(A/N: This next demon has some similarities to not one but two bosses from Devil May Cry, the first being the motherfucking asshole: "Nightmare" and the next one having major similarities to the cold turkey: "Griffon" whom Mundus himself plucked just because he failed him, after he begged his master to grant him an final surge of power to defeat Dante; even the Devil Hunter himself was disgusted by that three eyed bastard's actions, he deserved to be sealed back into the Underworld. But yes, this takes place on an ghost vessel and the name itself is a reference to Charon the Ferryman; this is not the chapter for you to read if you have some aquaphobic issues since some parts of this takes place underwater. Enjoy!)
Drayko and Toothlees along with Vixen walked the short curved tunnel, with the former having his Rainsuit on due to the mentioning of an vessel that would take them across an river; with their next destination being the underground temple as the Journal mentioned that was where the Ghost Ship would take them to, and that alone is where they intend on going since nothing of whatever the castellan was thinking was ever normal. But this time he had begun to question his sanity, what sort of deal did he have with Xelotaurus? To live here in this Ancient Castle in exchange for defense against his attackers, perhaps? Seriously this place was really getting to him and that's because he may be bored, he's got what he needs and there's nothing more to do; but that demon must be destroyed right now if he's going to ever leave this place for good, but even that sounds bad because if he's done for than what will happen to this Island in the end? There's more to the madness of the castellan then what they know...
They made their way down the steps into an small underground harbor where the goods were transported to without the presence of Xelotaurus knowing, no demons around to fight though and it looks like they've got themselves an free ride; but even that is saying something when they turned down to the stairs and came across an half flooded sunken Ship of the Line, to which the Journal referred to as the: "Charon's Abyss" due to the vessel bringing the souls of the underworld to the gateway where the Palace of Hades was located, as they're supposed to be judged by him to where each souls of heroes and innocence, those who lived among an life of uneventful shortcomings and the souls of the evil and the Titans themselves. The hanging torches that were slanted away from the wall lit the whole scene before them:
Charon's Abyss was an massive Ship of the Line type of frigate, having an teal and hunter green undertone to it with some bronze colored engravings while the figurehead was Charon himself; being that he was the ferryman after all. He was an tall and gaunt man with pale skin who wore dark robes, carrying several decapitated heads attached to his wrappings on his robes; wearing an golden mask that covered his skull like face and wielding an large deadly scythe that he also used as an walking cane, the mask being an reason due to his horrifying face that would have the souls refuse to step foot on his vessel. It's masts were tall and the bridge featured large torch bases that would lit up, having cannons loaded on the sides and having the Captain's Cabin guarded by twin crossed phantom swords blocking the entrance. The interior of the storage hold was nothing special but it was dimly lit and there was an large hole that led into the murky water, which also had an hole on the bottom that led into this vessel; always having an lifeboat ready for whenever this ship begins to sink. Finally the phantom swords used on the Ghost Ship had this appearance:
They were both an long bastard length sword with the pommel having an burned and smoky screaming skull with snakes slithering all around from it's mouth and to it's eyes, with eighteen alternating rays of the sun that were wavy and straight on the sides; the black handle was horizontally ribbed as it was designed for one handed use. The crossguard was an large black bat wing with two Zippleback like Dragons going straight and two others going upwards, both of them having beaked snouts and crest like horns; having an dark octagonal shaped emerald gemstone that was very saturated. The long fern and sage green blade itself with no fuller had square shaped serrations that went up a bit, almost making it to the halfway point before stopping; having some small vine scrolls on both sides of the double edged blade. Finally they sported an ghostly cyan flame that engulfed the blades
While Toothless climbed on board the Ghost Ship with Vixen hanging onto his saddle, Drayko dived right into the water and swam his way through the murky river; entering inside of the hole in the side of the ship, looking around in the sunken ruins where rusted pieces of the floor had fallen through. Now covered up by algae on the floor and barnacles infesting the walls, the Knight had jumped out of the water and dried himself off thanks to the new heated scales feature that would keep him warm even in the coldest of acrtic watery regions. He proceeded on through as there was nothing in the treasure chests, except for seashells of course and as he headed on up the drenched moss dangling wooden steps; he entered the gunroom and unlike the storage room below, this one was lit with torches as every part was barely lit of course although this was more of an fire hazard to say. But there was also some of these rainbow colored pools encased in plates located on the ground, what was their purpose exactly?
