Standing atop of the invisible barrier about 10 kilometres above the ground, Wodensfang stared at the massive red-green beam in front of him. While it was circular in shape, the diameter was roughly two kilometres long or so.
Before the advent of clustering, which was sticking two crystals into one clump to make them work together, crystals were connected with mana conduits. They were usually the size of a wool string, and it was difficult to see them in bright light.
Dragons realised its danger when passing them. They risk accidentally burning their mana circuits when their body passed through a conduit. It did not help that they were hard to see. When clustering was invented, arch alphas passed laws forbidding commercial use of mana circuits.
The last general use of mana circuit was about 600 years ago. Currently, only crystallographers and dragons within deeper parts of Hidden World knew about them. They were used to make prototypes before making actual crystal clusters.
Of course, it should be reminded that they were usually the size of a wool string.
This was the most powerful mana conduit Wodensfang ever seen in his life.
"Fascinating."
Henrik Carlsen and his companion were there as well. The very ancient Night Fury was inspecting the massive beam of mana, along with other Night Furies. "It really is moving at an infinite rate." He whispered, but the place was quiet enough for Wodenfang to hear. "The only thing holding it back is the destination. But it seems to be weakening..."
"Weakening?" Wodensfang questioned.
"Yes." Henrik answered. He was still staring at the beam. "It seems your daughter did something from the inside. The power is waning."
The arch alpha felt proud, relieved and concerned. He was relieved that there was finally some progress on taking down the barrier. Wodensfang was proud that his daughter was doing something, but at the same time, he was concerned of her wellbeing.
She was fighting a greater alpha dragon.
"Kroaaaaa!"
The Night Furies paused. The very ancient dragon glanced at the arch alpha. "What was that you say?"
"That's not me." Wodensfang took a few steps back. He looked down to see what was happening under them. "It's coming from inside the barrier."
The dragons looked down and widened their eyes. Dragon Island was visible from far above. Furious in his true form was fighting another massive dragon. They could see Viking ships there as well, along with some other dragons.
"Ah." Henrik slowly nodded. "I suppose that's where it comes from. The barrier didn't fully mute the sound."
The arch alpha hardened his expression. He saw his daughter at one of the Viking ships. Seeing her fighting something far more powerful than her filled him with anxiety. He cursed himself for not being able to do something about this.
'Come on, Aymar.' Wodensfang mentally pleaded. He glanced at the direction where Caldera would be. 'The situation is not getting any better. Where are the arch alphas?'
At the ships near Dragon Island shores, Vikings were cheering at the victory. Everyone was happy that Furious had finally been defeated. However, Toothless was the only one that remained serious.
Charcoal landed next to her, before transforming to his human form. When that was done, he looked relieved. "I guess we don't need the second construct, after all."
"No." The black dragoness was still staring at the scene. "It's not over yet."
The brawny boy was incredulous. "He ripped his wings and crushed his body." Hiccup pointed out. "How is Furious not dead?"
Meanwhile, Mimir was looking down at the incapacitated eldritch dragon. It moved away to see what was going on. The sky began to darken, slowly turning deep red. The water turned red as blood, as if the gods were angered by his defeat.
The enormous feather-scale dragon watched as black shadowy mass began to form where the wings were torn apart. It began to float as more shadows began to build around him.
Around the ocean, enormous pillars of black tendrils sprouted up from the sea. Rock pillars and assortments of stones fell as they were pushed to make the space. Some of the tendrils hit the Viking ships, shattering them into pieces. The Vikings that fell quickly swam to the intact ones.
At the Mothership frigate, Vikings were panicking. Hiccup felt fear when he saw the red blood sky. "What's going on?"
"The Oppressive Form." Toothless explained, getting their attention. "When an immortal ancient dragon reached their end through battle, they get a second chance and become much more powerful."
Amber the Light Fury, who was watching everything, gaped at the sight. "Is that why they named a war after it?"
"Yes. Three ancient dragons achieved that form during the war; one achieved them multiple times." The black dragoness answered. "If they survived the battle, they would become far more powerful."
"Dad!"
Hiccup looked down to see his hatchlings. Hamish pushed a small Stone Book crystal to him. "We did it! We fixed the design!" The hatchling runt exclaimed. "We made it better too."
The brawny boy grabbed the crystal, using his mana circuits to read the content. Hiccup mentally analysed the content, before determining that the hatchlings had done his job. They have just enough crystals for it. He pulled the Stone Book crystal into his storage mana. "Good work, kids. Why don't you stay with Amber while we do our part?"
The hatchlings nodded. They headed off to the Light Fury, who was staring at the unfolding event with shock. Hiccup focused back to his mate. "Toothless, we got the new design."
The mother dragon whipped her head. "Have you checked them?"
"I did."
"Then we need to collect every crystal we have." Toothless decided, before focusing to transform into her human form. When that was done, she rushed to get the deviant hunters and their dragons.
Meanwhile, Mimir was moving away from the reforming Furious. The wounded body was enveloped with flaming black mass, which screamed solidified mana.
Furious was growing bigger than before – almost twice the size. Then, its eyes opened, revealing three pair of angry yellow eyes.
Eventually, most of shadow cleared away, revealing a much bigger and stronger Furious. The wings remained as black flaming mass. Whatever wound was inflicted before – they were all gone, healed by the black flame.
The eldritch Night Fury- no, godlike dragon was ready for another round.
Furious reared its head, before letting out his roar.
"KRAAAAAAAAAAOOOOO!!!"
It was significantly louder than before. The shockwave alone cleared the fog within Helheim's Gate, revealing the terrifying black and blood red sky above.
Large eyes with dark red sclera appeared on the giant tentacles in the sea. Not long after, maws of different sizes opened, revealing darkness below and incredibly sharp teeth. It looked like something out of a terrible nightmare.
Mimir looked up to the larger dragon in front of him.
The fight had gotten much difficult. He need to change his approach.
At the frigate ship, Toothless came back with the group, along with some others. She had collected a large bag worth of crystals. "Here. The Astral Grain is inside."
Hiccup grabbed the bag. "Thanks."
"Dad." Gryphon the Valstrax began. She was speaking in Norse. "What's the plan?"
The group paid attention. It was the question they wanted to know the answer. Hiccup exhaled his breath. "Help Mimir. Try my best to kill Furious."
Spitelout pushed forth to face him. "Go on, lad! I'll see if we can sneak a shot!"
"No. Don't do that." Hiccup shook his head. "We don't know how fast Furious can react now. He could redirect the shot from draconic cannon if we don't know."
Suddenly, Furious began emitting some sort of low-pitched rumbling sound.
