In the royal capital of Liones, the square that had previously hosted the Seven Deadly Sins' investiture now held every Holy Knight in the kingdom.
All of them stared with feverish zeal at Ludociel, who stood before them with his arm raised.
"After three thousand years, the Demon Clan has slipped our seal through treachery and will again bring disaster to Britannia.
But do not worry, and do not fear, for we of the Goddess Clan have likewise returned. We shall reestablish Stigma.
For victory, for glory, and for justice—stand and fight at our side!"
"Oh!!!"
…
You had to admit Ludociel had a certain power to sway hearts.
In legend the Goddess Clan was the very symbol of justice and light, long since regarded as divine.
Add to that the Goddess Clan's congenial light-attribute power, and a few of Ludociel's words were enough to win most of the Holy Knights' backing.
The only ones who kept their heads were the Seven Deadly Sins and Charles's group watching from the corner.
Charles wore the look of someone who'd just eaten something foul. "I've no desire to act alongside that guy. For all we know he'll throw us under the bus whenever it suits him."
Why re-form Stigma? Because the Goddess Clan was weak right now, nowhere near matching the Demons—and they wanted fodder and chess pieces to use.
Anyone thinking straight could see that much, even if few were as blunt as Charles.
Meliodas nodded. "Whatever the goddesses are doing, we just stick to our own plan.
Besides, the Seven Deadly Sins are finally all together again!"
Yes—the last of the Sins and their strongest, Escanor of Pride, had returned.
Because the goddesses suddenly appeared during the battle at Byzel, the Ten Commandments chose to withdraw.
Hampered as they were by a lack of power, the goddesses didn't press, while the Sins and Charles, disgusted by Ludociel's stunt, downed tools as well—the fight ended with a whimper.
Charles had hoped to seize a Commandment and came up empty, which only sharpened his dislike for the goddesses.
But the group found something else on the way back: Escanor, hauling a wine shipment to Byzel.
Charles had nearly forgotten—originally, Escanor had also rejoined Meliodas and the others at Byzel.
Once he learned Merlin was there, Escanor returned without a second thought. After meeting up with those holding the fort in Camelot, the Seven Deadly Sins were officially whole again.
Worth noting: on the way back, Merlin "remembered" her true name and identity, thus lifting her curse.
While they were discussing their next move, Camelot received a message from Liones.
The Goddess Clan was summoning every warrior in Britannia to the royal capital to discuss a campaign against the Ten Commandments.
They didn't intend to cooperate with the goddesses, but at least needed to know their plans. So they went to Liones, and everything unfolded more or less as Charles had expected.
This trip wasn't without gains—after consolidating intelligence networks across Britannia, Ludociel produced something important.
The Demon Clan's base.
Unlike the original events, where the Demons seized Camelot directly, Galand's sudden defeat this time had made the Ten far more cautious.
After Byzel—and especially after witnessing the goddesses' revival—the Ten massed their forces. It looked like they were preparing for a new Holy War too.
Their base was the ruins of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh concerned both the Demon Clan and the Seven Deadly Sins.
Three thousand years ago, when the Demons warred with the other four races, the Demons—though they hadn't recruited the three greatest races like the goddesses did—had vassals of their own.
The Vampires were one of them. But back then, the vampire king had some kind of brain cramp and tried to rebel.
The Demon King felt little beyond rage at the betrayal and sent Zeldris, his executioner, to wipe the vampires out.
But "Thousand Dust" Gelda of the Vampires was Zeldris's beloved. In the end, he couldn't swing the blade and sealed the entire vampire clan instead.
Three thousand years later—perhaps because Zeldris had been sealed in the Coffin of Eternal Darkness, and too much time had passed—the vampires' seal failed.
The awakened vampires immediately caused no small disturbance in and around Edinburgh.
At the time, Liones sent the Seven Deadly Sins to investigate Edinburgh.
The vampire king then ran into Escanor and made two mistakes:
First, he just had to prattle on, dawdling until dawn before fighting seriously. Second, he said the poem Escanor wrote for Merlin was a magic spell.
Knowing daylight Escanor's temperament, how could he swallow that? Edinburgh became a bottomless crater under Escanor's blast.
Right after the Ten Commandments broke their seal, they took this place as a base and raised a fortress.
According to Ludociel's intel, Melascula had cast a spell around the perimeter to twist space, repelling all outsiders.
Even Ludociel had no immediate way to break through; he advocated mustering forces to fight the demon army outside.
The Seven Deadly Sins, meanwhile, stood out for going their own way—they didn't march with Stigma's host and took part in few of the battles.
Merlin shut herself in the workshop to research who-knew-what; Escanor hovered nearby with lavish attentions.
Gowther was still in self-imposed isolation, wrestling with how to gain a "heart."
Diane and King were taken away by Gloxinia and Drole to undergo trials.
At Byzel, Gloxinia and Drole had seen how exceptional these juniors were. As the Fairy King and Giant King, they wanted to see their successors grow and shield their peoples in their stead.
At the same time, they wanted to witness through the trials whether their choices back then had been right—and whether those they favored might choose another path.
Charles sensed it the moment Gloxinia took the pair. Diane and King would grow from the trials, and of course he didn't stand in the way.
Meliodas and Ban spent their days seemingly idle, running the Boar Hat and drinking together till they reeled.
Naturally, Charles could tell that Meliodas was deliberately keeping Elizabeth away from the goddess clan.
As Meliodas himself said, he wasn't ready to face the consequences once Elizabeth learned everything.
The reason behind it all was the eternal curse on the two of them. And that day, Charles went to find Meliodas.
"Boss, you've got the Demon King's curse on you, don't you?"
Though it came as a question, Charles's tone was absolute.
Before Meliodas could get the wrong idea, Charles said, "I might be able to break it for you."
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