Freaky Powers

Zeldris, Elizabeth (with Lostvayn), and a powered-up Jasmine fly towards the source of the disturbance. The sky is filled with volcanic ash clouds and lava rain. In some places, acid rain is falling. Elizabeth and Zeldris are protected by their coated barriers and can breathe as well. Jasmine warns Elizabeth not to engage the vulacish since a full powered direct attack from them could break her Saint Coat and even her Goddess Shield Barrier. She also advices the pregnant goddess to stay close to her as she can control her radiation levels. She'd also prefer that the demon king also not engage them directly either as a fully powered vulacish is more than twice his power level, even more so in their home territories.

In the far distance they can see a few spots of liquid fire spewing into the air above the water. The biggest one is Stromboli while the others are smaller and "weaker" volcanoes all part of the same island chain. Mt. Etna, which is just 60 miles to the south on the big island of Sicily, is traditionally more powerful than Stromboli and its ash clouds have also reached the area.

They can finally see two lava balls rise from the sea and collide with each other, causing a massive explosion. These are the two fighting vulacish, and the trio must block a large amount of debris that actually reaches them. Jasmine senses that something's off. The fight seems to be largely one-sided, with one struggling immensely. Usually, both equally held their own and repeatedly collided with each other. The struggling vulacish is easily over-powered and sent crashing back into the sea. Jasmine and Elizabeth quickly go into the water to get her. As they surface, still in the water, her features can be seen. She looks to be around Elizabeth's age and seems very angry to see Jaz.

"(In Greek) You? Stay out of this, Preacher. This is my business." She pushes Jasmine away and springs out of the water again. The other vulacish is coming and Jasmine can't believe what she sees. He's the size of 50 ft giant, and looks like one of those magma monsters that live at the center of the earth, although they aren't anywhere near this size. He's also using powers that vulacish nautally don't have. His body seems to stretch like rubber, and he's using what looks like ice and diamonds to attack, which he's never displayed before, nor should he be able to use. In between attacks, he appears to be popping stuff into his mouth and even injecting himself with a needle, clearly meaning that he's using artificial power drugs.

Most of the male vulachish's attacks don't hit the two Britannians because he's focused on the female, and what does come their way Zeldris controls with Ominous Nebula. Then, the oversized male pops yet another drug into his mouth and to Jasmine's surprise, he actually mixes his natural lava and artificial ice, along with the salty air, and creates a massive explosion and super strong air waves. Jasmine's able to block the bulk of the attack from hitting Elizabeth and Zeldris. The Demon King's hellfire attacks, even fused with his sword, are only somewhat effective against this mostly invisible attack. Elizabeth, at further distance, has her shield up and struggles to hold her own against the air waves. She infuses her ark with Lostvayn, and to her surprise, seems to vaporize the wave and debris surrounding her.

Jasmine tries calling out to the other female vulacish, but she ignores her and purposely leads the 'monster' into the upper atmosphere. "NO!" The combined attacks, enhanced with Jasmine's own presence, and un-intently Zeldris's Ominous Nebula, attracts a series of building size meteors, which is what the young female intended.

Jasmine tells the Britannians to cover their ears as she flies straight for the biggest one, about a mile and a half wide, and prepares. Zeldris starts to follow her, but Elizabeth urges him not too, believing that Jasmine can handle this. They both cover their ears. Going directly underneath the rock's path, Jasmine stops and makes a fist. She gathers both a huge amount of volcanic and natural energy surrounding her, and turns it into a powerful punch, sending the force upward. The meteor is still some distance from her, and she never actually makes physical contact with it. However, the punch is so powerful that it completely vaporizers the huge rock, as we as dissipate several other rocks and fragments for miles around. The Britannians feel the enormous pressure from miles away and get pushed far back by the force. Their new friend hadn't been kidding when she said to cover their ears.

