The Assassin Guild

November 8th X785

Meliodas walked into the guild hall. It had been several months since Meliodas had decided to stay at the guild for a prolonged period. During this time, Meliodas had been in and out of the guild, accepting various missions to help the guild all the while trying to find a way back to Britannia.

"Hey it's Meliodas! Welcome back!" Alzack mentioned.

"Meliodas!" Vijiteer exclaimed.

Several more guild members and familiar faces gathered around Meliodas. Meliodas looked around the guild and noticed plenty of new faces he was not familiar with.

"This guild's grown a lot hasn't it." Meliodas commented.

"That's all thanks to you." Macao said as he approached the large group crowding Meliodas. "Not only have your actions inspired the guild, you've established quite the reputation for yourself. A lot of people come here expecting to one day meet "The Blond Demon."

"To think that nickname came about from a mistaken wanted poster and now it follows me everywhere I go." Meliodas mused. He looked at the other guild members who were scattered around the guild hall. They all stared at him with different expressions and made various comments.

"That's Meliodas?"

"I was expecting him to be...I don't know...taller?"

"I think he's kind of handsome."

"He doesn't look all that tough. I can beat him!"

Meliodas shrugged at the comments and stares and made his way over to the bar. He took a sip of White Wyvern Ale as he read through the most recent Sorcerer Weekly magazine that was sitting on the counter.

'Let's see if there's anything interesting.' Meliodas thought as he read through. He noticed a new and upcoming model named Jenny who had taken Mira's place as well as an article featuring a quickly growing guild known as "Sabertooth."

As he continued flipping through the pages, his eyes widened at a particular news article.

[Jellal Fernandes Escaped From Prison]

'Jellal of all people? I didn't expect him to do that. Did something happen with his memories?' Meliodas thought to himself as he recalled Jellal having amnesia. Meliodas finished his mug of ale and made his way back to his house.

Meliodas jumped on his bed, landing flat on his back as he looked up at the ceiling. 'What are other methods of getting information about magic...the council was tempting, especially after going over it with Jura but they won't just give me the information if I ask for it...-'

Meliodas' train of thought was interrupted as he suddenly jolted up from the bed and immediately ran downstairs. Schneider, who was sitting in the living room, nearly dropped his cup of coffee at Meliodas' sudden entrance.

"W-what's going on?" Schneider shouted in confusion.

"Get down!" Meliodas shouted as he leaped towards Schneider. Meliodas wrapped his arm around Schneider, bringing him down to the ground with him. In the next instant, a knife went flying through the window, shattering the glass as its trajectory went through where Schneider's head was originally placed while sitting. The knife hit the door, causing the door to immediately crumble.

"What was that magic?" Meliodas commented as he helped Schneider up.

"Dammit...those assassins are back for me...I was dreading this day. They're using daggers embedded with illegal corruption magic lacrima. Once the blade touches something, it causes it to break down." Schneider said.

Suddenly two cloaked figures came in through the window, breaking through the glass and landing in front of Meliodas and Schneider. Their cloaks were different from the ordinary ones that the previous assassins wore. They had decorative blue trimmings and bright silver shoulder pauldrons. Over their faces, they wore a mask decorated with a red jagged spiral pattern and two eye slits.

"They really sent the best of the best-" Schneider stopped abruptly as Meliodas grabbed him by the shirt and leaped out of the house, dragging him along.

"Meliodas! Don't worry about me. Just save yourself!" Schneider shouted. Meliodas shook his head.

"I can't do that." Meliodas replied. 'These guys are trying to kill both Schneider and me. I can feel there's a third one watching from somewhere but I can't pinpoint their location. My best bet would be to get Schneider to the guild and-'

Meliodas suddenly ducked down as a large javelin went by his head towards one of the nearby houses. As the javelin hit the house, the entire ground underneath caved in with the houses beside it also crumbling down. Several bystanders froze in fear as others began to scream and panic.

"They're really trying to kill us. They don't even care about subtlety anymore." Meliodas said.

"You've established quite a reputation Meliodas. They must have marked you as a Class 1 target, so they're using any means necessary in addition to trying to kill me." Schneider responded. As Meliodas continued running down the street, he noticed a familiar guild member staring at him.

"Reedus!" Meliodas shouted.

"Oui! Meliodas what's going on?!" Reedus exclaimed as Meliodas stopped in front of him.

"No time to explain. Take Schneider to the guild. If you can, use your magic to-" Meliodas immediately turned around as a giant ball of condensed magical energy that dwarfed the three of them in size was sent flying in their direction out of seemingly nowhere. He placed his hand on the handle of Neo Mel Force but stopped. 'I can't reflect that back here. I'll cause too much damage to Magnolia Town.'

Meliodas placed his right palm out in front of him. Just as the ball was about to hit the three of them, it suddenly vanished. Meliodas quickly turned around and faced Reedus once again who was staring at him dumbfoundedly.

