The Forest of White Dreams

Lei and the group traveled through the Forest of White Dreams. Although Holy Knights didn't voluntarily enter through this forest, it wasn't as dangerous as most would believed it to be. It was only popular because it was ideal for people that are on the hide from Holy Knights as tracking in the forest was extremely difficult. Sure, you could get lost easily due to the thick fog but there weren't other dangers besides that. Especially for this group since Lei's got his Hiraishin.

So without much worry, the group traveled through the forest calmly... the only problem was that they hadn't seen any people or creature for a few hours now. Meliodas seemed pretty confident that one of the sins is hiding here but with the way things are, the only thing they could do is walk until they stumble into something.

As they walked, Meliodas was being himself by harassing Elizabeth like it was normal. Hawk also complained and told Elizabeth it's okay to hit him like usual.

Hawk paused and looked left and right for a second.

"W-why are there a lot of me!" Around the original Hawk were pigs that looked and talked exactly like him.

Lei and Meliodas remained casual but Elizabeth panicked as she couldn't tell which one was real. Even Hawk, or Hawks seem to be confused and claimed to be the original.

Lei focused on their chakra. His eyes scanned through all of them before landing on the original. He was familiar with Hawk's chakra already so it wasn't hard.

"There's also my Hiraishin mark I've put on him..." Lei shook his head and sent a punch to every fake instantly, leaving the the real Hawk relieved.

The fakes stood up and turned into a goblin looking monster. They knew messed up so they ran away as soon as they were found.

"Those are... Prankster Imps" Meliodas recognized what they were immediately. These creatures were capable of imitating other beings to trick people, they were especially troublesome to deal with if you didn't come prepared. He had actually stole Elizabeth's underwear when he was 'inspecting' her because he's heard people mention there were Prankster Imps here, of course he only stole it in order to identify the real Elizabeth just in case they imitated her.

"Let's follow them!" Meliodas followed the creatures. It was the only lead they had so there were no other choice.

They ran after the Imps for a few minutes before they finally slowed down to a stop.

The creatures then explained the situation to a giant human with panic "Lady Diane! We accidentally let a Holy Knight slip in!"

Hawk and Elizabeth were stopped in their tracks at trying to process just how big the giant in front of them was. The giant got up and her shadow covered over them. Lei was more amazed than shocked, she was so much larger compared to when he saw her in the show. Hey eyes alone were as large as his forearm!

Hawk tilted his head in confusion "They think we're Holy Knights..."

Who knows how they came to that conclusion seeing as they're group were made of two children, a woman and one piggy. The giant, Diane was moody after getting shaken awake from her sleep and grabbed Meliodas "...You're a Holy Knight? Well, you're gonna regret messing with... my..."

Her eyes suddenly lit up before she could finish and looked at Meliodas more clearly "Captain?!"

Meliodas smiled casually "Yo. It's been a long time huh, Diane"

Hawk and Elizabeth finally realized what was going on "You mean she's one of the sins...?"

"Yup" The two were amazed at Meliodas' confirmation. They couldn't believe it but they really did stumble upon one of the sins in this forest.

Meliodas and Diane caught up with each other. It's been ten years since they had to run from the kingdom and separate so they were curious on what each has been up to.

"By the way, who are those behind you?" Once they settled down Diane finally noticed the others.

Meliodas explained who they were and they're purpose.

"So you plan on gathering the others... then I'll have to join along" Meliodas smiled at that. With this they're only missing five more.

They've got no idea on where the rest were but he figured that they'll work it out along the way. As they were talking with themselves, a ring of electricity locked onto Meliodas, Lei and Diane's bodies and immobilized them.

The sound of footsteps from the fog "The sins... looks like you're starting to gather"

From the fog came a figure with pink hair, blue and white armor and a white cape.

"Gilthunder...?" Elizabeth recognized him. He was the son of Zanatras, a Great Holy Knight who was the superior of the Seven Sins when they served the Kingdom. As a child, Gilthunder was appointed as the personal knight of her sister Margaret, the eldest princess and eventually the the siblings treated him as a good friend and a brother figure to Elizabeth. She couldn't understand why he seemed so different.

Hearing Elizabeth mention him, Meliodas ears perked up and remembered "Little Gil!"

Meliodas taught him swordsmanship as a child so he could be called as his teacher.

Lei... couldn't really do anything here. Gilthunder was being forced to comply with the orders of the kingdom using Margaret as a threat. If he remembered right, there were familiars that were watching Gilthunder and Margaret, if Gilthunder didn't follow what he was told, Margaret would be put in danger.

Elizabeth stood firm and blocked Gilthunder from advancing, she wasn't sure on what happened to him but she had to gather the seven sins to save the kingdom from the control of the Holy Knights.

