Chapter 122

Hiccups POV:

The morning suns light shining onto my face awakening me came way too soon for my liking after everything that happened to me yesterday. I had to deal with being paraded around like a trophy on a chariot with everybody throwing flowers at me and cheering my name, being thanked by multiple nobles in public to make themselves look good, going through various artifacts and treasures to see what needed to be returned to temples with the priests helping point things out, meeting with soldiers who'd served with me in the fight and so much more that ended with a long party where I was asked to tell about parts of the battle wanting to hear how I slayed the beasts, deal with girls flirting with me, generals asking me for training tips and multiple other things meaning the party didn't end till the middle of the night.

All of this meant when I got back to the house I pretty much fell onto my bed unconscious trying to rid my body of the exhaustion from the day's events but sadly the night wasn't long enough to get rid of it all. Along with my exhaustion from the previous day I had yet another long day ahead of me with my weapons demonstration before the question and answer session that followed after it. This meant today was going to be long day but I was looking forward to coming home, skipping dinner and going straight to bed.

This all brings us to where I am now which is in the palace courtyard in front of Caesar, his generals, a few of their top soldiers and multiple nobles wearing my regular armor. The courtyard was a large grass covered part with the palace halls surrounding it that had a large statue of Caesar on a white marble pillar in the middle. As for the reasons all the guests were here, Caesar was here because he was curious about my weapons as were the generals but they were hoping to pick up some fighting techniques from my demonstrations with the soldiers and the nobles were here wanting to know what my weapons could do and what I did to get them. After each demonstration I told them of what I had to take on to gain the weapons such as beasts I had to face and villains I had to stop. I could tell a great deal of them were impressed by my tales and I knew I'd gained a lot of respect from Caesar and the generals when I told them how I severed my own arm so I'd live to continue the fight against Morgan Le Fey. When I showed them my new eye most of them backed away in shock or fear except the generals and Caesar who stood there showing no reaction other than the cocked eyebrow from Caesar and the men reaching for their swords in reflex. I didn't hold that against them even when they did the same thing when I had my prosthetic switch forms and used it to demonstrate what the gases could do on some training dummies. Now I'd demonstrated them all and it was time for the question and answer session with all my weapons laid out in front of me. I looked out at the crowd with Caesar next to me before I said.

"Alright all, feel free to ask me any questions about the weapons or my adventures and I'll answer them the best I can but-" Before I could finishI was bombarded by questions that I couldn't answer because I didn't know what was being said with them being asked over each other meaning I couldn't get a word in until Caesar raised his hand silencing them all.

"Settle down everyone, Hiccup shall get to all of your questions but only if you calm down and let him answer them one by one and should you make such a ruckus again then I shall have the guards escort you all off the palace grounds." They all nodded in understanding before Caesar gave a single nod. "Good!" He then turned to me. "Hiccup if you will." I nodded.

"Thank you, Caesar." I turned back to the people. "Now if those of you who have questions raise your hands I will pick the ones who get their questions answered first while the rest of you will have to wait your turn, understood?" They all nodded before I smiled. "Alright then now who has a question?" Everyone put a hand up before I pointed at the bald general. "Your question first?" He smiled in gratitude.

"When we asked about your lion gauntlets you said you earned them by defeating Cronus." I nodded. "But it's said he is a master of time so how would you have been able to beat him?"

"When I first confronted Cronus he used his powers to freeze me and impale me with the blade of his scythe and then freeze my wound in time leaving me hovering between life and death, feeling he'd be able to control me he created the world and life I'd live if I joined him but the titan Gaia showed me how life would truly be by taking control of my body and showing me how I'd behave due to Cronus's corruption." I took a breath. "She then freed me from the illusion before healing my wound and giving me the Cronus stone imbedded in the pommel of my star sword to protect me from her sons time manipulations." They all mumbled about how impressive it was before a legionnaire raised his hand. "Yes, what's your question?"

"Where did you get your ship and what are the powers you used to capture the pirates?"

"My ship was made as a gift from the dwarves of Nidavellir for stopping the frost giants and gave it the ability to shrink down so that it could be carried within my prosthetic." I took a breath. "As for the abilities I used to capture the pirates, my ship answers to my will so I can command it without a crew with one of its abilities being the front being able to open up and pull ships in." He opened his mouth to ask another question but I continued with. "I'm not sure what happens in there but the ship's cargo is sent to my cargo hold while the prisoners are thrust into cells to be unloaded later and those who are pulled in from the side suffer the same fate while their ship is shrunk down and placed in a bottle that has water and a storm in it making it seem like the ship is sailing in a storm and only released by me." He nodded. "

One hour later

This question and answer session was taking a lot longer than I originally thought since I'd been forced to answer people for the past hour since apparently every time I answered one question five more popped up. More than a few people were curious about my adventures, my gifts from the gods, my animals and me in general, which wouldn't be such a problem if they didn't have so many questions. Honestly with nearly every answer I gave they would ask for details on things like what emotion I felt when I was taking on an opponent, what they were like and other such things. I'm guessing Caesar was getting tired of it as well since he just raised his hand silencing everyone before he said.

