the sparkle in her eye to that of you.

"He's too powerful, the same with (Y/n)" He spun a finger in the hair to gesture a movement, "have you noticed how she never touches the weapons she manifests, keeps them distanced from her. I've never heard of someone who stood against them and survived". His bushy eyebrows furrowed, "it must be such a painful burden, having to supress all that power".

Elizabeth's shirt wrinkled under the tight grip of her hand, they really feel burdened with their powers, how could I not have known? They're my friends, I should've been able to tell they were hurting.

When she looked up again, she noticed a short sword in a decorative sheath laid out on the bar's counter, "what's this?"

"A gift Meliodas was given, it was a congratulatory present my late wife had made for him" (not Liz, she doesn't have a part in this story). Cain frowned, "he didn't accept it, said he could kill someone".

(16+ years ago)

"I'm very grateful for the gesture" Meliodas held his hands up in front of him, pushing the sword back towards Cain, who was holding it, "but I don't need a sword".

"Meliodas?" you called gently as you walked over towards him, Cain and Cain's wife, all three were standing outside of your cliff-side village house.

"Ah (Y/n)!" A cheeky grin emerged on the blonde's young face as you approached him, carrying a basket of clams you had collected from the beach.

"Oh hello Mr and Mrs Barzad" you waved and Meliodas wrapped his pinkie around yours, turning your ears red. The elderly couple looked overjoyed at just how happy you and Meliodas seemed. Not long ago you had both arrived to the village so solemn and distant, you seemed to be exact parallels of your former selves.

"Well" Mrs Barzad began to pull her husband away, "we just wanted to make sure you could defend yourselves, there are bad people in this world".

"Thanks, but we'll be ok"

Meliodas waved as they left, then he dragged you inside quickly and cast the basket of clams to the floor. It slid along the flat stones of the hut's main living room as he pinned you against the door, burying his face in your neck.

"What was that all about Meliodas?" You murmured, your lips barely parted. The blonde arched his back til his face met your stomach and lifted your shirt to kiss your waist.

"Why were you gone for so long?" His voice was husky, so unlike his normal light and cheerful tone, and it made your skin shiver.

"Um" your legs felt like they might give out as he trails his soft lips up your skin towards the side of your bra, "I -I didn't realise I had made you worry".

Your hands wrapped around his head and you held his face into your chest, your fingers running through the spikey tuffs of his hair. You gasped as you felt a hot tongue drag up the skin of your upper arm to your neck.

"Of course I was worried".

"Ban!" You screamed as you watched the heart of the monster get ripped straight out of his chest by the sin of greed. He dropped the red muscle to the ground and looked back at you with emotionless red eyes.

Your jaw was wide in shock, Gowther pulled you up by your wrist and held you behind him, "its not dead, listen".

There was a ferocious rumbling noise from the monster, it still hadn't fallen over. Your pupils felt like they were shrinking as you looked up at the creature. Demons have more than one heart.

"How'd a Holy Knight become a demon?" Ban snarled, you clung to the back of Gowther's shirt.

Gowther's chin knocked over his shoulder as his bright eyes peered back at you, "something wrong?" your fingers grip the seems of the long sleeved cloth, "are you scared of the monster?"

"No" you shake your head, a little unsteady, "just a little anxious is all". I cant let my goddess ability take over, I might end up doing more damage then I mean to. But, with this foul destructive aura in my presence, its hard to resist the urge to remove my ring.

As Ban continued to try to strike the beast, Meliodas was sweeping away the man's strikes barehanded, "stop! There's still a human inside this thing!"

"Yeah well he's long gone now" the blue-haired sin snarled and struck the captain across the face.

You could barely see the strikes made against the monster, all with little effect as it continued to fight blindly with an uncanny amount of strength and stamina. It was awful to watch, how unnatural this thing appeared. How it moved, even the sound of its strange breathing. It made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Just as King was moving to send his Chastiefol down again, a high voice broke out over the forest, "Sir Meliodas!" Elizabeth's feet carried her hurriedly into the clearing, clutching the short sword in her hands. "Please! Mr and Mrs Cain didn't want you to fight Meliodas!" Tears were rising up to her eyes as she shouted, "they wanted you to live! Live to protect the ones you love!" She threw the sword with surprizing energy into the air, "just like I do!"

A soft expression dawned your beautiful features, you didn't expect that from the princess. So honest, and brave, you couldn't even find yourself feeling pity for the pain she was obviously feeling. You were too full of astonishment and gratitude, you are a beautiful soul Lady Elizabeth.

Ban's red, heavy-lined eyes met the side of your face as droplets fell down your cheeks looking at Elizabeth. He frowned, "letting her say all that..." he grumbled under his breath, "why did it make you so teary (Y/n)?"

The fox sin was seemingly talking to himself, but a certain fairy heard it from his hovering position overhead. He too turned his brunette head over to gaze fondly at you, a sad expression on his face as he worried about what had made the princess and you appear so upset.

Meliodas caught the sword and broke the heartfelt pause holding the air still, without even a flinch of his body, he was metres in the air over the monsters head.

His eyes closed as he drew the sword, "forgive me"

SORRY TO KEEP YOU WAITING BUT I'VE FINISHED MY EXAMS NOW SO MORE CHAPTERS COMING SOON!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!