"What was that?" asked Zeldris after he recovers, his hearing temporarily compromised; "that was incredible." However, the demon king would hate to think what that punch could do to the demon realm, even Britannia itself.

The other two vulacish recover from the blast. The male surfaces from underwater. He now looks like a normal, somewhat middle-aged human (despite the fact that he's actually only in his early 20's) and appears very dizzy with lots of blood dripping from his nose and ears. Realizing whom that punch most have come from, he looks up and despite his dizziness, his suspension is confirmed. He excitedly flies up to the pastor, a bit uncoordinated, and speaks with a slur.

"Pastor Jaz, is it really you my sweet? To be punched like that from you is such an honor. Perhaps, can I finally have a peak at your panties?"

Jaz clunks him on the head; "NO!" Before she can say another word, they are both hit by the third vulacish. She refuses to talk and gets ready to unleash even more of her rage while the male is powered down. Despite her frustration, Jasmine keeps her cool and tries to stay in-between the two, knowing that she can't release too much power right now and add to this nonsense. The male suddenly swoops in front of her. "No Sis! I'd rather die than to allow a woman to be harmed!"

"And what am I?!" she shouts.

"YOU DON'T COUNT! YOU'RE MY SISTER!"

She sends another blast, Jasmine swoops in front of the male and blocks the attack.

"What are you two fighting about this time?"

"None of your damn business preacher. Go back to your volcano, both of you!"

She powers up even more. Her brother takes more pills out of his pocket and without thinking just casually mentions to Jasmine that a medicine man had given him free power enhancing pills and suggested that he test them out on his sister, whom he's not on speaking or even civil terms with. Jasmine tries to get out of their way and blocks as much of their attacks as possible.

Elizabeth gets closer to the fight despite Zeldris protest. He follows her closely. "That's enough now! Don't you even care that your putting millions of lives in danger?! What's the purpose of this fight anyway? Please talk to us."

The male notices Elizabeth and hearts appear in his eyes. He zooms in front of her and ask in a polite manner (in Greek) if he could have the honor of seeing her panties. Elizabeth doesn't understand much Greek, but she can tell this guy's flirting with her and has a feeling he's being a pervert. She slaps him hard with her ark. "Only Meliodas is allowed to be that way with me!"

The male stops himself in mid-air, blushing and touching the bruise forming on his cheek lovingly. "I do have a thing for strong, beautiful woman. I wonder where lovely Scout is (even though he's never actually seen her figure nor face)?"

Taking advantage of the distraction, his sister lets out her full wrath and attacks with her most powerful technique. Stromboli itself explodes with tons of ash clouds and heat lighting. Mt. Edna also explodes and can be heard from sixty miles away. Zeldris and Elizabeth are both forced to cover their ears, and this time they are near deaf and can hardly hear even the volcanoes' rumbles. The sister vulacish then changes directions and attacks Elizabeth. Distracted by the explosions and the sonic bombs, she barely fells it coming. Zeldris tries to push her out of the way, but they both get hit. Elizabeth's right arm, leg, and cheek are burnt to a crisp, as is Zeldris left side. Jasmine's own attempt to shield them didn't make it in time.

The brother is now furious that an innocent lady has been attacked and hurt.

"Why!? Why would you sink so low you bitch?!

Both siblings are about to let the worst of their wrath loose. The nearby volcanos are exploding with powerful blasts. Elizabeth senses total chaos and can't take any more of this. With hot tears in her eyes, she feels fierce power building up inside, one she hasn't felt since the battle with Hendrickson. Yet, somethings different about it this time as well, and it's ready to burst.

"Stop this now! THAT'S ENOUGH!"

A blast of light comes from Elizabeth. Jasmine feels it coming and realizes what this is. She quickly grabs Zeldris and jerks him down towards the water. She watches in awe as the siblings are hit out of the sky and knocked into the sea, unconscious. Some of the volcanic energy and debris around them is cleared and neutralized. Plus, hers, Zeldris, even Elizabeth's injuries heal.