"Both I and Hiccup have more important business to tend to today so I allow for one more question to be asked before you shall all be escorted from the palace grounds." They all grumbled in annoyance before Caesar ordered. "SILENCE!" He then turned to me. "Go ahead Hiccup." I nodded to him in thanks to whom he just smiled before I turned back to the crowd and asked.

"Now then who has a final question?" They all raised their hands before I noticed a guy who had been quiet this whole time raised his hand so I pointed to him. "You get final question sir."

"My question is about that dragon of yours."

"You mean Toothless?" Toothless perked up from his spot behind me with Adal lying behind him.

"Have you ever considered selling him?" There were many gasps as I looked at him in shock before I said.

"No I haven't." I had a feeling I knew where this was going but I still asked. "Why?"

"I would like to purchase him from you, name your price."

"Toothless is not for sale nor are any of my dragons and animals." I began collecting my weapons.

"Come now, everything has a price so what would you take for the beast."

"As I said before my dragons and animals are not for sale." I picked up my spider pack putting it back onto my back.

"If you are concerned about me not being able to afford the price then rest assured I am one of the wealthiest men in Rome and can afford any price you name."

"I won't accept any money you offer." I collapsed my lightning axe and let it be pulled back into my prosthetic.

"If it's not gold you're interested in then I am able to offer you land for you to build, buildings for you to either live in, sell or conduct business in, servants to tend to your needs," He then smiled in a way that made me feel dirty. "young women for your own enjoyment and rest assured I'll let you choose from only my finest and most skilled girls and take as many as you wish after testing them each in the bed." When he said this I wanted to spit in his face and growled.

"I'm going to say this one last time and hope it gets through your head." I took my eye patch off revealing my eye making him wince. "My dragons are not for sale and neither are my animals and if you try and buy them again then so help me I will use my lion gauntlets to smash it into your skull." I punctuated the last part by slamming my gauntlets together making the sound of metal clanging together echo through the palace and slightly past it if the birds flying away in fear were anything to go by before I put my eye patch back on as Caesar stepped forward again said.

"I believe that should answer your question as to whether Hiccup is selling Toothless or not so that brings an end to things now-" He was cut off by a deep voice that sounded familiar to me.

"Oh but things are just getting started."

Everyone turned to the door where the voice came from before two guards came flying out of it into the courtyard while groaning in pain. The other guards immediately ran in front of the nobles with their shields at the ready and their spears pointed at the door separating whoever was behind the door from the nobles. While the guards did this, the generals unsheathed their weapons and ran in front of Caesar and I to protect us. When the generals were doing this I readied my eagle shield and released my star sword before I got in front of Caesar ready to protect him with my life. It was then a large hooded figure about as tall as my dad with the hood covering his head leaving only his mouth visable, walked through the doors and the men readied themselves for a fight before the figure chuckled and said.

"Out of the way small men, my fight is not with any of you." The bald general yelled back.

"WE SHALL GLADLY DIE BEFORE ALLOWING YOU TO HARM THE GREAT CAESAR!"

"Caesar?" He pointed at Caesar behind me. "You mean that pathetic old twig?" He then let out a chuckle that turned into full-blown laughter confusing us all till he just stopped laughing with his mouth forming a straight line. "I couldn't care less about that pathetic leader of yours."

"If it is not Caesar you have come to end then why have you come?"

"My whole reason for coming here is for the soul purpose of revenge against Hiccup Haddock." Everyone gasped as I raised an eyebrow before I asked.

"Might I ask what I did to you that you'd want revenge for?" The figure removed his entire cloak to reveal Kyknos in the same armor he wore when we first met and still missing his horn. (AN: Read chapter 32 if you want to see what happened between these two.)

"Not only did you humiliate me in defeat and take my horn but because of you I had to deal with my father when you brought attention to me."

"What's your father got to do with this Kyknos?"

"I was happy killing off champions and taking their fortunes for myself and the gods never even noticed but then you came along and got their attention with even the mighty Zeus saving you." I saw him clench his fists. "When we parted ways my father came to me telling how I disgraced him by causing so much pain by cutting down the champions for their wealth and how I should be more like you and strive to protect the weak." He growled. "He then gave me a long lecture and took my well earned fortune that I gained from defeating the champions claiming he'd put it to better use."

