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127 onwards
Discussion If you had the potential to rewrite the series, what would you change?
- Thread starter OtakuFreak
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I'll post a rewrite in a bit of the Chandler/Cusack/Zeldris vs Merlin/Escanor/Ludociel fight. The main plot changes are that in it, Arthur is not dead/in stasis/whatever situation Nakaba has him in, as i found that him dying that early on didn't contribute much to the story. He just died because he stupidly ran into a castle taken over by demons, Leeroy Jenkins style. Also, Ludociel possesses Gilthunder instead of Margaret, which to me makes a lot more sense because Gilthunder's the same gender as him. Seems weird for a man to possess a female body. Imagine how awkward that would be lol.
The mostly text-based rewrite will do a few things to improve the fight. First of all, it will make Merlin much less overpowered and provide a logical explanation of how she is helpful, one much better than the current situation where Infinity is some vague limitless power that lets her do anything she wants. Second of all, it will increase the tension of the fight by making all the characters on both sides do their best to win with whatever creative tactics they can, not holding anything back for the sake of the plot. I think this should end up being a lot more enjoyable than the original if you can make do without images for the parts that are not the same as the manga. If you have any ideas you would want added in to the rewritten fight, feel free to message me and I'll consider it.
The mostly text-based rewrite will do a few things to improve the fight. First of all, it will make Merlin much less overpowered and provide a logical explanation of how she is helpful, one much better than the current situation where Infinity is some vague limitless power that lets her do anything she wants. Second of all, it will increase the tension of the fight by making all the characters on both sides do their best to win with whatever creative tactics they can, not holding anything back for the sake of the plot. I think this should end up being a lot more enjoyable than the original if you can make do without images for the parts that are not the same as the manga. If you have any ideas you would want added in to the rewritten fight, feel free to message me and I'll consider it.
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honestly ludoret was perfect.
seeing a sassy and nasty goddess female was very satisfying.
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Meh. I guess his interactions with Escanor were funny that way.
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Youre kidding right!?! The complexity of this series how bullshit it is makes it wonderful. If any of you try to change it, it will make it worse 100%.
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I don't think anyone writing here is just kidding as otherwise it would negate the point of saying the series would have been better changed. At least in my own case, I don't see a reason to say that, only to not mean it in the first place.
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Ive read all of it and I hate to say it but it just give an impression changing the flaws of a certain scenario without considering the effect of the positive ones. If you study closely from the beginning the asspulls, shocking swerves and every improbable unexplainable scenario NS made sure that those negatives has been made due to correlate with the future. Dont try to see in a perspective of what you see on the branches leaves and trunks but the whole forest itself.
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You're not giving me any evidence, you're just saying that I and everyone else here must not be looking at the whole story as we pick apart individual pieces. So I'd recommend you start giving examples if you want to prove anything.
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Ryudoshel and Sariel should've been female.
Escanor should've been a descendant of Mael.
Mael and Gowther should've been the third war party that caused the 3000-year halt of the Holy War.
Ten Commandments shouldn't have been fodderized post-Estarossa beatdown by Escanor.
King should've tapped his Fab Hair power from the Sacred Tree.
Ban should've retrieved Courechouse long ago.
Ryudoshel's Flash should have physical Light properties, which enables him to move fast and fire bendy lazorz.
Mael and Ryudoshel should have their God's Domains.
The One should give Mael the total power output of the Supreme Deity for one minute at noon-time.
Escanor should've been a descendant of Mael.
Mael and Gowther should've been the third war party that caused the 3000-year halt of the Holy War.
Ten Commandments shouldn't have been fodderized post-Estarossa beatdown by Escanor.
King should've tapped his Fab Hair power from the Sacred Tree.
Ban should've retrieved Courechouse long ago.
Ryudoshel's Flash should have physical Light properties, which enables him to move fast and fire bendy lazorz.
Mael and Ryudoshel should have their God's Domains.
The One should give Mael the total power output of the Supreme Deity for one minute at noon-time.
--- Double Post Merged, , Original Post Date: ---
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I also wanted all that
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That makes no sense from a lore standpoint.
How was there a power balance if the Goddesses had 2 Gods on their side for a minute? SD handles DK whilst Mael trashes everyone else without issue.
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Here's my mostly text-based rewrite of the Chandler/Cusack/Zeldris battle.The key differences are all in the changelog, although you shouldn't read that first if you don't want spoilers. But essentially, the idea is to make it so all the combat is interesting to watch and all the characters do their best with creative teamwork rather than just letting Merlin dominate.
So without further ado, here is the rewrite, I hope you enjoy it.
So without further ado, here is the rewrite, I hope you enjoy it.
As the subjugation force made its way through the cocoon, they found themselves face to face with 3 opponents. Zeldoris of the 10 Commandments, and Chandler and Cusack, the two most powerful demons alive.
Merlin:"As expected, it's only those three. And...Test complete. My theory's confirmed."
Escanor:"I'll dispose of that Zeldris pipsqueak again in no time flat, Merlin-sama."
Ludociel:"And I'll eliminate Chandler, as planned."
The three main fighters landed on the ground, leaving Gilthunder and Hendrickson behind as they approach the enemy. Ludociel, with his usual smug expression, remarked to Zeldris once they finally got close to each other."Oh? I do believe this is the first time we've met face to face.
Zeldris readied to draw his sword from its hilt."And it will be the last."
Chandler raised his staff. This was really the extent of the enemy plan? It was as
disappointingly predictable as he expected. Then again, these Seven Deadly Sins no longer had any trump cards that could surprise them anyways.
"Your plans are futile, maggots. True Night!"
The sky surrounding the cocoon was instantly coated in dark magic, showing only darkness and stars, the sun that was formerly high in the sky being utterly hidden from sight to anyone who might wander outside the dark dome.
"Was that supposed to do something?" said the entirely unaffected Escanor, who had already begun drawing on Rhitta's reserves the moment they entered the cocoon.
Ludociel:"I'll end this Holy War here, once and for all!"
Ludociel made the first move, flying towards Chandler in milliseconds and unleashing countless strikes with his glowing sword, constantly circling Chandler at superhuman speeds he could hardly see. Ludociel abused his speed to the maximum and constantly flew around Chandler while unpredictably alternating between close and medium range, even leaving behind orbs of light as he flew that would blast Chandler while he was attacking from a different angle, making it almost impossible to block all of them head on.
"Hahahaha! Good luck using Full Counter now!"
However, despite Ludociel's speed, his attacks were nothing Chandler couldn't guard against with his armor of darkness and staff while only accruing surface level wounds,as long as he put his maximm focus into not letting him land any deadly hits with his sword. But hitting him really was nigh-impossible. "Tch. Pesky mosquito."
Escanor ran straight for the midget, swinging horizontally straight at his head with his axe, only for Zeldris to easily deflect it with his axe, leaving a searing wave of light to fly from the axe right over his head.
Meanwhile, Merlin set her sights on Cusack, firing off a powerful Exterminate Ray at him, which he easily deflected. Intending to dispose of all the weaklings in an instant, Cusack surrounded his sword with a condensed cyclone of wind and darkness, and swung several times with incredible speed that Merlin was entirely unable to track, unleashing a series of rotating buzzsaw-like disks of wind that would cut through any human like butter. However...
Each one was stopped by the power of several barriers that seemingly appeared out of nowhere without Merlin moving a muscle. It seemed she was adjusting the shape of her barriers to match whichever ranged attacks he used, rendering all ranged attacks far less effective. But if ranged attack didn't work, he just had to break through instead of letting her comfortably cast her spells from a distance.
Avoiding distractions, Cusack rushed towards the group to cut Merlin to pieces. However, as he began slashing the barriers to shreds , he found himself suddenly surrounded in all directions by a dome containing over 80 spells of countless elements, all of which immediately began bombarding him from all sides, with no room to escape. How was she casting so many spells at once?! "Ah, thanks for falling for the bait even faster than I'd predicted you would." Not that he could hear that while he was surrounded by constant explosive blasts, though.
Meanwhile, the wave of light from Escanor's deflected swing crashed into Meliodas's cocoon. "How impertinent, to only be scathed by one of my attacks."
Chandler swung his staff, sending a large stream of dark flames at Escanor. "I'll slaughter anyone who brings harm to the young master!
