The Nymph's Redemption: Acantha's Journey (7ds fanfiction)

Chapter Fifteen: Maze of Death

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As they all left and now wandered that same field of stones and arches, they all discussed what they went through, Hawk being the first to start explaining his power. Acantha trailed behind the group yet remembered the words from Ban. 'Don't lag...' She thought and sped up, finding herself by the dragon pig's side. The strange-looking creature looked at Acantha as he started to show off his powers. Firstly he blew fire from his nostrils. "See now I can do the same as you! And I'll be even as powerful as you Acantha-" he said as his nose burned from the fire. Acantha deadpanned a bit at how prideful such a pig could be.

Meliodas looked at the sandy ginger-haired girl. "Oh yeah been meaning to ask. What'd you end up fighting in the cave of trials?" He asked. Acantha scratched the back of her neck. "These weird goblin creatures." She said, putting her hand in her hair and dusting out little shards of amethyst. Hawk was quick to run over and try getting some since it appeared shiny.

The blonde captain chuckled and pet the girl's hair. "Well, it seems like everyone's been through a lot. So we can talk about it on the way." He said as they stood at a cliff. Gilthunder looked to Meliodas. "What's the plan now?" He asked. Meliodas turned to them all. "Looking for Escanor of course." He stated. Hawk was confused. "Why would we need to know? If we run into trouble we have you." The swine stated. Meliodas only shook his head. "Actually Escanor is more powerful than I am." He said, catching everyone by surprise.

As they all went back to the tavern and sat down to talk, Acantha kept thinking to herself about that paper. 'This doesn't make sense. What the hell does some poem have to do with my past... It's obvious only I can see what's written... So what does it have to do with me?!' She questioned, her thoughts running rampant. 'In the dimness of dusk, a phoenix is born... What the hell does that even have to do with anything?! This is all confusing am I just on some goose chase???' She was cut short when King flew down. He seemed urgent to leave and was insisting he does so. Even when Meliodas offered to help, the fairy king was just mad at him. Acantha gently tugged on Gilthunder's shirt to get his attention. "What happened between the two?" She asked quietly. Gilthunder only shrugged. "King has been acting like this since they came from the cave of trials." He answered.

Acantha merely nodded and watched the boy fly out of the tavern, using the excuse of being in a rush to cut any conversation short. It was awkwardly silent after that. Meliodas turned to the others with a bright smile. "Drinks anyone?" He asked. The boys of course all got excited. And so, drinks were passed around, Acantha included. The nymph sipped at her drink as Howzer decided to make conversation with her. "By the way nymphy what's your power level at. We all improved but you never said yours." He said. Hawk waltzed over. "Let's see here. Acantha you went from 4,999 to.... 7,999." He said, catching Howzer by surprise. "What?! You improved by that much?! How?!" He yelled and shook the girl in a spur-of-the-moment shock. Acantha put her drink down before any of it spilled.

Gilthunder pulled Howzer off of the poor girl as she just shrugged. Even Acantha didn't know. Maybe most of it went to magic? Or spirit. Power levels definitely confused the girl and she just quietly went back to sipping at her ale. Meliodas causally walked over and bonked Howzer with an empty cup. "Try not shaking up the nymph. Kay?" He asked casually though had a strange almost threatening tone. Howzer huffed and just drank. That's when Merlin made herself appear. "Captain I believe I have pinpointed his location." She said. Meliodas got serious. "Are you sure?" He asked. "His power level keeps rising." The woman answered. That was enough to assure Meliodas that it was in fact Escanor.

As Hawk's Mom headed towards the direction of Escanor's location, they were given a flyer for a fighting festival in Vaizel. As Meliodas read it out, Acantha became confused. Vaizel was destroyed back when she met the sins. How could they possibly still have that going on? Gilthunder seemed very excited for the chance to be in a fighting festival as he has always wished to partake in such an event. When the knight's excitement got called out, Meliodas took the opportunity. "Since Escanor's signal seemed to just vanish... Why don't we stop by? Might be fun." He grinned. Acantha was alright with participating, after all, she did participate in the last one and it wasn't all that bad then. "Sounds... Fun." She said to herself.