Drayko took this time to take an key hidden from within an cannon before moving on upstairs to the deck. This dark chickpeas brown key's thick bow had two parallel ridges on both sides with an diamond shaped bottom on the bottom, having two arms on the top and two on the bottom; both of which had curved fangs and went towards the top to bottom of the shaft, having no collar and both teeth facing towards each other looking like basic dining chairs with two lines at the top. He came out of the door and reappeared on deck with Toothless and Vixen coming back to his side, taking an seat on the steps up to the Captain's Cabin before he began to speak with them
"Whoever was the Castellan of this cursed island really wanted to make sure Xelotaurus didn't find out about him breaking their deal, but it looks like he caught on all those years ago judging but the presence of demons here on this place"
"You're telling me, someone's finally grown an backbone to realize just what kind of mistake that was to deal with an Devil like him; wonder if we'll ever come across what remains of him"
"Oh we'll come across him soon once we deal with whatever's at the Temple Ruins, which the Journal mentioned that's where the ship is us to just so you'll know where we're going; he sure taught my Grandfather everything, now it's time to make some hell on earth while we're still here because I feel like Xelotaurus' death would only strengthen Inferno. But that's just an thought, I'm happy with the way that my sword is; but let's get this ship moving"
Toothless and Vixen nodded as they both followed Drayko up the steps, heading over to the locked door where the phantom flaming swords were crossed in front of them; although there appeared to be an description that asked them this: "I am the Ghost Ship that carries the lost souls on the brink of the Underworld, defend this vessel and you will be given the path to the Temple Ruins on the other side" Upon finishing reading the description written above the door, two Hollowvains had dropped down from the masts and an Clay Flyer had formed from the hot steaming clay; taking into the air with it's triangular glider
But this did not stop them both as Drayko ignited Inferno upon returning back to his regular uniform as he went ahead and attacked the two Hollowvains, while Toothless shot down the Clay Flyer without effort as the demon dissipated upon contact with the murky water before he sent another Plasma Bolt to send the Hollowvain blasting away out of sight; before his brother dealt with the last one as he turned another metal marionette into pieces of scrap metal, fulfilling what the Charon's Abyss required of them
Suddenly the Ghost Ship had lit the large torch bases all around the ship as it began to shake violently, it was beginning to move forwards as it set sail and even tipped downwards towards the waterfall; making an splash as they were immediately thrown off balance, being sent down to the floor on the deck as it was smooth sailing from here on out. Although it now lightly rocked back and forth to the sides as the Charon's Abyss was in full motion, all three of them had returned to their talons and paws as the ship began to sail through the cavern; upon the River of Caleuche as the crossed swords went upwards to allow them entrance into the Captain's Cabin
Before Drayko and Toothless could even set foot inside the Captain's Cabin, the Charon's Abyss had sailed overhead to where the sky was seen in the ravine's river; the walls of the Ancient Castle stood by the sides before heading back into the cave, just as an demon awakened and flew ahead of their ship. The brothers stood their ground as the menace revealed itself as an two headed bat demon, expanding it's wings in front of the torch base and blowing it out with an powerful thunderclap of wind; the swords on the Captain's Cabin crossed each other once again as Drayko punched the door in frustration: "God dammit, Xelotaurus!" He growled as he turned to face the demon who landed on the large deck in front of them, roaring and snarling as it's molten sludge spelled out it's name as: "Vespertilious"
(A/N: This fight between Drayko and Toothless against Vespertillous is disappointingly short I'm afraid, but it's all worth the effort here since I'm willing to give you an ending worth the destruction of Berk; no matter how many times the writers block strikes)