"Earned?" I glared at him. "You didn't earn that fortune, you stole that money from the corpses of fallen warriors that you murdered."

"It matters not, since that day the gods have been causing me trouble not allowing me to enjoy my time and you're the cause of all my present problems." He then pulled out his sword. "I warned you when we parted ways that we'd meet again and that when we did you would not be so lucky." He then pointed his sword at me. "Now stop hiding behind these pathetic mortals and come forth to meet your end at my blade or I shall wipe out all these pathetic mortals." I glared at him as Toothless and Adal ran to my sides growling but I held my hand up stopping them.

"Stand down you two." I then turned to the guards. "You all stand down as well and get these people out of here." I then turned to Caesar who was about to open his mouth but I held up my hand. "I'll explain later but the short version is he's the son of Ares who killed multiple warriors to steal their fortunes until he went up against me in battle which ended after I took off his right horn and Zeus threw a lightning bolt at us and now he wants revenge." He nodded. "Now go." I turned back to Kyknos as I released my star sword. "This is between me and him." Caesar nodded once more.

"Good luck Hiccup."

The soldiers escorted out him and the nobles but the generals stayed wanting to help me in this battle as I had helped them with Blood Skull. I admit I was touched by this and impressed by their bravery but I told them this was a personal matter making them stand aside and leave the courtyard. Toothless and Adal took a little more convincing but I was able to get them to at least wait on the roof looking down on the courtyard to watch the fight. I gestured to the courtyard around us as I looked at Kyknos and asked.

"Nobody around now Kyknos, it's just me and you." He smirked.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He then readied his sword. "Ready to fight?"

"Just one moment please." I reached up to the symbol on my chest plate and twisted it, loosening the straps and allowing my armor to fall to the ground leaving me only in my pants with my prosthetic in its usual form. "I want a good fight between us and my armor would slow me down." He nodded as I pointed my sword at him. "You know my sword could most likely snap yours in two right?" He smirked.

"My sword like yours was forged from a star and although it might not be as powerful it's just as strong." I nodded.

"I want you to make me a promise before we fight." He raised an eyebrow.

"A promise?" I nodded. "What would this promise be?"

"Should I defeat you then you won't hurt or kill anymore innocent people." He smirked.

"As if you'd be able to defeat me again."

"Do you give me your word on this?" He smiled.

"You have my word as a demigod you fool but when I kill you I'll take everything you own for myself."

"Then that gives me an even greater reason not to lose."

"Now enough talk, it's time to fight."

Nobodies POV:

With that said the two warriors charged at each other with their swords pulled back to strike before they met in the center of the courtyard swinging their swords at each other. Their swords slammed together in the center of the blades sending sparks flying along with the sound of metal striking metal that echoed through the courtyard and palace. The two swords pushed against each other as each of their wielders tried to gain the upper hand in the battle but neither of them was giving the other any ground. They stayed lock in this position before Hiccup slid his sword to the side making Kyknos' sword follow the direction and face down to the ground giving Hiccup an opening. He quickly pulled his sword back and thrust it forward at the right side of Kyknos' waist but Kyknos was quick to recover and held his swords blade against it with the flat of the sword facing his waist. Sparks flew as the sword scraped against the side of the blade before Kyknos pushed his sword back up with Hiccups sword being pushed away before he quickly brought his sword down on Hiccup. Hiccup in turn held his sword with both hands and used it to block the coming blade, which was not easy as Kyknos put all his strength into the blow but Hiccup was able to keep it back by three inches.

Kyknos kept pushing down on his blade trying to bring it down on Hiccups head but Hiccup held strong keeping the blade at bay. He then quickly sidestepped dragging his blade across Kyknos' making him swing his blade down to the ground but before it could strike the ground he brought his sword back up in a swing towards Hiccup who stepped back avoiding the blow as Kyknos turned his body. This exposed his side to Hiccup who took the opportunity to slash Kyknos' shoulder making him hiss in pain and turn to Hiccup with a glare as he held up his sword ready to continue the fight, which Kyknos was happy to do and charged at Hiccup again. He swung his sword at Hiccups head but he ducked beneath the strike and dashed forward to the left side of Kyknos before swinging at his leg but Kyknos stabbed his sword down blocking the blow. Kyknos then quickly lifted his sword throwing up dirt and dust into Hiccups eyes making him give, a small scream of pain as he was blinded.

