115 Shadow Cast by Light

"I can feel it...my right eye is throbbing as I sense that demonic power of yours!" Hades shouted excitedly. Meliodas maintained a serious expression on his face as he began to walk towards Hades.

"This darkness you possess...this is truly the next step in attaining the Ultimate Magical World!" Hades shouted joyously. He ripped off the eyepatch on his right eye, revealing his glowing red eye. Meliodas felt Hades magical power soar even higher with a great demonic presence.

"You've really gone down this path huh…" Meliodas commented as he felt a similar sensation to when he fought Doryu. Hades smirked and raised his arms up in front of him. Purple tendrils of dark magic shot out from beneath him as they were launched at Meliodas. Meliodas charged forward, with both arms clad in darkness shaped into blades. Meliodas began cutting through the tendrils with ease, shredding them into hundreds of pieces as he spun around.

As one tendril went down, several more appeared to replace the last one. Meliodas continued slashing each one, managing to get closer and closer to Hades as he paved his own path.

"Do you understand? You are merely in the shallows of magic, as I stand in the depths dancing freely!" Hades commented as even more tendrils were summoned beneath Meliodas' feet.

Meliodas jumped backwards and slashed at the tendrils that were attacking him. Meliodas stood back and looked at Hades. 'His magic power doesn't seem to be decreasing. In fact, it's rising the longer this battle goes on. It's not quite the same as with Doryu, but it's still a problem. Does he have unlimited magic? I could maybe finish him off if I had a proper sword…' Meliodas thought as he glanced at the open hole in the observation deck where Mel Force fell into the ocean.

"Allow me to show you what truly lies in the deep abyss of magic!" Hades declared. Hades raised his arms and moved them slowly in half a circle. He pointed one of his arms at Meliodas.

"This is from Chapter 4, Scripture 12 of the book of Zeref. Nemesis!"

From the ground in front of Meliodas, strange demonic beings began to rise from the rubble. In seconds, Hades was surrounded by an army of dozens demons in various shapes and sizes, all with similar black bodies and strange magic coursing through their visible red glowing veins. Meliodas closed his eyes and began to concentrate as the demons began their slow approach towards Meliodas. The darkness that formed blades on Meloidas' hands disappeared as he took a deep breath in.

"What's wrong? Were you not prepared for the Magic of the Abyss?!" Hades taunted. Meliodas opened his eyes again and raised his left arm out to his side and spread his stance wide. Hades immediately began to shudder as he felt a menacing presence forming in Meliodas' left hand.

Black energy began to swirl around Meliodas' hand, gathering into a dense darkness. That darkness, eventually taking shape into a pitch black sword.

"Requip: Sacrifar!"

Hades immediately froze upon hearing the name. He gawked at the black blade that was forming in Meliodas' left hand. His right eye began to throb even more and Hades took a step back.

"S-Sacrifar?! That's impossible! That sword is only a myth! Even if that was actually Sacrifar, why are you able to wield it?!" Hades questioned, his mouth wide open in shock.

As Sacrifar fully materialized in Meliodas' hand, darkness began to leak out of Meliodas' body, wrapping itself entirely around Meliodas' left arm until it was pitch black. Sacrifar's black handle seemingly melded with the darkness, taking the appearance of just one long blade. Meliodas raised his left arm up above him as a dark miasma continuously leaked from the blade.

Meliodas swung Sacrifar down vertically in front of him. At that moment, Hades' felt an immense pain go through the center of his body, from the top of his head, all the way down the middle.

"H-He didn't just pierce through my body...he also cut straight down the center of the ship...and destroyed The Devil's Heart in the process…" Hades gasped as blood gushed out of his body.

After being split in half, the ship began to fall apart down the middle, the two sides slowly sinking into the water. Hades fell to the ground and looked up at Meliodas who was standing above him. He could feel no pain, only the warmth of the blood that was forming underneath him.

"It appears your darkness...was stronger than mine…" Hades commented as his vision began to blur.

"A world run by solely power is no world to live in." Meliodas said as he looked down at Hades. A smile formed on Hades face.

"A demon telling me that power isn't what's important?" Hades questioned, his eyes growing lifeless. "Then what gives you that power?"

Meliodas remained silent and turned around. He started walking away but stopped.

"I want to protect the things precious to me. That's what gives me power."

"I see…" Hades said quietly. 'I guess I did discard all that was precious for the Ultimate Magic World.'

Meliodas walked away and looked around at the collapsing ship. He ran towards the massive hole at the side of the hull where Mel Force got thrown out. 'Now...where did Mel Force go.'

After a minute of swimming underwater, Meliodas found Mel Force. He jumped out of the water onto the beach. To his surprise, a familiar figure was standing there looking at him.

"Laxus?" Meliodas questioned.

"Looks like I'm a bit late." Laxus commented.

"What are you doing here?" Meliodas asked.

"I felt something was wrong so I came here…" Laxus replied. "But seeing how you handled it, I guess I should be going now."

"You should go see the Master. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again." Meliodas said with a warm smile. Laxus looked up at Meliodas but turned away.

"Not after everything I've done." Laxus responded.

"Then I'll just have to-" Meliodas suddenly stumbled, nearly falling forward. Laxus quickly rushed over to him and helped him stand back up.

"Looks like you can hardly walk. I don't think you can force me to go back even with that ridiculous strength of yours in the state you're in." Laxus commented.

"Then can you help me get back to camp?" Meliodas asked. Laxus sighed and nodded.

