Enchantress

Chapter five

She begged the well to take her wherever she was needed, and it did exactly that. Kagome didn't expect to be trapped down a well in the middle of Britannia, or to be face to face with a demon again, but she certainly was thankful she had the chance to love and be loved again.

That hill that the Boar Hat was supposedly atop was, in fact, not a hill. Kagome almost fainted when the hill started to move, and when she realised that the hill was a gargantuan green pig- Hawk's mom, apparently.

"Dear gods," She muttered, as herself and Elizabeth finally reached the tavern perched on the back of Hawk's mom. "It's on top of a giant green pig. A huge green pig."

"I was freaked out, too," Elizabeth said softly, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Hawk and his mom are rather unusual."

"Phew," Kagome sighed as she looked up at the bar, which they had made it to. The Boar Hat was strangely built, there was no doubt about it. The foundations of the tavern were green wooden planks, which carried on up the walls of the building, framing the windows. The terracotta tiled roof was an assortment of varying shades of orange, some tiles having been replaced recently and some quite clearly having been there for years. There seemed to be three levels above the ground floor, with overhanging windows framed once again with the green wooden planks. The top floor even had a balcony. Overall, the entire place seemed quite precarious and ready to fall apart at a moment's notice.

"Welcome to the Boar Hat," The princess smiled, pushing open the door for Kagome, to reveal the inside of the tavern. It was nicely decorated, opposite the door was the bar, which Meliodas was behind, inspecting the range of bottles of ale.

"Sir Meliodas!" Elizabeth greeted him, walking over to sit on a stool at the bar and converse with him.

Sat at one of the tables were Merlin and Escanor, the former looking into Aldan, the latter looking at it's user. At another one of the tables sat Ban, the boy that Kagome recognised as being called King and a girl that looked identical to Diane, only smaller.

"Kagome!" Diane squealed, now wearing a pink jumpsuit that fit her smaller body.

"Diane?"

"Ooh," Diane began excitedly, "I'm small now, it's so much better being able to travel in the Boar Hat with the Captain and the others!"

"Wow, Diane," Kagome smiled.

The brunette nodded eagerly, "Merlin made me a potion to help me shrink down to this size." She looked down at her body in admiration. "Being small is so fun!"

"Yo, Kagome." Ban greeted her with a wave, before returning to his conversation with King, who spared her a glance but didn't bother to introduce himself.

"Well, now that everybody's here, I guess we can get going!" Meliodas announced, striding up to the door, pulling it open and yelling something to Hawk's mom, who gave a loud snort of approval.

The instant Meliodas closed that wooden door behind him, the very ground below them started to move.

Kagome made a surprised noise and fell onto a table, Diane doing the same seconds later.

The tavern moved again, Hawk's mom beginning to move towards Istar.

"It sure takes some getting used to," Diane shrugged, pulling herself off the table and helping Kagome up.

The door to the left of the bar was forcefully thrust open, and Kagome turned her head to look at the figure entering the bottom floor of the Boar Hat tavern.

"It is I, the goat's sin of lust, Gowther." The pink-haired man said monotonously. Kagome looked him over, raising her eyebrows upon seeing that he was wearing a pink shirt and blue skirt, with one blue sock travelling to above his knees. He pushed up the silver glasses resting on the bridge of his nose and surveyed the room. He put a peace sign to his forehead. "Sparkle!"

"Hey, Gowther. Did you just wake up?" Meliodas asked cheerfully.

The man tilted his head. "I was not asleep. I have no need for sleep, I was merely readjusting my powers for optimum efficiency in battle against the Ten Commandments through disconnecting my consciousness with my body. Or, as you humans would put it, 'recharging'."

Kagome gave the man, now known as Gowther, an inquisitive look, but he did not approach her, or comment on it.

'Strange,' Kagome thought.

"So, Diane, how long do you think the journey'll be?" Kagome asked, sitting down opposite Diane.

"A few hours at most, Istar is a central land. Travelling to places like the Kingdom of Camelot would take ages, Hawk's mom can cover a lot of ground but she can only travel for so long." She shook her head, "Anyway, Kagome, you'll get to see more of Britannia this way and we can get to know each other!"

