Ankoku Kishi Monogatari - Act 1-1 - Summoned By The Demon King To Defeat The Hero

Act 1 – Prologue

It was night. The stars twinkled merrily in the sky. Some falling stars shone brightly as they traveled through the night canopy. One person stood in the dark, fully wrapped in a jet-black plate mail. Black flames gushed out of his body.

He was the Dark Knight.

The black flames spread around creating a dark area. It looked as if there was a hole in the sky. The falling stars headed straight toward the darkness as if sucked by it.

Truthfully, those weren’t falling stars. They were angels with shining wings.

Angels were beings created by Gods of Light. Their counterpart was the Dark Knight who served the Demon King.

Clad in their shining white armor, the angels raised their swords and challenged the Dark Knight. The sky bore witness to a battle between Light and Darkness.

==

「NO WAY! THERE’S BUT A SINGLE ENEMY AND YET, OUR ENTIRE HOLY KNIGHT CAN’T EVEN BRING HIM DOWN! 」

An angel with a flaming sword shouted in outrage. Half of his comrades had been knocked down by a single Dark Knight. There were only a handful of angels left.

Some time had passed since the angels discovered the Dark Knight. As soon as they heard the news of a Dark Knight desecrating a temple of the Goddess in the surface world, they rallied their forces as quickly as they could.

However, they weren’t fast enough. Once they arrived at the temple, they discovered the Dark Knight had already left. They gave chase and the situation eventually escalated into a fight.

Truthfully, it would’ve been strange if things hadn’t escalated. The angel with the flaming sword recalled how the angel battalion lost so many soldiers.

As they attacked the angels fell, one after another, under the might of the Dark Knight. The way he attacked was as if he was merely killing some annoying pests.

It couldn’t even be called a fight.

No fighting spirit could be sensed from the Dark Knight. He probably didn’t even regard the Holy Knights as enemies.

The man in question shook his head at the angels, exasperated.

「Didn’t I tell you before to get the hell out of my way? 」

His voice was so low that anyone would miss it if they didn’t strain their ears to listen.

「IN YOUR DREAMS! AS IF WE CAN FORGIVE AN EVIL BEING LIKE YOU, BASTARD WHO RAIDED THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS! EVERYONE! KIIIIILL!」

The Dark Knight in front of them was the one who

committed the great sin of raiding the Temple of The Beautiful Goddess of Light, Alrena.

They had no intention to forgive the Dark Knight.

「Evil being… I see. It can’t be helped then, come as you may.」

As he said so, the Dark Knight raised his hand.

A big sword appeared out of thin air and he grabbed it tightly. Carved on the black body of that sword were blood-red lines, the pattern resembling blood vessels. Those lines pulsed crimson, giving the sword an ominous feeling.

It took only one swing of that fearsome black sword for the angels to be hit by a shockwave, rendering them completely immobile.

「Such power…」

The angels muttered in shock.

Until a while ago, the Dark Knight hadn’t even used a sword. After pulling it out, the difference in power was so great that they realized he hadn’t been fighting seriously before.

They couldn’t hide their shock at that discovery.

「DO NOT FALTER! EVERYONE, CHARGEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 」

With their courage boosted by that command, the angels spread their wings and resumed attacking the Dark Knight. Their wings shone brightly against the night sky, just like falling stars.

Even more powerful black flames gushed out of the Dark Knight’s body, rushing to repel the angels. The black flames spread through the area, making it look like darkness was painting over a meteor shower.

The angels approached the darkness and, as soon as they got close enough, the darkness swallowed them, shining wings and all…

… Only to violently spit them back out.

Every single one of the angels fell to the earth. Their glow created a trail in the sky, resembling a proper meteor shower.

The angel with the flaming sword stared at the skies as he fell with his brethren.

「You… Monster…」

Hovering calmly under the starry night sky was the figure of the Dark Knight.

Act 1 – Summoned By The Demon King To Defeat The Hero

Chapter 1 : Summoned By The Demon King To Defeat The Hero

Kuroki only saw the darkness of the night when he opened his eyes. He was in an unfamiliar place, and his memories were rather hazy.

