When doing something important, it was easy to lost track of time.
Charcoal was still in the strange monochrome world. He was flying around the pitch black sky, searching for anything that felt wrong. The young dragon was looking down at the rocky mountains, focusing on his senses.
Eventually, he sensed something wrong. The young dragon flew down from the sky, before landing near the target.
It was a pure white cube the size of a house. It produced no glow or reflection whatsoever. Charcoal noted its appearance, before focusing on his paws. He channelled his mana, making them shimmer blue. The young dragon reared his left paw, before slamming them into the cube.
The white cube rippled at the pulse of mana. It shook for a moment, before dissolving into nothing.
Charcoal exhaled his breath. He forgot how long he had been there; he had lost count at one thousand. There were so many seals he had to destroy. He wondered how Furious managed to seal that many.
The more seals they destroyed, the more Charcoal gained Mimir's mind.
Mimir was more than just a researcher. Starting off as average soldier in Merciless' army, Mimir rose in ranks within the first several months. He showed exemplary aptitude for war. When he became Merciless' second-in-command, the greater alpha personally trained him in combat.
After decades under Merciless, Mimir moved on to become part of Wodensfang's army. He served alongside Hidden World dragons to fight against Longfin Empire's adversaries. He retired after reaching 200-year-old to pursue career as a mana researcher.
He was average in that field, but dedication, discipline and connections put him ahead of everyone. Mimir became part of Révélation half a century later. He began as low-level research scientist, and within a century, he became head of a research department.
HECATE department.
Hagiology, Ergokinetic, Corrology, Alchemy, Technology and Exobiology department.
Mimir lost track of his own age when he reached 500-year-old. Unfortunately, his body never developed ability to use foresight. It was one of the very few instances where Night Furies lacked certain mutations to have that happen. This phenomenon was traced back to his mother, whose entire family lacked those mutations.
This lack of ability contributed to his death. Mimir was captured by dragon hunters. He was hit by some sort of substance that knocked him out. The memory became hazy from there, since most of his brains lost their functions.
Furious was telling the truth on Mimir's tale.
'He really want to retire.' Charcoal thought as he looked up to the black sky. 'I guess he still care for his father.'
The young dragon noticed someone flying in the sky. Mimir the ancient Night Fury was heading to him. Charcoal stayed put when the golden-green eyed dragon landed in front of him.
"We got every single one of them!" Mimir exclaimed, before pausing. "At least I think it was everything. There's one last seal we need to break."
"What is it?"
"Me." The golden-green eyed dragon revealed. "Well, not actually me. The last seal is storing my consciousness. I saved them for last so I can guide you through it."
Charcoal was concerned. "Would it... vanish you?"
"I'm already dead anyway. Breaking the last seal would finalise the process." Mimir answered. There was slight discomfort in his posture. "And besides, my consciousness is sort of connected with yours. There won't be any behavioural changes, if that's what you're worried about."
"No! I mean..." The young dragon was unsure. "You'll be gone forever."
"I know. I'll be gone forever." The golden-green eyed dragon nodded. His cheerful expression faded a bit. "... It's better you anyway. At least my body is used for something noble, like getting a girl pregnant and fleeing from my fa- I mean Furious."
Charcoal softened his expression. "I'm sorry."
"No, don't say sorry. You didn't do anything." Mimir assured. "It's the combination of not-being-aware and too-used-with-Hidden-World that got me. I didn't expect humans to actually shooting me down."
There was a long pause. Charcoal was not sure on what to say. He never experienced anything like this. The young dragon wondered if there was another way to save the consciousness. "How long do we have until it reaches the... imbalance threshold?"
The large, illusory pressure gauge appeared once more. It was pointing at 4. Mimir glanced at it. "About half an hour." He answered. "Breaking the last seal should be quick."
"Before we do this, I want to try something."
The golden-green eyed dragon was curious. "What is it?"
"Can we take control of the heart?" Charcoal questioned.
"We technically have, at least partially. The mana we used to destroy the seal comes from the heart." Mimir slowly answered. "We can't stop the process from happening, if that's what you're asking. We need to be outside to do it."
"But we have control over where the mana goes?"
"Yes, we do." The golden-green eyed dragon nodded.
Charcoal focused inward. He expelled the second volume dragon book from his storage mana. It appeared on the ground in front of him with blue flame.
The young dragon opened and checked the table of content. After getting page number, he flipped the pages to reach the one he wanted.
Mimir moved to see the content next to him. The ancient dragon wanted to see what Charcoal had in mind. He watched the young dragon flipping pages back and forth, searching for the certain one.
Eventually, Charcoal stopped at the page. "Here." He pointed at the title. "This could work."
The golden-green eyed dragon read the content. It was some sort of ritual to create an extension of one-self; some sort of 'second body' to control. It was a completely new body.
They would share a mind, creating a 'hive mind' as the book called it. Skipping the convoluted technicalities about hive mind, the problem was the resource needed to do it. Like most rituals, this would require huge amounts of rare crystals and near-impossible volume of mana.
Not to mention the actual process.
However, from what Mimir recall, Charcoal should have more than enough crystals for them. The mana requirement should not be a problem, since they were in a place where mana was unlimited. Getting the process done should be easy, since they have the time and experience to get them done.
"Okay." The golden-green eyed dragon blinked. "How does this solve the problem?"
"The book stated that the body can be optionally made with its own consciousness." Charcoal pointed at the respective paragraph. They had to squint to read the text. "We can alter the process to transfer your consciousness into the body."
Mimir widened his eyes. "I'll be connected to your mind, allowing me to have my memories." He whispered, excited at the answer. "I'll have my own body!"
The young dragon was suddenly uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea. It allows anyone to enter my mind through you." Charcoal admitted. "But if it keeps you around, I'm willing to do it."
"Harr..." Mimir cooed, feeling touched. "You're a good dragon, Charcoal. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Charcoal had no idea how to answer that. "... thanks." He awkwardly responded, before focusing back on the book. "According to the book, we need to carve the ground and put crystals on them to do the ritual. There's an instruction on the carving pattern."
The golden-green eyed dragon moved aside. "That is no problem!"
Mimir took a deep breath. He raised one of his paws, before stomping it on the ground. Suddenly, the ground shook as lines of dirt trench suddenly appeared. It followed many intricate patterns, which stretched well over kilometres away. Crystals also appeared in those trenches.
When it was done, the golden-green eyed dragon sighed in relief. "Done. It should follow everything, including the alteration."
Charcoal was stunned to see that. "What kind of spell was that?"
"It's the ritual-trenching spell. I made it myself. It makes my life easier at Révélation." Mimir answered, shuddering at the memory. "You wouldn't believe how many times we had to alter ritual circles after we made them. Other departments like to change the specs when it's close to finish."
The young dragon tilted his head. "I think I know that spell from your memory."