"Sure," Kagome smiled. Diane was full of life, opinionated and disinclined to let people control her, Diane was exactly Kagome's type of person.

The two talked for hours on end, Kagome managing to tear her mind away from thoughts about being on a giant green pig, and actually listening intently to the stories Diane told her.

'She's been on some insane adventures,' Kagome thought. 'I can't believe that some of those Holy Knights had drank demon blood to enhance their power. People are so full of greed and ignorance, it's horrifying.'

"Aw come on," Ban complained, throwing the cards down on the table, looking at King in frustration.

"You cheated and you still lost," King shook his head. "Incredible."

Ban rolled his eyes, "I would have won if you hadn't played that last card."

"Too bad," The fairy king responded, drifting off his wooden stool and floating towards Diane and the woman she was sat opposite.

"Diane," He greeted calmly, sparing Kagome a glance.

"Hey, King!" Diane beamed, "Did you just beat Ban?"

The boy nodded, "As if it was difficult."

"Please, I went easy on ya," Ban retorted, his signature grin on his face.

"Somehow I don't believe that," The giantess giggled. "So, what's up King? Ooh, wait. King, this is Kagome, Kagome this is King."

"Nice to meet you," Kagome smiled at the young boy levitating above the floor of the tavern.

"You too," He nodded. "Diane, we have approximately an hour left before we reach Istar, just to remind you to take your potion in half an hour."

She nodded, playing with her brunette hair. "Thanks, King." He drifted away, towards Ban. "I asked him to remind me, the potion can take a while to bring me back to my normal size, Merlin's powers can help, but I don't want her to waste energy before a battle."

"Right," Kagome nodded. If she hadn't seen so many weird events in the Feudal Era, then perhaps she would be extremely paranoid and desperate to get home. But, she wasn't.

'I miss Mama, Gramps and Souta...but I feel like I need to help these people. I could sense those Ten Commandments before, their darkness is so strong, and I have the power to help. They'd be proud of me, even if they're worried,' She reasoned with herself, shuddering at the thought of the upcoming battle.

"Not long now," Diane chirped, seeming excited at the prospect of the fight.

Merlin stood up, catching the attention of everyone in the room. With a rhythmic click of her slender fingers, Aldan was hovering above her hand.

"Lady Merlin?" Elizabeth stood up, looking inquisitively at the mage.

She gestured with one finger for them to come closer, beckoning them towards her.

Kagome and Diane stood up, the two of them rushing towards Merlin, sporting matching concerned expressions.

"What's up?" Meliodas asked, leaping over the bar and towards Merlin and Escanor's shared table in the tavern.

Gowther tilted his head, looking at the teal orb expectantly. "Whatever is the matter?"

She waved her hand over Aldan, washing away the teal colour, which was replaced instantly with the image of a grassy hill, stone henge-esque rocks scattered throughout the land in ceremonial shapes. The orb showed them a serene landscape, with women and men, all dressed in brightly coloured robes standing, poised for battle.

"Zaneri and Jenna," Elizabeth gasped softly, pointing to two of the women at the front of the crowd of warriors with a shaky finger.

The orb changed, the green hills distorting, becoming drenched in red, a heavy fire consuming the grass.

Merlin waved her hand over the orb again, Aldan's original teal colour returning to cover up the images.

"The druids have let their wards down," She announced.

"Why?" Kagome asked, "I thought they could hold the Ten Commandments off for almost a week!"

Merlin nodded, "But when they let their wards down they would be completely drained, easy targets for the Ten Commandments."

"So what you're saying is, they've decided to fight while they still have a chance?" Kagome asked, but she already knew the answer. She felt a rush of sympathy and brought her hand, clenched in a fist, to her chest.

"It's a tactical decision. They will fight while they can maximise the effectiveness of their power against their opponents." Gowther said monotonously, pushing his silver-rimmed glasses up his nose.

"Gowther's right." Merlin nodded, as she snapped her fingers Aldan vanished. "They have a higher chance of survival if they fight now, but I expect there will still be a great many casualties."

"We should probably go a bit quicker," Meliodas grinned, dashing over to the door of the tavern, pulling is open and yelling something to Hawk's mom, who responded with a loud snort.