(Where am I? This is definitely not my room…）

He was lying on a stone-paved floor, which felt cold to his skin.

… Skin?

(Eh? I’m naked?）

He was completely naked.

Kuroki had no idea where his clothes were. He had never been an exhibitionist, but perhaps he had somehow suddenly awakened that fetish?

(Just when did I take off my clothes?!）

As he wondered what had happened to him, he looked up. Above him was a gloomy-looking sky, no, a very high ceiling.

Kuroki raised his upper body and sat up. The floor he lay on had a strange circle on it that emitted a pale light. He looked around the room and his surprise only grew.

Despite the low light available, he could see several figures inside the room. Moreover, they weren’t human.

There were bird-like creatures, monsters with canine faces, people with tentacles growing from their bodies, even one that looked like a big eye. Although a few of them resembled humans, the majority had very strange appearances that didn’t look human at all.

(In movies and such, people usually scream when they’re put in this kind of situation, right? Just what the hell happened to me?!)

Kuroki was shocked at how ugly most of them looked. Most people would freeze in place, not knowing what to do in such a situation.

His train of thoughts short-circuited as he stared at a monster. So far, the monsters only watched him from afar and didn’t dare approach. Had they come closer, Kuroki would’ve screamed his lungs off. But since they kept their distance, he was able to keep calm.

(What should I do now? … Is this a dream?)

The cold floor beneath him was a clear indicator that no, he wasn’t dreaming. Kuroki’s brain was processing information at full throttle. He started questioning himself if maybe he was in Hell.

Was it possible that he died?

Suddenly, a voice came from above him, startling Kuroki out of his gloomy thoughts.

「Welcome to Our Palace! Our savior!」

(Savior? Who? me?)

Kuroki looked in the direction the voice came from. There was a noticeable gap in the monster enclosure that wasn’t there before. It was incredibly dark, but somehow he could see through it.

Upon a closer look, he could see a Giant Monster standing there. It looked like a bipedal boar with a huge horn on its head and very intimidating tusks growing upside down from its mouth. It also blew a black flame from its nostrils.

The splendid black robe it wore wasn’t enough to hide the violent aura it emitted from its entire body.

The Giant Monster slowly walked past the other monsters and approached Kuroki, bowing its huge head to him.

「This one’s name is Modes, the one who’s called the Demon King and the ruler of the land of Nargol. Savior-dono, may you tell this one your name?」

「Ah… Yes… It’s Kuroki. Yukisaki… Kuroki.」

The Demon King got even closer to Kuroki, who couldn’t withstand the pressure and sputtered out his real name.

「Ooh, so your name is Kuroki-dono! Then, Kuroki-dono! PLEASE SAVE THIS MODES!」

The monster bowed to Kuroki even deeper even though he could kill the human quite easily.

Kuroki couldn’t even understand the situation anymore.

「My apologies, but… I’m still in the dark here. Can you explain why you need me to save you?」

Asked Kuroki in a timid voice.

「Oops, come to think of it… I forgot about the explanation and jumped straight into asking for your help right after summoning you.」

Modes raised his head as he began explaining while slightly averting his face.

「The truth is, right at this very moment, Nargol is being invaded by enemies.」

「Invaded?」

「Yes, invaded. We were invaded by the Goddess of Elios, Alrena, also known as Rena. She summoned a hero from the Spirit World… As if banishing this Modes to Nargol wasn’t enough, she went as far as trying to steal this Modes’s treasure…」

Modes had an extremely sad look on his face as he spoke. Suddenly, he looked at Kuroki and an eerie smile bloomed on his face.

「My request to you, Kuroki-dono, is to defeat that hero.」

Modes asked so without beating around the bush.

Hero, he says? It’s a word that I never heard before except in games and mangas.

As if Kuroki was inside a game…

「A… Hero?」

「Yes, a hero. The Braves or Heroes of this world aren’t strong enough to defeat this Modes. That’s why Rena summoned a hero from the faraway land of the Spirit World.」

Kuroki wanted to complain about the strange game-like development in the story.

