Chapter 6: The Otaku Goes to war
Meliodas woke to {Danger Sense} screaming in his skull—a piercing alarm that meant immediate, overwhelming threat. He was on his feet before his eyes opened, {Chitin Slayer} already flowing over his skin.
"TANDY!"
She was already awake, light daggers forming in her hands. "I feel it too. Something's coming."
The safehouse exploded.
---
Not literally—Mama Rose's wards held, deflecting whatever had been thrown at them. But the building shook, dust raining from the ceiling, and through the windows Meliodas could see figures moving in the street.
Dozens of them.
"EVERYONE TO POSITIONS!" Poppy's voice boomed through the chaos.
Miguel appeared beside Meliodas, pale but holding a baseball bat like he knew how to use it. "They're early."
"Apparently Fisk doesn't keep regular business hours." Meliodas drew Reflection and Moonsing, letting Moonsing shift to its greatsword form. "Stay behind me."
"I can fight—"
"You can fight after I thin them out. Right now, stay behind me."
They moved through the safehouse, gathering residents. Danny and Frank, the card-playing mutants, were already at the windows, Danny's phasing letting him reach through walls, Frank's healing making him a human shield. Mama Rose stood in the center of the common room, knitting needles clicking, her eyes closed in concentration.
"The wards will hold for now," she said. "But they're bringing something big. Something magical."
"Great. Because this wasn't hard enough."
The front door exploded inward.
Men poured through—Purple Dragons, armed with guns, bats, knives. Meliodas moved.
{Rush activated.}
Five seconds of slowed time. He weaved through them, tapping nerve clusters, disarming weapons, positioning bodies. When {Rush} ended, seven men were on the ground.
More kept coming.
Tandy's light daggers flew past him, striking with precision. Danny phased through a wall, grabbed a gun, and phased back—the gun clattered to the floor, useless. Frank took a bullet to the chest, grunted, and kept fighting as the wound healed.
Poppy was a wall of fury, his fists sending men flying.
But there were too many.
Meliodas felt {Danger Sense} spike again—something worse coming.
The wall beside him.....exploded.
Not from a bomb—from a fist. A massive fist, wrapped in something that gleamed like metal, attached to an arm that belonged to a man the size of a small truck.
Meliodas stared.
The man was huge. Not Luke Cage huge—actually huge. Seven feet tall, built like a mountain, with skin that looked like stone and eyes that held no mercy.
{Knowledge Mage} activated.
[TARGET IDENTIFIED: MELVIN POTTER]
Alias: Gladiator. Fisk's enforcer. Brainwashed, conditioned, and equipped with a specialized suit that grants superhuman strength and durability. Not inherently evil—just broken.
"Fisk sends his regards," the giant rumbled.
He swung.
Meliodas dodged—barely. The fist missed him by inches and destroyed the wall behind him.
{Rush} was on cooldown. 45 seconds left.
'Great. Just great.'
---
Outside, the street had become a war zone.
Luke Cage arrived first, plowing through Dragons like they were made of paper. Behind him came a man in green silk pajamas—no it was.... a costume?—whose fist glowed with golden energy.
"The Immortal Iron Fist," the man announced, punching a Dragon so hard the man flew twenty feet. "At your service."
Beside him, a woman with a sword moved with deadly precision—Colleen Wing. And behind her, a detective with a robotic arm—Misty Knight—was already calling for backup.
"About time you showed up!" Miguel yelled from a doorway.
"We came as fast as we could!" Danny Rand—the Iron Fist—grinned. "Traffic was hell."
---
Inside, Meliodas was having the fight of his life.
Gladiator was fast. Not Meliodas fast, but fast enough to track him, to anticipate his movements. Every time Meliodas tried to flank, the giant was there. Every time he tried to strike, those massive fists were already swinging.
{Rush} came off cooldown.
{Rush activated.}
Five seconds. Meliodas moved—striking at joints, at pressure points, at anything vulnerable. But Gladiator's suit absorbed most of the damage, and his body beneath was like stone.
{Rush ended.}
Gladiator grabbed him.