"Make a diversion with your magic! A bunch of fake Schneiders! Then head to the guild!" Meliodas shouted. Reedus nodded as he pulled out a magic pen and began drawing on the ground, as his originally rotund body had now shrunk and was no longer a large enough surface. Reedus drew quickly, sketching out Schneider's shape in bright glowing ink on the ground.

"Pict Magic: Clone!"

Suddenly, dozens of copies of Meliodas, Reedus, and Schneider sprung up from the ground. In the confusion, Meliodas handed off Schneider to the real Reedus.

"I won't let you down Meliodas." Reedus said firmly as he turned around and made his way towards the guild hall. Out of the corner of his eye, Meliodas noticed several of the clones instantly got destroyed, exploding into large splotches of ink.

Meliodas could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he felt a massive magical presence behind him. Another cloaked figure, this one with a different colored mask was holding two large orbs of condensed magical power. The figure slammed the orbs into the ground where Meliodas was standing, causing a massive explosion that destroyed a large portion of the street.

Meliodas jumped out from the smoke, unharmed but covered in dust as he landed on the ground nearby.

'These guys really are the best of the best. That almost got me.' Meliodas thought. Meliodas jumped backwards, landing on the roof of a nearby building. He looked around and tried to sense them out from his high ground position. 'They're still in the area, but they're doing a good enough job hiding their exact locations…it looks like I need to wait for them to attack me and then counterattack before they vanish again.'

Meliodas scanned the area. The neighborhood was now a complete mess, with several destroyed houses and cracked roads alongside a massive crater that was in the middle of the main street. There were a few bodies of innocent civilians lying on the street, unmoving. 'I can't keep fighting here. At this rate the entire town will get involved. I'll have to lure them to- ABOVE?!'

Meliodas immediately jumped backwards as two cloaked figures came crashing down onto the roof he was standing on, creating a massive hole in the roof. Out of the corner of his eye, Meliodas noticed several large balls of flame magic rapidly heading towards him. Meliodas jumped backwards, flipping across the roofs as the powerful orbs of magic slammed into the buildings.

"Who are you guys fighting? Me or those houses?" Meliodas remarked as he landed back on the main street again, trying to get them to attack again in order to pinpoint their location. Meliodas waited in silence for the assassins to approach him. Several seconds went by without any action, but Meliodas could still feel them watching.

"You know, if everytime I dodge your attacks and you destroy my neighbors' houses, I'll just feel so bad I don't think I'll want to dodge anymore." Meliodas continued as he seemingly dropped his guard.

Another moment passed without any movement. Suddenly, Meliodas felt two large magical presences appear next to him, both wielding black daggers. Meliodas didn't make a move as they both aimed the daggers straight at Meliodas' neck.

Just as the daggers were about to slash at Meliodas' neck, the assassins could barely hear Meliodas mutter something under his breath.

"I can't let you guys keep going around killing people like this."

Suddenly, Meliodas' features changed and a strange pressure filled the air. The daggers that were about to pierce Meliodas' neck stopped at his skin as a dark substance covered his neck. Meliodas grabbed both of the assassin's hands that were holding the daggers by the wrists. A cracking sound echoed through the area as their wrists were shattered by Meliodas' grip. Still holding onto the two of them, he slammed both of their faces into each other, shattering their masks as blood gushed from their faces.

The two assassins dropped to the ground as Meliodas turned around, only to see a large javelin supercharged with magic heading straight towards him. Meliodas moved his head to the side just as the blade of the javelin nicked him in the cheek, causing a small amount of blood to drip down. He grabbed onto the javelin by the shaft, halting it completely as the ground shattered from the abrupt stop. Several blocks away, Meliodas could make out the cloaked figure who had thrown the javelin, which was the differently colored masked one.

Meliodas wound his arm back, throwing the Javelin straight at the figure. Before the figure could even move from their spot, the javelin impaled right through their abdomen launching them into the air. As the figure remained in the air, the javelin was still in their body. Meliodas appeared behind them with his blade drawn.

"Thousand Divine Slashes!"

Blood gushed out of the dozens of deep cuts in the figure's body. The figure went limp as they fell to the ground. Meliodas immediately ran back to the other two figures he had kept alive. He arrived on the street where the figures were restrained by a massive tendril made of darkness that wrapped around the both of them. Both figures had woken up and glared at Meliodas, radiating their killer intent at him.

"Why do you guys keep going after me and Schneider?" Meliodas asked.

"You really are "The Blond Demon." I thought that nickname was merely a nickname, an exaggeration of one's actual power. But no...not you...you're a monster." One of the cloaked figures commented.

"But even you're no match for the entirety of our guild. What you're tasting is but a small portion of our power." The other figure commented. The dark tendrils that tied the assassins together began to grow tighter, causing them to cough up blood.

"It doesn't matter how many you send after me. The result will be the same every time." Meliodas said coldly.

"Then be prepared to live a life of paranoia and hell. You'd best watch your back at every turn!" One of the assassins grunted before passing out.

"Remember, this was your undoing for allying with that traitor Schneider!" The other assassin shouted before losing consciousness.