King of Chaos arc

The King of Chaos arc is the nineteenth arc in the series, lasting from the 335th chapter to the 343rd chapter.

Description
Shorly after Demon King's defeat, Merlin assembles the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins and reveals to them her own secret agenda: to break the seal on Chaos, an ancient and immensly powerful entity within the deceased Arthur which resurrects him. Unexpectedly, Cath reveals itself as a monstrous creature who craves Chaos' power for itself and tries to devour Arthur in order to achieve it. As result, the Seven Deadly Sins must help Merlin and Arthur so they can save the recent found peace in Britannia.

Fights and Events

 * Seven Deadly Sins & Arthur Pendragon vs. Cath Palug

Synopsis
The party celebrating the Demon King's defeat is held within Liones castle along with Elizabeth and the remaining Sins, but the onlookers notice the burn scar Merlin received from her kiss with Escanor and gossip over it, to the discomfort of the others and Elizabeth herself tells Merlin, if she wants, that it may be possible to erase the scar; Merlin asks if it's unsighlty but Elizabeth disagrees and believes it to be beautfiul along with the others.

As Diane relays how everyone, even Escanor in his final moments, has achieved their dreams, Diane realizes that Merlin is the only one who never revealed her goal. She claims that they'll help her if she needs it and Merlin decides to show them as they have a right to know and immediately teleports the other Sins and Elizabeth back to Lake Salisbury where they find the floating lake as well as Hawk and his mom who arrived after Zeldris' departure with Gelda.

The others are surprised as they didn't realize he was missing but Merlin tells them it's time to begin Arthur's awakening, to everyone's surprise. Using her magic, she brings Arthur's body with Excalibur running through his chest and asks the "priestess" if she is ready before a voice begins to come from the lake itself as it begins glowing from the immense amount of magic power it absorbed from Meliodas' attack that destroyed his father.

Suddenly, the magic from the lake bursts forth and goes through Excalibur and is seemingly absorbed into Arthur's body, blinding everyone in a burst of light until it dies down and everyone sees Arthur begin to awaken, having been brought back to life to Diane's enthusiasm but Meliodas feels something is off as Arthur wonders where he is before he is suddenly overcome by some kind of pain. Merlin is the asked by Meliodas what she did to Arthur, to which she responds her goal was to revive Arthur as the King of Chaos.

Arthur continues to lament about this unknown pain but Merlin tells him not to fear it as its now time for him to awaken his hidden magic, but Arthur doesn't understand what she's saying as he is suddenly overtaken by an unknown sensation as both his eyes turn pitch black with white iris and he screams out, with Hawk Mama suddenly opening her mouth and screaming in parallel to Arthur.

Meliodas flies up to Arthur as he believes something to be wrong but when Arthur sees him, he still believes Meliodas to be in his emotionless former self and declares he won't let the Demons have their way with Britannia before everything turns black and reality itself seems to be deforming with Arthur at the center of the mayhem, along with Merlin at his side.

The Sins, Hawk, and Elizabeth are shocked and confused as to what they are seeing as Meliodas and Ban try to dodge strange monsters that appeared to be after the former before he hears Arthur quoting what he him back in the Vaizel Festival Tournament and cries as he asks why Meliodas betrayed everyone's trust. Merlin, however, hugs him and claims that Meliodas didn't betray them and calms him down, thus returning everything to normal.

While the others are wondering what they just witnessed, Arthur asks what Merlin is talking about before she and the others explain why Meliodas "betrayed" the Seven Deadly Sins and he realizes the error of his ways but is glad to see Meliodas wasn't in the right mind back then. With that said, Meliodas turns to Merlin and asks her what Arthur just did moments ago and what she keeps going on about. Merlin tells them about a being called Chaos, an ancient entity of light and darkness said to have created the world and the five races from nothingness, including the Demon King and the Supreme Deity, to Meliodas and Elizabeth's shock; she goes on to tell Arthur that as the "King of Chaos" he commands Chaos to his will and is the king destined to lead Britannia into a new world, much to his confusion and Meliodas' skepticism and slight anger when he asks why she would awaken a power that is both a blessing yet a curse and if that has been her goal the entire time.

Out of nowhere, the voice from before interrupts and says it will explain in Merlin's place. The others are suspicious of the voice as it refers to herself as the Lady of the Lake, an entity wrought from Chaos and who Arthur recognizes as the one who gave Excalibur to King Carfen thousands of years ago. Meliodas cuts her off by saying over his three thousand years of walking Britannia, he has never heard of a being called Chaos, especially from Merlin; the Lady of the Lake claims that is because Merlin has intentionally hid it from him, Elizabeth, and the others and Meliodas than asks what she means by that.