Finally having an opening where he need not fear Full Counter, Ludociel flew at Chandler's back like a laser to backstab him. By the time Chandler could turn around, Ludociel was already piercing one of the enraged Chandler's hearts with his sword. But he wasn't done yet!
"Light of Annihilation!"
Ludociel infused his strength and magic into his glowing sword, pushing it even further and releasing the light in a massive blast through the sword which would immediately send him flying, pushing him straight into the dome of darkness as the beam then fizzled out into golden particles of light. Amazingly, that hadn't been enough to eviscerate him and incinerate all his hearts, even with a blast that was partly hitting him from the inside. Apparently, he mastered darkness to such an extent that he could even shield his internals with it.
Meanwhile, Escanor took major damage from Chandler's Hellblaze, only able to protect his head and part of his chest from it with Rhitta. Then, using the opening, Zeldris sent him flying with a slash he was barely able to guard in time.
Ludociel would've liked to try to kill Chandler, but he had to keep to the plan.
Before Zeldris would be able to finish Escanor, Ludociel flew in to attack him with a descending slash from his sword, forcing Zeldris to block the slash, which created a crater below his feet from the force. "I've heard your swordsmanship is the fastest in the demon realm, let's put that to the test." Ludociel then took a defensive approach, parrying Zeldris' attacks with his right arm blade, while sending an orb of radiant light back to Escanor with his left hand, the light enveloping the black flames and dispelling them before they could damage him or his axe any further, afterwards being absorbed into Escanor's body and healing him. But Zeldris turned out to be surprisingly fast, getting a cut on his face while his attention was split.
Gilthunder:"Margaret!"
Ludociel:"To think you would go so far as to harm a woman's face..."
Zeldris:"At least I don't go around possessing women's bodies."
Cusack continued to repel the spells with his sword, as they pushed him further and further away from where he was, towards the wall of the area opposite where Chandler was, splitting the both of them up from Zeldoris and moving them towards opposite sides of the arena. But even as they were used up, they were instantly replaced. No, that wasn't possible! Even though the attacks were only on the level of a Commandment's magic spells, not even Chandler could cast this many attacks this quickly! As he built up a vortex of wind with his slashes that continuously repelled incoming attacks, the spells which used to be of all sorts of elements were now all rapidly shifting into orbs of Fire. The element he least resisted. It was getting more and more difficult to heal himself and put out the flames that were now covering almost all of his body. All the oxygen inside the spell dome was completely destroyed and the flames only intensified, the temperature now being over 1000 degrees Celcius. The burns kept getting worse and he couldn't afford to defend and heal at the same time. It was decreasing his fire resistance the more he got hit, so defense was becoming useless too. The moment his hurricane couldn't block a spell, one of his hearts would be instantly incinerated by the blast of heat, and even the hole in his body would burn eternally and become impossible to heal. All he could do was suppress the flame and stop it from spreading throughout the rest of his body with his internal darkness. He had already lost 4 hearts from this quite quickly, there was no choice but to bet everything on breaking free of this before not even ash remained of him.
Cusack focused the hurricane he had built up over this time with his continuous slashes, channeling it into his sword, which it surrounded with an extremely focused cyclone. Then, he unleashed the entire storm in a slash, launching one massive shredding disk towards Merlin, breaking an opening in the dome of spells, and instantly breaking through all but the last of the barriers protecting Merlin and the weaklings, and even it showed a crack.
Now was his chance! "Resonant!" Sending his magical energy through the crack in the barrier, he took over Merlin's mind, which operated at a far lower speed than his. Ironically, that was helping her stay alive for just a moment longer. But it was all futile. As his mind operated over 10x faster than hers, he scanned her mind, and found...Her offensive magical abilities were all self-sealed! Impossible! This countermeasure meant he couldn't order her to immediately commit suicide. But he wouldn't be stupefied by this.
"Release your spells this instant!"Merlin snapped her fingers, and the dome of fire spells finally vanished.
"As you command. Infinite Hellstorm dispelled." Cusack's connection was then cut instantly, as Merlin's final barrier finished regenerating. That meant some of her spells were fully automated to the point that even she couldn't dispel them! She had to be hiding something.
As the firestorm that had surrounded Cusack dissipated, he finally realized what was going on, and how she had cast so many spells. Her power of Infinity was more terrifying than the Demon Clan had ever realized. He couldn't figure it out earlier because he was surrounded continuously by the energy signatures of all the spells attacking him, but now that he knew what to look for, it was clear as day.
"Chandler! Merlin's spells are automatic and invisible! Don't let them hit you, not even once!"
Chandler sensed them in an instant, once he focused his magical energy and sent it out to scan closely the area around him. If he'd waited just a few more moments to check, he'd have been surrounded, and suffered the same fate as Cusack. Having been sensed, the spell-arsenal automatically decloaked to avoid energy wastage, revealing itself as a wall of countless different elemental spells facing Chandler, cutting him off from the others.
As Ludociel was facing down Zeldris in one on one combat, he saw that Cusack had gotten free of Merlin's spells, but was severely wounded. Ludociel fired a large blast of light to test Zeldris' defenses."Gold Shining!" Zeldris didn't even bother to block, and the energy dispersed as if it hadn't even hit him. Then, he took a new stance.
"What I am about to show you is my true, original power...Savor it well!"
This was definitely going to work. Gelda was alive. He wasn't going to give them even the slightest chance of winning!
Ludociel:"Hmph! Try as you might...we Goddesses will win this Holy War!"
Zeldris:"Holy War? I'm not interested in that."Zeldris intensified his magic, glowing in an ominous dark aura."Ominous Nebula!"
The entire area was covered in a gravity well that pulled all living things towards Zeldris, as Zeldris himself was surrounded in a pitch black and incredibly fast vortex of darkness that rotated clockwise and generated incredible wind just from its force. In less than a second, Ludociel
was pulled into the vortex, only having time to coat himself and his sword
in light to try to lessen the impact, half-swording as he flew headfirst and tried to prevent direct damage to his body.
Zeldris:"Get shredded to pieces!" The vortex was relentless, tearing into Ludociel's sword as he was pulled round and round it, destroying it. After getting pulled all the way around the vortex, it tossed him and the hilt of his sword back the way he came, and was soon to pull him back for another spin if he hadn't maneuvered with Flash to land on Escanor's back. Escanor had stabbed the ground with Rhitta, and gotten his feet deep into the ground already.
"Escanor! Lend me your aid!"
"How impudent. No."
"What did you just say?
"Giving me an order is a wisecrack at best!"
"Enough, you insolent human! My word
is the word of the greatest being on earth, now do as I say!"
"That position's already taken."
"How dare..."
<Falls off>
"Youuu!!!!"
Merlin:"Escanor, help her out!"
Escanor:"Gladly, Lady Merlin!"
Said Escanor, as he jumped towards Ludociel and grabbed him,
stomping his feet into the ground firmly before he could be sucked into the vortex.
"What? But I thought you didn't follow orders."
"Lady Merlin's are an exception! More importantly, you do have a plan, right? If not, I'll just drop you."
"Yes, but only if you agree to follow my orders!"
To be Continued in Chapter 2: Operation God
Merlin:"As expected, it's only those three. And...Test complete. My theory's confirmed."
Escanor:"I'll dispose of that Zeldris pipsqueak again in no time flat, Merlin-sama."
Ludociel:"And I'll eliminate Chandler, as planned."
Merlin had tested whether or not the commandments would have any effect in this cocoon by bringing along some miniturized weak red demons inside test-tubes. Gowther had confirmed for her via mindreading that their last thought centered on a sin that a Commandment prohibited. Freezing their mental thought processes where they were, and storing them up until this moment, let her just teleport them out of their containers, still minituarized, and observe that the commandments did not take effect, all while leaving them too small for this test to be seen or heard by any of the enemies. Their discussion was also not something the enemy would be able to hear. Unfortunately, the commandments not being presently effective meant she couldn't confirm with precision how many Meliodas had right now, but there was only so much you could do.
The three main fighters landed on the ground, leaving Gilthunder and Hendrickson behind as they approach the enemy. Ludociel, with his usual smug expression, remarked to Zeldris once they finally got close to each other."Oh? I do believe this is the first time we've met face to face.
Zeldris readied to draw his sword from its hilt."And it will be the last."
Chandler raised his staff. This was really the extent of the enemy plan? It was as
disappointingly predictable as he expected. Then again, these Seven Deadly Sins no longer had any trump cards that could surprise them anyways.
