章節 223: Here Comes Meliodas

"Meliodas?!" Happy and Lucy exclaimed. Meliodas glanced at them briefly and smiled before looking back at Natsu. Natsu had an empty look in his eyes as he glared at Meliodas.

"Meliodas…" Natsu said quietly.

"Natsu seems a bit much for you guys. And it's my fault he's like this. I promise I'll save him myself." Meliodas suddenly grabbed Natsu by the face and leaped forward with him, dragging him along towards the mountains to the north.

Just as the two of them arrived, Meliodas felt heat coming from Natsu's mouth. Meliodas immediately let go of Natsu as a ray of black flames shot up into the sky.

"Natsu!" Meliodas called out, not just with his voice, but through telepathy as well, trying to reach into Natsu's consciousness.

Natsu suddenly charged at Meliodas, his fist ignited with hellblaze. Meliodas ducked the punch and countered with a kick to Natsu's chest, sending him flying back. Natsu stuck his feet into the ground, halting himself.

Natsu charged at Meliodas again, both hands ignited. He swung at Meliodas multiple times, each time with Meliodas dodging out of the way as he stepped back. Meliodas noticed Natsu's foot ignite as Natsu kicked right at Meliodas' head.

Meliodas ducked again. At that moment, he countered with a swift jab to Natsu's stomach. Natsu was launched backward, tumbling across the rocky floor until slamming into a boulder.

"Rrrrggaaahh!" Natsu jumped out of the boulder and landed on his feet.

"Natsu!" Meliodas shouted both out loud and telepathically. "This isn't you! The way you are now, you're going to hurt the people you care about most!"

Natsu clenched both fists, igniting them once again as he charged at Meliodas. Meliodas stared into Natsu's enraged and empty eyes and noticed a tear falling down the left side of his face.

'I'm reaching him. I just need to deal more damage.'

Meliodas jumped back as Natsu slammed into the ground where Meliodas was once standing. Natsu's feet ignited as he launched himself at Meliodas. Natsu kicked sideways at Meliodas. Meliodas raised his arm to block it and Natsu immediately springboarded off of Meliodas' arm above his head.

Natsu unleashed several more kicks from above. Meliodas quickly raised his other arm, blocking the kicks.

'His fighting style…he's fighting a lot like the old Natsu and not like some mindless beast.' A smile formed on Meliodas' face as he realized he was really reaching out to Natsu.

"Come on Natsu. Wake up. You wanted to beat me right? You won't be able to unless you get back to your senses!" Meliodas punched Natsu's head right into the ground. The ground suddenly erupted with black flames as Natsu rebounded right up. Meliodas took a step back as Natsu threw an uppercut, narrowly missing his chin.

Natsu landed on the ground and threw a right hook at Meliodas. Meliodas grabbed the fist, countering with his own right hook to Natsu's face. Natsu staggered a bit, taking a few steps back.

Meliodas followed up with a left hook, then another right, continuing to punch Natsu across the face multiple times.

Meliodas suddenly felt a spike in Natsu's magic and jumped back. An aura of black flames surrounded Natsu and exploded outward into a dome of black flames.

"Get out of my way!" Natsu screamed as he leaped towards Meliodas.

'He's speaking more now! Progress!' Meliodas side stepped just as Natsu flew right by him. Natsu landed on the ground and propelled himself back at Meliodas with his right foot forward.

Meliodas grabbed Natsu's foot, spinning and throwing him around to the other side. Natsu landed on his feet and charged at Meliodas once again.

Natsu again swung at Meliodas. Meliodas blocked with his arm. Natsu's other hand swiped downward at Meliodas. Meliodas weaved to the side while slapping Natsu's hand away. He quickly spun around, kicking Natsu on his side. Natsu let out a gasp of pain as he was launched right into the side of the mountain.

Meliodas felt another huge spike in magical power in Natsu as hellblaze suddenly erupted out of the top of the mountain. Cracks began to form throughout the structure of the mountain with hellblaze leaking through the cracks. Meliodas put both arms up in front of him as an explosion of hellblaze blasted upwards that eclipsed the mountain range they were on.

Meliodas noticed Natsu's shadowy figure emerging from the smoke as he walked on the now newly formed plateau.

"Well now…I wasn't expecting that." Meliodas looked at the other mountains nearby, especially the largest one in the area, Mount Zonia. 'I think I need to wrap this up before the maps have to get redrawn…well it might be too late for that.'