The Lady of the Lake begins by explaining Merlin's past, being born as a human child with a miraculous magic in the ancient city of Belialuin, the capital of wizards where the wiseman of humanity lived in prosperity and remained neutral in the Holy War, siding with neither the Goddesses or Demons. There, they secretly researched on human children with an unnaturally high aptitude for magic to use as secret weapons against the higher-ranking Demons and Goddesses, with Merlin being among them as a child.

Born to the capital's chief, her father, Merlin was a prodigy who already surpassed the adults in term of magic power and knowledge but was a child who wanted her father's attention, yet all he did was give her tests to perform and never gave her any parental love, to her sadness. Tired of her suffering, Merlin ran away from her home but was chased after by the wizards due to her unique magic but to her surprise, she was saved by the leader of the Ten Commandments, Meliodas - the first person to offer her actual emotion and became the object of her affection.

Despite her infatuation with the young demon, Meliodas never returned Merlin's feelings due to his ultimately cold attitude and seeing her as a child. To win over his love, Merlin recreated herself into an adult woman but her hopes were crushed when she was introduced to the Godddess Elizabeth, Meliodas' lover. Caught up in anger, jealousy, and lovesickness, Merlin wanted to unleash all her pent-up hate on the two, but was unable to bring herself to truly hate either of them.

Returning to Belialuin of her own voliiton, Merlin dedicated herself to her studies in an attempt to block out her feelings with knowledge, but no amount of studying could fill her aching heart and her days were spent troubled, until the day when she heard the wisemen gossiping about Chaos, the drive of power born amidst ancient stars far away.

The legend spoke that Chaos first created the world and all its creatures before bearing two offspring of light and darkness: the Supreme Deity and Demon King, and finally the Sacred Tree as its third offspring. These three godly beings would each go on to create their own realms as well as their own races to serve them. Following this, Chaos created the Giants as the fourth race but was disappointed with them due to being slaves of their own power and cowardly in their inability to reject fighting and war.

It was then that Chaos decided to create Humans, which it put both positive and negative feelings into, thus giving them a contradiciting nature similar to that of itself and made them its favorite creation. However, the Demon King and Supreme Deity became envious of their creator as well as fearful that the love and reverence their own creations gave to them would eventually be stolen by their creator. To prevent this, the two gods joined forces to seal Chaos away and thus allowing them to feared as the most powerful beings in existence.

Upon learing this, Merlin made it her goal to resucitate Chaos and bring it back into the world, by spending the next three thousand years structuring her life around this single purpose, as she believed the entity would finally be able to fill the aching void in her heart with its limitless unknown.

Everyone is shocked to hear this as the Lady of the Lake continues by saying to accomplish this goal, Merlin used the Seven Deadly Sins but that was merely evenining the ledger as they used her plenty of times as well. Diane, however, has enough and tells the Lady of the Lake to keep quiet as she doesn't know anything about them and despite not knowing much about Merlin herself, that she is still one of the Seven Deadly Sins; their friend.

The Lady of the Lake confirms this as she doesn't know Merlin personally but does know that Merlin is the one who gave the Giant craftsman Dabuzu the idea for forging the Coffin of Eternal Darkness to ultimately seal away the Demon King and Supreme Deity from Britannia. Not to mention that she intentionally delayed her spell to stop time as to allow the Demon King to possess Meliodas' body, as well as reactivated Elizabeth's curse after Meliodas broke it, and finally tricked Meliodas to diverting the combined magic into Lake Salisbury as part of her plan.

Diane refuses to believe it out of hysteria while King tells Merlin to speak for herself, to which she reveals further that to revive Chaos, it wasn't as simple as sealing away the two gods; one of them had to be completely destroyed as to upset the balance between light and darkness. Ban realizes that coincides with the Demon King's desire to have Meliodas' body and how she helped him. She also states that another requirement was an immense amount of magic power in order to allow Arthur to absorb Chaos itself and the others realize that everything the Lady of the Lake has told them is, in fact, true.

Meliodas then demands Merlin if she actually tried to kill Elizabeth as part of her plan and she says that if he broke the curse on her and himself, he wouldn't have a reason to kill his father and claims she couldn't allow that, to Diane's horror and Meliodas' anger for dangering Elizabeth's life and also for using her friends as a means to an end and King himself claims he doesn't understand Merlin or her actions out of anger.

The Lady of the Lake claims this to be human nature, as to both love someone yet hate them at the same time and wonders due to them being different races, could ever truly understand each other?