"Don't plagiarise it. I worked hard on making that spell. It's also classified." The golden-green eyed dragon warned. A floating screen-like texts suddenly appeared in front of him. "I do wonder how Révélation is doing. I taught that spell to just 3 dragons in my department."
"Amber managed to infiltrate the layer."
"Eh... it was bound to happen, especially if Wodensfang wills it." Mimir shrugged his wings. He sat on his hindlegs, before waving his paws on the floating screen. "Utility crystal is a waste of resource for something that scale. Dragons spent more time making and replacing ones that expired instead of using them. They're better off using Book Stones and errand dragons to get things done."
Charcoal was curious. "What do you mean?"
The golden-green eyed dragon seemed to be concentrating. "By design, utility crystal was never intended for long-term instrument. That's why it's easy to make simple ones." He answered. "But then, dragons wanted more. So, they make variations that goes against their design."
The young dragon pondered that statement. "... I've never heard of that before."
"I'm not surprised. They don't tell you that unless you went to college for crystallography degree." Mimir answered. He swiped at the floating screen, vanishing it. "I've attended the lectures. They have a whole course dedicated to bending design rules of utility crystals."
Charcoal blinked. "Toothless is a crystallographer." He remembered. "She never told me that."
"There's no point on telling you the history. The basics you learned already warned you against large-scale crafts." The golden-green eyed dragon responded. He turned to face him. "Anyway, I've set the heart to pump mana into the ritual. It's going to start in two minutes of our time."
"Great!"
"The last seal would break after the ritual is done." Mimir continued explaining. "I've made some adjustments to fully stabilise you first before the ritual starts. You'll feel a lot stronger when this is done, but it's just your body finally getting the full potential."
Charcoal slowly nodded. "So, what should we do after we got out?"
" We need to turn this thing off. It's dangerous, and there's the potential to blow everything into extinction." The golden-green eyed dragon explained. " We should be strong enough to defeat my fa- Furious. Once he's occupied , one of us can do analysis and actually turn this thing off."
"I have made my preparations for the Sheldon construct." The young dragon hesitantly responded. "We didn't waste all the crystals on this ritual, right?"
"You should have enough for one Sheldon construct." Mimir assured. "I've made the calculation. Trust me."
Charcoal shrugged his wings. He tapped on the dragon book, pulling it back into his storage mana. It disappeared in blue flame. "Let's get this started then."
Suddenly, the world around them began to pulse. The ancient dragon smiled. "Here we go."
There was a flash, then-
Darkness.
Toothless was moving quietly.
The female Night Fury was sneaking through a cavern with rock pillars. There were aberrant dragons patrolling the place, standing around to watch for intruders. At the centre of the cavern was a crystal cluster, which seemed to be pulsing.
The cavern ceiling around the cluster was open, revealing the underside of... something. Toothless could not see it, because her scrambler goggles redacted them. Given that she heard heartbeat coming out of that thing, then the cavern was most likely under the main chamber.
It meant the cavern used to be a lava pool.
She wondered what happened to the lava.
Thankfully, Toothless did not have to dwell on them. The dragoness had reached her destination. She was standing in front of the crystal cluster.
Surrounded by aberrant dragons, including some at the other side of the crystal cluster, Toothless hoped no one noticed her there.
The dragoness carefully tapped the crystal cluster. A small metal cube appeared and sank itself into it. She tapped it again, setting the timer. After it briefly shimmered red, Toothless turned around and carefully sneaked away from the area.
Unfortunately, whatever she had planned went right out of window when the heart spat out two dragons right in front of her. "Hrrk!"
"Ah... fuck."
"What the Hel is this slimy thing?"
Toothless froze at the sight. Two Night Furies had came out from the heart. They seemed to be wet with some sort of thick liquid. They looked like the same age. However, the first one looked familiar. "Charcoal?"
The male Night Fury blinked. He quickly got up to greet his mate. "Toothless!"
Unfortunately, talking aloud that was a bad idea. If the aberrant dragon guards did not hear them fall and complain, that roar certainly got their attention. Charcoal realised their situation when he noticed the guards surrounding them. "... oh."
"Harr..." The other Night Fury let out a groan. He opened his golden-green eyes and looked around. He froze upon seeing dragons surrounding them. "Uh oh."
The Monstrous Nightmares charged in first. They moved to pounce the downed Night Fury. Charcoal was faster; he pounced and landed between them to intercept. Tailfins shimmering blue, he swiped his tail across the charging dragons.
The aberrant fire dragons were struck by the shimmering tailfins. Black blood splattered as he sliced the aberrants in half. When that was done, Charcoal moved to a stance. It was time for the fight.
The golden-green eyed dragon had recovered. He was ready to support him.
Toothless was speechless. "Charcoal what-" She began, but interrupted by a group of aberrant Deadly Nadders firing magnesium flame at her. The mother dragon jumped back to dodge, before fired her plasma blast BOOM!, killing some and scattering the rest. "Charcoal, who is that?!"
Charcoal was busy fighting eight aberrant dragons at once. He was dodging swipes and pounces, while retaliating with his claws. The other Night Fury, who had been supporting him with plasma blast, turned around to introduce himself. "The name's Mimir! Wodensfang's Most Loyal!"
The mother dragon gaped. "I thought you were dead!"
BOOM!
Mimir was struck by a volley of lava blast from Gronckle. He had used his wings to protect himself. After things cleared up, the golden-green dragon was seen unscathed. "Nope! Your mate brought me back!"
Somewhere at one of the cave entrances, Alexander Haddock peeked to see what was happening. The sound of fighting indicated something had gone wrong with Toothless' effort. Seeing three Night Furies fighting dozens of aberrant dragons confirmed him of this fact. "Crap."
The draconic Viking pulled back. He looked at Agatha, Thuggory and Camicazi behind him. "They're fighting."
Camicazi pulled out her sword. "THEN WE FIGHTING!" She roared, before charging into the cavern. "FOR BOG-BURGLAAAR!"
"MEATHEAAAAAD!" Thuggory shouted as he followed her behnid.
The Bog-Burglar and Meathead heirs charged into battle. They struck an unsuspecting aberrant Monstrous Nightmare together. Thuggory stabbed the chest, and Camicazi sliced its neck. The aberrant dragon was dead before it could roar.
Alexander and Agatha moved to join the battle. Before they could do anything, everything around them began to rumble.
Something was happening with the Heart of Ebonclaw. Some sort of black-red lines suddenly became visible. It was connected from the heart onto the crystal cluster. The clusters began pulsing red shimmer, beating along with the heart.
In the midst of the fight, Mimir saw this happen. He was mentally relieved that the heart was connected to the crystal cluster, thus grounding the excess they were pumping. It meant they had plenty more time to shut down the abhorrent thing.
Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of certain someone.
Furious arrived through the gaps at the massive heart. He landed close to the two male Night Furies. The aberrant dragons backed off from them to engage Agatha and the humans.
