Chapter II: The Hero's Party...

Angel let loose a sigh as he took a seat on the log next to only other male in the party.

It had been four months since he, and six others who he was acquaintanced with, were summoned to this world called Atalan to become heroes and defeat the Demon King, and since then he has enjoyed everything, for everything has gone his way.

He had men that envied him and wanted to be him, girls who worshipped him and wanted his children, and so much more. This world was truly better than his old one, but alas his time here was soon coming to an end.

While he may enjoy this world and love everything about it, five of his companions did not. It was unfortunate, but the girl heroes that he was traveling with wanted to return home to their boyfriends, and family, and all of that dull stuff. They'd rather deal with that boring crap than hunting a dragon and slaying it.

It was something he didn't understand, and probably would never understand, but to each their own. He wasn't going to judge them, for they haven't judged him for what he's done or how he has handled things so far as the leader of the Hero party.

"Was that a sigh of disappointment I heard from you, Angel?" Spoke the male who was sitting on the log polishing his white and gold chestplate. He had black spiky hair that fades into silver, and brown eyes. His arms were practically tree trunks, and he was half a foot taller than him.

"Yeah, it was." Angel answered in a tired tone as he unsheathed his sword, which was a holy sword known to cut through a dragon's scales. Because he was the leader of the party, aka the one that everyone calls the Hero, he was given the strongest armor, and the most powerful blade ever to be made by men.

"Aw, what got the Hero all upset now?" The taller male asked in a baby like voice as he ceased polishing his armor and gave Angel a cheeky grin.

"You know what it is Jacob," Angel replied in an agitated tone as he glared at his friend. "it's them."

As he said this, Angel pointed to the five girls who were standing outside of the large tent chatting with one another. They were all beautiful and could easily seduce anyone be it, man or woman with their quote on quote, smoking hot bodies.

Jacob released his own sigh of disappointment upon hearing this, while he did enjoy this world a lot and found it to be a lot more exciting than his old one, he could understand why the girls wanted to go back to their old one and could even relate to them as well.

It wasn't just his family he missed, he missed playing video games, showers, watching football, and many other things, so he was able to understand why, at least to an extent why they wished to go home.

"You know, I could tell you their reasons again, but..." Jacob started before suddenly pausing. He was going to resume polishing his armor when he noticed off in the distance a figure slowly walking towards their camp. He could make out what it was, but it looked humanoid.

Angel who had been listening was curious as to why he stopped talking, and glanced back at Jacob and watched as he slowly stood up. He had seen the taller male's expression harden, and out of curiosity followed his gaze only to what he was seeing.

Squinting his eyes a bit, he was able to make out some of the characteristics of the figure. They had black armor with large pauldrons, and a red cape, strapped to their left hand was a shield, and resting on their right shoulder while being held with the person's right hand was a large blade.

"A Dark Knight?" Angel said aloud as he rose from the log with a look of surprise. As he said this, Jacob donned his armor.

One of the girls, the priestess to be specific who had blonde hair and blue eyes noticed the two males stand up wonder what had gotten their attention. She couldn't see what they were looking at because of the large tent, so she broke off from the group of girls who were still chatting with one another only to see what the two males were seeing.

After spotting what she believed to be a Dark Knight, she turned her attention to the other girls and said, "Hey guys, something is coming."

Donovan was in no rush, and took his time on approaching the Hero's Party, for his heart had a bit of fear in it.

The reason why it had some fear in it was because not long after he had agreed to be the Demon King's Black Knight was he shown what the Hero and his companions looked like, and to his surprise and horror, they were people he knew.

While their bodies may have become more mature, Donovan could still tell who they were, and that's what troubled him greatly. They were all good people, and while he may not be close to four of them, he had never heard bad things about those four or the ones he was friends with, so the thought of possibly killing them disturbed him.

However, because Lord Arzakol had casted an illusion on himself to pose as the Hero's party, there was still a chance he might have been imagining things, but he didn't plan on getting his hopes up because he didn't want to be saddened when it turns out to be actually them.

After he made it about halfway to their camp, Donovan saw them. He saw Shannon, Noelle, Marianna, Gabrielle, Xenovia, Jacob, and Angel. All of the people he was secretly hoping wasn't here, were here.

