•~Chapter 3~•
Fall of the Armor Giant

          Her eyes trailed the metal arrow as it fell from Gowther's grasp and clattered when it collided with the Earth. Violet pushed herself into a sitting position and turned her gaze towards the Roar's of Dawn who had regrouped as well as retrieved their unconscious member. "This kid is one of the Seven Deadly Sins?" Slader commented.

          "I can't believe it." The swordsman muttered with disbelief. 'You'll be in for quite the surprise then.' Violet thought. It was somewhat amusing to observe the samurai sword wielder purely because of his reactions.

          The archer made his way over and shrugged, "I know, but he stopped my fully charged arrow with his bare hands. I just can't imagine that some ordinary kid would be able to pull off a stunt like that." He reasoned.

          Gowther's analytical amber eyes swept across the clearing, "That is correct, there can be no doubt. I am indeed Gowther the Goat Sin." He said. There was a factual certainty that gave some semblance of life to his otherwise monotone voice.

          Without further ado Ban causally leapt down from his perch on the stone column and landed beside Gowther. His hands were halfway into his red studded leather pants pockets and his posture was quite relaxed despite the fact that he stood on a battlefield. "Woah, so back then you were wearing that armor huh? Guess I always figured it was some giant old man who was stuffed inside there." He stated.

           The Goat Sin's gaze followed Ban as the Fox Sin circled around him and noted the defining features and defined personality traits, "Given your posture, gait, tone of voice, attitude, and that scar, I presume that you're Ban the Undead." Gowther said conclusively.

          A small chuckle was drawn from the Fox Sin as he straightened. He'd leaned forward to get a better look at Gowther mere moments before, "Now that's the Gowther I remember!" Ban chuckled, and was clearly amused.

          There was an audible sound of disbelief from the sole female Holy Knight on the field, "He's one of the Seven Deadly Sins to?" She questioned softly.

            Gowther turned to face towards the swordsman and Meliodas next, "And that young boy who appears just as I remember him from years ago...Must be.." He mused.

          A cheerful smile etched itself onto Meliodas' features as he readily cut in, "You got it, I'm Captain Meliodas alright." He confirmed.

          "Hold on-this little squirt is the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins!?" The swordsman exclaimed, and by this point Violet was quite certain that the swordsman was at his wits end. Half of them looked absolutely nothing like their wanted posters after all, which she only knew because she'd stumbled across a few on her draining trek to this forest.

          His reply was a mere, "Yeah, surprised?" In hindsight it most likely only served to piss the man off.

          "It's astonishing." Gowther commented with a rather blank expression on his features.

          Ban leaned over next to Gowther since the Goat Sin was shorter than him, "You saying that you can't tell from his face?" He asked with a devilish smirk, "Then what do you think of that guy?" He inquired as he pointed towards King. "Ready for this one? That's King." Ban explained.

          However Gowther was quick to brush aside Ban's claim, "No that's someone else. Bone structure, voice, and body odor. It all indicates another person, not King." He reasoned dismissively.

          "Odor?" Ban echoed in a somewhat surprised manner.

          The Swan Sin narrowed her eyes at the small figure of the Fairy King, or who she was being told was the Fairy King. From what she recalled King was actually a larger human sized male, and this boy's appearance was not unlike her own in age. "Is that really King, Ban?" Violet inquired from behind the two males.

          For a moment the Fox Sin was somewhat surprised as he had momentarily forgotten about Violet's presence, but he confirmed it. "Yeah, that's totally King. Come on an prove it man!" He called.

          By this point King appeared to be quite annoyed by this turn of events, and so the Fairy King silently shifted into his 'human' form, which proved his identity quite easily. The bonds that held him fizzled out, "Creepy." The sole female Holy Knight muttered.

     "It is him then, undoubtedly." Gowther said. Ban smirked, "Wow way to backtrack." He exclaimed.

          A polite theater clap drew the Sins attention to Slader, the leader of the Roars of Dawn. He appeared to be in a quite more expressive state than he was earlier. "Wonderful! To meet not only Gowther but four of the Seven Deadly Sins? So happy!" Slader exclaimed. "Given the chance I would love to challenge you but it's such a pity. In the very end our mission today is solely to return home with that armor giants head." He explained.

           The Sins regrouped while Slader was speaking, and Meliodas hauled Violet to her feet before shoving her lightly towards Ban. "Take care of her, she's to injured to hold her own right now." He instructed before turning to look at Gowther, "By the way who's inside of that armor?" Meliodas inquired.

          'I can't be in the middle of the fray, but that doesn't mean that I can't hold my own, Captain.' Violet thought with more than a hint of irritation. Ban lightly flicked the Spectre on the head, "Lighten up kid." He chided teasingly, although he grew somewhat concerned when she didn't retort liked she used to ten years ago. He didn't say anything else however and merely let the subject drop.

          By this time Meliodas and Gowther had already had a short discussion about the identity of whoever was inside of Gowther's armor, and now Slader was brandishing his double edged saw blade. "Now it's time to get to work." He exclaimed.

          "I would actually prefer it if you left him alone, would you?" Gowther requested to the others surprise.

          The others were going to protest until Violet cut them off with a surprisingly chilling glare. "What has he done to garner a hunt?!" She demanded softly.

          It didn't matter that her words were soft because the intensity of them held sway over those gathered. "I can faintly sense his magical energies and I can tell that something about it is askew. It isn't normal, however something about it cries human. What has this man done that requires that you take his head?" She spat.