Toothless saw this and rushed to help the humans. She trusted her mate to handle Furious on their own.
Charcoal and Mimir prepared themselves to engage the greater alpha.
The greater alpha was surprised. He recognised the young-looking golden-green eyed dragon. "Mimir?"
"Hi dad!" Mimir cheerfully answered. There was contempt in his expression. "I was alive in Charcoal this whole time!"
Furious widened his eyes. "What?"
"Exactly. I saw the whole thing!" The golden-green eyed dragon chirped, before charging in to attack. "KRAAA!"
The greater alpha dodged the claws. He moved to strike back, only to dodge another swipe from Charcoal. The two young dragons were together in their attack. They swiped their claws, tails and hindlegs to find an opening against him. Furious had to block and dodge their strikes.
Eventually, someone found an opening. Just when Charcoal and Mimir werein front of him to strike the face, Furious spun and smacked them with his tail. The two young dragons were sent flying back. They landed upright couple metres away from him.
Not giving up, the two dragons cast their spells. Translucent mana blades appeared on their claws and wing edges. They seemed to flex with their movement. The two dragons dashed to strike the greater alpha once more.
Furious cast a spell, which sent nearby rocks and debris flying at them. Charcoal moved to dodge, while Mimir vanished into thin air. The golden-green eyed dragon appeared right on top of the greater alpha. He swung the mana blades down to strike him.
The greater alpha narrowly dodged the downward strike. Furious swung his left wing, which Mimir blocked with his own wing. The yellow-eyed dragon swung his claws. Mimir narrowly backed off, before swinging his right wing.
Furious pulled back just in time to avoid that strike. It was aimed to severe his foreleg. The greater alpha used his tail to parry Charcoal, who tried to strike him with mana sword from the air. That struck the chest, stopping his momentum.
The greater alpha was not done yet, however. He wrapped his tail around Charcoal's foreleg, slammed him to the ground, then kicked him with his hindlegs. Charcoal was sent flying back to the cavern walls.
BOOM!
While the forest green eyed dragon was busy getting smacked, Mimir used this distraction to strike. Dropping all spells, he struck Furious with the palm of his claws. Round yellow pulse rippled the air as Furious was sent flying as well.
However, Furious suddenly became incredibly slow, as if time itself suspended him.
Mimir continued to strike him with that spell. He struck Furious three more times, rippling the air with mana pulse. Finally, he flipped around and kicked the greater alpha with his hindlegs. The impact stopped the spell and sent him flying at hypersonic speed.
BOOOOMMM!!!
Furious hit the ceiling and went through that ceiling, making a hole to the sky. He was sent flying at breakneck speed. The greater alpha disappeared into the fog.
Mimir felt relief upon seeing that. "Finally. He's stronger than I remember."
Charcoal had recovered from impact. He rushed to check the hole they made. "He has my father. It's not permanent yet. We need to split them somehow."
"Got it." Mimir went up into the air. He flew up and left through the hole. Charcoal followed him behind.
Meanwhile, Toothless, Agatha and the others had just finished fighting a horde of aberrant dragons. They saw more coming through the cave paths. The female Night Fury noticed Charcoal and Mimir missing, along with the whole at the ceiling. "Let's go! Let's get out from here!"
Alexander quickly hopped onto Toothless. Thuggory and Camicazi saw this and mounted onto Agatha's back. The two dragons rushed to fly out through the whole. The aberrant dragons went for a chase.
Meanwhile, at the archipelagos island border. Wodensfang was still waiting.
His dragon army had secured the barriers. They had to bring in more dragons to cover as much place as they could. They managed to catch some deviants attempting to breach the barrier, but like their effort, it was all for naught.
It had been hours since Wodensfang sent Aymar to call a favour. The dragon soldiers were nervous. They could feel the ambient mana in the air. Something powerful was happening. The arch alpha was staring at the sea behind the barrier. There must be some way to breach them...
Suddenly, he heard several dragons landed behind him. "Arch alpha. I have returned."
Wodensfang turned to face the newcomer. Aymar the Valstrax was there, accompanied by three Night Furies. The black dragons were wearing some sort of wool coat, and they were roughly the same size as Wodensfang.
However, the most notable dragon was the middle one, which actually looked old. Night Furies never looked old, even ancient ones.
This one must be incredibly ancient.
"Arch Alpha." Aymar moved to introduce them. "This is-"
"He knows who we are." The old-looking male Night Fury interrupted. His voice was raspy, like an old professor. The very ancient dragon shooed him away with his wings. "Go away, varlet."
"Gah..." The Valstrax rolled his eyes. He moved to stand next to Wodensfang.
"Wodensfang!" The very ancient dragon greeted. "It's been a while."
"Master Henrik Carlsen." Wodensfang slightly bowed. "I hope the old world's been treating you well."
Aymar was aware of their relationship. The really ancient dragon, known as Henrik Carlsen, was used to be Wodensfang and Marduk's mentor when they were young. It was not known what they were studying, or how old Henrik really was.
The dragon was unknown to general public. He was barely known in few social circles.
"Nothing ever changes in Aldinnveröld, if that's what you're asking." Henrik retorted. His dark navy blue eyes expressed his mirth. "Maybe the end of the world can finally change something there."
"Harr..." Wodensfang shook his head. He moved aside and showed the invisible barrier. "Can you breach this barrier?"
"That depends." The very ancient dragon approached the invisible barrier. "Can you say the magic word?"
The arch alpha forgot how strange his mentor could be. He was a bit eccentric. "Can you please breach this barrier?"
"Sure, sure. I'll see what I can do." Henrik smiled, before tapping his claws on the invisible barrier.
The dragons fell silent. They waited as the very ancient dragon cast some spells to check the barrier. Henrik seemed to frown as he stared at the invisible barrier. His dark, navy blue eyes glistened, as if seeing challenge for the first time in a long time.
After some time, Henrik made his conclusion. "This is extremely simple, very inefficient weight-based mana barrier." He explained. "It is too simple for us to breach them, other than overwhelming the barrier."
"The barrier is grounded." Wodensfang reminded.
"Yes, yes. Inefficiency doesn't matter when it's fuelled by infinite mana at infinite rate." The very ancient dragon dismissed his concern. "The only way to destroy them is to weaken the power source. We need to stop them from locking the moon, sun and planets in place."
"The barrier has half-capsule shape covering the entire archipelago. The ceiling is about ten kilometres high." The arch alpha explained what he knew. "I've checked the beam up close. There's a way in through the beam, but anything the beam touches will disintegrate."
Henrik widened his eyes. "Now that's something I haven't heard of in a long time." He commented. "Mana conduit. Having raw mana flowing that fast could do that."
"The beam is too powerful for me to block." Wodensfang informed his attempt. "And I have no means to divert them."
The very ancient dragon paused at that. He turned to face the arch alpha dragon. "Did you know what you tried to do, Wodensfang?"
"I'm trying to squeeze myself in."