Natsu, his whole body now entirely clad in hellblaze, launched himself right at Meliodas. Meliodas raised both hands in front of him, shooting out a ball of darkness at Natsu. Just as Natsu was about to collide with Meliodas, the darkness stopped him.

"Gggrhhh!" Natsu began to struggle as he tried to break free from the darkness. Meliodas got closer to Natsu and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Natsu! I know you're in there! You have to wake up!" Meliodas shouted both physically and telepathically.

Meliodas noticed a shift in Natsu's demeanor and his empty eyes started to gain life. Tears began to fall down Natsu's face.

"M-Meliodas…" Natsu said under his breath. A wave of relief swept over Meliodas, unknowingly loosening the hold he had over Natsu slightly.

"Are you back-" Meliodas' eyes widened as he felt a sharp pain on his arm. The slight release of the darkness on Natsu gave him just enough leeway to lean forward and bite Meliodas with teeth clad in hellblaze.

Meliodas jumped back and restrained Natsu further. He looked at his arm that continued to bleed then back at Natsu who had returned to his original feral self. Meliodas' eyes widened with shock as he realized some of his blood got into Natsu's mouth.

"NATSU DON'T DRINK THAT!" Meliodas released his binding on Natsu and ran towards him. Natsu suddenly fell to his knees and grabbed his neck like he was choking.

"GgghhhAAAAAAHHH!" Natsu let out a deafening yell that echoed throughout the mountains. Meliodas extended his hand out to try to reach Natsu but was blown back by an immense pressure, knocking him away and into a boulder.

Meliodas quickly freed himself from the rubble. He looked at Natsu who was standing still and hunched over. He could sense an enormous magical power coming from him. A look of horror formed on Meliodas' face as Natsu looked straight at Meliodas. On Natsu's forehead was a black splotch of darkness, similar in shape to his own demon mark.

'Natsu assimilated my own blood?! That should be impossible. Hellblaze I understand because he's a dragon slayer, but why would it cause him to go berserk like that…'

"Zeref…" Natsu said under his breath. Meliodas couldn't quite pick up what Natsu said until Natsu suddenly let out a loud shout.

"ZEREF!" Natsu roared, his magical power flaring up drastically. A realization occurred in Meliodas' head as soon as he heard Natsu shout Zeref's name.

"Okay. I think I understand what's going on Natsu. But even if that's the case…" Meliodas got into a fighting stance. "I promise I'll save you!"

Natsu lunged forward at Meliodas, head first. Meliodas put his hands out in front of him to try to catch Natsu. He felt a sharp pain on his stomach and coughed up blood. 'That power…and speed…'

Meliodas tried holding onto Natsu as he was sent skidding back. He felt a searing pain in his hands and immediately covered them with darkness. 'It's gotten to the point where his heat is able to damage me now…I can't hold back as much against him anymore.'

"Sorry Natsu." Meliodas suddenly stopped skidding across the ground and he now firmly held Natsu in place. Meliodas' eyes turned pitch black and his demon mark appeared on his forehead. Meliodas kicked Natsu upward, launching the dragon slayer high into the air.

Meliodas jumped up into the sky after Natsu. He raised his right foot up above his head and kicked downward, sending Natsu straight back down.

Just as Natsu was about to hit the ground, he spun around, landing right on his feet and springing back up to Meliodas with a fist clad in flames.

Meliodas responded with a fist clad in darkness and the two of them clashed. Meliodas was sent hurtling through the sky, spinning uncontrollably.

Eventually he forced himself to stop and regained his balance. He felt a sharp pain in his right hand which was now badly bruised. 'Natsu's flames are stopping me from healing completely…'

Meliodas looked back in front of him and saw Natsu flying towards him. Black wings of darkness had sprouted from Natsu's back, taking the shape of a dragon's wings, reminiscent of Igneel's.

Meliodas took a deep breath in. His shirt began to glow before vanishing and his lower body was shrouded in darkness. A black cape formed at his shoulders.

Meliodas charged at Natsu, both of them throwing a punch at each other. Their fists collided, causing the air to crack as shockwaves shot out from the two of them. Meliodas suddenly grabbed Natsu by the neck and threw him straight to the ground.

Before Natsu could hit the ground, he flew right past his body, kicking him back up. Again, Meliodas punched upward at Natsu, hitting him in the back, and again, and again until Natsu was back high in the sky again.

Natsu suddenly spun around in the air. He kicked Meliodas across the face. Meliodas' head jerked back and some blood ran down his mouth. He spit the blood out and threw a punch at Natsu, hitting him clean in the jaw and launching him down towards the ground.