The effect was not visible at first, but round barriers appeared to protect the warships. The sound was muffled on their end. Toothless widened her eyes. "It triggered the anti-cognitohazard ward on the ships." She realised. "He's trying to affect us through sound."
"I didn't know we have that." Spitelout expressed his confusion.
Gobber was the one to respond. "Stoick kept them a secret, in case we got a deviant spy." He elaborated. "Nobody knew about it other than him, me, Toothless and Hiccup."
Suddenly, near the balcony, Astrid collapsed on the ground. Some Vikings saw this and quickly rushed for her aid. "Astrid!"
Toothless turned around to see. Remembering the incident before, she moved ahead and pushed everyone away. "Stop! Get away from her!"
Snotlout stood in front of her. "Who are you telling us what to do?"
Then, the petite girl opened her eyes. They were yellow, and there was a hint of madness in them. Astrid suddenly got up, pulled out her axe, and charged at Toothless with unnatural speed. "AAAH!"
The dragoness turned human was ready. She grabbed the axe as she swung them, threw it aside, before swiping her leg. Astrid fell with a loud thunk, as she came head first on the deck. Toothless quickly moved to restrain her. "I need a rope."
Alexander Haddock grabbed a rope from nearby box. "I have them." He rushed to bound the petite girl. They tied up her legs and arms, making sure they were secure. "Hold her still."
The Vikings watched as the crazed petite girl was being restrained. Astrid seemed to be laughing at them. "Ahah- Ahahahah!"
It was obvious who was in control of her body. Hiccup moved to approach the possessed girl. Seeing her condition, he glanced at Toothless. "I was worried this might happen."
"Might happen?" Spitelout was incredulous. "You knew about this?"
"Astrid saw Furious' true form." Hiccup answered. He grimaced as he stared at the girl. "This is why you wear the goggles. He took control of her from that memory."
"You should've stayed in there, Charcoal." The possessed petite girl declared. She was glaring at the brawny boy. "You should've trusted me. All this would've never happened if you trusted me!"
Hiccup remained silent. The possessed Astrid suddenly grinned. Her mouth was full of fangs instead of human teeth. "But don't worry. This is just a set back." She sounded giddy. "I can't wait to finish this off! Ahahahahah!"
Spitelout stepped forward. "Finish what off?" He demanded.
"Ahahahahahah!" Astrid kept laughing.
The Hairy Hooligan heir had enough. "Gag her. Keep her mouth shut. Put her in the jail at lower deck." He ordered, snapping them out from their shock. "Everything will end once Furious is dead. Make sure there's nothing she can use to kill herself."
"Alright." Alexander Haddock pulled out a thick cloth from his pocket. "Let's shut her up first."
While that was being dealt with, Hiccup moved away to check the situation. Mimir and Furious were still at Dragon Island, preparing for another showdown. The ward had turned invisible, meaning the mind-affecting sound was gone.
Looking at another part of the island, he noted a small pile of crystals there. It was leftover from the ritual before. He could reuse the place to do his own ritual.
Hiccup took a deep breath. He willed himself to transform. The boy shimmered as he turned back into dragon. After Hiccup became Charcoal, the young dragon took off into the air.
He must get that ritual.
At the shores of Dragon Island, Mimir thought about how to approach the situation. He was protected inside the construct; not that it would affect him, since he was immune to the effect. Ebonclaws could not affect one another.
The Sheldon construct was ready to spring in action. However, when faced against the superpowered Furious, the chance of survival was rather dim.
'He favours ranged strikes instead of physical ones. He was not used in physical combat.' Mimir thought as the construct observed its opponent. 'But now, given the size difference, he might be able to pin me under his weight. Not to mention the sudden exhaustion problem...'
Suddenly, Furious dashed to it. The feather-scale dragon jumped out just in time to avoid its claws. 'Too fast!' Mimir thought, before opening its maw and fired a massive flamethrower.
The scale enough was alone to incinerate Dragon Island as a whole. Furious used his wings to cover itself. It did not affect him, but that was not the point of the attack.
Mimir flew up higher in the sky, before stopping the flow of fire. It snapped its wings and flapped them at Furious' direction, sending razor-sharp black feather-scales at Furious. With a sonic boom, the feathers almost pierced through his wings. The ones that missed embedded itself deep into the ground.
Furious let out a bloodthirsty smile, before leaping up towards the construct. He did not even need to use a spell or flap his wings. Having anticipated that strength, Mimir ducked under his swipe – barely! – and fired a quick plasma blast from its maw. It splashed onto his face, but as expected, did absolutely nothing to it.
'He's using his size to fight.' Mimir grunted as it was sliced by his claws. There was no wound, thankfully, but parts of its feather-scales were shaved. 'This is bad. He's clearly more powerful now. He's treating me like his prey.'
That was how the fight went for the next hour. Furious kept pressing on using physical combat; utilising his weight, strength and claws to attack. Mimir utilised his speed and size advantage to flee and strike back, but that barely did anything. The situation had been reversed when compared to before.
However, as time went on, it was getting difficult for Mimir to land a strike.
At some point, the feather-scale dragon had to flee when Furious shot thousands of black-coloured plasma seekers to his direction. Not enough room to dodge, Mimir took off into the air.
Each one was enough to pulverize an island when hit. Mimir had to roll, dive, and even fire his flame to avoid the brunt. They were incredibly dangerous, and it showcased just how powerful Furious had become.
While dodging the plasma seekers, Mimir suddenly came to face with Furious. Realising no way out, he overcharged his plasma blast, and fired point blank right to his chest.
BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!
The explosion seemed to rattle the world. Cloud-like smoke spread all over the place, covering the sky. Nobody could see anything.
A moment later, Furious flapped his wings, and the smoke was instantly banished away. The plasma seekers were gone, and Mimir was hovering somewhat far from him. The combat position had just been reset.
'He's not even hurt. That was all my shot.' Mimir thought worryingly. 'He became physically stronger and faster than me. I need to find his weakness.'
Boom!
There was an explosion not far from them. Suddenly, Furious dodged something from above. It embedded itself on the ground, revealing a massive blue mana spear. Just as it shattered into pieces, more mana spears flew to the godlike eldritch dragon.
Furious moved to dodge the mana spears left and right. It forced his attention away from Mimir, who was still recovering. The greater alpha in oppressive form split his attention to find where those spears come from.
Unfortunately, the mana spears were leading him to move into a trap. The moment he flew higher, two blue glowing walls made of mana suddenly appeared and slammed together, squishing him between. It was followed by much bigger mana spears piercing through the walls.