"Fine."

---

Laxus helped Meliodas walk back to camp, practically carrying him over his shoulder due to the size difference. The two of them arrived at the foot of the camp and looked around at everyone there. They were all conversing and wrapped up in bandages. Natsu saw Meliodas out of the corner of his eye and immediately turned to him.

"Look it's Meliodas!" Natsu shouted. "And-" Natsu's eyes grew wide with surprise as he saw the second person standing next to Meliodas.

"Laxus?!" Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow shouted out, unable to contain their excitement. Makarov had a surprised look on his face as well but remained silent.

"Wait... Laxus?! What the hell is he doing here?" Gray questioned.

"You guys can question me about that later. Get this guy treated." Laxus said, pointing to Meliodas.

"Meliodas! I'll heal you right now!" Wendy shouted as she frantically ran over to him. Meliodas fell to the ground, flat on his butt, unable to stand up any longer. Wendy ran behind him and put her hands on his back as her magic began to envelop Meliodas' body.

"Thanks Wendy!" Meliodas said cheerfully.

"So what happened?" Erza asked. "I'm guessing from that magic we sensed earlier, that you defeated Hades."

"Yup." Meliodas responded.

"What did you even do? The sky turned dark almost like it was night time!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Hahaha! That power was manly!" Elfman added in energetically.

"What the hell Meliodas?! I wanted to kick his ass too!" Natsu shouted out.

"That's enough. Let Meliodas rest." Makarov said. He looked towards Laxus and walked over to him.

"What brought you here? You're not a member of our guild anymore." Makarov said sternly.

"Oh he helped me fight Hades." Meliodas quickly answered. Makarov looked at Meliodas with a look of surprise before looking back at Laxus. 'There's not a scratch on Laxus and I didn't sense his magic at all. There's no way he fought Hades. Meliodas is just trying to stick up for him I guess...but why would Laxus come here…'

"I felt something was wrong so I came here." Laxus said.

"Yes! Laxus has come to our aid in our great time of need!" Freed interjected.

"Come on Master. I'm sure you're happy to see him right? Also he helped me get back to camp, otherwise I would have passed out on the beach somewhere." Meliodas added in. Makarov looked at Laxus once more and quickly turned around.

"Do whatever you like." Makarov said as he walked away.

"Wait, hold on!" Natsu interjected. "What about the rest of the S class trials?!"

"Well...we'll have to suspend that for now." Makarov answered. "With all that happened, we can't really continue."

"Among the candidates, the council snuck in and there was also Grimoire Heart interfering as well." Mirajane added.

"So there's really no other option this time around…" Levy commented.

"Dammit! I wanted to become an S Class Mage!" Gray shouted out in frustration.

"You may have all given up, but I haven't!" Natsu shouted out eagerly. "I will become S Class, no matter what happens!"

"Well, well, well." Meliodas joined in. "I think I'm with Natsu on that."

Meliodas looked at Makarov and the two locked eyes. Makarov thought back to Meliodas' situation and sighed. 'If it were just Natsu, I would simply have Natsu fight me and end it in one hit but...Meliodas just did something that the rest of the guild couldn't have done alone…Not even I could have defeated Hades by myself…'

"Alright then." Makarov said. "If Natsu and Meliodas are the only ones who want to keep going, then both of you fight right now. The last one standing will be promoted to S class."

"WHAT?!" The other Fairy Tail mages shouted in surprise.

"Alright! I'm all fired up!" Natsu said with a large grin. He looked at Meliodas who was walking towards him.

"This is certainly unexpected." Mirajane commented.

"Is this even fair?" Lucy questioned.

"It might be more fair this way." Freed added. "Meliodas just fought Hades and Wendy hadn't finished healing him. Natsu had more time to recover his strength. This might be more even than you think."

"Nope. Not even close." Laxus commented. Freed and the other Thunder God Tribe members looked at him with surprise.

Both Meliodas and Natsu stood apart, facing each other. The rest of the guild gathered and watched them.

"I'm going all out Meliodas!" Natsu shouted as he leaped towards Meliodas, his body clad in bright orange flames.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn--GAHHH!!" Natsu yelled as he felt a sharp pain to his shoulder as Meliodas appeared in front of him and delivered a swift chop down at him. Natsu slammed face first into the ground, creating a small crater as the ground cracked.

"H-he beat him in one hit again…" Lucy commented.

"Now's my chance!" Natsu shouted as he lifted his head from the ground. Meliodas looked down, surprised to see Natsu springing up towards him.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!"

Natsu swung his arms as he sprung up from the ground, his arms clad in flames, and a destructive torrent of flames enveloped Meliodas. The area around them exploded in flames and covered the area with smoke.

"He got him!" Happy cheered.

"I know Meliodas is strong, but that was a direct hit. He had to take some damage from that right?" Lucy questioned as she stared at the smoke cloud. She looked over at Gildarts who was staring intently at the cloud of smoke.

"Nah. Natsu tried that on me already." Gildarts commented. As the smoke cloud cleared, everyone looked in shock at Natsu unconscious on the ground and Meliodas standing above him with a grin on his face.

"Well that was a close one!" Meliodas said with a cheeky smile as he looked at everyone else who were staring at him dumbstruck.

"Hahaha! As expected!" Gildarts applauded, breaking the silence.

"Well then. It looks like Meliodas will be promoted to S class. Any objections?" Makarov asked as he looked at the rest of the participants who were silently standing there.