Vespertilious was an large bioweapon designed after an bat as it's Latin name suggested, this creature always stood upright with large expansive wings and arms with two claws on the ends; having an horizontal lined underbelly up to it's long tail, with two heads as the left had three bangs while the right was bald but both had horizontal lined ears and two downwards slashed scars on both of it's eyes. It had two talons on each of it's feet and featured shamrock green colored lightning with an pure snow white core, running everywhere on it's body as there were several exhaust pipes rising up on it's sides; featuring hardened armor plates with blood veins engraved as the patterns and having dangling veins on it's body, hanging about as if they were snot refusing to let go from the nose of an human. It also seemed to manifest itself in molten black sludge that swallowed the remains of it's victims, always having steam fly out from it's body as it always remained in flight but landed to confront it's enemies head on; ready to attack with it's fierce and deadly fangs. Finally, there was not only an actual firearm weapon designed after itself that it swallowed into it's stomach; but it would also have Cursed Remains come to it's aid. They're were nothing but skeletons who wielded rusted swords, being that they had an leather wrapped handle with an thick ringed pommel and an thin upwards shaped diamond for an crossguard; the longsword blade went up but stopped as it curved to the opposite side before continuing upwards, which afterwards becomes an scimitar with no fangs on the blade itself
"Get your filthy fucking talons off my ship!" Drayko directed the Nightbreaker towards Vespertilious' abdomen in between it's legs of the underbelly, threatening to stab the demon where it really hurts the most as Toothless prepared an Plasma Bolt in his throat
Vespertilious reared back and screeched out as the shamrock green thunder begun to strike some places of the Charon's Abyss, with them both jumping out of the way as the bioweapon demon begun to take into the air; flapping hard with it's powerful wings and making sure that the two of them would not see the end of the river. This battle started out as the demon fired out an orb of lightning that diagonally shot out horizontal streams, which would close in onto the middle as Drayko jumped to dodge this attack before firing his shield against the bat demon; the crescent blades stabbing into the veiny membrane of it's wings as it continued to fly, spewing out it's green lightning against them both. Toothless had blasted it's body with an charged Plamsa Bolt to the chest before the demon had both of it's talons infused with thunder, immediately slamming down towards the ground
Drayko had ran up towards the demon bat's right leg before swinging Inferno against it's scaly thigh, the crunching sound of an sword striking against bone fell on the easily irritable ears of the demon as the demon took off into the air; taking an glance onto the rainbow pool plates on the floor of the deck, he just had to wonder if they were meant to restrain that bioweapon of Xelotaurus. But also knowing that an bat is mostly nocturnal, as do not like seeing the light; Drayko allowed himself an sinister smile on his face as he turned to Toothless, signifying him to expose some brightness and shed some light on the demon. The Night Fury nodded as Vespertillious came flying in before snapping towards both heads and firing an double Plasma Bolt to the snouts, which had also caused them some severe flash blindness for the moment; crashing onto the deck and having the rainbow pool plates striking against the creature, restraining the bioweapon as it struggle to stand back up
Just as Drayko jumped towards the fallen demon, Vespertillious had bit into his body with the left head; slamming him against the deck's floor before using it's strength to stand up, throwing him down before pinning him to the ground with it's right leg. The bat demon was still blinded but had used it's hearing to intercept him, with Drayko pressed under the pressure of the large bat like demon; struggling to get back up as he pressed upwards before pushing it's leg backwards, having it fall onto it's back as an result and having Toothless maul against it's front body with the claws of his armor that he always wore since their return to the Ancient Castle. But while Vespertillious was being mauled to death, Drayko had stood back up and slashed against both throats of it's twin heads; immediately being sent flying against the pole of the crow's nest but not before Inferno was thrown against it's wing, ripping through the membrane as the skin now fell over to the front side
HTTYD
Vespertillous recovered as it swung it's tail against Toothless, standing back up and shaking itself off from the dust; now rendered incapable of flying as the steam from the molten black sludge begun to become thicker, it charged forward by running as it attempted to swipe at them with it's claws. Dodging the attack as Drayko slashed against it's abdomen on the horizontal lined underbelly, spewing blood as the demon jumped backwards to send an horizontal stream of green lightning against the brothers; jumping over and sliding under as the Knight once again sent crescent blades flying towards it's direction, embedding themselves in it's scaly body as blood began to pour out