Few seconds later, the walls were split into two, before exploding. Furious had just released himself. The greater alpha in oppressive form seemed a bit wounded, but nothing grievous.
He glared at the newcomer, only to stop and widen his eyes.
It was a massive Night Fury, just slightly larger than Mimir in his construct. It had feather-scale around its body, and the wings were bird-like. The two pairs of glowing forest green eyes were glaring at the greater alpha in oppressive form.
Charcoal was in that construct. He was standing atop of a blue glowing platform in the air, staring down at the dragon not far from him. The forest green eyed dragon was daring Furious to come and approach.
Mimir felt relief. He finally got some help; he could finally land to rest a bit. Glancing at the mountain where the Heart of Ebonclaw was, he noted the red-green beam starting to weaken. It seemed Charcoal had done his job. The next step would be surviving until the mana reactors completely stopped.
Furious seemed to notice this as well, because he looked angry and contemplating.
BOOM!
Suddenly, the eldritch dragon dashed to Charcoal. It was so fast; it created a sonic boom around him. He moved to grab the massive Night Fury, only for Charcoal to punch his claws. BOOM! The impact blew both dragons away, sending them couple kilometres back.
Furious went around and charged at him once more. Charcoal was doing the same thing. They met at the centre and struck their blow. BOOM! They struck their claws, pushing them away once more. They realigned and flew to each other again.
The two titanic dragons struck their blow, getting knocked back several kilometres away, before flying back to strike again. The very air rattled as they slowly became faster. They kept clashing with each other to find a blind spot.
They were also going upward.
Furious tried different spots to blow, and Charcoal was able to counter that. At the same time, Charcoal sent his own blows in different places whenever possible. The two titanic dragons were matched in their ferocity despite difference in size.
At some point, they hit the top side of the barrier.
The greater alpha in oppressive form was the first to collide. His back slammed against the barrier, making him grunt. Charcoal quickly capitalised by casting hundreds of spells at once.
Thousands of mana spears went flying; Furious barely moved away from that. They harmlessly shattered on the shield. More mana spears headed for him, but he easily dodged them this time.
Furious rushed to close their gap. Charcoal cast his spells once more; hundreds of blue mana walls appeared all around them, most of which were in between them. The greater alpha in oppressive form smashed through them, shattering them into pieces, and reached for the massive Night Fury.
Charcoal was ready for this. Hindlegs on a mana wall, he moved just as Furious' claws about to struck. Claws at the ready, he pressed them onto Furious' chest, before pulsing his mana.
BOOOOOMMM!!!
The shockwave was like a sonic boom. It shattered every mana walls around them. The barrier above shook as it held back the pressure. Surprisingly, the impact left both Furious and Charcoal disoriented. The two titanic dragons fell down from the sky, heading straight onto Dragon Island.
During the fall, they regained their senses. The two titanic dragons gracefully landed on the surface.
Standing on opposite ends of the island, Furious and Charcoal stared at each other. The greater alpha in oppressive form looked proud, while the feathered Night Fury hardened his expression.
They realised just how formidable their opponents were.
The humans and dragons at the warships were watching the fight with awe. The fight was incredibly fast and powerful. The shockwaves from that fight had cleared the fog at Helheim's Gate, allowing them to see far in the dark red sky.
It was the most intense thing they had seen so far.
Toothless was concerned. They looked equally matched. Looking at the red-green beam from afar, she realised the Heart of Ebonclaw was actually shutting down. It should not be long for the mana reactor to shut down, and thus, weakening the barrier.
"Hey..." Amber the Light Fury spoke up. She was standing right next to her. "Isn't that your dad?"
The mother dragon looked up. Extremely far above in the sky near the beam, she could see a group of dragons gathering around. One of them looked roughly like her father. They must have seen the fight going on from above.
Toothless also noticed something going on with the solar eclipse. It was shaking, as if trying to break free from hold. Whatever was holding the events in place were weakening. The power source holding everything together was stopping.
They just need to hold on a bit longer.
"Ten minutes left." Toothless mumbled, remembering the countdown on her TONER aurapex. "Just hold on, Charcoal..."
At the Dragon Island, Charcoal was assessing the situation. The initial fight revealed what Furious was capable of. He seemed to prefer brute-force over spells, but it could be attributed to his oppressive form. It gave him significant boost in power.
It could also be attributed in Furious underestimating him. Given his expression, Charcoal knew he would not underestimate him again. Mimir was resting on the ground. He not in a good shape to help, meaning he was on his own for now.
He must be in his most comfortable position if he were to fight with everything he got.
The titanic feathery Night Fury suddenly shimmered. His form was changed to almost bipedal. His feathers became much thicker, and his wings had shrunk to smaller size. When that was done, Charcoal summoned his sword.
The Brimstone appeared on his claws; turned so massive to fit his claws.
It was not done yet, however. Charcoal snapped the Brimstone, making it extend the handle. The now-sword-spear had its blade burn with black-red flame. He moved to a stance; blade front, spear butt high, and spread, half-crouched hindlegs. The titanic bipedal dragon was ready.
Furious widened his eyes. It felt familiar to him. His semi-amorphous form shifted to bipedal stance. Large green-white draconic spear appeared on his claws. The green metal tip was enveloped with yellow mana flame. The greater alpha in oppressive form held onto the white grip.
The bipedal greater alpha swung his spear, before moving to his own stance. Similar, but less silhouette facing him. Furious wordlessly accepted the challenge of human-style combat.
They wait for the others to make their move.
But they knew who had more to lose by waiting.
Furious charged in to attack. Charcoal dashed to strike as well.
The greater alpha in oppressive form swung first; Charcoal blocked the strike. The massive young dragon tried to stab; Furious dodged aside. Charcoal spun his spear to gain momentum, before striking his leg. The greater alpha redirected that strike, but Charcoal spun around and hit him with butt of the spear.
Charcoal moved to kick his leg, but the greater alpha avoided that just in time. The young dragon swung his spear; Furious blocked that with his own. Charcoal swung his spear from left and right, trying to exploit mistakes in his stance. However, the greater alpha kept blocking his strike.
Eventually, Charcoal used mana to accelerate his spear. It struck a blow to Furious' spear, sending him back kilometres away. The greater alpha moved for offensive. He dashed for a swipe from above. The young dragon moved to block, but Furious changed halfway to stab him.
Charcoal turned his head just before it hit, but his spear was still posed to block an upward swing. Furious pushed his own spear up, ripping Charcoal's spear from him. The black-red sword-spear flew up and embedded itself in a different part of the island.
For some reason, the young dragon could not summon that back.
Charcoal realised had been truly disarmed.
