p. His body was surrounded by a bright yellow aura and he had a few light scratches and bruises on his body and his robe was ripped to shreds.
"Jellal, are you alright?" Meredy shouted as she and Ultear ran towards Jellal.
"Yeah. I used my own magic to block most of the explosion in time. I wasn't expecting him to suddenly turn and attack." Jellal replied as he stared out the hole in the wall made by the fleeing Shakuma.
"I won't let him get away! " Jellal said as he crouched down on the ground, a bright magical circle appearing beneath him. In a flash, he flew out the hole Shakuma made, leaving Ultear and Meredy behind.
---
Shakuma flew through the forest, weaving between the trees as he desperately tried to get away from the area. Out of the corner of his eye on his left side, he saw a bright yellow light.
"Y-you?!" Shakuma exclaimed. Shakuma's eyes widened as Jellal suddenly vanished from his sight, leaving only a small trail of light behind. Before he knew it, Shakuma felt a sharp pain at his back as he was sent flying, crashing through dozens of thick tree trunks and leaving a trail of broken forest in his wake.
"D-dammit all!" Shakuma shouted in frustration as he managed to regain his balance before crashing through another tree. In front of him, he saw Jellal rapidly approaching, flying straight at him. Jellal raised both arms out to his side with lightning forming in his palms.
"Jiu Leixing!"
Two swords of lightning crackled as Jellal held them in his hands and flew straight towards Shakuma.
"Hmmph!, don't think you've won just yet brat! You've only tasted a tiny piece of my magic!" Shakuma shouted as another dark aura appeared over him and black lightning began to crackle around Shakuma's body.
"Eldritch Dark Art: Lightning Scar!" Shakuma summoned two black lightning swords in each hand. Jellal charged forward, clashing his blades with Shakuma. Lightning crackled between the four blades as Shakuma was continually pushed backwards through the forest, his back smashing through more trees.
"Gghhrrhh!" Shakuma grunted as he managed to parry Jellal off of him, flying off to the side. Jellal quickly recovered and flew straight after him.
Sensing Jellal behind him, Shakuma turned around, only to see Jellal was now right next to him. Jellal shifted his position, spinning around rapidly with his two lightning blades. Shakuma held his own black lightning blades up in response.
As Jellal continued spinning, his own lightning blades slowly started digging straight into Shakuma's. Shakuma immediately let go of his dark lightning blades and leaped backwards, only for Jellal to follow right after him with both of his lightning blades pointed out in front of him. A bead of sweat began to run down Shakuma's face. 'He's really going to make me use that?!' Shakuma raised both hands out in front of him, his palms facing Jellal and two fingers outstretched in each hand. A condensed ball of dark magic began to form in front of his palms.
"Eldritch Secret Art: Terminus!"
A black wave of magic taking the shape of dozens of ghoul-like figures flew out towards Jellal. Jellal tightened his grip on his swords as his swords doubled in size, crackling louder with electricity.
"Excelion Pierce!"
Jellal clashed with the wave of ghoul-like apparitions, piercing straight through with little to no resistance. Shakuma's eyes widened with an expression of horror as Jellal's figure came out of the wave and he was now right in front of him.
Behind Jellal, seven other swords of lightning formed, floating behind him and pointing directly at Shakuma.
"It's over Shakuma!" Jellal shouted as he threw all nine lightning blades at Shakuma. Each blade crashed into Shakuma's body creating a shockwave of wind and lightning that overwhelmed and engulfed Shakuma in an explosion that thundered throughout the forest. From the explosion, Shakuma's body went flying out, his body covered in wounds and burns as he was propelled straight into a nearby mountain.
With a loud crash, Shakuma collided straight into the rocks, causing the entire mountain to shake. Several rocks at the top of the mountain began to roll down the other side in a huge rock slide falling towards the forest while flocks of birds flew out from behind the mountain.
Shakuma slowly started to get up from the rocky area he was lodged into. He could feel many of his bones were broken as he felt sharp pain all around his body. As he looked up in the direction he was sent flying from, Jellal landed on the ground right in front of him.
"Do it, finish me off! Show me you haven't changed at all!" Shakuma laughed crazily, ignoring his injuries as blood came out of his mouth. Jellal looked coldly at Shakuma and immediately lunged forward, grabbing both of Shakuma's wrist. To Shakuma's surprise, Jellal had merely only placed magic restraining cuffs on him.
"W-what are you-" Shakuma's question was cut short as a powerful drowsiness slept over his body and he slumped over.
---
"There was a huge explosion earlier. Do you think Jellal is alright?" Meredy said as she looked into the distance at a massive smoke cloud coming from the side of a mountain.
"He should be fine. From what I could tell, he is much stronger than Shakuma." Ultear replied. Just as the two finished conversing, a blue-haired figure appeared in the skies above them, holding an unconscious body over his shoulder. The figure descended down towards Ultear and Meredy.
"See, I told you it would be fine." Ultear said. "Did you have any trouble?
"Not too much trouble. All that time spent training with Meliodas really paid off." Jellal replied.
"What do we do with him now?" Meredy asked as she stared at the tied up, sleeping Shakuma.
"Lets just leave him somewhere the Council can find him. I've already cuffed him and placed a deep sleep spell on him. I am sure they can handle the rest." Jellal responded.
----
Magic Council Main Headquarters
Night had fallen over Fiore. The Magic Council Headquarters was dimly lit under the stars as it was a new moon. Standing in front of the building, two men dressed in white robes stood wearily. Unknown to them, three shadowy figures were standing on the roof of the Council Headquarters.
"Are we really going to leave him in front of the building?" Meredy whispered to Jellal.
"We don't have another choice. We're all wanted and we can't afford to be spotted." Jellal said as he lifted Shakuma up from over his shoulder. He let him go off the top of the building and he landed hard on the pavement in front of the guards.
"W-what the hell was that?!" One of the guards shouted. He looked up above at the roof and saw nothing there.
"I-is that Shakuma? I thought he escaped!" The other guard exclaimed as he approached the body. "And he's already cuffed and...sound asleep?"