Devoid

"Fine," Meliodas sighed. "Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes." "But, my lord, he said–" Meliodas growled. "Tell my father I will be there in a few minutes. Now, leave." The servant squeaked an affirmative and ran away, most likely on his way to be killed by an equally irritated Demon King. Meliodas looked down at his brother's sleeping face, in between the proverbial rock and a hard place. He had planned to leave his brother in Zeldris's own room. But with him knocked unconscious so soundly, he wouldn't be able to do anything if he was attacked.

I suppose I have no choice, he thought irritatedly. Meliodas laid Zeldris down on his own bed, quickly going to his closet and changing. He covered his shoulder with his darkness, knowing it wouldn't mend until he got the acid out of the wound. It wasn't good for it to attempt to heal with the acid inside, but it'd have to do. There was no way in Purgatory he was going to his father injured when he was sure to be in a bad mood.

As ready as he was going to get to meet his father, he checked on Zeldris one last time. The color was returning to his face and his breathing came easier. Meliodas pulled the cover over him and left the room. With his quarters spelled to keep out intruders, Zeldris would be safe.

He walked towards the throne room, practically feeling his father's rage emanating from it. Meliodas himself was giving off a terrifying aura. The servants and knights in the castle cowered, terrified by the two Royals' mutual wrath. Finally, he arrived at the throne room. The guards instantly opened the doors to let him through and shut them afterwards. Then, it was only Meliodas and the Demon King.

A dark aura pulsed from the King in waves. "Do you have a reason to have kept me waiting?" He asked dangerously. Meliodas stared up at him defiantly, noticing a burn mark on the floor before the throne. Poor bastard, he noted sarcastically. "I had just returned to the castle and I wasn't fit to be in your presence," he sneered. "Aren't you always telling me to clean up before coming to report?"

"DO NOT PRESUME TO TWIST MY WORDS IN AN ATTEMPT TO EXCUSE YOUR INSOLENCE!!" The King thundered. A wave of dark energy hit Meliodas, causing him to stumble backwards before bracing himself. "YOU WERE TRAINING YOUR BROTHER WHEN YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HUNTING DOWN THESE REBELS! YOU WORTHLESS BASTARD! FIND THEM OR I WILL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER HAVE THIS THRONE!" Meliodas snarled, his own powers surging from his body, colliding with the King's. "I've earned my right to that throne and I will have it. I will find these traitors, I swear that." He spun around, done with this conversation, when his body shot forward and slammed against the door. His shoulder protested vehemently at the harsh treatment.

He struggled, but he couldn't move his body an inch. He felt his father walking towards him and gritted his teeth at his helplessness. The King stopped when he was directly behind him and laughed coldly. A hand pressed into his wounded shoulder. He inhaled sharply, refusing to scream. His darkness failed, shut off by the King. "Hmm, what is this?" His father asked calmly, as if he wasn't basically torturing his eldest son. "Hydra acid? Looks like that Hydra in the northern forest gave you a bit of trouble. Disgraceful." He dug in, twisting his hand. Blood ran down Meliodas's back.

"You knew?" He gritted out, then bit his tongue as metal nails from his father's gauntlets dug into his flesh. "Didn't I just tell you to not insult me?" The King demanded. "Of course I knew. The Demon Realm is mine and I can certainly feel something that close. I had planned to order Vitus to take care of it, but I suppose that's not a concern any longer." There was a nearly subtle bite to his tone as he thrust his hand further into Meliodas's shoulder. "And as we are on the topic, you do realize that over half of that forest has been destroyed? That was an important barrier between this city and the wastelands. And your needlessly reckless fighting nearly destroyed it!"

Meliodas panted through the pain. "Why the fuck wasn't I informed? If I'd known, I never would've taken Zeldris out there!" The King hummed curiously. "That's interesting. I believe I detect concern in your voice. Coming to care for him? Careful, he might just use that to take the throne instead of you." Meliodas snarled. "It's not concern or care. It's duty. I'm his elder brother and it's my duty to teach him, not get him killed when he's still but a child. After all, I don't obey you because I care." The King laughed. "Just as blunt as ever. Good, I don't need any sentimental feelings between us as "father" and "son". You're a weapon for me to use and discard if ever necessary. Pesky emotions just get in the way of that."

He yanked his hand from Meliodas's shoulder and released his magic, causing the prince to fall to the ground. He stood there, allowing his son to get to his feet. Meliodas stood firm, ignoring the screaming pain to look the King intractably in the eyes. The King smiled darkly. "Yes," he said softly. "That fire in your eyes...so stubborn, it's frankly annoying at points. But your usefulness outweighs the inconvenience of your obstinate nature." He spun around and went back to his throne. "You're running out of time to catch these traitors. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to go play with your brother."

Meliodas snarled. "Ghostasu Form: Shadow Meld." He exited the throne room with Shadow Step, having been clearly dismissed. He went straight to his room and materialized as soon as he was inside. The room spun as soon as he turned corporeal and he stumbled towards the bathroom. Have to...take care of my shoulder, he thought sluggishly. As he walked past, he briefly checked on his brother. He was sleeping soundly. Good...I can't...I... He made it to the bathroom door, only for gravity to catch up with him. He tripped in a move that would've been utterly embarrassing had he been feeling better and ended up on the floor.

He found that between the screeching pain in his shoulder and the blood loss, he couldn't even think about getting back up. So, he passed out there, unconscious on the floor.

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I do not own Taizai or it's characters.

Jesus, lord above, that was a long chapter. 5954 words. That's almost twice the usual length of my chapters. But I had a lot to add to this chapter and I hope y'all enjoyed it.

Also, a little bit about Mel's character in this fic. I'm trying to make his character a cross between a tsundere and a kuudere. Now, in case y'all don't know (I didn't know kuudere was even a thing until I looked up the definition of a tsundere), kuudere is a character type where the first part of the word "kuu" comes from "kuuru", meaning "cool". It's a character that appears cold-hearted and indifferent on the outside, but is actually emotional on the inside. And tsundere, as I'm sure we all know, is that character that acts stuck-up and belligerent, but is actually a very caring person.

Basically, I'm trying to make Mel into this seemingly cold-hearted, belligerent, arrogant, and indifferent towards others person who actually cares on the inside, but he shoves those feelings into a box inside himself and refuses to admit he cares at all. Like in this chapter. If I did my job correctly, you can all tell Meliodas is actually starting to care about Zel. But he doesn't want to admit that. Just like he told the DK, he thinks of it as just doing his duty as an older brother. Right now, the training and protecting he's doing is just part of his duty. If he lost Zel (I promise I'm not going to kill Zel in this story) he'd try and play his grief and anger off as him failing in his duties instead of missing Zel as an actual person and his younger brother.