Furious pressed the advantage. He swung and stab his spear to strike the young dragon. Charcoal moved left and right, dodging the strikes from hitting him. At some point, the blade singed his ear. Regardless, the young dragon waited for the right opening.
Eventually, Charcoal found one. Furious was too close when spinning his spear. During the spin, Charcoal blocked the attack, stopping it at butt end of the spear. Then, he punched the spear butt with his palm. That sent the spear off and embed itself just off the shores.
Furious was surprised, but Charcoal was not done yet.
The young dragon moved for a roundhouse kick. Furious blocked the impact, but it sent him couple kilometres away into the waters. Claws engulfed in flame, Charcoal dashed to attack. He cast his spells and sent a massive ball of flame.
Furious dashed forward, spun himself and spread his wings. This created a massive wind that turned the moving ball of flame into towering flaming wall. The young dragon literally parted the wall to reach the greater alpha.
The greater alpha cast his spells. Black tendrils around them opened their maws and fired plasma blasts at Charcoal. The young dragon leaped to dodge the projectiles, before using jet-pulse to spin himself. His tail touched the water, sending billions of gallons of water into the air in front of him.
Furious widened his eyes. Charcoal took a deep breath, before blowing the air to the greater alpha.
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!
The huge stream of water blew straight to Furious at hypersonic speed. It shook the world around them, sending massive debris into the air. When it finally cleared up, Furious was nowhere to be seen.
That did left most parts of Helheim's Gate completely dry. Nothing was left after impact. Even the sturdiest sea-stacks were destroyed. The impact stretched kilometres through Helheim's Gate into the ocean outside.
It would have killed Furious in one go.
Charcoal paused to take his breath. The construct was straining; he was pushing it to its limit. His mana reservoir was less than half. Despite all that, he was barely competing with Furious. The young dragon realised the cost of making his construct cheaper.
The original construct was designed to endure, not dodge attacks. As such, it did not have much stamina. The modification removed some protection in favour of mobility to make it cheaper. The stamina was never accounted for, because it would costs double compared to general protection.
This removed the option to endure most attacks, forcing him to dodge them instead. Unfortunately, since it was never designed to dodge so much, it could be exhausted from dodging prolonged, repeated attacks.
His ear almost became a victim of that.
'They would've never seen this flaw without field testing them.' Charcoal mentally cursed. 'I need to avoid that situation.'
The young dragon in construct noted his spear embedded next to him. Sensing something behind him, he turned around and kicked the end of his spear. It flew straight to Furious, who had sneaked away to grab his own spear. The greater alpha quickly blocked that with his own, sending it back.
Dashing forward, Charcoal grabbed his own spear midair. The young dragon used his momentum to swing his spear. Furious backed off, before angling his spear to block potential frontal attack. Charcoal met the block with his own, pushing his spear against greater alpha's own.
The two titans struggled as they pushed for dominance. Furious seemed to smirk. "You'd go far, Charcoal." He whispered. "You will die if you don't trust me."
"Death comes for us all!" Charcoal snarled. He added more strength to his spear. "But YOU FIRST!"
Furious moved to redirect to the left; the young dragon followed the flow. Charcoal spun and hit the greater alpha on his stomach with the spear butt. However, it was a distraction. Blue flame in maw, the greater alpha in oppressive form sent a full power plasma blast right on his face.
KA-BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Charcoal barely had time to block them with his wings. The explosion sent him flying couple kilometres into the sky. Blue platform appeared in the air for him to land. The young dragon suddenly blocked a claw strike from Furious, who had come out of nowhere, before he could process what happened.
Furious was so fast; his eyes could no longer follow. He reappeared behind Charcoal to strike; the young dragon blocked with his spear; and the greater alpha disappeared once more. Furious did this again on his side, and Charcoal barely blocked it.
The greater alpha did this many times, leaving no room for Charcoal to retaliate. Sometimes Furious strike with his spear, and sometimes his claws. The young dragon knew Furious was exhausting himself from doing this.
However, the young dragon knew what he was doing. The greater alpha was trying to exhaust him; he was trying to out-stamina him. It seemed to be working, because Charcoal was getting slower.
Furious had found the weakness from the fight.
Charcoal was running out of options.
Eventually, Furious found an opening. He roundhouse kicked the young dragon at his back, sending him down onto Dragon Island.
BOOOOM!!!
Charcoal crashed right next to where the red-green beam was being emitted from. The mana circuit was fading. There was less than one minute left until the heart's complete shutdown. The young dragon must hold on.
However, what Charcoal did not know was Toothless' intervention.
The timed mana poisons had finished its countdown, pumping corrosive mana into the crystal clusters. It shattered the clusters at once, destroying the barrier and its functions for the heart.
The clusters had been grounding mana from the heart.
The Heart of Ebonclaw had nowhere to pump out the mana. It suddenly went back at full speed, defying its own shutdown command. The mana reactor became unstable. The red-green beam returned to full force.
The barrier that was supposed to disappear mysteriously became solid.
Neither titanic dragons knew this. Furious appeared on top of the feathery construct. He raised his spear, before striking him down with his blade.
Then, darkness.
Silence.
Charcoal never thought death would be so... quiet.
It was poetic. After years of struggle, of tears and blood, he was rewarded death and silence. Everything accumulated for the past couple years were carried to his death. Charcoal wondered if it was all worth it.
'It was worth it.'
Charcoal knew it would cost his life. He knew going against Furious would be his death. It was why he wanted to flee instead of fighting back. His mate and hatchlings were there. He did not want to risk his life when too much was at stake.
Yet, he did it anyway. Not for himself, but the freedom of his family. He thought they could stall Furious long enough to finish the job. They were very close to finish that plan. They had done their best with everything they have.
Yet, it was not enough.
Charcoal believed Mimir could hold Furious until the heart's full shutdown. It was about 30 seconds when everything went dark. The Sheldon construct was designed for defence. If it could hold for that long, the barrier could be shattered, allowing Wodensfang to enter the region.
'Mimir would probably die for holding him back.' Charcoal thought, feeling guilt. '... at least Toothless and the hatchlings are safe. They can live safely in Hidden World.'
"Hello? Are you awake?"
Charcoal jumped when he heard that. He realised his eyes were closed this whole time.
Looking around the place, he realised that he was somewhere in a vast, open grassy land. The sky was blue and void of any clouds or sun. It was quiet and eerie. "Is this the afterlife?"
"No. It's not."
The black dragon looked to see the one speaking to him. It looked like a male Night Fury, but the scales were rougher and grey. He had forest green eyes with acidic tint on them, and he was roughly the same size as him.
