The Kingdom of Camelot.

Located to the far south of Britannia, it had recently been elected with a young promising king; King Arthur Pendragon. Guided by his master, the legendary Merlin of the Seven Deadly Sins, its future had looked bright. At least, back when the kingdom had mostly been populated by humans.

Like the Liones Kingdom, it had its own group of Holy Knights. However, these same knights were defeated in a mere instant by the horrifying invasion of the Demon Clan. More specifically, their leader; Zeldris.

Fearing extinction, the civilians quickly stood down, bowing their heads out of sight to avoid being executed. They had no hope left but in the young king, who had suddenly gone missing to their chagrin. No one knew where he had vanished.

Now the once prosperous kingdom was one of darkness, swarmed with demons by the dozen and delegated as the first conquest of the Demon Clan's advent. Every day was one of terror; every night, anxiety.

This is a world in which humans and beings have yet to be divided. A tale of ancient times. Before the battle of Liones, the Kingdom of Camelot was soundly beaten and conquered. However, a spark of hope remains in the heroes that soon draw near. Hooray, the sins are here...

...The Eight Deadly Sins are here!

***

***

Chapter XV
The Heroes' Respite

The strange language filled the air, one of awe; one of mystery.

Within the stone tower, the mage dwelled, standing meditatively over her sacred treasure. Her hands were outstretched at her sides as she focused on the task that was laid out before her. Her face tensed in concentration.

She had to find him. She had to know he was okay. He was her light in the darkness; a hope that the world would have a brighter day.

"Where are you...?" she asked tensely.

"Give me a response..." the mage pleaded, squinting through the light of her strange crystal.

Warily, she watched through the eyes of the demon who flew through the Britannian sky.

"Kehhh~" the tiny being complied, "Making me go and look for the royal vessel's magic power...?" he spat out.

"All I can sense here are demon's magic power and the presence of the humans they've brainwashed," he pointed out.

"Quit your complaining and keep searching, Orlondi!" Merlin ordered irritatedly. She was on edge at the moment.

"Y... Yes, ma'am! I'm sorry, Lady Merlin!" he agreed, shivering.

"...But really, no matter how hard I look... I can't find him anywhere!" he complained honestly, "Can't I just come home already?" he whined.

"ORLONDI!" the boar's sin shouted anxiously, warning him.

"Huh? Why'd it go dark all of a sudden?" he finally took notice of his surroundings. Pure black surrounded him on each side.

Before him, was the demon king's representative himself, hand outstretched under himself.

"And who the hell are you?" Zeldris demanded, staring past the demon to the mage controlling it inside.

"I..." Orlondi screamed, flying back in realization, "IT- IT-IT'S Y-YOU!" he yelled belatedly in fear.

"Oh no..." Merlin winced, preparing to get back for the blow to come.

Darkness engulfed the small creature, its body seemingly vanishing out of existence.

"GYAPIII!" Orlondi screamed in his apparent death.

Quaking, he took in the fact that he was still alive, "Huh?...Wha?" he questioned.

Zeldris paused slightly, a smug smile appearing slowly of his face.

"I'm alive?" he realized.

"Not bad..." he acknowledged once more, ignoring the beast, "to be able to escape my grasp..."

The gem had shattered.

Splurrch! Blood splattered to the ground back in Liones.

Merlin gasped in extreme pain and relief, "Haaah..." she panted, "Gwa...Haa...Aaah..."

"Arthur..." she gritted her teeth in anxiety and worry, "Where are you?"

***

A solemn mood engulfed the bar as the group tried to ignore it, doing business as usual. Glancing around the filled enclosure, the captain took notice of the individual who wasn't present at the moment.

He wondered about the situation.

"Merlin..." he muttered, "What are you up to?"

For the past couple of days in which they had moved out of Liones, the mage had disappeared, rarely teleporting herself into the bar so that she could measure how far they were. Each time she had seemed tense, exhausted.

Still, she pushed herself forwards, making sure that they wouldn't worry about the welfare of their fellow sin.

Granted, he only hadn't mentioned it since he was doing the same.

Meliodas was worried about the safety of the two doppelgangers. Two days had passed and it seemed that they still weren't any closer to discovering the whereabouts of the duo. It was as if they had disappeared off of the face of the map.

Merlin had claimed not to have seen them in her intense search of the demon-filled kingdom of Camelot.

Then again, she didn't seem to have any luck locating whatever it was she had been looking for there either.

The boar's sin was stressed, he could tell. It had been so uncharacteristic of her nature that it worried him. Staring at the wooden mug in his hand, he clenched it tightly, practically glaring at it.

"Where are you...?" he stared into his reflection in the brown liquid, squinting. "Victoria...? Elizabeth?"

He didn't have an answer.

To be honest, Escanor hadn't shown up in the last two days either. Meliodas wasn't worried about him, however. It just slightly miffed him.

