Madeline's POV

Fear coiled in me at the sight of him, looking worse off before, his skin looking deadly pale as if he whacked flour onto him and sealed it there. The bulging muscles he previously held now reformed into more lean meat. I could feel it, the danger that radiated off of him, the swirls of ember in his eyes as he stared at our group.

"Ban!" I yelled when the Fox Sin charged forward, "Ban don't do it, stop!" My brother yelled beside me, his voice echoing off of the cave walls as Ban jumped into the air and came down with a prominent swing on Hendrickson. A blinding light came in between Ban's weapon and the man who had just implanted Grey Demon blood into his bloodstream.

"How do you like that?!" The blinding light increased, enrapturing them, shielding my eyes from being able to see their forms. When the light decreased, it left us with the sight of Ban's lower half, having somehow been cut in two. 'Ban...?' I yelped in pain when I tried to activate my eyes again to see his condition on the inside. That couldn't have killed him, there shouldn't have been a way to kill someone like Ban. In the past we have tried many experiments to see how far we could push his immortality. Which was- very far.

"S-So.. Is that still... Him?" Questioned King.

"No way. Whatever that thing is, it's not human anymore." Hendrickson's body had changed drastically in that moment, the second transformation I have witnessed from him today. Skin a deadly grey, matching the corpse of the Grey Demon beside him, black wing protruding out of his back, scars of blood veins running across his skin, creating a cracking effect. The topping of this Demon Cake was two white with black spots of horns protruding out of his forehead. He stares down at us menacingly, but somehow giving off the portrayal that was... Bored?

"Sin of Trust, now that you have bore witness to my power, what say you when it comes to my offer?" He questioned me, lips warping into a smirk. I clenched my jaw, holding onto my skirt.

"Offer?" I heard Gowther ask, confused. "He wants me to come quietly so he can use my blood to open the gate." I answered, breath hitching when Hendrickson jumped down from his spot. Meliodas side stepped in front of me, his sword held up. His body barely did anything to hide his view from me.

"Over my dead body." Meliodas growled out in front of me under his breath. Hendrickson tilted his head as he came to a halt a few feet in front of us.

"What's your decision, Madeline Talian?" My eyes widened, my full name being used. How did... He knows my full name. That can't be right! My green eyes hardened, my right hand going to the holster at my waist, grasping hold of the dagger.

"I refuse, Hendrickson." He hummed, his smirk widening to show off the newly developed villainess teeth he had gained only moments ago. "Very well." I felt the blast before I saw it, Meliodas crashing into my body as we were thrown airborne, bits and pieces of debris and of the earth falling around us. It was so quick, barely the others had time to react to protect themselves. Light encompassed us as the blue sky and the drifting clouds came into view, leaving us out in the open.

Vaulted over the expanse of the land- I landed on my ass, my brother somehow managing to land in front of me, still on his feet.

"It can't be, the source of this magical power!" I heard someone say as I pushed myself off of the ground, wincing at the feeling of bruises beginning to form from the harsh fall. My dress was now more tattered than it was earlier, rips and stains of dirt left on the fabric, the tight I wore holding the same fate. They were barely tights anymore at this point. "Don't tell me that it is coming from... Hendrickson!"

"Maddy are you okay?!" Meliodas asked me as he wiped his face. I nodded, "I am, is everyone else okay?!" Before I was able to be given an answer, Hendrickson approached the area Elizabeth laid, seemingly unconscious. Just what happened?! I was so confused about everything again! Meliodas sprouted off of the ground, zooming through the air.

"Watch out he is going after Elizabeth!" 'Once I refused to help him, his focus returned to Elizabeth?'

"Don't let him near her!" Meliodas stabbed into Hendrickson's chest, inflicting not even a small cut into the grey skin. Hendrickson whacked Meliodas back, Gowther coming to his aid.

"Rewrite Light!" Before with amazing speed, Gowther unable to predict Hendrickson to decapitate him. I could feel my heart pound at the sight, body growing hot, beginning to fume.

"Grand Master Hendrickson, please you have to stop! Y-Y-You are under arrest, f-for the crime of betraying the kingdom!" Shouted one of the Holy Knight soldiers. My heart rate continued to escalate as I made a run for it over to Elizabeth, avoiding Hendrickson's gaze. "Quick as a hare, vaulting across the forest floor!" I felt the burst of speed, leaving me able to get to Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in time. I dropped down to my knees on the other side of Elizabeth, resting my hands over top of her stomach.