Charcoal then realised that they were both speaking Norse, somehow. "Who are you?"
"My name is Marduk." The dragon – now known as Marduk – introduced himself. "You know me as Hiccup the First. Your ancestor."
Charcoal had to gape. Of all dragons he expected; seeing his ancestor was some sort of grey Night Fury was not one of them. "What are you?"
"I'm a Blank Fury." Marduk answered.
"... never heard of it."
"I'm not surprised. This is the final evolution of Night Fury." The Blank Fury explained. He sat on the ground. "Ascended, godlike, whatever you call them. I prefer to call them evolution."
Charcoal pondered that answer. "How?"
Marduk smiled at that. "That would be telling, wouldn't it?"
"Harr..." The young dragon rolled his eyes. Then, he remembered what happened before. "... that's it, then." The black dragon decided. "I'm dead."
"Not yet." Marduk lowered his head a bit. "I have stopped time to speak with you."
That sound plausible. The black dragon was curious. "Why?"
Marduk took a deep breath, before exhaling it. "... why indeed." He gave a non-answer. "You're the closest I can get to help me fight space-time threats."
"What do you mean?"
"This is not the first time we've seen each other." The grey dragon shifted his position. "You are the first Charcoal that survived this threat. You've reached the age of 15, alive and not a deviant."
Charcoal widened his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
Marduk took a deep breath. He briefly explained what he meant.
The universe could be seen as a sentient creature composed of Space and Time. The Space was their place to exist. The Time exist as means of adaptation, and as such, above Space. Every Space that exists runs through the same Time.
One Space running Time was called a timeline. They called it that because time was in control of their creation. For every changes made or decision that exists, the timeline would split, creating new timeline.
Approximately five billion trillion timelines were created every nanosecond from another timeline.
Changing the past would not change the future, because it would just create a new timeline. There were even layers of timelines within timelines. Going to the future was impossible because the future did not exist. Every timeline move at the same time.
As such, for those who could 'see' the future, there were predictions than actually seeing the future. Ancient Night Furies could pull predictions from the universe with their ability to foresight.
The mechanism behind this was not yet understood.
"Let me get this straight." Charcoal slowly respond. He was sitting on his hindlegs. "You evolved from Night Fury... to Blank Fury. A time-space creature."
"Correct." Marduk nodded.
"So, if you're here, that means you created a timeline." The young dragon continued speaking. "Like some sort of reproduction for timelines."
The grey dragon paused. "I would phrase them differently, but yes."
"And I assume that, in the previous timeline, I died."
"Yes. There was a time-space threat that shifted Furious' priorities to the point of extremity." Marduk explained the situation. "Should they not interfered, you would have been in Hidden World with your family."
Charcoal grimaced. "What am I facing, exactly?"
"The current threat is deviant dragon. There's a space-time deviant dragon flying amok in the universe, trying to kill or corrupt every timeline with you inside." The grey dragon explained. "The threat in question is what ended the Oppressive War in human favour."
The young dragon straightened himself. "A deviant time-space dragon." He uttered. "And he's responsible for human victory in Oppressive War?"
"Yes."
That was greatly alarming. Charcoal did not know what to think. "... is that who made the concept of mana perversion?" He questioned. "The space-time deviant that wants to become powerful?"
"It's creation has nothing to do with space-time deviant." Marduk tilted his head. "I would know. I was the one who invented mana perversion."
That... came as a shock.
Charcoal did not know what to say. How mana perversion came to be had been a mystery for quite some time. Nobody knew who invented them. They suspected Sildek the Lich Dragon to be responsible, but mana perversion predated his existence.
"But that doesn't make any sense." Charcoal uttered. He was confused at the explanation. "Why did you invent it?"
"Mana perversion was originally invented to solve food problem. It was used to forge fishes with land livestocks to make them bigger." Marduk patiently explained. "Initially, we call them fish forging. Water is commodity in Hidden World, and space is often limited. This method allows agricultural dragons to turn small adult fishes into large ones, thus feeding more dragons with one fish."
The young dragon remained silent. The grey dragon shuddered his breath. "But then, some tried them on themselves. It failed, until they tried them with humans." Marduk shrugged his wings. "... I believe the result speaks for itself."
"... okay." Charcoal nodded. He could see how inventions could go wrong. It was unfortunate that went spectacularly wrong. "Tell me more about this deviant space-time dragon."
Marduk told the tale about the dragon.
The space-time deviant dragon was once a well-respected diplomat and dragon general. His name was Cragmaul. His species no longer exists, but they had evolved to present-day Bewilderbeast. He was one of the most powerful dragon species to exist at the time.
Cragmaul liked humans. He would often advocate for their rights and place in the world. This was considered progressive at the time, because back then, humans were nothing more but slave and servant. Dragons would balk at giving humans serving them anything more than food, water and toilet.
Even then, some would forgot to feed them.
Cragmaul would often be at anthropology conventions, giving scientific lectures about humans. He believed that humans were intelligent, and given the opportunity, they would not be much different than dragons.
It was how Marduk knew him. He also advocated for humans back then; he wanted to make positive change in the world of dragons. He wanted a place where humans could stand alongside dragons in the world.
This common goal made them good friends.
Then, something happened.
It started when Cragmaul fell in love with a human. The relationship was kept secret because it was illegal for dragons to mate with humans. Marduk was not even told about this. Unfortunately, this secret was exposed after they had an egg.
It was a scandal!
A well-respected dragon mating with a human? Outrageous!
It was inevitable that something would happen at some point. His own dragon soldiers poisoned the human. Cragmaul was furious when he discovered this. He fired many dragons from positions, and even killed those responsible.
However, it was too late to do anything. The human fell sick and their death was inevitable.
Cragmaul took a desperate measure in effort to save his mate. When he consulted this to Marduk, he was very much against it. He refused to aid him in his effort. No amount of convincing from Marduk swayed him away from what he was going to do.
Cragmaul used mana perversion ritual and melted his human mate into himself.
The ritual effect on human was not well understood at the time. The concept of deviant dragon did not exist yet. Cragmaul thought it would put his mate into his mind, allowing him to hear her voice once more.
When the process was done, Cragmaul went insane.
It was unclear when or how the Oppressive War started. They said human sympathiser dragons revolted after an arch alpha passed a radical anti-human law. Some said it started because of controversy surrounding human adoption centres.
Marduk believed Cragmaul was responsible.
When the war started, Marduk and Cragmaul went against each other. Marduk sided with the dragons, while Cragmaul sided with the humans. As the war progressed, Cragmaul had increasingly employed deviant dragons to fight the war. It was unknown why he did this to the humans.
