Nanatsu no Taizai, Chapter 260: What I Want to Tell You
Huh, Monspiet and Derriere put up more of a fight than I thought they would against Main Villain (tm) Estarossa. I mean, at the end of this chapter Monspiet most likely is dead, but god damn this chapter really works well in making me care about Derrierre and Monspiet again after dismissing them as "side-characters that outlived their little gimmick".
See, the whole "a character dies tragically as they are about to retire" is a well-worn trope, and having Monspiet or Derriere, or both, die as they're about to surrender their commandments and just live peacefully in the countryside is a neat story. And Estarossa showing up to murder their farmer girl friend, and then to eat her soul, is pretty evil. Hilariously, Monspiet shows off his magic power of swapping two things of equivalent mass, shoving an apple into Estarossa's mouth instead of the soul.
We get a bit of a cool fight between Monspiet and Estarossa, and Monspiet notes about his commandment, "Silence", which means that he's been hiding something from Derriere all this time -- with the backstory we learn in this chapter that apparently Monspiet once fell in love with Derriere's now-dead sister, which is why the two of them are so close, probably means that while Derriere treats Monspiet more like a big brother or uncle, Monspiet's in love with her? It's not a particularly innovative story, but it's a well-told one here as we only get hints of it and have to piece it together.
Estarossa chokes Monspiet in an arm-choke as he rants about taking all the commandments for himself, but Monspiet then swaps his position with Estarossa, choking him. It's apparently his Conjurer's Joke ability, and he tells us Estarossa's backstory -- a young weakling and a sorry excuse of the Demon King's child, especially compared to his older and younger brothers, who are prodigies. The Demon King apparently gave Estarossa a Commandment in order to toughen him up, but ends up kind of turning Estarossa into sort of a psychopath. Also, apparently Estarossa isn't strong enough to hold more than one commandment in his own body? Time will tell if Monspiet's prediction is true.
We get a cool bit where Estarossa unleashes hellfire only for Monspiet to no-sell it since his hellfire skills is the best in hell, and then Estarossa plays dead before going to stab Derriere in the heart. With his last thoughts being "there's something I want to tell you", Monspiet switches the positions of himself and Derriere, causing Estarossa to rip out Monspiet's final heart... presumably meaning that Monspiet's dead, and Derriere's either going to follow very soon, or escape and join Neo-Stigma.
Not a bad way to make this conflict really feel like it genuinely matters, and an amazing exit for Monspiet. What a badass last stand, mustache boy.
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