Natsu's body shot straight through one of the mountains and right into the ground, destroying the forest behind it as a trail of hellblaze was left in his wake.

Meliodas landed on the ground right in front of Natsu. He noticed there was darkness that was now forming across Natsu's wounds.

'If he's going to heal like that, I'll need to inflict more damage until he can't heal anymore. Hellblaze wouldn't work on him anyway the way he is now…' Meliodas drew his sword and suddenly vanished, appearing behind Natsu. 'Sorry Natsu.'

"Divine Thousand Cuts!"

Blood erupted from dozens of deep wounds across all of Natsu's body. Darkness began to leak out of the wounds and mend them closed. Natsu turned around and glared at Meliodas.

He flew at Meliodas and Meliodas charged right at Natsu. Meliodas swung his sword at Natsu's arm as Natsu threw a hellblaze clad punch. The moment the blade hit Natsu's arm, it bounced right off. Meliodas eyes widened as he realized the darkness on Meliodas' body had moved on its own to protect him.

Natsu's fist sunk into Meliodas' torso and Meliodas was launched away. He quickly stopped himself mid air and landed, spitting out more blood from his mouth.

"Zeref…" Natsu mumbled once again.

"Natsu! Listen to me! I know you're still there! Don't let the power consume you!" Meliodas shouted. This time, there was no visible response or reaction from Natsu.

Suddenly, something snapped inside of Natsu. He widened his stance and let out a deafening scream.

"ZZEEERREEFFFF!" Natsu jumped up high into the air. He hovered above above the mountain range and Meliodas could sense a huge amount of magic forming as Natsu raised his hands up. A small, black sphere of hellblaze formed just above Natsu's hands, growing larger and larger. Meliodas looked up at the sky at a now gargantuan sized black ball of hell fire.

'He might just wipe Fiore off the map with that!' Meliodas flew straight towards the ball as Natsu threw it towards the ground. The ball of flames vanished and Meliodas appeared right in front of Natsu. Wide open, Meliodas slashed across Natsu's body. As Natsu's body started to mend itself, Meliodas slashed again.

Just as Meliodas was about to slash again, Natsu grabbed the blade, cutting into his hand but not all the way through.

Meliodas threw a punch at Natsu with his other free hand, only for Natsu to grab his fist. Natsu glared at Meliodas and took a deep breath in, building up a large amount of magic in his mouth. Meliodas' eyes widened as Natsu unleashed a huge ray of black flames straight out of his mouth, engulfing Meliodas completely as it shot through the skies across Fiore.

No trace of Meliodas was left in front of Natsu. All that was there was a dislodged arm and the blade it was holding that Natsu was still grabbing onto.

"Zeref…" Natsu mumbled to himself. He began to slowly descend back to the ground when he felt a sharp on his head before getting slammed straight into the ground below.

Hovering above him was Meliodas, with burns all over his body and missing his left arm. He pointed his shoulder towards his dislodged arm and a stream of darkness reattached it back to his body.

Natsu got back up, bleeding from his head with rage filled eyes. He jumped up to Meliodas propelling himself in a circular motion while spinning around with black flames. A tornado of black flames shot up into the sky, surrounding both Meliodas and Natsu.

Meliodas clad Neo Mel Force in darkness and launched himself down at Natsu. Darkness had formed around Natsu's hands like claws.

"Dark Prominence!"

Meliodas slashed down at Natsu as Natsu slashed upward with his claws. Two figures were launched right out of the tornado of fire and the hellblaze vanished. Both figures collided with the mountains on opposite sides, causing a small earthquake and rockslides.

Meliodas flew right out of the debris and hovered over the mountain range. He noticed a dim light coming from one of the destroyed mountains and could sense Natsu's magic coming from there.

Moments later, black flames erupted from the ground and Natsu jumped up into the sky, hovering right in front of Meliodas.

"Natsu!" A woman's voice cried out from below them. Meliodas looked down and realized that Lucy was right below them, not just by herself but with Happy and Gray.

"What the hell was going on?! All those explosions earlier and a lot of these mountains are gone?" Gray questioned.

"And look at Natsu! He has black wings and a mark on his head like Meliodas!" Happy said.

Gray looked up at the sky at Natsu.

"N-Natsu…what the hell happened to him?! He's not human anymore?! Meliodas! What did you do to him?!"

"I'll explain it later!" Meliodas shouted. "Help me get him back to his senses! Your devil slayer magic should work for that!"