"Your plans are futile, maggots. True Night!"
The sky surrounding the cocoon was instantly coated in dark magic, showing only darkness and stars, the sun that was formerly high in the sky being utterly hidden from sight to anyone who might wander outside the dark dome.
"Was that supposed to do something?" said the entirely unaffected Escanor, who had already begun drawing on Rhitta's reserves the moment they entered the cocoon.
Ludociel:"I'll end this Holy War here, once and for all!"
Ludociel made the first move, flying towards Chandler in milliseconds and unleashing countless strikes with his glowing sword, constantly circling Chandler at superhuman speeds he could hardly see. Ludociel abused his speed to the maximum and constantly flew around Chandler while unpredictably alternating between close and medium range, even leaving behind orbs of light as he flew that would blast Chandler while he was attacking from a different angle, making it almost impossible to block all of them head on.
"Hahahaha! Good luck using Full Counter now!"
However, despite Ludociel's speed, his attacks were nothing Chandler couldn't guard against with his armor of darkness and staff while only accruing surface level wounds,as long as he put his maximm focus into not letting him land any deadly hits with his sword. But hitting him really was nigh-impossible. "Tch. Pesky mosquito."
Escanor ran straight for the midget, swinging horizontally straight at his head with his axe, only for Zeldris to easily deflect it with his axe, leaving a searing wave of light to fly from the axe right over his head.
Meanwhile, Merlin set her sights on Cusack, firing off a powerful Exterminate Ray at him, which he easily deflected. Intending to dispose of all the weaklings in an instant, Cusack surrounded his sword with a condensed cyclone of wind and darkness, and swung several times with incredible speed that Merlin was entirely unable to track, unleashing a series of rotating buzzsaw-like disks of wind that would cut through any human like butter. However...
Each one was stopped by the power of several barriers that seemingly appeared out of nowhere without Merlin moving a muscle. It seemed she was adjusting the shape of her barriers to match whichever ranged attacks he used, rendering all ranged attacks far less effective. But if ranged attack didn't work, he just had to break through instead of letting her comfortably cast her spells from a distance.
Avoiding distractions, Cusack rushed towards the group to cut Merlin to pieces. However, as he began slashing the barriers to shreds , he found himself suddenly surrounded in all directions by a dome containing over 80 spells of countless elements, all of which immediately began bombarding him from all sides, with no room to escape. How was she casting so many spells at once?! "Ah, thanks for falling for the bait even faster than I'd predicted you would." Not that he could hear that while he was surrounded by constant explosive blasts, though.
Meanwhile, the wave of light from Escanor's deflected swing crashed into Meliodas's cocoon. "How impertinent, to only be scathed by one of my attacks."
Chandler swung his staff, sending a large stream of dark flames at Escanor. "I'll slaughter anyone who brings harm to the young master!
Finally having an opening where he need not fear Full Counter, Ludociel flew at Chandler's back like a laser to backstab him. By the time Chandler could turn around, Ludociel was already piercing one of the enraged Chandler's hearts with his sword. But he wasn't done yet!
"Light of Annihilation!"
Ludociel infused his strength and magic into his glowing sword, pushing it even further and releasing the light in a massive blast through the sword which would immediately send him flying, pushing him straight into the dome of darkness as the beam then fizzled out into golden particles of light. Amazingly, that hadn't been enough to eviscerate him and incinerate all his hearts, even with a blast that was partly hitting him from the inside. Apparently, he mastered darkness to such an extent that he could even shield his internals with it.
Meanwhile, Escanor took major damage from Chandler's Hellblaze, only able to protect his head and part of his chest from it with Rhitta. Then, using the opening, Zeldris sent him flying with a slash he was barely able to guard in time.
Ludociel would've liked to try to kill Chandler, but he had to keep to the plan.
Before Zeldris would be able to finish Escanor, Ludociel flew in to attack him with a descending slash from his sword, forcing Zeldris to block the slash, which created a crater below his feet from the force. "I've heard your swordsmanship is the fastest in the demon realm, let's put that to the test." Ludociel then took a defensive approach, parrying Zeldris' attacks with his right arm blade, while sending an orb of radiant light back to Escanor with his left hand, the light enveloping the black flames and dispelling them before they could damage him or his axe any further, afterwards being absorbed into Escanor's body and healing him. But Zeldris turned out to be surprisingly fast, getting a cut on his face while his attention was split.
Gilthunder:"Margaret!"
Ludociel:"To think you would go so far as to harm a woman's face..."
Zeldris:"At least I don't go around possessing women's bodies."
Cusack continued to repel the spells with his sword, as they pushed him further and further away from where he was, towards the wall of the area opposite where Chandler was, splitting the both of them up from Zeldoris and moving them towards opposite sides of the arena. But even as they were used up, they were instantly replaced. No, that wasn't possible! Even though the attacks were only on the level of a Commandment's magic spells, not even Chandler could cast this many attacks this quickly! As he built up a vortex of wind with his slashes that continuously repelled incoming attacks, the spells which used to be of all sorts of elements were now all rapidly shifting into orbs of Fire. The element he least resisted. It was getting more and more difficult to heal himself and put out the flames that were now covering almost all of his body. All the oxygen inside the spell dome was completely destroyed and the flames only intensified, the temperature now being over 1000 degrees Celcius. The burns kept getting worse and he couldn't afford to defend and heal at the same time. It was decreasing his fire resistance the more he got hit, so defense was becoming useless too. The moment his hurricane couldn't block a spell, one of his hearts would be instantly incinerated by the blast of heat, and even the hole in his body would burn eternally and become impossible to heal. All he could do was suppress the flame and stop it from spreading throughout the rest of his body with his internal darkness. He had already lost 4 hearts from this quite quickly, there was no choice but to bet everything on breaking free of this before not even ash remained of him.
Cusack focused the hurricane he had built up over this time with his continuous slashes, channeling it into his sword, which it surrounded with an extremely focused cyclone. Then, he unleashed the entire storm in a slash, launching one massive shredding disk towards Merlin, breaking an opening in the dome of spells, and instantly breaking through all but the last of the barriers protecting Merlin and the weaklings, and even it showed a crack.
Now was his chance! "Resonant!" Sending his magical energy through the crack in the barrier, he took over Merlin's mind, which operated at a far lower speed than his. Ironically, that was helping her stay alive for just a moment longer. But it was all futile. As his mind operated over 10x faster than hers, he scanned her mind, and found...Her offensive magical abilities were all self-sealed! Impossible! This countermeasure meant he couldn't order her to immediately commit suicide. But he wouldn't be stupefied by this.
"Release your spells this instant!"Merlin snapped her fingers, and the dome of fire spells finally vanished.
"As you command. Infinite Hellstorm dispelled." Cusack's connection was then cut instantly, as Merlin's final barrier finished regenerating. That meant some of her spells were fully automated to the point that even she couldn't dispel them! She had to be hiding something.
As the firestorm that had surrounded Cusack dissipated, he finally realized what was going on, and how she had cast so many spells. Her power of Infinity was more terrifying than the Demon Clan had ever realized. He couldn't figure it out earlier because he was surrounded continuously by the energy signatures of all the spells attacking him, but now that he knew what to look for, it was clear as day.
"Chandler! Merlin's spells are automatic and invisible! Don't let them hit you, not even once!"
Chandler sensed them in an instant, once he focused his magical energy and sent it out to scan closely the area around him. If he'd waited just a few more moments to check, he'd have been surrounded, and suffered the same fate as Cusack. Having been sensed, the spell-arsenal automatically decloaked to avoid energy wastage, revealing itself as a wall of countless different elemental spells facing Chandler, cutting him off from the others.
As Ludociel was facing down Zeldris in one on one combat, he saw that Cusack had gotten free of Merlin's spells, but was severely wounded. Ludociel fired a large blast of light to test Zeldris' defenses."Gold Shining!" Zeldris didn't even bother to block, and the energy dispersed as if it hadn't even hit him. Then, he took a new stance.
"What I am about to show you is my true, original power...Savor it well!"
This was definitely going to work. Gelda was alive. He wasn't going to give them even the slightest chance of winning!
Ludociel:"Hmph! Try as you might...we Goddesses will win this Holy War!"
Zeldris:"Holy War? I'm not interested in that."Zeldris intensified his magic, glowing in an ominous dark aura."Ominous Nebula!"