Meliodas reprimands Merlin for her actions due to the possibility that Chaos could be a horrible monster or just doesn't exist at all. The Lady of the Lake counters by stating Chaos is a real entity and, to their confusion, they have already met it several times. Nobody understands at first but then she tells them they have ridden upon her back throughout their adventure and the others, minus Hawk, realize her to be referring to Hawk Mama, whose eyes appear to be pitch black and hollow.

Hawk laughs at the idea, refusing to believe his mother to be the "Chaos" they've been talking about but notices his mother hasn't moved at all before she suddenly deflates on herself and collapses into a pile of skin, to everyone's shock as Hawk rushes over in horror. King himself realizes that Hawk Mama isn't a pig at all but layers of moss built upon itself and is an empty shell. Arthur is confused and wonders where its content, Chaos, went to which Merlin claims it's inside of him now as it switched hosts once Arthur was revived.

Arthur himself is in shock as he believes the "giant green pig" to be inside of him but Merlin assures its Chaos and Meliodas realizes the power Arthur used unconsciosuly was Chaos itself and tells Merlin to return Arthur to normal but claims she can't do that as Chaos itself chose Arthur to be its new host. Before a conflict can brew between the two of them, Arthur intervenes as they shouldn't fight over a "baby chick" like him, to which an actual baby chick appears due to Arthur's using Chaos' power again unconsciously.

After seeing what he has made, Arthur is astounded and wonders where these new buildings and landscape came from but suddenly a part of the Boar Hat is broken apart and Cath appears, glad to see Arthur is alive. However, the Lady of the Lake is horrified when she sees Cath appear and fearfully tells Merlin not to let it near Arthur, but before anyone can react, Cath attempts to devour Arthur whole and only fails due to Meliodas pushing Arthur out of the way yet realized Cath was successful in tearing Arthur's right arm off as he screams out in agony.

The others are shocked and horrified to see Cath attack Arthur for no reason but the Lady of the Lake reveals the monster cat's identity as Cath Palug, a tyrant beast born from the Mother of Chaos who desires Chaos' power itself and challenged the entity once yet lost and was eventually sealed by the Goddess Clan for its misdeeds.

Meliodas and Ban are ready to fight the monster but Arthur, not believing Cath's betrayal as genuine, attempts to reason with the creature as it saved his life before but Cath fullheartedly proves its betrayal and that it only cared for Arthur's life as it needed him to live long enough to absorb Chaos for when it could take the power by devouring him and using the fragment of Chaos it took to create a pocket dimension to devour Arthur, and by extension, the others as well.

Realizing that Cath was never his friend, Arthur uses the newly reformed Excalibur to destroy the dimension and Cath is overwhelmed with joy and hunger upon seeing Arthur's newfound power. Arthur himself is relieved to see Cath as iredeemable so that he can kill him without hesitation. The tyrant beast attempts to charge but Arthur slices him down the middle and sends him flying before exploding into the distance.

Arthur is relieved to see the others safe before collapsing from exhaustion and is caught by Merlin. Elizabeth tells Merlin they should get Arthur back to Liones to help him and she thanks Elizabeth for her kindness but claims she can't be friends with them anymore due to her selfishness and apologizes before sending them all back to Liones before claiming to the unconscious Arthur she will protect him even if it means her life.

The five Sins, Hawk, and Elizabeth are shocked to see themselves back in the caslte but without Merlin and Meliodas says they don't have to worry about her anymore, but not out of cynicism or anger, but factually as she revels upon seeing the glimpse of Chaos' power born from Arthur, who then awakens and asks her why she only now decided to reveal her goal to the others with her asking him why he isn't angry as she only revived him for her own ends.

Arthur, however, claims he isn't angry because despite Chaos' origins, its still the being that created the world and as long as the one controlling it has good intentions, it could make the world a wonderful place and tells Merlin that she believed in him because she knew he could be a good king to his people with Merlin praising him as Excalibur begins showing wings of light to reflect Arthur's positive emotions.

Back in Liones, Meliodas claims his remark wasn't out of anger but out of fact as he knew Merlin better than anyone but wonders if that's true considering how much she kept from him despite working together for so many years and Diane, still saddened by Merlin's "betrayal", asks Meliodas if the Sins will really disband. Ban claims this likely to happen as every beginning has an end, not to mention they've already lost Escanor, much to Diane's grief and King's annoyance of his supposedly uncaring attitude while Hawk weeps over learning of Escanor's death.

Meliodas, however, tells them they can't leave Merlin to her own devices with King asking what the problem is with Cath defeated and Merlin looking over Arthur; Meliodas retorts by saying that Chaos itself is the threat and if Arthur gives into negatvitiy instead, it could create new nightmares and plunge Britannia into living hell, to Elizabeth's shock and horror.

