"Three little girls..." I heard a mumble from the other side of our rock. I looked finding two completely covered figures. They both wore ghost-like masks, the taller one was much more elongated, while the shorter one had a face of a typically jack-o-lantern. They both had grey, long-sleeved hoods with black belts and pants, with grey boots. They both had daggers. I couldn't tell which one had spoken. "Hehe... should be quite easy, no? All in a days work for assassins..."

"Yes..." Spoke the other one, which I noted was the taller one. He swayed, then he sped toward us. "All in a days work..."

He jumped up, swinging his knife at Elaine. I raised my hand, a loop of fire wrapping around his waist. I swiped my hand forward. and he was launched into the floor. A small crater formed below him.

"First of all," I spoke, realizing my hand to my side and stalking toward his form. I glared down at him. "You should fight the front-liner, because typically they are the ones who will give you the most trouble."

I pressed my foot against his chest and he choked out. "Second," I leaned down, glaring threateningly at him. "Don't touch them."

"Brother!"

Suddenly smoke surrounded me and I growled, feeling the man being swept up from under me. There was the rattling of chains, and suddenly, there was a stabbing sensation in my shoulder. I looked at it, eyebrows raised. There was a snake attached to a chain and it's teeth were sunk into my shoulder. I rolled my eyes, ripping it out of my skin and squeezing off it's head.

"That's all three of them, it's over..."

"Wait, no! Look above!"

"Wrath of the Autumn Wind!"

There was a powerful burst of wind from above us, blowing away the smoke and pressing down the enemies. I covered my face, looking up to find Elaine with her arms outstretched downward. I grinned, flashing her a thumbs up. She beamed back, blushing.

The wind stopped, and they were immobile on the floor. The taller one's arm had been obliterated. She floated down, glaring down at them. I looked over to her, smiling.

"Hey, hun, would you mind grabbing Ellie for me?"

She nodded, turning around. She quickly grabbed her and brought her back, so she was standing next to me. I eyed her shoulder, which was uninjured, but the fabric of her clothing had been ripped open. I turned my gaze back to the men.

"Do you think you can heal them?" I asked her, "To an extent, of course."

"Of course!" She replied, kneeling next to them. Their entire bodies glowed with an iridescent sea green.

"Why are we healing them? They tried to kill us," Elaine asked. I smiled.

"Well, I know for a fact she wouldn't let me kill them," I chuckled, then watched as their wounds healed. "And they're fighting for their lives, too. They don't deserve to die. There aren't many who do."

"It sounds like you speak from experience."

"Well, I don't think my experience holds a candle to yours, you certainly didn't deserve what happened to you," I chuckled sadly, looking to the floor as the faces of the innocent people I had slaughtered flashed before me. "But I guess you could say I have a lot of redeeming to do. I guess saving people like them is part of it... although, I'm not really doing the saving, am I?"

Elaine smiled, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You know, Ban isn't the only one I watched from the afterlife. I know what has happened to you as well."

"Terrible person, right?" I asked without missing a beat, staring darkly at the floor. She giggled.

"Quite the opposite, actually," She grinned at me, "I think you are a wonderful person- always have been."

"Haha, thank you," I smiled at her, "You're one of the few."

"(Y/N), stop!" Ellie exclaimed, tackling me in a hug. I yelped in surprise, falling to the floor. "Everyone loves you and you're a wonderful person! Stop being so negative!"

I laughed, patting her back as I sat up. In between my legs, she frowned at me, her cheeks puffed out. I grinned, ruffling her hair. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't sweat it, Ellie."

Elaine laughed as I shooed Ellie away, the both of us standing up. I turned down to the men, who were still immobile on the floor of the rock. They had said immobilizing them was acceptable, so it would seem that we had won.

Right on cue, there was an announcement from Gloxina. "Ah! It seems that our first set of winners are Elaine, Elizabeth, and (Y/N). I will dispose of their opponents, then. We have no use for losers here."

"Wait, wha-"

I spoke out, but there was suddenly a hole below their bodies, and they fell, enveloped in rock before I could so much as blink. Ellie covered her mouth and gasped, and Elaine whirled around and glared at the two Commandments.

