Chapter XVIII: Rescuing The Princess, And...

As the dwarfs charged towards him, Donovan was still curious as to why he wasn't able to cast any magic, he decided to put that aside for now, and focus on staying alive.

Glancing to his right, Donovan leaped onto the large bed, and quickly crawled across it, and then climbed out of it to prevent himself from being cornered as a few of the dwarves voiced their surprise and commands to get him.

He may have been stronger and faster than the dwarves, but he wasn't a master in hand to hand combat, and had nothing to defend himself. He could of course try to disarm one of them, but that was a brave move in his mind, and he wasn't feeling very bold.

Deciding to go for his weapon, Donovan dashed towards his blade, which happened to be near his armor, but as he did so, one of the dwarfs, who was in the back of the group, got in his way.

"Where do you think you're going!?" The dwarf cried out triumphantly as he attempted to hit Donovan, but ended up missing due to him dodging the attack.

After he avoided the strike, Donovan moved closer as he swung his right hand at the dwarf's head, which connected with the man's face because of it coming in faster than he could react. He also didn't have to elevate or lower his hand, for the dwarf was pretty much around Donovan's chest level.

The punch had not only enough force to cave in his helmet, and knock the man out, but to also send him flying to his left and into one of his comrades who was completely caught off guard by this event.

Once he was out of his way, Donovan moved towards his blade as one of the dwarves tried to intercept, but failed, for Donovan was too fast for him.

It wasn't long before Donovan covered the distance between him and his blade, and upon reaching his sword, he grabbed the hilt of it and said as he spun around to face them. "By the way, I didn't plan on going anywhere,"

He trailed off before moving and cutting down the two closest dwarves, who tried to react, but were too slow. "and that's because you guys said something about Camillia, so I gotta find out what exactly you did to her."

As the dwarf who was knocked down by their unconscious comrade slowly got up, the dwarf who was leading the party clicked his tongue, and said, "Tch, even if you're fast, it's still a seven on one fight, so do you honestly think that-"

"Thirty-five." Donovan curtly interrupted.

"What?" The leader said along with a couple of them others, who were confused by the random number.

"Thirty-five, it's the number of people's lives I have taken today." He declared in a voice that lacked any emotion, and a glint in his eyes that sent a small shiver down most if not that, all of their spines. "I, unfortunately, didn't know their names or anything about them, but it was something I had to do, which brings me to the main point."

Pausing for a second, Donovan exhaled before resuming. "I have already stained my hands in blood, so I have no problem doing it again, I may not enjoy it, but if it means saving someone who for some reason cares deeply about me, then I will do it. If I have to kill most of you to find out what I need to know, I'll do it."

At this, the leader of the group became angry/annoyed and shouted as he rushed towards him by himself. "Y-You, you asshole! You'll pay then for all the lives you have taken today!"

It had appeared that he was the only one who believed Donovan was lying, since he was the only one charging him, but everyone else seemed to believe his words, for they made no efforts to move, and stood still with fear and concern flooding their minds.

After easily evading the dwarf's first swing, Donovan deflected the next one without even batting an eye before grabbing ahold of the man's head with one hand and slamming it down onto the ground.

The action he took was a brutal one, but he believed he didn't use enough force to kill the man. No, Donovan believed that he had rendered the dwarf unconscious, but to the six others, it looked like he had just killed their friend in the most cruelest manner they have ever seen.

Once he was finished; Donovan let go of the man's head, and tilted his head back and looked up at them which had caused the majority of them to flinch.

If any of them were still unsure if the person before them was the Black Knight, they were no longer uncertain, for what they were seeing before them wasn't a human. It was a demon, no a monster, in the disguise of a human.

As he stood up, and started to approach them, a few of them voiced their thoughts as they aimed their shakey weapons at him.

"S-Stay back! I, I'm warning y-you!"

"St-Stop! Come an-any clo-closer, and I, I'll cut you down!"

Despite offering these threats, and warnings Donovan continued to slowly close the little distance between them, which almost made them attack, but before any of them did make a move, the doors to Donovan's room came flying open.

The people who came barging into Donovan's room, was none other than Sir Azath, and Sir Razzoth who weren't wearing their armor and were armed with their swords, and a handful of the palace guards.

Upon them entering, one of the palace guards shouted at the top of his lungs. "What the hell is going on in here!?"

