Three Way Deadlock

'Is he not affected by Kyoka's curse? No…I can see clearly that Kyoka's curse power is cutting off his senses. He must have some sort of sixth sense…'

Meliodas continued walking forward, the path in front of him completely pitch black. There were no sounds, no sensations but the bitter cold that pinched at every cell in his body. Yet he was completely aware of where Kyoka was as he continued moving forward.

He stopped right in front of the two demons. Both of them unconscious, broken, and heavily beaten. Meliodas raised his hand up in front of him, causing black flames to emerge from his palm in the shape of a fireball. Without a word, he threw the flames at the two demons, causing an enormous explosion of black flames that shot upward into a pillar.

As the flames died off, nothing was left of their bodies as their bodies broke down into barrier particles and dissipated into the air.

"Phew…" Meliodas sighed. "I don't think I've felt something like that since Purgatory."

Meliodas' features began to revert as he turned his head towards Silver. He began walking towards him. Silver remained silent as he tried to comprehend the situation.

"You're not one of Zeref's demons like those two are you?" Meliodas asked.

A grin formed on Silver's face.

"And what makes you say that? I am Delliora, the-"

"No, you're a walking corpse whose soul was put back into their body." Meliodas said.

"Oh? You can tell?" Silver said with an amused look.

"Also, you look a lot like one of my guild members. It's not exact but I see the resemblance. You wouldn't happen to be related to Gray would you?" Meliodas continued. Silver's expression turned sour upon hearing the name but he held his tongue. He immediately raised a wall of ice right in front of him. Meliodas dashed forward and punched through the ice. To his surprise, he could no longer sense Silver's presence. 'Did he teleport away?'

—

Earlier

In an empty tundra of rock, Jellal stood next to Meredy and Ultear. Behind them was Doranbolt. Standing in front of Crime Sorciere, were the released members of the Oracion Seis. Brain's body lay on the ground behind them and blood dripped down from Cobra's hand.

"I don't quite trust you Jellal, or Crime Sorciere for that matter…but I do trust Meliodas and his judgment. You can handle them right?" Doranbolt asked.

"Of course." Jellal said confidently. "Meredy, Ultear, stand back. I'll handle this myself."

Ultear and Meredy looked at each other and nodded as they gestured for Doranbolt to step away with them.

"You think you're above us Jellal?" Racer asked.

"You're seriously underestimating us." Angel added.

"I see Doranbolt set this up. Well I guess-" Cobra's eyes immediately widened and he went silent. Angel gave him a worried glance.

"What happened?"

"We have company…and not the good kind." Cobra said with a shudder. He gestured towards their right as two more individuals were walking towards them.

"Wait…that marking on their shoulders…" Racer commented.

"Well, who do we have here!" Jackal shouted excitedly. Beside him was a hooded figure, whose only visible facial feature was a snout and beard.

"It would appear that the Oracion Seis is here as well." The cloaked figure said.

"You can't be serious…" Cobra muttered. "Why the hell are two members of Tartaros here?!"

"We're not here for you Oracion Seis." The cloaked figure said. "We've only come for Jellal."

"What are you on about Tempester. They're filthy human mages. They think they're hot shit because they made up a third of the Balam Alliance. Let's just blow them to pieces along with Jellal!" Jackal laughed.

"If we must." Tempester flung his cloak off of his body, revealing his beastman-like body.

"Dammit! We just got our freedom! It doesn't matter whether Jellal or Tartaros get in our way! We'll crush you both!" Racer exclaimed.

"Well, I'll have to refrain from this battle." Hoteye added. "As I have followed the path of love!"

"Hoteye, you're not still under Nirvana's spell are you?!" Angel questioned.

"It does not matter what Richard does, as he has the freedom to make that choice as do we." Midnight added. He looked towards Jellal and then towards Tartaros.

"My name is Macbeth, and it does not matter to me who stands in my way, as I will drive out any obstacle in my path whether that's you Jellal, or Tartaros."

"A three way brawl! I can't wait to kill all of you! Stand back Tempester I'll deal with this!" Jackal immediately jumped forward in the center between the three groups and waved arms in one motion and a wave of chain explosions erupted at both groups.

Racer suddenly appeared in front of Jackal and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks that knocked the demon back.

"You're explosions are too slow!" Racer said. Jackal looked at Racer and grinned.

"And you're dead!" Jackal laughed as Racer's hands and feet began glowing.

"W-what?!" Racer shouted as his body was engulfed by an explosion. From the smoke cloud, Racer's body was launched out. Hoteye quickly moved in his path and caught him.

"You'll pay for doing that!" Angel raised her hand up as dozens of small white puffs with sharp teeth appeared from the skies and swarmed around Jackal.

"Get this shit off me!" Jackal shouted as he swiped with his arms, causing a wave of explosions to engulf the tiny angels.

From the smoke of the explosions, Cobra leaped out and swung his now scaly red arms at Jackal.

"Poison Dragon's Scales!"

Numerous scale shaped masses of poison launched out at Jackal, knocking the demon back.

"Hahaha! Is that all you got?!" Jackal laughed as he got up from the attack. Cobra looked at Jackal, surprised.

"You're not affected by my poison…figures." Cobra commented, remembering his bout with Meliodas brushing off his poison attacks.

"We don't have weak human bodies! Poison doesn't affect us like that!" Jackal laughed. He leaped forward towards Cobra, but immediately stopped in his tracks and fell to the ground.

"W-what the…" Jackal grunted as his very clothes began to squeeze down on his body. Behind Jackal, Tempester fell to the ground and to the side, Jellal fell as well.

"I think that's enough. I won't let any of you inhibit my freedom any longer." Midnight said. He raised his hand up and tightened his grip on the three of them. Jellal's body suddenly shattered and he reappeared behind Midnight, his body cloaked in a yellow light. Midnight turned around with a surprised look on his face.

"Jellal?!" Cobra shouted. 'He already moved there before I even heard him?!'

"How did you-"

Jellal delivered a swift chop to the back of Midnight's neck, knocking him out and releasing the hold on the two demons. Jellal raised his hand and made a swiping motion with his index and middle finger extended. Bright chains of light shot up from the ground, chaining all of the Oracion Seis members and Tartaros members except for Hoteye.

"These damn chains can't hold me!" Jackal screamed as explosions engulfed the chains. As the smoke cleared out, the chains remained unscathed.

"What?!" Jackal questioned.

"Midnight was the only one who could escape due to the nature of his magic, which is why I knocked him out first." Jellal said. "By the way, these same chains were able to hold down a dragon, so I don't think any of you will be getting away anytime soon."

"Bullshit!" Jackal screamed, his body beginning to transform and gaining beast-like features. Behind him, Tempester did the same and large gusts of wind began to cover the rocky tundra. All around them, tornados began to form and enclose upon the group as Tempester and Jackal struggled to break the chains.

"Why…why can't I break free?!" Jackal continued to scream in frustration as the chains exploded over and over again.

"This power…is certainly something else. I guess we have no choice then Jackal." Tempester said as his body began to break down into black mist.

"Dammit…first to Meliodas…now Jellal…" Jackal grit his teeth as his body began to glow.

"Jellal, are you really going to just let us die like this?!" Cobra shouted as the black mist spread closer to them and the light from Jackal began to glow brighter.

Jellal crouched down on the ground, his body surrounded by a bright aura.

"Of course not, Erik." Jellal's body split apart into thought projections, each one picking up a member of the Oracion Seis.

"Because I want you all to join Crime Sorciere."