Well, at least he would be fine- he started to think to himself. Leisurely, he took a long sip of the ale.

A hand clapped him on the back, making him choke on the liquid.

"Gah!" he coughed repetitively, spitting out the drink.

Ban stood behind him, hand raised.

"Come on, Cap'n~" he encouraged lightly, "don't look so down. We'll find 'em!" he cheered slowly.

So Meliodas swiftly punched him in the gut.

His guts proceeded to splatter on the wall of the bar as he crashed into it, coughing up blood repetitively. The bar quieted down as customers stared, wide-eyed at the sight before them.

Ban stood up, fully healed again.

"Geez, Captain," he started, "you could have warned me you were gonna do that..." he tilted his neck experimentally.

"What would be the point?" Meliodas fully countered his statement.

Ban clicked his teeth, "Alright then," he grinned, slamming his mug to the table.

"I challenge you to a drinking contest!" both yelled out. Their audience sweatdropped at the dual proposal.

Internally, each had different reasons for suggesting the contest.

Ban wanted to get Meliodas' mind off of the situation by getting him drunk enough.

Meliodas wanted Ban to leave him alone to his misery.

So these thoughts both translated out this way.

"Who's gonna judge?" Ban asked.

"King and Gowther will!" Meliodas declared.

"Haah?" King asked in surprise, slightly drunk. Diane was resting outside somewhere not far away.

"Okay~" Gowther agreed instantly, wanting to please.

"Gowther!" King protested.

"Then it's official," the captain announced, "Whoever loses has to do anything the winner wants for a day," he set the conditions.

The crowd oohed.

"Hah~" Ban scoffed, "That doesn't scare me!" he stated as they shook on the deal.

"Three... two... one... go!" the now emotion-filled, goat's sin counted down as the two started their duel-off. Their audience watched attentively.

"Anyways, Gowther," King started, focusing back on their talk, "I wanted to tell you~" he hiccupped, "that I'm sorry for what I said~"

Gowther shook his head, smiling slightly, "No... I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you and Diane," he bowed his head.

"That's in the past..." he paused," You sure you don't want a drink?" he asked, feeling a slight buzz.

"I'm sure," he nodded, smiling, "I told you, it wouldn't help me anyway."

"Alright..." King asked skeptically, taking a few more sips.

Clatter! A mug fell onto the ground as the two focused their attention on the duo.

Ban was spread out on the table contently as Meliodas sipped calmly, noting his defeat. He turned to the other two slightly.

"So..." he started, pausing his sip, "how many drinks was that?"

"Um... Twenty one!" King guessed, having not been paying attention.

"Actually... That was forty-six," Gowther corrected, leaning happily onto his hand.

"What?" Harlequin started, "I saw twenty-six!" he denied.

"King..." the doll sighed, "you're drunk."

It was true. The fairy king had been sipping around ten drinks during their battle. He thought Gowther considered him a lightweight.

"So how many have I drank?" Meliodas asked to prove his point.

"Fifty-two," Gowther affirmed.

"Alright," Meliodas stood up, "It seems we've concluded our bet!"

"Elaine..." the fox's sin muttered in his sleep, not hearing him.

"King, Gowther," he began. The two looked up, "I'll be upstairs for the time being. Take care of the bar for me, will you?"

King seemed to be in the process of saying something else to Gowther as he promptly fell asleep. Gowther glanced back from him to the captain.

"Yeah, I'll watch it," he nodded, waving at him.

"Thanks, Gowther," Meliodas climbed up the stairs swiftly.

Noticing some people filing out of the bar, Gowther turned to the grizzly's sin. Raising his hands, he tensed them, activating his ability. "Search Light."

Gowther... I hate you... King thought in his sleep.

Cool! I got wings! Said a stray thought.

I've... misunderstood everything about you... A sober one rose.

Diane... mhehehe, he dreamed.

After all... I did the same things you did...

I'm sorry... Gowther shut it off there.

"So he still dislikes me..." the pink haired doll murmured to himself, "It's to be expected, after all... I did do horrible things to the woman most precious to him..."

"I guess I should become a good doll..." he considered, "maybe then, they'll like me. Actually, I think Escanor might," he smiled contently to himself.

However, he, himself, possessed a blank in his memory.

"The night of Victoria's arrival..." he furrowed his eyebrows in thought, "What was I doing in the forest itself?"

***

An unheard question is stated to himself inside the Boar's Hat!

Merlin's search for Arthur ends up in shreds! Meanwhile, Escanor, Victoria and Elizabeth are nowhere to be found! What exactly does Gowther mean when he says he can't remember the night of Victoria's arrival?

Remember to vote, comment and tell me what you think!

PS: This update is slightly early due to the latest Hunter X Hunter chapter's update! I'm so excited!

~Nia