Chapter III: Training With Demons...
----------------------------------------
As Donovan swung his blade downwards arc at the Demon King, the Demon King easily avoided the attack and tripped him.
"Sloppy." She declared in a voice filled with disappointment as she looked down at him.
Donovan said nothing, and rose to his knees before suddenly turning his body and attempting to slash at her legs. The attack failed, he had managed to hit only the air, for she had seen it coming from miles away.
After he had done this, Donovan rose to his feet and continuously attacked her, but his blade never reached her, for she just avoided all of his strikes, which made him look a little pathetic in the eyes of those who were watching.
Eventually, after evading several more of his attacks, the Demon King had enough of this and disarmed him with little to no effort before pointing his blade at his throat.
"While you do have heart, Lord Fane, you lack technique." She stated in a firm tone. "If you are to be our Black Knight, and defeat our enemies, then you must hone your skills."
After saying this, she lowered the blade, and offered it back to him.
"... Understood, Lord Lucifer." Donovan said after multiple seconds of silence as he took the blade, which had made the Demon King's brows furrow, and a look of displeasement appear on her face.
"Something the matter, Lord Fane?" She asked, a tiny trace of concern could be heard in her voice along with curiosity.
"It's nothing." He answered swiftly.
The Demon King was silent, but she could tell even with his helm covering his facial features that something was troubling him. However, she had no intentions of finding out what, at least at this very moment.
"Very well, if it's nothing, then it's nothing." She asserted before turning around and walking away. She believed that they had spent enough time practicing his swordsmanship for the day, and that it was time for him to move onto his training with Lord Arzakol.
As she left the courtyard, the high-ranking members of her court that had been watching approached her and whispered numerous things to her while Lord Arzakol approached the downcasted Black Knight.
"You know," Lord Arzakol started, which had gained Donovan's attention. "I wouldn't beat yourself up about not landing a single blow on her, Lord Lucifer has been around for a very long time, so she has had a lot of time to hone her skills with a sword."
"If she is so good with a blade, then why does she need me?" He questioned in response to this information while glancing at him.
Lord Arzakol's outfit had changed from when he had first met him. Originally, when they had first met, he wore black robes that had hid all of his features, but now he wore some elegant clothing.
His attire consisted of a black jacket with silver shoulder pads, and four silver buttons that went from his neck all the way down to his waist along with a silver trimming to match it. On top of this, he wore a dark red sash that appeared to be wrapped around his waist three times before going over his shoulder and wrapping again for the fourth time. On top of the sash was a brown and silver belt, which secured it in place and prevented it from falling off. He was also wearing black gloves that matched his jacket. His trousers were black and appeared to be stuffed neatly into his knee-high black boots that looked like black boiled leather armor. Strapped directly onto his knees, were black leather padding to match it.
Lord Arzakol said nothing at first, and understood where he was coming from to a certain degree. "Because the prophecy states that should Lord Lucifer engage in combat with the Hero she'll die."
Donovan didn't say anything, but he highly doubted that would actually happen, since he was able to beat the Hero in single combat, and his movements were nothing alike compared to the Demon King.
While he may have been strong, and cunning, the Demon King was that and more, so he just had a hard time picturing her getting defeated by Angel, at least in a one versus one.
"Anyways, I'm not upset about that, I've already acknowledged that she is more skillful than me, I'm more upset with how her advisors were looking at me." Donovan declared, breaking the silence that had filled the atmosphere.
Again, Lord Arzakol could understand where he was coming from, for he was once in a similar position. Although, this was a long time ago, but he nonetheless could understand why he was bothered by the gazes they were giving him. They were looking at him disapproving eyes, and doubtful eyes that would make anybody feel worthless.
"Ignore them," Lord Arzakol confessed. "they're just concerned for their leader, and a few of them had never wielded a sword before, so you shouldn't let their eyes or thoughts affect you."
Deciding to listen to his advice, Donovan nodded his head.
"Good, now shall we begin?" Lord Arzakol asked before teleporting the two of them to his studies, which was basically a massive library due to it having thousands of books, and scrolls along with a few other things.
Upon arriving at his studies, Donovan set his blade on the table next to him and took his helmet off. He would have sheathed his sword, but in order for him to do that, one must have a scabbard, which was something he didn't have.