"What is this?!" I looked above, the dark spots of matter floating down from the sky. Bodies began to drop, darkened bodies of people. The dark spots leaving no one alive if they were touched.

"It's instant death!" I caught another voice yell out. "Shield!" A green shield appeared above me and the Princesses, the shield splitting off over to Hawk, shielding the boar from getting hit.

"How long has she been out?" I asked Princess Margaret, knowing that I couldn't pay attention to my friends or allies.

"Maybe for 20 minutes? I-I don't know, I wasn't keeping track!" She replied to me as quick as she could. 'I don't have time to whip up something that would wake her up right now... I need to, I need to heal her. The sensations should pull her out of her sleep!' I thought to myself, letting my magic course through me and down to my hands, the semi-vibrant green glow illuminating my face and Princess Margaret. I began to hear her, noting to myself that there really wasn't much to be healed. If I could direct my healing to her fatigue... It would help in waking her up.

"Y-You're the Sin of Trust, right?" I heard Princess Margaret ask me, leaving me to nod. "I am, I will do everything I can to wake Elizabeth up. Tell me if anything heads towards us so I can direct the barrier to accommodate with the threat." Princess Margaret nodded as I focused solely on Elizabeth, blocking out any yells that came from the outside, stuck in my own little bubble. 'I can't keep using my magic like this, I should have kept up more with practicing my offense and defense spells over the years...' I reprimanded myself before I shook my head softly, 'No, it's not your fault. There was no way to predict being thrusted back into this life like that.'.

"Killer Iceberg!" Huh? "Into... Blizzard Axel!"

"Brilliant Detonation!" That didn't sound too good! My attention pulled off of Elizabeth for a mere moment to see Guila, her weapon rose up high, the forming of many explosions into a ball of yellow and orange light, sent barreling down at Hendrickson.

"Rising Tornado!" What was his name again?

"Lightning King Iron Hammer!" I don't even know you!

Their combined forces of spells warped into one, pressing harshly down onto the Fake Demon known as Hendrickson, resulting into a fearful blast that extended upward passed the tallest building in the world, crackling of lightning surrounding it, the swirling air of the tornado bringing on the damage, the explosions blasts keeping all three together as one fluid magical attack.

"Lady Trust!" I heard Princess Margaret state she shielded her face. I firmly nodded, moving the shields and expanding them to protect us from the debris that soon followed. I could hear Hawk scream when he was getting whacking by the rocks, reminding me that I had to move his shield as well, moving into down in front of his pig snout, the rocks hitting off of the shield.

"Uh... Huh...?" I looked down, sighing in relief at the sight of Elizabeth opening her eyes.

"You are awake." I said, the green glow on my hands dissipating as I helped her sit up, "Run..."

"Elizabeth!"

"He's too strong, I don't want anybody to get hurt. So please... Please just-" The Holy Knights ganged up on Hendrickson again, "Just run!" She screamed. Hendrickson assaulted forward, cutting some Holy Knights in half like he did to Ban. The pink haired Holy Knight collapsing after blood spurted out of his back, having not met the same fate as being cut in half.

"Rising Meteor!" Diane yelled as she rose the earth up from the ground, catching Hendrickson by surprise. "Now King!" She shouted to King up in the air.

"Spirit Spear Chastiefol, eight configuration!"

"Dark Nebula." Darkness enveloped Hendrickson up in the air, spreading across the sky as high winds hit us head on.

"Protect!" I yelled, a different barrier appearing before my family members, the barrier not strong enough to stop them from getting thrown away, but lessened the blow from the magnificent high winds. Once the wind stopped, I could feel fatigue run through me, eyes becoming blurry as the form of my brother ran to the front of us, using his body shield us with his arms outstretched. The ball of darkness grew smaller and smaller, and within the cloud of dust, I heard a sarcastic Ban rise to the surface. "Good job guys, way to show him who is boss around here- Gahh!" Hendrickson landed on his abdomen, successfully cutting the immortal in half for the second time within the past 10 minutes.

"Like lambs to the slaughter..." Hendrickson began as he walked over, stopping the midst of his villainous monologue at the sight of Meliodas protecting us. "I admit, I am impressed."

"Sir Meliodas..." Elizabeth whispered before Meliodas fell onto his knees, falling forward and collapsing, "Sir.. Meliodas?"

