renegade (seven deadly sins)

ACT THREE / hatred versus fear

damn maybe i should just rewrite all of the eps bc this was so much easier to write than following along with the canon material lmao

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Those simple words were enough to strike even more intense fear through your heart. You scrambled back, hand trembling on the handle of your rapier. Around you, all you could hear was the crackling of fire, the whispering of smoke escaping from the ground. No people, no animals. No Seven Deadly Sins. No Elizabeth. No Hawk.

You were completely alone, facing off against a man who had almost killed you once.

Caelum's impassive face didn't change once, even as he studied your every movement. "You've grown weak," he said. "What happened to the Nebula who faced me so fearlessly in Vaizel? What happened to the Great Holy Knight who tried to fight me off that night I came to kill them?"

"Things change, Caelum," you replied. "Why have you come back?"

He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I thought it would be obvious." The air around him began to thrum with dark energy, echoing from his body like a heartbeat. "Lord Zeldris sent Lord Chandler here to bring Meliodas back. I decided to tag along because I knew that where Meliodas went, you would go, too." He gestured behind him in the direction of the others. "Now this is an opportunity for me to see if you're worthy."

You raised your rapier, going on the defensive. "Worthy of what?"

"Worthy of being the only Nebula left alive!"

Your eyes widened. You brought your hand up. A gust of wind knocked Caelum off-course, but he quickly righted himself. With a roar, he kicked down. You flipped out of the way, wincing as his feet drove through the ground with enough force to crumble the rocks.

He turned and took flight toward you. You met him halfway, sheathing your rapier to instead use your fists. While he supercharged his attacks with Demonic energy, you summoned vortexes. Each hit sent shockwaves to either side, tearing through the ground.

"All I wanted was for our people to love me!" he screamed as he roundhouse-kicked you in the side. You blocked the attack with your arm, and ducked as he sent a haymaker flying toward your face. With a grunt, you punched him in the stomach. "They threw me out like I was nothing!"

"And you think that was an excuse to get them all killed?" you demanded above the howling winds echoing from your fists. You jumped back as he brought his foot down. Punching the air sent slices of wind toward him, each of which he dodged as he ran a loose circle around you. "You were cast out, but you helped kill them all, Caelum! My father! My little brother!"

You punctuated each sentence with another blast of wind. He jumped over all of them and, without warning, fazed out of existence. You gasped and brought your hands up in time to protect your face from being caved in by a particularly powerful punch. He disappeared and reappeared countless times, landing hit after hit on you.

The lead you had gained was just him warming up, you realized as he kicked you in the stomach. You coughed up blood and were sent flying back a few yards. He pressed his advantage. Where each hit landed, a vortex ripped through your skin, slicing through skin and making you bleed profusely from multiple lacerations strewn across your limbs and torso.

"I never wanted any of it to end up this way!"

With a guttural scream, he clenched his hands together and brought them down on your head. Stars exploded in your vision as you crashed to the ground. Your eyesight grew fuzzy and you groaned as you tried to get up, only for his foot to land securely on your back.

"The Demon Clan never respected me after Meliodas betrayed them." His voice grew quiet, even as his heel ground into your back. You writhed and barely held back a scream of pain as that dark purple magic seeped into your skin, burning flesh like acid. "I was never meant to belong anywhere. Not with the Nebulae. Not with the Demons."