Meanwhile, Sir Azath yelled in concern along with Sir Razzoth.

"Lord Fane, are you alright!?"

"Lord Fane, is everything okay!?"

Realizing he needed to prevent them from killing the intruders, Donovan answered swiftly. "I'm fine, just capture these men!"

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It was a little tedious, but in the end, they were able to capture two of the six dwarves, and not long after they did this, did Donovan, Sir Azath, and Sir Razzoth feel as if all their mana was gone.

In total though, they had captured four since two of them were unconscious, but that was beside the point, the point was that they had two of them were conscious and in talking condition.

As Donovan let out a sigh, and started to approach the two apprehended dwarves, one of the palace guards approached Donovan, and said in an apologetic tone. "Apologies, Lord Fane, for not arriving sooner, I hope you can forgive us."

"It's fine, really. I had expected something like this to happen, so you shouldn't get too worked up about this." Donovan replied in a disinterested tone before looking at the two dwarves who were on their knees with their heads hanging low.

While Donovan had said this, a few Dark Knights gathered outside the room to see what was going on along with two of Lady Nyx's attendants. However, Donovan didn't give them much attention.

The palace guard who had approached the Black Knight smiled a little upon hearing this, and said in response "While it's unfortunate you had expected something like this to happen, I am happy to let you know that we'll be interrogating them thoroughly. However, in the meantime we should probably relocate you, for sleeping in this room is probably not the wisest of choices."

Donovan in response looked at the man, and frowned before speaking in a slightly serious voice. "These men tried to kill me, and have important information that I need, so I will be asking them a few questions if you don't mind."

At this, the dwarf shook his head. "I'm sorry, I do understand your reason for wanting to question them, but these men are the prisoners of the Empire, so we'll be handling their questioning."

Donovan narrowed his eyes upon being told this. "Are you joking? I was the one who detained them, so if anything they're my prisoners, not yours."

"These people are members of the Empire, and have committed crimes in the Empire's lands, not yours." The dwarf pointed out in a firm tone. "Therefore they're our prisoners, and we'll be the ones interrogating them first."

As the atmosphere in the room became tense, Donovan's grip on his blade tightened a bit.

Sir Azath and Sir Razzoth, who weren't that far away from the two of them, had witnessed Donovan's grasp on his blade become tighter and were curious if he was going to do what they were thinking he was going to do.

If he did plan on attacking them, then they'd most definitely assist, for he is their leader, but what they wanted to know was why Donovan really wanted to interrogate the captured dwarves.

They could understand if he was wanting to find out who sent them, but they didn't see him as someone who'd care for these type of things. However, that was because they barely knew anything about him, and have only seen a few emotions come out of him.

With his blade at the ready, Donovan opened his mouth to speak, but before any words could leave his mouth, someone else spoke.

"Does anyone mind telling me what's going on, and why the atmosphere here feels very heavy?" Came a feminine voice, which caused Donovan to look towards the door, and see none other than Lady Nyx entering the room with a bit of a peeved expression written on her face.

Sir Azath and Sir Razzoth were surprised to see her, but that didn't stop them from greeting her with a small bow. Of course, she didn't pay them any acknowledgment, and kept her gaze onto the person who was causing the room to feel heavy, which happened to be Donovan.

"Lady Nyx." Donovan welcomed in a slightly curt tone that didn't go unnoticed by the woman.

"Oh my, who was the one that got you all riled up to where you're greeting me like that?" Lady Nyx asked with only a bit of humor in her voice.

"Them." He answered simply as he nodded at the two dwarf assassins that were conscious, who in return shuddered slightly.

"Why? What did they do? Besides trying to kill you of course." Lady Nyx asked after glancing at them.

The dwarf who had been speaking with Donovan didn't say anything, but he couldn't help from wondering if there was some other motive for him wanting to question them right now at this very moment.

Seeing that he had all eyes on him, Donovan took a deep breath. If he told the truth, then he most definitely would be able to question them about what they did to Camillia, but a small part of him feared that this would also cause him some trifling problems that he honestly didn't need.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury to dwell on his thoughts about how he wanted to proceed, for the longer he sat there thinking, the more danger she could be in.

"Earlier they mentioned something about Camillia, the Emperor's daughter, and I didn't understand what they said, so I wanna know what they meant." Donovan declared in a firm tone that had no traces of joking in it at all.