"What is that?" asked a surprised Zeldris.

"Get her!" shouts Jasmine

Elizabeth's power fades and she starts to pass out. Zeldris catches the goddess before she hits the water.

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Hawk, with Melidy tucked safely underneath his belly, notices the sky as it fills with fire ash clouds and volcanic lighting. The church girls and dogs have been taken to the safe house at Amalfi Cathedral and Ban's currently taking the daughters of Artemis there. Hawk's on his way there as well. Melidy squills at the scary sight and smell of volcanic ash raining down around them.

"It's ok Melidy. We'll be safe inside the big church. Let's get there now."

Hawk jogs the now empty streets, holding his tiny sister gently in his mouth. Unknown to them, two figures in red cloaks and protective gel-like coating are watching them.

"(In Greek) Well look ee there. A talking, plump papa pig carrying his baby. They'd be the perfect additions to my collection; don't you agree Blu..." His partner, which appears to be a four-legged creature with skinny hooves underneath the cloak, is digging through a trash can. "Bluey! Eat on your own time. Help me catch these hogs."

"Why?" asks his partner in a very high pitched, squeaky voice, wearing a huge hood covering its face. "We've already got too many animals in the fortress."

"What's a couple more? Besides, I've been looking for some purgatory hog specimen to study for quite some time. It's next to impossible to get any from purgatory. I can't even get any from that population in Germany since they've closed their borders!"

"Maa let's just go already;" the creature says while chewing something crunchy; "You've already completed your assignment. I still don' understand why you'd trick those vulacish into fighting. Are you insane! Are you positive Madame Artemis...."

"Quit asking all these stupid questions!" The teenager stretches his arm as if it's literally made of elastic rubber, grabbing the creature and snaps her back to his side. "MAA OUCH! THAT HURTS! How is that still working anyway? You took multiple pills again, didn't you?"

"What are you, my mother? Now come on and be quiet."

The teen swallows a pill. His feet start to glow like fire. He grabs the four-legged animal and in a literal flash appears in front of Hawk. The pig accidently runs into them, knocking them down. Melidy gets knock out of her brother's mouth.

"HEY! WATCH WERE YOUR GOING YOU SWINE!" shouts Hawk.

The guy gets up and speaks. "Do you speak Greek?"

"What? Ochi den milao ellinika (No I don't speak Greek). Hawk checks his crying sister. She has a scratch on her snout and is bleeding. "Just look at what you did, you pigs! You hurt my sister and made her cry!"

The hooded creature realizes she understands him. "Maa, he speaks Britannian, where I'm..."

"You shut up or I'm going to feed you to the crocs!"

"Yea right..." The red clad teenager stuffs a large apple covered in extra sticky, thick peanut butter into her mouth. He then takes out a language amulet. "What language do these hogs speak again? Oh yes, German." He uses the amulet to speak German. Unlike Willie's amulet, this one only allows one language at a time on one user. "Hello rare purgatory beast, although not quite as rare in Germany. Care to come with me and get out of this disastrous weather?"

"Excuse me;" says a puzzled Hawk; "Are you guys lost? Follow me, I'll take you to the Cathedral, it's safe there."

"Oh, I guess you don't speak German;" says the confused teen. Again, the creature tries to reason with him, and he stomps on her neck.

"Hey, that's rather harsh;" says Hawk. He notices the form of the four-legged creature as she stands up coughing and sees part of her face, with a blue nose.

Is that a goat underneath that cloak? Wonders Hawk. Is it talking? He tries to shrug it off and picks up Melidy again. "Oh well, if they need shelter, they'll follow us."

The teen realizes that his prey is leaving and yells at the goat. She again tries to reason with him. He responds by kicking her down the alley.

"I'm not leaving a prize like this behind." The guy activates his legs, which glow like fire, and flashes right in front of Hawk, holding some sort of device. "Come here piggy piggy..."

