As everyone recovered from the sudden attack, Brooke watched as Ban and Meliodas jumped forwards, sending a barrage of attacks towards the faces of the monster. Though as quickly as the injuries had been inflicted they had healed up and the monster sent a counter attack, sending the two sins flying away and colliding into King's pillow- which was now in the the form of a multi-armed bear.

"Come on guys, when you go into battle you should see how your opponent strikes first." He said.

"Technically he did strike first." Titus muttered.

"Spirit spear Chastiefol, second configuration- Guardian." King said, "This form is made of moss from the Holy tree and is sent into battle and thanks to it's high water concentration it's resistant to fire!" With those words the bear put Meliodas and King down before levitating and moving towards the monster- only for the creature to open one of it's mouths and create a stream of frost speeding towards the moss and freezing it completely and breaking it into pieces with a single punch.

"Didn't expect that, did you? Guess it doesn't do too well against the cold, huh?" Aarona said.

"Hey, Gowther, it's your turn now!" Meliodas called out.

Looking over towards Gowther, Brooke saw that he had been effected by the frost attack and his upper half had been frosted over. He took them off and tried to wipe it off, only for it to not come off too easily. "My glasses fogged up. You six hold him off for a while." He said as he walked off the battle field.

When the sins watched him walk off with slight confusion Aarona took her chance and ran forwards before jumping into the air and swinging her axe down onto one of the creature's arms, slicing it clean off. Though as the limb fell to the ground the creature convulsed and a new arm quickly grew back in it's place, making a swing for Aarona that resulted in the girl to jump back to safety.

"Damn this monster's healing abilities are no joke. Unless we find a weak spot then we have no chance at taking him down." Meliodas exclaimed.

"Man, what a pain, fighting him bare-handed might be tough for us, Captain." Ban said.

"Guess we can't be too choosey about weapons then." Meliodas said as he reached down and grabbed a sword from the ground and then looked towards Brooke and Titus. "You two, grab some weapons as well!"

Brooke and Titus glanced at each other before nodding. Brooke reached her hand out and the golden plate on her belt glowed, a beam of light appearing out of it before moving to her hand and forming into a large, silver, fish-hook like blade with blue jewel-like details. Titus did the same thing and the large golden plate on his belt glowed and a giant golden war hammer with green jewel-like details appeared in his hand.

"Wait, you both had weapons on you the whole time and you're only now bringing them out?" King exclaimed.

"And where the hell did they come from?!" Ban shouted.

Titus shrugged, "I prefer hand to hand combat, but punching alone won't take this monster down." He glanced from Brooke to Aarona then to the monster with a grin on his face. "You guys ready?"

"I've been ready!" Aarona exclaimed.

Brooke just grinned and nodded.

Titus stomped his hoof on the ground and tightened his grip on his hammer and jumped forwards, twisting back in the air only to snap forwards and land a heavy hit on the monster's side- sending it stumbling a few steps to the side. Angered, the monster let out a loud roar and opened one of it's mouth and sent a dark green slime-like substance speeding towards him, the attack getting blocked by a rock jutting out of the ground that Titus had created.

While the monster was distracted by Titus, Brooke had jumped forwards and swung her hook down on the two faces on the right splitting them open while Aarona had jumped forwards and did the same with the heads on the other side.

Stepping back the monster let out a roar of pain and reached up to cover the faces.

While it was distracted Meliodas jumped forwards and sliced at the creature, familiar black flames erupting from where he had made contact.

"You can do it Captain, just one more hit!" Ban shouted out from where he was standing.

"Right!" Meliodas shouted and sped towards the monster a second time, jumping through the air to get a clean hit. Though as he was speeding towards it something made him freeze up just long enough for the monster to capture him with on of it's tongues.

"Crap this is bad." Meliodas said.

"Dumbass." Ban grumbled.

Suddenly there was the sound of something flying through the air and long arrows impaled the beast's tongue and made it drop Meliodas. At the same time as the arrows were shot out from the forest an arrow made of light sped towards the monster from behind the group impaling between the four heads and planting itself right into the chest of the Holy Knight.

"Did you finally decide to join the fight, Gowther?" Ban asked looking over his shoulder where Gowther was putting his glasses on his face.

"I only sent one arrow, the other arrows came from within the forest."

"Then did those Holy Knights come back?" King asked, looking around the valley for any traces of the Roars of Dawn.

"Sorry to disappoint but I'm not a part of the Holy Knights." A new voice said and someone stepped out of the forest a bow in his hand and a soft smile on his face as he looked over towards Brooke, Aarona, and Titus. "It's been a while, you three."

"Does that man have the ass of a horse?" Ban asked.

The newcomer tensed up as his smile got tight. "I think the proper term you're looking for is 'Centaur'."

"Does it really matter? We kind of have a monster problem at the moment." Ban said.

"Right." Meliodas said.

"Speaking of that monster why the hell didn't you destroy him when you had the chance?" Ban asked.

