144 The Fruits of Training

Meliodas, Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy stood in front of the Lupis Hazel building, located fifty kilometers east of Hargeon Port. The building had the appearance of an abandoned warehouse that was four stories tall with many boarded up and broken windows. Two guards stood outside the large main door to the warehouse. They wore dark blue cloaks with wolf shaped masks over their faces along with fake long gray spiky hair that came out and over their backs that were connected to the masks.The two guards noticed the Crime Sorciere group approaching.

"Stop!" One of the guards shouted. "What business do you have here?"

Without answering their question, Ultear raised her right hand up in front of her. A green orb appeared, floating right in front of her as it began to glow. It split itself into dozens of green orbs that immediately rushed at the guards and the door. With a loud crash, the door collapsed and the guards were sent flying through it.

Meliodas, Ultear, Meredy, and Jellal ran inside and looked around. The warehouse was very spacious, with large pillars that supported it that went up to the ceiling. Next to the pillars were huge wooden crates of unknown contents. Going up the sides of the warehouse were stairs leading to the interconnected joists that served as the upper floors. On those joists were dozens of more dark guild members, staring curiously at the four figures standing at the entrance.

From behind Crime Sorciere, another half a dozen dark guild members approached from the broken down door as several more appeared from behind the crates in front of them.

"We're surrounded on all sides." Meredy commented.

"I will deal with the ones above us." Jellal said as he crouched down on the ground, a bright magic circle glowing beneath him.

"Meteor!"

Jellal seemingly vanished, leaving a streak of yellow light in his stead as dozens of Lupis Hazel members were all of a sudden knocked down from the rafters.

"Woah...Jellal got a lot faster!" Meredy commented, wide eyed as Jellal dashed around in the air, his body a bright blur as he went from enemy to enemy.

"Well we can't let him do all the work now." Meliodas said with a grin as raised his hand up, the shape of a large greatsword forming in his hand. Several dozen dark guild members were still standing in front of them, staring at the group.

Meliodas wounded Gravity Core back towards his right side. He suddenly vanished, reappearing at the center above the dark guild members.

"Now's our cue to leave." Ultear said as she and Meredy quickly ran out of the warehouse. "Jellal is still up in the air so he shouldn't get caught in that."

"Above us!" One of the dark guild members shouted as he pointed up.

"Too late!" Meliodas shouted as he swung down towards the ground. The earth split open, as large chunks of the ground were upheaved in a spiderweb pattern coming from the epicenter of where Gravity Core impacted the ground. The ground shook as a wave of solid earth sent the dark guild members flying into the air.

"AGGHH!" The dark guild members screamed as their bodies were launched away like ragdolls. The walls and roof of the warehouse were blown back, glass shattering and large sheets of metal being blown back as the area filled with dust.

Jellal landed on the ground next to Ultear and Meredy as the dust began to settle. Meliodas' silhouette walked out of the dust. He shook his head rapidly, causing bits of dirt and pebbles to fall out of his hair.

"I wonder who the guild master of that guild was." Meliodas commented as he put Gravity Core back in his requip inventory.

"Probably buried under that rubble." Ultear said as she pointed to the large pile of rocks and metal where the warehouse once stood.

"Then I guess that's mission accomplished. Let's head back and-"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GUILD?!" A man shouted from behind the group. The group turned around and faced the man. He was a tall, muscular man with fair skin. He had light brown hair styled into a messy mohawk that went down the back of his head and thick bushy eyebrows. The man wore no shirt, only wearing a white cape over his shoulders along with light grey pants tucked into brown boots. At his sides, he was holding two plastic bags that were filled with raw meat.

"I recognize him. That's the leader." Ultear said.

"Ultear?! Is that you?" The man questioned.

"It's been a while, Kenta." Ultear responded.

"And... I see...Jellal, Meredy, and...who is that?" Kenta questioned as he stared at Meliodas. With the black headband and crime sorciere cloak, Meliodas was seemingly unrecognizable to those who didn't know him directly or were standing a good distance away.

"Kenta, your dark guild is finished. And you will be joining them too." Jellal said.