Gilthunder looked at her coldly and kicked Hawk away without even looking at him.

"Ugyaa!" Hawk bounced away with a groan. Elizabeth hesitated but seeing the nod from Meliodas, chased after him, afraid that he may get lost due to the fog

Lei decided on letting Meliodas handle it. He just had to get rid of the nuisance that was around his body. So he ran chakra to one of his kunais inside his pouch.

Besides having his special kunai for Hiraishin, he's also created a seal that could absorb energy and release it at his will. Not only was it wrapped around one of his kunai, he also had one on his clothes.

Obviously, the seal had a limit on how much energy it could contain but not many people could exceed this limit.

The electrical binding diminished into his kunai. He aimed down and released the energy, leaving the ground into a crisp.

"... You're not Merlin right? Don't tell me you've disguised yourself because you're bored" Meliodas really couldn't hold the similarities back. The flexibility and mysteriousness of his abilities reminded him too much of Merlin. He's also got that persona where he seems to have control over the situation.

Lei mocked a proud smile and sat down on a tree branch "You know I'm Lei. Anyway, I'll just take it easy over here"

Meliodas sighed and turned back to Gilthunder casually "You sure you wanna do this? You haven't been able to beat me before"

Gilthunder remained stoic "That was ten years ago"

The two stared at each other before dashing for a confrontation. Gilthunder possessed an unnatural speed. However, it wasn't as spontanaeus as Lei's lightning mode. It was more... predictable, it was akin to a blink ability.

Lei put his hands on his chin. Gilthunder's ability was Thunderbolt, it looks like it could enhance the user's speed immensely but not his reaction speed. This would explain why it looks like his positions was pre-determined, he couldn't see where he was going when travelling that fast so he has to set a location first.

Meliodas realized this when he compared it to Lei's lightning mode and found his attacks manageable. He reflected attacks after attacks with ease but Gilthunder's pattern of attack changed. Although his ability seemed predictable, as long as he changed up his pattern, reacting to it was hard.

Meliodas was having a rougher time now. He used his magic 'Full Counter' when Gilthunder launched a lighting attacks at him but he suddenly appeared behind him. Meliodas blocked a blow with his broken sword but he was still sent flying back.

Gilthunder didn't give him enough time to stabilize himself and sent him to the air. Following up further, he blinked on top of Meliodas with his ability and sent him back down.

Diane started to grow a bit worried.

The ground cracked beneath Meliodas "I... can't believe how strong you've gotten"

Gilthunder walked up to him calmly "...Do you have any last words, the sin of wrath Meliodas?"

Meliodas nodded his head weakly. Lei almost let out a laugh at this. Meliodas asked on the location of the other sins.

"Very well" Gilthunder mentioned that out of the other five sins, three were unknown, one was classified as dead and the other was locked up.

Meliodas closed his eyes weakly "Thank..."

"you!" And got up energetically

Diane heaved a sigh at the side. She naturally knew her captain was holding back during that fight but seeing him get beat up was unpleasant.

"I've got what I need" Meliodas smiled sly-fully, this just made their search for the other sins much easier.

Meanwhile Lei shook his head from the side. That wound definitely wasn't minor. Gilthunder's eye narrowed, he was preparing to strike again when suddenly Elizabeth and Hawk came back.

Deciding to end it here, Lei appeared besides Meliodas with a Hiraishin and put his hand on Gilthunder.

Gilthunder was about to back off when he felt a foreign energy invade his body but it was too late and he was gone in a flash.

"We'll see you again soon" And with a playful smile, Lei sent Gilthunder to one of his mark far from here.

"Aww... I wanted to throw him away for injuring the captain like that" Diane complained childishly.

"We should worry more about his injury" Lei replied lightly as Elizabeth gasped at the size of Meliodas' sword injury.

"It's nothing" Meliodas brushed away the worries but Lei let out a mischievous smile and patted the wound "Is that so?"

Meliodas flinched badly and felt his legs weakening.

"Just sit down and let me heal you" Meliodas looked up to Lei, surprised. How many abilities did Lei really have...?

Lei's Mystical Palm Technique wasn't perfect and it definitely wasn't good enough to fix Meliodas' wound. However, with his Absolute Accuracy, he's able to apply the amount of chakra with absolute accuracy into the right parts of the wound. Normally, he wouldn't be able to control his chakra output and the area of application so seamlessly but Absolute Accuracy did what it was described; Absolute.

If he had enough knowledge, he could fix it to a molecular level but he wasn't a doctor and didn't want to accidentally mess up something.

Seeing the wound close, Meliodas and the others were left silent.

Lei smiled under their looks and focused on the technique "You'll still need to rest up but you should be fine"

Lei brang everyone around and used Hiraishin to where Hawk Mama was hiding once everything was settled.