In an final desperation attack as the rainbow pool plates were restraining the bioweapon from healing it's wounds to take off airborne, Vespertillious had lunged forwards towards Drayko and proceeded to bite him in the upperchest; throwing him into the air with the Knight having the Nightbreaker sword ready in his hand and swallowing him with some difficulty as he was seemingly no more. Toothless' spines began to split and glow an tanzanite purple color due to his status as an Titan Wing, letting his charged Plasma Bolt in his throat become stronger before firing; unleashing an powerful and fiery explosion that engulfed the bat, scorching it's scaly skin but unfortunately not releasing Drayko from it's stomach right away
But suddenly the blade of the Nightbreaker had stabbed through from the bottom of it's underbelly before slicing upwards, with Drayko emerging from the inside as he jumped out from it's stomach; landing on his feet and soaked in the darkblood as Vespertillious wrapped it's wings around itself, just as it's organs had spilled out as an result. The bioweapon screeched out in agony as it begun to spread out it's wings and unleash an shockwave of lightning all around itself, all as one desperate final attack to take them both out; but Drayko and Toothless had enough of Xelotaurus' interference with their journey on the Ancient Castle, so they had decided that no mercy should be given to this fallen demon who was done for. Although this demon was restrained thanks to the rainbow pool plates as it's purpose as an bioweapon, it allowed it's disemboweled wound heal itself before Toothless had blasted it's wings apart with an Plasma Bolt
Drayko approached the fallen demon as it was now on it's back with the Nightbreaker drawn to his right side, stepping on it's underbelly above where it's legs were and standing before the snarling heads of the beast; the green lightning running everywhere on it's scales and having both of it's heads attempting to snap it's fangs at him, it's struggles could not save it and it's wings were now riddled with rips and tears in more places than one thanks to the Plasma Bolt from Toothless. He raised the swift serrated ninjaken above his head and brought it to the left side without an regret in his mind, this had caused the two headed lightning bat to flail about but ultimately succumbing to the death that it was sealed with; dissipating in an shockwave of unstable electricity, although Drayko could feel that this would not be the last time he's seen the wrath of this beast. Vespertillious was no more and the weapon that he had taken from inside of it's stomach was now in his possession, although it's real name was written as: "Trivespertilio"
Trivespertilio-Σ (Sigma) was an weapon created in the Underworld as it's powers were unknown and shared the exact same appearance of the bioweapon demon itself, although it was more like it's fully armored scaly form as the dangling veins which made Drayko disgusted were now running on the sides; with the molten black sludge being hardened like stone underneath the armor plating and having the front of the firearm be the dual heads, with the tail being coiled around the back. The bottom also had tusks that clamped themselves around the user's humerus of the arm, with four on one side and five on the other; the horizontally lined underbelly on the bottom of the weapon featured it's legs on the sides, with the wings and claws going towards the front as there were some exhaust pipes on the top near the end of the weapon. When activated the parts of the weapon begin to shift and secure itself tightly as the front heads opened their fang bared mouths and revealed an double barrel, ready to fire an shamrock green lightning bolt; all while having an charcoal and metal black shine to it. Finally, this weapon can be charged up as the veins on the armor and the eyes illuminate with an white color sporting an shamrock green aura; splintering into five to seven ricochet lightning bolts that would work very well in confined spaces (A/N: This is based on the Nightmare-β which is very nice for that jackass Mundus to leave an weapon for Dante based on his own bioweapon he created, unfortunately it's also the worst gun in the game since it consumes D.T Runes just to charge it; however when you're playing as Trish in DMC 2 with the Nightmare-γ then that model of the Nightmare weapon does not and neither does this weapon consume an Dragon's energy just to charge it up, that would just be stupid, risky and dangerous altogether)
Drayko placed his left hand on top of the Trivespertilio-Σ and began to charge up the weapon by pressing down the lifted armor plate, having an shamrock green glowing orb begin to form until it was at it's maximum power; proceeding to release and fire away with the lightning bolts splitting off into different directions, ricocheting off against the walls and bouncing all over the place until they disappeared. "Now this is a weapon that's meant for Raedwit, along with the Zippleback Claws of Exile to go along with; but I did want Mikekolt to have them..." He started to debate on who to really give them to