"You rotten little-" I growled, but was cut off by another announcement.

"Team Ban and Meliodas and team Diane and King, excellent! Our other teams have yet to begin fighting, but it seems our Gowther/Jericho and Escanor/Pig battle has begun to escalate!"

"Oh, my god, there is too much going on right now..." I mumbled, looking around.

The battle arenas were spread out over the fingertips of the giant hands Drole had formed, which had been flattened out to be used as places of battle. There were several small fights going on, mainly between swords or small bursts of magic. It was nothing impressive, but there was a questionable surge in the battle Gloxina had mentioned.

I glanced worriedly over at Meliodas, who met my gaze almost instantly. I flickered my eyes toward their battle, but he shook his head. I frowned, sighing and looking worriedly at them. Gowther was releasing large waves of power, and it was very concerning. However, even more concerning, Escanor's magical presence was increasing by the second. There were some real problems with that happening.

Especially since it was the middle of the night.

I tapped my foot nervously, looking between the platform of Meliodas and Escanor. I widened my eyes, seeing his ax flying toward him. A bright light issued from the platform and I turned around. Elaine and Ellie were chatting happily.

Ooooohohooo shit.

"Girls, come here," I said, unsettled as I walked toward him. I could feel the intensity of his power burning into my back. I started jogging toward them, and they both looked confused. I then broke into a run, grabbing both of them and kneeling down, shielding them both with my body.

The force of the explosion even had me struggling to stand. When it ceased, I exhaled, looking at the two girls. They were both looking up at me, wide-eyed. I spoke quickly, glancing between the two of them.

"Are you okay? Are either of you hurt?"

"No, we're okay. Uh, how..?" Ellie started, hesitating to finish.

"It was Escanor," I said quickly, turning around trying to assess the situation. My jaw dropped as I saw both Commandments, wounded and half-dead on the central platform outside of the hands. "That crazy bastard..! He actually attacked them!"

Meli was already on the scene, attacking Drole with every ounce of his being. I needed to get these two to safety, assess the situations of the rest of the Sins...

"What?" Elaine asked, hurrying forward alongside Ellie.

"Escanor- he's giving us a chance to beat them!" I faced them, "You've got to get out of here, this is gonna get real messy real fast..."

I was about to continue, but the floor suddenly shook. I pulled them both toward me without thinking about it, protecting them my immediate priority. As I fell, I watched every other finger of the giant hands behind to fold in on themselves, everyone else falling as we were.

I clenched my eyes shut, the both of them pressed against my chest. I grit my teeth as I crashed into the palms of the hands. A crater didn't form anywhere below me, so I had no give beneath me. I choked as my back dug into the rock beneath me, gritting my teeth at the sharp pain directed into the center of my spine.

I groaned as we fell, releasing both of them, and rolling to the side,, shakily getting onto my hands and knees. I clutched my back. It felt like it had shattered, and my body was trying to heal... but it was definitely struggling.

"(Y/N)?' Ellie asked, but upon seeing me, she gasped. She stumbled up, rushing toward me. "Oh, my god, are you okay? What's wrong?"

I coughed out, refusing to reply to the itching in the back of my brain, telling me to just activate the demoness within me. I grit my teeth. Not yet, I told myself over and over again, I need to be as strong as I can. Just in case.

"Oh, my god..." she slide her hand gently under mine, feeling the strange texture of bone shards digging into my skin from the inside. "H-her, let me..."

"What's wrong with her?" two voices asked in unison, most definitely King and Elaine from what I could tell.

"It's her back," Ellie replied, her hands glowing and relieving some of the stabbing pain in my back. She sounded really worried, "I think that fall was the last straw, she's been protecting me all day..."

"Will she be okay?" King asked, hesitantly kneeling down next to her.

"Don't get your panties in a twist," I spoke through gritted teeth, "I'll be fine- I always am..."

"Yeah, but you think being on the brink of death is fine!" He growled, "Will you shut up and let me worry?!"

