Prologue: The Masked Demon
Flames erupted from all directions, showing no signs of stopping as screams of terror filled the burning ship. Enormous shadows flew by the ship, revealing to be dragons, Deadly Nadders to be exact, as they continuously burned the ship with their fire while the men on board leapt into the safety of the ocean below them.
A roar from one of the Deadly Nadders halted the dragons' attacks before everything went silent, with the exception of the men still trapped on the ship. Those who weren't, however, were swimming aimlessly. Who could blame them though? They were in the middle of the ocean with no island in sight and the only thing they could do was to escape the dragons.
Just then, one of the men who was swimming away was struck by an arrow. He grunted in pain as he turned around, only to have another arrow meet him, in between the eyes.
Around him, the rest of the men stopped and turned around to face the ship.
"Who in Thor's name are you?!" One of the men, who seemed to be the leader, demanded as he glared at the ship, where a human figure could be seen standing on the edge of the burning ship, with a foot resting on the side of the ship as the figure stared back at the men.
The fire around him slowly faded, which began to show the figure's body as he removed his cloak. To the men's surprise, the figure was a teenage boy. His blond hair was short, with his fringe covering half of his left eye while a fresh cut could be seen under his right eye. The boy also wore leather clothes but what made the men furious was that he was wearing the equipment they had left behind on the ship, iron armor.
The boy made a movement which indicated that he had scoffed as he lowered the bow in his hand and cried out to the men. "My name is none of your business, Dragon Hunters!" His voice was clear and it sent shivers down the men's backs as they listened to him.
"The gods have spoken to me," the boy continued. "If you wish to continue capturing more dragons in the future, then are you prepared to face the wrath of the gods?"
"The boy's bluffing!" The leader of the men laughed as he turned to his men. "The dragons are merely demons. Since when do the gods care for those creatures? He's delusional!"
In response, the men all yelled out at the boy, throwing curses at him to which he seemed to ignore as he discarded his bow and raised his right arm up, revealing a golden, dragon-shaped brace on his arm which covered his hand, wrist and forearm.
As he did, the dragons flying around the ship had stopped in their positions as they curiously observed the boy who was on their side. In that moment, a Monstrous Nightmare flew down towards the boy and gave out a deafening roar, causing the men in the water to flinch as they watched the dragon spew fire around the boy whose brace was beginning to glow.
"You see!" The leader cried as he pointed at the burning ship to his men. "The dragons are nothing but beasts! They can't tell the difference between us and it must have thought that the boy was one of us."
They laughed along with their leader, thinking that the end of the boy was already here.
However, their celebration was soon cut short when they saw that the fire was starting to swirl around the boy, almost as if the fire was coating him. They blinked and rubbed their eyes, hoping that what they saw was nothing more than an illusion, a trick played by their minds. But it wasn't.
As the fire swirled around him, the boy spoke a single word. "Henshin." In an instant, the fire engulfed him, creating a sort of flaming armor on the boy as he lowered his arm. Soon, the fire vanished and the boy was no longer there.
Instead, in his place, a masked and armored being was.
The being donned a red suit which had scales all over it, as orange armor formed from the flames on his kneecaps, elbows, shoulders, and upper body. Curved horns could also be seen protruding out from his helmet. The flames on his helmet soon vanished as well and a pair of yellow visors glared back at the men as fangs emerged from where the mouth of the helmet was at, making the being look as if he was a humanoid dragon as a golden belt appeared on his waist with the emblem of the Stoker Class dragons.
Upon seeing the masked being, the men fell silent as most of them paled. Their leader's confidence and pride vanished in an instant as soon as he realized what he was staring at and without a second thought, he turned and swam as fast as he could, ignoring the cries of his men as they tried to catch up to him.
They now knew what they were up against. They regret not swimming away from the very start.
A man, who sold his sold to the devil, to become an ally of the dragons. With the appearance of a dragon himself and a body of a man, they knew that they were facing the rumored menace of the Barbaric Archipelago, the Demon Dragon.
"The demon…he's…he's the demon!" The leader cried as he continued swimming.
Seeing them flee, the masked being could only sigh in disappointment. "They're no fun once I transform. Scorch, you know what to do. Bring them back here. No one is allowed to escape unless I say so." Behind him, the Monstrous Nightmare let out an obedient snort as it raised its wings and gave them a flap, lifting it off the ship.
With a roar, the Nightmare named Scorch and the Deadly Nadders all flew towards the escaping Dragon Hunters.
