Hanging Dog

Meliodas slowly opened his eyes as sunlight glared above him. He sat up from the ground and noticed his change in attire. The comfortable tavern outfit he once wore and fell asleep in was instead replaced with a black kimono. To his side was an unfamiliar katana strapped to his waist.

Meliodas rubbed his eyes and looked around. In the distance, he could barely make out a small town. 'Am I dreaming right now? Or did I actually die and this is the afterlife?'

"Meliodas!" A familiar voice called out. Meliodas turned his head and saw Itsuki approaching him. He was also wearing the same attire as Meliodas, along with a similar katana strapped to his waist.

'Itsuki? What's he doing here? And why is he wearing that get up?' Meliodas rubbed his eyes more as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"About time you woke up. You shouldn't be sleeping on the job! We have a hollow to hunt down right outside the Hanging Dog District, remember?"

Meliodas remained silent and stared at Itsuki with so many thoughts going through his head. 'Hanging Dog District? Hollow? What is going on here? Guess I'll just go with the flow until I figure out what's going on.'

"Let's get going then." Meliodas said with a grin. "Lead the way."

Itsuki suddenly vanished from in front of Meliodas and was already at the treeline in the distance. 'What was that? He just moved incredibly fast!'

Meliodas sprinted after Itsuki and Itsuki looked back at Meliodas and laughed.

"You forget how to flash step or something? Or am I just too slow to be bothered using flash step to keep up with. You are one of the best in our squad!"

"Well I just woke up after all." Meliodas said with a cheeky smile. 'Flash step? Squad?'

The two of them arrived at a clearing in the forest in no time at all. Standing in the center of the clearing was a towering monster with green skin and huge muscles. It wore a peculiar mask over its head that appeared to be made out of bone. In the center of its chest was a hole that could clearly be seen through. The monster let out a deafening shriek as it noticed Meliodas and Itsuki.

"Get ready Meliodas! This hollow looks dangerous!" Itsuki drew his katana out in front of him. Itsuki suddenly noticed a streak of yellow and black go right past him, followed by a huge gust of wind that almost knocked him off his feet.

The hollow was split in half down the middle and already breaking down. Standing behind the hollow was Meliodas, now sheathing his katana.

"Not my choice in sword, but it will have to do." Meliodas commented.

"You're as fast as always Meliodas!" Itsuki cheered. Meliodas turned around and saw that the hollow he had just killed was no longer there.

"So we're done here now right?" Meliodas asked.

"Nope. Got another dozen or so to kill. Don't you remember the Lieutenant's briefing? Or were you sleeping during that too?" Itsuki retorted.

"Ok. Let's get this over with."

—

Less than an hour passed and Meliodas found himself inside what Itsuki said was the Squad 13 barracks. Meliodas admired the architecture of the buildings, having only seen similar ones in Housenka Town back in Fiore.

The two of them walked into one building that was a bit larger than the others. Sitting on a desk facing away from the entrance was a man with long black hair tied in the back and wearing the same black kimono as he and Itsuki.

"Lieutenant. We have finished our mission!" Itsuki shouted, kneeling down on one knee.

"Good. I have another mission for you both. This one will be in the human world. "This will be in Shizuoka Prefecture. Dispatch of the hollows appearing there." The lieutenant said. Meliodas' eyes widened upon hearing the phrasing of the sentence.

'Human world? So I'm not anywhere in Earthland anymore? I really don't understand what's going on…'

"Yes sir!" Itsuki shouted as he stood back up again. He walked out of the room and Meliodas followed after him.

Meliodas followed Itsuki as they walked through dozens of long streets surrounded by tall white walls. They eventually arrived at a clearing where a towering gate with red doors stood. The gate began to open and Itsuki released a black butterfly-like insect from his hand.

"Been a while since I've had a mission to the human world. What about you Meliodas?" Itsuki asked.

"Don't remember." Meliodas said.

