17 Chapter 15: Unexpected Boost
[A few days after Meliodas destroyed the entire wall of the Palace from within Chandler's Quarters]
Meliodas can be seen laying on his bed unconscious in his old room with Melascula curled up next to him asleep as the room itself has hardly changed since he left around sixty years ago. He is currently covered in multiple layers of bandages considering that his body rejected all the healing spells that Olivia attempted onto him which caused her immense worry for her son's well being.
Before she could panic any further however, she noticed that his body seemed to be regenerating at a rapid rate compared to how high rank demons usually do when they get injured although in Chandler's defense when she confronted him not long after setting Meliodas into his old room said that he was caught off guard when Meliodas suddenly gained a noticeable boost in power and he claimed that his demeanor changed from he usually was, all the while as he was begging to her on the floor for forgiveness causing her to sigh remembering how much she used to terrify everyone and everything even her own husband back in the early days when there was only Indura roaming around the Demon Realm before he banished them to the depths of Purgatory.
"I need to figure this out cause it is not possible, though maybe....." Olivia looks at her wrist where a mark resides where her husband placed the seal onto her much to her harsh disapproval at the time. The seal contains a symbol that represents that of a fox with it's tail curved downward almost as if it is hibernating waiting to be released.
'Maybe I can find a way to finally be free from his control. Though I'll do it after this little one here is born.' Caressing her stomach where her next unborn child lies, she couldn't but smile a bit while thinking of the child's future where Meliodas protects his sibling but the thought of her husband ruins it because she knew that he was influencing her emotions because of the curse.
When she was created several thousand years ago, her purpose was to be his equal but as time passed, the Demon King slowly began to fear the full extent of her power. He fully realized this fact many centuries later when she defeated the Original Demon with some effort while using 'That' which made her a threat to his ruling position as the sole ruler to the Demon Clan. After he separated the Original Demon into two souls, he then while her guard was down placed a curse onto her and it sealed around half of her powers.
Clenching her fist tightly at the memory, she tries to hold off her demon mark from appearing as she kisses Meliodas on the forehead before leaving his bedroom to a secret room that not even the Demon King knows about.
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(A few days earlier)
[Demon King POV]
Hearing the explosion from Chandler's quarters while I was on my way to give something to Meliodas to ensure his loyalty to me but seeing Olivia carrying him over her shoulder stopped me from doing so knowing how protective she is of the boy.
It's still hard to believe that she once didn't care for any sense of life aside from me because back then, she enjoyed putting her enemies through great pain, both physically and emotionally. She was known for being cruel and at times bloodthirsty to the point where even I was apprehensive to an extent around her presence. Though despite those qualities, it was one of the many things I loved about her and yet it all changed when I had sealed around half her power. And she changed completely once Meliodas was born.
Over the years before Meliodas embarked on his journey, she became much more friendly to those who feared her in the past and more suspicious of my activities involving the treaty with the Goddess Clan despite sending her on missions to consult with the other races such as the Vampire Clan who are currently my vassals in case if a war breaks out though I wouldn't as it would be the perfect opportunity to make Meliodas into the perfect warrior once I bestow this commandment onto him.
Time to enact my plan once my wife leaves his side.
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(3rd Person POV)
[Present: Moments after Olivia leaves Meliodas's room]
A portal can be seen opening up and the Demon King steps out of it with an expression of indifference as he looms over Meliodas.
Before Melascula could wake up while sensing a presence near them."Somnum." The Demon King casts a sleeping spell temporarily on her which forces Melascula to fall asleep.
He then turns off the cloaking spell he placed onto the commandment that he decided to give Meliodas.
The commandment now fully revealed can be seen floating beside the Demon King at it's full glory though it's not what most would expect if it was a timeline that most would often believe it was to stay correlation to the original manga.
"Anyone who shows their back to the wielder will become an obedient slave of me and by extension, the commandment's holder." Quietly mutters the Demon King as to not wake up Meliodas while directing his hand towards his body and the commandment follows as it then goes into his body which causes his body some discomfort with his face scrunching up with pain.
'Now that's done, once I find the other candidates, Meliodas will be the one to lead them.' The Demon King then quickly opens up a portal and goes into it before his wife could sense his magical presence not realizing that he just made one of the biggest mistakes in his life.
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[Meliodas Mindscape]
Meliodas can be seen meditating in a flat grass field that is reminiscent to a land that his original counterpart might immediately recognize. The sun blazes over the surroundings with it's scorching heat but that doesn't bother Meliodas in the slightest since it is his own soul which is several times it's original size due to the merge which can give a certain individual whose pride holds no bounds a run for their money when comparing their souls.
This is image training which is an out-of-body experience while asleep in which he learned during his time in the Crimson Forest. By imagining an environment exactly like reality, Meliodas could visualize what he remembers from the various settings of the multiple anime that his predecessor had seen before and he uses it to become stronger.
Feeling a disturbance in his surroundings, Meliodas opens his eyes and looks up into the sky to see it darken as the commandant can be seen trying to latch itself onto his soul like a parasite.
'Looks like dear old dad actually did it. Perfect though I didn't expect it to be the commandment of Piety.' With a smirk, Meliodas begins to stand up and he manifests his newly awakened demon mark along with his wings and he launches himself into the air where the commandment can be seen with it's tentacles trying to pry itself into his soul.
While in the air, Meliodas lights his fists up with Enchant Hellblaze and he prepares several rear hand punches towards the commandment and manages to land them with exceptional effort causing it to latch off from his soul.
The commandment then screeches in surprise not expecting it's host to fight back against them and it summons several amounts of tentacles and it fires them at Meliodas who dodges all of them with ease.
"Didn't expect that did ya? Well too bad because I'm going to assimilate you into my very being." While Quickly dodging multiple more of it's appendages, Meliodas grabs onto one and pulls it towards himself causing the commandment to be propelled towards him.
Once again lighting up his fists with Enchant Hellblaze, Meliodas directs his body at certain angle and twists his torso causing him to deliver a devastating punch into the center of the commandment which causes it to crack like glass.
Not letting up, Meliodas at a fast pace begins to land several more punches in different places from behind along with it's sides.
Once he is done, the commandment can be seen with several holes in it's being with it now too weak to fulfil what it came here to do.
'Now time for my soul to absorb it. Once I absorb it, it's curse should not affect me like the others since it's going to be a part of my soul now.' His soul then begins to engulf the commandment and Meliodas begins to an sudden increase in his power due to the boost a high rank demon like himself receives for just simply absorbing a commandment but at the same time they're cursed with obeying it's rule along with some sense of loyalty to his father and he got rid of that aspect.
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[Reality]
"*Gasp!*" Meliodas immediately opens his eyes and he begins to feel an intense headache happening, he quickly takes off the bandages covering his body which was most likely his mother's doing. He then heads off to a nearby mirror while ignoring the pain from forcing the commandment to become a part of his being.
Feeling a disturbance, Melascula quickly opens her eyes and sees Meliodas heading towards the mirror for some reason.
Once Meliodas stands in front of the mirror shirtless, aside from the multiple scars across his body, he ignores the fact that the wounds he received days prior are completely healed as the most prominent detail in his reflection causes him to smile when he looks at it.
His demon mark has changed once again with it now being mostly located directly on his forehead making it look more refined when compared to the way it looked before.
'It's only a matter of time before I can match up to father's strength. And once that time comes, I'll kill him, for now I'll pretend to be his loyal soldier.' With a smile, he then goes back to his bed to wait for the next day to begin with Melascula who has gone back to sleep.