The palace guard stared at Donovan for a long time after hearing this, he looked for any signs of joking, and after finding none, he said in his own serious voice. "Are you trying to say the Princess was behind this attack on you?"

"What? no, that's not what I'm saying at all!" Donovan said in surprise before becoming a little irritated. "I'm saying that they had done something to the Princess and that I'm trying to find out what it was."

At this, the dwarf let out a huff of air. He wasn't sure if Donovan was bullshitting him, and was tempted to say that what he's saying is a bunch of lies, and nonsense, but then started to wonder why he would say this stuff unless it was true?

"Alright, I'll let you talk to them, but I'll be watching, so if you try any funny business, I'll arrest you too, that clear?" The dwarf stated after several seconds of thinking.

"Crystal." Donovan affirmed.

Camillia had a troubled expression hidden under her veil as she laid in the large bed. She didn't know how long it had been since she arrived at Lord Pavus' home, but it felt like hours, which was practically destroying her hope of someone coming to her rescue.

"What am I thinking?" She asked herself as she turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "No one is going to come to my aid. Not Fane, not my father, nor his guards, so why am I having wishful thoughts?"

Camillia wasn't one for negative thoughts, but she couldn't stop herself from being like this. She believed what happened was because of her own carelessness, and because of that, she felt she shouldn't be having these types of thoughts.

"If I had been smarter than I wouldn't have gotten myself in this position, but because I acted like an idiot, I've basically ruined everything." She told herself as the urge to cry slowly came back.

"I shouldn't have done that, but I thought I could be like them. I thought I could be this great warrior who could take on multiple enemies at once!" She stated as tears started to swell up in her eyes.

"I just wanted to show that I could handle myself in those types of situations..." She said as the tears started to pour out of her eyes and fall down her cheeks.

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Meanwhile, Donovan came to a stop not that far in front of the gate that led to Lord Pavus' estate, which was an extremely large house made out of stone. He was cladded in his armor and was accompanied by three Dark Knights who were standing behind him.

The reason why he only had three people behind him and not a small army was because they wouldn't attract as much attention compared to three dozen palace guards, and because they didn't have time to waste.

It would have taken time to gather a large number of palace guards, and by the time they were done gathering them, the word of their plans could have spread by then, and Donovan couldn't afford to risk that. He needed to get to Lord Pavus' home, and he needed to get there fast.

Taking a deep breath, Donovan spoke in an emotionless tone. "Like I said earlier, you see anyone armed with a weapon kill them immediately, and if they throw down their weapon, kill them regardless. As for the servants, I leave that choice up to you, just locate Princess Camillia."

"Understood, Lord Fane." The three Dark Knights stated before following behind their leader, who resumed walking towards the gate that had eight armored dwarfs with two stone golems standing before it.

As they came closer one of the dwarfs stepped forward, and said in a prideful tone. "Halt! My Lord has made it clear that no one is allowed to see him, so turn around and leave! If you fail to comply with this command, then we will use lethal force."

Donovan in response to this declaration, pulled out his blade that was on his back, which caused the three Dark Knights, who were with him to unsheathe their swords, and take their shields off of their backs.

Seeing them do this made the dwarves pull out their own weapons and enter fighting stances as the stone golems' eyes turned from blue to red.

Unfortunately, that was all they were able to do, for after they had done this, did Donovan swing his blade horizontally, and cut down the eight dwarfs and two stone golems with wind magic.

As their bodies collapsed, Donovan swung his sword two more times, this time in an 'x' formation that was directed at the metal gate, which fell apart with ease due to it not being able to withstand his wind magic.

With the gate now out of the way, Donovan and the three Dark Knights continued to make their way to the estate and soon entered it by burning the large doors down. Anyone who stood in their way, or tried to get in their way, was killed mercilessly. It was basically a massacre; the guards who tried to stop the four of them didn't stand a chance, especially with Donovan in the lead, and those who did try to flee either barely managed to get away, or didn't get away at all.

It wasn't long after they entered the estate did Donovan apprehend one of the guards, and demand him to show them where they were keeping Camillia. Of course, the guardsman attempted to play dumb, and act like he had no idea what Donovan was talking about, but after quickly educating him about his blade and what it does to people, did the dwarf reveal the location she was being held in.

After he had gained this information and made sure the man wasn't bullshitting him, Donovan gave the man a quick death and carved a bloody path to Princess' Camillia's chambers.