The entire area was covered in a gravity well that pulled all living things towards Zeldris, as Zeldris himself was surrounded in a pitch black and incredibly fast vortex of darkness that rotated clockwise and generated incredible wind just from its force. In less than a second, Ludociel
was pulled into the vortex, only having time to coat himself and his sword
in light to try to lessen the impact, half-swording as he flew headfirst and tried to prevent direct damage to his body.
Zeldris:"Get shredded to pieces!" The vortex was relentless, tearing into Ludociel's sword as he was pulled round and round it, destroying it. After getting pulled all the way around the vortex, it tossed him and the hilt of his sword back the way he came, and was soon to pull him back for another spin if he hadn't maneuvered with Flash to land on Escanor's back. Escanor had stabbed the ground with Rhitta, and gotten his feet deep into the ground already.
"Escanor! Lend me your aid!"
"How impudent. No."
"What did you just say?
"Giving me an order is a wisecrack at best!"
"Enough, you insolent human! My word
is the word of the greatest being on earth, now do as I say!"
"That position's already taken."
"How dare..."
<Falls off>
"Youuu!!!!"
Merlin:"Escanor, help her out!"
Escanor:"Gladly, Lady Merlin!"
Said Escanor, as he jumped towards Ludociel and grabbed him,
stomping his feet into the ground firmly before he could be sucked into the vortex.
"What? But I thought you didn't follow orders."
"Lady Merlin's are an exception! More importantly, you do have a plan, right? If not, I'll just drop you."
"Yes, but only if you agree to follow my orders!"
To be Continued in Chapter 2: Operation God
Operation God
"Cruel Sun!" "Gold Shining!"
Before they jumped towards the vortex, each of them fired their attacks at it. If Ominous Nebula was a continuous omnidirectional attack with
no blind spots that fully shielded his body from all attack...Then his "Demon King" powers wouldn't render it immune to magic, and they could weaken it with their attacks!
Escanor continued holding the comparitively small Ludociel as they approached the vortex. "Sanctuary!"
The vortex quickly spun them around as Ludociel used the speed of Flash to get them through it even more quickly, moving in conjunction with its centrifugal force, getting the both of them flung out of it before his Sanctuary shielding them could be shredded, as Escanor stabbed the ground with Rhitta and got them rooted again.
Merlin, Gilthunder, and Hendrickson smacked directly into the automatic barrier protecting them when the vortex began. Even the barrier itself was starting to get pulled in.
Throughout this fight Gilthunder had seen enemies move as complete invisible blurs and known as a fact he couldn't protect Margaret with his body here, and if he did, he'd just die for nothing. But that was no excuse to give up. He wouldn't let his knowledge and experience as a Holy Knight go to waste. So, Gilthunder stabbed his sword into the ground, sending lightning into the earth as 'roots'. His were too powerless to do anything for more than a second or two against this gravity. However, the same couldn't be said for Merlin's magic. "Merlin, you have to do the same as Escanor and Ludociel!"
Merlin:"Great idea, Gilthunder!"
Due to Gilthunder's idea Merlin was able to adapt the barrier so it was rooted in the ground, pulling down a tendril of energy from the 'ceiling' of it and piercing the earth with 'roots', thus preventing it from being pulled into the nebula, while also tying everyone to the new pillar in the center so they wouldn't be smacking against the walls, afterwards creating an 'inflated' piece of barrier surrounding the middle where she had put everyone, so they all wouldn't be pulled against a hard wall of magic any longer, and instead a more comfortable surface.
As the vortex pulled everyone else in, Chandler now had no choice but to root himself in place with his staff as he defended against the wall of spells with his own magic, rather than outmaneuver them so he could support Zeldris. He wouldn't give these things a chance to hit him. It was all over for their enemies anyways. First, he gave himself some breathing room. "Perfect Cube."Its durability as a top class Perfect Cube gave him plenty of time to prepare a routine for blocking all these blasts at once. As long as it was just from the front, it was no problem. Chandler set up 3 giant orbs of dark energy in the cube, which alone would proceed to fire an endless blast that clashed with Merlin's whole arsenal of spells at once.
As the most skilled magician there, and the inventor of True Night, he knew as a fact that even for Merlin, canceling true night was impossible here. True Night could normally be cancelled by Absolute Cancel if you tracked down the source that was originating the spell and sent magical energy throughout it, destroying the whole thing in a chain reaction. However, since the young master's barrier prevented magical energy from non-Demons from exiting or entering this cocoon, they were doomed! The only way she could cancel it now was to kill him, and these spells were too weak for her to have a chance. Chandler countered the wall of spells with his own magic, being able to block the entire wall of attacks with just a few powerful and massive continuous blasts of his own. He grinned as the result was inevitable.
"It must have taken you hundreds of years to build this many of these up...But it's all for nothing! "
He could sense every offensive spell left, even this arsenal was still nothing he couldn't handle. There were too many attacks coming at every moment for him to use Full Counter, but even with only one arm to cast with, his spells would be more than good enough to hold the line.
Ludociel and Escanor had managed to briefly root themselves again.
Ludociel:"I doubt he'll let that work a second time. Merlin!"
Merlin:"Just a bit longer! Also, you two, get ready to fall."Merlin said, talking to Gilthunder and Hendrickson.
As Chandler continued to negate the onslaught of spells, in a moment, they suddenly intensified to double the strength and speed and were able to surround him faster than he could react to. Where had she gotten the energy? And the moment Chandler began to be staggered by the flanking impacts, some of the spells moved to restrain him with incredible speed, forming chains of energy. He could break these in moments even with just the one arm, but he heard a voice.
"Absolute Cancel."
In that moment, she utterly dispelled his curtain of night! Impossible! She hadn't even gotten near him, and Absolute Cancel wasn't a spell that could be cast at range! Little did Chandler know, Merlin had mixed in an Absolute Cancel magic item she'd once created among her spells and waited for just this moment.
Meanwhile, Zeldris heard a different voice, as loud footsteps started to shake the area.
"Be it Estarossa or Meliodas, it seems all you brothers are dying to get the crap pounded out of you by me."
To be Continued in Chapter 3: Pride vs Piety
"Cruel Sun!" "Gold Shining!"
Before they jumped towards the vortex, each of them fired their attacks at it. If Ominous Nebula was a continuous omnidirectional attack with
no blind spots that fully shielded his body from all attack...Then his "Demon King" powers wouldn't render it immune to magic, and they could weaken it with their attacks!
Escanor continued holding the comparitively small Ludociel as they approached the vortex. "Sanctuary!"
The vortex quickly spun them around as Ludociel used the speed of Flash to get them through it even more quickly, moving in conjunction with its centrifugal force, getting the both of them flung out of it before his Sanctuary shielding them could be shredded, as Escanor stabbed the ground with Rhitta and got them rooted again.
Merlin, Gilthunder, and Hendrickson smacked directly into the automatic barrier protecting them when the vortex began. Even the barrier itself was starting to get pulled in.
Throughout this fight Gilthunder had seen enemies move as complete invisible blurs and known as a fact he couldn't protect Margaret with his body here, and if he did, he'd just die for nothing. But that was no excuse to give up. He wouldn't let his knowledge and experience as a Holy Knight go to waste. So, Gilthunder stabbed his sword into the ground, sending lightning into the earth as 'roots'. His were too powerless to do anything for more than a second or two against this gravity. However, the same couldn't be said for Merlin's magic. "Merlin, you have to do the same as Escanor and Ludociel!"
Merlin:"Great idea, Gilthunder!"
Due to Gilthunder's idea Merlin was able to adapt the barrier so it was rooted in the ground, pulling down a tendril of energy from the 'ceiling' of it and piercing the earth with 'roots', thus preventing it from being pulled into the nebula, while also tying everyone to the new pillar in the center so they wouldn't be smacking against the walls, afterwards creating an 'inflated' piece of barrier surrounding the middle where she had put everyone, so they all wouldn't be pulled against a hard wall of magic any longer, and instead a more comfortable surface.
As the vortex pulled everyone else in, Chandler now had no choice but to root himself in place with his staff as he defended against the wall of spells with his own magic, rather than outmaneuver them so he could support Zeldris. He wouldn't give these things a chance to hit him. It was all over for their enemies anyways. First, he gave himself some breathing room. "Perfect Cube."Its durability as a top class Perfect Cube gave him plenty of time to prepare a routine for blocking all these blasts at once. As long as it was just from the front, it was no problem. Chandler set up 3 giant orbs of dark energy in the cube, which alone would proceed to fire an endless blast that clashed with Merlin's whole arsenal of spells at once.
