"I thought for sure they'd be at what remains of the castle," I questioned as we ran onwards, deviating away from the half demolished castle and heading towards another half demolished building.

"The Magical Research building is where..." Leraj cleared his throat, throwing me a glance, "where he made the knights. It would be only fitting for him to be there."

I pursed my lips. "You sure the others will be there then?"

"Not really anywhere else for them to go," King said.

"Plus, I'd say that's a pretty big indicator of where they are," inputted Ban, pointing in the direction we were headed to, Diane running ahead of us.

"Good, we aren't far behind." We sped up and appeared in Diane's shadow. "Hey, Diane!"

She looked down. "You guys made it!"

"No time to waste," Leraj said before she could speak further. "I feel Hendrickson and Meliodas ahead."

I smacked my fist into my palm. "Not long now. Guess we go in guns blazing?"

"Diane, lead the charge," Leraj said, and she sped up, swinging Gideon around her head like a toy. We followed the path winding upwards.

Something must have caught her attention because a moment later, she brought Gideon down. Dust exploded but we careened onwards, pulling out the dust cloud to Diane lifting Hawk and an injured Elizabeth into her free hand.

King circled round, dodging Hendrickson's gaze. His eyes darted at the four of us standing in her shadow.

"But she had one foot in the grave," he exclaimed. "This can't be."

"Surprise," I simply said, King's chastiefol in Bear form hitting Hendrickson on the head with all the Fairy King's power.

The ground rumbled, a chasm splitting the Magic Research building – or what remained of it – into half. I gave a long whistle staring down and out the other side where I could see the blob that was the Grandmaster Holy Knight. He's going to have a killer headache.

"You all made it?" Meliodas said as he swung slowly by the foot. Ban had caught him before he'd freefallen too.

"We couldn't let you have all the fun, Captain," I replied, stepping away from the edge.

Ban righted Meliodas. "Most of the Holy Knights in Liones should be assembled... Captain," Leraj said, coming to a stop in front of Meliodas.

"Nice to see you again, Leraj," Meliodas said. "Glad you could help."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," the demon replied, the corner of his mouth quirked up.

As a group, we ran back down to Hendrickson's sprawled form. At the bottom were the Holy Knights as Leraj had said, at the ready for a fight. I even spotted one of the three we had saved from the demons, sword in trembling hand. We made eye contact and he seemed to straighten, nodding at me. I nodded back then took my place at Leraj's side, not far from Diane.

Hendrickson got to his feet. His right arm was missing but most of his right side was covered in black so I had the sneaking suspicious he could do what Meliodas did in the fight with Ban.

"The Seven Deadly Sins. Well, I must admit, I'm extremely honoured and humble that the legendary Sins have graced me with their presence. And more?"

"These are the Holy Knights of Liones but they're not after any of us this time," Meliodas said. "They're here to stop you from escaping."

"We've wiped out all the demons from the capital too," said King.

Hendrickson cackled. "We'll if you didn't, what fun would this be? I'm not sure how you managed to rid the city of all that scum in such a short amount of time, but excellent all the same, Seven Deadly Sins!" He drew his weapon and his arm returned to its rightful place. "However, you can't defeat me."

Before he'd even uttered the last syllable, Meliodas was in motion. His right arm went flying again; but Hendrickson called it back in an instant, spinning round. Meliodas ducked, pivoted like a dancer and delivered several cuts to Hendrickson's chest.

Tearing my eyes from the fight, I spun suddenly to Leraj and grabbed him by the shoulders. He jumped when I pushed my face into his personal space. "I need you to stay with Elizabeth."

"I'm not doing that."

"I'm not asking. Don't think I didn't see you stumbling about at the end while fighting those demons. If you want to do something, stay by Elizabeth's side and don't let Hendrickson near her."

I could see him debating what to do. In the background, I could hear my friends fighting and, even though I itched to join them, I held onto him, making sure he understood how serious I was.

"Fine," he grumbled. I relaxed my grip and stepped back from him. He drew his sword but then laid a hand on my head. "Give him hell."

I turned back to the fight with a snarl. Now the fun began.

"Combined Attack: Metal Crush!" The rock holding Hendrickson broke apart at the ferocity of Meliodas piercing strike and Hendrickson hit the ground at a stagger.

I was on him in a heartbeat, hand clawed, my strength rising like the temperature as brilliant red flames danced up and down my arm, swirling like a vicious tornado.

I stepped in close. "Enflame!" The uppercut caught him under the chin with all my strength backing it.

Hendrickson went sky high. And Meliodas was ready to meet him. "Combined Attack: Ricochet!" He hit the ground like a shooting star, the ground rumbling beneath our feet.

I'd be having a word with the Captain at the end of all this with that combined attack name. Didn't sound very cool at all even though Hendrickson had resembled a ball pinging off a wall.

I drew my sword and activated the flames, then threw myself at Hendrickson. Our blades connected with a clang! I wasn't expecting to defeat him one on one in his current state but – as I parried his blows in a blur of speed, my arms shaking at his strength – I knew that all I needed to do was distract his attention long enough.

He twisted my blade away, leaving me exposed and throwing me off balance. I clawed a hand, calling "Thief!" just as his punch connected with my chest. I flew backwards and was caught by Ban and Gowther. The mana rushed out of me and I sagged, waiting a few seconds for my ribs to heal before I stood on my own.

It might not have been his full strength but by the gods, it still hurt. I rubbed my chest. Luckily, Meliodas had taken my place fighting him.

"You okay, Estra?" Gowther asked.

I re-enflamed my sword and started walking towards the battle again. "Are you two even going to do anything?" I questioned, glancing at them briefly.

Ban opened his mouth to answer but then Leraj's voice cut over him. "Estra, watch out!"

I dodged Hendrickson's lunge and spun, swinging a flaming arm down on where was. But it was a hair too slow and I struck nothing but air. Good news and bad news: good news was that Hendrickson was moving too fast to turn back round as I lost balance and fell over; bad news was that he rammed into Ban and sent him careening into the rockface, face first.

Nothing but legs hung out of the rock. I winced but I'd count that as payback for the punch earlier. "Glancing away during a battle could be your undoing, Ban," mused Gowther. Hendrickson spun at the sound of his voice, throwing a ball of purple flames at the sin and blade flashing through the air. Gowther dodged nimbly each time, the same blank look on his face before Ban appeared between the two of them.

He had his nunchucks over his shoulders. "Yo. Hey, Hendy, would you mind telling me where you found that thing?" he asked, pointing at the hole Ban had made earlier.

"What's that?" Hendrickson asked.

"Come on, you heard me," Ban said with a sly grin. "I said I wanna know where you got the damn thing, so you better spit it out already!"

I raised an eyebrow as Ban flailed at Hendrickson's face and why he was suddenly so enraged. Ban hit him hard enough to blast him into the rockface he'd been sent to and the wall came tumbling down.

The leering face of the red demon from my nightmares watched us from the gloom, eye sockets dark and empty. Blood roared in my ears and the world narrowed.

I heard voices calling out to me but they faded away until I was back in that room, strapped to that table. The cup forced against my lips. The memory took hold of my throat, dragging me deeper.

I shook my head violently, forcing the memory to fade away. Sweat dripped down my back and trembles quivered in my hands. I couldn't go getting distracted right now; just as a black tendril shot towards me and through my side.