139 Dark Dragon

"She attained dragon force through eating darkness magic? Shouldn't that have only replenished her magic?" Ultear questioned.

"The injury I inflicted on Eskei was lethal and she knew she would die anyway. I suspect she gave up the rest of her life force with her magic and gave it to Nyx." Jellal responded. "On the Tower of Heaven, I had fought Natsu Dragneel. He ate a small part of Etherion and activated Dragon Force. As soon as that happened, any advantage I had over him in battle was gone."

"That may be the case, but you were alone then. There's three of us here now. We can take her!" Meredy said with a determined expression.

"Then I'll take the lead. Both of you back me up with long range spells." Jellal said as he crouched down on the ground, a bright magic flowing throughout his body. Meredy and Ultear both nodded at each other and took a step back as they got into a fighting stance.

"Meteor!"

In a bright flash, Jellal flew forward towards Nyx. Nyx glared at Jellal and lunged forward straight towards him. She wound her right fist back and threw a punch towards Jellal as they were about to collide. Jellal suddenly changed directions, looping around behind her as her fist nicked his left cheek. To his surprise, Nyx continued going forward.

'She's heading towards Ultear and Meredy!'

Suddenly, the wide spacious room around them seemingly formed cracks and shattered, the distorted space taking the form of a glass-like appearance as it hit the ground. In that moment, Nyx paused for a very brief instant as a moment of doubt entered her mind. 'What could have caused Rezeria to dispel her wonder room? That blond kid...no he couldn't be that strong could he?!'

At that moment, Ultear immediately pushed Meredy out of the way. Meredy's eyes widened and tears formed in her eyes as Nyx slashed down on Ultear across her body.

"Dark Dragon's Ripper!"

Ultear's orb shattered into pieces as blood gushed from three long gashes that went across her body from the claw shaped darkness. She slowly fell to the ground and gave a smile to Meredy.

"Ultear!" Meredy screamed. Nyx turned her gaze to Meredy and shifted directions, lunging straight towards her.

'She's too fast!' Jellal thought as he rushed towards Meredy as fast as he could. He watched in slow motion as Nyx raised her right arm clad in darkness the shape of a large claw. 'I...won't make it!'

"Dark Dragon's-"

Out of the corner of Jellal's eye, a spinning object went flying past his head. In that instant he looked at the object and realized what it was.

Before Nyx could finish through with her slash, she felt a sharp and heavy pain go through the left side of her body and out the right side. Blood erupted from her mouth as she was sent flying into the ground with a loud crash, the ground cracking into a large crater around the impact site. A teary eyed Meredy stared at Nyx's body lying in the crater. Half of a large greatsword had impaled her from the left, and came out of the right side of her body towards the ground.

"That's... Meliodas' sword?" Meredy questioned.

"Meredy!" Jellal shouted as he landed in front of her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine! But Ultear is-" Meredy pointed towards Ultear with a shaky hand. Her body was lying face down on the ground with a large pool of blood forming underneath her. Jellal immediately ran over to her and took off his cloak, wrapping it tightly around her to stop the bleeding.

"Dammit…" Jellal said as he watched more blood leak from Ultear's wounds.

---

Earlier

Meliodas followed Rezeria up to the second floor. She stood in the center of the abnormally spacious room and gestured for Meliodas to attack. Meliodas immediately leaped forward and threw a punch straight at her. Once again, his punch stopped just short of her face, and a crack formed in the space where Meliodas had punched.

Rezeria retaliated with a kick of her own, barely missing Meliodas as he jumped backwards to dodge. She suddenly raised her right hand up and made a grabbing motion at Meliodas. At that moment, Meliodas suddenly felt a strange force pull him towards her rapidly. Rezeria wound her fist back as Meliodas was sucked in, and delivered a solid punch straight to his face. Meliodas skidded back towards the stairs, but remained on his feet. A small amount of blood dripped from his mouth and there was a medium sized bruise on his cheek.

"Oh you took that well." Rezeria commented. "I had intended to completely knock your head off with that punch. Tell me Meliodas, do you realize the absolute power you're facing right now?"

"You really shouldn't overestimate yourself." Meliodas said smugly as he jumped straight towards her. Rezeria crossed her arms and smirked as Meliodas was right in front of her. He wound his fist back and prepared to punch her, only to suddenly disappear from her line of sight. Rezeria's eyes widened as Meliodas appeared behind her. He quickly kicked towards the back of her head, causing another crack to appear in the air around her momentarily.

"Huh...you're a lot faster than I thought." Rezeria said. She turned around and glared at Meliodas. "And I'm not overestimating myself, little boy."

She made another grabbing motion at Meliodas, suddenly pulling him in once again. Meliodas braced himself this time and put his arms up in front of him as Rezeria delivered another punch, this time blocked by his arms. Meliodas tumbled backwards and landed on his feet.

"Do you know how spatial magic works?" Rezeria asked.

"Sort of. I do use requip sometimes." Meliodas responded.

"Good. Then do you know what happens when you split a part of space, leaving it open?" Rezeria asked as she made another grabbing motion at Meliodas. Meliodas suddenly found himself pulled in by a strange force he couldn't resist. He raised his arms up instinctively to block, expecting another punch. To his surprise, he received a light pat on the head.

"The space that was displaced attempts to fill itself back in. Which is why you're here in front of me now." Rezeria said with a warm smile as she suddenly delivered a kick at Meliodas. Meliodas tumbled backwards again from the force, this time his arms slightly bruised.

"I can also use that same concept to increase the power and speed of my punches and kicks. I'm surprised you can even react to them to begin with, let alone block them." Rezeria continued.

"So you're the one who also made these rooms inside the mansion this massive?" Meliodas asked.

"Of course. Since you're familiar with requip, you should understand the concept of a pocket dimension. I merely created several pocket dimensions within the mansion and linked them together." Rezeria answered.

"That's pretty impressive." Meliodas commented.

"You know...it would really be a waste to kill you now. How about you join Astral Duchess? Perhaps I can even help you with your "Otherworldly Problem." Rezeria said.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to decline." Meliodas responded.

"Hmm...that's a shame. I was really starting to like you. If you had joined, I might have considered sparing your friends as well." Rezeria said. Suddenly, they both sensed a massive dark magic coming from the lower floor. A smirk formed on Rezeria's face.

"Oh...Eskei died...that's very sad. I would have loved for you to fill in her place, Meliodas. But now, Nyx is going to slaughter all of your friends. She is a second generation Dragon Slayer and that dark magic you're feeling is Dragon Force. It's quite formidable." Rezeria commented. Her smirk grew wider as she noticed the distress forming on Meliodas' expression.

'I need to get down there and help them. But I can't do that with this woman constantly pulling me in. I don't have much of a choice now…'

"Sorry to disappoint you, Rezeria." Meliodas said in a dark tone. He removed his headband from his head, shoving it into his back pocket. Suddenly his hair began to rise slightly and his bright emerald eyes turned dark. A large black spiral marking began to form over his right eye, taking up nearly half of his forehead and extending down slightly below his right eye.

"But I won't be joining this guild! And none of my friends will be dying today!"