Regardless, the goal was clear. Cragmaul wanted to force dragonkind to submit. He wanted revenge against dragonkind for killing his mate. He wanted all dragons to submit to human realm, so they could be enslaved like how they enslaved humans.
Cragmaul almost got his wish when the war ended.
"But you said he became time-space deviant dragon." Charcoal pointed out. "Technically, the war escalated. It never ended."
"Yes. The war escalated." Marduk nodded. "It was unknown how he became time-space deviant dragon. The timelines of his upbringing is... obscured. Regardless, I have been fighting him since."
The young dragon looked in thought. "Did he ever changed his name?" He questioned. "I've never heard of 'Cragmaul' anywhere in history book."
"During the war, he vowed to use his human form for eternity." The grey dragon slowly answered. "When the war ended, he disappeared. His old name mysteriously vanished from all existence. It was until I became a Blank Fury that I realised what he had become."
"He's trying to erase his old life." Charcoal realised.
He had read about it before; being ashamed of their own species. The only time Charcoal read about them was on journals from past Hairy Hooligan chiefs. Some talked about how Vikings realised that dragons were not all that different than them. It was rare, but they did happen.
Of course, depending on the person, the guilt could drive them insane. They had been killing dragons all their lives, treating them as mere pests and animals. There were those who could not handle the fact that dragons were intelligent.
It was the toxic kind of guilt.
"Who is he known now?" Charcoal questioned.
Marduk paused. "... Drago Bludvist."
That was unexpected.
However, the more Charcoal thought about it, the more it made sense. Northern Alliance had been around for many centuries, and they had been focused on him for some time. In all their existence, their leader was always known as Drago Bludvist.
Charcoal had assumed it was a title-name, where new leaders must take that name. It was something practised in different places around the world. He never thought it was a deviant space-time dragon.
"Does Wodensfang know this?" Charcoal questioned. "Does he even know you survived?"
The grey dragon looked uncomfortable. "No. He doesn't know."
"Harr..." The young dragon exhaled his breath. He could not believe it was deviants the whole time. "We've traced most of our threats to Northern Alliance. We know they're responsible for... everything." Charcoal began. "Is there anything else Drago has done that I don't know?"
Marduk began explaining once more.
Drago Bludvist had affected different dragons that relied on foresight, including Wodensfang. In fact, the current situation with Furious was his doing. The foresight worked by requesting the universe about potential future.
This could be intercepted by any space-time creature.
Furious was so reliant on foresight; it was intercepted by Drago himself. He was shown a vision of a very distant future, where there was only war. Marduk saw this deception and tried to stop him, but it was too late.
When Marduk showed Charcoal the vision, he could see why Furious was terrified.
Drago's current goal was wiping Haddock Night Furies from the universe. He wanted to prevent another Blank Fury from coming into existence. He did this by collapsing important timelines at its important parts, which then cause cascading event that collapse everything connected to it.
The universe and its timelines could be imagined as a giant, endless tree. When certain branches were cut, the rest would fall with it. While similar branches could grow, if they kept getting cut, they would stop growing.
Drago Bludvist had an army of time-space creatures to do it for him. Marduk was mostly working alone. The Blank Fury had done his best to protect the relevant timelines. While he could fight them by himself just fine, he was still just one dragon.
The universe naturally lock timelines where time-space creatures came to be. It could neither be removed, altered or branch out after the ascension. This prevented Dragon from tampering timelines where Marduk exists. As such, he was trying to isolate him.
"In a way, he succeeded." Marduk explained. His tail swished behind him. "I am the strongest time-space creature in the universe. The only Blank Fury to ever exist. Other time-space creatures are scared of me, which made it easy to turn them against me."
"So, you want me to become a Blank Fury to lock the timeline." Charcoal summarised. "You want me to help you fight Drago Bludvist."
"Yes." The grey dragon nodded.
"Harr..." The young dragon exhaled his breath. They had fallen right into deviant plot, and they barely knew about it. "What has he done to me?"
"He has been destroying timelines where you survived, while leaving those where you died or become deviant." Marduk explained the situation. "This current timeline is all that is left. I interfered, and thus, creating this timeline. Then, I surgically remove them from the branch and replant them elsewhere."
"Then there's a possibility of me becoming a deviant Blank Fury." Charcoal pointed out. "You removed this timeline from the main tree. If I can't be a normal Blank Fury, then a deviant one might appear."
"Drago Bludvist has been destroying timelines where that is a possibility." The grey dragon slowly answered. He was uncomfortable at that thought. "Every deviant variations of you advocated for dragons' dominance. It goes against what he wanted to achieve. In fact, the 'vision' Drago took came from one of those timelines. In that timeline, you started that war."
It was Charcoal's turn to be uncomfortable. He could not imagine doing something like that. "Right. No more deviant version of me." The young dragon decided. "What about Hiccup the Second?"
Marduk looked sombre. "He was close to become one." He answered. "I was still figuring out how universe timelines work at the time. Drago kept making his move. I failed. No timeline would branch a place where he survived."
Charcoal grimaced. "What stopped Drago from finding this timeline?"
"This timeline is separate from the... main tree, as you say." The grey dragon carefully answered. He tried to explain without overcomplicating it. "Due to how space-time creatures traverse around the universe, they would never see it. Even if they know, they have no means to reach it. At least not immediately."
The young dragon pondered that answer. It would take quite some time for this timeline to be discovered. "Alright. I'll do my best." He decided. "What do you want me to do? How do I become a Blank Fury?"
"This is something you must figure out yourself." Marduk answered. "I suggest... you live and do what you think is best."
"... that's it?" Charcoal was incredulous.
"Yes. I believe you can achieve what I've become on your own." The grey dragon elaborated. "I can't tell you how. Every space-time creature ascends differently, but I know you will become one. What you need is non-interference from space-time threats."
"That's..." The young dragon did not know what to say. "... I didn't expect that."
Marduk smiled a bit. "Sometimes, things are as easy as self-fulfilling prophecy." He remarked. "They just need protection to fulfil them."
"And this is the point where you interfered." Charcoal concluded.
"Yes. Telling you is not enough. I will help you." the grey dragon corrected. He moved over to put some distance between them. "Are you aware that your mate and hatchlings are trying to save you?"
The young dragon widened his eyes. "What?"
Marduk flicked his wings. A tear in reality suddenly appeared behind him, showing a frozen scene. It showed Charcoal and Furious' fight from above. Furious' spear was posed to strike, ready to kill him.
Toothless and her hatchlings were flying to them, followed by Agatha and other dragons and their riders from behind. At distance, Mimir was rushing in as well. His claws were ready to grab the spear.