The speed they were travelling at increased dramatically in a few seconds. Kagome staggered, falling and landing on a wooden table, Diane joining her in the fall a few seconds later.

"Diane, are you okay?" King flew quickly over to her, inspecting her.

"I'm fine, King," Diane groaned, pulling herself up. "Hey Merlin, I could probably use that potion right now."

The mage nodded, a vial of pink liquid appearing in the air directly in front of Diane's face. Diane snatched the vial from the air, looking at it with determined violet eyes for a few seconds before pressing the glass to her lips and drinking the liquid quickly.

She grimaced, wiping her lips. "That tastes gross."

"What's going oooooon?" Hawk squealed, bursting into the bottom floor of the tavern from the same door that Gowther emerged from.

"We're officially on the outskirts of Istar, prepare yourselves!" Meliodas announced cheerily, giving the group a thumbs up.

"Whatever, Captain." Ban sighed, "Melascula's mine, if she's gonna die it's gonna be me that kills her."

"Melascula?" Kagome whispered to Diane.

The brunette nodded. "Melascula of Faith. There's also Gloxinia of Repose, Drole of Patience, Zeldris of Piety and Estarossa of Love."

Kagome took in a deep breath. Hearing their names made the threat seem so much more real, and the fact that they were likely just minutes away, especially at the speed they were travelling at, was beginning to set in. It was in that moment, her powers flared to life.

Their dark, all encompassing auras hit her. It seemed like darkness was flooding through the surrounding area, corrupting everything in its path. She glanced out of the window, seeing smouldering fields of grass below them, and the occasional large ceremonial rock.

"We're here." Meliodas said, his cheery expression gone, replaced by a more battle-appropriate attitude.

She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, the surge of Holy energy that was running through her was difficult to contain, almost trying to escape from her body.

"Oh, man," She whispered, amazed. Never before had she felt so much raw power flowing through her.

"Ya okay, Kagome?" Meliodas tilted his head, "Not too nervous, are ya?"

She gave him a genuine smile, managing to repress her powers without having a clue how she did it. "I'll be fine."

"You'll do great, Kagome," Diane reassured her kindly, "We'll be there to help you out."

"Don't worry," Elizabeth said softly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Sir Meliodas will make sure we get through this."

"Ready to go, then?" Diane called, glancing around the room. "Let's go, I can feel the potion starting to work already."

Ban yawned, swinging a silver three-sectioned staff over his shoulder. "Don't get ya panties in a twist. Come on, let's get this over with before the druids get themselves wiped off the face of the earth."

The entire group proceeded to the door, and stood atop Hawk's mom, looking down at the destruction both below and ahead of them. Normally, Kagome would be freaking out about the giant pig, but in the moment, she had an entirely renewed sense of determination to help these people, as if it were her duty.

Several hundred feet in front of them, the battle was raging on. The first thing that Kagome saw was the druid people, three hundred or so men and women, dressed in brightly coloured tunics and dresses, holding weapons like staffs and poorly constructed swords. The fields around them blazed, several injured people lying down, bleeding into the grass, waiting to be consumed by the fire.

At the forefront of the people were two women, one with blonde hair tied behind her head, wearing a red dress lined with yellow flowers, the other woman with long brunette hair secured in a braid that rested on her shoulder, wearing a matching white long skirt and shirt with pink flowers scattered throughout. Both women wore fierce expressions, standing strong in the face of adversity. Casting a long shadow over them was a taller man with a purple sash draped around his shoulders, holding a staff.

It was then that Kagome caught her first glimpse of the Ten Commandments.

Their auras were nearly overwhelming, there was no confusion in her mind when she glanced at them that they must be the Ten Commandments.

The first one that she saw was a girl, with long lilac hair floating around her, encased in a swirling mass of pure demonic energy that sent her powers into a frenzy, practically begging to be released.

Ban growled at the sight of the girl. "I'll be the one to kill her," He vowed, turning to the sins and giving them a salute before running and leaping off Hawk's mom and into the fray.

Kagome gasped, watching Ban rush towards the woman, fury practically rolling off him in waves.