Hawk kicks him in the groin with his back legs. "I don't think so, you PIG!" He hits the teen again sending him flying down the street and landing in a well. Hawk takes off running with Melidy still in his mouth. The teen climbs out quickly all soaked and wet. His face is very disfigured and contorted with pain.

"Ouch! He's stronger than I thought. Time to take this up a notch." He takes another pill and both legs start to glow like fire, and he takes off near the speed of light, catching up to Hawk and kicking him hard, forcing Melidy out of his mouth again. He throws a sticky net around the pig, but Hawk easily chews his way out. He them throws glowing boomerangs and bongos that explode like cannon balls. Hawk avoids them easily, even managing to catch a couple boomerangs in mid-air and send the back at the sender, exploding right in front of him.

The teen is frustrated. "So, you want to play dirty, do you? I'll show you dirty." With his speed, he grabs Melidy, who starts crying in fear.

"HEY! GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER YOU PIECE OF TRASH!" For a couple minutes, they play chase as Hawk's unable to catch this guy with his speed and other tricks as he keeps swallowing pills to change his abilities. However, Hawk outsmarts him and manages to trip him. He tickles the teen, which forces him to let Melidy go. Once again, Hawk takes off. The teen is becoming obsessed. It's been ages since a target gave him this much trouble. He then notices his companion rushing back down the alley. He grabs her by the neck and restrains her. It is the head of a goat with bluish-gray fur and a blue nose.

"Alright, we're going to have to do this the hard way." He drags Bluey along, catching up to Hawk only a few yards from the cathedral. The teen uses a device to gather up ash clouds and lava rain surrounding them and blows them at the pigs.

Hawk starts coughing and gasp for breath. "I can't see! Why you...Melidy!"

The teen reaches into his pocket. "NO! Please!" shouts the goat; "Not the drug! NOT THE DRUG!" The teen shoves a yellow ball, the size of a large jaw breaker, down the goat's throat. "Swallow! Swallow you nanny pansy!" Within seconds, the goat swells up like a very large balloon, looking like an overly bloated fur ball. "What? No no no. That's the wrong drug!"

The goat starts giggling and bouncing around like a ball. The teen tries to kick her, but her body absorbs both the shock and his leg. She then shots him out and he goes through the cathedral door. People, including Ban and Wild, look out and are baffled by this bluish-grey, bouncing fur ball with a goat's head. She then rolls into this thick ash fog and bumps into Hawk.

"Hey pig beast, come on. I'll rescue you. Maa"

"Rescue me from what?" coughs Hawk. He hears muffled cries from underneath the fur. "Hey! Get off my sister you overgrown fur ball!" Bluey rolls and Melidy is stuck in her inflated body. Bluey quickly opens a portal as a large mass of fire falls towards them and rolls into it with Melidy. Hawk follows suit. Ban and Wild burst out of the church and enter the still too thick ash cloud.

"Master!"

"Mild! Melidy!"

The teen takes another pill for speed again, runs out of the Cathedral door and collides with Ban. Wild just misses the portal by a mere point second. The teen searches himself. "That sneaky goat! She picked, no, she ate my pocket and took the portal. How did she even manage to get it to open in this radioactive weather?"

Suddenly a strong hand grabs him. Ban is looking at the teen with a fierce look, and Wild's ready to give him more than a piece of his mind. He swallows two more pills, but his body's so overloaded now that first steam come from his ears, then he starts bouncing around like an exploding rubber ball. Ban let's go while the teen coughs intense fire from his mouth. His legs catch fire and he shots high up into the sky, then comes back down and crashes hard into a stone building. Ban and Wild stare right at the scored teen, who cough smoke, then passes out.