"Bladehead's been making him his own pair to train with remember?" Toothless reminded him
"That's right told him that when he explained what kind of weapons I had before becoming who I am today, at least he's not sending him to his death on an god damn suicide mission just for the Rodhsten Stone; I have not forgotten that encounter with the Sandbuster, and I will not hestitate to punish that Dragon further than I did before after he hurt... him" Drayko turned his head away, not wanting to remember his death
"Dreadfulstryke, I would not have known; come to think of it I was wondering when you mention him again since this is before we met, you never did stop remembering him after what Punchlout did to him" Toothless got up to his chest on his hind legs
"I killed him out of my own intentions, because I will not let an family member of another house get forced into marriage and get raped by an lustful and arrogant son of a bitch; Valka wouldn't want that no matter how much pain they have given me, but I always have my own morales regardless" Drayko crossed his arms
"You've always got your own grey morales and justified intentions there, brother"
Heading back up to the Captain's Cabin where the torches reignited themselves after their short battle with Vespertilious, the ghost swords of the Charon's Abyss went upwards to the sides once again and allowed them entrance inside; opening the doors and stepping in where they came across the skeleton of the captain himself. The inside was rather quite the mess here as everything was derlict like an apartment and in ruin like an temple, furniture had fallen and some wood was infested with termite damage; the chandelier was swaying back and forth as well since the room was only lit by that lightsource, with the cloth being ripped and the whole place being rather dusty to say. The windows did not open and the captain's strange expression appeared to have an slight smile on his face, could this be Charon himself or is it one of his crewmates? There was an large barred grate that was big enough for anyone to escape the cabin should they be locked in, now that was really strange indeed: An not so subtle way of escaping
Drayko turned over to the statue of an Greek citizen holding an staff which he came over to take from, removing from it's hands easily as he took an look at the item he now had: It was an long rod with an bone shape at the top sporting six curved bladed wings on the side, along with an snarling snake coiled around from the bottom to the top; this was known as the "Rod of Asclepius" as it was used by the God of Healing himself, as he held it in his hands he could feel the power of the Ambrosia healing his and Toothless' wounds without the need to recover instantly
But then the Ghost Ship had rocked violently with pieces of wood and dust falling from the ceiling, throwing him off balance for an moment before regaining his balance; it was having an earthquake from inside and Toothless could only grab Vixen off from Drayko, before he told them both: "Get out of this cabin now, I'll meet you on the land outside; seems we've reached our destination by this point..." The Night Fury nodded and headed out of the doors as he jumped onto the lifeboat, hitting the murky water while Drayko stayed behind; getting ready to have to place his Rainsuit back on just as the escape grate had overflowed, breaking off and letting an huge amount of water leak in. The sinking ship had then swallowed him whole before overturning upwards, slowly going down before it laid itself against the rocky shore as Toothless and Vixen got off onto the dry land; now waiting for Drayko to escape from the Charon's Abyss
Now fully submerged underwater and seeing how the door cannot be opened due to the pressure of the water all around him, he immediately swam to the escape grate and exited through; now reappearing in the sunken gunroom where the cannons stood, continuing to swim to the exit in the murky water that flowed about in his surroundings. There were no demons to stop him here which did make him feel slightly disappointed, at least Blight gave him some demons to fight at the Catacombs of Judgement during their journey to stop and kill Drago Bludvist
Resubmerging from the surface of the murky river where the shipwreck ruins of the Charon's Abyss stood before them after escaping it's attempt to bring him down along with it, Drayko climbed out and dried himself off with the heated scales feature before removing the suit; returning back to his regular appearance afterwards, getting back to Toothless and having Vixen once again climb onto his shoulder guard like always. Where they now stood was at the entrance to the Underground Temple where an little warning was described above
A stalking shadow who lurks underneath the temple has fallen below
It acts as a defender to a closed off city, beyond the altar overlooking the lake
It lusts for destruction, but a fool it is not...