It made no sense to him because he had spoken to Angel five days ago, but he had quickly assumed that time on Earth and the time on Atalan were different.

As he continued his slow approach, Donovan said to himself. "All I have to do right now is drive them back. After I do that, then I can start thinking of some sort of plan to save them, and once I'm done doing that, then we can go home. There's no reason for us to kill one another."

Had these people been complete strangers then Donovan would have most likely been okay with killing them, for the world is cruel and unfair, but because he knew who they are, he had decided that he would not take their lives, and that he would somehow save them. He may not have an idea how yet, but he believed that there is a chance where they all could come out of this alive.

Eventually, he came to a halt, but that was when he was about twenty meters from the camp. Upon him coming to a complete stop, Donovan lifted his sword off of his shoulder and planted the tip of the blade into the gravel below him.

After he had done this, Angel called out to him. "Does the Demon King think we're a joke? What were they thinking sending a lone Dark Knight to deal with us?"

"I am not a Dark Knight, I am Lord Fane, the Black Knight of the Demon King Lucifer, and she has asked to me deal with you all." Donovan declared in a bit of a firm manner. He had managed to say those words smoothly, but deep down he was a little giddy, and it wasn't just because he was speaking to people he knew, it was because he finally got to use his new name and title.

The thought of using his actual name had crossed his mind, but because he didn't know how they'd react to this information, he had decided to use this new identity. That way if things did turn out bad they wouldn't be mad at him, Donovan Rutherford, they would be mad at Fane the Black Knight.

At this, some confusion surged throughout the Hero's party.

"A Black Knight?" Noelle said aloud with a troubled expression. She had been labeled as the Saintess by the demon folk due to her mastery over healing and defensive spells, which was a little bit of shock due to the clothing she wore. "Have we ever encountered a Black Knight before?"

She wore a white strapless gown with a sheer slit up to the thigh on her left side, revealing a long, shapely leg ending in a pair of tall, pointed heels on each foot. On her shoulders, she wore an open-chested jacket with a collar that extends down to her arms as sleeves with frilled cuffs.

She also wore a single ring on her right index finger that had a large blue jewel, and the only other jewelry she was wearing in addition to this was a pair of small golden hoop earrings. She wore a long mantle that has two layers, lined with fur at the collar, it splits into an outer layer going to her hip, and the outer edge was gold. There was also a long blank layer that draped to her ankles.

Her chest, in addition to her white gown, was covered by a black zippered bodice, with three metal studs linking attachment strings from the left to a single stud on the right. The bodice ended just under her large breasts, which are displayed with practically little modesty. Majority of her cleavage was uncovered, and there was a brooch on her white gown that displayed a symbol Donovan wasn't familiar with at all, but he had assumed it had something to do with the Gods.

"Not that I know of." Answered a girl that had long black hair that reached her lower back, dark brown eyes, and a smile that he believed could melt anyone's heart. Her name was Shannon, and she was an old flame of his.

Donovan and her used to go out back in their sophomore year, but things didn't work out, and they ended up breaking up, but they didn't drift apart. They had basically become friends, and had stayed that way since, but there had been times where he wished they could get back together.

As for her attire, it was by far the most modest one out of them all. Unlike the others who revealed either a little bit of skin or a lot of skin, Shannon wore a suit of leather armor that was brown and looked great on her. It also went well with her bow.

"Still don't you think we're being made fun of? I mean, sending just a knight to deal with all of us? It's like insulting as hell." Marianna questioned with an annoyed looked that she had sent Donovan's way. She was the only Hispanic person in the group, but she didn't have brown hair like she did back on Earth. No, instead she had wavy purple hair with greenish purple colored eyes.

She was, at least from what he recalled, to be one of the most popular girls in school, but also a very vulgar one as well because of what she says. She had been labeled as the Bomb Queen due to her use of fire and wind magic.

Her attire was a dress consisting of a navy blue tunic top with gold accents and a pale blue skirt with open sides, black heels and over matching thigh-high stockings that had garter belts. The top revealed a decent amount of cleavage, and is held with a gold choker with blue and red jewels. Over this, she wore a white overcoat with black and gold accents and matching pauldrons. She was also wearing a black headband with an orange jewel over her forehead to keep her long hair in place, and had a staff-like scepter in her left hand. For cosmetics, which was something Donovan didn't expect to see due them being all gorgeous women was purple lipstick and nail polish.