Kyknos smirked seeing an opportunity and slashed his sword down at Hiccup who had opened his eyes in time to see the blade coming down at his body. He stepped back to avoid the downward slash but sadly he wasn't fast enough to fully avoid the strike and ended up being slashed leaving a long bleeding gash on his chest that was going to leave a scar and made him hiss in pain. With it running over the scar he got from Ichik and he knew when this wound healed it would merge with the scar forming an x shaped scar. Hiccup ignored the pain that came with the wound and focused on his battle with Kyknos who right now was smirking at his opponent while holding up his blade to show the blood staining the tip of it. Kyknos looked Hiccup in the eye as Hiccup glared back before he said.

"First blood has been drawn from you Hiccup." He pointed his sword at him. "Now to finish the job." He charged at Hiccup again and swung his sword at his torso but Hiccup raised his sword blocking it but Kyknos pushed his sword forward as Hiccup held strong before Kyknos smirked. "When I'm done with you I'll wear the skin of your nightfury as a cape and the pelt of that wolf you brought with you shall make a fine rug for me to lay on as I enjoy the pleasure of different women." Hiccup clenched his teeth in anger.

"You're not going to touch Toothless or Adal!" Kyknos smirked.

"Oh, I will and I'll do it with the weapons the gods gave you before using them to prove to my father and the other gods how strong I truly am." His smirk then grew. "Before I do though I'll first take that island of yours, skinning every beast on it and then turn my attention to the island you were born on and enslave your people." He then licked his lips. "I'm sure some of the women in that village will make fine concubines and the will make excellent males' slaves." Hiccup growled and pushed Kyknos back with all his strength as he growled.

"You're not going to go near my island, lay a hand on its inhabitants and you're never going to set foot on Berk as long as I have anything to say about it."

He then charged at Kyknos with such fury in his eyes that it would make even the bravest warriors' step back in fear like it did to Kyknos who winced at the sight of such anger knowing he'd crossed the line. Hiccup swung his sword at Kyknos who was barely able to block the blow with his sword before Hiccup pulled it back and stabbed it towards the right side of Kyknos' head who leaned his head to the side to avoid the strike. When Hiccup pulled his sword back he cut Kyknos' cheek with the edge of his sword making Kyknos hiss in pain as he closed his eyes in pain before Hiccup used the dragons' claw to deliver a solid punch to his face dazing Kyknos as he said.

"You can't win against me Kyknos, you'll fall just like all the other monsters I've gone up against for the same reason." He then punched Kyknos in the stomach. "That reason is I never give up no matter how bad things look."

He then delivered a kick into his stomach making a flaming ox burst from his back roaring in fury. The ox immediately began running back while dragging Kyknos back with it right into the white marble pillar holding Caesars statue damaging the bottom part. Kyknos slowly stood up glaring at Hiccup and slowly began walking towards Hiccup who glared back and stood ready until he noticed something happening behind Kyknos bringing a smile to his face as he slowly backed up. Kyknos took this as a sign that Hiccup was showing fear and preparing to surrender until he heard a crumbling sound behind him and turned to see what that sound was only to see the base of the pillar crumbling making it collapse towards him. His eyes widened in realization but before he could dodge out of the way the pillar collapsed onto him and kicking up dirt as Hiccup covered his eyes to avoid the flying dirt getting into his eyes again. When he opened his eyes see how things ended to see Kyknos groaning under the rubble and slowly tried to push himself up as Hiccup walked up to him. He looked up at Hiccup and bared his teeth at Hiccup as his left horn broke off making him growl as Hiccup kicked Kyknos' sword away from him and out of his reach. Hiccup looked down at Kyknos as the demigod said.

"Go ahead hero, take my life and end it all for me."

Hiccup glared down at him and pointed his sword down at Kyknos who closed his eyes and readied for the coming strike but it never came. He opened his eyes to see Hiccup used his sword to pick up his fallen horn and bring it up to his hand before he began examining it. Kyknos looked up at Hiccup in confusion as his horn was being studied before Hiccup took notice of him and sighed while shaking his head as he turned to Kyknos and said.

"I'm not like you Kyknos, I don't take pleasure in ending the lives of other and besides that you're just not worth it." He then held up the horn. "I will however be taking this to join your other horn as a memento of our battle today and as for what happens to you." He then turned around and began walking away as he shrugged. "Well your punishment will be left to the gods who I doubt are going to be happy with you for pulling this stunt." It was then Kyknos threw off the rubble and pulled a knife out of his belt and charged at Hiccup as he screamed out.

"THIS IS NOT OVER!" Hiccup turned around just as Kyknos brought the knife down on him and with not enough time to dodge Hiccup closed his eyes ready to take the blow but when the knife was only an inch away from his head a hand grabbed Kyknos' wrist stopping it as a voice said.

