"Rising Meteor!"

There was no pause before the battle begun. No halt to assess the situation or truly absorb what we were getting ourselves into. No way to judge Hendrickson's strength by investigating his magical power levels. No hesitation before the chaos and bombardment of powerful attacks that came from our group, which went surging toward Hendrickson. We simply began.

A pillar of rock formed under Hendrickson's body, sending him surging upward with crippling speed. I had no doubt that he was flattened against the star-shaped attack, his body being pressed down against the earth with threatening force.

"Spirit Spear Chastiefol: Form Eigh-"

King was about to attack as well, but a large, purple-black covering was forming above us- no doubt an attack of Hendrickson's. The annoying part about him having demonic powers isn't that he's super strong- it's that almost every single one of his attacks can fRiGgIn kIlL uS. There was a large explosion, Diane's pillar crumpling and King's words of attack being cut off. It hit each Holy Knight, knocking any that could still move into unconsciousness and possibly killing those who were already gravely injured. Everyone standing had pretty much been knocked down- including us Sins. Hell, even I was forced to the ground by the sheer force of the blow.

I grit my teeth as my body crashed into the ground, panting as I placed my arms in front of my face in an 'X', my knees curled to my chest in a sitting fetal position. When the attack concluded, my arms had been ripped to shreds, scratches and gashes tore into my arm, nearly reaching bone as far as I could tell. Demonic markings appeared as I stumbled up into a standing position, healing the wounds and recouping some of my lost energy. Somehow, that attack felt much more draining than any of his other ones.

Almost everyone around me was on the ground. Diane and King didn't look like they were going to get up- similar to the Holy Knights who had gathered to help us. I felt a tinge of guilt stab at my heart. They had come to help us- and they may have risked their lives doing so. Jackass was healing, Gowther was nowhere to be found, and Meliodas was standing in front of Ellie, who was laying on the floor, injured. He fell face first, unable to move anymore.

Well shit.

"Your existence is a threat," Hendrickson spoke calmly, although I'm sure he was addressing the captain and not me. "Be consumed by the darkness that swallows even the void of the night."

Small blobs of darkness appeared once again, forming with small pops around Hendrickson's general area, snaking toward Meli as they did so. Once they got a good five feet away from his body on all sides, Hendrickson closed his open palm into a fist. The small blobs flew together above his hand, forming an orb almost the size of Meli's body as a whole. The words of his attack left his demonic body, his voice devoid of emotion and absolutely terrifying. "Dead End."

"Meli-!" My voice hitched as I tried to move toward him, pain erupting all over my body so that I collapsed to the ground once again. I gasped for air as I stared at the dream couple, who were both tattered, bruised, and beaten. Meli's life flashed before my eyes as the large orb was sent flying toward his body. My eyes widened, and I tried once again to move forward- to do anything- but my body stayed frozen solid, unable to move or help or protect in any way. Therefor, I did the only thing I could.

I screamed.

"MELI! MOVE- PLEASE!" I cried out, fists clenched and eyes screwed shut. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Let Elizabeth die to save yourself.

I hated that that was what I was saying. But- as much as I like Ellie- Meliodas means more to me. And I won't let him die to protect her.

"There is no one who can save you," Hendrickson spoke, his voice as monotone as ever. "So please, tell your comrades to spare the effort of crying ou-"

"Oh, yes, there is, you bastard! Me, Hawk!"

My eyes widened as Hawk 'piggy-trotted' in front of Meli and Ellie. He stared determinedly at the black orb surging toward him as he grinned, so full of himself as he usually was. I had grown almost accustomed to his over-exaggerations of his self-proclaimed power. But this time, he could truly save him. It felt wrong, though- like he shouldn't be the one to do so. Like he didn't deserve to die. Not yet. I don't know why... there had been so much meaningless death today. Death that wasn't deserved.

Why was he the one who had a meaningful death? And why did I, for some reason, not want him to go through with it?