          Small bits of dust was left in her wake as she lifted off the ground to hover above the Sins much like King, "I won't let you harm him." She announced.

          The others knew better than to try and convince her otherwise, however they were pretty certain that Violet wasn't in any shape to go head to head with the Roars of Dawn. Gowther let out a nearly inaudible sigh as the Armored Giant recovered enough to rise to his feet and let out a ground shaking roar. The armors chestplate was beyond repair by this point, and Violet had to nimbly dodge some of the pieces as they were shot outward by the pure force of the roar. "You felt this magical power first hand, still think you can defeat him?" Gowther questioned.

          After a brief assessment Slader met Gowther's gaze, "That's right. I'll admit that two of us-no make that one will surly die. But we'll surly claim this ones head to." He replied with firm conviction.

          "A cool-headed assessment." Gowther noted with some semblance of respect or acknowledgement lurking within his tone. The Goat Sin began to raise an arm, "I have no choice then."

          The Roars of Dawn readied themselves for battle as they were uncertain as to what the Goat Sin would throw at them. However it was a surprise to everyone when he finally shot his hand straight up which resulted in the Armored Giants head to be decapitated with a burst of dark crimson blood.

          Anger flared within Violet's muted pale blue eyes, however there was nothing she could do now but watch as the Armored Giant first fell to his knees and then flat on his stomach. "Gowther..." She growled softly, and she was certain that the Goat Sin heard her, however he said nothing in response to her.

           He retrieved the fallen head and presented it to Slader, "Take it with you." Gowther offered. "It is the most peaceful way of resolving this. If a three way battle were to occur between us now the aftermath would mean the inevitable annihilation of Orden's villagers below, and this way the knights that perished will not have died in vain." He explained whilst daring to take a few more steps towards the Roars of Dawn.

          "Hm..I accept your offer." Slader decided, and he was surly smirking beneath his metal mask. He wrapped his arm around the offered head and held it at his side for the time being.

          This decision sparked a bit of uncertainty and most likely anger within the swordsman, "Are you sure about this? That was our prey he just-"

          "Silence!" Slader ordered with a hint of irritation. It was clear that he didn't like his decisions being questioned. "I like you Gowther the Goat Sin, so out of respect for your legacy we'll withdraw." He stated before turning to fix Gowther with an intense look, "But if by chance we're given the order to go after your heads one day..When that time comes-well." Slader warned.

          The anger faded from Violet as Slader led his crew away from the scene after exchanging a brief farewell. She sighed softly and turned her attention to the fallen Armor Giant and recalled how he had attentively listened to her story yesterday. They seemed to have understood her to some degree, and it had felt comforting to simply be listened to.

           King floated down to join Ban, Meliodas, and Gowther, "I'm kinda surprised. It looked like you had some sympathy for this monster." He commented.

         The pink haired male tilted his head to the side in a questioning manner, "Really?" He questioned, "Was I sympathizing with him?"

'He never will be able to sympathize with anyone, or be able to feel guilty about his actions or what consequences they could entail.' Violet angrily thought as she tuned out her companions discussion.

Even when the conversation turned to her she refused to listen out of spite of Gowther. "So Violet escaped from Baste Prison a while ago huh. She's seen better days." Meliodas commented.

"She stumbled across it," Gowther said in reference to the Armored Giant, "in a clearing a little over half a day ago. It knocked her unconscious before I arrived and prevented it from slaying her. I have not scanned her memories." He explained, and the Sins were forced to accept that explanation for the time being.

After a little more talk about the origins of the monster inside of Gowther's armor the Sins were met with a little surprise.

The shell of the Holy Knight twitched. Then it's limbs began to move as if it were testing it's functions, before it began to rise from the ground.

Violet was appalled by the situation, because she could clearly tell that they would have no choice but to fight this thing or die. There was no saving them, not even with her magical ability.

By examining someone's aura she could sometimes use a little ability called 'sanctify', which she gained after a terrible, terrible, mistake ironically enough. With this ability she could sometimes purify or cleanse someone's aura of unnatural forces or darkness which in turn could possibly stop this monster.

However to use sanctify she would have to meet two certain qualifications that she currently fell short of. The first was the fact that she was not in possession of her Sacred Treasure, and her body was in no shape for the physically demanding process. She certainly possessed the magical levels required, but the strain on her physical form might just kill her.

She could not hear the voices of her comrades as they rallied themselves to take care of the Armored Giant. Not even when Gowther explained his reasoning for taking it's head. Violet merely felt empty as her eyes wandered to the dead soldiers scattered at the edges of the clearing.

"A spear..." She mumbled as she extended an arm out towards a discarded and bloodied spear. It was simple and made for a common foot soldier, but it would have to do. Violet felt comforting sense of familiarity return to her when she levitated the spear to her side.

She breathed, "I'm not weak," before the world erupted into the chaos of battle around her. The Captain and Ban went for a frontal assault with brief success before they were sent flying back. King caught them with his Spirit Spear in it's second configuration, Guardian.

It was time to finish off this beast before it could hurt anyone else, and so that the poor soul trapped within could finally be at peace.

Violet let her magical energies loose, and the clearing was engulfed in a powerful glow that almost drowned out sound altogether along with sight.

The clearing was left with an echoing cry of, 'Violet-wait!' Just as the curtain on this battle was just rising.