WARNING: Gory

We circled each other. Just like we'd done in the training yard. This time though, I'd have to make the first move. The closer I was, the less space she'd have to swing her blade and use that attack again.

Our swords connected with a squeal then we traded a flurry of blows. Even with all the stress of the situation, I forced my body to relax, to allow my blade to become an extension of my body. Her defence was stronger now and I found it hard to find weak spots. Our blades sang for blood.

Mine fell first again.

She lunged forward unexpectedly and I jerked my head to the side. The tip sliced into my cheek. I jabbed my elbow into her chest, winding up my left fist for a punch –

I felt rather than saw Guila's attack. A fireball crackling towards me. I disengaged from Jericho, piercing her fireball with my blade.

Jericho's opened my back up like she'd done to Ban. I cried out, spun on my heel and slashed her across the stomach. The blade bit deep just above her hip and ripped out the side with a shower of blood. She screamed, curling towards the injury. I twirled my blade in hand, pommel now facing her temple.

Guila's lance slid under my arm. She thrust upwards, knocking me off balance. Jericho lashed for my unprotected stomach. I caught the blade on my broken vambrace, the edge slipping up and gouging into my elbow.

I was trying not to kill them but now, now they'd asked for it. I channelled my Mana. The air around us was filled with heat waves.

"Enflame!" I punched Guila in the centre of her armour, throwing her away. Jericho delivered a downward blow, double-handed. I blocked, using my flaming left hand as added leverage to hold my blade steady as I was forced to a knee from the blow.

The air grew hotter and hotter until I was sweating and panting. Beads of sweat formed on Jericho's brow.

With a snarl, I disarmed Jericho, kicked her in the chest then spun. "FIREW-URK!" I looked down. The tip of Guila's blade was in my stomach. My sword arm went limp.

"Stand down, Estra," she commanded. She didn't shift her blade away nor did she prod any deeper. She'd only intended to wound me. Good.

The air around us shimmered, the lingering spell. It was like a furnace in the space around the three of us yet they didn't noticed. I grasped tight to the Mana required for the spell. I let my head drop, a lure to draw her in.

To let her guard down.

The blade in my stomach shifted, drawing out of me with a sickening plop. I stayed upright by sheer force and pressed my left hand to stop the flow.

"Firework," I spat out. The shimmering air exploding into rainbow colours.

Knocked around, tossed like a rag-doll in a temper tantrum. Where was up, what was down? When I came to, I was on the ground, staring at the blue sky.

Too cheery a colour for the situation at hand. With a grimace, I got to my hand and knees. My hand was constricting the hilt of my sword. Guila was in a lunge position, head bowed. Blood dripped from her hairline and ear. Jericho was face down, backside in the air. The back of her legs were burned.

Even in the situation, I snickered. Wish I had a painter to capture this.

"Estra! You'll pay for that!" Guila grabbed her blade from where it had fallen and stalked towards me. She had her bitch face on and I just knew, I'd never, ever live this down.

That was if I survived the next minute.

Maybe I could make it two minutes.

"Thief!" I reached out towards Guila but the flow of Mana didn't come. Shocked, I looked at my hand and tried again, shoving as much of my own Mana into my fingertips to cast the spell. "Thief!"

"That won't work on me, Estra. Hendrickson warned me that you might get unstable on the mission so he taught me how to dispel your Thief spell."

Cold sweat dripped into my eyes. I tried again anyway, desperate. "THIEF!" This couldn't be! Only I knew how to dispel Thief. No one else knew! And even if they found out by accident, it was almost impossible to completely remove the Mana from your blood so I couldn't take a hold of it.

Unless! I looked up. One of the little balls on Guila's wrist was missing. A blue one. Had to be a type of Mana cancelling bead.

Now I only had a few seconds. She towered over me. I'd spent my Mana on a useless spell. Kitsune wasn't working fast enough. I planted my sword in the ground for leverage; she kicked it out from underneath me and I sprawled on the ground.

"Why?" I asked to stall for time.

"You know why. Hendrickson told you."

Tears came to my eyes.

Hendrickson had said the reason. Quietly. Almost to himself when I'd prepared to leave after the mission briefing. I hadn't wanted to believe my ears then and I've been putting off believing it all this time. I allowed my need for revenge to make the reasoning behind this mission a noble cause. But there was no nobility in this.

"To revive the demon clan."

Jericho flew past. Ban stood panting behind Guila. "What the hell did you say?"

"Ban, you bastard!" Jericho was back on her feet. She looked rested. Green bead. "The wounds I inflicted shouldn't have closed."

"Shaddup," he said in a sing-song voice. "How can I take a nap after hearing something like that?"

I drew my attention back to Guila. She cocked her head to the side then stepped over me. All my strength left me.

"Please! Sir Meliodas! Save us!"

"No matter how much you call his name, your hero is sealed within that stone. He's not going to come save you." Guila restrained Elizabeth.

"Please, Sir Meliodas!"

A wave of dark energy. Strange. Demonic. Overwhelming. It erupted from behind me; I did not want to look.

I took a peek. The crystal Elizabeth had been clutching shattered into a hundred pieces and pure darkness flooded out. It was a geyser gushing outwards, roaring in my ears like crashing waves. When it dissipated, Meliodas stood there. A black tattoo wrapped around his thigh and along his right side; encompassed his right arm and reached across his chest and throat; half his face was black.

His eyes were black as night.

He reeked of demon.

"How... how did he break out of the goddess amber?" Guila held up his broken sword, as if it had the answer.

One minute her hand was there; the next it was gone.

Meliodas held the stump and hilt in his hand.

Guila screamed and screamed, the blood spurting stump held close to her chest. No one moved as Meliodas plucked the sword hilt from Guila's decapitated hand and discarded it like it was nothing. It landed next to me, fingers still twitching. I vomited everywhere.

Meliodas swung the broken blade. The ground burst in a line, taking Guila with it. Jericho caught the tail end and somersaulted, landing in a crouch. Guila didn't move. The hand was gone but there was a bloody trail and splatter arc in their general direction.

Ban was up and running. He looked scared. "Captain, is that really you?" I heard him saw before his top rolled past me. I retched some more.

Teeth wrenched my braid back. I shrieked but then realised it was Hawk dragging me along. He deposited me next to Elizabeth as another explosion rocked the earth.

"Are you alright, Elizabeth? What about you, Estra?" Hawk asked.

"What the hell is going on with your captain?" I groaned, sat up against the pig. I couldn't see any of the others past the dust storm Meliodas had created.

"How should I know?! And he's your captain too!"

The dust suddenly cleared. Shock propelled me to my feet. We sat on a small island. The rest was a crater. Meliodas stood before Elizabeth, staring with those black, black eyes. Then he sniffed her.

Had he...returned to normal? A sense of relief filled me. Not because he had returned. Not because he'd defeated Guila and Jericho to save us.

I was glad Guila and Jericho had failed.

Revenge. He was so close, barely half a metre away. It would take one step, a single twist of the blade in his chest. Then my parents, finally they could be at peace.

Those eyes swung on me.

My blade arm snapped up, sword held flat side out horizontally across my body. I whipped my left arm vertical behind it to keep it steady.

His fist went through the blade like it was made of glass. The bones in my left arm crunched like brittle leaves. His punch caved my chest in and drove all the air from my lungs.

Oh, sticks.

I didn't remember what happened next. I was flying again. Only this time, I didn't land. Everything went dark before that. 

A/N: Had to use the manga for reference since I don't have enough internet for Netflix XD Chapter is slightly longer than the last few as I wanted to fit everything in because of how I want to start the next chapter.