Jack squinted through the darkness to try and see anyone or anything, which was almost impossible to do. He could faintly see the outline at Dark, so he swung his dagger at him.

There was the sound of fabric being torn accompanied by a grunt of pain.

Dark retaliated by lashing out blindly at him with his fist, hitting Jack in the stomach. All of the air in Jack's lungs were expelled with a wheeze as he doubled over in pain before quickly recovering and stepping to the side to avoid the sword that barely breezed past his cheek.

Abruptly, light flickered to life on the black obsidian walls from torches, allowing Jack to finally see his attacker.

Mark.

His cape was nowhere to be seen, a gash evident in his blue and black shirt with his hand over the small wound, blood dripping from in between his fingers.

"Mark!" Jack ran over to him and examined him for any other injuries.

"I'm fine." Mark waved Jack off, using a piece of his shirt sleeve to bandage his side.

"You idiots!"

Mark and Jack jumped when Anti emerged from the shadows with a menacing grin.

"In this world its kill or BE killed!" Anti lunged towards them with his own dagger that dripped a deadly looking poison, the drips melting through the floor.

"Not yet Anti, be patient." Dark gently placed a hand on Anti's shoulder to stop him. Anti reluctantly lowered the knife, glancing at Dark with a sour expression.

"As entertaining as it would've been to see you two kill each other without knowing it, I have something better in mind." Dark circled around Mark and Jack.

"Like what?" Mark's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion.

"I have a proposition for you. Kill Anti and me, then I'll free your friends and you may leave. We kill you two, and we will keep all of you here. Do we have a deal?" Dark offered Mark a hand to shake.

"Jack?" Mark looked over to his friend for his opinion.

"They don't call me boss for nothing." Jack grinned, rolling his neck which made a soft pop.

"Deal." Mark shook Dark's hand.

Immediately Anti pounced in top of Jack, tackling him to the floor. Dark seemed to calculate his moves, both Mark and Dark circling around each other while trying to decipher each other's weaknesses. 

"You'll never get to see your kingdom or Amy ever again, I'll enjoy watching them both burn." Dark taunted, eliciting a spark of rage inside Mark. He fought his temper down before swinging his sword towards Dark's chest. Dark avoided the attack by jumping back.

"You can't win!" Anti chuckled gleefully from where he had pinned Jack to the floor.

"Watch me." Jack gritted his teeth as he managed to roll over, pinning Anti down before making a clean slice with his dagger across Anti's neck. Anti hissed in pain as he placed a hand around his throat, neon green blood dripping from in between his fingers.

Dark was momentarily distracted when he heard Anti, giving Mark the advantage and allowing him to cut through Dark's side.

"You will PAY!" Dark roared in fury, swinging his sword at Mark. Mark parried, stumbling back due to the amount of force, but managed to keep his defenses up. His side was burning in pain, but he ignored it, focusing on the task at hand.

Jack had knocked Anti out by slamming his head against the floor, standing up and jogging over to Mark to help him.

"Need a hand?" Jack asked Mark.

"Now would be nice." Mark admitted, knocking Dark to the ground. Dark started to get up, wiping blood away from the corner of his mouth, but froze when he saw something on the ground near him.

Anti.

"Anti!" Dark cried, clutching his side as he crawled towards Anti's body lying bleeding on the floor. Anti's right eye had changed from black to neon green due to the cut on his eye.

Mark and Jack exchanged wary glances as Dark delicately lifted Anti's head up before resting it on his lap.

"D-Da-" Anti broke off, blood bubbling from the wound in his neck and down his shirt.

"Shh, I'm right here my king." Dark soothed him, gently brushing Anti's hair out of his face.

"Do you surrender?" Mark spoke up hesitantly with little confidence, unsure if he should or not. 

"Very well....I will bring your friends here." Dark sighed in defeat as he reluctantly lifted Anti's head up and placed it back in the ground before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

He quickly returned with a bewildered Felix and Marzia, shoving them towards Jack before going back to Anti, scooping him up bridal style. Jack talked to Felix and Marzia, distracting both of them.

"Thank you." Dark nodded in appreciation.

"What for?" Mark frowned.

"You showed mercy that I never returned. I apologize for my actions, I will start reconstruction once I take care of Anti. I hope we can maybe form an alliance." Dark gave Mark a small smile before hiding in the shadows.

"Hey Mark!" Felix bumped Mark's fist. He had a bruised eye, but otherwise seemed okay.

"Let's get out of here." Jack grabbed a torch off of the wall, illuminating the way out of the castle. Mark was surprised to find four midnight black horses waiting for them, stomping their hooves impatiently as the group approached them.

"Thanks Dark." Mark whispered to the castle behind him, knowing he would probably hear him. He mounted his horse and took off, Jack quickly catching up with Felix and Marzia following close behind.

"Race ya back to your castle!" Jack challenged once they were riding side by side, his green cape billowing out behind him in the wind.

"You're on!" Mark accepted the challenge with a large grin, kicking his horse's side so it would pick up speed.

"You're gonna have to do better than that to beat the Fabulous Felix!" Felix's horse picked up speed, easily passing by Mark and Jack.

"Go away!" Jack whined at Mark, who was riding beside him once again.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Mark tainted with a playful smirk as he passed Jack.

Felix reached Mark's kingdom first, followed by Marzia, Mark, then Jack.

"Why am I last? I'm the boss!" Jack pretended to pout, folding his arms across his chest.

"Guess your plus one biceps aren't strong enough." Felix shrugged with a smirk as he dismounted.

"Your Majesties!" Matthias frantically ran up to Mark and gave him a quick salute.

"Amy, Signe, Robin, Brad, and Tyler left to go to Dark's domain." Matthias reported in a single breath.

"They're going to kill Dark and Anti." Mark's eyes widened in panic.

"Why is that a problem? Anti is the one who did this." Felix gestured to his bruised eye.

"That and they did almost kill both of us." Jack reminded him.

"Dark promised that we could make an alliance if we left him and Anti live. If they kill them..." Mark trailed off. He didn't have to finish for the others to know the problem.

If Dark and Anti died, they'd have a full on war with the Demons, and they didn't know if they would be lucky enough to survive, especially since after only one battle the kingdom was near ruins.

"Stay here Marzia, we need a ruler to keep some order while we're gone." Felix told her. She nodded, giving Felix a quick kiss on the lips before following Matt to where the surviving subjects were.

"Out of the frying pan." Mark mutters as he mounted his horse again.

"And into the fire." Felix finished as they raced off in hopes to save their friends and queens, as well as stop a war.