"I just heard him say something." Meliodas answered.

"Then that might mean the Holy Knight is still conscious." Brooke said, "That makes things a little more difficult. If he's still alive in there then there could be a chance of saving him somehow."

"There's no way he's still alive like that! Now we need to kill him before he kills us!" Ban shouted.

"What's with this shouting? Are you guys fighting?" Gowther asked as he walked up to the group, a bow made of light coming out of his hand.

"Gowther..." King said, then he looked towards the beast, who stood unmoving. "He's stopped moving did you take him down?"

"No, he's trapped in an illusion. That's my magical power, Invasion. Right now he's inside an illusion of the distant days he wanted to return to."

"You're still the same freak you always were now stop yapping and kill him already." Ban said.

"I'm incapable of killing him. It isn't as if he made the choice to be born this way. Therefore I cannot kill him."

Ban was quiet for a second before he responded, "Like there's anyone in this world who gets a say in how they're born. Now move it, I'll kill that thing." He stepped forwards and reached his hand out towards it, only for Meliodas to grab it and force him to put it down.

"Back off. There's still a part of him that's human inside that thing." Meliodas said.

"Exactly. And since it's immobile I might be able to use Purify on it. So don't do anything rash." Brooke said.

"Hmph, I can take the Captain ordering me around but you just pissed me off. You're just a freeloader who none of us know a thing about!" Ban said as he glanced back at Brooke. He lifted the whip he was holding in his free hand up and flicked it towards the monster, tearing his heart right out of his chest.

"Ban... why'd you have to kill him?" Meliodas asked.

"All I did was bring the curtain down on the crappy life of some guy who turned into a monster. Trust me I did him a favor." Ban said.

"What?!"

"Both of you, look!" King exclaimed looking towards the monster, "I think he's whispering something."

"Even though his heart's been gouged out he's still seeing the illusion I gave him." Gowther said.

Suddenly the beast let out an earsplitting roar, clearly Ban ripping out the Holy Knight's heart wasn't enough to kill the monster.

"What the hell is this? I know I ripped his heart out." Ban asked.

"Did you really think something like this is an ordinary every day monster?" The newcomer said, a dark look crossing his face. "I've never seen anything like this before but somehow that Holy Knight has turned into a demon."

"A... demon?" Ban said, a look of realization appearing on his face.

"And that heart you just took was probably the only thing keeping him from going berserk, so good job on that one, dumbass!" Aarona shouted. In front of them the monster started to shift and mutate into a larger creature, the separate heads merging into one mound with multiple noses and one giant mouth.

"Why's a Holy Knight turn into a demon? What's going on?" Ban asked.

"I know him... it's Dale. He became a Holy Knight about ten years ago." Meliodas said.

"Yeah he was a father. And he always said he wanted to be just like us so his daughter could be proud of him." King stated. "How'd he end up like this?"

"He's coming." Gowther said at the same moment the monster started charging towards them.

"Hey Dale! you remember me, right? Wake up! Dale!" Meliodas shouted, not making a move despite the monster getting ready to crush him. Before the monster made contact with Meliodas a wall of air appeared in front of him, preventing the monster from breaking through.

"I hurts me to say this, but the only way to get through this is to take him down." Brooke said as she pushed her hand forwards and the wall pushed the monster back, where King sent a barrage of mini spearheads at it. Though despite the attack the demon was able to shake the spearheads off of him as if they were just pebbles.

The newcomer trotted forwards and pulled back the string on his bow, tilting his head and closing an eye an arrow made of fire materialized out of thin air. He adjusted his aim before he sent the arrow flying straight towards the monster- only for it to hit out of the air by Meliodas.

"Stop it!" Meliodas called out.

"But Captain- ah!" The moment King had gotten distracted the monster spat a ball of venomous goo at him and sent him falling to the ground.

"Dale, cut it out! Now!"

"There's only guy who gotta cut it out. That would be you." Ban said, punching Meliodas in the face.

"Ban just struck the Captain. Why is that?" Gowther said.

"Gowther why don't you help us out and fight too?" King asked as he got up from the ground.

"Would you let me think it over a bit?"

"Seriously?!"

"If you're not into this then get the hell outta here." Ban said as he slowly walked up to the monster. "a half ass softie can't save jack. You'll only get us all killed."

"You guys are a mess, how the hell did you even become one of the strongest groups in the kingdom?" Titus asked as he walked forwards, his hammer resting on his shoulder. "You should take notes from Aarona and I. You ready?"

"Definitely." Aarona said, her axe shining in the light. "Let's take this demon down!"

The two of them ran forwards, passing by Ban and jumping into the air. They brought their weapons down on the monster- Titus smashing his hammer against the demon's head and Aarona chopping off the right set of arms on the demon.

The demon cried out in pain and tried to attack Aarona and Titus with the arms that hadn't been chopped off, but before it made contact a rush of arrows sped through the air and hit the demon's chest before sending out an intense shockwave throughout the creature paralyzing it.