"You are trying to divert eight-planet and a sun worth of mana flowing at an infinite rate." Henrik seemed to be scolding him. "Do you even know why the Conjunction even happen?"
Wodensfang opened his mouth, before shaking his head. "No."
"Everything that exists has mana. A planet is a massive blob of mana, contained within by gravity that kept us together." The very ancient dragon began his lecture. "Our existence is just a coincidence."
"How does this-"
"We'll get there, you simpleton!" Henrik retorted at the arch alpha. "Now, where was I... ah! Yes. Because it's a blob of mana, it means there's no such thing as infinite mana or energy in the universe."
Aymar, who had been silent, decided to speak up. "I thought Conjunction event provides infinite amounts of mana."
"The Conjunction is not an infinite source of mana!" The very ancient dragon retorted once more. He looked annoyed. "When planets and the sun aligned in certain way, their mana reservoirs were connected to each other. In this very short time, we can get mana from another planet."
The dragons fell silent. Henrik continued speaking. "The science behind this would take years to explain, but I can tell you this." He explained. "Whatever is happening inside will not stop until the planets, the sun and the moon run out of mana reservoirs, including this one. If they run out of mana, they will shatter into pieces of rocks. That is how the world will end."
"Hrr..." Wodensfang felt dread. "Do you have anything... any way to stop this?"
"Well, mana conduit and barrier doesn't get along very well." The very ancient dragon looked deep in thought. "We can try to pull the conduit just enough to disintegrate parts of the barrier. We could squeeze someone through before it regenerates."
Aymar recognised the danger. The beam was not a solid object, meaning they had to make large opening for someone to 'squeeze' through. "That's very dangerous."
"We don't have a choice." The arch alpha decided. He was focused on his former mentor. "I'll volunteer. What do we need to make it happen?"
Henrik eyed him for a moment, before answering. "We need four arch alpha dragons to help."
Wodensfang faltered. It might not be possible to ask another arch alpha to help, considering how decentralised Hidden World was. They might take advantage if he were to die during this attempt. However, they have no other choice. "Aymar, call our allies for help."
The Valstrax was hesitant. "Yes, arch alpha." He bowed, before taking off into the sky.
Agatha and Toothless flew out from the caverns. They landed at the sandy coast of Dragon Island. The wind was very strong outside. Looking up, they noticed some sort of enormous black mass floating in the sky. Charcoal and Mimir were rushing to attack the thing.
Seconds later, the mass exploded, revealing Furious in his true form.
The true form was definitely bigger than they remembered, at least for Charcoal and Mimir. If he was the size of Dragon Island mountain before, now, his size was roughly one and a half of that. The enormous eldritch dragon was floating in the air; tendrils of different size hovered around him.
His sheer size was blotting the already dark sky.
Three pairs of yellow eyes opened, staring down at the group. Furious opened his mouth, revealing sets and rows of sharp teeth. Then, he reared his head, before letting out a bellowing, deafening roar.
BOOM!
" KROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAA!!!!!!! "
It was so loud, all they heard was tinnitus on the second half of that roar. The shockwave forced them down on their knee. It shook even the very bones of their body.
Their ears were still ringing when the roar ended.
It was unlike anything they ever heard before. Not even volcanic eruption, which Charcoal, Toothless and Agatha had heard before, matched the sheer power of that roar.
It certainly did its effect for those flying in the air. Charcoal and Mimir were falling down from the sky. The two dragons were disoriented from the sound.
"Charcoal!" Toothless dashed to chase after her falling mate.
One of the tendrils suddenly opened some sort of mouth. It fired plasma blasts at the falling black dragons. Still hazed, Charcoal saw that coming. He put his wings forward and cast Body Reinforcement spell.
BOOM!
The two dragons were blasted off the sky. Toothless jumped to catch her mate. The acidic green eyed dragon caught him in the air. "Got you!" She exclaimed, before flying back to the group. Upon landing and putting Charcoal down, she realised Agatha had moved to catch Mimir as well. "How was he?"
"I caught him flying right at me." The Deadly Nadder answered. She was inspecting the Night Fury on the ground. "He looks fine. Body Reinforcement."
"Kaaah..." Charcoal let out a groan. He stood up from the sand. "I'm okay. I'm okay."
"Harr..." Mimir was recovering as well. "He's definitely more powerful than expected."
"Charcoal…"
Everyone stiffened upon hearing that. The voice was in their mind. The forest green eyed dragon turned around to face the eldritch Night Fury. Furious was staring down at him. Charcoal uttered his words. "I'm not going back in there."
"You will come back inside." Furious spoke in their mind.
"I brought Mimir back!" Charcoal snarled at him. "You should've been happy to see him! Not trying to torture me!"
"I know he's part of you, Charcoal. That's your second body." Furious whispered in their mind. Thousands of aberrant dragons flew out from Dragon Island, circling around the eldritch dragon. "I've been playing this game for centuries. I know when I see one."
"Charcoal?" Toothless quietly asked. "What does he mean by that?"
Furious' six yellow eyes seemed to flash. Everyone prepared themselves for an attack. The forest green eyed Night Fury glanced a bit. "We'll talk more after this."
BOOM! BANG!
Something shot through the fog, and it hit the enormous eldritch Night Fury. It caused massive explosion that killed most of the flying aberrant dragons around it. Not expecting the impact, Furious roared in pain. "KROOOOOOAAAAAA!!!"
"Wooooo!" They heard distant roars of triumph. Charcoal turned to look at the beach.
There were Berkian warships sailing there with the largest one at the centre. A heavy frigate called Mothership. All the warships were heavily equipped with broadside cannons and top deck repeating ballistae.
Vikings were visible from afar, and they were wearing scrambler goggles. They were preparing for the fight against the greater alpha. Their survival depended on them.
More aberrant dragons flew out from the Dragon Island. The ships turned to face them at full broadside. The moment they were close enough, there were shouts to fire the cannons.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Hundreds of cannons fired in sequence. Thousands of dracophage-infused grapeshot pellets filled the air, striking the incoming aberrant dragons. This reduced their numbers to less than half. The rest were finished off by exploding arrows from repeating ballistae at the deck.
Even more aberrant dragons appeared from Dragon Island. Just like before, the ships answered with barrages of ballista arrows and cannon fire. They were pushing the aberrants back, giving safe space for some ships to dock.
"They're here!" Camicazi exclaimed, happy to see the reinforcement. "They're really here!"
"Hraa..." Mimir was in awe. "I never thought cannons could do it like that."
Charcoal felt relief. "Finally." He whispered, before noticing the Mothership frigate docking at the beach. He wondered why they were docking. He remembered the plans removed from his memory.
After the ramp was in place, some Vikings and certain dragons came out from the ship. They were all wearing scrambler goggles. He could see Gryphon, Gobber and Spitelout running towards them, along with the foreigners.
The male Night Fury willed himself to transform. Charcoal quickly changed to Hiccup. "Have we briefed them about the situation?"