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At the Naples border, the fearful guide reluctantly agrees to take Merlin's group into the kingdom despite the volcanic activity. He has the feeling that he's forgetting about something important about this area, but what? They've barely moved when suddenly, something springs up from the ground trying to catch their transport bubble and the phenixgon. The Britannians, including Merlin, are freaked out to see glowing white, giant female arms and hands trying to grab them. These arms and hands are ten times the size of Diane's, and there's not two, but rather six trying to catch them.

"What the devil?" asks Gelda. More arms appear and grab Norberta. She attempts to fight and ends up getting slapped by one hand, then punched by another, except the hand didn't actually touch her and was several feet from her. It's like an invisible force came from the hand and hit her. The arms grab her and take her to the ground, then a giant pair of legs appear and stomp on her.

"NO! NORBERTA!

Merlin teleports outside of the bubble to help Norberta when several sets of arms appear seemly from her body. One set chocks Merlin's neck while the others try to arch her back. She tries to use Absolute Cancel, but it has no effect. The bubble suddenly mysteriously pops, and King catches everyone in his Chastiefol barrier, moving it around to avoid being caught by the giant limbs. Merlin manages to burn herself free with fire as dozens more limbs of different sizes emerge from the already existing arms. Several chains, connected by dozens of arms, also appear and try to catch them. 

"Just how many limbs does this creature have?" asks King; "And where's the rest of the body, or bodies."

"Oh No!" shouts the guide; "I forgot about her! I went the wrong direction. We're at German border."

About six normal sized arms spring up from his body out of nowhere and shuts his mouth, then bends him backwards, cracking his spin and knocking him unconscious. Arms also spring from King and Gelda, attempting to do the same to them.

"How?" Goes King; "How did these limbs reach us inside my barrier?" He creates Chastiefol guardian inside the barrier to fight these limbs, but more arms just spring up from the teddy bear and lock clutches it as well. Gelda and King can hardly move, Merlin manages to freeze the limbs with Icicle Castle. They seemly disappear, but then two pairs of giant female shaped legs appear and kicks everybody. Then a giant arm reappears, even larger than previously, and makes a fist. The fist stops just in front of the barrier ball and stops, not even touching it. Then what looks like a blue swirl comes from it and a giant shock wave sends everybody several miles back the other direction. Chastiefol's giant guardian form prevents what would have been a rough landing.

After landing, they tend to their still unconscious guide, putting a secure back brace on him, made by King and Merlin.

"What the hell was all that Merlin?"

"King, she doesn't know everything;" says Gelda.

Merlin has to think. It's embarrassing to her when she doesn't have the knowledge or answers to anything. "Unfortunately, King, I really don't know. I do know that this part of the Germanic empire currently keeps their borders tightly sealed and heavily guarded. Anybody is seen as a threat. As for what attacked us, I've seen limbs and normal body parts from things like fire, water, mud, even Earth and energy, but always attached to the source. I've never seen perfectly formed limbs appear from seemly nowhere, or from our own bodies."

"How were they even able to get inside my Chastiefol barrier?" asks King; "Makes no sense."

They suddenly sense another presence springing up around them. "Look behind you guys;" says Gelda. They quickly turn their heads just to catch a glance of a long chain of normal sized arms attached to each other, the end palm having a literal human ear on it. It quickly disappears in white flower petals before they can grab it. King gets tripped by another hand sticking up from the ground. He lands in front on another hand with what looks like a lady's eye. He grabs it before it can disappear. "Now I've got you." More arms spring from King and tickle him. "Ha ha ha, stop it. Stop it. I hate being tickled."

Suddenly, Norberta shows up and quickly grabs everybody. She's a little battered but no worse for wear. She quickly flees the area as a couple dozen arms chase them. Merlin quickly uses her magic to discover where they are. If they turn south just slightly and keep moving east, they'll hit the sea in just a few hundred miles. The volcanic radiation will surely interfere with Merlin's magic, but they decided to follow the ash clouds once they've spotted them.