"Must have been that long for you too huh." Itsuki and Meliodas both walked through the gate into the bright light coming from it.

The duo arrived, walking through two shoji doors that opened up in the air. The shoji doors closed behind them and out in front of Meliodas, was a long street with houses lining each side. In the distance, Meliodas could hear the roaring of the hollows.

"Come on! It's this way!" Itsuki shouted as he vanished from his spot. Meliodas followed after him, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. As he landed on a windowsill of one of the taller houses, he noticed the individual inside, a young teen wearing a red cloak with long blond hair. He couldn't see his face but he was sitting down at his desk reading a book. Meliodas noticed the teen had a metal right arm.

'Why does he stand out to me so much?' Meliodas wondered.

He continued on and caught up to Itsuki where they arrived at an empty park. Another green skinned hollow with a different mask design was on the ground. Itsuki drew his blade.

"Okay Meliodas. Let's deal with this and-" Itsuki froze as both he and Meliodas sensed an immense pressure in the air. Meliodas looked up as he noticed the sky seemingly begin to rip apart above them. Five, towering figures began to step out of the hole in the sky, surrounding Meliodas and Itsuki, with one of the figures crushing the smaller hollow beneath its giant white feet.

The figures were the size of a six story building, each sporting a white mask with an elongated nose. Their bodies were covered in a black cloak from their head to their feet with a thin row of spikes along their neck and a hole in their chests.

"T-this can't be…" Itsuki said, his voice noticeably shaky and his hands trembling as he gripped his sword tightly. "Five Gillian class Menos Grande…we…can't fight this…"

Meliodas patted Itsuki on the back reassuringly.

"I'll handle this. Just stay right here."

The five hollows surrounding them opened their mouths. Red light began to form in their mouths as they looked down on Itsuki and Meliodas. Meliodas put his hand on his katana. This time, he felt something familiar about his katana, a sensation he hadn't felt in nine years. A grin formed on Meliodas' face.

"Sacred Treasure Release!" Meliodas shouted. "Lostvayne!"

Meliodas drew his katana and it began to glow. Its shape changed, shrinking down slightly but widening the blade, turning into a curved shortsword with a dragon tattoo at its hilt and five holes in the middle of the blade and five half moon shaped holes on the top of the blade.

Four clones of Meliodas appeared, each one standing in front of the hollow and Meliodas himself standing in front of one. As the hollows fired giant red laser beams at Meliodas, each Meliodas swung their sword.

"Full Counter!"

The laser beams bounced straight back at the hollows that shout them out, eclipsing their bodies entirely as five huge beams shot up into the air. The hollow's bodies began to break down as their entire upper halves were destroyed by their own attack.

"Well, well, well. That was close wasn't it." Meliodas said with a grin as he turned back to Itsuki, his clones all disappearing.

"So that's what your Zanpakuto does…" Itsuki stared at Meliodas, wide eyed and in disbelief at what had happened.

"Well if that's all the hollows here, we can head back right?" Meliodas said as Lostvayne reverted back to its katana form. 'Zanpakuto? He's talking about Lostvayne right? Okay I'm just not going to question it anymore.'

—

Meliodas and Itsuki stood in the Lieutenant's office where he sat at his desk facing away from the two of them looking down as he read over some papers.

"A job well done by both of you. Take some time to rest for the remainder of the day." The lieutenant said.

"Yes sir!" Itsuki said as he turned around towards the door. He patted Meliodas on the shoulder and looked at him.

"Let's defeat more hollows tomorrow!"

Meliodas nodded his head and Itsuki began to walk away. Meliodas was about to follow him but was interrupted as the lieutenant spoke.

"As for you, Meliodas." The lieutenant stood up from his chair and faced Meliodas. For some reason, Meliodas still couldn't see his face clearly. The only features he could make out were two glowing red eyes with a strange pinwheel pattern. The world around Meliodas began to spin and he started to lose his balance. A strange wave of dizziness and fatigue washed over him and he closed his eyes.