//------------------------------// // Bearing the Hate // Story: Burden of Love, Curse of Hatred // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Jack POV I really should have seen that coming, it's like he truly doesn't care anymore unsurprisingly. Time felt like it slowed down as Mael lunged for the currently defenseless Estarossa and I tried to stop him, apparently I'm still benefiting from the Commandment and found myself in front of Mael with Rebellion in my hand and blocked him. "Why do you stand in my way human?" he asked before kicking me back and assaulting me now "I already told you, now stop this." I said remaining on the defensive "I won't rest until he is DEAD! Arrow of Salvation!" is shouting our attacks really necessary I thought while dodging and using the other 6 Rebellion blades to block when necessary "I don't want to fight you Mael!" "Then stand aside and let me eradicate this demon." he said now lunging at me pushing me back 'Blackout' I thought encasing his head in letting me get some distance "I can't do that." I sent 2 of the blades to him to distract him before he broke out of it and tried using Ark on me, but missed "Then why can't you let me pass righteous judgement on this filth? Arrow of Salvation!" shit did those arrows get faster "I made a promise to someone precious to me in this new world." deciding I've had enough of playing defense I lunged at him while repeatedly attacking him with the other blades "You would spare a demon over a promise? What kind of madness is this?" he said almost effortlessly dodging all my attacks and grabbing me by the throat "You are no better than them." now he's punching me in the face and my ribs "Maybe you should look in the mirror." he became enraged "You would compare me to those evil creatures?" he said before kicking me near the edge and slowly walking towards me "I'll ask you again, why do you stand in my way? I would also like to know why you can control darkness." I coughed up some blood before answering "I promised I wouldn't make someone cry, letting you kill me or Estarossa would result in that." I struggled to stand but did so as he was closing in "That's also for your sake as if you kill Estarossa, everyones attempts to save you would have been for nothing." 'killing saucer' I held it in my hand "Gowther, King, and Diane's efforts would have been for nothing, Derieri's death would have been in vain, Tarmiel, Sariel's deaths as well, Ludociel and the Supreme Diety would never forgive me for letting you fall back into Darkness if I ever meet them, and Elizabeth would have truly lost you." he dashed towards me knocking the killing saucer away and punched me in my gut before grabbing my throat again "The demons can burn for all I care, they can rest easy once the demon is dead and Elizabeth never cared about me, she always had her eyes on Meliodas instead of me, now answer my other question!" his grip getting tighter "The Commandment is in me, but unlike you I have protection from it's corruption." I struggled to get out "Stop this before you do something you'll regret." he punched me hard enough to send me flying back and I spoke again "What would the others think? What would they do if they were in my position? Derieri, Tarmiel, and Sariel tried to save you and stop you from killing Gowther and you mercilessly killed them all, what makes you think this would be different?" he paused for a moment before walking towards me "What would Ludociel do if he found his long lost brother willingly throwing away his life and killing a human who had nothing to do with the war for vengeance?" he paused and had a look of pain and contemplation before continuing "What would Elizabeth do if she found someone especially someone she cares about trying to throw away everything even their own life and soul for revenge?" he became enraged once again and shot his Arrows at me causing me to start writhing in agony and fall on my back "She wouldn't care at all." he said coldly "She's probably happy with Meliodas right now anyway." he raised his fist and channeled light into it "Farewell human, I wish we could have met under better circumstances." just as he was about to hit me my eyes shot open and I swung my sword and 2 of the others "FULL COUNTER!" he got blasted back after getting hit by 6X the power in that punch, the light still hurt, but he was breathing heavy now and on his knees "What was that?" he asked in a strained voice, I ignored that question and stood up "You really are dense, you know that?" I said walking to him "I've seen what revenge does to people. At it's best it truly is justice, at it's worst it's a vicious cycle of hatred that only breeds more hatred and thus gives rise to more who seek vengeance. This cycle can slow d-" "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LECTURE ME AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE SUFFERED! