Meliodas arrived some distance away from the guild building, landing behind a few rocks. It was a smaller guild then the ones he normally encountered. The guild didn't have a guild sign and looked extremely normal. Normal passersby wouldn't even suspect it of being a guild and more like some random inn for weary travelers.
However, Meliodas, with his keen vision was able to see some members standing near the entrance, extremely vigilant of their surroundings. The members standing outside the building wore black, decorated masks that covered the upper half of their face, a testament to their guild name. Meliodas waited patiently, observing the dark guild to make sure the area cleared up of potential passerby before he went in.
"Looks like the coast is clear." Meliodas said to himself as he pulled his black hood over his head, covering up half of his face.
Meliodas emerged from where he was watching Masquerade and began walking slowly towards him. The guild members standing at the front immediately noticed him and tensed up.
"Stop right there!" One of the members shouted. Meliodas said no words in response and continued walking. He held his left hand out to his side and a bright light began glowing from his hand, taking the shape of a massive black greatsword.
"Requip: Gravity Core."
---
One hour earlier
Sting and Rogue stood at the entrance of their guild. In Sting's hands was a job flyer that the two of them were reading over.
[Subdue the dark guild, Masquerade. Location: West of Cataria Town. 2,000,000 Jewel Reward]
"Cataria? That's close by. We could make it there in an hour." Rogue commented as he looked at the job flyer. Suddenly, a hulking figure approached the two Sabertooth mages from the entryway.
"You two going out on a mission?" Orga asked. He peered over at the flyer Sting and Rogue were looking at.
"Oh a dark guild? Haven't seen a request for one of those in a while. They just suddenly stopped appearing. You guys lucked out. Just make sure you teach those weaklings what Sabertooth is all about." Orga commented as he started walking past Sting and Rogue. Sting and Rogue nodded and looked down at the ground at their two Exceeds.
"Let's show them Sabertooth's might!" Lector shouted enthusiastically.
"Frosch thinks so too!" Frosch added.
---
"Keep on your toes. We're approaching the location where Masquerade is located." Rogue said as he, Sting, Lector, and Frosch walked down the rocky mountain road. A few moments later, the Sabertooth group stopped in their tracks, their eyes wide open and jaws open with no words coming out.
In front of them was what was supposed to have been the Masquerade building. Instead, there were just large piles of debris that were swept away to the sides and a flat area where the building was supposed to have been standing. Scattered all around the ground were the unconscious bodies of the Masquerade guild members.
"What happened here?!" Lector questioned.
"Someone beat us to it." Rogue replied.
"Heh...so someone came here and stole our glory? We're not letting them get off that easily. Maybe they're still around! We'll teach them to steal prey from Sabertooth!" Sting shouted eagerly as he ran towards the remains of the dark guild with Rogue following silently right behind him.
Both Sting and Rogue suddenly stopped in their tracks as they got closer to the remains of the guild building. Standing roughly ten meters ahead of them was a lone hooded figure of short stature. The figure had their back turned to the two Sabertooth mages and appeared to be looking down reading something.
"He looks like he's from another dark guild most likely." Rogue commented.
"Hey!" Sting shouted. Meliodas turned his head and noticed the two Sabertooth mages. He immediately recognized one of them.
'Sting from the Grand Magic Games?' Meliodas thought to himself. 'These guys might recognize me if I stick around too long. I should leave. Besides, there wasn't any information I was looking for here.'
Meliodas turned quickly around and began walking away, ignoring the two Sabertooth mages.
"Get back here!" Sting shouted as he chased after Meliodas. As Sting ran after Meliodas, Rogue's body sunk into the ground, turning into a shadow that traveled towards Meliodas.
"Don't let him get away!" Rogue shouted in his shadow state. A grin formed on Sting's face and he immediately jumped high into the air. He took a deep breath, puffing his chest up before exhaling.
"White Dragon's Roar!"
Sting roared as a white beam of light shot out from his mouth and straight towards Meliodas. Without even turning to face the beam, Meliodas made a quick sidestep to the left, causing the beam to narrowly miss him and hit the ground to his right.
Sting suddenly jerked his head, moving the beam horizontally towards Meliodas. Just as the beam was about to crash into Meliodas, he jumped up into the air, kicking up a small rock on the ground with him. Leaning back, he flipped over the beam and grabbed the rock while in the air.
Right before landing, Meliodas turned around and threw the rock towards Sting, smacking him on the forehead. With the sudden impact of the blow, Sting lost focus and the beam dispersed.
"Ow!!" Sting winced as a red abrasion appeared on his forehead. Sting looked at the ground at the rock that had just struck him. He suddenly shook as he saw the hooded figure. He was slightly enraged. Sting rushed forward and began his attack once more.
