Chapter 287

is the 287th chapter of the manga, Nanatsu no Taizai.

Short Summary
Zeldris unleashes his true power and the Assault Force cannot keep up. Facing an unknown attack and an opponent that seems to be impervious to their attacks, Escanor and Ludociel team up to counter the Prince of Darkness.

Long Summary
As Zeldris proclaims to show his original power, Escanor hopes is not a bluff, while Ludociel tells Hendrickson to stay back, saying he will not be able to protect him from now on. Cusack and Chandler stick their arms through the wall behind them, saying that they are no longer needed.

Zeldris remembers the words of Meliodas, that got Zeldris to gather the Commandments for his brother: Gelda is alive. Meliodas revealed to him that twelve years ago, when Gelda awoke from her seal, she drowned in despair after realising her fate with Zeldris and tried to choose death, but Meliodas sealed her again instead, to wait until the right time.

Ludociel smirks and says that the Goddess Clan will be the victor of the Holy War, but Zeldris says he never cared about petty games like that, making Cusack frown.

Zeldris then unleashed his true power: Ominous Nebula. Ludociel, Escanor, Merlin, Gilthunder and Hendrickson are all lifted from the ground, while getting sucked in towards Zeldris. Shouting for them to get out of his way, all of them are suddenly blasted back against the wall.

When they are starting to be sucked in again, Escanor firmly plants his legs into the ground and begins to look around for Merlin, trying to ask if she was okay, while Ludociel hold his position sticking his sword in the ground. Hendrickson and Gilthunder, who were rendered unconscious, are pulled towards Zeldris, when they are teleported away thanks to Merlin, who keeps on doing so to avoid going near the enemy. Chandler note that Merlin is using her teleportation to stay away from Zeldris, a feat that can only be accomplished by someone with infinite magic. Though Cusack says that any resistance is futile in the end.

Ludociel, reassured of Hendrickson's safety, lets himself get pulled towards Zeldris saying that, now that he had seen Zeldris' swordsmanship, he can easily counter it. As Zeldris just smirks, Ludociel is blasted back again, with his armor shattered and his weapon broken. The Archangel is sucked in again, when he lands on Escanor's back this time. Escanor tells him to get off and Ludociel says he never wanted to land on his back. They start arguing which makes Merlin compare them to being old friends.

Ludociel asks Merlin what is the nature behind Zeldris' power. From what Merlin could deduce, Ominous Nebula has three properties. First, it generates a powerful attraction force that pulls them towards him; second, it can only suck in living things; and third, physical attacks cannot reach Zeldris and instead they are hit by an unknown attack. Also, from the fact that Merlin and Ludociel previous spells did not work before Zeldris unleashed his Ominous Nebula, it proves that magic attacks has no effect, and that this is due to the Demon King's power. With a high physical resistance and a high magical resistance, Merlin declares the demon as an opponent that will be difficult to handle.

Ludociel asks Escanor to lend him his aid and Escanor says no. Escanor keeps refusing Ludociel request for help, until Merlin tells Escanor to save him and he complies, jumping forward and saving Ludociel. Ludociel is shocked that Escanor listened to Merlin since he thought the Lion Sin did not answer to anyone. Escanor considers Merlin's orders different and then threatens to let Ludociel go if he does not have a plan in mind to try and defeat Zeldris. Ludociel states he has a plan in mind but it can only work if Escanor agrees to go along with his orders.

Question Corner
Q314. Rīri-san: How many poems Escanor dedicated to Merlin?

Nakaba: A thousand of two thousand would be too few!

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Escanor
 * Gilthunder
 * Hendrickson
 * Ludociel
 * Merlin
 * Zeldris
 * Chandler
 * Cusack
 * Meliodas
 * Ganne
 * Gelda
 * Izraf
 * Mod
 * Orlondi
 * Ren

Trivia

 * The Shonen Magazine editor posted on his Twitter account a discarded version of the cover.