章 125: Twister

Magical energy began to charge as Koala pointed the barrels at Lance. Lance immediately closed the distance between them and threw a solid punch to Koala's gut. Koala was noticeably winded by the punch, his short stature sent flying across the ship.

Koala regained his composure quickly and a grappling hook shot out from one of the barrels, latching onto the deck as he pulled himself back in. From the other barrel on his left hand, he fired a large magical blast at Lance.

Lance's eyes widened as the blast came towards him. He put his arms up and braced himself as the blast collided with him.

"Gghhh!" Lance grunted as a searing pain covered his arms.

"Yes! I want to see your face contort! Yes!" Koala shouted maniacally as he continued shooting more large blasts at Lance.

"You...you shot Goodwin…" Lance grunted, his magical power flaring up even higher. He grit his teeth as he continued to brace himself against the blasts of magic, inching himself closer and closer to Koala as he took small steps.

"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" Lance shouted angrily as he suddenly leaped forward straight through another blast, landing right in front of Koala.

"HAAAHHHH!" Lance shouted as he delivered a powerful uppercut to Koala, launching him into the air.

"Take this!" Lance yelled as he unleashed a flurry of unrelenting rapid punches at Koala. The punches continued for several seconds, with each punch seemingly getting stronger and faster the longer it went on.

Lance suddenly stopped punching Koala and wounded his right fist back. A large amount of magical energy was channeled into his right hand that began to glow brightly. He clenched his fist tightly and threw the punch forward straight into Koala's face, shattering Koala's fake bear nose. Blood gushed out of Koala's face as it caved in from the force and launched Koala off the side of the boat.

Lance panted heavily as he looked at the side of the boat which he launched Koala off of. A small grin formed on his face.

"I-I did it...Goodwin…" Lance said as he panted heavily.

Suddenly, a grappling hook latched onto the guardrail on the side of the boat. Koala pulled himself up and jumped back onto the ship, his face bloody and heavily bruised.

"I...I will kill you now! Yes!" Koala shouted as he clasped both hands together, forming one large cannon. Lance attempted to move once again but took a knee instead, finding himself unable to move.

"D-damn...I'm at my limit already…" Lance grunted as he stared down the barrel of the magical cannon charging in front of him.

"Die!" Koala shouted. Lance closed his eyes as he prepared to take the blast. A few seconds passed as his eyes remained closed. He opened his eyes again, confused as to what had happened and to his surprise, Meliodas was right there in front of him, Koala nowhere to be seen.

"Meliodas?!" Lance exclaimed.

"I told you I got your back." Meliodas replied with a grin.

"B-but where's Koala?" Lance asked.

"Somewhere in the ocean." Meliodas responded.

"Interesting." Requin commented. "I assume that since you interrupted, you wish to fight the remaining four at the same time?"

"Get some rest Lance." Meliodas said. "I'll deal with them."

"You?! Deal with us?!" Leopard shouted angrily as she lunged forward at Meliodas with her right claw gauntlet. "Don't get cocky you brat!"

Meliodas sidestepped at the last moment just as the claw was about to impale him, leaving Leopard wide open as she was now aligned with Meliodas. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her torso and coughed up blood as Meliodas kicked her high into the air, straight into the large mast of the ship.

As Leopard collided with the mast, the entire ship shook and a blue veil appeared around the mast, cracked from the force as Leopard's body fell down to the main deck again.

'He cracked the magic shield around this ship like that?! I didn't detect a hint of magic in that strike.' Requin thought as he observed Meliodas.

"W-woah...that was cool!" Lance commented.

"Leave it to a woman to fail so badly." Lievre commented as he stepped up to face Meliodas.

"You shouldn't say things like that. I know plenty of women who are stronger than you." Meliodas responded.

"Hmph. There is not a single woman who is stronger than me." Lievre responded, noticeably angered by Meliodas' statement. He ran forward and wound his right fist back.

'Woah, he's fast for someone of that size!' Lance thought to himself.

Lievre threw the wound up punch at Meliodas. Meliodas raised his right hand up in response, catching Lievre's fist in his palm as the force from Lievre's punch blew back Lance who was a few meters behind Meliodas.

"Gahh!" Lance shouted as he rolled backwards into the other mast of the ship. He looked up in awe at Meliodas who had caught that powerful punch in one hand.

For a brief instance, Lievre stared at Meliodas in both confusion and fear that someone had caught his punch with ease. He suddenly felt a sharp pain to the right side of his face as Meliodas punched him with his left hand, launching him straight off the ship.

Meliodas cracked his knuckles and looked at the remaining members who were in front of him.