The scene before him was satisfying for the masked being as he watched the dragons swoop down into the water and grabbed the Dragon Hunters out of it. Then, with the men still struggling in their grasps, the dragons flew back towards the ship, where they began dropping their catch onto the deck, where the masked being was at.
"You thought you could leave so easily?" He asked mockingly as he approached the men, who scrambled to their feet and huddled together as they backed away from him. Around them, the dragons landed on the ship and bore their teeth at them as the masked being stopped just a few feet away from them.
"Stay away, demon!" One of the Dragon Hunters cried, raising a sword up, only for it to be swatted out of his hand by a Nadder spike.
"Demon?" The masked being repeated, petting the Nadder that shot the spike and listened to it growl. "I am not the real demon here, gentlemen. Because the real ones are out there, waiting all over the place, for the right moment to attack."
He gestured to the Dragon Hunters and continued. "But I won't dwell too much in that matter. Because you people are already a troublesome existence for the dragons."
"Do you even know what you're talking about?!" The leader of the Dragon Hunters hissed, pointing towards the dragons. "These are beasts! They are nothing more than mindless creatures to take pleasure in watching us suffer! We have lost so many men to them and you're here defending them?!"
The masked being clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Ignorant garbage such as yourselves wouldn't understand anything. Dragons are intelligent, and as far as I know, they are smarter than most humans as well." Then, he flicked his wrist and Scorch took to the skies, followed by the Nadders, much to the surprise of the men.
"You have two options left," the masked being announced, catching the attention of the men. "Since this ship is going to burn into nothing in a few minutes, the two options I'm about to give you will decide your fate. One; I'll give you the chance to fight me. If you win, I'll let you escape without worrying about the dragons. But if I win, your grave shall be on this ship. My second option for you is to surrender yourselves to me without any resistance. If you do so, your life will be spared, but there's a catch to it and you'll have to wait until I tell it to you. So what will it be, boys? One? Or two?"
A smirk appeared on the leader's face as he picked up a mace from the floor. "Those are some pathetic choices I've ever heard in my life! Men! There's twelve of us and only one of him! Pick up your weapons, we can beat him!"
Cheers came from his men, with the exception of two, as they picked up their weapons. When they did, they swarmed around the masked being, surrounding him in a circle while the other two men backed away in fear.
The masked being scoffed as he observed the ten men around him. Maces, swords and a hammer. These were the weapons he was up against, but that did not hinder him. "Wrong choice," he muttered as he shifted himself, getting into a battle stance. "I'm waiting."
"Rush him!" The leader commanded.
His men all charged towards the masked being, raising their weapons up to strike him down.
The Dragon Hunter with the hammer was first to come close to hitting the masked being but failed when his hammer missed and instead, smashed into the wooden floor of the ship, causing a hole to form from the impact as the masked being spun around, delivering a swift roundhouse kick to his face, sending the Dragon Hunter flying across the floor.
Four men with swords gave our battle cries from behind the masked being, which gave him enough time to dodge each of their swings and at the same time, giving quick jabs to their abdomens. With the four men weakened, he grabbed the hammer and smashed it across the closest Dragon Hunter's face.
Blood splattered across the deck as the Dragon Hunter collapsed on his front from the blow and the masked being tossed the hammer at one of the other three remaining men, knocking one of them down as the two other men charged at him again.
This time, two more Dragon Hunters who were equipped with maces also joined in the charge from behind.
Seeing this, the masked being reached for his belt, where he grabbed dragon head-shaped hilt from his belt strap and removed it. As he did, flames erupted from the hilt which caused the men to stop their charge and freeze in fear as they stared at the flaming blade that had appeared from nowhere.
"If you think you want to reconsider, it's too late," the masked being said as he swung the flaming sword down at the two Dragon Hunters behind him, slicing their maces within moments as their weapons fell to the floor with loud thuds. Then, he spun around and the swords of the other two Dragon Hunters were sliced in half.
The flame on the masked being's sword soon faded away, revealing a blade that shined in the sunlight. It might have looked appealing to any blacksmith, however, to the Dragon Hunters around him, the blade was the symbol for their demise.
Dropping their now useless weapons to the floor, the four men backed away, shivering from the sight of the sword as its blade pointed at them whenever the masked being moved. Then, without any warning, he lunged at one of them, thrusting the blade deep into the man's chest and removing it to reveal a bloodstained blade as the impaled man collapsed from the fatal wound he took.
All around him, the men tensed up upon seeing the blood of their fallen comrade. They were afraid, no, they were terrified of the being in front of them. He was ruthless, merciless, a demon, just like what the rumors had said about him.