"Heh...and here I was looking forward to sharing some steaks with my guild…" Kenta said sadly as he dropped the two bags of meat at his side. He ripped his cloak off his body, revealing the tattoo of a blue wolf head on his right shoulder.

"RAGGHHH!!!!" Kenta shouted up into the air loudly. The sound of his scream was deafening, with the members of Crime Sorciere covering their ears. Dark grey fur began to sprout from his bare body, until his entire body was covered. From Kenta's hands, sharp claws began to grow from his nails. His facial features changed, becoming more canine like and his normally brown eyes began to glow a bright red.

"Weresoul: Greymoon!"

As Kenta prepared to charge at the group, Jellal immediately crouched on the floor, a bright magical circle forming underneath him.

"Meteor!"

In a burst of light, Jellal seemingly vanished, leaving a streak of light behind him as he appeared in front of Kenta. Kenta's eyes widened as Jellal's knee slammed straight into his nose.

"I think we can leave this to Jellal." Meliodas said in a relaxed tone.

"I just hope he doesn't roar again." Meredy commented as she had her hands up to her ears still.

Blood gushed out of Kenta's nose, his body launched backwards across the open field. Jellal quickly flew behind Kenta, landing a kick to his back that sent him hurtling upwards. Kenta coughed up blood as he was launched into the sky. Before he could get a chance to take another breath, Jellal was already above him. Jellal delivered a quick jab to Kenta's gut, causing the werewolf to get launched downward into the ground. The ground shook as Kenta hit the earth, forming a large crater from the spot of impact.

Jellal landed on the ground in front of Kenta, looking at his limp body. Kenta's eyes suddenly sprung open and he lunged at Jellal, swinging his claws at Jellal. Jellal ducked backwards, the claw barely missing his face as strands of hair were cut from his head. Jellal jumped backwards and stared at Kenta.

'Strange. I thought I had broken several of his bones, yet he's standing there just fine. In fact, his wounds have closed.'

"What's wrong Jellal?!" Kenta barked. "I'll admit, you're strong, but that strength is no match for a werewolf's resilience! You can wail on me all you like, and I'll still heal it off!"

"You'll run out of magic eventually." Jellal said coldly as his body began glowing a bright yellow once again. He reappeared in front of Kenta before he could say another word, kicking the werewolf up into the air once again.

---

Time passed as Meliodas, Ultear, and Meredy continued to watch from the side as Jellal continuously barraged Kenta in the air. Meliodas looked up at the orange painted sky, the sun already beginning to set.

"Huh...how long have we been standing here?" Meliodas asked as he cracked open a bottle of White Wyvern Ale.

"I think it's been an hour...maybe two?" Meredy responded.

"Is now really the time to drink?" Ultear questioned as she glanced over at Meliodas who had a half empty bottle of Magnolia Craft Ale in his left hand.

"Sure. I got plenty in my requip inventory. What kind do you want?" Meliodas asked.

"No thanks…" Ultear responded.

"Doesn't meteor take up a lot of magic? I'm surprised Jellal hasn't slowed down at all." Meredy commented as she looked up at the sky. The bright beam that was Jellal continuously went back and forth, juggling Kenta in the air.

"Well from our training, Jellal's maximum time of keeping Meteor up is about two hours. But Jellal isn't going full speed here so it might be a bit longer. I think he's just using Kenta's body for practice at this point." Meliodas commented as he took another sip of his ale. Meredy and Ultear stared at Meliodas in awe before looking back up at Jellal.

"I'm impressed with that Kenta guy though. I know he has regeneration but even he must still be feeling pain." Meliodas said.

"From what I know about werewolves and their takeovers, they have an immense tolerance to pain to go with their regeneration. But regenerating like that still takes a lot of magic and Kenta's magic has barely gone down at all." Ultear commented as she continued to gaze up in the sky. Suddenly her eyes widened and she turned her head towards a different part of the sky. As the sky began to darken, the full moon was barely visible, becoming more visible as the sky got darker and darker.

"A full moon…" Ultear continued.

"So that's why he's not running out of magic." Meredy added.