The sword he wielded was a Cursed Sword called Heartsbane, and it had been given to him by the Demon King, who had kept it in her very own spatial dimension pocket. How it had earned the name Heartsbane was a long story, but in short, an old human knight had to kill the one they loved, which was apparently a witch, and upon their blood touching the blade it had become tainted/cursed.
It was supposedly already a magic sword, but because it had been long time since the Demon King had talked about it, she wasn't quite sure. Regardless, of what it once was, the blade is extremely dangerous and should be handled with care, for once cut by it, the person has several curses placed on them, and has their heart eaten away by these curses.
After watching Donovan place his helmet next to Heartsbane, Lord Arzakol handed him a tome and said, "As you already know, there are many categories in magic, but the only ones you can master are Pyrokinesis, Aerokinesis, and Electrokinesis. We've already established that, but that doesn't mean you're limited to that, and never be able to bend water to your will."
"I know." Donovan acknowledged. "You had told me before that there are some other ways such as a scroll."
"I did, but I had only told you about using a scroll, I had yet to reveal the other ways." Lord Arzakol stated with a grin. "Now, open the tome."
Listening to his command, Donovan opened the tome. Upon him doing this, he was able to sense a bit of magic radiating from it, which in all honesty wasn't much, but it was enough to attract his attention.
"You can feel it too, right?" Lord Arzakol asked causing Donovan to glance up at him. "This is the difference between tomes, and scrolls. While scrolls are only a one time use, tomes can be used numerous times."
"I see, but why does the magic feel faint?" Donovan question in a curious voice.
"Because eventually, the magic runs out." He affirmed. "If you look at the words, you can see that they're fading. Once the magic is completely gone, so are the words, and the book becomes blank."
"Is that so?" Donovan said with a bit of surprise as Lord Arzakol took the book back and closed it.
"Yes, that is so." He declared before putting the book back and gesturing for him to follow.
The two walked in silence for several seconds before coming to an area that had a bunch of grey orbs that ranged from different sizes.
"Now, you've seen some of the people here walk around with staves or scepters, right?" Lord Arzakol asked Donovan as he picked up one of the many colorless spheres. Donovan said nothing in response, and just simply nodded his head in agreement. "Excellent, now have you ever noticed that on certain ones they had a red, or orange ball?"
Again, Donovan nodded his head.
"Good, I'm sure you know what comes next." Lord Arzakol stated before tossing the sphere to Donovan.
After catching it, Donovan looked at Lord Arzakol who merely gestured at the orb in his hands. It seemed that Lord Arzakol had no intentions of telling him what to do. With him not quite sure what he was supposed to do, Donovan looked down at the crystal-like ball in his hands.
Stolen story; please report.
He couldn't sense any magic or anything radiating from him, so surely he had to do something, but the question was what?
Seeing his confusion made Lord Arzakol grin happily, for it had been far too long since he had taught someone magic, but unfortunately they were on a tight schedule, and Donovan needed to learn as much as he could about magic.
"Focus on the sphere, Lord Fane, and try conjuring up some simple magic like a fireball." Lord Arzakol said in a low tone.
Listening to the commands, Donovan did just that, and felt the mana inside of his body slowly leaving, and it was not long after he started to feel this did the orb begin to change colors. Eventually, after about a minute and a half, the crystal ball changed from its grey color to dark orange.
"Congratulations, you have infused that mana ball with black fireballs, and now it can shoot black fireballs until the ball either breaks, or it runs out of mana." Lord Arzakol declared with a satisfied look.
"Really?" Donovan said in a slightly tired voice as he cast him a curious look. He didn't know if he was supposed to feel like this, but it had felt like his soul had been sucked out of his body, at least to a certain degree.
"Really," Lord Arzakol affirmed. "but I also wouldn't recommend doing this, at least frequently, for it takes a lot of mana to charge it up, and the side effect makes you want to sleep all day. I am supposed to be filling them up over time, but it's such a hassle, so I haven't bothered with them really at all."
As he said the last part, Lord Arzakol gestured towards the humungous pile of grey spheres.
"I understand." Donovan said in response. If the side effect made you want to sleep, then he could understand why he hasn't messed with them, for he would basically be spending the rest of his life sleeping.
With this all said and done, Lord Arzakol moved onto the next thing, which was corrupting his lightning magic, for his flames had already been tainted.