"No!" Alexander shouted. He could barely hear him from the cannon's volley fire. "I assume Spitelout briefed them!"
Eventually, they reached the group. Finlay Harper, who was riding behind Arda the silver dragon, tipped the hat he wore. He was holding his Hall rifle. "[English] Good evenin' fellas!"
"[English] Evening to you too." Hiccup nodded. There was relief in his voice. "[English] Glad you can make it in time."
"[English] We're not missing out the fun this time." The cowboy deviant hunter smirked.
Arda decided to interrupt. "Did you got Stoick?"
"No. Not yet." Hiccup shook his head. He briefly glanced at Furious, who was getting pelted by draconic cannons and grapeshot pellets. "We need to shut down the Heart of Ebonclaw. It's the thing keeping everything in place."
"Hiccup, we can't stay for long." Spitelout looked urgent. "Where is your father?"
The brawny boy finally snapped. He grabbed the mana and turned him to face Furious. "That's my father!" Hiccup snarled. "Furious and Stoick made a deal! They merged into one to become that thing! He betrayed us!"
That horrified everyone, at least those who understand the language. They had no idea Stoick was merged with Furious. Alexander was the first to speak. "Wha- but that's-"
"Don't tell the others! We'll figure that out later." Hiccup gave his order. He pointed at the red-green beam coming from the mountain into the eclipsed sun. "We need to focus on turning that thing off!"
BOOM! BANG!
"KROOOOOOAAAAAA!!!" They heard Furious roaring in pain. The draconic cannon truly worked against him. It was knocking the eldritch Night Fury away from them, as well as wounding him.
Regardless, they have a job to do. Hiccup moved to give his orders. "We need someone to help the draconic cannon crews to know where to shoot." He called out. "Every shell is precious. We can't waste them."
Alex raised his hand. "I will."
"Agatha, Camicazi, Thuggory, support the ships. Help them find targets. Don't let them get flanked." The brawny boy continued giving orders. "We need every distraction we can get while we bring up the construct! Spitelout, you lead them out!"
"You heard him!" Spitelout shouted. He gestured the others to come. "Let's go! Follow me!"
The Vikings and half the group rushed back into the Mothership frigate. Hiccup turned to face the rest. "The rest of you, we're going to... wait." Something caught his attention. "Is that a Light Fury?"
True to his suspicion, Amber the Light Fury arrived and landed close to them. The white dragoness was alone. "Hey."
"You're not supposed to be here." Toothless narrowed her eyes. "Where are the hatchlings?"
Amber was nervous. "I was about to ask you that question."
"Amber, I swear to all the stars above." The mother Night Fury began to curse. "If you put them in any danger, I will shove a rock so far up your arse; you'll be puking sand!"
"It's not my fault. I promise. They tricked us with Logic Crystal." The Light Fury explained the situation. She was panicking. "They followed five Vikings heading here riding dragons. I think one was named Astrid."
"Astrid?" Hiccup was incredulous. Then, his expression morphed into deadpan. "Of course, I should've known. She's a glory seeker."
"But we haven't seen any dragon riding Vikings other other than the foreigners." Toothless pointed out.
"Snotlout, move it!"
The three dragons and one in human form looked up to see the ruckus. They watched as the teens entered the battlement at the back of their own dragons.
Astrid was riding a Deadly Nadder. Snotlout rode a Monstrous Nightmare. Fishlegs sat on the back of a Gronckle. Tuffnut and Ruffnut rode on Hideous Zippleback on each of their heads.
"Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs!" Astrid ordered, before turning to look at Fishlegs. "Move, Fishlegs!"
Furious noticed the newcomer in the sky. They all wore scrambler goggles, including their dragons, but that did not matter. Tendrils pointed at them; they formed a mouth and started firing plasma blasts to the group.
The dragons immediately moved out of the way. Thankfully, they were slow enough to dodge. "Och, ah dinnae wantae rammy thing!" The Gronckle nervously spoke as she regrouped with the others.
"L- Let's go Meatlug." Fishlegs nervously spoke to his dragon.
"LOOK AT US!" Tuffnut shouted to the Vikings below. "WE'RE ON A DRAGON! WE'RE ON DRAGONS! ALL OF US!"
"Let's go, Stormfly." Astrid spoke as she carefully watched the giant, floating dragon. "Up, let's move it!"
Down below, the Vikings on ships saw their arrival. Realising they had friends in the sky, they began calling out. "WATCH YOUR FIRE!"
"FRIENDLY IN THE AIR!"
"VIKINGS RIDING DRAGONS!"
At the deck of Mothership frigate, Spitelout had arrived with the others. He noted the draconic cannon there, currently operated by two Vikings; a gunner and loader. There were few others pointing out targets for them.
Looking at what they were aiming at, Spitelout shouted. "Stop!" He called out, getting their attention. "You'll hit the kids! They're riding dragons! We got friendlies in the air!"
The gunner at the seat squinted his eyes, before realising what they were about to shoot. "What are they doin' up there?!"
That was a good question. "No idea!" Spitelout exclaimed. "Just don't fire at them! That's my kid up there!"
Up in the sky, the petite girl observed the eldritch dragon. It looked rather intimidating. She looked at the large boy. "Fishlegs, break it down!"
"Okay! Uh…" Fishlegs fumbled a bit, observing the eldritch Night Fury. "Huge claws. Long tentacles. Large wings. Stay clear of both! Large eyes. Sleek body. It's meant to move and fly really fast!"
Furious looked amused. One of the mouth tendrils fired a plasma blast at the Gronckle. Meatlug barely dodged that, but it exploded close to its tail.
BOOM!
"GRAAA!!!" Meatlug the Gronckle roared in pain. She began spinning around and losing altitude. "IT GOT ME! IT GOT ME! AH KNEW THIS HUMAN WILL GIT ME MURDURRED!"
"I've lost power on the Gronckle!" Fishlegs shouted, before looking up. "ASTRID, DO SOMETHING!"
"Spread out!" Astrid shouted. "Don't make it easier for it to hit us!"
The dragons began spreading out from the place. Unfortunate for Fishlegs, Meatlug rolled at her fall. The large boy fell face first onto the ground. After he fell, Fishlegs raised his hand. "I'm okay!"
Then, Meatlug fell onto him.
"Less okay…" She heard Fishlegs mumbled under her.
"Sorry."
Meanwhile, down below, Toothless restrained herself from roaring. "The gunners won't shoot him while there's friendlies in the air." She gritted her teeth. "Now they're mixed up with the aberrants! What are they doing?!"
"Toothless!" Hiccup called out, getting her attention. The dragons were putting down crystals into a pile. Mimir, Gryphon, Amber, along with the others and foreigners were trying to get a ritual circle ready. "As much as I love complaining, can you drop your crystals here?"
The black dragoness moved to help. She ejected her crystals from her storage mana. They clinked as they went into the pile. "How much do we need?"