Donovan said nothing in response, but them talking as if he was an insect did get on his nerves a little. However, he could understand where they were coming from since they did manage to kill the supposed legendary black dragon Albion.

Angel, who hadn't said a word after Donovan's declaration, broke away from the group and approached him.

"Because you decided to come at us by your self and like a true knight, I'll give you the satisfaction of dueling me." He stated with a smile as he unsheathed his blade and entered a top guard stance.

Donovan frowned upon hearing this, but Angel didn't see this because his helmet concealed it.

"I have no wish to duel, I have come-"

Whatever else Donovan was going to say was cut off by Angel suddenly attacking him, his movement was quick and had he not instinctively raised his left arm, he would have probably had a sword lodged into his neck.

"Wow, for someone wearing some bulky armor, you're pretty quick!" Angel said in a slightly impressed tone as he moved away from Donovan, who was still a little shocked that he had almost been cut down there by him. "Are you just that strong, or is made of Mythril?"

"You tried to kill me.." Donovan muttered with a few traces of surprise in his voice.

"I mean yeah, you're an evil guy, it seems pretty reasonable to attack ya." Angel stated, not exactly understanding why he sounded so surprised by what had just happened.

"... I see." Came Donovan's response before grabbing ahold of his blade, which happened to be longer and wider than Angel's sword making his look somewhat like a toothpick when comparing the two.

Seeing Fane do this and enter a fighting stance made Angel smile a little. It had been far too long since he had gone against someone who could fight him one on one and for some reason, he had a good feeling that this guy was going to be able to do that.

With no more words left to be said, Angel began to slowly move to Donovan's right, while Donovan moved to his left. They were like two samurais, but unlike Angel who was in an actual sword fighting stance with his sword pointing at his opponent, Donovan had his sword resting at his side, and the tip pointed directly at the ground.

Eventually, their circling of one another came to a stop, and Angel attacked.

Donovan raised his shield and blocked the strike, but before he had a chance to launch his counterattack, Angel followed up with another overhand strike. The fight played out like this with Donovan mostly being on the defensive, and Angel being on the offensive.

Each attack of his that he sent was met with cheers of encouragement while Donovan received nothing. No one cheered him on.

After blocking/deflecting several more of his attacks, Donovan swung his sword in upwards arc only to hit nothing, but the air, for Angel easily evaded it. He then tried to follow the attack with a forty-five-degree swing only for him to once again hit nothing.

Seeing that he had exposed more of his body, Angel attempted to end it by lunging forward with his blade aimed at Donovan's exposed chest, but the blade was easily knocked away by his shield.

"This guy must be incredibly strong." Angel thought as he put a few feet between them. "His attacks may be predictable, but because he can move his body with ease, I can't land a single hit."

In all honesty, it was a little infuriating to him that he couldn't land any blows, but this had also excited him, and made him have a bit of respect for the pureblood he was fighting. He had faced many purebloods, throughout his time being here and there was only a handful who lasted long in a one versus one, so this was a little refreshing.

"I need him to come to me." Is what Donovan thought upon seeing Angel get some distance between them. "He's by far more skilled than me, so I need to wait for an opportunity to present itself, and then strike when it does. If I do that, then I can beat him."

While Donovan was a little mad at him for attacking him with the intent to end his life, he still had no intentions of killing him. His plan was to either disarm or cripple Angel, which was probably not the smartest idea since he was aiming for his life, but he couldn't kill his friend, it just didn't bode well with him.

It wasn't long after Angel moved away from Donovan that he moved back, but unlike before, he had his blade slightly in front of and above his head.

Assuming that he was going to attack in an overhand, Donovan raised his shield to block the attack, but no strike came, for it was a feign. Angel's real attack was sent to the back of his left leg after doing a combat roll.

However, to his, and everyone watching's surprise, the blade didn't cut through his armor at all. In fact, it had done the complete opposite, and bounced off of it.

"What?" Was all Angel could utter before being slashed at by Donovan who had suddenly turned and swung at him with his blade.

"Angel!" The members of the Hero Party yelled upon witnessing him go flying away from the Black Knight.