"That is enough Kyknos." Hiccup opened his eyes to see the one who stopped Kyknos to be none other than his father Ares who looked at his son with silent fury in his eyes while Kyknos looked at his father in fear. "I'll deal with you later my son but for now" He turned to Hiccup who was staring at him in shock and smiled. "you are wanted on Mount Olympus and I came to collect you." He then shrugged. "Hermes would have come to collect you but with what my son's been up to I decided to come down to the mortal plane to both collect you" He turned to Kyknos. "and to collect my son."

"You honor me with both your presence and by saving me lord Ares." He raised his hand silencing Hiccup.

"Unlike my son you have more than proved yourself worthy of my aid Hiccup Haddock and one day I hope you will truly understand the impact your deeds have had on the mortal plane." I just nodded. "Now let's get to Mount Olympus." There was then a blinding flash and the courtyard was now empty of all life until Toothless and Adal jumped into it searching for their master as they growled in fear for him.

Mount Olympus

Hiccups POV:

When the light faded I found myself to be standing in the middle of the familiar throne room of the palace of the gods with all of the gods sitting in their thrones smiling at me. I bowed to Zeus the king of these gods before he said.

"Arise Hiccup Haddock as we once again find ourselves indebted to you for your help and the need to apologies for the actions of one of our offspring and rest assured when we are done here he shall be punished for his attempt on your life and ensure he does not come near you or those you care for again." I nodded.

"I thankyou for this lord Zeus but please I ask you not feel not to feel indebted to me for you have given me so much already and I shall always be grateful." They all chuckled before Hades in his human form which looked like a pale man with long hair around the sides of his head, wearing black armor that seemed to be decaying and smoking said.

"Hiccup Haddock don't sell your deeds short for if not for your efforts the underworld would be in chaos with souls running free and causing chaos while I tended to the gates ensuring no more souls are able to escape while Blood Skull abused the power of my branding iron and my Cerberus." He then smirked. "And now thanks to you not only do I have my branding iron back and Cerberus back where she belongs, guarding the gates of the underworld but now I have a new hobby in tormenting the soul of Blood Skull for all eternity for his crimes against me." He chuckled as I nodded and stood up before something he said caught my attention.

"My apologies lord Hades but when you spoke of Cerberus did you say she?" He nodded. "Cerberus is a girl?" Once again, he nodded shocking me since in all the descriptions of Cerberus it's said she's a boy.

"I can understand your shock Hiccup but do not let word get out as allowing the mortals to believe Cerberus is male somehow makes her more intimidating." I nodded in understanding before Hephaestus said.

"Alright all I hate to interrupt things but we should move on to Hiccups rewards and send him back to the palace before his nightfury and wolf tear up all of Rome looking for him." They all nodded in agreement before Zeus said.

"Hades since it is you who owe Hiccup the most for what he has done for us on this adventure you may go first." Hades stood up and walked up to me and said.

"Hiccup you have truly done me a great service with what you have done for me and for that I bestow upon you an ability that no other has been given." He held out his hand. "I'm going to need you to give me the ring I gave you to bless the weapons so they'd be effective against souls." I nodded and handed him the ring before he clenched it in his fist which then glowed through the cracks on the fingers only to then open his hand up again to reveal the ring unchanged but when he gave it back I knew something had changed. "That ring shall now allow you to create a door within your room of portals but this door shall lead to the underworld and act as a pass allowing you access to any part of the underworld where you may learn from the souls who walk on that plane." I knew this would be helpful since I'd be able to learn from healers, farmers, inventors and so many more great souls in the afterlife.

"Thank you lord Hades and rest assured I shall not abuse this gift that you have bestowed upon me."

"I know you shall not but when you do come to the underworld be sure to bring gold drachma's to pay Charon to take you across the rivers and be sure to bring that mystic wolf of yours since it will be nice for Cerberus to have a playmate from time to time." I smiled and nodded before Zeus said.

"Now that my brother Hades has bestowed upon you, Hephaestus shall bestow his gift upon you." Hephaestusnodded and walked up to me smiling.

"Hiccup you may not know this but I've been keeping an eye on you when you're in your forge testing out your new inventions and recently those new minerals you got from the mine the Japanese gods gave you." I nodded wondering where this was going as he shrugged. "I admit those minerals are impressive as is what you've done with them but you can do a lot more with the knowledge I now bestow upon you." He placed a hand on my head before I screamed in pain as knowledge flooded my mind but not just any knowledge but the knowledge of the automatons such as the key that made them work, how they were built and so much more before Hephaestus pulled his hand back and the knowledge stopped coming making me sigh in relief. "As you can guess I've just given you the knowledge of how to create your own automatons but designing and creating them will be up to you and keep in mind the ones you create shall be more like Bubo as they shall be capable but they shall never have souls." I raised an eyebrow.