----------------------------------------
Shannon had an exhausted expression written on her face, and felt like she was going to fall asleep at any second now.
It had been about three days since their encounter with the Black Knight, and since then, she has barely gotten any sleep. As for the reason why, it was because she had been waiting for Angel to wake up, and because every time she did drift off to sleep, she would have a dream about the Black Knight.
The dreams she had wouldn't be pleasant, and would be more along the lines of nightmares, for she would dream about him cutting down all of her friends in front of her eyes before killing her.
To make matters worse, this was the first time where her nightmares actually disturbed her. She had plenty in the past, especially when she was younger, but what was so terrifying about these dreams were that it felt so real, and she could see it happening.
She could see this man, no monster, taking all of their attacks as if they were nothing, and then cutting each, and every one of them down with little to no effort. It also didn't help that he didn't say anything too, the Black Knight was a silent being, so she had no idea what he'd be thinking when he did this in her dreams.
If the man expressed some emotions, then she might not have been as scared of him, but because he wore a helmet and was quiet, she saw him as this terrifying demon.
Just thinking about him right now made her shudder.
"I know we've came across a few incredibly strong enemies before, but never have we come across one that was a pureblood." Shannon thought to herself. The enemies she was referring too were some of the more brute monsters like ogres, minotaurs, and a few other creatures that one would expect to be mighty.
"However, even then, none of them were that strong and could take a hit like that from Angel." She told herself with a bothered looked. She had known what she saw, and that was Angel's blade, a legendary sword that could cut through a dragon's hide as if it was a sheet of paper, connect with the Black Knight's left leg and do absolutely nothing to him.
What came next also took her by surprise, for she didn't expect the Black Knight to retaliate, and send him flying like a ragdoll.
"If he's the Black Knight of the Demon King, and was able to beat to Angel in one on one, then what hope do we have at beating the Demon King? He's their subordinate, so surely she's viler than him." Shannon convinced herself after remembering that he was in servitude of the Demon King. She had also heard talks about the Demon King actually being female, but because these were rumors, and words that came from people on the verge of dying after being beaten to near death by Angel, she wasn't sure, but Lord Fane confirmed this.
As she continued to think about the Demon King and her Black Knight, the sound of the doorknob turning could be heard, which was soon followed by the sound of the door opening.
Entering the room was a young woman with an innocent/cute face who had curly blonde hair and blue eyes. In her hair on the left side right between her eyebrow and ear was a white flower that had five-petals, she also had on a circlet, but there were no gemstones in it or anything of that sort. Her choice of attire was a simple snow white gown, but that didn't hide her woman's body. Yes, despite having what some would say a childlike face, she had been gifted with a voluptuous body.
Upon seeing the woman, Shannon said with a bit of surprise in her voice. "Lady Irillith."
The now named woman flinched due to her being caught off guard by her words, for she had assumed Shannon was asleep, but she had quickly recovered from her taken back state. "Miss Shannon, you startled me."
"Sorry," Shannon apologized with sincerity. "I didn't mean to do that."
"Nono, I'm not upset with you, I just didn't think you were awake." Irillith explained with a shake of her head to signify that she wasn't mad at her.
Seeing this made Shannon smile a little bit before asking her. "So, I'm assuming you have come to check up on Angel and to see his condition?"
"Y-Yes." The woman answered sheepishly with reddening cheeks. "I would have come a lot sooner, but-"
She stopped and let loose a tired sigh. "-I have had a lot of matters to attend to, and just couldn't come down here, at least not without angering my father."
"It's fine. It's not like I had been expecting you to do that." Shannon replied with a shrug of her shoulders. She had never been a Goddess, so she didn't know what they go through every day, but what she had been in her life was a daughter, and understood that it isn't wise to upset your father.
Not exactly knowing what to say, the Goddess said, "Thank you." before turning her attention to the male sleeping on the bed and approaching him.
When she had seen him, she knew he was the one, so it was a little shocking to see him in this state.
"Who did this to him?" Irillith asked in a low tone that had only a tiny trace of curiosity in it.
"Lord Fane, the Black Knight of the Demon King." Shannon answered in a solemn manner.
The Goddess said nothing, but she was surprised to hear this information, for she hadn't heard about this person before, and believed that there were only a few people who could best the Hero, and that was the Demon King, Lord Arzakol, Lady Nyx, and two others.