"Shit, that was just instinct!" Donovan yelled after realizing that he had just hit Angel directly in the chest with all of his might. He didn't mean to hit him that hard, but because Angel had literally tried to cut his leg off, Donovan just reacted by swinging at him. Not to mention he had expected Angel to either evade or catch the attack with his blade.

Concerned that he might have accidentally killed his friend, Donovan moved towards Angel only to be stopped by a blast of lightning that had hit him in the right shoulder, and nearly knocked him over.

"What do you think you're doing, asshole?" Xenovia cried out as he looked over at the members of the Hero party only to see her launch another wave of lightning at him while Shannon and Noelle rushed over to the downed Hero.

Donovan said nothing, but a small part of him wanted to say that he wanted to make sure Angel was alright, but he felt like they wouldn't believe him. He also wasn't given the chance to say this for he was forced to block, and dodge the magic they had sent at him.

Xenovia was a girl with short dark blue hair with yellow eyes, and she had been labeled as the Thunder Priestess for her use of water, and lightning magic. Her attire resembled that of a Shinto shrine maiden's outfit.

Upon reaching Angel's position, Noelle crouched down while Shannon turned around and nocked an arrow and said, "How is he?"

She didn't draw the bowstring back, and shoot at the Black Knight for he hadn't tried to intercept them and was more preoccupied with her friends, but she was ready to do so if he came close.

"He's, he's not good." Noelle answered truthfully and as calmly as she possibly could causing Shannon to look over her shoulder and see that the Black Knight had cut straight through his armor and that his wound was starting to fester.

"He's using a cursed sword!" Shannon yelled in surprise inside her head after seeing the festering wound. "Can you, can you save him?"

"I," Noelle started as she already tried purifying his body only for it to fail. "I honestly don't know. I think I'm going to need help."

"So this was your plan?" Shannon muttered to herself as she looked back at the Black Knight to see him avoid the magic they hurled at him and Jacob's attack with his spear.

Feeling anger swell inside of her, Shannon drew her bow back and fired at the Black Knight only for it to bounce off of his armor, which only managed to upset her more.

"Yeah, we're going to need to go back, my purification isn't working, and neither is my healing, at this rate I'm just going to run out of mana." Noelle declared with shock and surprise in her voice. She had been called the Saintess by thousands if not tens of thousands of people due to her ability to heal practically anything, but for once she was unable to, and this troubled her greatly.

"Are you sure?" Shannon questioned as she loaded another arrow and infused some magic in it and fired it at the Black Knight. She didn't want to teleport back to one of the several kingdoms, for that meant they'd lose all of this progress, and would have to sneak back into the Demon King's territory again, but if Noelle was sure, then she wouldn't complain.

"Yes, I am sure." Noelle affirmed, this time there was a bit annoyance in her voice.

At this, Shannon released a sigh before relaying the information via by shouting at her other companions.

After Shannon told the others about the plan, the girls who were throwing magic after magic at Donovan combined their magic and threw that at him before grouping up with the others and teleporting out.

Once they were gone, Donovan let a sigh of sadness escape his lips. He had managed to survive and drive them back, but that was mostly because of his equipment. Had it not been for the armor he wore, he would have most certainly died, that was something he was sure about.

"I have to get stronger, if I am going to save them, then I need to be stronger, and better than them." He told himself with a trace of resolve in his voice.

However, there was a part of him that wondered if he would even have a chance to save them, for Jacob's words to him before retreating were that this wasn't over. He didn't know what that meant, but from his tone, it sounded like he had become their mortal enemy.

Deciding that he could worry about it later, Donovan turned around and began walking back to the Demon King's castle. He would use teleport, but in order to do that, he needed to have a teleport scroll. There was another way, which was the way the Hero Party teleported out of here, but in order to do that, he needed to know Spatial Magic, but that was something he apparently couldn't learn.

The only magic he could use/master was fire, lightning, and wind magic, which in reality sounded pretty basic, but he was fine with it because he was never able to use magic back on Earth, and it's better than others who are born in this world unable to use magic.

With the sun setting, Lord Fane the Black Knight of the Devil King Lucifer walked down the gravel road in silence, a path he'd become very familiar with in the months to come, for the fate he had chosen was going to be a lonely, and uneasy one like all the Black Knights before him.