"Meliodas...you said these guys were stronger than the Oracion Seis, yet you're defeating them so easily!" Lance commented. "I haven't been here in Fiore all that long but Goodwin told me stories about the Balam Alliance and the Oracion Seis, and here you are taking down these guys in one hit!"

"Well, I was the one who beat the Oracion Seis." Meliodas responded.

'I had heard it was a team effort by several large guilds to take down the Oracion Seis. I guess my sources weren't entirely correct. Judging by that monstrous strength of his, I can see him defeating them.' Requin thought. 'But all the strength in the world is pointless if you can't hit your opponent.'

Girafe looked at his side at his remaining teammate, Chien Viverin who was fast asleep. He sighed and walked up to confront Meliodas.

"Man...I really hate useless teammates. If you want something done right, you do it yourself."

Girafe jumped up into the air towards Meliodas and wounded his leg back. Meliodas remained standing firm in his spot as Girafe sent the kick flying towards Meliodas. To Meliodas' surprise, there was a great force behind the kick, greater than he had anticipated.

The kick connected with Meliodas face, causing his head to turn as he took a few steps back from the blow. He quickly looked back up at Girafe, with only a slight bruise on his cheek.

'He took a twister enhanced kick with barely any damage. I shouldn't be surprised at this point. But taking that kick directly was a fatal mistake.' Requin thought to himself as he watched.

Meliodas turned his body and prepared to counterattack as he threw a punch with his right hand at Girafe. A smirk formed on Girafe's face as Meliodas suddenly felt a sharp pain in his entire right arm. Meliodas' arm contorted in an unnatural way, twisting until eventually breaking with a loud crack. Meliodas stared at his contorted arm as he winced slightly from the pain.

"Meliodas!" Lance shouted in distress.

"Bahahahah!" Girafe laughed. "That there is my magical power, "Twister!" Whatever I touch, I can manipulate and twist how I like, whether they are living beings or not!"

"I see...so that's why that kick felt stronger. You manipulated the air to strengthen it." Meliodas commented.

"I could kill you right now, but how about I twist your body and make you feel some real pain!" Girafe continued. "In fact, I'll twist that right arm right off!"

Meliodas looked at his right arm and grunted as it began to contort further. He could see his bones poking out from his skin as his arm continued to twist. Meliodas clenched his right fist hard as he tried to resist, only for the pain to grow worse as his arm kept contorting. He winced in pain as his arm detached from his body and blood began to drip from his shoulder socket.

As his arm fell to the ground, he quickly kicked it towards Girafe's head. Girafe moved his head, with the arm just barely missing him before landing right behind him.

"What a silly last resort attempt to attack me." Girafe commented. "Now, how about your right leg."

Meliodas' eyes widened from the pain as his right leg suddenly twisted unnaturally. Lance watched in horror as he heard Meliodas' bones and joints crack and pop as Meliodas lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"You thought you were so strong cause you defeated a few weaklings?! HAH! Where's all that bravado now-" Girafe suddenly stopped talking as blood began to drip down his mouth. He felt a massive pain in his chest and looked down. Panic began to fill him as he saw a massive hole in his chest.

'I-I...feel cold…' Girafe thought as his body hit the ground limp.

"What just happened?! Why did he suddenly die?!" Lance exclaimed.

'He didn't see it, but I did.' Requin thought. 'That Meliodas...even as his body was being ripped apart, he planned ahead. I don't know how he did it, but he placed some sort of dark substance in the shape of a ball in his hand that was released. His seemingly "last resort" as Girafe called it ended up blowing a hole in his chest.'

"Oi. Chien! Wake up!" Requin shouted. Chien slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He let out a large yawn and looked at Requin.

"If it were anyone else who woke me up, I would kill them." Chien said drowsily with a yawn as he glanced at Requin.

"I suppose it's my turn…" Chien said with a dull tone as he walked slowly towards Meliodas who was bleeding on the ground. Meliodas hopped back up on his left foot and glared at Chien.

"Meliodas...you can't possibly fight like that!" Lance shouted. Meliodas remained silent and pointed his shoulder towards his dislodged arm. A string of darkness went past Chien towards the arm. Darkness began to leak from the wounds of the twisted arm and the arm began to wrangle itself.

'What the hell is that?!' Requin thought as he looked at Meliodas' arm, now completely fixed, reattached itself to Meliodas. Not long after, Meliodas' mangled leg began to untwist itself, with darkness leaking from the wounds as it mended back into its place.

"Now then." Meliodas said as he leaped forward towards Chien at blinding speed. Chien suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He coughed up a large amount of blood as Meliodas' fist dug right into his body. Without a chance to even put up a fight, Chien collapsed backwards onto the ground. Meliodas looked towards Requin.

"I guess you're the last one."