Diane herself wonders why Merlin only then chose to tell them about Chaos when she could've done so without letting them know and Meliodas wonders the same question and claims they'll have to ask Merlin if they want the answer but Gowther cuts them off as he claims he already knows.

Meanwhile, Merlin asks Arthur how he feels despite losing his right arm and claims to be more or less okay and just wants to return to Camelot now that the Demons are gone but Merlin hesitantly tries to explain Camelot's destruction before the tower shakes and Cath's voice rings out as it claims it's not done playing with Arthur yet.

Arthur is shocked to see Cath alive but Merlin claims she'll protect him and goes outside to find the creature in its true form and attacks him, claiming she'll be his opponent.

Gowther explains by reminding the others of what Diane said earlier - all of the Sins had a wish, including Merlin as hers was the resurrection of Chaos and to infuse Arthur with its power but also explains they likely wouldn't have helped her as they would see Chaos as a threat, to which King agrees by saying its too powerful but Gowther counters by saying it only becomes a threat depending on how its used but King also counters by claiming how Merlin used them to get what she wanted, only for Gowther to say Merlin has helped them many times as well, to which Ban agrees with.

He continues to explain that since the Seven Deadly Sins' purpose was complete and everyone's goals fulfiiled, Merlin felt like the others no longer needed her and she finally came clean. King initally acusses Gowther as he believes him to be siding with Merlin to which the latter denies that he is neutral in the disagreement.

King himself wonders if what the Lady of the Lake said is true, that humans and the other races can never come to an understanding with each other and Ban jokes if that's why he and King never get along, only for the latter to comically claim he doesn't even consider him human at this point.

Gowther, however, claims he is an artificial construct and therefore doesn't belong to any race yet he views them all as equals with Ban and Diane both claiming that Escanor feels the same way even if he isn't with them.

Regardless, Melioda remains firm in his belief that Merlin needs to be held responsible as she is the one who unleashed Chaos in the first place and Gowther becomes worried with what Meliodas plans to do once he finds Merlin but suddenly they feel a strange aura coming in the direction of where Camelot once stood.

With Merlin, she is struggling to fight off Cath who is unaffected by her attacks and claims she isn't the one who he wants to play with and Arthur's voice speaks up as he explains its his fault for bringing Cath so close to Chaos in the first place and that he'll be the one to deal with the cat monster as he sliced him up but Cath simply restores himself and mocks Arthur for thinking he could kill him by slicing him apart.

Arthur claims he'll do what he must to defeat him as the King of Camelot, he has a responsibility to his people to protect them and the kingdom from anything that threatens them. Cath laughs at this as he has already failed to Arthur's confusion and Cath explains to him how Camelot was destroyed by the Demon King when he was possessing Meliodas' body.

He immediately accusses the creature of lying but Cath explains he can see for himself using the power of Chaos and Arthur realizes to his horror that Cath is telling the truth and sees nothing but the ruined landscape of where Camelot once stood. Merlin tries to help by telling him that most of the citizens were evacuated to Liones and that he can rebuild the kingdom, but Arthur is distraught upon realizing that Nanashi, Orlondi, and all those down in the bunker were killed in the Demon King's attack.

Cath takes the opportunity to tackle Arthur to the ground but is repelled by his magic, only for Merlin to attempt to attack him yet easily dodges before using his tails to swat her to the ground and attempt to kill her with a swarm of mouth beams that are suddenly repelled by none other than Meliodas, using Full Counter.

Merlin is shocked as she sees Meliodas and finds Elizabeth behind her, healing her injuries as she asks why the two of them came back but Elizabeth says it isn't just them as King, Ban, Diane, and Gowther appear as well with the giantess expressing joy upon seeing her again but she cuts them off as they run over to find Arthur unconscious, but unharmed from Cath's attack.

As Meliodas approaches Merlin, he claims she needs to start taking responsibility for her actions by guiding Arthur to which she claims she was already planning on doing, but he also claims they share some of the responsibility and as her friends, must allow them to protect her and Arthur as she thanks them.

Cath begins to regenerate from Meliodas' interference and becomes increasingly annoyed as Diane becomes disgusted with the creature and King asks if he has the same immortality that Ban once did, but Merlin disproves this by saying Cath now transcends life and death. Immediately thereafter, Arthur begins regaining consciousness as Cath towers over him and mocks the young king for the loss of his kingdom and his people who didn't make it out in time but claims it's fine since they would've died anyway like from himself, or a meteorite destroying it, or simply sinking into the ocean and vanishing.

