Late that night, Meliodas returned back to his house from the guild hall. He waved at Schneider who was downstairs reading a book. Schneider returned a friendly nod and Meliodas went upstairs.
Meliodas looked around his room. It was a cluttered mess, with various empty bottles of ale scattered around the room and trash everywhere. 'I think I should clean this place up.' Meliodas thought.
For the next half an hour, Meliodas picked up all of the trash around his room. The floor was clean and all that was left leaning against a wall was the portrait of Elizabeth Meliodas received from Reedus that he still had not hung up.
Meliodas walked up to the portrait and picked it up, staring at her face in silence for several minutes. He looked at the photo endearingly. Reedus had managed to capture Elizabeth's look exactly. Meliodas continued to stare at the drawing in silence, feeling his heart clench from the pain of having to be away from Elizabeth all of these months. Eventually he stopped looking at the painting as he looked around the room. 'Now where should I hang this...' Meliodas thought as he tried to find a suitable place to hang it up.
As Meliodas tried to find a good spot, he felt a strange chill, as if he was being watched. Meliodas concentrated as he closed his eyes and tried to sense where he was being watched from.
He suddenly let go of the portrait as a large knife sunk into it from the top and tore its way down across in one clean cut. The two pieces of the now cut in half portrait fell to the ground. In front of Meliodas was a hooded man wearing a black cloak with a large knife in hand.
Meliodas looked down at the portrait which was now at the man's feet. Elizabeth's face was cut in half down the middle. 'I might be able to fix that with some-'
The mysterious man took a step forward, his boot stepping on Elizabeth's face, leaving a dirty boot mark as he walked closer to Meliodas. At that moment, Meliodas felt a strange sensation he hadn't felt in a while. Meliodas looked back up at the man, his features now changed as a dark aura began to emanate from him.
---
Schneider briefly put his book down as he sipped his tea and stared at the flames flickering in the fireplace. 'It seems he finally finished.' Schneider thought to himself. Meliodas was making quite the racket that night as he cleaned up around the room. But now it was silent. Schneider picked up his book and began reading.
He suddenly felt a chill go down his spine as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. 'This sensation...this killing intent...it's true rage!' Schneider immediately stood up from his seat and looked up at the ceiling. 'Is it coming from Meliodas?'
Another moment passed and the ceiling caved in. Schneider watched as Meliodas and another man fell into his living room, with the mysterious man's neck being held firmly by Meliodas as they crashed into the ground. Schneider put his arms up in front of him as various pieces of rocks and wood went flying around him. As the dust settled, Schneider's eyes widened.
There he saw Meliodas, with pitch black eyes and a spiral shaped black henna marking over his right eyebrow. Meliodas was looking down at the unconscious man. Blood was dripping down from the man's face as he lay there.
"Meliodas…" Schneider said quietly. Meliodas' turned his head as he heard Schneider say his name. His demonic features quickly vanished as he faced Schneider with a happy smile on his face, as if nothing had happened.
"Yo!" Meliodas greeted. "Sorry about the roof. I'll include it in the next-"
"Don't worry about it. I owe you for what happened with the assassin from Logres…" Schneider interrupted. Meliodas nodded and looked down at the cloaked figure, who was just now waking up. He grabbed the cloaked man and brought him closer to his face. Meliodas looked at him with fierce eyes as the man slowly opened his.
"Who are you?" Meliodas asked. "Why did you try to kill me- no...why did you step on Elizabeth!" Meliodas yelled angrily.
The man looked at Meliodas with a fearful look. 'This isn't a child...this is a real DEMON! I SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THIS JOB…'
"I-I am S-S-Savos!" The man replied. "I was h-hired by Joe Bluegarden to k-kill you…"
"Joe?" Meliodas questioned. He then remembered one of the very first missions he took with Gray. They had gotten Joe arrested by the council but he quickly got out, most likely due to his high status. 'Then that means…'
"Dammit!" Meliodas shouted. With a swift chop to the back of the head, he knocked the assassin out and carried his body outside the house as Schneider watched silently in shock as to what was happening. Meliodas jumped onto the roof of his house and looked around. 'That means Gray is in danger too...but where did he live again?'
Meliodas began scanning the tops of the buildings as he tried to think if he knew where Gray's house was. He suddenly felt a spike in magical power as a large pillar of ice that towered above the other buildings rose from the ground several blocks away. 'That's him!'
Meliodas prepared a massive leap from his current spot. As his feet left the roof, the tiles of the roof were kicked off as he soared through the night sky with Savos unconscious body slung over his shoulder.
Meliodas managed to land just in front of the ice pillar. He saw that there was another cloaked man that was encased inside of the ice pillar. Standing in front of the ice pillar was Gray, who was only wearing his shorts.
"Gray!" Meliodas yelled as he ran over to him. Gray turned his head and saw Meliodas approaching him carrying an unconscious man.
"Meliodas?!" Gray exclaimed. "Don't tell me…"
"Bluegarden's after us." Meliodas replied. He dropped Savos down on the ground in front of him.
"Tch..this is a real problem. It's a good thing I wasn't sleeping yet or I might as well have been dead." Gray said. "I guess I'll go call the council and have them pick up these scumbags. But what the hell are we gonna do about Bluegarden. They let that bastard free after getting arrested."
"I'll deal with him…" Meliodas said with a serious tone. Meliodas jumped up into the air as black wings sprouted from his back. Gray watched as Meliodas soared into the distance, with his wings nearly invisible in the night sky.
"Damn." Gray said. "Then I guess I gotta clean up with these guys."
---
Joe sat down on his porch, with a glass of wine in hand. He stared into the distance, looking at the calm night sky. The full moon above him illuminated his estate.
'I will make those damn Fairy Tail mages pay for crossing me.' Joe thought to himself. He took a sip of his wine as he stared into the night sky. 'Before the sun rises, those assassins would have already killed-'
Joe's thoughts paused as he looked at the moon. His hands began to shake as he silently stared into the night sky. His wine glass slipped out of his hands, shattering on the ground and breaking the silence.
'N-n-noo…' Joe stared at the figure that was right above him, hovering with wings of darkness. He suddenly turned around and tried to make a run for it into his mansion. Just before he could reach the door, the figure landed right in front of him.
"Y-you!" Joe looked at Meliodas, his eyes meeting Meliodas's pitch black eyes. Meliodas grabbed Joe by the collar and pulled him close.
"I won't let you get away with trying to kill one of my friends!" Meliodas declared. His body emanated a dark aura. Joe found no strength in his legs as he became paralyzed in fear.
"N-no...p-p-please spare me...I-I promise I won't try to kill you or anyone from Fairy Tail ever again! Please...I'll give you anything you want!"
Meliodas glared at Joe in silence before answering.
"Then tell me everything you know. What information do you have on spatial magic?"