Once he arrived at her chambers, Donovan and his Dark Knights were welcomed to the sight of thirteen dwarves, who stood between them and the door that Princess Camillia was behind.

The one who was standing in the middle and leading the group was the maul wielding dwarf that Camillia fought earlier. He had a scowl written on his face.

"The Emperor is truly a pitiable man." The maul wielding dwarf declared in a slightly disgusted tone. "Instead of sending his guards or even coming himself he sends demons to rescue his daughter? By the Stone it is truly a sad sight, and makes it all the more clearer that he is unfit to rule."

Donovan didn't even bother replying and simply unleashed a blast of lightning which bounced off of all of them, and killed them almost instantaneously. He had no words that needed to be said, and highly doubted the man had anything useful to say, so he opted to kill him now and be done with it.

As their bodies crumpled to the floor, one of the Dark Knights said aloud. "I'm starting to wonder if there was a need for us three to tag along, for you basically, just cleared out this place by yourself with just a little bit of help."

"He was able to take on the Hero Party by himself, so do you really think he would have trouble taking on some dwarves?" Another said in response as Donovan moved towards the room while putting his blade back on his back.

"Stay here, please." Donovan requested in a low as he glanced back at them in which the Dark Knights nodded their heads in compliance. He wouldn't have really minded if they did accompany him into Camillia's room, but if he was being truthful with himself than he wanted to be alone with her for a moment. He had a few things he wished to discuss with her, and didn't want others to exactly hear it.

Upon reaching the door, Donovan grabbed ahold of the doorknob, but didn't open the door immediately. He had a lot of things on his mind, and wasn't sure what he was exactly feeling at the moment, so he needed a couple seconds to gather his thoughts.

He had so far kept an emotionless guise up, but underneath that he was feeling a lot of things, and now that everything was pretty much coming to an end, he was starting to feel that stuff a lot more.

After gathering his thoughts and emotions, Donovan let out a sigh before turning the doorknob and opening the door. He then entered the room and was met with the sight of a medium-size windowless bedroom.

Upon seeing that the bed had a canopy, and there was a silhouette of a woman, a small sense of déjà vu entered his mind. He had never rescued a princess before, but when he was younger he remembered reading and putting himself in the main character's spot when it came to fantasy novels, so he couldn't stop himself from feeling like he had done this before.

As he approached the bed, Donovan wondered if he should take his helmet off, but instead chose not to, and just said in a concerned voice. "Camillia?"

At this, the silhouette flinched, and it wasn't long before Donovan felt a pair of eyes on him.

"Fane?" The woman on the bed said aloud in uncertainty as she got out of the bed. "Is that you, Fane?"

"Yes. It is me." He affirmed as she moved the bed's curtains out of the way so she could see if he was actually there.

Upon seeing him, Camillia let out a gasp of surprise. "Y-You, what are you, how did you get here? How did you, how did you know I was here?"

"I asked, and then I killed anyone who stood in my way." He answered bluntly. Donovan was happy to see her, but that didn't erase any of the emotions that were plaguing his heart.

"O-Oh..." Was the response she gave him upon hearing this information. "Are you, are you okay?"

She had asked him this in a cautious manner, for she was unsure what he was feeling or how he would react.

"I'm fine, but why do you care so much about me?" He said in response with a small frown that was hidden underneath his helm. "Like, what did I do to earn this compassion from you? What did I do earn your trust? Just why?"

"That's, that's not easy to answer." She said before letting a sigh escape her lips.

"Explain then." He declared almost immediately. "Try to make me understand because I don't understand why at all."

"I don't know why, I just feel safe around you, okay!?" Camillia practically yelled in frustration. "I feel like I can trust you, I feel you can accept me for who I am, I feel like I, no I think I have feelings for you."

Donovan's eyes went wide upon hearing the last part and couldn't stop himself from saying in shock. "What?"

Camillia didn't repeat herself and instead said with a bit of firmness in her voice. "Y-You heard me."

"Since, since when?" He asked hesitantly with surprise in his voice.

"I'd say for a while now." She answered after a second of pondering.

Donovan said nothing at first, for he wasn't sure what to say, but knew that things had become a lot more complicated now.

Meanwhile, Camillia wondered if she should reveal her face to him and make it clear that she sees him as the one for her.