The grey dragon briefly glanced at the frozen scene. "The oppressive form have clouded his mind." Marduk explained. "Furious will kill them. If both events finally passed, he will kill you too. No one outside the barrier would have the time to stop him."
"Harr..." Charcoal exhaled his breath. "I guess we sacrificed ourselves to save the world. At least in the main timeline."
"No. You did not." The grey dragon shook his head. "The mana reactor would have exploded regardless."
The young dragon was shocked. "How?!" He demanded. "There was 30 seconds left!"
Marduk did not respond. He flicked his wings and the frozen scene moved. It showed the cavern where a crystal cluster was being held. It was directly right above the heart. However, something was wrong with the cluster.
It was shattering into pieces.
"Roughly six hours before the fight, Toothless set a timed poison to destroy the crystals." The grey dragon explained. "She knew its functions. She knew it was connected to the heart. What she did not know is the heart using the clusters to ground itself. With nowhere to pump out its mana, the heart become unstable. In one minute, it would explode, taking the world with it."
Charcoal was incredulous. He slumped his wings in defeat. "Goddammit, Toothless."
Marduk flapped his wings once. The tear disappeared from sight. "You are not in a position where you can defeat Furious." He explained. "The construct you used was never designed to fight dragons in their oppressive form. No construct in existence so far could match against them. It was only through skill and luck that you keep up with him this far."
"What should I do then?" The young dragon questioned.
"Simply put; you need power boost. I have concocted a plan that would empower you." Marduk explained his plan. "I would have to alter your physiology just enough to sync them with the construct you are using. You must absorb the Heart of Ebonclaw and make them yours as soon as possible."
Charcoal was incredulous. "How am I going to do that?"
"It is the same way as pulling them into your mana pool. I have altered its instructions to merge with you given the opportunity." the grey dragon answered the question. "However, the heart would be useless without a power source. As such, you would be carrying something I made."
The Marduk's forest green eyes seemed to glint. He moved closer and tapped the ground in front of them. A glass jar appeared in dark blue flame. It was the size of their head and closed with a cork.
Inside the jar was some sort of blue round thing, emitting strings that went around its top and bottom. It seemed to be holding an incredibly power. The appearance, however, reminded Charcoal of magnets.
"It's a star in a jar." Marduk answered, gauging his reaction. "This one is originally the size of 12 million sun."
The young dragon paused at that information. He could not comprehend the fact that there could be a literal star in a jar. Then again, he should have gotten used to it at this point. He was punching way above his capability, and he had no choice but to do it.
"You want me to carry this." Charcoal slowly responded. "As the power source for the heart."
"Yes. The moment the Heart of Ebonclaw integrated itself in you, it would absorb and integrate the star into your body." The grey dragon explained his plan. "This... would trigger an evolution. Not necessarily into Blank Fury, but the process to something in between. Err... titan wing, if it exists for Night Fury."
"... Well..." The young dragon did not know what to say. "Does that mean I can make moons and create lands out of nowhere after this?"
Marduk looked amused. "Not at your current age. However, from my experience, with enough resource, nothing is impossible." He remarked. "Regardless, this would put you higher in power compared to, say, Furious."
"Hrr..." Charcoal nodded in understanding. "The more I age, the stronger I become."
"Yes. When integrated, the heart and star adapted themselves with you. It would not do things that your body cannot handle." The grey dragon nodded. "It is certainly better than Haddock's adaptive mutation."
"Well, I don't want to die a painful death. Thank you very much." The young dragon was sarcastic. He poked the jar with his claw. The glass looked sturdy. "Do I start by pulling this into my mana pool?"
"Yes."
Charcoal focused on his mana circuits. The star in a jar disappeared in blue flame, vanishing into his mana pool. It did not occupy much space in his mana reserve. "What now?"
"I will send you back." Marduk answered. "After this, you will no longer hear anything from me. I will avoid this timeline to prevent them from noticing."
"Makes sense."
"One last thing." The grey dragon tapped the ground once more. A silver-like pendant with dark blue crystal centre appeared. The design looked complex, and the crystal seemed to be a crystallised mana. "My old pendant. It went missing after my death. I have refreshed the mana inside to show my current signature."
The young dragon pulled the pendant into his storage mana. "What does it do?"
"It is proof that I'm still alive." Marduk answered. Seeing his expression, he continued speaking. "While I advise you to keep this a secret, you need connections to survive. No one will believe you. Not even my brother. This pendant is evidence that you are my sole inheritor of Haddock family."
Charcoal slowly nodded. "I'll ask my mate about this later." He decided. "What now?"
"I will send you back." The grey dragon nodded. He raised his paw and bumped it on Charcoal's snout.
The young dragon gasped when he felt tingling sensation around his scales. His body was shimmering blue, as if fading away from bottom to top. Charcoal stared at his claws, which was slowly dissipating.
"Wait. One more thing." The grey dragon remembered. "I have given your mind some spells to aid you in fighting Furious. I strongly advise you to rip the oppressive form from him and take it upon yourself. You will need them."
"R- Really?" Charcoal widened his eyes. His lower side was vanishing. "I can do that?"
"Yes. You will know the details once you return. Do not tell anyone about this spell."
"Thank you." The young dragon whispered. His head was all that left. Looking down, he noted how strange it felt. "Wow..."
Marduk watched the process with content. It was then the grey dragon remembered something else. "Wait." He called out. "Your mate is also a candidate."
Charcoal only caught the first part. "My mate is what?"
Unfortunately, whatever that was were left unspoken, because Charcoal had completely vanished into thin air. The young dragon had returned to the land of the living.
Several things happened at once.
Charcoal came back to see a spear about to stab him in the chest. He was still in his construct. Right before it stabbed him, a pair of claws grabbed the spear. Despite being weak, Mimir tried to wrestle that away from him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Toothless sent full powered plasma blast at Furious' head. The hatchlings fired everything from their twin cannons. They were ineffective. It only served as distraction.
However, one of the plasma blasts ricocheted and hit the ground right next to Charcoal, making a hole there. It exposed the Heart of Ebonclaw underneath. The heart was beating rapidly; it was about to explode.
Charcoal took the opportunity to kick Furious with his hindlegs. While the greater alpha was staggered, he shoved his hand into the hole, grabbed the heart, and pulled that into his mana pool. He could not see if that worked, but he felt it occupying nearly half of his mana reserves.
Regardless, the effect was immediate. Everything suddenly froze in place. The construct Charcoal used was shimmering; the young dragon felt everything changed around them. He suddenly feel more connected with the construct, as if it was his own actual body.