As the most skilled magician there, and the inventor of True Night, he knew as a fact that even for Merlin, canceling true night was impossible here. True Night could normally be cancelled by Absolute Cancel if you tracked down the source that was originating the spell and sent magical energy throughout it, destroying the whole thing in a chain reaction. However, since the young master's barrier prevented magical energy from non-Demons from exiting or entering this cocoon, they were doomed! The only way she could cancel it now was to kill him, and these spells were too weak for her to have a chance. Chandler countered the wall of spells with his own magic, being able to block the entire wall of attacks with just a few powerful and massive continuous blasts of his own. He grinned as the result was inevitable.
"It must have taken you hundreds of years to build this many of these up...But it's all for nothing! "
He could sense every offensive spell left, even this arsenal was still nothing he couldn't handle. There were too many attacks coming at every moment for him to use Full Counter, but even with only one arm to cast with, his spells would be more than good enough to hold the line.
Ludociel and Escanor had managed to briefly root themselves again.
Ludociel:"I doubt he'll let that work a second time. Merlin!"
Merlin:"Just a bit longer! Also, you two, get ready to fall."Merlin said, talking to Gilthunder and Hendrickson.
As Chandler continued to negate the onslaught of spells, in a moment, they suddenly intensified to double the strength and speed and were able to surround him faster than he could react to. Where had she gotten the energy? And the moment Chandler began to be staggered by the flanking impacts, some of the spells moved to restrain him with incredible speed, forming chains of energy. He could break these in moments even with just the one arm, but he heard a voice.
"Absolute Cancel."
In that moment, she utterly dispelled his curtain of night! Impossible! She hadn't even gotten near him, and Absolute Cancel wasn't a spell that could be cast at range! Little did Chandler know, Merlin had mixed in an Absolute Cancel magic item she'd once created among her spells and waited for just this moment.
Meanwhile, Zeldris heard a different voice, as loud footsteps started to shake the area.
"Be it Estarossa or Meliodas, it seems all you brothers are dying to get the crap pounded out of you by me."
To be Continued in Chapter 3: Pride vs Piety
Pride vs Piety:
As Hendrickson and Gilthunder started to fall into the vortex, Gilthunder had to act fast. "Lightning Movement of the Thunder Emperor!"
With a rapid flight, he managed to grab Hendrickson and get the both of them to fall on Escanor's giant back, on which they were soon joined
by a suddenly appearing Merlin, who had caused them to fall in the first place when she dispelled the barrier and used its energy to boost her spells.
As Escanor strolled towards Zeldris, Merlin told Chandler something with a remote hologram message from a magic orb among the spells he was deflecting and blasting away.
Merlin:"If you're wondering how I dispelled your technique, shouldn't that be obvious? I left a plethora of automated spells outside this cocoon so I could get rid of the spell on the inside and outside at once."
"Damn you!" But Chandler could do nothing but continue to hold off the arsenal of spells. They seemed to be weakening fast, because they now had to use some significant energy just to escape the nebula on top of attacking him quickly. This had to be herlast ditch effort.
Escanor casually walked towards the vortex, as an incredibly wounded Cusack could do little but watch as he tried to heal himself so he remained conscious. He swung his now tiny axe at it, but it got a dent. He was too strong for even his weapon now. So, he just threw it to the side casually.
"Divine Sword Escanor!"
Cusack:"A karate chop? Seriously!?"
As Escanor kept up the attack against the , Zeldris had to ask something.
"Just why would a human like you fight in this war, and even risk your life with that Grace?"
"For the sake of my friends!"
" 'Friends'? With that emotionless, cruel-hearted, Meliodas? Don't make me laugh! He's not the kind of man who
would have such naive and simple emotions!"
And at that moment, Zeldris raised his sword to block Escanor's chop, finally dispelling his vortex.
Cusack:"He destroyed his Nebula!"
Merlin:"Well done, Escanor!"
After barely diverting Escanor's chop, Zeldris tried to jump away from the behemoth. But
Escanor was having none of that.
"You're not getting away from me! Divine Hammer Escanor!"
"Master Zeldoooris!"
With one massive punch, Escanor sent Zeldris flying right into the walls and knocked him out instantly, the impact alone breaking most of his bones, puncturing his lungs, and destroying half his hearts. "That was easy. Is this really the best you have to offer?"
The moment the Nebula's pull stopped, Chandler raised his staff out of the ground and unleashed a massive burst of darkness with both arms
to destroy the last of Merlin's spells, finally freeing him from attack. Ludociel immediately flew at him, leaving a laser-like trail of light with Flash as he used his maximum speed to hit Chandler head on with his arm-blades."I won't give you the chance!"
But he was forgetting something."Full Counter!" With that, Chandler easily sent Ludociel flying away. disrupting his hasty rush.
Meanwhile, Escanor turned to the cocoon and immediately charged towards it. He could've just torn through it in one grab, but that seemed like a bad idea. Chances were, knowing his own strength, that this would accidentally break the Captain.
"I'll just carefully crack this little thing open. Like helping a chick get out of its egg."
Escanor put both hands on the cocoon and got ready to tear an opening where he could pull the captain out. With nobody able to stop him now, Chandler raised his staff. "True Night!" As the colossal Escanor's hands were moments away from tearing into the cocoon, he instantly turned to a small old man.
Ludociel rushed in on the offensive again, hitting Chandler with attacks from Flash before he could try to finish Merlin or anyone else off. Meanwhile, Merlin gathered the last automated spells and teleported Escanor and the others behind them to safety. Even Chandler hadn't been able to face Merlin's bullet hell without weakening, which eventually gave Ludociel the chance to knock him away once more with Gold Shining. But before Ludociel could try to finish off Zeldris, he found Cusack moving to intercept him. He wasn't going to let him slow him down that easily, and sent another Gold Shining at Cusack to keep him busy blocking as he dashed past him with Flash, then getting the opening he needed to overwhelm him with the speed of his Grace and send him flying away in an intentionally opposite direction to where he'd sent Chandler. But just as he did that, Chandler was firing a barrage of spells at him, forcing him to immediately parry several with his arm-blade and then rapidly evade the other ones with Flash.
Chandler then teleported Cusack next to himself, catching Ludociel off guard. His strategy of constantly trying to keep 1 of the 2 incapacitated
at any given time until he could finally kill someone off had just stopped working. Meanwhile, Merlin once again was able to cancel True Night far faster than last time, her magic already being in position throughout the interior and exterior of the cocoon to dispel it. At this point, using it again was just going to be a waste of energy, but the minute of noon was past.
Chandler started magically inducing Zeldris's darkness to begin self-restoration, while Cusack was on a defensive stance. Escanor, meanwhile, began growing back to a large size and recovering thanks to the Sun. Then, he called back Rhitta, catching it with ease as it flew to him.
For Chandler and Cusack, the situation looked grim. Cusack had taken massive damage, and Chandler was exhausted from using so many powerful spells like True Night. But at this time where a standoff of sorts had been created, after 10 seconds of each side getting ready for a new round of attack, Ludociel collapsed in mental pain, as sudden memories
flashed through the minds of everyone here who knew Estarossa or Mael.
Cusack: (While gasping for breath)"...It seems fortune has taken our side. But even with him out of the picture, we still
don't have a choice, Chandler."
Zeldris finally recovered from unconsciousness, and Chandler stepped forward in front of him alongside Cusack. The memories he gained hardly affected him, since he'd never looked up to Estarossa as a brother.
"I'm not done for yet..." But as soon as he tried to stand up, he fell back down again.
Meanwhile, the others were clueless to what was going on. Merlin seemed distraught. Ludociel, on the other hand, was having a total breakdown, on the ground bent over backwards with his head in his hands, screaming.
Estarossa was somehow Mael. That just couldn't be! "Graaaaaah!"
Gilthunder:"Margaret, are you ok?!"
Hendrickson:"Is this the work of that Cusack's mind control?"
Merlin:"No...This is likely the work of my master, Gowther...He used a dark magic to alter the memories of everyone who knew Mael of the Four Archangels, even the Demon King himself! And it seems to be "
Escanor:"Estarossa of the Ten Commandments..."
Hendrickson:"Was Mael of the four Archangels!?"
Around the same time as they said this, Chandler and Cusack talked to each other about this.
