Eden

Meliodas continued walking through the seemingly endless corridor. As he walked through, he noticed the sides of the corridor had strange markings and pictures engraved into the walls he had never seen before. Eventually, the corridor began to grow brighter and brighter until the end of it was enveloped in an extremely bright light that Meliodas could not see through.

Meliodas jumped through the light, landing on a patch of lush, soft grass. A gentle spring breeze blew through the area as Meliodas looked around. It was a grove-like area with many trees and surrounded on all sides by high cliffs with thick vines growing down the rocks. The sunlight peeked through the dense foliage at the top of the cliff. In the center of the grove, was a small, lone sprouting oak tree. Coming from one of its lower branches was a golden fruit, reminiscent of an apple. Meliodas took a step towards the tree but immediately paused. Meliodas could feel the tree itself radiated a massive aura of magic and life energy.

A man stepped out from behind the trunk, grabbing the apple. Meliodas immediately recognized the man as Blu Tsukihou, based on the previous projection.

"I welcome you, Meliodas. This is Phonoi's Grand Sanctuary. A fitting place for your grave?" Blu asked. Meliodas glared at Blu but noticed coming from behind the tree, a small stream of blood was running from behind it. Blu noticed Meliodas staring at the blood and smiled.

"Oh you must be curious about this blood." Blu said as he reached behind the trunk. He pulled out the corpse of a Phonoi member.

"Caught this one trying to steal one of the fruits. Of course, he paid dearly." Blu said with a smirk. He threw the body towards Meliodas and it landed on the ground, rolling forward until it was right at Meliodas' feet.

'So Conwell's double agent didn't make it in the end.' Meliodas thought to himself as he stared at the corpse.

Suddenly, a familiar object began glowing in front of Meliodas as it appeared from nowhere and started gravitating towards Blu.

"Oh? So Schneider gave you a fragment?" Blu commented. He pulled out a circular dial from his requip inventory that formed a pattern. On the pattern, was a missing piece where the last fragment was slowly floating towards.

"I won't let you!" Meliodas shouted as he leaped towards Blu. He extended his right arm out to reach for the fragment, only to suddenly stop as an unknown force kept him from moving, as if his arm was stuck in the air. A bright aura began to surround Meliodas' arm and he felt a burning sensation.

"Ggghhh!" Meliodas grunted as he tried to pull his arm out. "I thought Schneider destroyed the key!"

"He did. This is merely a replica. Not nearly as effective as the original but it gets the job done. However, the replica still needs a real piece of the actual key, so it's convenient that you came along holding it in your requip inventory. The pocket dimensions that hold together requip inventories cannot stop the force that is Eden!" Blue shouted out as the fragment fit into the missing slot in the dial.

"Eden?" Meliodas questioned.

"Yes! This world has always feared darkness. There are many who walk down said path of darkness, seeking power! But none ever seek the light! The light that destroys the darkness! The light that destroys everything! That is Eden! And thanks to you, the final fragment is with me!" Blue grasped the dial firmly in his hand as it began glowing. He suddenly smashed it straight into the trunk of the tree, causing the entire tree to glow a bright golden hue.

A large shockwave blasted of light outward from the tree, sending Meliodas flying backwards and into the back wall of the grove as his right arm dislodged from his body, falling next to him. Coming from the location of a tree, was a brightly glowing light that engulfed the entire grove. Meliodas closed his eyes at the brightness before opening them a second later as it died down.

Standing where the tree once stood was a young man with long, light blue hair and several strands falling over his face. The young man's robes were white with golden markings and his eyes glowed golden.

"This! This is the ultimate power! The light that destroys all!" Blu shouted out as he flared his magical power. Meliodas slowly got up and picked up his dislodged arm from the ground.

"You still dare to fight me?!" Blu yelled as a bright light shined brightly from his body, engulfing the whole area once again. Meliodas squinted his eyes but eventually had to close them again at the intensity of the brightness.

As the brightness began to die down and Meliodas opened his eyes once more, he found himself in an unfamiliar location. A vast, empty plain seemingly stretched out for miles, with lush green grass. The sky above was a bright blue with not a cloud in sight.

"Where is this place?" Meliodas questioned.

"Welcome to the High Plains of Eden!" Blu responded as he raised his arms up into the air. "This is but a mere speck of the world of light, brought here to this world! I believe the best term to describe this would be a "reality marble."

A bright light began to emit outward from Blu's body, engulfing Meliodas' body. Meliodas began to feel that same burning sensation all throughout his body.

"Reality marble or not…" Meliodas said as his demon mark began to appear on his forehead and darkness began to leak out of his right shoulder, attaching his right arm back in place much to Blu's surprise.

"I'm still going to stop you!" Meliodas shouted, darkness flaring outward from his body and surrounding him in an aura.

"What is that darkness that will not falter even in the rays of Eden?!" Blu exclaimed as Meliodas' aura of darkness began to grow larger and larger, until it was matching the aura of light coming out of Blu.