Meliodas grabbed Natsu by the neck, surrounding him in darkness. He brought Natsu down to ground level and Gray ran up to them. He raised his left hand, encasing Natsu in purple ice. The ice began to melt, but to Gray's surprise, it was melting only very slowly.

"It's working on him this time?" Gray asked.

"I'm suppressing most of Natsu's power with my darkness. Combined with your devil slayer magic, maybe we can revert Natsu." Meliodas responded. Gray looked at the injuries all over Meliodas' body. He noticed was damaged by hellblaze and unable to fully heal them like he normally would have been able to.

"Natsu!" Meliodas shouted. "Remember all the fun times we had together in the guild! You always tried to fight me before…but not like this! Edolas! We fought together and because of that, we destroyed the dragon chain cannon!"

Natsu continued to struggle as more heat was let off from his body. Gray's ice continued to melt further.

"You hot headed idiot! I know we fight a lot but…you're like a brother to me! So snap out of it already!" Gray exclaimed.

"Without you Natsu…I wouldn't have been able to join Fairy Tail…And I don't want to lose you!" Lucy put her hand on Gray's shoulder. She pulled out one of her golden keys and two small blue twins popped out. The twins began glowing and transformed into Gray.

"Hold on, you could do that?!" Gray questioned.

"I can only do this now because your magic power went down a lot after fighting Natsu." Lucy said. "Gemini! Add to Gray's ice!"

"Piri Piri!" The Gemini clone of Gray said. Gemini Gray raised both his hands up and the melting ice around Natsu began to reform again.

"Natsu…" Happy watched from the side as he watched Meliodas, Lucy and Gray attempt to keep Natsu still. The ice around Natsu began to crack until the top part shattered, with Natsu's head sticking out.

"Dammit! It's getting harder to restrain him! Is he getting stronger or something?!" Gray exclaimed.

Meliodas' eyes widened as an idea popped into his head. He looked over to Happy.

"Happy! Are you ready to save your best friend!"

"Aye!" Happy responded.

"What do you have in mind?" Lucy asked.

Meliodas raised one hand to his side and a light began to glow, taking the form of a small bottle with an unknown liquid inside. The bottle read "ALICE'S SUPER DUPER ULTRA MAXIMUM KNOCKOUT POTION."

"What's with the name?! And who's Alice?!" Lucy questioned.

"Seems like kind of a joke potion. You sure this Alice chick gave you the right thing?" Gray asked.

"Alice is an old man. And yeah, it does seem like a joke potion, but that's just who he is. It's effect though, shouldn't be a joke. It might just be able to knock out Natsu completely." Meliodas tossed the bottle over to Happy.

"While Natsu's head is exposed, get that in his mouth!" Meliodas shouted.

"Do it soon! I think he's about to roar!" Gray noticed Natsu starting to take a deep breath in.

"Aye Sir! Max Speed!" Like a blue blur, Happy flew right at Natsu with Alice's potion. As Natsu began concentrating a large amount of magic in his mouth Happy threw the contents of the bottle right into his open Natsu.

Natsu paused and immediately started to cough violently as the unknown liquid made its way into his body.

"URRAAGHHH!" Natsu screamed, his scream becomes quieter and quieter and his eyes starting to close.

"Zeref…" Natsu closed his eyes completely and his body stopped giving off a tremendous amount of heat while the demon mark on his forehead vanished. Meliodas and Gray released their binding on Natsu and Meliodas' demon mark also faded and his eyes returned to their emerald green hue.

"Phew!" Meliodas wiped the sweat from his head. "Can't believe I almost forgot about that. Alice really saved me there!"

"Meliodas…" Gray said coldly. "What the hell did you do to Natsu?! I can tell with my devil slayer eye! He's changed! He's a lot like you now…"

"In our fight, he bit my arm and swallowed some of my blood. And there's something you should know about the demons from where I'm from." Meliodas responded. "If you're compatible, drinking our blood grants a person power. But that's only with the lowest ranking of demons. The blood of high ranking demons would kill anyone who drank it normally. Except-"

"Guys, what's that black mist coming out of Natsu's body?" Lucy asked.

"I'm starting to feel a bit sick…" Happy said, holding his stomach.

Meliodas and Gray both looked at Natsu.

"What the hell is that?!" Gray questioned.

"Miasma! Gray you can suppress that with your magic!" Meliodas answered. Gray nodded and raised his hand up, surrounding Natsu in purple ice.

"If I get knocked unconscious while in Assault Mode, I release that from my body as well…" Meliodas said. "Breathe too much in and you'll get really sick."