Cusack:"That uneasy feeling I always had around Estarossa...Now that I know what it is, it's like a block in my throat has finally cleared up. To think that Mael was manufactured into Estarossa...When that spell got undone, it sent a shock through everyone who knew him. And it seems the closer someone was to Estarossa, the stronger that shock was..."
Zeldris continued to try to recover, but he couldn't do anything with this little energy.
Chandler:"Stay back, Zeldris. You need to recover for when their allies arrive. This is something the two of us must do!"
The two then crossed their staff and sword together, glowing with an immense dark aura.
Cusack:"Master Zeldoris...One day, you will surpass even me."
Chandler:"Young master Meliodas...You must become the Demon King."
And then, starting with their weapons, the two bodies merged into an immense dark mass that radiated immense power. Escanor had already recovered to a near-noon state, but attacking someone while they were still powering up would be an insult to his pride. Not that it'd have worked even if Ludociel was mentally able to help, as Merlin found out when she used some spells to analyze the defenses of the mass. Zeldris was also inside the dark mass, so there was no chance attacking him.
Since there was little for them to do, there was plenty of time for Merlin to explain what just happened.
"Yes, he really was one of the Four Archangels. The sweeping force might've run into him as Estarossa, and somehow figured this out. In any case, we have to be ready for their next action! "
Unfortunately, Ludociel was still entirely out of it.
Ludociel:"Oh..Oh god...So Mael was alive...I thought for sure there was no way...He could be killed by impure demons..Ah!"
"I'm so shocked, I can't even walk...Hendrickson...Where is Mael? You have to take me to him somehow..."
Hendrickson:"Purge!"
Ludociel"Gah!"
Margaret fell back, getting gently caught by Gilthunder. Meanwhile, a black-haired man with wings fell down near Margaret.
Gilthunder:A man with wings? You split him from Margaret's body? Then this is ...Ludociel's true form?"
Hendrickson:"Yes.It was a huge gamble to try this, but it looks like it worked out."
Ludociel:"How dare you! You tricked me!"
Hendrickson:"I'm ready for whatever you want to do. Please make me your vessel. I'm not afraid of death."
Merlin:"Based on how fast that dark energy is building, they'll be done with whatever they are doing in less than a minute."
Ludociel:"So, that's your compensation? Sending me from a pure vessel to one tainted by the demon's blood?
But at this rate, if I try to possess that girl again while she isn't even conscious, she'll start to subconsciously resist.
At least you have a desire to atone for your actions earlier. I would rather have that holy knight over there be my vessel,
but it won't be nearly as effective with someone whose will isn't aligned with mine... I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Very
well, I accept your request. But first things first..."
A cascade of light enveloped Hendrickson's body, being absorbed into it painfully.
Hendrickson:"..Tch! What is this? Wait, that's..."
Ludociel:"Yes, it's Purge. I'm destroying the traces of demon blood inside you, that's why it's painful. But with the time Merlin says we have
left, I can only get rid of some of it." Even as the leader of the four archangels, his healing still couldn't match the nigh-miraculous
feats of one particular Goddess.
He spent 10 to 20 seconds doing that, before Merlin warned everyone of something.
"That dark power is definitely nearing its peak...Actually, it's a fusion! That magic energy signature is definitely a combination of
Chandler's and Cusack's.
Get ready, everyone! "
After ten seconds of Ludociel focusing on possession, he managed to take over Hendrickson's body,
Hendrickson's eyes briefly glowing with light during the moment of takeover. There wasn't time for him to worry
about what happened to Mael anymore. He just had to have faith that he'd survived somehow, as shocking as it was
that he was still alive.
Ludociel:"...I'm ready now, everyone."
Escanor:"So you are! It's about time, you wimp."Escanor said, while giving him a big pat on the back with his giant hand.
Ludociel got annoyed and brushed him off."What did you just say!?"
Escanor:"Ha! That confirms it, you really have recovered. Can't have you
breaking down at an unlucky time, after all!"
Merlin:"Escanor, give him a rest. Imagine if you thought I was dead and found
I was back to life.
Escanor:"...I suppose even I can't argue with that."
Then, the dark mass finally dispersed in a radiant release of power that destroyed even the dark barrier surrounding the cocoon, revealing the true form of the enemy Chandler and Cusack had fused into.
"I am the Sinner...The Usurper Demon King."
Merlin:"His power level is 340, no... 370'000! We've just lost all hope of victory!"
To be Continued in Chapter 4: The Price of Treason
As Hendrickson and Gilthunder started to fall into the vortex, Gilthunder had to act fast. "Lightning Movement of the Thunder Emperor!"
With a rapid flight, he managed to grab Hendrickson and get the both of them to fall on Escanor's giant back, on which they were soon joined
by a suddenly appearing Merlin, who had caused them to fall in the first place when she dispelled the barrier and used its energy to boost her spells.
As Escanor strolled towards Zeldris, Merlin told Chandler something with a remote hologram message from a magic orb among the spells he was deflecting and blasting away.
Merlin:"If you're wondering how I dispelled your technique, shouldn't that be obvious? I left a plethora of automated spells outside this cocoon so I could get rid of the spell on the inside and outside at once."
"Damn you!" But Chandler could do nothing but continue to hold off the arsenal of spells. They seemed to be weakening fast, because they now had to use some significant energy just to escape the nebula on top of attacking him quickly. This had to be herlast ditch effort.
Escanor casually walked towards the vortex, as an incredibly wounded Cusack could do little but watch as he tried to heal himself so he remained conscious. He swung his now tiny axe at it, but it got a dent. He was too strong for even his weapon now. So, he just threw it to the side casually.
"Divine Sword Escanor!"
Cusack:"A karate chop? Seriously!?"
As Escanor kept up the attack against the , Zeldris had to ask something.
"Just why would a human like you fight in this war, and even risk your life with that Grace?"
"For the sake of my friends!"
" 'Friends'? With that emotionless, cruel-hearted, Meliodas? Don't make me laugh! He's not the kind of man who
would have such naive and simple emotions!"
And at that moment, Zeldris raised his sword to block Escanor's chop, finally dispelling his vortex.
Cusack:"He destroyed his Nebula!"
Merlin:"Well done, Escanor!"
After barely diverting Escanor's chop, Zeldris tried to jump away from the behemoth. But
Escanor was having none of that.
"You're not getting away from me! Divine Hammer Escanor!"
"Master Zeldoooris!"
With one massive punch, Escanor sent Zeldris flying right into the walls and knocked him out instantly, the impact alone breaking most of his bones, puncturing his lungs, and destroying half his hearts. "That was easy. Is this really the best you have to offer?"
The moment the Nebula's pull stopped, Chandler raised his staff out of the ground and unleashed a massive burst of darkness with both arms
to destroy the last of Merlin's spells, finally freeing him from attack. Ludociel immediately flew at him, leaving a laser-like trail of light with Flash as he used his maximum speed to hit Chandler head on with his arm-blades."I won't give you the chance!"
But he was forgetting something."Full Counter!" With that, Chandler easily sent Ludociel flying away. disrupting his hasty rush.
Meanwhile, Escanor turned to the cocoon and immediately charged towards it. He could've just torn through it in one grab, but that seemed like a bad idea. Chances were, knowing his own strength, that this would accidentally break the Captain.
"I'll just carefully crack this little thing open. Like helping a chick get out of its egg."
Escanor put both hands on the cocoon and got ready to tear an opening where he could pull the captain out. With nobody able to stop him now, Chandler raised his staff. "True Night!" As the colossal Escanor's hands were moments away from tearing into the cocoon, he instantly turned to a small old man.
Ludociel rushed in on the offensive again, hitting Chandler with attacks from Flash before he could try to finish Merlin or anyone else off. Meanwhile, Merlin gathered the last automated spells and teleported Escanor and the others behind them to safety. Even Chandler hadn't been able to face Merlin's bullet hell without weakening, which eventually gave Ludociel the chance to knock him away once more with Gold Shining. But before Ludociel could try to finish off Zeldris, he found Cusack moving to intercept him. He wasn't going to let him slow him down that easily, and sent another Gold Shining at Cusack to keep him busy blocking as he dashed past him with Flash, then getting the opening he needed to overwhelm him with the speed of his Grace and send him flying away in an intentionally opposite direction to where he'd sent Chandler. But just as he did that, Chandler was firing a barrage of spells at him, forcing him to immediately parry several with his arm-blade and then rapidly evade the other ones with Flash.