"Wait, no. That's all of them. Gryphon brought a lot." The brawny boy quickly answered. He was mentally counting them. "The Astral Grain is already in the pile. Save yours for the next one later. Mimir?"
"On it." The golden-green eyed Night Fury nodded. He stomped the ground and cast the spell. The sandy coast suddenly had lines carved on them. The crystals in the pile flew to their respective place. There was some leftovers at the pile. "Done!"
"Start the ritual." Hiccup ordered. He pressed his palm onto the ritual line and pushed his mana into it. This made the lines shimmer with green mana. Other dragons moved to do the same.
The teen Vikings were busy trying to kill the eldritch Night Fury on their own. Stormfly the Deadly Nadder had just dodged a plasma blast coming her way. "Whoa!" Astrid yelped as she held onto her dragon. "This isn't working. We need to try something."
"Don't worry, babe!" Snotlout shouted as his Monstrous Nightmare dove after the eldritch Night Fury. "I got this! Faster, Hookfang! Right for the eye!"
Hookfang the Monstrous Nightmare dove and sprayed liquid fire towards the giant dragon's yellow eyes. Before the fire reached him, Furious moved aside and used one of his large tentacles to smack them away. It was so fast; they did not see it move. "AAH!"
"TOO FAST! TOO FAST!" Hookfang roared as he tried to stabilize his flight. They were thrown away into Helheim's Gate. "This is dragon ring all over again!"
Green gas suddenly enveloped the eldritch Night Fury's head. After some time, it sparked, creating a large explosion. BOOM! That created a large plume of smoke around it. Not long after, a Hideous Zippleback went out through the smoke.
"Haha! Yeah!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut gave themselves a high-five. "Great job Barf!"
"You mean Belch." Tuffnut suggested.
"Barf and Belch!" Ruffnut exclaimed. "One head each!"
One of the Hideous Zippleback head looked at the other. "Barf and Belch?"
"Our new adult names!" The other head exclaimed, happy at the outcome. "One each of our heads!"
When the smoke finally cleared, there was no damage whatsoever. Furious was not amused. Large tendrils turned into open maw, before firing barrage of plasma balls to their direction. They were slow, but that was the least of the problem.
Barf and Belch looked back to see barrage of plasma blasts following them – some sort of plasma seeker bombs. "Oh no."
"That's not good." Barf nodded, agreeing with the other head.
The Hideous Zippleback rushed to fly away. They were not the fastest dragon, but they could manoeuvre to save their life. The two-headed dragon swerved left and right as the plasma seekers passed through them. Then, they dove to the ground, gaining as much speed they could.
The balls of plasma followed them down as well. When they reached certain altitude, Barf and Belch quickly pulled up into the sky. The plasma seekers tried to follow, but it was too fast to turn. Instead, the balls went down into the ground and exploded.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosion blew chunks of dirt and sand, sending them all over the place. After things cleared up, it revealed a massive crater where it hit. The Vikings and dragons paled upon seeing it. "Okay, let's consider Astrid's plan first before following her next time." Tuffnut suggested his sister.
"Aye. Not a bad idea." Ruffnut numbly nodded, staring at the crater.
BOOM!
One plasma seeker managed to hit the Hideous Zippleback. One of their wings was hit; they looked fractured, which meant rapid descent into the ground. Barf and Belch quickly moved to soften the impact. "Hang on!"
They crashed onto the ground, somewhat close to where Hiccup was. "Oof!"
Tuffnut looked up from where they fell. He saw Hiccup staring at them with confusion. "Hi Hiccup!"
Suddenly, the patterns on sand began to glow bright. The dragons were awed by the sight. Mimir was exclaiming with excitement. "IT WORKED! IT'S DONE AND IT WORKED!"
Hiccup looked back to see Furious preparing an attack. His tendrils were charging plasma blasts. The brawny boy shoved the male Night Fury into the circle. "GO!"
Hundreds of plasma blasts were sent their way. The brawny boy leaped out the way as he covered his head. There was no time to turn into dragon. There was no way to defend against that!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Silence.
Hiccup heard the explosion. For a second, he thought the silence was his end. Realising he was still alive, the boy shakily inspected himself. It was then he noticed that something massive was shadowing them.
Looking up, Hiccup was in awe by the size. "It worked…"
Katarina Turner the Prussian-American deviant hunter, who was riding her wolf-hawk dragon companion, could only stare with awe. "[English] My god..."
The Sheldon 2A5 Mana construct, or commonly known as Sheldon construct, was an enormous semi-bipedal, feather-scale dragon. It have massive wings, two sets of arms with sharp, hand-shaped claws, and two sets of eyes.
The head was almost avian; it was half beak, as if made for tearing things apart. The tail was long and prehensile, and the wings were lined with razor-sharp blades. It looked like something out of legends of great dragon wars.
Mimir was obviously in control. The eyes were golden-green, showing who was inside. The feather-scale dragon was larger than the mountain; roughly same size as Furious in his true form. He had protected them from the barrage of plasma blasts.
The feather-scale dragon reared back, before letting out a bellowing, challenging roar. "KROAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The roar was so loud; it would not be a surprise if the whole archipelago heard them. Furious widened his eyes as Mimir suddenly pounced onto him. He grabbed the eldritch Night Fury off the sky, trying to tear him apart. Furious immediately moved to cover his vitals.
"KRAAAAA!!!" Furious roared back. Despite Mimir's attempt to bring him down, the eldritch Night Fury kept himself afloat. He could not afford being pinned by the construct. Mimir seemed to know this, because he was attacking his head instead of wings, trying to break his concentration on his telekinesis flight.
The eldritch Night Fury extended his tendrils, moving them to pierce and inject himself into the construct. It did not work; the feather-scales were too thick. Mimir was immune to his tricks.
Mimir took this opportunity and used his claws to grab onto the bundle of tendrils. The feather-scale dragon swung the tendrils into the volcano.
Furious yelped as his tendrils were being pulled. He tried to stay put with telekinesis, but the force was too strong!
BOOOOOOM!!!
The eldritch Night Fury slammed into the volcano, crashing through the massive walls, splashing the lava, and destroying half of the Dragon Island. His head almost hit the red-green beam, which was still shooting up to the eclipsed sun above.
The impact sent rocks of different size flying all over the place. Everyone cleared from the ground as rocks came falling onto them. Some crashed onto the shores, almost hitting the warships. It was pandemonium at gargantuan level!
"MOVE!" Toothless roared as she dashed to her mate. Hiccup grabbed and mounted onto her, just in time before a large rock landed where he was. "We need to get back!"
"NO! We need to get inside!" Hiccup shouted at them. They were running to the Mothership frigate. "We need to turn off the Heart of Ebonclaw!"
"We're too far from the main chamber!" The mother dragon roared back. "We'll turn it off after Furious is done!"
