Grayroad lost a bit hastily, but then again, her opponent was Merlin.
Grayroad was never a combat-type executive; she made it into the Ten Commandments mainly thanks to her mass-summoning ability.
Her strongest offensive method was actually producing venomous insects and then luring the enemy into violating her commandment.
Awkwardly, Merlin, who had received the Supreme Deity's blessing and possessed "Infinity," was immune to the curse of the Commandment of Pacifism.
And that was that—Grayroad was sealed into a test tube, becoming a pair of equally miserable prisoners with Melascula.
Things were just as grim for Monspeet and Derieri.
Three thousand years ago, the two performed a forbidden art, sacrificing six of their seven hearts to forge a pact with darkness and becoming Indura, the destroyers of the Demon Realm.
Although Elizabeth restored them with the Goddess Clan's purification, they were left with only one heart each, and their strength was greatly reduced.
What's more, their opponents were Meliodas and Escanor; lasting this long was already impressive.
Meanwhile, the tide of battle shifted on Fraudrin's side. After possessing Dreyfus, Fraudrin could use his devastating magic power.
On top of that, he already knew Gowther's abilities, so he actually seized the initiative for a while.
The situation changed when two people appeared on the battlefield.
One was Hendrickson, the former Great Holy Knight of Liones.
After the battle in the capital, Charles left him on the brink of death, but Fraudrin saved him and had him break the seal of the Coffin of Eternal Darkness.
But the Coffin still carried a contingency left by the Goddess Clan that would trigger against any Demons who opened it.
As a result, the Demon power Hendrickson had fused with, as well as Fraudrin's control over him, were cleansed by the Goddess Clan's power, and he returned to normal.
The last time Meliodas went to the Druids to reclaim his power, he even saw Hendrickson training there.
The other appearance drew looks of surprise from many—it was Zaratras, the Great Holy Knight who'd been killed ten years ago, and Dreyfus's elder brother.
His return was thanks to Melascula.
Right after breaking free from the seal, to pass the time, Melascula used the forbidden "Resentment Reflux" revival arts to resurrect many dead who still harbored obsessions.
In the original plot, Melascula even went to the Fairy King's Forest specifically to revive Elaine, who longed for Ban. But this time Elaine had already been perfectly resurrected by Charles, so Melascula never got the chance.
Zaratras was also one of the dead Melascula revived, and his lingering attachment was his failure to save a friend and his younger brother.
That upright resolve, plus Zaratras's own tough yet gentle nature, kept him from being corroded by the art's negative emotions; he remained rational.
To settle his resolve, Zaratras moved into action and met Hendrickson. To save Dreyfus from Fraudrin's possession, the two waited for an opening.
Until the Seven Deadly Sins launched their assault, which finally let them see Dreyfus, and they acted decisively.
Both had mastered purifying magic, and together they actually drove Fraudrin out of Dreyfus's body.
Fraudrin called himself a member of the Ten Commandments, but he was a stand-in without even a Commandment; his strength was middling at best.
After King and Diane joined the fight, they finished him off outright.
Elsewhere, the Sacred Treasure Lostvayne in Meliodas's hand clashed wildly with Derieri's dark giant claw, pushing her combo count to over forty.
Derieri's attack power multiplied; her final punch even knocked Meliodas flying.
Just as she was about to pursue, the air cracked overhead—another Meliodas descended from the sky and slashed down.
The Meliodas Derieri knew didn't have that ability, and she was caught off guard.
Lostvayne's ability is to create physical clones; if only one clone is produced, it has half of the original's Power Level.
Derieri instinctively raised her arm wrapped in dark energy to block. She caught the blade, but the worst part was that her combo was interrupted.
Meanwhile, Meliodas's true body had already set his stance for an attack.
"Divine Thousand Cuts!"
Meliodas flickered and reappeared behind Derieri. In an instant, countless wounds opened across her body, and blood sprayed out.
"Derieri!"
Monspeet retreated dozens of meters, dodging Escanor's axe. Even while being suppressed so badly, his attention was still entirely on the injured Derieri.
Escanor, of course, was very displeased. To split his focus mid-fight—he was obviously looking down on him.
So Escanor raised his palm without the slightest courtesy. A fireball swelled above it like a balloon being blown up.
Its surface wasn't illusory flame but a flowing, solid crimson radiance. It wasn't a fireball at all—it was a miniature sun.
"Cruel Sun!"
The little sun shot straight at Monspeet. The Ash Dragon he unleashed didn't last even a second before it vanished. A mushroom cloud rose, and the scorching shockwave forced everyone to back off.
When the fury subsided, at the bottom of the massive crater lay Monspeet, with only half his body remaining, and Derieri, whom he had shielded with every last ounce of his power.
Everyone gathered around the two. Seeing Monspeet still holding his arms spread, they fell into silence.
Stella hesitated, then spoke. "What do we do next—do we kill these two?"
Stella was always quite emotional, and even she couldn't help but feel pity at the sight. Elizabeth, Diane, and Elaine were the same, looking hesitantly at the others.
Meliodas wavered as well and said, "By the method I know, you can only remove a Commandment with its owner's consent… or from a corpse.
"If they refuse, that's the only way."
The four girls all hesitated. Diane, ever blunt, said, "Why do we have to collect the Commandments, anyway?"
Elizabeth actually had the same question. She didn't know why Meliodas kept refusing to tell her the purpose of their next move.
But she could feel that there was a reason behind everything Meliodas did, and that reason likely had to do with her.
She also knew Meliodas's resolve: he was not going to abandon his goal out of sympathy.
As for Stella, she'd heard some of the inside story from Charles, so of course she kept her opinions to herself.
Charles spoke up then. "I can try to temporarily sever the link between a Commandment and its host, then attempt to extract it.
"Of course, if it fails, that's that. They're warriors—once you step onto the battlefield, you'd better be prepared to die. Don't pity them. Their hands are hardly free of innocent human blood."
Charles's words finally made the sentimental girls feel a little better.
Don't be misled by Charles having managed to pull out Galand's Commandment—that was only possible because a number of special conditions lined up.
Especially after seizing the Commandment of Truth, Charles discovered the Demon King's will lingering within it. He had a hunch that to prevent a repeat, the Demon King had likely made countermeasures.
If he tried to forcibly strip away a Commandment again, Charles wasn't very confident.
But as Charles said, if it came to that, he wouldn't show mercy.
"Hey, if you've got time to chat about pointless stuff, how about giving us a hand?"
It was Ban. After four of the Ten Commandments had been taken down, a swarm of demons came charging like mad. Ban, Gowther, and King had been holding them back.
Hearing Ban's complaint, Meliodas said sheepishly, "Sorry. The objective's been met. No need to get tangled up with them—we're pulling back."
But no sooner had Meliodas spoken than a barrage of beams lanced in from the horizon, purifying swathes of demons to dust.
Meliodas frowned; there was no need to guess what had happened. The Goddess Clan, led by Ludociel, grew clearer at the edge of their vision.
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