Chandler then teleported Cusack next to himself, catching Ludociel off guard. His strategy of constantly trying to keep 1 of the 2 incapacitated
at any given time until he could finally kill someone off had just stopped working. Meanwhile, Merlin once again was able to cancel True Night far faster than last time, her magic already being in position throughout the interior and exterior of the cocoon to dispel it. At this point, using it again was just going to be a waste of energy, but the minute of noon was past.
Chandler started magically inducing Zeldris's darkness to begin self-restoration, while Cusack was on a defensive stance. Escanor, meanwhile, began growing back to a large size and recovering thanks to the Sun. Then, he called back Rhitta, catching it with ease as it flew to him.
For Chandler and Cusack, the situation looked grim. Cusack had taken massive damage, and Chandler was exhausted from using so many powerful spells like True Night. But at this time where a standoff of sorts had been created, after 10 seconds of each side getting ready for a new round of attack, Ludociel collapsed in mental pain, as sudden memories
flashed through the minds of everyone here who knew Estarossa or Mael.
Cusack: (While gasping for breath)"...It seems fortune has taken our side. But even with him out of the picture, we still
don't have a choice, Chandler."
Zeldris finally recovered from unconsciousness, and Chandler stepped forward in front of him alongside Cusack. The memories he gained hardly affected him, since he'd never looked up to Estarossa as a brother.
"I'm not done for yet..." But as soon as he tried to stand up, he fell back down again.
Meanwhile, the others were clueless to what was going on. Merlin seemed distraught. Ludociel, on the other hand, was having a total breakdown, on the ground bent over backwards with his head in his hands, screaming.
Estarossa was somehow Mael. That just couldn't be! "Graaaaaah!"
Gilthunder:"Margaret, are you ok?!"
Hendrickson:"Is this the work of that Cusack's mind control?"
Merlin:"No...This is likely the work of my master, Gowther...He used a dark magic to alter the memories of everyone who knew Mael of the Four Archangels, even the Demon King himself! And it seems to be "
Escanor:"Estarossa of the Ten Commandments..."
Hendrickson:"Was Mael of the four Archangels!?"
Around the same time as they said this, Chandler and Cusack talked to each other about this.
Cusack:"That uneasy feeling I always had around Estarossa...Now that I know what it is, it's like a block in my throat has finally cleared up. To think that Mael was manufactured into Estarossa...When that spell got undone, it sent a shock through everyone who knew him. And it seems the closer someone was to Estarossa, the stronger that shock was..."
Zeldris continued to try to recover, but he couldn't do anything with this little energy.
Chandler:"Stay back, Zeldris. You need to recover for when their allies arrive. This is something the two of us must do!"
The two then crossed their staff and sword together, glowing with an immense dark aura.
Cusack:"Master Zeldoris...One day, you will surpass even me."
Chandler:"Young master Meliodas...You must become the Demon King."
And then, starting with their weapons, the two bodies merged into an immense dark mass that radiated immense power. Escanor had already recovered to a near-noon state, but attacking someone while they were still powering up would be an insult to his pride. Not that it'd have worked even if Ludociel was mentally able to help, as Merlin found out when she used some spells to analyze the defenses of the mass. Zeldris was also inside the dark mass, so there was no chance attacking him.
Since there was little for them to do, there was plenty of time for Merlin to explain what just happened.
"Yes, he really was one of the Four Archangels. The sweeping force might've run into him as Estarossa, and somehow figured this out. In any case, we have to be ready for their next action! "
Unfortunately, Ludociel was still entirely out of it.
Ludociel:"Oh..Oh god...So Mael was alive...I thought for sure there was no way...He could be killed by impure demons..Ah!"
"I'm so shocked, I can't even walk...Hendrickson...Where is Mael? You have to take me to him somehow..."
Hendrickson:"Purge!"
Ludociel"Gah!"
Margaret fell back, getting gently caught by Gilthunder. Meanwhile, a black-haired man with wings fell down near Margaret.
Gilthunder:A man with wings? You split him from Margaret's body? Then this is ...Ludociel's true form?"
Hendrickson:"Yes.It was a huge gamble to try this, but it looks like it worked out."
Ludociel:"How dare you! You tricked me!"
Hendrickson:"I'm ready for whatever you want to do. Please make me your vessel. I'm not afraid of death."
Merlin:"Based on how fast that dark energy is building, they'll be done with whatever they are doing in less than a minute."
Ludociel:"So, that's your compensation? Sending me from a pure vessel to one tainted by the demon's blood?
But at this rate, if I try to possess that girl again while she isn't even conscious, she'll start to subconsciously resist.
At least you have a desire to atone for your actions earlier. I would rather have that holy knight over there be my vessel,
but it won't be nearly as effective with someone whose will isn't aligned with mine... I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Very
well, I accept your request. But first things first..."
A cascade of light enveloped Hendrickson's body, being absorbed into it painfully.
Hendrickson:"..Tch! What is this? Wait, that's..."
Ludociel:"Yes, it's Purge. I'm destroying the traces of demon blood inside you, that's why it's painful. But with the time Merlin says we have
left, I can only get rid of some of it." Even as the leader of the four archangels, his healing still couldn't match the nigh-miraculous
feats of one particular Goddess.
He spent 10 to 20 seconds doing that, before Merlin warned everyone of something.
"That dark power is definitely nearing its peak...Actually, it's a fusion! That magic energy signature is definitely a combination of
Chandler's and Cusack's.
Get ready, everyone! "
After ten seconds of Ludociel focusing on possession, he managed to take over Hendrickson's body,
Hendrickson's eyes briefly glowing with light during the moment of takeover. There wasn't time for him to worry
about what happened to Mael anymore. He just had to have faith that he'd survived somehow, as shocking as it was
that he was still alive.
Ludociel:"...I'm ready now, everyone."
Escanor:"So you are! It's about time, you wimp."Escanor said, while giving him a big pat on the back with his giant hand.
Ludociel got annoyed and brushed him off."What did you just say!?"
Escanor:"Ha! That confirms it, you really have recovered. Can't have you
breaking down at an unlucky time, after all!"
Merlin:"Escanor, give him a rest. Imagine if you thought I was dead and found
I was back to life.
Escanor:"...I suppose even I can't argue with that."
Then, the dark mass finally dispersed in a radiant release of power that destroyed even the dark barrier surrounding the cocoon, revealing the true form of the enemy Chandler and Cusack had fused into.
"I am the Sinner...The Usurper Demon King."
Merlin:"His power level is 340, no... 370'000! We've just lost all hope of victory!"
To be Continued in Chapter 4: The Price of Treason
1:Merlin's power level with "Infinity" is nerfed and made logical, but in a way that enhances her apparent level of skill.
2:Arthur is not dead in this rewrite, since his death seemed pointless in the original version. If he died, it would probably be in the final battle.
3: Generally, both sides have common sense and will not hold back for the sake of the plot so their enemies can get to use their full power.
4:As an extension of that, beyond planning ahead for the enemies, both sides also will always be using their full strength at all times, rather than having scenes like in the original version where Chandler and Cusack literally just stood there doing nothing while Zeldris fought everyone, when they could have assisted with magic and given Zeldris an easy win. For example Zeldris is pulling everyone in with the Nebula, and Cusack just uses Resonant on Ludociel or Escanor so their teamwork fails and they get rekt.
5:The Sinner is no longer the 'Original Demon'. That would imply that the Demon King created him and all of the other members of the Demon race, and somehow existed before then on his own. I would write it in such a way that even the Demon and Goddess Clans do have origin stories. For example they would all have primate ancestors at some point millions of years back, evolution would still be a thing.
6:Even Gilthunder manages to be useful, without it being illogical like it was in the manga version.
7:I re-arranged the timing of Ludociel's breakdown and the Sinner's powerup a bit so that he will be able to fight when the Sinner returns. Otherwise it is hard to explain how non-noon Escanor holds up for even half a minute while Ludociel is casually chatting with Hendrickson.
8:Added a few Escanor jokes. Credit to some random commentor on mangastream who came up with Escanor's alternate possible response to Ludociel as Ludociel falls into the nebula.