"That's Melascula," Elizabeth said. "That's Drole," She pointed to the ginormous figure of a male, his body entirely blue and extremely muscular. He had four arms, around two of which were ornate gold bands. His head was covered with a white scrap of fabric that blew in the raging wind but did not leave his head.

Kagome tore her wide eyes away from the giant, and across the battle field.

"Diane," Merlin put a hand on the giantess' shoulder, her outfit changing to her original orange jumpsuit. "It is time."

Diane nodded resolutely. "See ya, Kagome." She smiled, waving to the Japanese girl before rushing off Hawk's mom, as Ban had done earlier. The second her body hit the ground, she transformed, her previous height restored so that she towered above everyone else at an astonishing thirty feet tall.

"Woah," Kagome breathed.

"Ahead is Gloxinia of Repose," Merlin nodded towards a dainty man, hovering in the air, with gorgeous rainbow wings protruding from his back, his pink hair blowing in the wind. "King will handle him, Gowther, you are best suited to assist him there."

Both men nodded, neither having any objections. With a click of Merlin's slender fingers, they too were gone, and stood opposite Gloxinia, stopping his attack on two young druid boys.

"Zeldris of Peity," Merlin gestured to a short man, dressed in a red full body suit, plunging down his chest to reveal his muscles, silver gauntlets travelling half-way up his arms.

'Hey! He sure looks a whole lot like Meliodas,' Kagome thought, although she quickly dismissed it.

"Hey, Elizabeth," Meliodas looked up at the princess. "This could get dangerous, please don't get yourself hurt."

She nodded.

"We'll need your help afterwards, though. It seems like there's a lot of injured people," Meliodas said, "Catch ya later." He walked confidently towards the edge of Hawk's mom's body, dropping off the edge, completely unconcerned.

"Sir Meliodas!" Elizabeth gasped, rushing closer to gaze down at him on the battlefield.

"And, Estarossa of Love." Merlin looked pointedly at the last commandment. Kagome followed her gaze, her eyes landing on him.

He looked rather bored, charcoal eyes glancing from beneath short silver hair at the corpses and the injured bodies littering the land. He even looked at his hands, encased in silver gauntlets, as if they were more interesting to him. He was dressed in a purple coat that exposed his broad chest and billowed in the ferocious winds.

"These are our opponents," Merlin continued.

"I think it's time we show them a fight." Escanor joined the conversation for the first time, stepping between Merlin and Kagome, his heavy divine axe resting on his shoulder as if it were lighter than air.

Merlin offered him a smirk. "I agree. Kagome, you're ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." She replied, her body aflame with raw energy, nearly escaping from her body.

"Good." Was the only response she received from Merlin, before the three were suddenly standing in the grass.

She barely had time to think- to truly take in the cataclysmic energy flowing through the land around her, to understand the pain of those dying slowly, fighting for their land.

The experience that was being involved in a battle was not easily forgotten. The sights- dead bodies of comrades and strangers alike, haunted her for weeks after battles took place, igniting something akin to survivors guilt in her. The sounds of people dying, begging for their lives, uttering their last words or screaming their final battle cry, were echoing through her mind. The things she had witnessed in the Feudal Era were more than enough reason for her to get involved in this fight. If she could help it, she would stop others from seeing and hearing the things that she had to.

Kagome heard an ear-piercing scream to her left, and whipped her head around to see what was happening.

The girl with lilac hair, Melascula, had torn the milky white soul out of a druid woman's body and was proceeding to try and consume it, only to be stopped by a swift blow from Ban's three-sectioned staff.

A flame of compassion was lit within her as she looked around the battlefield.

"My, my," a voice came from behind her.

It was in that instant that Kagome found herself face to face with the commandment of love, Estarossa.

"My, my," Estarossa drawled, approaching the woman from behind.

He could sense it- the glaring purity that flowed off her, drawing him in. He knew that she was the one he and the others had sensed. In person, the Holy energy that she practically exuded was so much more tempting. He wasn't like Melascula, trailing after souls like a lost puppy and hoping that one of them would give him great strength, but this time, he couldn't help it.

