Meliodas, after having requipped his clothes and weapon back on, walked over to Jellal and Happy, both of which were in awe of what they had just watched.
"Aye, you showed him, Meliodas!" Happy cheered. Jellal remained silent as he looked at Meliodas.
"So you're Jellal huh?" Meliodas asked. Jellal nodded but remained silent. Meliodas couldn't help but smile a bit as both Jellal and Mystogan shared that same trait. He looked at the square of destruction marking on both Jellal and Nirvana. It was glowing even brighter.
"I don't know the details of your past or sins. And I won't pry into that. But I'll tell you now, that killing yourself along with Nirvana isn't the way to redeem yourself." Meliodas said solemnly. Meliodas pointed to his left arm tattoo. Happy and Jellal looked at it curiously.
"I once failed to protect everyone. An entire kingdom was lost because of me, and that's the sin I bear. Even now, I still carry it with me as a reminder, that I won't let it happen again." Meliodas said. He glanced up at the giant pillar of light that seemingly shot up endlessly into the sky. Jellal looked down at the square of destruction marking on his chest and put a hand on it.
"So why don't you take that off yourself and we can drink some ale after-" Meliodas paused mid sentence as he sensed a great magical power suddenly appear behind him. He turned around and realized it was coming from the direction Erza and Natsu had come from.
"Meliodas what's wrong?" Happy asked.
---
Natsu panted heavily as he looked at Brain's unconscious body. A look of confusion swept over Natsu's face as he looked at Brain's face. The black markings on Brain's face had all disappeared.
"Oh no! Please no! Anything but this!" A voice said from next to Natsu. Natsu turned his head and saw that the skull mounted on the top of Brain's staff was speaking and had begun to hop towards them.
"A talking staff?!" Natsu exclaimed. "Wait what the hell are you on about?!"
"B-brain...he has another personality. The one you just fought was known as "Brain," a man who loves knowledge. But this n-next one…" The skull's teeth began chattering as it was speaking.
"So that means-" Erza turned her head and looked towards Brain's body. Brain's body seemed completely relaxed as he lay on the forest floor unconscious. Suddenly, Brain opened his eyes. His white sclera had turned red. Brain's staff immediately dropped its head to the ground, bowing in respect.
"W-welcome back, Master Zero!"
"I see things have taken an interesting turn, Klodoa." Zero smirked as he talked to the staff.
Zero began taking a few steps forward. His current outfit began to glow as he summoned a new outfit using requip, one that was reminiscent of a green military outfit. He glanced at Natsu and Erza who were staring at him in disbelief. His magic was foul and unlike anything they have sensed before.
"So these pests defeated my other half? How disappointing." Zero smirked. Natsu clenched his fists before charging straight at Zero.
"Natsu don't!" Erza shouted.
"Fire Dragon's Iron-"
As Natsu wound his fist back, Zero jumped towards Natsu, grabbing him by the head. With a large grin on his face, he forcefully threw Natsu towards Erza. As Erza tried to catch Natsu, Zero raised his palm and pointed it at them.
"Dark Capriccio!"
A green and orange spiraling beam of dark magic shot out of his palm, impaling both Natsu and Erza through the torso. Erza coughed up blood as she glared at Brain, unable to move as her vision began to blur before collapsing on the ground with Natsu.
"Excellent job, Master!" Klodoa complimented. Zero's smirk vanished and he glared at Klodoa.
"Pathetic." Zero commented. He raised his right hand and with a swiping motion, letting out a wave of magic and completely shattered the skull shaped staff, Klodoa. Without even batting an eye, he continued walking.
---
Meliodas faced the forest with a serious look on his face. A lone man with white hair and a green military outfit emerged from the bushes. Happy and Jellal watched in shock as the man walked towards them.The man continued to walk towards Meliodas slowly but focused his attention on the bright light of Nirvana that was beaming upwards behind Meliodas.
"How pathetic. Couldn't even activate it." Zero commented. He focused his attention back to Meliodas and grinned.
"So you were the one who defeated most of my Oracion Seis single handedly? You are certainly someone who is…" Zero's grin grew wider as his mouth opened.
"SOMEONE WHO IS WORTH DESTROYING."
Meliodas began walking towards Zero as Zero walked towards Meliodas. Happy and Jellal watched as the two approached each other with both of them stopping in front of each other as Meliodas was looking straight up at Zero while Zero was looking straight down at Meliodas.
"You're quite brave. But bravery can't save you from your destruction." Zero commented.
"Where are Natsu and Erza?" Meliodas asked in a serious tone.
"Who? I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about. Tell me, do you go out of the way to learn the names of every ant you step on?" Brain retorted with an evil grin. Without another word, Meliodas's eyes narrowed as his brow furrowed. He could still sense Natsu and Erza's magic, but it was fading.
"Happy." Meliodas said as he continued to glare at Zero. Happy's head perked up as he heard the seriousness in Meliodas' voice.
"Go find Wendy and Carla. They should still be nearby. She needs to heal Natsu and Erza." Meliodas.
"Aye sir!" Happy said eagerly as he hastily flew up into the air.
"Concerned about your friends? Don't bother, you're only stalling their destruction." Zero mocked.
Without another word, Meliodas jumped upwards, delivering a quick uppercut to Zero's chin. Blood leaked out from Zero's mouth as he was launched high into the air. Zero looked back down as he was getting launched and saw Meliodas jumping up right after him.
Meliodas leaped up after him. Zero looked back down at Meliodas coming at him and began charging magic into his hands.
"Dark Capriccio!"
Spiraling green and orange whip like constructs formed in Zero's hands as he swung down at Meliodas. Meliodas drew Mel Force in response, parrying the whips with his blade as he was pushed back to the ground.
As Zero landed on the ground, he continued flailing the dark whips around, with Meliodas ducking and maneuvering each one as he got closer and closer to Zero. Zero dispelled one of the whips in his hand as he sent the other one towards Meliodas. Meliodas parried it with his blade, creating sparks as the whip scraped off of Mel Force. With his free hand, Zero pointed it towards Meliodas.
"Dark Delete!"
A barrage of spherical entities of darkness were shot from Zero's free hand. Meliodas saw several of them coming his way and pushed the Dark Capriccio that was grinding against his sword away from him.
"Full Counter!"
Meliodas swung his sword, causing the spheres of darkness to return back to Zero. Zero anticipated this and jumped up into the air immediately, dodging the spheres as they flew right under him. As Meliodas took a step forward, several more black spheres that were not part of the first attack flew by Meliodas's head. Meliodas's eyes widened as he realized Zero's true intention.
"Jellal! Move!" Meliodas shouted as he turned his head. To his dismay, Jellal was already too weakened to move from his place as the spheres collided with him, creating an explosion of dark magic and smoke.
"You're wide open!" Zero exclaimed. As Meliodas turned his head back to Zero he raised his sword up in front of him as two Dark Capriccios's slash across the front side of Meliodas. Blood gushed from Meliodas's body, causing him to take a knee. Zero smirked and began walking slowly towards Meliodas.
As Zero walked closer to Meliodas, his smirk quickly faded and his eyes grew wide with shock. The gashes across the front of Meliodas body began leaking a dark substance as the wounds closed up. Meliodas' demeanor became more sinister and his eyes turned pitch black while black spiral shaped henna formed above his right eyebrow.