He grinned underneath his helmet as he looked around at the men. "What's the matter? Didn't you say that you could all beat me? Well, allow me to correct that for you fools. You can't." Moments after that, his blade burst into flames once more as he spun around, sending a wave of fire at the men, burning them.
They collapsed on their backs, screaming in pain as the fire spread across their bodies, almost as if they had been burnt by an actual dragon.
With only four armed men with him, the leader gripped his mace tightly as he let out a desperate battle cry to rally his remaining men. It worked. However, the masked being had already picked up his bow, which ignited in flames that did not affect him in any way. An arrow made out of fire soon manifested close to the bow's string and the being grasped the end of the arrow and pulled it back as he muttered. "Terror Shot."
As soon as he released the arrow, it pierced through the leader's armor and shot through his back, leaving behind a hole while the metal of the armor slowly melted away. The men all stopped, turning to see the devastated look on their leader's face as he fell onto his knees. He couldn't feel his heart beat anymore as a burning sensation overcame his senses, giving him the signs that his heart was pierced and was scorched from the attack. His entire body felt numb and before he knew it, his entire world went dark as he collapsed on his face.
The four men around him instantly dropped their weapons upon seeing their dead leader and they looked up at the masked being, seeing that he had lowered his bow and strapped it across his body as he raised his sword up once more. "Your leader is dead."
"We surrender! Please, spare us!" One of the four men shrieked as he fell on his knees and bowed to the masked being. In turn, the three other men did the same, only to receive laughter from the being as he approached them, making them feel extremely anxious.
As the being stopped in front of them, he lowered his head and whispered. "You had your chance." The four men paled, feeling the temperature around them dropped as they looked at the being with fear written all over their faces. Before they knew it, they felt a slight pain in their necks and their eyes were now looking up at the sky.
The two men who had decided to defy their leader and remain unarmed the entire battle could only watch in horror as their comrades were swiftly beheaded by the being. They knew that beheading someone required a fair amount of strength but to behead four heads at once only made them fear the being even more.
Then, he turned to the two men, who flinched in fright from the amount of blood that had stained the armor. The being walked over to the two, ignoring the collapsing ship they were currently on as he spoke to them. "Aren't you two lucky? It was a wise decision to stay out of the fight."
Before the two could say anything, Scorch had landed back on the ship and lowered his wing. The masked being merely nodded as he climbed onto the Nightmare's back and turned back to the two men. With a light tap of his foot, Scorch took to the sky as he grabbed the two men with his feet.
Once they were in the air, the two men screamed in fear as they ascended higher, much to the being's amusement as he watched the ship finally collapsed, sinking into the ocean as they flames slowly vanished. Then, Scorch let out a roar and two Deadly Nadders flew towards them as Scorch flung the screaming men at the Nadders, who caught them.
With the two men secured, the being tapped Scorch's back and the dragon let out a snort as he flew closer to the Nadders holding the men while the being eyed them as his armor began to dissolve into flames, revealing the boy's figure once more.
"Now that I've spared your life, I want you to listen to my conditions very carefully because I'm not going to repeat myself again. Is that clear?"
The two men nodded and the boy grinned. "Good. Now, let me ask you a question first. Were you two and your friends an independent group of Dragon Hunters, or were you working for someone else?"
"W-we were independent," one of the two stuttered.
"I see," the boy said as he scratched his chin. "Then here is my conditions for your freedom. First, you will stop hunting dragons." The two immediately nodded as the boy continued. "Second, you will forget this ever happened. And finally, you don't know how I look like. Is that clear?"
Again, the two furiously nodded to the boy, who chuckled at them as he folded his arms. "Good. Then as soon as we reach an inhabited island, I'll drop you two off and if anyone asks, tell them your ship was attacked and you two were the only survivors. Do I make myself clear on that?"
"Yes sir," the two whimpered.
"Good," the boy said as Scorch broke away from the two Nadders. "Now, let's see which way was Gullinkambi supposed to be at again?"
A/N: Well, I didn't expect myself to be back in this crossover ever since my first two stories, which I would personally call a disappointment seeing how I wrote them while I was still a kid. But anyways, after reading Spikedmaster290's own story "The Dragon kamen rider king", and of course him asking me to do this story, I decided what the heck, why not give it a shot.
And since after I watched the newest season of Race to the Edge, and hearing the announcment of the new Amazons season 2, I decided to add my own violence into the story, which I hope you don't mind. (That's why I made it rated M)
Aside from that, my knowledge of the HTTYD franchise is still lacking, so if anyone is interested in this story, I hope you guys can help me as well with the information I need.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Until next time!