“A Hero from another world” was a very common story template. Usually, it was a young Japanese man who got summoned by a Goddess from another world to defeat a Demon King.

And yet, Kuroki’s situation was the exact opposite of that template story.

(It seems I was summoned to this world by the Demon King to defeat the Hero. Aren’t I the villain, then?!）

Kuroki was completely at a loss.

If everything that was happening was a dream, then he wanted to wake up.

「Kuroki-dono, allow this one to show you the figure of that Hero. Mona! 」

「Yes, dear.」

A woman walked out from the crowd of monsters in response to the King’s call. The moment she entered Kuroki’s sight, he felt as if time had stopped.

The owner of the voice was an otherworldly beauty.

Kuroki couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

From her beautiful and glossy black hair that flowed to the end of her back to her abundant, bulging breasts, her beautiful and well-ordered visage was made to capture the hearts of men.

The silhouette of her figure was easily discernible from her thin white robe, showing Kuroki her hourglass figure.

Such a beautiful woman!

Her beauty was even more prominent as she stood amidst the crowd of monsters.

Kuroki tried to hide his manhood as best as he could. He couldn’t show such an unsightly scene to that beauty.

「What do you think of her, Kuroki-dono? Isn’t she beautiful? Her name is Mona, and she’s my beloved wife. Mona, please give your greetings to Kuroki-dono.」

Without batting an eyelash at Kuroki’s unclothed situation, Modes introduced Mona as if bragging about his wife’s beauty.

It was the biggest shock Kuroki had suffered so far.

This world-toppling beauty is Modes’s wife?! It’s like seeing Beauty and the Beast! Honestly, I’m jealous!

Modes, who had an atrocious appearance, showed a lovestruck expression on his face when he looked at Mona. It made Kuroki consider that contrary to how he looked, Modes might not be a bad person.

Kuroki felt his fear toward the monsters abate a little.

「It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kuroki-sama. 」

Mona greeted Kuroki with a smile on her face. A smile so charming it It was as if cherry blossom flowers were blooming behind her.

Kuroki ended up charmed by her smile. [TL : MILF smile?]

「Mona, show the Hero’s appearance to Kuroki-dono with your magic.」

「Yes, dear.」

Mona muttered an incantation as she spread her hands. The area slightly above their heads shone brightly and some sort of mirage appeared above them.

It was the scene of a battle where swarms of monsters rushed toward humans. And yet, those humans were not having trouble defending themselves, despite the overwhelming number of monsters against them.

Kuroki took a good look at them. They were youths around his age, probably not older than twenty if judging by their appearances.

The party of humans consisted of one man and five women. The man swung his sword as he fought against wave after wave of monsters. His attire resembled the ones worn by Heroes in fantasy novels.

The women in the party also had fantasy-esque attires. One was dressed like a swordswoman, one looked like a ninja and the other three were dressed like sorcerers.

Led by the man, they fought vigorously against the army of monsters.

「Kuroki-dono, those humans are the Hero Reiji and his harem party.」

Modes was pointing at the sole man amongst the group of humans. Then, the image of the man enlarged.

Kuroki received another shock. The Hero’s face and name were extremely familiar to him.

「What the…? Is it really him? … Did you say that his name was… Reiji?」

Midou Reiji, known as Reiji.

It was a very unpleasant name to Kuroki.

Upon a closer look, he could identify the women behind Reiji too, although they looked a bit different from how he remembered them.

One of the sorcerers was Mizuoji Chiyuki, the one with the beautiful black hair. The flaxen-haired woman behind her in white robes was Yoshino Sahoko, while the girl with hair in pigtails shooting fire from her hands was Sasaki Rino.

The tomboyish and petite girl swinging around her short sword happily was Todoroki Naomi. And lastly, the swordswoman with the ponytail was Kuroki’s childhood friend, Akamine Shirone.

All of them were famous beauties who attended the same school as Kuroki. And those famous figures were currently fighting in the image before him.