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT I'VE LIVED THROUGH?" he interrupted with an attempt to kick my teeth in, but in his current mental and physical states he was open and I took advantage of that by thrusting the pummel of Rebellion into his gut and blasted him back with darkness "That right there is one reason why I'm standing in your way. You aren't doing this for justice or to 'face your demons', you're doing this for revenge. Remember what your desire for revenge did last time? Two of your closest friends died so you could have your revenge Mael! If you kill me or Estarossa you'll truly die again. Our lives are tied together you idiot, if one dies so will the others." "It will be worth it if the wor-" "So sacrificing your sanity, trying to kill the woman you loved and still love, killing King's friend Oslo, and killing Tarmiel and Sariel was worth it? Throwing away any chance you had to return to Heaven, regain your Grace, save Elizabeth from her curse of reincarnation, and even your life was worth it?" I readied another killing saucer and used hellblaze on my sword seeing him getting back up "Of course not!" he covered himself in light then changed it to form a halberd "So how is this any different? You're trying to throw away everything and kill an innocent again for revenge. You're supposed to be better than this Mael. This, right here, right now, is what got you here in the first place." he fired a few Arrows at me which I blocked easily this time and threw the saucer at him with a ranged hellblaze behind it. He jumped into the air dodging both and lunged behind me to fire another arrow which was blocked with Rebellion again, he leaped over in front of me and fired two more and swung his weapon to my side. I narrowly dodged the arrows, but had to block the halberd which broke through my guard forcing me back "Who are you to judge me? Who are you to deny me this?" he asked continuing the assault and forcing me back on the defensive "Who am I? Someone who wants to live for one. Why should I let you fall back to darkness and kill all 3 of us? What gives you the right to make me break the promises I've made? What gives you the right to hurt my friend by killing me when neither of us ever had anything to do with your suffering? Who are you to decide how many people need to die so you can be sate your bloodlust? This is just another reason why Elizabeth chose Meliodas over you." he started becoming more relentless in his attacks as they became more erratic "Leave her out of this." he growled "You want to know why she chose him? He also saw the war as pointless. She saw meaning, value in every life, if she saw someone in need she would help them regardless of who or what they were or what they've done. She saved Derieri and Monspiet from their Indura transformations and protected them from the other Archangels when they were defenseless. She kept as many of her comrades alive and kept casualties to a minimum on all sides, she was respected if not loved by just about everyone even demons as many left their battles just because she asked nicely. Just as Meliodas was a worthy successor to the Demon King, she was a worthy successor to the Supreme Diety. If I could describe her in one word, to say she was the embodiment of something, she would be benevolence, hope, or forgiveness personified. Believe it or not she still thinks of you as family. Even she tried to save you, shouldn't that be enough proof." with a scream he finally hit me with the halberd then got me in a deadlock "I said leave her out of this!" he shouted "Then stop trying to kill us all and stop giving me reason to use your past against you." I kicked him forward and rapidly spun the other 6 blades while using hellblaze on them, I need to end this fight quickly "We may die, but it's better than that monster breaking free." he said coming to the same conclusion as me "Why did it have to be like this?" I asked, but didn't get a response. I tried to use the other blades to reduce the momentum in his charge, but he held them in place with Ark leaving me with one left. I made a small killing saucer again and when he was in range he shot me in my leg and my right shoulder with an Arrow, but while my hellblaze was no longer active I was able to fight through the pain and use Full Counter on his thrust and threw the saucer into his left arm. We both fell to the ground panting and bleeding a lot. I got up and limped over to him, he looked to me and asked "What did you say your name was human?" "Jack, Jack Griffith." "I see... It is one worth remembering." he felt something drop on to his face and found me crying "Why?" he asked "This didn't need to happen, we didn't need to fight, and now I doubt I'll be able to keep my promises." I fell to my knees then fell onto my side "I swore to the Goddess of this world I would befriend her daughter, I swore to the daughter and myself I wouldn't make her cry, I swore to her sister I would take care of her. Hmph, easy to make those promises." "And you blame me for this?" "No, because I can't honestly say I wouldn't have done the same in your position." just as he was about to respond, I heard a voice shout "Estarossa?" was that Luna "Who was that?" Mael asked "A friend if you would let her." I saw Luna land looking to Estarossa then to us "What happened and why is my friend in chains?" she asked angrily "First off it's nice to see you too Luna, and second this is what I looked like before I became Estarossa." she looked shocked before asking "How do I know this is true?" she said coming closer "Fuck all the haters, both figuratively and quite literally if you're into that kind of thing." she looked at me with disbelief then the opposite just as quickly "Oh mother of me it is you, let me heal you." Her horn lit up, numbing the pain and closing the wounds "Can you heal him as well?" I asked turning to Mael who looked at me like I was crazy "He did this to you though didn't he?" she asked glaring at Mael "Remember what I said earlier when we were playing chess? I was right." she looked at me as if hoping it wasn't true, but accepted it anyway "Very well, after you though." she said focusing on me, after healing me she went to Mael and started healing him "Mael." he turned to me "Can I trust you to not endanger us all?" he didn't answer for a few seconds, but I was satisfied with his answer "You can trust me to not endanger us." he said "Thank you." I told him before waking up