This is a tale of humans and beings from other worlds. It is a story of ancient times. Countless conflicts have been repeated throughout Britannia's history. No longer is there anyone who knows how it all began and how to bring everything to a stop. However, there is one man who does know and the order of knights that man commands is...

...The Legendary Seven Deadly Sins!

***

https://youtu.be/8UbS2pKIyOQ

***

Chapter VII
A Test of Faith

The beams were fast.

Fired in rapid succession, Victoria evaded the arrows swiftly, vaguely clued in as to what his ability was. She knew she had seen him somewhere before. Three thousand years ago, in the Ten Commandments... Gowther of Selflessness.

He had been different back then, having pitch black eyes and an actual... personality. Seeing him now, she doubted that this really was him before. Granted, he had up and left during the war after using them to release his true self, she had heard. Still, she was very familiar with the attack he was using now.

His ability was Invasion, a horrifying technique. If he or that blast touched her, he could alter each and every one of her memories or send her into her worst nightmare. In a way, it was somewhat worse than being the living dead.

Though the dual bow itself was unfamiliar, she knew that she couldn't let it touch her. One wrong move and it was game over. She was surprised to see that he had been working with Meliodas once more in a group, but it seemed now his allegiance remained the same.

"What do you hope to gain from attacking Elizabeth?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as she spun to avoid his latest attack.

"I have nothing, in particular, to gain," Gowther revealed stoically, firing beams in continuity.

"What? Then why do it?" she questioned confusedly, dodging once more. Ducking, she ran under the blast range, sweeping upwards at him with the twin scythe; Chronology.

Blood splattered the air as he rebalanced himself, aiming at the brunette once more. "I'm merely getting rid of a nuisance," he pushed up his glasses, releasing the blasts once more.

"A nuisance?" she repeated.

Gowther nodded, "Your presence here is an unnecessary factor. Things would go much smoother without you around," the glare blocked his eyes from sight.

"Smoother? Gowther, who exactly are you- the Goat's Sin of Lust or the Commandment of Selflessness?" Victoria interrogated suspiciously, running around him in a circle as she tried to find a blind spot.

"I... do not know yet," the magenta haired individual revealed, changing his direction to suit hers.

That's right, Victoria realized, up until now, he likely has been the sin of lust. However, now that Freudrin is dead, his power and memory ought to return to him. 

He likely doesn't know who he is anymore.

"Still, you can't just attack your friend," she shook her head disappointedly.

"And what made you think that the Princess was my friend?"

"She's not? Then why join her?"

"As a member of the Seven Deadly Sins, it is my obligation to the captain to do as he says," Gowther revealed, giving her no openings to attack.

"Tch, you bastard. So you really don't have any feelings, huh?" she clicked her tongue angrily.

"And you? How does having emotions help you?" he struck back.

"What?" she was taken aback.

"I believe that you've benefitted nothing from having feelings. You were tricked using your desire for vengeance, betrayed by the one you love and ultimately ruined by your kindness," he dodged her swiftly as she sliced at him, "Can you truly tell me that gaining emotions will benefit me at all?"

Victoria didn't know what to tell him.

"Victoria!" Elizabeth screamed in the distance, alerting her once more to her peril.

Anxious, she ran towards the camp, halted by Gowther appearing in front of her. "Just what are you planning?" she yelled, trying to bypass the doll.

"Victor, how could you?!" an enraged voice yelled in betrayal from above, disturbing the night sky.

"Meliodas?" she looked up at the figure high above in confusion. He didn't seem to be talking to her though clearly, the words he was saying were.

The blonde clenched his fist in anger, the demon sword; Lostvayne, trapped within its depths. His eyes seemed pitch black as a demonic mark appeared above his eye. A black wing of darkness extended into the sky.

"I know that what I did was wrong, but I didn't think you would stoop so low as to hurt Elizabeth!" his pupils dilated in rage.

"What... is he doing?" she squinted her eyes in disbelief. Elizabeth was in danger, this wasn't the time to go crazy.

There weren't many times in which she had witnessed him get angry and this time, was surprisingly one of them. Looking closer, she noticed a short purple light attached to his head, completely unnoticed by the individual himself.

"What... is that?" she wondered aloud, almost forgetting about the doll in front of her.

"Nightmare Teller," Gowther revealed, looking up also, "You may not have noticed, but I didn't carelessly fire my arrows around. As of now, he's trapped in a nightmare, one of you killing his precious princess," he explained.

Victor had no words. "What the hell, Gowther?! What are you trying to accomplish here?!" she yelled furiously, staring incredulously back at him.

"I merely prevented him from interfering. The princess is going to get wounds similar to what I've depicted for him. I'm certain that you can figure out for yourself just what it is that I'm doing?" he tilted his head emotionlessly.

***

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to do.

It had seemed like things were going just fine when Victoria had left the encampment. She had finally managed to get through to to the brunette and even built up a level of trust between them. They had even become friends over the experience, before she had left to fuel the fire.

Then a demon had stumbled on to their camp.