"Hawk..." I mumbled, "What are you doing..?"

"Hawk!!" Meli shouted, as loud as he could in such a weakened state, "Get out of the way!! You'll die!!"

"Oh, shut it," Hawk huffed, "It looks like Elizabeth is going to end her life too if you don't die. The only other person who could possibly intervene is (y/n)- and she would in a heartbeat- but she can't move because of the Incantation Orb I used. I can't have any of you guys dying on my watch." What? Hawk, why would you...? "Geez, if I knew this was gonna happen, I would've eaten some more scraps before we left." Wait, Hawk..! Please stop! He turned to look at all of us, "Tch... Don't you dare die, you swines!"

"HAWK, NO!"

There was a large explosion as the orb made contact with his body, a powerful gust of wind blowing back, shoving loose rubble backward with surprising force. I cried out, but my voice was muted by the loud noise that echoed across the open area as one more body was added to the piles. I tried my hardest to move my body, but it wasn't working. I willed myself to move as best I could, but no matter how hard I tried, I could move nothing more than my head and my hands. As the dust started to clear, my face scrunched up in pain.

Hawk's body stood, blackened and emotionless in front of Meli and Ellie, facing, determined, at Hendrickson with defiance even in death. It took a moment, but the tag on his ear clipped off, his designation of 'Star Boar' falling to the ground with what felt like a deafening clang. I stared, wide eyed and grimacing.

"...Hawk..?" The word came hoarsely out of my mouth as a single tear fell down my cheek. "Why would you..? I could've done it... I could've... so why would.. why would you...?"

I choked on my words, staring at his body as everyone else was. Meli staggered to his feet, facing the floor as he stood in place. Ellie began to cry, crawling over to Hawk and hugging his blackened body.

"Hawk..." I mumbled, stretching my fingers out as I tried to move. Move, (y/n). Just move. "Why didn't you let me...?"

Ellie began to sob, crying out as she begged desperately for Hawk to talk to her- to tell her that he was fine just as he always did. She sobbed his name out, repeatedly saying 'no' in disbelief.

"Just move, please," I whimpered to myself, trying my hardest. My leg began to shift lightly. "Move, you useless asshole. You can't do anything. Just move and you can fix it."

Meli stared at Hendrickson with a murderous glare in his eyes. The man stared back at him with a monotonous stare, cocking his head to the side. He stared at Hawk's blackened body indifferently.

My body began to shift, and a feeling other than strain and discomfort cane over me. My legs and arms began to twitch, and I could feel them start to follow my mental command of moving.

"To think that you'd be saved by such lowly livestock," Hendrickson mumbled, "What horrible luck..."

"Horrible luck..?" Meli rasped, glaring more intensely at him.

Lowly livestock?

Lowly livestock?

"How dare you..?" Asshole spoke for the first time in a while, sitting up and slamming his fist into the ground as tears began to run down his cheeks. "You killed master... he was just a good natured pig... you fucking bastard!"

"You asshole!" I shrieked, standing up shakily and glaring at him. I was seething. "You're going to pay for that."

A thought poked the back of my mind, You care more about Hawk than Elizabeth. What a good friend! A pig over a person! You live up to your soullessness! I immediately silenced it.

"Hendrickson..." Meli growled, "You have now royally pissed me off."

A large explosion echoed around us- originating where Elizabeth, Meliodas, and Hawk's body were. I would assume that it came from Meli- considering he's very strong and has a habit of doing big explodey things (also he's mad, which tends to mean explodeys), but the magical signature was different. It was... pure.

"What a pain..." Hendrickson spoke, "The blood within her has awakened..."

I looked over, raising an eyebrow curiously. My eyes widened immediately when I found that it was not Meli, but Elizabeth. Her bangs had blown out of their place in front of her right eye, revealing it to find an amber iris and a pupil in the symbol of a goddess. Hendrickson's voice echoed out once more.

"The apostle of the goddesses."