"What exactly did you do to Arthur?"
Charles was in the middle of his research when Merlin's voice suddenly sounded behind him, giving him a real start.
He put down his tools, turned around, and said, "Even if you don't have a body right now, you shouldn't just come waltzing into someone else's workshop!"
Merlin's tone wasn't accusatory—if anything, it held surprise and admiration—so Charles tamped down the impulse to act.
The phantom at Merlin's lips curled. "Remarkable. In just two days Arthur's become a different person. How did you do it?"
Charles smiled mysteriously. Arthur hadn't let him down and had passed the first phase of special training.
Arthur was, without question, an outstanding young man—at a young age he already had the strength of a top Holy Knight, and with a gentle, humble temperament that earned others' trust.
But as a king, his personality had a flaw—he wasn't domineering enough. To put it bluntly, he lacked a strong man's confidence.
That was understandable. The opponents he'd faced right out of the gate were demonized Hendrickson, then Albions and Galand—enemies vastly stronger than he was.
Even the people around him were the likes of the Seven Deadly Sins. Arthur wasn't the hot-blooded, thickheaded hero type who sees a strong foe and only thinks about how to surpass them; in the end, he fell into confusion.
Once you start doubting your past efforts, your present strength, and your future achievements, it's hard to stay strong.
Charles couldn't correct weakness of character, but he believed humanity's inner strength was enough to create miracles.
The strongest part of Arthur's heart was his will to protect his people—to protect everyone who placed their trust in him.
That was the resolve Charles had spoken of. By creating a desperate situation for Arthur, Charles finally spurred him to steel that resolve.
With that resolve in place, Arthur naturally overcame his confusion and grew stronger than ever.
Even Merlin, upon seeing Arthur again after returning with Meliodas restored, felt as if a lifetime had passed.
Never mind Merlin; even Charles, who had watched from the side, was surprised by Arthur's growth.
Once the personality issue was resolved, Arthur's magic seemed to break its seal and surge to life. Even without Balor's Eye to measure power levels, Charles could feel Arthur's numbers climbing.
Still, Charles didn't think Merlin cared about those details. Seeing Arthur's growth was enough for her.
So he changed the subject. "Since you're back, I take it the boss had a smooth trip."
Merlin nodded. "Meliodas has reclaimed his power. We also met up with Ban. Next, we can begin moving on the Ten Commandments."
Charles glanced at the Commandment of Truth on the table beside him. "Perfect. I'm short on research material."
Merlin's eyes went to the Commandment sealed in the magic device. "You've been studying it a while. Any results?"
Charles blinked, then nodded. "Some. As expected of the Demon King's power—it's eye-opening."
After studying the Commandment, Charles could only sigh at how thoroughly the brute Galand had wasted it.
A Commandment's essence is the Demon King's curse—laid on targets who meet specific conditions, with the Ten Commandments as its medium.
But since it's part of the Demon King's power, its applications were never as passive as Galand made it seem.
In fact, none of the Ten really used the Commandments proactively. Likely they understood that a Commandment wasn't only a boon from the Demon King—it was a curse.
Even so, the Commandments were split off to win the Holy War. Double-edged though they are, they're still powerful weapons.
So when Charles said "proactive use," he didn't mean Grayroad's way of luring others into violating a Commandment, but rather using the Commandment's essence.
Take Truth, for instance. Its power is a rule-level curse on falsehood. It can absolutely be used to break illusions or techniques like clones.
In the original events, when Estarossa ran wild after taking three Commandments, he showed a Commandment's true power—suppressing two of the Sins, one of the Ten, and two of the Four Archangels by himself.
Through studying a Commandment, Charles had also gleaned something of the Demon King's strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, with only Truth as a sample, what he could get was limited.
He was just thinking about collecting more Commandments when Meliodas and the others returned, and the operation against the Ten was about to begin.
After tidying up, Charles followed Merlin out of the workshop and into a conference hall.
The Seven Deadly Sins and Arthur were already seated around the table, waiting on Charles and Merlin.
Charles took the seat left for him. "Sorry to keep you. Where are we?"
Meliodas slid a flyer across the table to him. "We only just started. Take a look at this first.
We picked it up on the way back. It was handed out by a Blue Demon. I'm guessing it's not just us—it's probably been scattered across all Britannia."
Charles nodded. Unlike Red and Gray Demons, Blue Demons have bird heads on humanoid bodies and can fly.
Sent by them, anything could reach all Britannia in short order.
And Blue Demons are mid-tier even among the Demon Clan. Only the Ten Commandments could direct them to run courier duty.
Charles looked at the flyer in his hand. It was exactly what he expected.
The Boar Hat had visited the merchant city of Byzel before and taken part in its fight festival.
And the flyer was about that—the announcement that Byzel would host a "Grand Fight Festival," inviting everyone to join.
The winner would be granted one wish.
"So the Ten are holding a tournament, with unclear aims," Charles said.
In the original storyline, the Great Fight Festival was held by Gloxinia and Drole for amusement.
But this time, that might not be the case. Charles had defeated Galand and taken his Commandment, but Galand had still managed to escape.
He had no idea how the Ten would react to that news, but they weren't going to pretend nothing happened.
Meliodas had thought the same. "Right. We haven't seen signs of any other Commandments along the way. They must be planning something.
This Fight Festival is very likely a trap they've set."
"So how do we respond? Pretend nothing's happening?" Charles asked.
Meliodas grinned and slapped the flyer. "No! We finally got hold of their tail—let's smash their trap to pieces!"
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