"Your automatons have souls trapped within them?"

"They do have souls but they are not trapped and free to leave whenever they wish." I nodded and gestured for him to go on. "Take my golden maiden automatons who help me in my forge, they hold the souls of the women who used to be my most loyal worshippers who wished to serve me when they passed on but in order to do so they needed new bodies."

"So you constructed the golden maidens to house their souls."

"Exactly!"

"What about the automaton Talos?" He sighed and shook his head.

"Talos was a mistake, I took the soul of one of my worshippers who was a great warrior to protect the island where my original forge was but he became too protective believing nobody deserved to come near my island." He looked down. "I tried to reason with him but he saw it as an act of betrayal on my part and became more aggressive." He looked back up at me. "You can guess the rest." I nodded as he looked down. "I still feel guilty about the things he did."

"Don't be." He looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. "You may have given Talos the power but it was he who turned his back on you and for that he was destroyed." He nodded as he smiled.

"Thank you Hiccup." His smile then widened. "By the way in order to make the automatons you're going to need life stones." I nodded knowing from the knowledge I just received that the life stone is the power source so basically the heart of automatons. "That's why you're going to need this." He then held out a dark brown crystal. "A second level to your mine with life stones along with other new minerals that I'm sure you're going to find useful with either your automatons or your inventions." I looked down at the piece that was placed in my hand and smiled looking forward to finding out what minerals awaited in it only to be brought out of my thoughts when Hephaestus continued. "You're also going to need this." I looked up to see him holding a palm sized gold coin with the symbol of mount Olympus on it and mount Olympus behind it. "This talisman shall allow you to control the automatons by simply placing a heart stone on the talisman and it shall sink in before going through your hand and coming out in the palm of your hand shaped and ready to go.." I nodded. "When it comes to designing your automatons though I offer you this one piece of advice, always give them a weakness to destroy them."

I nodded and took the talisman in my prosthetic hand while the wrist lifted up and pulled it in as I felt it merge into my prosthetic before I turned my hand around and saw the top insignia of the tree of life lift up and flip to reveal the talisman. I knew that I could now easily bond the stones that I'd give my automatons through this talisman before it lifted up and flipped over back to the tree of life. I then looked back up at Hephaestus smiling as I said.

"Thank you Hephaestus." He just smiled.

"You more than earned it Hiccup along with some upgrades if you'll allow me to take your prosthetic for a few minutes." I nodded and took off my arm before giving it to Hephaestus who then burst into flames disappearingas Ares walked up and said.

"I believe this next gift should be helpful for when it comes to both testing the new automatons you make and training your dragons." He then held out a small brown leather bag. "Bring what's in that bag before the crystal model of your island and see what happens." I nodded and slid the new mine piece into the bag as well so I'd have an easier time carrying it while Aries walked back to his throne before Hermes ran up holding two boots and smiling as he asked.

"Look familiar?" I stared at the boots for a second before my eyes widened in shock as I looked down at my feet which were now bare since my ox flame boots were now in Hermes hands.

"How did you-" He held up his hand.

"I'm the king of thieves, stealing the shoes off your feet is a slice of ambrosia." I shook my head and smiled knowing it was best not to question the gods.

"But why did you take them?"

"Let's just say I gave them a bit of an upgrade but you'll have to find out what it is yourself but a word of advice, wait till you get back to the mortal realm and do it in a wide open field or else you'll most likely end up with a big headache." I nodded before he ran back to his throne as Aphrodite stood up and began walking towards me swinging her hips catching my attention since I was a male and she was the goddess of beauty.

"Hiccup I know you have been having trouble finding a girl who you click with but I assure you she's out there and when you do find her you're going to need this knowledge." She then placed a kiss on my forehead making knowledge flow into my mind and when she pulled away my face was so red it'd put a tomato to shame since the knowledge she gave me was how to treat a women in bed to ensure she's satisfied. "I hope you're able to use this knowledge soon." I just blushed as she made her way back to her throne putting a little more swing into her hips just as a flash of fire appeared before me to reveal Hephaestus holding my prosthetic as he said.

"All done and I know these upgrades are going to help you in the future." He offered me my arm which I took as I asked.

"Is this going to hurt as much as it usually does?" He shook his head.

"Of course not." I smiled and put it back on only to clench my teeth in pain as I dropped to my knees. "It's going to hurt more since it has more." I nodded and slowly stood back up. "Sorry for the pain but the capabilities make it worth it." I just nodded as Apollo and Artemis walked up to me holding an urn that was the size of my father with a flame pattern painted around the bottom with a large bird with its wings spread out in the middle as Apollo said.