"Elizabeth... Madeline..." He croaked out our names, "..Run away." I tried to push myself off of the ground, but the world just seemed to spin, leaving to collapse on to my forearms.

"I can't. I won't leave you!" The Princess beside me refused tearfully. "Elizabeth, please run, if he has both of us, there is no stopping him." I told her, my arms shaking as I began to push myself off of the ground again.

"Well, Meliodas. You are a more dangerous man that I gave you credit for." Hendrickson summed more of the black spots of darkness that had killed the first row of Holy Knights. He clenched his fist tightly, the ball of dark energy gravitating to one ball, making it bigger.

"Allow yourself to be swallowed by the darkness and to be destroyed."

"No brother." I said.

"If you are going to kill him, kill me too!" Stated Elizabeth, arm outstretched towards my brother. "Now, Dead End." No... I can't. Tears streamed down my face as I pushed myself off of the ground, cursing silently as I walked forward, the ball of darkness being sent towards us. "There is not a soul alive to save you now."

'I don't have enough time to put up a powerful barrier against this thing... I can just feel the dark magical energy radiate off of it. Oh, Merlin. I'm sorry for still being a Novice.' I thought as I planted myself in front of my brother and Elizabeth. "Madeline don't-!"

"Let me be useful for you at least once, okay?" I cut him off with a sad smile, unable to look back at the two. Suddenly, a certain pig ran to the front of me, standing at attention, "Never fear, Lord Hawk is here!"

"Hawk leave, I got this!" I told him with a small hiss of pain as I willed myself to stay standing.

"No, what are you two doing?!" The blond behind us questioned. I could hear him grinding his teeth. "Please, don't!" Elizabeth yelled for us.

"I'm sorry Meliodas, but somebody has to save you so you can save Elizabeth. It's our only chance." Hawk stated as I felt my eyes activate painfully. I grounded myself more into the ground of the earth, the magical energy I felt in me seemed to leave me in the void.

"Get out of the way you two!" Meliodas ordered us, I could hear the pain and sorrow in his tone, sending chills down my spine.

"If only I had known this was gonna happen, I would have had more scraps first." I took a deep breath, quickly glancing down at Hawk.

"I'm sorry everyone... I won't let myself be useless anymore." I said as the darkness engulfed us, leaving no light in sight.

I could feel it, the draining of my body, the life in me disappearing...

"Senexes are a race of immortal healers, therefore you are immortal yourself in a way, it won't be so easy to kill you unless it's by old age, whenever that time shall be, I do not know." Merlin's voice rang in my ears, the memory of her telling me more about the race that I was apart of. "But I am still Human..?" I had asked her back, back then still clueless about my heritage.

"You may still be Human, apart of that race- However, as much as you are a Human, you are a Senex. So use that to your advantage, my dear student..." Her voice drifted way, pain coursing through my body, the smack of reality hitting me as I pulled out of the world of the void. The magic whirled inside of me, feeling the life being thrusted back into my chest, the electric signals inside of my brain firing off as I pushed myself up to the surface of the bottomless pit. It may have been bottomless... But it had a top I could break through.

Defiantly I shielded myself, eyes a swirling pool of yellow and red, the hazes mixing together like swirling lava, the darkness that consumed my very being brightened into a beam of light, destroying the second cross of death I had overcome in my lifetime.

"Amazing, Madeline..." A strange voice whispered into my ear, leaving me no time to question it as in the midst of the light destroying the ground, I sailed into the life of waves, breathing heavily. Coming in the sight of an abundance of smoke, a charred body of Hawk in front of me. My body screamed at me in pain, muscles aching, blood rushing down the front of my chest as I coughed up my own share of the iron red water. My senses were returning to me, my eyesight as blurry as it was- Deactivated, unable to see the crispy underlyings of Hendrickson's body structure, my hearing of white sound, touch of grueling sand paper but it was there, the taste of metallic blood in my mouth, and the smell of burnt pork.

I heaved, puffing out startled gasps after having a lovely dance with death for those few moments, the tears that used to stream down my face no longer apparent, face dried as if I had sat in front of a blazing fire. I could feel my body ache, could feel my knees buckle underneath me before I fell to the side and was laid to rest, alive.

To Be continued

Thank you all so much for the continued love on The 8Th Sin, I see all of your comments, votes, and in general lots of love for Madeline and the story! Talk to you all later, stay safe and healthy! -Golden