A Knife in the Dark

'What's going on...I definitely felt someone behind me that time…' Meliodas had a perplexed look on his face as he continued looking around him when an idea popped in his head.

Meliodas stood still on top of the roof, this time waiting for the assailant to try and attack him again. A few moments passed, with Meliodas waiting in complete silence. Even the owls hooting earlier had stopped.

Meliodas felt something behind him again, but instead of ducking down, this time he jumped high into the air. Meliodas opened his eyes and looked down below him. There he saw a man wearing black robes holding a long dagger looking back up at him in surprise.

"Found ya!" Meliodas said and smiled at the man. The man quickly jumped off the roof, like a diver jumping head first into water. Meliodas drew his blade while still in the air and threw it at the man before he made contact with the ground below. Meliodas's sword impaled the man's right shoulder and he crashed into the ground with the blade keeping him in place. Meliodas landed on the ground next to him and stepped on his back.

"H-how the hell did you know I was there…" The man grunted as Meliodas applied force.

"Lucky guess." Meliodas responded with a cheeky smile.

"Tch...this kid..." The man mumbled to himself.

"I'm no kid." Meliodas said as he pulled the sword out from the man's shoulder. The man winced in pain as Meliodas picked up the man from the ground and held him by the collar.

"So where's Ogre?" Meliodas asked. The man remained silent but glared at Meliodas as he held him up.

"Well you may be a crook, but at least you have a sense of loyalty I guess."

Meliodas suddenly let go of the man as three different blades impaled the assailant in the back. The man coughed up blood through his mask and fell to the ground. Meliodas looked ahead of him and saw another person standing in the shadow of the wall.

"So you managed to catch Gavan huh? Tch...it was to be expected. He fought like a coward and paid the price."

"So you guys are willing to kill another comrade huh?" Meliodas asked, his originally bright tone turned serious.

"A comrade? Him? AHAHAHAHAHA!" The man laughed. "I would never be comrades with a guy who hides in the shadows, like a COWARD! I am Jin. In my guild, they call me the Blade of Darkness! Unlike Gavan who uses the darkness to hide, I use it to kill!"

Jin drew a long dagger and charged at Meliodas. He wound his blade back then jabbed forward to stab Meliodas.

Meliodas let go of the body in his hand and sidestepped just as Jin thrusted at Meliodas. He delivered a kick upwards to Jin's torso as Jin's body flew by him, causing him to cough up blood as he was hurled high into the air above the buildings. Jin quickly regained his composure in the air but as he flew upward, Meliodas appeared above him before he could blink.

"Wha-!" Jin's surprise was cut short as Meliodas spun around and delivered a fierce elbow strike to his chest. Jin's eyes opened wide from the pain of the attack as he was struck, before being launched straight into the ground below. Jin's body hit the ground, causing the ground around him to crack and a cloud of dust kicked up into the air.

Meliodas landed on the ground in front of the dust cloud and looked into the dust cloud. There was no movement inside as the dust cloud was starting to settle. Meliodas looked to his side and saw the dead body of the man Jin had killed and shook his head.

"You're wide open!" A voice yelled from inside the dust cloud. Meliodas turned his head and looked Jin in the eyes as Jin thrust his blade forward.

Before the blade made contact with Meliodas, Jin's eyes widened as Meliodas grabbed the tip of the blade with just two fingers. Meliodas's green childish eyes turned pitch black and a spiral patterned henna formed just above his right eyebrow.

"W-w-w-what the hell is that magic?!" Jin looked at Meliodas. The blazing confidence that Jin had vanished instantly and was replaced with fear. 'T-this guy...he's like Doryu…no it's far darker…'

Meliodas snapped the blade of the dagger in half as he tightened his grip and grabbed Jin by the neck. Meliodas looked directly into Jin's eyes, flaring his malevolent magic and releasing his killing intent.

"Where is Ogre?" Meliodas asked.

Jin began trembling and beads of sweat ran down his face. Paralyzed with fear, he couldn't bring out the energy to speak. Meliodas tightened his grip around Jin's neck, causing Jin to gasp for air.

"I'm not asking again."

Fearing for his life, Jin brought up what was left of his energy to speak.

"H-he's at the s-southwestern watch t-tower…" Jin gasped.

"Oh okay thanks!" Meliodas's killing gaze vanished and his pitch black eyes turned green again and he smiled at Jin as if nothing happened. Meliodas let go of Jin and dropped him on the ground. Jin panted heavily as he was on his knees panting and looked up at Meliodas, confused. But when he looked up, Meliodas was not there and he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and blacked out.

'I'll just tie this guy up and let the council pick him up in the morning.' Meliodas thought as he began searching around the area for a rope. After a few minutes of rummaging through crates and barrels outside of the nearby houses, Meliodas found a rope and tightly tied Jin to a lamp post. However, even in his unconscious state, Jin kept murmuring to himself, "Demon, demon...demon…"

'That should do.' Meliodas turned around and faced in the direction of southwest. 'So Ogre is there? I wonder if those Lamia Scale fellows are also there?' Meliodas thought as he began running towards the tower.