"I know Jellal could have probably destroyed Kenta's body completely if he used other magic, but I know he doesn't want to kill him. I don't want to be here all night, so maybe I'll step in." Meliodas said with a cheeky smile. The bottle in his hand began to glow, before returning to his requip inventory as he walked forward towards Jellal and Kenta.

"Jellal!" Meliodas shouted. Jellal stopped what he was doing and Kenta's beaten and bloody body fell to the floor. Steam began to come out of his wounds as he slowly began to get up again, his magical power rising despite having been beaten nonstop for the past hour or so.

"I think it's time to finish this." Meliodas said. "Can you get a fire spell ready?"

Jellal nodded and held his hands out in front of him. A brightly burning ball of flames formed in front of Jellal's palms. Meliodas raised his hand out toward the flames until he was just barely touching them.

"Enchant: Hellblaze!"

The bright yellow and orange flames immediately turned into a black and purple color. Jellal's eyes widened as he felt the potency of the magic he was now holding in his hands.

Kenta stared wide eyed at the black flames. 'It's a full moon...my instincts...I'm craving their blood...yet another part of my instincts is screaming at me to get away from those flames as fast as possible!'

"So this is what it's like holding Hellblaze…" Jellal said as he held the large mass of black flames. He switched the ball of flames to one hand and lunged towards Kenta.

Kenta ignored his beast senses, sending him warning signals and charged straight back at Jellal. Just as he and Jellal were within striking distance of each other, Kenta slashed forward with his right arm. As the tip of his claw was a hair's length away from Jellal's eye, Jellal's body began to glow brightly. He seemingly vanished from Kenta's sight, appearing right on top of him while still holding the ball of black flames.

Jellal slammed the fireball into Kenta's back. The black flames engulfed Kenta's back as he was pushed straight into the ground, causing the ground to form into a crater as blood dripped out of Kenta's mouth.

"AGGHH!" Kenta screamed in pain. A wave of confusion immediately swept over him as he wondered why his body wasn't already healing.

Several moments passed as Kenta lay in the crater, his back completely singed as the flames continued to burn away at his flesh. Meliodas approached Kenta and made a swiping motion with his hand. The flames suddenly vanished on Kenta's back and his werewolf-like features began to vanish as he lost consciousness.

"That was pretty cool Jellal." Meliodas said.

"Now you're just showing off." Ultear said teasingly as she and Meredy walked up to Meliodas and Jellal.

"I couldn't have done it without your enchantment." Jellal responded. "You wouldn't happen to be able to teach me that would you?"

"Don't sell yourself short Jellal. You could have wiped this guy out in the first minute before his regeneration even kicked in but I know you didn't want to kill him." Meliodas said.

"It would be helpful to learn magic like that." Ultear said. "Those black flames…"

"Jellal could definitely learn it! He knows how to use all sorts of elements!" Meredy added.

"I don't think it's possible." Meliodas responded.

"From what I can tell, Hellblaze seems to be some kind of mix between fire and dark magic, correct?" Ultear asked.

"No...I feel like there's something else more to it." Jellal added.

"Jellal's right. It's not just fire and dark magic. There's a specific criteria none of you meet in order to use it." Meliodas said.

"And what criteria would that be?" Ultear asked.

"You guys have to be demons." Meliodas said bluntly. Jellal had no change in expression on his face but Ultear and Meredy both looked at Meliodas wide eyed.

"Then that means you're…" Meredy commented.

"I had my suspicions about you. So you are a demon after all." Ultear said, her brief shock gone. "That must also be why you don't seem to be aging."

"Jellal you seem like you already knew about this." Meredy commented.

"I found out during our training. I wanted to see the gap between Meliodas and I and I asked him to go all out." Jellal responded.

"I think you'll be able to hold your own against me in no time." Meliodas said with a cheeky grin. "You're a lot stronger now than I was a few years ago. At the rate you're growing, you might even surpass me."

"So what are we going to do about him?" Meliodas continued as he pointed to Kenta's unconscious body lying in the middle of a small crater in the ground.

"I'll send an anonymous tip to the council. They'll clean up the rest as normal." Ultear responded. She watched as Meredy began asking Meliodas a handful of various questions about his physiology and other things. 'What else is there to you Meliodas…'