Overall, while a lot of the original fight was pretty good to me, that Merlin bit was just so ludicrous that to me it had to be majorly changed. It's not like her method of massively overkilling the two of them wasn't entertaining, but it was just too OP to the point where you wonder if she could easily defeat every single other enemy so far, or if the enemies would have all died if Merlin had gotten the others like Ludociel to act, and stop Zeldris from getting up. I think it's gotten a lot better here. I didn't write in the explicit time when they proceeded with the invasion of the dome on purpose, since that would spoil a bit of the surprise. However, it's around 11:55:55, 5 minutes before noon. Merlin chooses this time instead of noon to ensure that she will have enough time to spread her magic around the interior of the dome and prepare to Absolute Cancel true night when it is cast. When she says 'almost done', she's referring to spreading her magic autospells around the area to do an absolute cancel.
Also, Merlin/Ludociel/etc did not expect Estarossa to pose a massive threat to the sweeping force and make them take longer than expected. In a more expected scenario where Estarossa was forced to retreat from King/Diane/Sariel/etc, or avoided battling them in the first place when other demons confirmed they were all in the sweeping force, they would have rallied with the noon invasion army to fight him alongside the other 3, giving a more overwhelming advantage. Chandler was determined to stay with Meliodas no matter what, so they didn't consider pre-emptively seeking out the enemy army far before noon, even though that would circumvent the One. Changing locations until noon passed was not an option due to how Meliodas's transformation worked, and these kinds of characters are too prideful anyways to hide Meliodas's position. Plus, Chandler thought he had a way to get a certain kill on the One with true night+Meliodas cocoon, and thus massively decrease the enemy forces from the overwhelming advantage they would think they had. Zeldris and Cusack could have gone out to fight the enemy army, but they were not expected to be enough against the Archangels and the Sins together. That would also have ended up ruining Zeldris's plan to get Estarossa to rampage on his own and absorb commandments so they gained sentience and traveled back guaranteed.
I might write the Sinner fight at some point, but I probably won't write the final battle unless it is done after I write a general outline of a rewrite of a lot of the vague backstory of the Demon and Goddess Clans, as the changed lore would also significantly change the final battle.
2:Arthur is not dead in this rewrite, since his death seemed pointless in the original version. If he died, it would probably be in the final battle.
3: Generally, both sides have common sense and will not hold back for the sake of the plot so their enemies can get to use their full power.
4:As an extension of that, beyond planning ahead for the enemies, both sides also will always be using their full strength at all times, rather than having scenes like in the original version where Chandler and Cusack literally just stood there doing nothing while Zeldris fought everyone, when they could have assisted with magic and given Zeldris an easy win. For example Zeldris is pulling everyone in with the Nebula, and Cusack just uses Resonant on Ludociel or Escanor so their teamwork fails and they get rekt.
5:The Sinner is no longer the 'Original Demon'. That would imply that the Demon King created him and all of the other members of the Demon race, and somehow existed before then on his own. I would write it in such a way that even the Demon and Goddess Clans do have origin stories. For example they would all have primate ancestors at some point millions of years back, evolution would still be a thing.
6:Even Gilthunder manages to be useful, without it being illogical like it was in the manga version.
7:I re-arranged the timing of Ludociel's breakdown and the Sinner's powerup a bit so that he will be able to fight when the Sinner returns. Otherwise it is hard to explain how non-noon Escanor holds up for even half a minute while Ludociel is casually chatting with Hendrickson.
8:Added a few Escanor jokes. Credit to some random commentor on mangastream who came up with Escanor's alternate possible response to Ludociel as Ludociel falls into the nebula.
Overall, while a lot of the original fight was pretty good to me, that Merlin bit was just so ludicrous that to me it had to be majorly changed. It's not like her method of massively overkilling the two of them wasn't entertaining, but it was just too OP to the point where you wonder if she could easily defeat every single other enemy so far, or if the enemies would have all died if Merlin had gotten the others like Ludociel to act, and stop Zeldris from getting up. I think it's gotten a lot better here. I didn't write in the explicit time when they proceeded with the invasion of the dome on purpose, since that would spoil a bit of the surprise. However, it's around 11:55:55, 5 minutes before noon. Merlin chooses this time instead of noon to ensure that she will have enough time to spread her magic around the interior of the dome and prepare to Absolute Cancel true night when it is cast. When she says 'almost done', she's referring to spreading her magic autospells around the area to do an absolute cancel.
Also, Merlin/Ludociel/etc did not expect Estarossa to pose a massive threat to the sweeping force and make them take longer than expected. In a more expected scenario where Estarossa was forced to retreat from King/Diane/Sariel/etc, or avoided battling them in the first place when other demons confirmed they were all in the sweeping force, they would have rallied with the noon invasion army to fight him alongside the other 3, giving a more overwhelming advantage. Chandler was determined to stay with Meliodas no matter what, so they didn't consider pre-emptively seeking out the enemy army far before noon, even though that would circumvent the One. Changing locations until noon passed was not an option due to how Meliodas's transformation worked, and these kinds of characters are too prideful anyways to hide Meliodas's position. Plus, Chandler thought he had a way to get a certain kill on the One with true night+Meliodas cocoon, and thus massively decrease the enemy forces from the overwhelming advantage they would think they had. Zeldris and Cusack could have gone out to fight the enemy army, but they were not expected to be enough against the Archangels and the Sins together. That would also have ended up ruining Zeldris's plan to get Estarossa to rampage on his own and absorb commandments so they gained sentience and traveled back guaranteed.
I might write the Sinner fight at some point, but I probably won't write the final battle unless it is done after I write a general outline of a rewrite of a lot of the vague backstory of the Demon and Goddess Clans, as the changed lore would also significantly change the final battle.
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Since the commandments (and graces I imagine) are pieces of each corresponding God, and to absorb all of them is to become their vessel indirectly, it would've been pretty cool to see 5C-Meliodas partially influenced by his father's control. Seeing him become possessed was a good twist but it felt too sudden, introducing 5C-Meliodas partially exhibit his father's traits could've been a good way to foreshadow the possession whilst obviously showing the power & amazing factor of 5C-Meliodas.
For example, the Demon King trolled Elizabeth and outright said that he wanted her dead, what if 5C-Meliodas outright said he was going to break the curse and save Elizabeth, but an unconscious part of him wanted her dead instead (exhibiting his father's personality/wish?)
The same would apply to 2G-Elizabeth, where the Supreme Deity's control would be exhibited through Elizabeth.
For example, the Demon King trolled Elizabeth and outright said that he wanted her dead, what if 5C-Meliodas outright said he was going to break the curse and save Elizabeth, but an unconscious part of him wanted her dead instead (exhibiting his father's personality/wish?)
The same would apply to 2G-Elizabeth, where the Supreme Deity's control would be exhibited through Elizabeth.
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Meliodas with his Original Magic is nifty balancer against SD-level The One.
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I think part of him wanting her dead is a little extreme, but maybe instead of just feeling nothing towards her, he wonders just why he fell for her in the first place, compared to his earlier life where he was fine with obeying the Demon King. He'd think he has to follow through with his promise, but that as he is now, he doesn't understand how he could ever make a promise like that. On Elizabeth's front, it could definitely be shown in her battle with Mael. You could have her initial approach as she fights him change significantly. First she would be trying to get him to not kill her simply because she loves Meliodas. Then as she gets the power boost, after the 2 archangels are dead and she absorbs their graces, she shifts solely to a more punitive view of the situation, scolding him for putting his own feelings above two people in his clan who he had just killed, and his duty to his clan in general, as she attacks. Then she would probably repeat what they said about how he will only ever get his Grace of the Sun back and be redeemed if he stops fighting now and rejects the Commandments, and say it in a way almost as if she's the one with the power to return it to him. Her even saying that she is sure it could be returned would show her allegiance is starting to shift towards the Goddess Clan more than the 7 Deadly Sins. Maybe as people question her change in attitude, they interpret it as her becoming more emotionless due to A:The war B:Trying to find another way to convince Mael and C:Meliodas recently just turning her feelings down outright, but they'd still be unsettled nonetheless.
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Yes, more or less.
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I doubt that,it was never stated Mael won't be able to stay in the mortal realm of he uses One Mode unlike Meliodas's Original Magic.
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It's for one minute where as meliodas is being able to stay for one day
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Meliodas also didn't use it for one hour lol.
He just used it once which might be one minute.
One minute or not it was said if Meliodas uses his Ogmagic in Britannia he won't be able to stay in Britannia for long, which was never stated for Mael(as of now).