"You're asking the impossible," I joked, inhaling sharply as I felt the bones start to drag across my skin and back into place. Ohhh, getting healed by Ellie was never a joy. Being a demon, it was far more painful than it was being healed my most others.

He was silent, and I let out a few sharp exhales of pain, clutching the ground below me. Ellie whispered out apologies, seeming very upset about me having any discomfort. When the final bone shard snapped into place, I lightly punched the floor, grinding my teeth against one another until they hurt.

"Hooo, that one hurt," I let out a breathy chuckle, shakily standing from my hands and knees.

I looked at Ellie, who had tears built up as high as they could go in her eyes. Her bottom lip was quivering. It looked like she was trying so hard not to cry. I smiled sympathetically, puling her into a hug.

"Oh, sweetie, come on, now, don't cry. It's only cause I'm a demon, okay? It's not you, not at all," I rubbed her back, smiling to myself as she cried quietly in my arms. I looked up, giving King a grin. I looked over to Elaine, finding Ban holding her and rubbing her back.

However... it wasn't her he was looking at.

He was staring at me, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. I scrunched up my face in confusion, and he snapped his gaze away as soon as I had caught it. He looked distressed, like something was wrong. Wait, hold on, was he...?

Was he worried?

"Jesus, why are we in here! Let's go give Meliodas some backup!" Hawk, per usual, has terrible timing. He huffed, dragging his hoof on the floor.

I looked at him incredulously, still rubbing Ellie's back comfortingly. "Are you insane? You won't last two seconds out there!"

"Then why don't you go?" He challenged.

"I'm a bit preoccupied making sure everyone here doesn't do anything stupid!" I growled, "Like going to help Meli. And I swear to god, Hauser, if you don't stop stabbing that wall, I will stab you."

The aforementioned man, looked up at me, the incessant noise of his sword stabbing the rock stopping. He looked down at the floor sheepishly, dropping the sword to his side.

"Well, we can't break it," He said awkwardly, "So how are we supposed to get out of here?"

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," A voice I didn't recognize spoke. I looked to the side, finding a long-haired boy with a light blue cloak that was nearly identical to his hair color. He has a stoic face, and a staff with a blue gem in the center. "I can teleport us all out of here?"

Ellie pulled out of my arms and I looked at her, mumbling reassurances and questions of her state to make sure she was okay.

"Are you powerful enough for such a feat?" King asked, eyeing him. "There's a lot of people here."

"I will do what I can."

"That isn't good enough," King snapped back.

"If he can't get all of us, the Sins are lowest priority," I cut in, "Followed by other giant lady, Hendrickson, and Gilthunder."

"What about me?" Hauser and Ellie asked in unison.

"No offense, Hauser, but you're kind of an idiot. It's cute, though, so don't worry," I said, then turned to Ellie, "And I'm pretty sure Meli would kill me himself if I let you stay with us."

"I'm not leaving regardless," the 'other giant lady' said, pounding her fist into her hand. "I'm staying right here until the fighting festival is over."

"What? No! We have to get away while we still can!" Diane countered, "Matrona, the festival was over as soon as that sun guy did that!"

I raised an eyebrow at her description of Escanor, but didn't sweat it as this Matrona continued. "But the ki-"

"I think I know how I can help them, okay? Just trust me, we have to go!'

"Mage," I turned, looking at the man. "Do what you can."

He nodded, raising his staff above his head. I bright white light flashed. I squinted, raising my hand up, just as most of the other people did. It flashed, the blinding light remaining for a few moments before disappearing.

We suddenly appeared on a cobblestone platform, and the mage fell to the ground, panting and gasping as he fell to his knees. He held himself up using the staff, but it was obvious that he had pushed himself pretty far. I looked around, analyzing all the people who were there. It seemed he had managed to bring everyone, I didn't find anyone noticeable was missing.

I walked over to the mage, kneeling down next to him and holding him up on my shoulder. I asked, "You okay?"

"Yes..." He panted, "Yes, I'm fine... please, Raven Sin. Could you pull the quartz pearl from my staff?"

"Uhh, yeah," I said, reaching up and pulling it out. "Why, exactly?"

"Because... I believe we all wish to know how the Dragon Sin is faring."