Not so subtle foreshadowing to the events that would come before them, who would've guessed but the castellan himself? Regardless they pressed on as they intended to get this over with as quickly as possible, they intended to get Xelotaurus back in hell where he belongs and by chance get the curse of the Ancient Castle put to rest; so that no man nor Dragon may ever set foot on this place ever again, not when it's been speculated that demons were in rule of here long before as this place belonged to them. Supernatural occurrences had warned them both about this at the Library and even in ancient times the demon's grip was on this cursed island, always seeming to be drawn closer to the veil and dragged dangerously into the mouth of the Underworld itself; all with each fall of darkness in the night
As Drayko used the Rod of Asclepius in front of the entrance and placed it in the slot of the gates, they opened to the sides as they both entered through into the Underground Temple; now with an new weapon by their side and now having escaped from the Charon's Abyss, the Ghost Ship that was left in ruins. They may not destroy Berk at this moment and time being, but the Tribe will fall and so will the island in due time; no matter how it ends, it will end right here and right now at this night
Yeah I know it's another short chapter but that's because there's an few things left to do here in the Ancient Castle, and the vague warning was basically an reference to Shadow of the Colossus; the reason behind that is because that's what the next chapter is like: Although in the daydream I had about the next chapter featured Cloudjumper fighting with them against the Castellan's Colossus, he's better off staying behind with Valka instead since it wouldn't feel right. Oh and you're getting an look at what the Knights are up to as of the next chapter first beforehand, you got one for Berk so here's one for Drayko's allies since this story is mostly focused on him as it is his story and he's the one who's telling it
There is one thing that I have not been doing very well: I have been mostly focusing on setting up the fifth future story titled "Knights Of The Dragon Riders: Crusaders of the 5th Age" which heavily focuses on Greek Mythology since Drayko's got one hell of an bone to pick with the Roman Commander. It's been mentioned time and time before that Hiccup rescued Fishlegs from the Romans but you never did get to see what the story would look like, so here's what I'll do: I remember writing down an Preview for this story as it was about Drayko vs Snotbitch, which was supposed to give you the idea of what it was about; since his vengeance on Berk ends right here. You'll get to see what Drayko looks like and you even get to see one of his sons, because I know that Mariah was asking if Maria the Huntress was going to get pregnant; and no Drayko did not put an bun in her oven, that's not how how she becomes that way in the first place. It was an blessing from Freyja, nothing more and nothing less; but yes the main issue I wanted to talk about was that I neglected to prepare for the fourth story titled: "Season of War and Order" which was originally just named: "War and Order"
This story focuses on the Dreadfall season with Drayko and the Knights going up against the powerful and feared Skuld the Sorceress as she casts the curse of the Endless Night and plunges the Archipelago into an eternal night, having the Thunderbay Vikings at her side since they also seek revenge against him all those years ago when he was serving as the Champion of the Owl Gut; being that he led his warriors to destroy their new weapon meant for the Island itself, and this was all when he was 14 Years old and he still had Dreadfulstryke at this side. For more information about what happened beforehand, I suggest you go onto my profile and look for "Pride of Berk" and read the beginning the first chapter; you will know the reason behind their grudge. Now they must bring an end to the Sorceress of the Endless Night or be sent into the depths of Hell where there is no road back. Another reason is because at the end of the Valhalla Wars they had to sue for peace, which is the reason they wanted to see Berk gone as well. Remember this suggestion: Don't like it, don't read it; otherwise, Feel free to Review and Until we meet again for I will return...
TheLegendaryBlackDragonKnight
P.S: The next chapter may take more than longer to write because I would rather get back to writing School of Dragons: Titan Uprising since Mikekolt and Rainserviper need their time to show you readers just how formidable they really are. Oh and I also want to continue writing that preview I mentioned earlier, you'll know what the Main Antagonist looks like soon and it may be too much for you to take in though; but regardless I hope you enjoy it when I am completed with it