"Hiccup through the toughest of times you always helped those in need and through this you have earned this creature but in order to awaken the creature within this urn you must awaken the flame of the beast by throwing the urn into the volcano of your island." I nodded as they walked back before Hera stood up.

"Speaking of animals, I have a new addition to your garden." She raised her hand and two peacocks from behind her throne and up to me. "I believe these two mystic peacocks shall make a fine addition to your home and I trust you shall take good care of them." I nodded as I stared at the two male peacocks as they spread their tail feathers out showing off their beauty as I opened my mouth to decline knowing how sacred they were to her but before I could she held up her hand silencing me. "Do not try and turn me down Hiccup for you have more than earned them for all of your services to us." I knew that arguing with the queen of the Olympian gods was a losing battle so I just nodded and thanked her as Zeus stood up.

"For your final gift we give you this." A folded up square of white material the size of my chest being held together by a golden string. "When you travel you come upon many new places with villages and cities where you are able to lodge but we know that this shall not always be the case so we give you this gift but only open it when you have returned to the mortal plane." I smiled and looked down at the material before looking back up at them and said.

"Thank you for these gifts, for everything."

They all just smiled before there was a bright flash and I was standing back in the courtyard surrounded by my gifts but I didn't get much time to think before I was pounced on by Toothless who proceeded to cover me in saliva. I tried pushing him off but sadly Adal joined him in pinning me and licking my face while I could do was laugh at their licking. It stopped when the sound of footsteps caught our attention only to see Caesar running towards with the generals following behind him. When they got to us Toothless and Adal backed off allowing me to I stand up to greet Caesar and the generals who I knew were more than curious about what happened. Before they could ask anything I held up my hand signalling them not to speak.

"I know I have some explaining but to summarise things, I took down Kyknos who tried to stab me in the back only to be stopped by Ares who had come to both collect Kykos and me." I took a breath. "I'm not sure what happened to Kyknos but I was taken to mount Olympus to be given rewards from the gods for serving the gods by dealing both Blood Skull and Kyknos." They nodded as Caesar said.

"A tale I'm sure would be better told over lunch." I nodded knowing that things here in Rome were going be a lot more difficult to deal with if I knew the Romans.

1 week later

It's been a week since I beat Kykos and in that time a lot happened for the remainder of my time in Rome which made me all the more eager to return to my island. To begin with after I told Caesar and his generals what happened with Kyknos and who he was I could tell they were all more than impressed by my deeds. Caesar offered me a place among his generals and as his own personal guard but I turned him down since I wasn't the kind of guy to go to a place just to conquer it as a general or the type of guy to act as a royal babysitter. Caesar however was nothing if not persistent and made me the same offer at least once a day with an even bigger reward than the last ranging from money, land, titles, women and so much more. Sadly word spreads fast in Rome and the nobles were even more eager to get into my good books than before with some of the single women eager to throw themselves into my arms and at my feet. It was actually rather annoying, especially when some of them choose to visit me at my roman villa while I'm busy with the gifts I'd been given from the gods.

Speaking of which I'd been running tests on those that I could and I was beyond impressed with what I learnt they could do though the gift from Hermes resulted in a minor concussion. I was testing out my ox flame boots and learnt of a new ability they had which turns out to be the ability to run at such incredible speeds everything else seemed to be moving in slow motion. Sadly it only works for up to thirty feet before they need a minute to recharge and when I first learned of their ability I ended up running right into the wall of my house leaving a me shaped dent in it. When I learnt of this ability I began studying the boots and learnt that when this ability activated the blades on the ankles folded back forming wing like shapes.

As for the leather bag Ares gave me, I discovered it held a miniature coliseum made of what seemed to be white marble but I knew there was more to it than meets the eye. Then there are the peacocks who spent their time walking around the area just looking pretty but now they were named Aurav and Julian. The urn I was given just held ashes but like the coliseum I knew it held more than meets the eye. Along with these items there's also the ring I got from Hades and I'd already used it in the portal room where I was shocked by the results as the door it made between the portal to Rome and the one to Greece was nothing like the others which looked the same as they did on the other ends. This one was a double door made of what looked to be black marble with the torso of a skeleton and bandaged skulls with the arms holding a chain that kept the doors closed with an indent in the middle shaped like the ring which acted as a key to the doors. (AN: Picture the gates to hell from the anime Bleach.) All in all this door was both intimidating and all round scary which is why I left the ring in the room so I couldn't be tempted to open it until I'm ready.