That was exactly what happened.
Fuelled by the star in a jar, the heart turned the construct into his actual body. It merged the original body into the new one, blending appendages and appearances. He was turned back to his original quadruped shape. When this was completed, the heart triggered an evolution.
Charcoal was glowing. His body grew bigger really fast. The feathers from before were moulded into scales, before growing out incredibly thick fur. The appendages on his legs became furs, but different appendages appeared elsewhere. His claws became longer with human-like opposable thumb.
When it was over, everything exploded.
BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Everything was knocked away from him, even Furious. The blast destroyed what remained of the mountain in Dragon Island. It kicked off the dust from everywhere, creating dusty fog that shrouded their vision.
When the dust settled, Charcoal was revealed standing on the ground.
The huge Night Fury was about one and a half bigger than before. His body was largely covered in thick, fibre-like fur. His head was relatively untouched, but there were thick clump of fur around his back, neck and going down to his chest.
His wings were draconic, but feather-like at the start and middle. It was similar for his fins, where it look like feathers covering its base. They seemed to be radiating blue-coloured mana, which gave its blue shimmer.
There were two long, prehensile appendages with diamond-shaped end at his front tailfins, which were just behind his hindlegs. The appendages were almost as long as his tail. They were shimmering blue, almost glowing.
Charcoal was amazed. Everything felt much heavier. However, he did not feel any weight on his movement. In fact, he felt much more mobile than ever. The fur hid a lot of large muscular bulk underneath, giving appearance of a chubby dragon.
He could feel two hearts beating in his chest.
Every humans and dragons watching stared with amazement. If the appearance was not intimidating enough, the now-actually-massive dragon was radiating mana. Even his eyes were glowing green. He had so much mana, his body was overflowing with it!
The red-green beam was still going strong. It was connected to Charcoal. The massive dragon could feel the sheer power connected to him, fuelling him with endless mana. Charcoal turned to face his adversary. His expression was full of anger. "FURIOUS!!!"
That roar snapped them out of their shock. Furious prepared his spear to fight. Charcoal did not bother to run. He lumbered to the greater alpha dragon in oppressive form. The red-green beam above followed like hanging rope.
Remembering the spells, Charcoal prepared himself to tear Furious apart.
Seeing that he was slow, Furious cast his spells. Black tendrils around them opened their maws and fired plasma blasts. Charcoal did not bother to dodge. He simply flicked his wings, and they bounced up from his furs. It harmlessly exploded in the sky.
Seeing this, Furious charged in to attack. Charcoal clenched his paw. The moment the greater alpha was in range, he backhanded the spear tip.
KA-BOOOOOMMM!!!
The impact was so powerful, it shattered the draconic spear into pieces. The shockwave pushed everything back, including ocean water and debris. It flattened everything within kilometres around them.
Charcoal used the momentum to grab Furious by his chest, and pinned him to the ground. The greater alpha in oppressive form was too shocked to react. The massive Night Fury used his weight to held him there. Raising his claws, he cast his spells, before stabbed him on his chest.
CRUNCH!
"KRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Furious let out a painful roar. Charcoal had impaled his chest with his claws. There was no blood or physical wound despite one of his claws inside. Instead, he was bleeding mana. The young massive dragon spiritually attacked his mana circuit.
Such procedure was typically done in surgery with pain suppressants.
Charcoal did it with brute force.
It felt like going through large bundles of sewing threads. Those were mana circuits. Regardless, the young massive dragon searched what he was looking for. He must take them apart to find what he needed.
Stoick was still in there; it was not permanent yet. The oppressive form was also not permanent yet. With this in mind, Charcoal grabbed what he felt to be Stock. With all his might, he pulled.
Yellow fog of mana poured out from the spiritual chest wound. Charcoal was ripping Stoick out from Furious. Those bundles of threads were tightly connected to him. He could feel Furious' mana circuits being torn apart.
Furious was obviously in excruciating pain. He trashed around for release. Charcoal cast ironwire spell. Massive blue wires appeared from the ground and wrapped around his body, tightly holding him in place. Struggle as he might, those wires were not coming off. "KRAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
Eventually, Charcoal got him out. Stoick was the size of his palm. He was still a Night Fury. He looked conscious, but dazed from the experience.
The massive young dragon threw him aside, before putting his claw into the chest once more. He would be getting Furious out from the oppressive form. The greater alpha should be inside.
It did not take long for Charcoal to find him. Furious' form was much bigger than Stoick. The moment he pulled him out, the oppressive form went limp. Charcoal looked at Furious in his claws. The greater alpha was conscious, and he was terrified.
Charcoal threw him aside. He put his claws back into the chest, grabbed the mana circuits, and cast another spell. He would be taking the oppressive form for himself.
The body shattered into million pieces of blue crystals. Those crystals were circling around Charcoal, gradually moving into his body. The young massive dragon began to glow once more.
He grew bigger once more. His appearance turned slightly different.
More prehensile appendages appeared under his front tailfins, making them four. Two pairs of similar appendages appeared behind his head, right behind his nubs. Those were shorter and thinner than the rest.
Eight more appendages appeared under his wings. Four on each side, they were longer and thicker than their tailfins counterpart. The length was slightly longer than his wings.
His chubby look turned somewhat muscular. They could see that through the fur. The fur grew thicker and longer as he kept bulking up. When that did finally stop, the fur gained some sort of black matte coating, almost iron-like.
When it was over, the red-green beam dissipated.
The massive dragon looked down at two Night Furies. Stoick and Furious had witnessed Charcoal growing into dragon that had occupied half the island at this point. They were definitely terrified by the sight of him.
Charcoal took a deep breath, before casting a spell. Prehensile appendages shimmering blue, the colossal dragon released a loud, billowing roar.
Right on their face.
"KROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
The shockwave from that roar destroyed every mana constructs around them. It went far beyond, enveloping everything within Barbaric Archipelago. Crystals, aurapex, wards and shields around the region shattered and turned into dust.
It also cleared the blood red ocean and its tendrils. The sky was finally clear, revealing blue evening light. The nightmare was finally over.
However, everyone was left with their ears ringing. They were disoriented from that roar, with some collapsed from shock. It would not be surprising if that could be heard all the way from Europe.
Meanwhile, Charcoal was exhausted. He was low on mana, and the spells took a lot from him. His body was still accommodating with everything that happened. Aided by the new heart, it was working overtime to keep him alive. The now-colossal young dragon was struggling to stay awake.
He was about to collapse when someone massive supported his wings. Assuming Mimir, Charcoal finally closed his eyes.
Darkness.