Massive fingers closed around his torso, squeezing. Meliodas felt ribs crack. {Regeneration} kicked in, healing as fast as the damage was done, but it was a race—would he heal faster than the giant could crush him?
"Little bug," Gladiator rumbled. "So fast. So fragile."
Meliodas gasped for air. His vision was darkening at the edges.
Then—golden light.
A fist, glowing like the sun, slammed into Gladiator's face.
The giant staggered, dropping Meliodas. Danny Rand stood there, fist extended, looking far more serious than his pajamas suggested.
"Pick on someone your own size," the Iron Fist said.
Gladiator turned. And smiled.
"You."
They clashed—immortal fist against mindless muscle. The building shook with every impact.
Meliodas crawled backward, gasping, feeling his ribs knit back together. Tandy appeared beside him, pulling him upright.
"You okay?"
"Peachy." He coughed. "Just... give me a second."
"No time. There's more coming."
She was right. Through the gaping hole in the wall, Meliodas could see reinforcements arriving. More Dragons. More guns. And at the back, a familiar figure.
James Wesley.
But he wasn't running. He wasn't hiding.
He was pointing at the safehouse. Directing the attack.
'He betrayed us.'
Meliodas felt something cold settle in his chest. Not anger. Disappointment.
"I've got this," he said.
"Meliodas—"
"Get everyone to the back. Mama Rose has escape routes. Get them out."
Tandy hesitated. Then nodded. "Don't die."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
---
Meliodas moved through the chaos, {Indistinct} active, {Hyperawareness} tracking every threat, {Danger Sense} guiding him away from the worst of it.
He found Wesley near a black SUV, directing men like a general commanding troops.
"You lied to me."
Wesley spun. His eyes went wide when he saw Meliodas.
"You should have stayed out of this."
"You gave me evidence. You said you wanted out."
"I said I wanted my mother protected. Fisk promised me that. All I had to do was lead you into a trap." Wesley's face was hard. "Survival, kid. It's all that matters."
Meliodas looked at him. At the man who had seemed so broken, so desperate, so human.
{Third Eye} flickered.
Red. Deep red. But beneath it—blue. Faint, almost invisible, but there.
'He's lying. About something.'
"What did Fisk really promise you?"
Wesley's expression flickered. Just for a moment.
"Nothing you need to worry about."
"He promised to hurt your mother if you didn't cooperate."
Silence.
"I'm right, aren't I?"
Wesley's jaw tightened. "It doesn't matter. The trap is sprung. Fisk's people are everywhere. You've already lost."
"Maybe." Meliodas drew Reflection. "But I'm not dead yet."
---
The fight was short.
Wesley wasn't a fighter—he was a thinker, a planner. Against Meliodas's speed and abilities, he lasted about three seconds.
But Meliodas didn't kill him.
He knocked him unconscious, tied him up, and dragged him to Mama Rose.
"Keep him safe. He knows things."
Mama Rose looked at the unconscious fixer, then at Meliodas. "You trust him?"
"No. But I trust that he loves his mother. And that's enough for now."
---
Outside, the battle was turning.
Luke Cage had taken down a dozen Dragons by himself. Danny Rand and Gladiator were still fighting, but the giant was slowing, the Iron Fist's blows taking their toll. Colleen Wing and Misty Knight had secured the perimeter, and police sirens could be heard in the distance.
The Dragons were retreating.
Meliodas stood in the street, breathing hard, {Regeneration} working overtime to patch his wounds. Tandy appeared beside him, blood on her knuckles, eyes wild.
"We did it."
"For now."
Luke Cage walked over, looking like he'd been through a war and won. "Fisk isn't going to stop. This was just the opening move."
"I know."
"So what's the plan?"
Meliodas looked at the burning building, the wounded, the chaos. Then he looked toward Midtown, toward the tower that loomed in the distance.
"We take the fight to him."
Luke grinned. "Now you're talking."
---
END OF CHAPTER 6
---
Current Status:
· Safehouse damaged but standing
· Multiple injuries, no deaths
· Wesley captured
· New allies: Iron Fist, Colleen Wing, Misty Knight
· Fisk's first attack repelled
· War officially begun.