Ban POV
"You have to teleport her back," I demanded to the mage who was clearly pissed off at me for trying to attack him minutes earlier.
"That's not possible. To do that I'd have to go there myself first. But the Ten Commandments won't allow any escape."
The mage despite being annoyed at me still held a sorrowful tone to his voice and murmurs of concern washed over the space.
"What do they want with her?" Howzer voiced.
"That's not a fair fight." Jericho mumbled.
I glanced to Elaine who even looked concerned. I hated the situation I put her in, but my priority was bring Julie to safety.
King, ever the voice of reason joined in. "If they wanted to hurt her they would have already. At the very least she's not involved in the fight. Once Meliodas defeats them he can bring her back and have the spell reversed."
While not fully convinced, my nerves were slightly calmed. I looked back down at the crystal ball where Meliodas was successfully juggling the two foes. If he kept it up, he would win. King was right he'd win and bring her back. He knows how much Julie means to me, protecting her would be a priority for him.
My relief was extraordinarily short lived as we felt a powerful wave of strength hit us. We saw a faint glow in the distance where the fight went on. From the crystal ball a large plume of dust blocked the view for several moments. When the dust cleared it was revealed that every Ten Commandment had joined the battle, save for Galand who Escanor had killed. Even Melascula was there seeming to have barely survived Escanor's previous attacks.
Meliodas was surrounded.
Several of the commandments noticed Julie and raised their weapons to her as well. Gloxinia simply put up his hand stopping them and announced in a chipper voice "It's Galand's replacement!"
Several of them rolled their eyes, but then disregarded her.
"They want her to be a commandment?" Gilthunder questioned.
"She is technically a demon." Gowther pointed out.
This was far from a great situation, but at least they wouldn't kill her. With that knowledge my concern switched to Meliodas. While he was able to handle the two commandments, nine was a different story. It was already apparent several minutes into the fight he could not stand his own.
After a failed attempt at Revenge Counter I was really concerned for our Captain. He couldn't stand, he was missing an arm, and the silver haired commandment- who Arthur had identified as Meliodas' brother Estarossa- had him pinned.
I briefly weighed my options and then pulled Elaine aside. I was going to be teleported there to help him. I'm immortal, I won't die. I'd stop that creepy sun burnt Melsacula from sucking his soul and should he die I'd find a way to bring him back. I myself couldn't die.
"Elaine, I'm sorry for... For everything. I spent so many years missing you and then you came back and things were different-"
She pulled me into a light hug, "You don't have to apologize... Go save her."
I narrowed my eyebrows at her, "I'm going back for Meliodas."
"It's ok," she smiled softly.
"If I kill Melascula, I don't know what will happen to you." I told her upfront.
"It's ok," she repeated, "I'm just glad I got to be with you again."
I nodded pulling her back into the hug for a few moments, before I heard Jericho prompting me to take action. The crystal ball showed a revived Melascula itching to eat his soul.
I was teleported to the battlefield, my thoughts racing. At the very least I'd save his soul from getting devoured. At the most, I'd rescue both him and Julie and we'd all live happily ever after.
I swiftly destroyed Melascula, breaking her neck and stomping her hearts.
"You moron, why did you come here?" The Captain sputters out.
"Who are you calling a moron? Don't try to look like the only cool guy here." I smile
"You're a huge moron," he smiled back at me. "Sorry I couldn't protect her, Ban."
My confidence waivers and I look past the crowd of bad guys towards Julie. Despite all the chaos she still stands there. A thin layer of dirt covers her and I can see a few fading scratches. No one pays her any attention, they look at me waiting for my next move.
"She tried to devour my older brother's soul without my permission. She got what she deserved. Human, thank you for that." Estarossa says.
"Yeah, sure." I shrug. "Can you get up Captain?"
"Moron do I look like I'm injured?" He replies. He looks absolutely worse for wear, but his attitude still radiates a confidence I do not understand.
"Of course if you hadn't killed her, I would've done it myself," Estarossa drones on. I try to shield the Captain, but Estarossa lunges forward, "Meliodas has to die at my hands. Liberion."
Six swords appear above Captain's torso, knowing this is a death sentence I do everything in my power to stop him. But, my competitor is a high ranking demon where I'm just an immortal human, and I fail. He plunges the final sword into him and I feel anguished, I failed my captain.
I don't give myself more than a second to mourn as I switch gears to saving Julie. I would not fail both missions I set upon. I'm already drained, but I push myself to run to her. All I had to do was grab her and escape.
I land in front of her and grab her into my arms, her body reflexively sinking into mine.
For a moment I swear I got away with it but a powerful attack is thrown at us and we stumble backwards. I do my best to protect her with my own body, but I could tell she'd been a bit roughed up. Nothing she couldn't handle, my poor immortal baby. I still hold tight to her as the man who killed my Captain approaches.
"I believe Gloxinia wanted to hold onto her for now, if you don't mind."
My anger flared, "I do mind."
From the corner of my eye I see the caped commandment coming in for an attack and I struggle to dodge it with Julie in my arms. I again make an attempt to run but Dreyfus is behind me and I'm quickly surrounded.
"Leave her and we'll let you go," Gloxinia smiles towards me.
"Over my dead body." I assert.
"If you say so." The demon fairy shrugged. I feel a powerful attack from behind me, which does not seem fair. I stumble forward, Julie falling out of my arms.
Estarossa, the man who killed my best friend was now picking up Julie the woman I love. He flew off with the others as one more attack was blown towards me and they were gone.
(PSA: Agh there's too many characters and too much plot and idk who's POV to do anymore since our MC is now a prisoner in her own head. Thanks for being patient with me, sorry again if this is turning too confusing to follow. Just wanna get back to my roots of obsessing over Ban, coming soon).