"This immense darkness...this devilish presence...you're truly a demon aren't you Meliodas?! How fitting for someone with the title of the Blond Demon!" Blu shouted as white wings of light sprouted from his back, taking the form of angel wings. Following right after him was Meliodas, with wings of darkness sprouted from his back.

"Be erased by the light of destruction! Eden's Nova!" Between Blu's palms with his hands out in front of him, a ball of heavily condensed light magic began forming. The condensed ball slowly expanded in size, with Blu switching positions and holding it above his head as the ball became nearly ten times his size.

"Take this!" Blu shouted as he threw the massive ball of light. As the ball hurtled towards Meliodas, Meliodas put his hand on the handle of Neo Mel Force.

"Full Counter!"

Meliodas swung his blade, the ball of light reflecting back at Blu. Blu put his arms out wide as he took the attack head on.

"Yes! Return to me the power of Eden with even greater force!" Blu exclaimed as he became engulfed by the light. In that next moment, a huge explosion of light burst forth. Meliodas remained floating in place as his aura of darkness kept him safe.

Meliodas' eyes widened as a figure came out of the ball. The light coming from the attack vanished, and Blu's body had changed entirely. He no longer wore the white version of the Phonoi cloak, but instead appeared to have no clothes. His bare body was now a solid light yellow and constantly emitting light. His previously light blue hair now turned white and his golden eyes glowing brighter than before.

Beams of light began to shoot out from the ground of the reality marble as Blu's magic skyrocketed even higher than before.

"The light of Eden I have obtained previously was incomplete. But by you reflecting it back at me with greater force, I absorbed a portion I was missing. It is still not complete, but this form is closer to perfection!" Blu shouted. He raised his right palm up and at that instant, a beam of light shot out. Meliodas' eyes widened as the beam slammed straight into his aura, piercing straight though it and leaving a hole in Meliodas' chest. Blood dripped out of Meliodas' chest as his body fell to the ground below.

"Your darkness may have been able to match my incomplete power, but now it's-" Blu suddenly paused as he noticed Meliodas standing back up, the hole in his chest sealing shut as darkness began leaking out. Meliodas looked up at Blu and wiped the blood coming from his mouth.

"You caught me off guard with the speed of that last attack. But it won't happen again!" Meliodas said as he kicked off from the ground and leaped straight towards Blu. Blu raised his right palm up, immediately firing a beam from his hand. To his surprise, Meliodas dodged the beam, only receiving a small cut on his cheek as he continued flying forward.

"Enchant: Hellblaze!"

Just as Meliodas closed the distance between himself and Blu, he slashed downward with Neo Mel Force clad in the black flames of hellblaze.

"Ggaaahhh!!!' Blu screamed as he fell to the ground, blood gushing from a massive wound that went across his chest and torso. Blu regained his balance, landing on both his feet on the ground. He looked back up in the sky, expecting to see Meliodas, only to feel a sharp pain at the back of his head as he was sent flying again.

Blu's body tumbled across the empty plains, as Meliodas once again appeared behind him, delivering another kick to the back of his head and launching him across the plains."

"D-Dammit! I can't lose here!" Blu grunted as he managed to regain his balance, landing on his feet. Meliodas appeared in front of him this time, and wound his right hand back, his hand clad in darkness. Blu did the same winding his hand back as an even brighter light began to glow from it.

The two punches collided and shockwaves burst out in all directions, uprooting and disheveling the ground while small cracks began to form in the sky. A loud cracking sound echoed throughout the marble as Blu's entire arm up to his shoulder exploded off of his body.

"I-Impossible!" Blu gasped in horror as his body was launched across the field. He landed in the dirt, leaving a huge trail of kicked up grass and dirt behind him. Blu looked up and saw Meliodas slowly walking towards him.

"If I just had the full relic...If I just had...the full power of Eden! I could have killed you without batting an eye!" Blu screamed. He slowly began to stand up, his brightly glowing body starting to dim and pieces started crumbling away.

"You overused your power. Your body couldn't handle it and look where it's getting you." Meliodas said coldly.

"Then...I guess this is it then!" Blu shouted as he spread his legs and outstretched his arms. He looked up into the sky and a bright light started glowing from his body.

"If I'm going down! I'm taking you with me!" Blu screamed as more light began to glow from his body. As his body began crumbling away, more beams of light shouted out from his body, forming holes.

Meliodas immediately put his arms up in front of him and flared out his darkness. His eyes widened with shock as his darkness was immediately dispersed and the front of his arms started to break down. 'This light magic is incredibly potent...I'll have to use-'

From above a loud cracking sound echoed throughout the reality marble. Suddenly, the sky seemingly shattered like glass as a massive glowing orange sword fell straight down, piercing through Blu's body.

The light coming from Blu began to die down as the reality marble cracked and crumbled away, revealing them to be standing back in the grove. As life faded from Blu's eyes, he noticed a figure standing above on the cliff looking down at him.

"Conwell…" Blu muttered before falling limp.