The brawny boy was not listening. He jumped off from the running dragoness. Stumbling a bit, Hiccup turned around and took off running to the mountain. He was aiming at the cave entrance there.
Toothless felt the weight vanished from her back. She stopped and turned around to grab her mate. Large rocks were raining down from the sky. Regardless of hazard, she pressed on to chase him down.
Arda the silver dragon noticed this. He decided to follow. "[English] Breaking off!"
This signalled the others he was separating; the others kept on going. The silver dragon ran to follow the black-scaled dragoness. He jumped over large rock debris and dodged some falling ones. Whatever Hiccup was planning, he would need his help.
BOOM!
Finlay had fired his rifle, striking an aberrant Deadly Nadder trying to intercept. The dracophage-infused bullet struck and killed the aberration. The cowboy hunter pushed the metal piece under the rifle, opening the breech. He pulled out a paper cartridge from his pocket."[English] I got you, buddy!"
Meanwhile, Toothless was saw a Gronckle ahead, who seemed to be struggling. There was that large boy named Fishlegs under him. They seemed to be in trouble.
"Help! Help!" Fishlegs shouted. "Meatlug can't move!"
The large boy saw large shadow under him. Looking up, he saw a large rock was falling to them! "AAAAAH!"
BOOM!
The rock exploded as something shot at it. Six Night Fury hatchlings wearing black metal armour flew overhead. They were the one who had taken out the rock heading to them. The hatchlings tackled the Gronckle to flip her over. "Move!"
"Gaaar…" Meatlug groaned, before finally standing up right. "Cheers!"
Toothless saw this interaction. She leaped and caught all six hatchlings in one swoop. After pushing them back onto her saddle, she continued running. The hatchlings' armour turned invisible as they held onto her back.
The black-scaled dragoness would have to think about them later.
Hiccup rushed through the caverns of Dragon Island. The whole place was shaking from the fight above. It led him to the main chamber, where the Heart of Ebonclaw was located. He stopped at the cliff where the heart was.
Thankfully, the main chamber was nowhere near the actual volcano. It was largely spared from the destruction.
The Heart of Ebonclaw was beating rapidly; giant tendrils pumping red-green mana through itself. The heart was pumping mana at astonishing rate, only to be grounded by the crystal clusters below. Hiccup could see the crystal cluster being overworked underneath the heart.
The heart was putting extreme pressure on the crystal clusters.
"Charcoal!"
Toothless and Arda had followed him there. The Night Fury hatchlings were riding behind the mother dragon; their armour invisible. The silver dragon was the first to ask. "What are you doing?"
"Turning this thing off." Hiccup explained. "We need to stop the event."
"Do you know how to do it?"
"Heart of Ebonclaw is an eldritch mana reactor. Turning this off properly will take some time." The brawny boy answered what he knew from Mimir's memories. He placed his hand onto the massive beating heart, before connecting his mana circuit to it. "... if it were someone other than Ebonclaw to turn this off, the heart would've killed them."
The dragons moved to watch the place. Everything was shaking around them, and it made them nervous. Hiccup was focused on the beating heart, trying to turn it off. Nothing seemed to be happening yet.
Eventually, something did. The heart pulsed with green shimmer, before starting to slow down. Hiccup let go as he disconnected the circuit connection. "It's done. I've sent the shutdown order." He declared. "It might take some time to fully shutdown. We need to distract Furious as long as possible. He won't know what we did from outside until the last half an hour."
The boy hopped onto Toothless' back. He noticed that his hatchlings were there. "What the-"
"Hi dad!" Hamish chirped.
Toothless decided to ask. "Why can't we shut it down right away?"
"There's mana conduit flowing at an infinite rate. If we stop them immediately, they'll have nowhere to go." Hiccup quickly explained. He grabbed his hatchlings to secure them. "It'll poison and kill everyone within range. This much raw mana is enough to purge everything in northern world."
Boom!
The ground began to shake once more. Arda realised the cavern was crumbling all around them. "As much as I'd love to check this thing, the mountain is collapsing." The silver dragon called out. "We must leave before it bury us alive."
Toothless noted the hole they made almost an hour ago. They could get out from there. "Let's get out of here."
The dragons flew up into the sky, heading out from the main chamber. After they left, the Heart of Ebonclaw steadied its heartbeat, pausing to process the next step. It would shutdown on its own for the next few hours.
No one remembered the timed mana poison attached to the crystal clusters.
Meanwhile, around Dragon Island, the ships were at the sea. They departed off shore when massive debris started raining from the sky. The fight between Furious and Mimir was incredibly destructive to the whole island.
There was no aberrant dragon attacking, meaning most of the dragons and Vikings were watching the fight. They were talking amongst themselves, discussing what was going on. This was the sight Hiccup saw when Toothless led them there.
The two dragons landed at the Mothership frigate. Hiccup jumped off from his mate. The boy noted that everyone was there, including Astrid and her lackeys. They were accompanied by dragons he recognised from the dragon ring.
"Gods..." Hiccup mumbled, before moving to check on Spitelout. The man was standing behind the draconic cannon. Gobber the Belch was also there. "Spitelout, is everyone on board?"
"Aye." The chief second-in-command nodded. He looked back up to see something in the sky. "Gunner! It's heading this way!"
"On it!" The Viking at the draconic cannon control turned the gun to face the adversary. It was a massive rock heading towards them. "Firing!"
BOOM! BANG!
The draconic cannon hit the incoming projectile, exploding them into pieces. The explosion also cleared the nearby rocks, protecting nearby ships from destruction. Vikings cheered at the sight. "WOOO!"
The loader pulled the lever, opening the breech and ejecting the empty shell. He grabbed a fresh one from the side and loaded them into the cannon. Once it was secured, the loader pushed the lever, closing the breech. "Ready!"
Spitelout turned back to Hiccup. "What do ye want us to do next, lad?"
"We need to move further." Hiccup ordered. "We don't want to get trampled by their fight."
The second-in-command turned to face the Vikings. "Ye heard the lad!" He roared, before heading to the wheelhouse at the rear. "Off the port bow!"
"Off the port bow!" Vikings shouted at nearby ship. The others rushed to get the sail ready.
While the ships were retreating, the two titans fought at the island. Mimir within the Sheldon construct was pummelling Furious with his arms.
The eldritch Night Fury was looking for opportunity to escape. While attacking the pinned dragon, Mimir grabbed and held his forelegs, pushing them away from his vitals.
Furious saw his chance. He charged a plasma blast on his maw, but Mimir used its other arms to push his head up. The eldritch Night Fury widened his eyes; he struggled as he panicked to escape. The feather-scale dragon reared back, before chomping down into his shoulder.
"KRAAAAA!!!" Furious roared in pain as Mimir tore a part of his flesh and threw it away. Blood gushed from the wound; the eldritch Night Fury found his way to kick the feather-scale dragon off him.