'I thought there were two of them...where did the other one go?' Meliodas thought as he dodged the assault of light-enhanced punches and kicks coming from Sting. 'This magic he's using...it feels very similar to Ark.' Meliodas thought as he evaded Sting.
Sting suddenly jumped back and Meliodas noticed a slight movement coming from the ground as Rogue emerged from Sting's shadow.
"Shadow Dragon's Slash!"
Rogue sung his left arm coated in shadows at Meliodas. Meliodas raised his right arm up, blocking the attack but causing the sleeve of his cloak to blow off, revealing his forearm.
Rogue's eyes widened as he stared at Meliodas' arm. 'He blocked my dragon slaying magic enhanced attack with just his bare arm?!' Rogue thought. He was expecting to cut through Meliodas' arm, or at least cause some kind of noticeable damage. However, there was not a single scratch on Meliodas' arm.
Before Rogue's body could become a shadow once again, Meliodas grabbed onto his arm, throwing him straight at Sting and knocking the two dragon slayers away. The two dragon slayers quickly recovered, landing on their feet.
'I don't want to hurt these guys too badly, but they're really not going to let me out of here are they?' Meliodas thought as he saw the fierce determination the two dragon slayers had to fight.
"Rogue!" Sting shouted as his magic began to flare up.
"We're doing that? Right now?" Rogue questioned as he looked at his partner.
"Yeah...this guy is strong...we'll settle this right here and now!" Sting shouted as his magic flared up even further. Rogue nodded in agreement and followed suit, his magic also flaring up as shadows swirling around his body.
Sting's body became cloaked in an aura of light, and white scales began to form along the sides of his face and body. On the contrary, Rogue was cloaked in an aura of darkness as black scales began to form on his face.
'Wasn't this called Dragon Force? So they're going all out now.' Meliodas thought to himself, impressed at the magical power he was feeling.
Meliodas remained silent as the two dragon slayers glared at Meliodas. Meliodas slowly raised his left hand up to his side. A bright light began to glow from his hand, taking the form of a large onyx colored greatsword that he slung over his shoulder.
The two dragon slayers charged at Meliodas with blinding speed, with Rogue sinking into his shadow in the process. Meliodas remained standing firmly in his spot. Just as Rogue emerged from his shadow and he and Sting were within striking distance of Meliodas, they swung at him with dragon slayer enhanced strikes. Their eyes widened with surprise as Meliodas vanished from their sight the instant before their strikes connected.
'H-he's fast!' Sting and Rogue thought simultaneously. The two immediately looked up and saw Meliodas was high in the air above them.
Meliodas wound his massive greatsword back before suddenly throwing it at the two dragon slayers. The greatsword spun through the air before the blade slammed straight into the ground between Sting and Rogue. The ground cracked and caved in as a large shockwave burst forth from the epicenter of where the greatsword struck.
"Gggahhh!!!" Sting shouted as both he and Rogue were blasted away by the shockwave of upheaved earth followed by a large cloud of smoke and dust.
The two dragon slayers were sent flying dozens of meters away before landing on the ground and tumbling even further. Eventually the two of them managed to get their balance and planted their feet firmly on the ground. In front of them, was a massive tower of dust that went straight up into the air. Moments passed as the dust began to clear up, revealing a massive crater. To their surprise, the cloaked figure and his sword were not there, with the only trace left being a hole in the ground where the sword was previously implanted.
"Dammit! Who the hell was that guy?!" Sting shouted in frustration.
Rogue remained silent as he looked around. The figure was nowhere to be seen. The two of them began to power down from Dragon Force, the scales on their body receding.
"His scent is still lingering in the area. Maybe we can track him down." Rogue commented.
"I can't believe he was able to fight us back so easily..." Sting murmured. He took a deep breath in, getting a whiff of the scent that Rogue was talking about. Sting's eyes widened momentarily as he recognized the smell. 'Why...does that guy smell familiar...like I've met him somewhere before?!'
"Just who was he…" Rogue said quietly.
"Whoever he is, he is an enemy of Sabertooth! He stole our mission!" Sting roared, still furious. "Let's find him! I am sure we can take him on if we combine our dragon slayer magic!"
"Perhaps...but was he even trying to fight us?" Rogue questioned.
Sting suddenly froze as he recalled the fight. The figure had been on the defensive the entire time and was able to dodge and block their attacks with little difficulty. Even the sword he had thrown at them was merely used as a diversion to leave. Sting shuddered briefly at the thought if that massive sword had been thrown directly at him instead.
"Whatever it is, let's just go back for now. Lector and Frosch are waiting for us." Rogue suggested as he remained vigilant.
"What about the mission? What do we do now?" Sting asked.
"What else can we do, the guild is already decimated. All we can do is go back and relay the information that the dark guild is no more." Rogue answered.