She turned around to face him, with wide blue eyes and her lips slightly parted, she truly did look like an angel as the wind blew her hair around her face. She looked around her, seemingly for the two sins that had been stood next to her moments ago, but had moved on to try and kill Drole, although their success was rather limited.

Her expression changed in an instant, from confusion to determination.

He stepped towards her, studying her closely. "You have an extremely pure soul, yet you're not a Goddess. Interesting."

She ignored what he had said, clenching her fists at her sides, a wave of Holy energy rolling off her. He winced, "That's not playing nice, is it?"

A man of the druid race rushed towards him, rusty sword in hand, his other arm outstretched, about to make contact with Estarossa's chest. The demon raised his hand, looking uninterestedly at the druid warrior screaming a battle cry at him, readying for an attack.

"You killed my people!" The man roared, hot tears spilling down his face as he shook with rage, swinging the sword towards his opponent. "Purge!" He yelled, swiping a hand close to Estarossa's face, but the commandment moved swiftly, avoiding both blows with ease.

"Huh," Estarossa nodded, "So the druids still have the power of 'purge' after all. Though it does seem like it's lost the edge it used to have- you came close to hitting me and I didn't feel an ounce of holiness."

The man cowered under Estarossa's intense stare, knowing that the commandment would strike back.

"Perhaps you should practice, holy powers do work best when pit against demonic energy," Estarossa's lips turned upwards slightly, in an almost smile. He held his palm out, closing his eyes for a split second, before tiny beads of pure darkness gathered over his palm, knitting together to form a sphere of pure demonic energy. The instant that the dark sphere was fully formed, Estarossa drew his hand back and then hurled it at the druid man.

The orb flew through the air, almost meeting its intended target.

Kagome, snapping out of her state of shock, threw herself in front of the man, fully prepared to take the hit for a man she didn't know. Instinctively, she put her hands out in front of her in a protective way, any control that she had over the raging energy contained within her was completely gone.

A torrent of swirling pink energy manifested in the air, forming a dome around Kagome's body and the shocked form of the druid man, leaving a pink translucent barrier separating the two from the commandment.

The sphere of darkness made contact with the barrier, for a brief moment it became deformed, almost recoiling from the barrier's energy and ricocheting off the barrier, back towards Estarossa. He gave the sphere a glance, and it disappeared, vanishing without a trace of it ever even existing.

She gasped, looking down at her hands in wonder and then back to the barrier.

"Dear gods," She breathed, "I really did it!"

"A g-goddess," The man stumbled over his words, looking at Kagome with a hopeful smile on his blood smeared face.

"How come I did that?" Kagome completely ignored him, the familiar rush that she associated with her powers was still there, and had not been extinguished like it had before.

Estarossa stood still, completely and utterly transfixed by the woman before him.

The barrier disappeared, allowing him to truly take her in once more.

"You okay?" She glanced quickly at the man behind her, looking him over for any severe injuries that required immediate attention, although there were none.

"Incredible," Estarossa allowed a small smile to grace his face.

"So you're one of the Ten Commandments," The woman spoke to him for the first time, her fists tightly clenched at her sides, rage running hot through her veins.

"Estarossa, pleasure to meet you," He introduced himself, stepping closer to her. "You are quite the challenge, I haven't sensed such Holy power since the time of the Goddess race."

She glared at him, "You killed those people, didn't you?" She pointed at the corpses littering the fields, their blood staining the grass, running red through the meadows.

"Only the ones foolish enough to attack me. I didn't come here looking for souls to eat, I came here looking for fun," He looked around at the carnage, "And I've definitely found it."

"You're a monster," She spat.

"Darling, at least give me the pleasure of knowing your name before I'm forced to kill you," He purred, bringing a gauntlet-encased hand to cup her cheek.

Author's Note: 4118 words! Not as long as the last chapter, but still incredibly tough to write. I enjoyed experimenting with Kagome's relationships with the sins, especially Kagome and Diane and Kagome and Ban. As I mentioned in the last chapter, I'm looking for a beta! I apologise for any mistakes but I don't really have anyone to correct them! Sorry for slowed updates, but I've began work on a Kagome x-over fic and I'm looking for suggestions and requests for that, and this story will probably be updates once a week or every fortnight.