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

Chapter Twenty-Four: A New Threat

.
.
.

Acantha was pulled away from her thoughts when she sensed a strong power coming from Elaine. The girl looked up and saw her blonde best friend with a pair of yellow glowing fairy wings. Her hair also appeared longer. "Her power level just increased too!" Hawk squealed. Melascula was furious over Ban being stolen from the large snake. Acantha looked up at Merlin. "Let me help... I want to be of use." She said. "Are you sure? Melascula of Faith isnt one to mess with." The woman stated. The smaller girl gave a nod and was teleported out of the perfect cube. She summed multiple fireballs around her own body before sending them at the commandment of faith. The flames grew to much larger sizes before shooting at Melascula from all angles.

Of course this didn't do as much damage as Acantha had hoped it would and only pissed Melascula off more. "Damned nymph!  Run back to your little goddess will you?!" She yelled and went to spit toxic venom at Acantha. The nymph jumped out of the way and landed on the snake, putting her hand up to one of the serpant's eyes and shooting a blazing inferno. The demon screeched in pain and threw the girl into a building. Now half blind, Melascula attacked the other sins. Eventually though, Melascula was defeated and turned into her truest form, a tiny venomous snake. Acantha watched the snake fear under Hawk before picking it up. The nymph helped place the demon girl into a bottle, getting a weird look by King for picking up a demon snake. Now they had another issue to handle, Meliodas going into assault mode. Escanor was easily overpowered by the demon form Meliodas. They all watched with uncertainty.

Even as it became noon and Escanor was at his highest power, Escanor still struggled. It was a miracle he even managed to stop Meliodas and knock him out. Merlin removed the perfect cube and they all gathered around. Acantha looked at Meliodas with sympathy. 'I know this... Isn't... The Meliodas I know... But... I can't help but... Feel sympathy. Deep inside he never wanted to become this once again... ' she thought to herself. The group all headed back to the tavern with an injured Meliodas and even more injured Escanor. As the two sins layed in a bed to heal, Elizabeth was being stubborn about Merlin using magic on the blonde captain. Even when Merlin was just going to put Meliodas in a perfect cube, she was being stubborn about that too. 'Please Elizabeth... Just let her... Its for everyone's safety... Including Meliodas'... Just please...' She repeated over and over in her head.

The situation was looking dark. Now with Meliodas, Elizabeth and Escanor out of commission, it was only a small handful of people able to fight. King, Diane, Gowther and Acantha stood on the large outdoor balcony. They all discussed what was going to happen. "You know... I was wondering." King turned to Acantha. "During the fight you and Diane were possessed. I came to understand why Diane was able to be corrupted so easily by those souls. But what was eating at your brain it caused you to also become corrupted?" King asked. Both Gowther and Acantha had this awkward presence to them. And once again, Acantha lied her way out of it. "To be honest... I felt guilty about how I haven't been of much use to you all. One day I was brought under the tavern's roof and given food and water. Even a place to sleep... And I've wanted to show my thanks by being of use to you guys. But really, no matter what I do nothing ever felt worthy enough." She said. It wasn't a complete lie, that was true.

This seemed to work and Diane smiled. "You shouldn't have to feel as though you need to prove your usefulness. Even if youre not as strong as the captain, you're still useful in fights. You have your own fighting style and even so you're a lot more powerful each time you push more energy into each attack." She encouraged and hugged the girl in a tight embrace. "Now cheer up silly! We can do this!" She rubbed a fist on the girls head and messed up her hair, causing the others to laugh. They all chatted happily before King suddenly spoke up. "Oh right! I actually have some gifts I wanted to give you!" He said and presented them. For Diane it was a keychain of King's broken helmet. For Gowther it was his heart made into a pendant. As for Acantha it was a rather simple looking pouch. "I noticed you're always carrying around that paper in a not so practical place so I made a bag of holding. It'll hold all your things and easily tie to your waist." King said. Acantha opened the bag and saw an empty void. To test it out, she put her hand in and continued to reach in until her whole arm was gone. All she felt was a cold air like void. "Thank you, King." She said and put the paper into the bag. This was definitely going to prove to be a useful object to her.