Wait, now that she had thought about this, she had remembered her father speaking about how there will be no more summonings anymore very recently, so could this person possibly be the reason why he brought it up in the meeting.
"... What did this Lord Fane look like?" Irillith questioned as she gently placed her hand on Angel's chest, which happened to be covered in bandages, and began to apply some healing magic.
"I don't know," Shannon answered with a bothered expression. "he wore a helmet, but he was tall, and looked like a football player."
"Football player?" Irillith said in confusion. She had never heard that before and no idea what she meant by that.
Hearing her confusion made her remember that these people had no idea what football was. "Basically broad shoulders, and muscular."
"Oh," Came Irillith's response. She had decided that she would speak to her father about this, and see if he knew the identity of Lord Fane. If it turns out that he is a person summoned from another world, then she would ask him why he gave this Lord Fane his blessing, and how her once dear sister figured out how to do summonings as well as a few other things.
----------------------------------------
After finishing his training for the day with Lord Arzakol, Donovan returned to his room.
It was a large room, with a big bed that could fit ten people on it, but besides that it was mostly empty. Sure, it had some furniture and the armor stand for the armor he wore, but those things didn't really stick out, which was why he felt like his room was empty.
"And now I do nothing for three hours." He thought to himself as he sat down on his bed while setting his sword on it next to him. He hadn't bothered getting out of his armor yet, for he hadn't decided yet if he was going to stay in his room.
He had also assumed that he had broken a spring, for he had heard a somewhat loud noise upon sitting down, but he wasn't quite sure, since he had never broken a bed spring before. Nonetheless, he wasn't that concerned for it, for he was sitting at the very end of the bed, which was a decent distance away from the head of the bed.
With that in his mind, Donovan grabbed the sides of his helm and took it off of his face. After he had done so, he turned it around to where he was staring at the part that protected his face.
"When I look at this, I can understand why people see me as a villain." He muttered to himself as the thought of someone approaching him while wearing the helmet crossed his mind.
Placing the helmet next to his sword, Donovan then picked up the blade, and began to examine it.
"And this definitely makes me look like a villain." Donovan whispered as he ran his fingers alongside it, while inspecting the design and engravings.
As he continued to check the blade out, someone knocked on the door.
Bringing his hand to a stop at the near tip of the sword, Donovan looked at the door, and said in a loud and clear tone. "Come in."
Listening to his command, the person entered, and to his surprise, it was Lady Nyx, who immediately let loose a giggle upon seeing him, for the sight of the heavily armored human sitting on the bed was hilarious to her.
Donovan simply frowned while raising an eyebrow. "Is there something you need?" He didn't know what she was laughing at, but he found it to be a little weird.
She didn't say anything, and just continued to laugh at him for some time, which had made his frown deepen. He wasn't much one for hitting girls, but for once, he found it to be very appealing.
Eventually, her laughter came to a stop, and she spoke. "Ah, I'm sorry, I just wasn't, I just wasn't expecting to see you like that."
"Okay?" Donovan replied with uncertainty in his voice, not exactly sure how he was supposed to respond to that.
"Anyways, I had seen your training with Lord Lucifer, and saw that you looked trouble, so I'm here to cheer you up." Lady Nyx declared as she approached the Black Knight.
"I see, well I appreciate what you're trying to do, but that's not needed." Donovan said in response. He didn't know what she had in mind, but he had an idea, and he had no intentions of having sex with her. Sure, he may have had some perverted thoughts about her, but that didn't mean he'd actually do it if given the chance, he just wasn't that kind of guy.
Plus, the thought of them having sex just to make him feel better upsetted him.
"Oh don't be like that, you have yet to experience really anything in this world, so don't you want to try it out and see what it's like?" She questioned after climbing onto the bed and wrapping her arms around him.
Now, had he been on Earth, Donovan would have most definitely felt the weight of her and her feminine parts pressed against his back, but because he was on Atalan, he basically felt nothing. If he wanted to, he could easily stand up without any problems whatsoever.
He also wasn't exactly sure what she was referring to, for he doubted sex here would be that much different than on Earth. Of course, there would be some differences, but it wouldn't be this whole new type of world thing, no he just couldn't picture that.
With curiosity in his voice, Donovan looked over his shoulder, and said to her. "What exactly are you wanting to do?"
At this, Lady Nyx grinned.