The mage puts a time freeze spell on guide, so he won't feel any more pain or get further injured, but he really needs a doctor or healing as soon as possible. King reads his mind to get information about what these just experienced. The guide says that he should've remembered to take the long way around, but he forgot. King also learns that this creature with the endless limbs is known as Nico. Who or what she is exactly remains a mystery to the guide, only that she fiercely guards the borders and assumes that anybody is a threat. Merlin can sense an extremely high-power level on pair with the late Demon King and Supreme Deity, even Chaos. 

The Seven Deadly Sins plus Elizabeth as a whole would have difficulty defeating this being, much less Merlin, Gelda, and King, especially since they are currently only at half strength.

Merlin puts up her perfect cub and tries to make a dash south, but not only do the limbs return, but a half dozen or so people in some very strange armor suits appear and start attacking the group. They are soon pinned down and can't see an opening for escape. However, Norborta is just managing to avoid getting grabbed and barely staying out of reach. With her out in the open and the other three's power getting drained, Merlin asked King and Gelda to give lend her their power and directs it towards the phenixgon. With a telepathic message to get help, Norborta is transported away from the area.

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Gowther follows Iris as they surface inside a cave. The water in here is fresh water, and the mostly underwater cave has sparkling blue rock walls giving a settle glow. They swim out of the cave into a very narrow hole, containing a very narrow, wet, and steep staircase going upward. They climb out of the water and carefully climb up the staircase, which is very narrow, so narrow in fate that Iris has to take off her backpack and wrap it around her ankle. They reach a small, narrow child size door, both of them just barely fitting through it, which leads to a small tunnel with yet another staircase. As they climb up the 2nd staircase, the goat sin can't help but wonder about this mysterious girl. Learning of her true identity was shocking enough, but how come nobody's ever heard or talked about her? Do Meliodas and Zeldris know of her existence? Probably not.

They finally exist to the outdoors. It's nighttime and pouring down rain. They are in a cemetery. Iris quickly leads the goat sin to the neighboring church. Despite the rain, there are people here for Saturday night service and prayer. They enter the church through a side door, and they find one of the priests/ministers. Iris whistles a unique sound, and the priest turns around with an astounded look on his face. He does a double take and stares at the young lady for a moment. They go off to a corner and Iris briefly pulls up her hijab to show her face. The minister is overcome with joy and hugs her. Unable to resist the temptation, Gowther swoops over to catch a glimpse of her face, but she keeps her head turned and quickly cover it again. 

She speaks to the priest in sign language. Gowther can understand some of her universal sign language, but not Hungarian. She points to the goat sin and spells out his name. The priest offers his hand to shake, which Gowther awkwardly accepts. They have a brief conversation then the priest nods. They go to a back room. He unlocks a cabinet and pulls some kind of funky looking key out from a hidden hole and gives it to her. The priest then offers Gowther some dry clothes, promising that his will be dry and be clean by the time they get back. The goat sin's reluctant to change into those bland, pauper clothes, but he really doesn't want to ruin his new threads, so he agrees. Despite having extra clothes in her bag, Iris doesn't bother to change as her clothes are already mostly dry. She decides to leave her backpack here and packs a small pack to wear around her waist. The priest gives them red robes like the ones they wear in Artemis' fortress, which will also help to keep them dry.

Gowther wonders exactly what they're talking about, as well as the name of the priest. Iris realizes that she didn't introduce him and spells out the name Andrei. The priest then disappears momentarily and returns with what looks like a locket. It looks like a rose gold locket decorated with butterflies, and the image of an angel in the center. Iris is overcome with emotional as she gentle touches the locket. Andrei says something, and she agrees to take it, although she's reluctant to put it around her neck in case of battle. She puts it in a secure pocket on the inside of her shirt instead. Finally, they leave, the two 'humans' exchanging hugs as they exit the door. She tells Gowther telepathically that there's a secret way into the fortress and to just to keep following her. They pull up their hoods and step back out into the heavy pouring rain.