While that barely moved him, the grip on his head slipped. Furious turned his head and blasted his face with a plasma blast.
BOOOOOMM!!!
The blast shook the whole island, pulverizing the volcano. Mimir was knocked back, allowing Furious to recover. The eldritch dragon quickly got up and tried to fly, but the feather-scale dragon was faster.
He dashed forward, tackled him down, before slamming him at the opposite side. Mimir moved for another pin, but Furious managed to jump and fly away.
Mimir dashed into the sky to follow. Their massive frame blew away the fog as they flapped their wings. Furious flew up high into the sky, before turning to face the dragon underneath.
Before he could fire another plasma blast, the feather-scale dragon grabbed one of his legs, pulled him into it, grabbed more parts of him with his arms, before reaching for his wings.
The feather-scale dragon attempted to rip one of Furious' wings. Furious roared as he felt tear on his bones. "KRAAAAAA!!!" Unexpectedly, Mimir was struggling to do just that.
When that did not work, Mimir moved to claw his neck. His movement was unexpectedly sluggish; exhaustion seeping in. The eldritch Night Fury took advantage of this. He focused on its chest and fired an overcharged plasma blast.
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!
The shockwave alone was enough to pulverise the rocks below. Mimir grunted as he fell from the sky.
The feather-scale dragon spread his wings, before flying up to reposition. His energy recovered as he capitalised on the brief respite. Once it was clear enough, Mimir dashed to follow the eldritch Night Fury.
Down below, everyone was watching the fight with awe. Spitelout breathed aloud. "By the thrones of Asgard." He whispered. "It feels like Ragnarök is near."
"I got to change my undies soon." Gobber commented, awed by the sight.
Not far from them, Alexander Haddock was with his deviant hunter companions. "[English] It's a lot more exciting than North America, no?"
"[English] Exciting?" Katarina was incredulous. The female explorer was amazed by the fight. "[English] We are fighting to stop the end of the world."
"[English] Gryphon informed us of the stake." Samuel Evans, the British deviant hunter, added. There was fear in his voice. "[English] While I agree this is exciting, I prefer fighting a flock of deviants than whatever that thing is."
Meanwhile, Hiccup and Toothless were paying attention at the fight. They noticed something something wrong. "Is the construct really that quick to exhaust?" The dragoness wondered. "Maybe it's meant to fight humans?"
"It can keep up with human leviathan heavy construct... at least that's what the book says." The brawny boy sat on the deck. The seventh volume dragon book appeared on his hands. "They're designed for relentless attack. It's not supposed to be exhausted."
Toothless looked down at his mate. "There's a flaw then."
"Yes. It's a flaw." Hiccup nodded as he flipped the pages. Upon finding it, he pointed at the paragraph. "Look here. Sheldon 2A5 is a leviathan construct intended to fight other leviathans. Pilots reported sudden exhaustion when they overextended their physical capability. This is dangerous, because it can happen when they're about to finish their target."
"Is there a way to fix it?"
The brawny boy flipped to the next page. "No."
"What?" Toothless was incredulous. "It's a pretty big flaw. Why did they not fix it?"
"Because the war ended before they could fix it." Hiccup was scratching his head. He was confused and frustrated. "There are temporary measures, like putting two instead of one to fight one."
"Can you build another one?"
"No. We're short couple natures and scales. It needs to be something else." The brawny boy answered. He flipped some pages to read some information. "... I can modify parts of the ritual to make the Sheldon construct cheaper, but it's going to take some time."
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!
Looking up, Mimir had been blown away by Furious once more. The two enormous dragons above looked exhausted and wounded.
If there would be a winner, it would be a close one. It also meant risking it to lose against Furious, which was something they could not afford.
Hiccup closed the dragon book. It vanished in blue flame, returning to his storage mana. "I'm flying there for a field repair." He declared.
"We can help!"
Toothless and Hiccup looked at their Night Fury hatchlings, who had jumped down from their mother. They were holding the familiar Stone Book crystal. The brawny boy bent down to see them closer. "Do you know how to modify rituals?"
"We read them all! We know how to make things!" Hamish chirped. His armour reappeared on his body. "See?"
Hiccup widened his eyes. The armour looked incredibly advanced. "You made this?"
"We made them!" The smallest Night Fury hatchling eagerly nodded. The armour vanished once more. "We want to help!"
The boy was hesitant, but considering they managed to do it, there was no reason to doubt. "Alright." Hiccup decided. "I need you to make Sheldon 2A4 construct cheaper, more effective and efficient. Do you know them? Can you do that?"
The hatchlings looked excited. "Yes! We know!" Hamish exclaimed for them. "We will do it!"
Toothless looked unsure. "Charcoal, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Then keep an eye on them." Hiccup responded, before focusing to transform. The brawny boy turned back into Night Fury. When the light ended, Charcoal quickly took off into the sky.
Up above, the fight was incredibly fierce. Charcoal squinted his eyes as he jet-pulsed his wings; he needed every speed boost he could get. The male Night Fury was a mosquito compared to the two fighting titans. Charcoal needed to reach Mimir as much as he could.
Eventually, he did. Mimir was dodging tendrils from Furious when Charcoal latched onto his back. The young dragon gripped onto the feather-scales, before slowly crawling up to the head. The male Night Fury felt his claws starting to bleed. Mimir was moving so much; Charcoal almost lost his sense of direction.
In fact, the feather-scale dragon was wrestling Furious in the air. Bared fangs, bloodied claws, it looked like fight to the death. Mimir was showing signs of exhaustion once more, and Furious was trying to capitalise on them.
Charcoal noticed this and doubled his pace; he needed to reach the head, and fast!
When Charcoal did reach the top, Mimir was trying to flee. Furious was doing something risky; he had his tendrils formed like a drill, intending to pierce the feather-scale dragon.
The male Night Fury summoned the largest Nature Shard crystal on his paw, pressed them onto Mimir, and pulsed his mana. The construct instantly absorbed the crystal.
That instantly recharged Mimir. His exhaustion were all gone. The moment Furious thrust his tendrils, the feather-scale dragon moved to the side and grabbed them.
Mimir climbed up the surprised eldritch Night Fury, positioned himself on his back, grabbed onto his wings, and pulled with every strength he had. "KROAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
"KRAAAAAAAOOOO!!!" Furious roared in extreme pain. His wings began to tear from pressure. Eventually-
RIP!
The pair of wings were torn from the body. Furious fell limp as Mimir held onto him. Charcoal let go when the feather-scale dragon flew down to the ground. Holding Furious, Mimir positioned him for impact. He was going to finish him.
BOOOOMM!!!
Eventually, he did. Mimir used his weight to crush the wingless dragon below. The chest and stomach were flattened from impact. Furious was alive, but his mind and body were in shock. The severed pair of wings landed close to them.
It was obvious to them who the winner was.
The feather-scale dragon looked up to the sky. Then, it roared a victorious roar. "KRAAAAAAA!!!"