"Captain, let's start a new round."
Ban sprinted to Meliodas's side, greeting him as casually as if they were meeting at a tavern. He brandished the Holy Rod Courechouse in his hand and instantly launched a blistering physical attack toward the Dragon Sin.
The two exchanged a flurry of blinding blows in mid-air. The holy staff and the Demon Sword Lostvayne clashed incessantly, sending shockwaves through the ruined streets.
The moment their weapons locked in a brutal stalemate, Meliodas suddenly spoke, his voice completely devoid of emotion.
"Ban. You... are truly troublesome."
As a teammate, Ban's abilities made him the team's most solid vanguard. No matter the terrifying strength of the enemy, he was always the one charging fearlessly at the forefront to soak up the damage. But as an opponent, Ban's unique abilities made Meliodas genuinely irritated.
No matter what kind of catastrophic damage was inflicted on him, Ban could always return to full health and launch another relentless offensive.
Just like now. Ban, who had just been violently sliced in half at the waist by Meliodas's blade, instantly reattached his torso and recovered to full health.
Meliodas furrowed his brow, the jagged demonic mark on his forehead beginning to pulse and distort.
"I cannot let you hinder my objective anymore, Ban."
Pitch-black demonic energy surged wildly from Meliodas's small body. Viscous, dark patterns of Hellblaze began to wrap around both his arms, and two massive, jagged wings formed purely from compressed demonic energy erupted from his back. In this elevated demonic form, Meliodas's oppressive aura was exponentially stronger than before.
"It's been way too long," Ban smirked, feeling the crushing gravity of the magic. "I almost forgot... Captain, you've already fully regained all your original power, haven't you?"
The exact microsecond Ban finished speaking, his crimson pupils contracted sharply.
Without him even registering the movement, Meliodas had already bypassed his guard and appeared directly in front of him.
BAM!
A single, devastating punch sent Ban's body tilting uncontrollably backward. They had already been fighting for a long time, and Ban had used [Snatch] to steal a massive amount of physical power from his Captain. Yet even with those stolen stats, Ban was completely unable to resist the sheer, overwhelming force of this strike.
Seizing the microsecond Ban was knocked off-balance, Meliodas did not stop his merciless assault. He flickered behind the Fox Sin, pressing his hand firmly against the back of Ban's head.
With blinding velocity, he slammed Ban face-first directly into the bedrock.
CRASH!
In an instant, a massive, craterous fault line appeared in the earth. Ban's neck was entirely twisted backwards, blood continuously seeping from his crushed mouth. Lying paralyzed at the bottom of the crater, his body convulsed uncontrollably as his immortality struggled to repair the catastrophic spinal damage.
"Get up, Ban," Meliodas coldly reprimanded him, hovering just above the crater. "This isn't your limit."
Just as he commanded, Ban staggered to his feet inside the dust cloud. He grabbed his own head and violently twisted his stiff neck back into place with a sickening crack. When he looked up again, the fatal injuries inflicted by Meliodas had completely healed.
"Such formidable power, Captain," a wild, bloodthirsty smile appeared on Ban's face. "Let's go again!!"
This kind of battle! This is what a real battle should be!
Compared to Ban's manic excitement, Meliodas's face remained as cold and dead as a glacier.
Meliodas silently grasped the hilt of Lostvayne over his shoulder. He drew the blade perhaps half an inch from its scabbard, and instantly sheathed it again with a soft click.
Ban didn't even see the blade leave the sheath. Yet, a thousand deep, intersecting sword wounds abruptly manifested simultaneously all over his body. Blood sprayed violently from every single inch of his flesh.
Ban, who had just stood up, faltered heavily and collapsed into a pool of his own blood once more.
"I cannot hold back any longer. Lady Merlin! How can I possibly miss out on a battle like this?"
Among the three spectators watching from a safe distance, Escanor seemed entirely unable to suppress his boiling fighting spirit. He offered a polite apology to the Sin of Gluttony and immediately leaped high into the air, soaring toward the epicenter of the crater.
"Sigh," Merlin breathed out quietly, watching the hulking mass of muscle depart.
"Do you find this tactical situation troublesome?" Gowther asked her, his head tilted in genuine confusion. "What kind of feeling is this that makes you sigh?"
As a magical puppet, Gowther found it profoundly difficult to comprehend the nuances of human emotion. Therefore, he was filled with constant curiosity about these complex, irrational feelings.
Merlin lowered her head slightly and gave the Sin of Lust a sidelong glance, but gave no verbal answer.
