Sunshine

is a unique power possessed by the Lion's Sin of Pride, Escanor. It is later revealed to be a Grace, a blessing created by the Supreme Deity that was given to Mael of the Four Archangels. After Gowther used a forbidden spell to turn Mael into Estarossa, Sunshine, then waited over 3000 years until it found someone worthy, Escanor.

Description
Escanor's power is said to be unlike any other. He is at his weakest at midnight and his power peaks at noon. Starting from sunrise, his power begins to increase and he begins to grow larger and his personality changes from his submissive night-self to his arrogant daytime-self, with this process presumably reversing with the setting of the sun. In the daytime, his physical strength increases dramatically and he is able to radiate intense waves of light and heat easily capable of melting metal and vaporizing stone. Merlin hearkens his power to that of the actual Sun, the source of all life. Escanor is able to imbue Rhitta with his magic power, which causes the slashes from his axe to also burn his foes.

In his fight against Galand, Escanor's power level was shown rising by 5 points every second. Merlin mentions there is one problem with his power but does not specify what it is. It likely has to do with his peak, as once his fight with Galand and Melascula was over, he retreated far away from Ban's group because it was approaching noon and only returned at night. During noon Escanor's size grows to monstrous proportions, becoming many times his own size. His magic power also vastly increases.

When utilizing his true magic power he can create a miniature sun of pure magic power, whose heat is such that it can melt the armor of a Holy Knight several meters away just by being in its vicinity. It can also be controlled and directed for attacks, causing immense damage. When his power peaks at noon, the size of the ball increases immensely, as does his strength.

At high noon, Escanor reaches the peak of his power and he becomes The One, "the invincible incarnation of power", according to Merlin. While in this form, Escanor's strength increases to the point where with a single strike of his hand, he could knock off Meliodas in his Assault Mode. His durability also grew to the point where he could easily shrug off Meliodas' Kami Chigiri without sustaining any damage. He was also able to effortlessly overcome Zeldris' Ominous Nebula attraction, whereas previously he and Ludociel were powerless to resist it, his magic power leaving Chandler and Cusack shocked and Zeldris referring to Escanor as a monster for easily overcoming his magic power, and proceeded to break through the Demon Prince's magical ability with his Divine Sword Escanor before heavily wounding Zeldris with a simple finger jab. The One only lasts for one minute.

While the full extent of Sunshine's power, while it was under Mael's possession, is unknown, he was able to overwhelm and nearly kill Bellion of the Six Knights of Black with his mere presence, although Meliodas, who is stated to be Mael's equal, proved to be able to remain unaffected by clouding himself with his darkness. After reacquiring his grace, Mael was able to easily dispel the darkness surrounding Camelot.

Techniques

 * Escanor creates a miniature Sun, which radiates so much heat that it melts nearby armor. He can control it with hand gestures and strike his opponents with it, and it will increase in size as his power grows.
 * Escanor causes his Cruel Sun to flare with heat so intense it is capable of vaporizing a sizable lake in an instant.
 * Escanor produces a large amount of miniature suns from his body that explode on impact.

Trivia

 * The kanji used for "The One" (天上天下唯我独尊, Tenjō Tenge Yuiga Dokuson) are traditionally translated as "On heaven and earth, I alone am honored". These were the Buddha's first words when he was born. As a modern idiom these words are sometimes used to satirize self-aggrandizing conceit.
 * When Ludociel referred to this power he called it (Sun in Japanese) instead of . The relevance behind this has yet to be revealed.

Navigation
Sunshine