"Sir Meliodas!" A voice called out and everyone in the clearing turned to look at the source. At the edge of the valley was Elizabeth, "Take this!" She threw the sword she had been holding towards Meliodas. "Sir Meliodas it's not that Liz wanted you to fight, it's that she wanted you to live! Don't you understand? You're someone who stands up for what he believes in, and if that's your sin, then I'll carry that burden with you!"

"Hey, isn't that-?" The newcomer said looking up at Elizabeth.

"Yep." Brooke answered.

"Aarona probably isn't happy."

"Not at all."

Meliodas jumped up from where he was and caught the sword that was still flying through the air. He arched down and took it out of the scabbard. "I hope you can forgive me." He aimed various attacks towards the monster and once he was done it started to crack and fall to pieces.

"That was difficult." Brooke muttered as the hook in her hand turned to light and dissolved into nothingness.

"Would of been easier if I could of gone all out, but this space was way to cramped for that." Titus said, his hammer disappearing the same way.

"You always say that." Aarona said as he axe vanished.

"Come on you two, you both did what you could." The newcomer chuckled, the bow in his hand vanishing as well.

"That was amazing, Captain." King said as Gowther carried him to where Ban and Meliodas were standing.

"I have to give it to you, you pulled yourself together near the end." Brooke said.

"Yeah, I knew you could pull it off, Captain." Ban said.

"Says the one who punched him in the face." Titus said, though it seemed Ban didn't hear him, instead something near Dale had caught his attention, the rest of the group looked over towards Dale as well, walking over to the only part that still looked human.

"A human transforming into a demon. Is that really possible?" King asked.

"Hm, could be a curse." Meliodas said.

"I don't think so, what Holy Knight would fell victim to a curse like this one? This feels more like some kind of twisted experiment."

"No way, you think they created a man made demon?" King asked.

"Guess so, and they used a whole knight to do it." Meliodas said.

"That means someone had to go behind the backs of two Holy Knight grandmasters..." Suddenly King let out a gasp, "Could it be true?"

"Yeah, and there's a good chance that a Holy Knight Grandmaster's directly involved."

"That's the only explanation. The current Grandmasters are Dreyfus and Hendrickson. One of those men have to be at the root of this corruption. Worst case scenario the both of them are somehow involved." Brooke said.

"Hendrickson." Gowther suddenly said, causing the group to look over to where he was now standing near Ban. There was some kind of creature in Ban's hand that Gowther had shot a light arrow through- he had most likely collected it's memories.

"You've found something?" Meliodas asked.

"Yes. The person likely to be involved in this incident is Holy Knight Grandmaster Hendrickson."

Ban got a better grip on the creature in his hand before he crushed it and threw it to the side. "I'm getting hungry, let's head back."

"I'm sure Diane must be worried too." King said.

Before leaving Brooke walked over to the corpse and kneeled by it, placing a hand calmly on it's chest. "You put up a good fight and held on for as long as you could. Now rest easy amongst the stars." She closed her eyes momentarily and for a few seconds a faded white light shone through the fabric of the shorts she was wearing. The light dimmed and Brooke straightened herself up before turning away and catching up with the rest of the group, who had started to head back to the tavern.

***

"So, I hate to be rude, but who are you?" King asked, looking towards the centaur who had been following them.

"Oh, right, I guess amidst all that chaos I forgot to introduce myself." He smiled and placed a hand on his chest, bowing his head slightly. "My name is Sage, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I take it you're one of Brooke's friends?" Elizabeth asked, to which Sage responded with a nod, "Then the pleasure's all mine."

"Glad to have you on board!" Meliodas exclaimed.

"Am I the only one who has a problem with letting these rando's join us? We know practically nothing about them. I don't know about you all but with everything happening I don't know how much we can trust them" Ban said.

"While I wouldn't of said it that rudely he does have a point. We really don't know much about any of you." King said.

"Wait, don't tell me... you didn't tell them about us, did you?" Aarona asked, looking over at Brooke with a dumfounded expression.

"Let me guess you wanted to be shrouded in mystery." Sage joked, looking over at Brooke and seeing that she was awkwardly looking away, poorly whistling as she did so. His smile tightened slightly and he let out a dark chuckle. "Brooke..."

"I know, I know, I should of told them." Brooke said with a sigh, "Let's get back to the tavern, then we'll tell you anything you want to know."

_____________

Another member has been introduced!! And this man, this m a n

I have never simped over one of my own characters more than I have with this man I stg.

It's... it's the long hair...

So, here is Sage, a picture I drew myself as well as a screenshot edit :D

Also! I drew some of the character's weapons bc I introduced them this chapter and I suck at describing stuff so here's what they look like!

Aarona's Axe:

Brooke's Hook:

Titus' Hammer:

Sage's Bow:

Brooke and Sage's weapons were honestly the two hardest ones I've drawn so far, I had to redo both of them but I'm glad I did 😌