Arthur asks what Cath's point is to which he responds it's all the same and Arthur angrily asks what is all the same. Cath explains that he shouldn't try to fight the inevitable as all things, humans, animals, stars, even gods eventually die and no matter what choice he makes, they all lead to the same thing: eventual extinction.

Arthur, following Cath's supposed idelogy, than believes Cath's telling him there's no point in trying and he might as well allow himself to be devoured and be done with it, to which Cath mockingly agrees but Meliodas and Ban intervene as they claim they won't allow the monster to do as he pleases to its annoyance before it begins its assault and the combined force of the Sins, Elizabeth, and Arthur all do their best to take it down before Merlin stops Cath's time but notices due to the power of Chaos, he could free himself in possibly a few years or decades.

With the threat to be over for the time being, the others return to Liones with Arthur and Merlin stay behind to rebuild Camelot while the others return and years pass from Meliodas and Elizabeth accepting Bartra's offer of marriage to the point where Elizabeth has grown old and passed away just as Cath reappears and mocks Meliodas claiming that everything and everyone he knows is either gone or dead, but Meliodas claims to him that no matter what, their memories will never go away as he remembers the other Sins, Elizabeth, Hawk, Wild, Bartra, Gilthunder, Arthur, and Zeldris for keeping his hope alive.

Suddenly, Meliodas regains awareness and finds himself back fighting Cath alongside the others and ponders over if what he was real or not, but Arthur claims what he saw was a possible future that may or may not yet happen as only he and Meliodas were the only ones able to escape from Cath's trap as the cat monster claims victory will be his as he rushes the others only for Arthur to realize the way to defeating Cath without killing him.

Cath finds Arthur's claim ridiculous as he can't be killed as he begins to warp space again to devour Arthur and the others but Arthur counters by saying he will devour Cath instead just as an even larger wormhole appears in the form of a mouth, to Cath's shock as the giant tounge grabs the cat monster and attempts to drag him in despite Cath attempting to resist Arthur's pull.

Elizabeth and the others are freed from their own desired futures as they see Arthur attempting to devour Cath despite the creature's refusal as Arthur claims that absorbing the monster is the only way to defeat him and while he's at it, will take back the fragment Cath stole from him. Cath refuses and attempts to use all his power to prevent this and tries to break Arthur's resolve by saying his dead subjects are likely cursing him for not being able to save him and that his rebuilt kingdom will just fall again.

However, Arthur remembers Meliodas' words to him back at the Vaizel Fighting Festival and adapts it by saying he doesn't mind if his subjects hate him or if they mock him, as so long as they're safe and happy, then everything will be fine as he claims his newfound goal: to rebuild Camelot as an "everlasting kingdom" where nobody suffers. Cath, however, finds the notion to be asanine as nothing is everlasting in this world and how it's a contradiction - it is chaos.

Cath freezes upon realizes he was tricked into admitting his own defeat as Arthur agrees, declaring himself as the King of Chaos just as Cath is dragged backward into the mouth-like wormhole which soon devours him and returns the world to normal. Diane wonders what happened to Cath and Arthur believes he's somewhere inside of him but isn't quite sure; Ban asks if he succeeded in retrieving the fragment Cath stole and Merlin confirms the power of Chaos has returned to Arthur completely due to Excalibur's new form which gives off attributes similar to the Goddess Clan, reflecting Arthur's heart to be full of hope and newfound determination.

Meliodas congratulates Arthur on the new sword, claiming he'll have no problem creating his "everlasting kingdom" only for Arthur to try to dismiss it as him being caught up in the moment only for Meliodas to say he can't back down now that he's made his vow and tells him to go for it as they all had their own crazy goals and claims if he ever strays from his path, the Sins will be there to help, with Arthur gratefully claiming them to be his everlasting goal.

Story Impacts

 * Arthur is revived and becomes the King of Chaos.
 * Merlin and the Lady of the Lake reveal the existence of Chaos, the entity that created the gods, the five races, and the world itself.
 * Cath is revealed to be the monstrous Cath Palug, a tyrant beast born from the Mother of Chaos who desires the power of Chaos itself, by devouring Arthur and succeeds in devouring his right arm.
 * Arthur tries to reason with the monster, who explains it only protected Arthur to take his power once awoken, but is temporarily defeated by the young king using a reformed Excalibur.
 * Merlin attempts to cut ties with the others, thinking she can no longer be their friend, but they return to help her and Arthur when Cath returns in its final form.
 * Arthur declares to Cath that he will rebuild Camelot as an "everlasting kingdom" and absorbs the monster, accepting his position as the King of Chaos, with Meliodas and the others supporting his new goal.