The members of the Seven Deadly Sins were all deeply problematic, headstrong individuals. She had long since grown accustomed to managing their chaotic whims.
Back on the battlefield, the fight had officially entered a state of one-sided garbage time.
After Meliodas actively tapped into his higher demonic reserves, Ban was completely unable to fight back. Even though he continuously absorbed Meliodas's power, the baseline gap was simply too vast. It still didn't elevate Ban's physical strength to a level where he could truly contend with his Captain.
'The Captain in this form... is truly terrifying,' Ban thought.
In the split second that thought crossed his mind, Ban died once more, his heart crushed by a casual heel-strike. In just a few short minutes, the immortal Fox Sin had experienced a hundred and one uniquely brutal ways to die.
And right at that exact moment of absolute desperation, the true pinnacle of humanity finally decided to enter the fray.
The current time was exactly one hour before high noon: 11:00 AM.
Yet, even though Escanor was not at his absolute, invincible peak state, he still possessed the immense, overwhelming might of a god. The searing, majestic flames of the Sun actively enveloped his towering body. The very concrete and steel he walked on instantly melted, turning the street into bubbling magma under his boots.
"Step aside, Ban!" Escanor boomed, his deep voice radiating absolute authority. "I am taking over this fight."
"Escanor," Meliodas muttered, hovering in the air. "So you've come too."
Escanor entered the battlefield without the slightest attempt at concealment or stealth. His entire being was like a burning miniature sun, radiating infinite, suffocating heat. Meliodas didn't even need to turn around; just sensing this apocalyptic heat wave, he already knew exactly who had arrived.
"Turning your back to me?" Escanor asked, his voice dripping with condescension. "How profoundly arrogant, Captain!"
Escanor, who had been walking slowly just a second prior, instantly vanished. He reappeared directly in front of Meliodas, entirely unfazed by the demonic aura. The two stared each other down, beginning a deadly standoff.
"Captain," Escanor looked down at the boy. "Do you need me to calm you down again?"
"Escanor..."
A rare ripple of genuine emotion—absolute, killing intent—finally appeared on Meliodas's cold face. Escanor and Ban were not opponents on the same dimensional level. Knowing the threat standing before him, the black demonic energy on Meliodas's body began to surge wildly, completely losing control.
"AHHHHH!!!!"
Thick, suffocating darkness began to violently envelop Meliodas's entire body. The pressure of the magic even began to stir up a localized, black tornado right on the spot, tearing up the surrounding magma.
Meliodas, standing inside the eye of the storm, swung his arm, and the tornado violently dissipated.
But as the dust cleared, Meliodas had transformed once again.
The jagged dragon tattoo on his brow had disappeared completely. In its place, a large, pitch-black sun sigil was branded onto the center of his forehead. His wings remained, but his lower body and arms were now completely enveloped in a compressed, hardened shell of pure demonic darkness, forming razor-sharp demonic claws. All traces of his humanity and emotion were entirely erased.
Meliodas: Assault Mode.
This was the absolute strongest, most terrifying form Meliodas had once used three thousand years ago, back when he was the ruthless leader of the Ten Commandments.
"Divine Axe Rhitta!"
Upon seeing Meliodas assume this legendary form, Escanor reached his massive hand out to the sky and summoned his sacred treasure. The colossal, golden one-handed axe flew into his grip with a heavy thud.
And at that moment, Meliodas revealed a cold, soulless sneer.
"Hmph."
Meliodas spoke no more. He instantly initiated the slaughter.
He transformed into a blurring black whirlwind, launching a devastating, head-on assault on the Lion Sin. The Demon Sword Lostvayne in his hand continuously clashed with the massive blade of Divine Axe Rhitta.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Even with the immense blessing of eleven o'clock power, Escanor was actually no match for Meliodas in this suppressed, demonic state. At least in terms of raw, unadulterated power and speed, there was a significant, undeniable gap between them.
The two continued to trade apocalyptic blows, generating shockwaves that flattened the surrounding miles, yet it was Escanor who was being steadily, violently pushed backward.
"[Hellblaze]," Meliodas whispered.
The moment the two separated after another earth-shattering clash, pitch-black Hellfire began to tightly envelop the blade of the magic sword in Meliodas's hand.
When he swung it again with blinding speed, the collision of the two sacred treasures sent a shower of molten sparks flying. And the demonic Hellfire took advantage of the precise moment of contact to crawl up the golden axe, latching hungrily onto Escanor's massive shoulder.
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