"So about earlier…" Gray said. "Natsu is now a real demon now huh…"

"Actually…I have a suspicion Natsu may have been a demon from the start." Meliodas said.

"What?! That's impossible! I would have been able to tell immediately!" Gray interjected.

Meliodas shook his head.

"Natsu started to yell out Zeref's name in our battle. He has a strange fixation on him. I suspect Natsu is one of Zeref's demons and him eating my hellblaze, the flames of a demon, awakened some dormant instinct inside of him to find Zeref. But just what kind of demon did Zeref create for Natsu to be able to drink my blood…"

A look of both surprise and rage formed on Gray's face.

"E.N.D."

The realization hit Meliodas and both he and Gray looked at Natsu. Gray raised his hand up and pointed it at Natsu's unconscious body. Meliodas suddenly grabbed Gray's wrist firmly and ice began to form around Meliodas' hand.

"What are you guys doing?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"We're not doing this again Gray." Meliodas said firmly. "Natsu's our friend. E.N.D. or not."

In the distance, a roar echoed throughout the mountain range. The group looked towards the direction of the sound.

"Acnologia…" Meliodas said. Both he and Gray tensed up as they stared at the approaching figure.

"Why is Acnologia here?!" Lucy questioned.

"Of all times…" Gray said.

"Let's get Natsu and get out of here!" Happy shouted. The others began to move but Meliodas remained standing in place.

"Meliodas!" Happy flew around Meliodas to his face. He noticed a tear drop coming down the right side of his face.

"Meliodas? This is no time to cry! We have to go now!"

Happy looped around to Meliodas' back and attempted to pick him up. To his surprise, he could not be lifted off the ground and he thought he heard Meliodas whisper a name.

"Ban…"

"Ban? What are you talking about Meliodas! Lucy, Gray! Help me pick up Meliodas!" Happy shouted.

"What's gotten into you Meliodas?!" Gray shouted as he ran towards Meliodas and tried to pull him away.

"Guys! Acnologia is right above us!" Lucy exclaimed.

Suddenly Acnologia was slammed straight into the ground right in front of the group, knocking Happy, Lucy, and Gray back from the shockwave. A tall man was standing on top of Acnologia with a huge grin on his face.

"Whew! You see that Cap'n?~♫"

A huge smile formed on Meliodas' face.

"Ban!"

"Cap-uwaagghh!" Ban was knocked off of Acnologia as the dragon shook his wings and got off of the ground. Ban landed on the ground next to Meliodas. Meliodas raised his left hand up into a fist and Ban pointed his right hand down at Meliodas. The two of them fist bumped.

Lucy, Gray, and Happy watched in complete shock as they recovered from getting blown back.

"Who is that?! His magic is incredible!" Lucy commented.

"No idea…but it looks like he and Meliodas are friends. They might just be able to beat Acnologia." Gray remarked.

"I smell another dragon here! Reveal yourself!" Acnologia roared.

"A dragon?" Meliodas looked back towards Natsu who was still unconscious. To Meliodas' surprise, Acnologia was staring at the foot of Mount Zonia right next to them where a figure was standing. The figure was a tall, voluptuous woman with thickly braided, bow adorned scarlet hair and brown eyes. She wore a risque witch's garb with a diamond portion revealing the underpart of her breasts, a black loincloth with the Alvarez Empire emblem emblazoned on the front, and black, high heeled boots that went up to her thighs. Notably, she wore a black witch hat much larger than her head with a dreadlock design coming off of the top.

"Who is she?!" Happy questioned.

"Her magic is insane too…we're surrounded by monsters!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Hmmm…not one…not two…but three others…" The scarlet haired woman commented with a confident smile. "Three Acnologia level threats all congregated in one place along with Acnologia himself. How convenient for both me and His Majesty."

The woman looked over towards Natsu.

'His Majesty would be upset with me if I messed with E.N.D. in that state. Dealing with those others will have to do.' The woman looked back towards Meliodas, Ban, and Acnologia.

A tall wooden staff formed in the scarlet haired woman's right hand. She tapped the staff on the ground. A red light began to envelop the whole ground, spanning the entirety of Fiore.

"What kind of magic is this Cap'n? The people here use some interesting magic." Ban said as he watched the surroundings begin to sink into the ground.

"I don't know. But I don't like the feel of this. We have to stop her!" Meliodas and Ban both focused their attention on the red haired woman.

Ban pointed his hand at her.

"Fox-"

Suddenly, the entirety of the group was engulfed in the red light and everything and everyone vanished.