Lucy, being held by Carla, and Happy floated high above the castle. As they hovered in place, planning their next course of action, the sound of many wings flapping could be heard coming closer to them.
"What's that sound?" Lucy asked. The three of them looked around above them. Their eyes widened in shock as they saw an army of hundreds of Exceed flying at them.
"We've found you, Fallen!" One of the Exceed at the front yelled out. This particular Exceed looked very familiar, with features similar to the Blue Pegasus member Ichiya.
"There's...so many cats?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"They are the Exceed! We need to run!!!"Happy said.
"It will be troublesome if we remain up here. We'll go back down to the ground!" Carla ordered.
"What about the royal army?" Happy asked.
"We have no choice, we can just fly through the castle." Carla said urgently.
"Won't the guards stop us?" Happy continued
.
"No, remember we almost fooled Erza, I am sure the guards won't ask too much. Plus, it would be much easier to run away from the guards on the ground than the Exceed in the air." Carla said as she began flying towards the courtyard.
"Aye." Happy nodded and followed behind Carla.
The two dove straight towards the ground with Carla still holding onto Lucy. As they came closer to the ground they noticed that a lot of the soldiers were on the ground groaning in pain.
They looked around and noticed five figures who were standing off below. Four of them were facing one lone smaller one. Happy's eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the familiar smaller figure.
"Meliodas!" Happy yelled. Carla and Lucy looked down at the ground and below them, was Meliodas standing in the middle of the courtyard. In front of him were Erza, Pantherlily, Hughes, and Sugarboy.
"So Meliodas made it here!" Lucy exclaimed. She was surprised to see that Meliodas was here as well. She remembered that he wasn't in the town when it vanished.
"This is no time to celebrate. We need to get down there now! It looks like Meliodas has his hands full with those four already." Carla interjected. The three of them flew quickly towards the ground as the army of Exceeds was right behind them.
--
"You're going to fight us by yourself?" Sugarboy asked. "Silly boy, you don't know what you're getting into-." Sugarboy stopped as he noticed the army of Exceed flying towards the castle.
"Oh, when did they get here?" Hughes asked, looking up above them. Perplexed at their reactions, Meliodas turned around and saw three familiar faces flying rapidly towards them.
"Lucy?" Meliodas questioned. "When did you get here?"
"No time to explain!" Lucy shouted as she, Happy, and Carla flew right by him and landed on the ground next to him.
"Well well well. That's a lot of cats." Meliodas said as he continued to look up into the sky above, which was now filled with Exceed. "Although we have bigger problems right now."
Meliodas turned around and gestured towards the four Captains standing there in front of them. The group was surrounded on both sides.
"This doesn't look good…" Carla commented.
"We have to defeat these four as well. So Lucy, do you want to fight the cats or them?" Meliodas asked nonchalantly.
"What kind of question is that?!" Lucy exclaimed, shocked at Meliodas' calmness despite the drastic situation.
"And it's not like I can fight back…these cuffs are restraining my magic." Lucy said as she revealed the anti magic cuffs that were restraining her wrists. She held her cuffs out in front of her. Meliodas gave her a puzzled look.
"Wait...you're able to use magic here? Well I'll ask more about it later." Meliodas shrugged and raised his sword up in the air. He swiftly cut down on the cuffs that shackled Lucy's wrists. The cuffs split in two and fell to the ground.
"Ok now we can-" Before Meliodas could finish, a loud voice shouted from the top of one of the buildings.
"INVOKE CODE ETD."
Meliodas glanced back at the captains who all had shocked expressions on their faces. Meliodas scratched his head, puzzled by the words of the loud voice. 'ETD?'
He looked back up towards the Exceed who were flying towards them. Suddenly, three wide rays of magic intersecting from each side of the courtyard shot out at the Exceed, engulfing their army completely in rays of bright light. Suddenly, the Exceeds began to transform into small lacrima that fell to the ground as the light engulfed them.
"What is the meaning of this...Humans!" One of the Exceed at the front shouted as he was held in place by a strange light before he himself turned into a lacrima.
"We can use this chaos to get away and go save Natsu and Wendy!" Carla shouted.
"Then I'll keep these guys off of you in the meantime!" Meliodas replied as he turned back to the Captains.
"Meliodas!" Lucy shouted as she, Happy, and Carla began to fly away. "Natsu and Wendy are in the West Tower basement! Head over there when you're done!"
"You won't get away from me!" Pantherlily yelled as he snapped out of his daze. Wings sprouted from his back as he leaped into the air to give chase to Lucy, Happy and Carla.
"Carla, bad news! That big guy is coming after us!" Happy exclaimed.
"I won't let you!" Meliodas shouted as he suddenly appeared in front of Pantherlily. Pantherlily's eyes widened. 'He was just down on the ground. How did he jump over here so fast?!'
Meliodas raised both hands above his head and clasped them before slamming down on Pantherlily. Pantherlily gasped in pain before being sent hurtling towards the ground. Pantherlily slammed face first into the ground, creating a large crater.
"Thanks Meliodas!" Lucy shouted as they left the area.
Meliodas landed on the ground in front of the unconscious Pantherlily. He looked at the remaining three Captains.
"Allow me." Sugarboy said as he charged in at Meliodas and drew his blade. Sugarboy's blade was a unique looking one, with a rose shaped handle. The blade widened towards the tip and three lacrima were lodged within the blade.
Meliodas clashed with Sugarboy's blade, exchanging a flurry of slashes with him at blistering speed. Suddenly, Meliodas's blade seemingly melted and dripped to the ground like liquid, leaving Meliodas holding onto only a handle.
'What is that magic?' Meliodas thought. 'No...these guys can't use magic. It must be an ability from that sword.'
Meliodas jumped back several meters and picked up another sword laying on the ground. He looked back up at Sugarboy who was looking at his arm. From the clash earlier, Meliodas had cut through Sugarboy's armor on his right arm and blood was dripping down Sugarboy's hand.
"Try all of the swords you like, but you won't be able to stop my Rosa Espada." Sugarboy said as he tried to ignore the pain in his bleeding arm. He held his blade in front of him and charged at Meliodas once again.
Sugarboy ran forward at Meliodas and unleashed a series of fast sword swings. Meliodas ducked and weaved between each one, making sure not to come into contact with his blade.
"You're wide open!" Meliodas shouted as he found an opening in Sugarboy's sword slashes. He threw a quick punch at Sugarboy's chest, leaving a deep dent in his pink armor. Sugarboy coughed up blood as he was sent flying back.
"He defeated Sugarboy in one hit?!" Hughes questioned.
"You're next!" Meliodas shouted as he charged straight at Hughes. Hughes' eyes widened as he tried to reach into his pocket and pull out his weapon in time. As he barely managed to pull out a wand-like object, it was too late as Meliodas delivered a solid punch to his gut, sending him flying across the courtyard.
As Meliodas finished his punch, he instinctively ducked back as the tip of a black spear barely missed impaling his head. A slight wound formed on his cheek in the process and blood dripped down the side of his face. Meliodas retreated backwards, only to see Erza standing there holding a spear.
"You're certainly stronger than I had anticipated." Erza said as she slowly began walking towards Meliodas. "Even without magic, your swordsmanship and physical prowess are enough to overwhelm even the Royal Guard. However...I'm not like the others." Erza spun her spear quickly before getting into a battle stance and pointing it at Meliodas. Meliodas clenched his sword and raised it at Erza. A cheeky smile formed on his face.
"Well, well, well. I hope you don't disappoint, fake Erza."