Victoria had warned her as much, the goddess seemed unsure if leaving her alone was such a good idea. After all, they were in a holy war. These were dangerous times.

However, unlike before, Elizabeth could fend for herself to a degree. By no means could she fight like Meliodas and the others, but she had learnt Ark, a trick that could work on most- if not all demons. Her healing had even improved to stellar levels over time.

Things would be fine if it actually worked on this demon.

The demon had broken the barrier, sometime ago after realizing that physical force wouldn't work. A quick purgatory fire, and the goddess' weak protection was down in a matter of seconds. She doubted Victoria had taken demons in account when she made it.

After realizing that her level of ability wouldn't work on this demon, she tried another step- she tried to call Victor.

"Victoria!" she screamed shrilly, hoping that the devil's sin would hear her and come. Clashes of fighting could be heard some distance away in the forest. For a second, she thought she heard Meliodas.

Lumbering slowly, she watched as the demon approached, running to the opposite side of the fire. Raising her hands, she tried for the fourth time in futility to vanquish the demon, hoping it would work this time. "Ark!" Elizabeth yelled, closing her eyes once more.

A blinding light lit up the small campsite, encompassing the demon in its depths. Opening her eyes, she prayed that it had worked, finding nothing in the air.

"It worked!" the princess rejoiced in happiness, only to be shot down as a hand materialized behind her, slamming her straight into a nearby tree.

Landing on the ground, she coughed violently, the wind knocked out of her from the blow. It would take a while to heal herself, she realized as she stood up once more, leaning on the tree for support. A bright flash caught her eye.

Looking closer, Elizabeth noticed something she hadn't seen until now, a small purple light sticking out from the side of the demon's head. She had seen it somewhere before, she thought, thinking back to where she had witnessed this power.

"Lord Gowther?" she asked aloud in confusion. But why would he attack her like this?

A great roar pierced the air, covering her ears to keep her eardrums intact. Snapping back to attention, she dodged as a beam of darkness fired out of its throat, razing part of the greenery behind her. She wouldn't be able to handle this demon alone, she acknowledged, she needed to find Victoria. Turning, she ran out of the camp, looking to see if the demon had followed behind her.

She had been surprised when Meliodas hadn't appeared for him to save her, he probably was too far for him to hear her. No, she was too dependent on him, she realized belatedly. He couldn't be there for her all the time, she had learned as much when he had died. Elizabeth needed to prove to him and Victoria that even just this once, she could protect herself. Halting her descent, she turned around watching the demon sprint towards her.

***

"What you're doing?!" Victoria snapped in a rage, "What you're doing is hurting Elizabeth!"

"It seems you don't get it then. Fine, I'll tell you. You're going to take the blame for Elizabeth's injuries. After all, that's all you're good for," he said, swiftly punching the girl on the cheek some distance away, "Isn't that right, Delizah?" he straightened.

Forced aside by the impact of the punch, Victoria's bangs slid to the side of her face, a pitch black demonic eye staring enraged at him. Flinching, she struggled to get up, crying out in pain as she fell back down, a red mark where he had hit her face. Gowther approached her slowly, twin bows in hand once more.

"So you hid it, huh? It seems you just can't accept your heritage, can you? Hmm, do you even know it at all?" he asked blankly, kicking her some distance away.

"The hell are you talking about?" she spat out, coughing up blood.

"Or can you not accept, that your mother, Guinevere Avalon, was the very advocate of the Demon King herself?" Gowther summoned his bows once more, approaching the motionless girl. Silky, long, black hair fell down his face, a familiar visual staring down at her.

Not seeing this, Victoria leaned on her elbow, forcing herself up as she hacked violently. She remained silent, imagining exactly where he was in her head.

"Victoria Avalon," Gowther continued, reading her mind, "the famed despicable daughter of 'that wench'. One may say it isn't a surprise for the daughter to be convicted of the same thing. Like mother, like daughter. Your sin isn't so much betraying the four clans like you told the Princess, is it? Your sin... is atoning for hers."

"...Get out of my head," she spat in disgust, furious with the invasion of privacy.

He ignored her, "Not even the Captain knows the truth about you... Perhaps, he should find out."

"...Shut up..."

"I could help you forget. Forget about the past, forget about yourself," he offered emotionlessly, stepping closer, "Then he wouldn't have to find out."

"...Shut up," she clenched her fist in shame.

"...About your mother's curse... about the Demon King's work..." One step. Two steps. "He wouldn't even have to know about your sin that's the worst."

"Shut up!" Victoria yelled suddenly, swinging her scythes almost as if to cut down the doll's words.

Stopping, she froze. Staring right back into her eyes, was her mother's face, smiling. A purple arrow notched right before her face, "Rewrite Light," the sinful commandment spoke, releasing the magic arrow a second later.

That second was all she needed, "Reset!" Victoria yelled finally, a demonic mark covering her black eye as she released her trump card.

***

A bright light fills the air!

What could this mysterious ability possibly be? And why wait so long to use it? What could possibly be the outcome of this fight?

Remember to vote and tell me what you think!

~Nia