Then there's the upgrades to my arm which I admit were definitely going to come in handy in the forge. The first power I discovered when Toothless walked into the forge and accidently knocked over some bowls holding metals I was working with and mixing them up on the floor. When I picked up a palm full of the mixed minerals the bottom of my wrist opened and sucked them in before my arm heated up for a few seconds before my hand pushed out like it did when I pulled it out of my mine wall. The difference was instead of jewels in the slots were the metals that had been melted down into bars making them easier to sort and saving me some trouble of sorting them myself. If this worked the same way with the jewels in my mine then things were going to become a lot more organised especially when I learnt they could form either bars, cubes or balls. Things didn't end there though when it came to my arms upgrades since it could then fire the mineral at high speeds. I learnt this when I was seeing what I could melt minerals into with some scrap metal and ended up melting it into small balls before my arm took the new form. When I tensed it the first ball shot out at high speed imbedding itself into a nearby tree and when I kept my arm tense it would keep firing rapidly until the balls ran out.

Then there's the block of material Zeus gave me which I was shocked to discover was actually a large tent that took form when I undid the knot. To describe the tent on the outside it looked like a roman centurion tent except it was white instead of red and instead of the imperial eagle it had the mark of mount Olympus on top of the entrance and on either roof were markings of Toothless. The inside however was a whole lot bigger on the inside than it was on the outside with multiple rooms.

To begin with when I first entered the tent I found myself in a large room with white material walls, a large fire pit with stone bricks surrounding it in the centre of the room and four wooden support poles holding up that part of the roof. On the left side towards the far corner was kitchen area with a Roman stone stove with a table to prepare food on and a pole in the middle holding the roof up. At the back of the kitchen were doors which I learnt lead to a large pantry with the four walls each holding seven shelves to hold food and in each corner a pole holding up the roof. Towards the back area of the tent behind the fire but still a ten feet away is a dining table which has six chairs around it made of oak wood with Dragon designs carved into it and against the wall behind it was a shelf that could hold the dishes such as bowls, forks, knives, spoons and plates. Fortunately I have plenty of those to spare along with other things to fill my tent up with. To the right side of the tent is the sleeping area for guests who are female which is a room with three single person beds with white sheets, pillows and blankets along with a torch hanging from the pole holding up the ceiling in the middle. To protect their privacy from any male staying in the tent as well who might want to be a peeping tom, the curtains that act as an entrance could become like a wall if any boy decides to cause trouble. Back to the left side towards the front corner of the tent is the boys guest room and it's not quite as fancy with just plain beds with green blankets, white sheets and pillows with a pole in the same place. Then at the far right corner past the dining area is the master bedroom of the tent looks similar to my actual bedroom in my home but not as big and the sheets are weaved with gold stitching and there's a large pole in the centre in front of the bed. Between the male and female bedrooms is the wash room which has another magical curtain which acts like a wall for anybody who's in it. In the corner there is a magical white marble tub that fills up with water but according to a letter from Hephaestus I'd need to place something called fever stones beneath it in order to heat up the water. In the back right corner was a roman toilet that I hope would not stink up the entire tent but I'd know soon enough.

Now it was afternoon and I was back on my island thankfully away from the people of Rome and the claws that they were trying to sink into me. Before I left however Caesar made his offer one more time and once again I turned him down but he allowed me to keep the armour I wore when I lead the troops against Blood Skull. When I got back things were pretty busy after the greetings I got from my animals and dragons but now all the gold I received for my deed was in the vault, the horn of Kyknos joined the other in the trophy room, the armour was on a rack in the armoury along with the tent, the peacocks were wondering the garden and now I was in my regular armour on my way up the volcano with Toothless at my side, the leather bag holding the coliseum and new mine piece in my hand and behind me were my tiki sentinels carrying the urn behind me. I would've had my dragons carry it but it was heavy and I didn't want to risk it being dropped or putting a strain on my dragons and my sentinels hadn't been used that often so I figured it would be the best time to use them. It was then we reached the top of the volcano in front of the statue of Toothless as I took out the new mine piece and coliseum. When the map was fully out both pieces flew out of my hand and took their places with the mine piece sinking into the map where the mine could be found as if the map were mud and the coliseum took place just off the edge of the forest. The ground shook as I went to check it out only to see a large coliseum rising from the ocean thirty feet away from one of the forests cliffs. I smiled at the sight looking forward to seeing what it was like before I turned to the tiki's and ordered.

"Drop the urn into the lava of the volcano."

They picked the urn up and walked up to the edge before dropping it into the lava below with me watching as the urn landed and sank into the lava. For a few seconds there was nothing until the spot where the urn landed began to rapidly bubble and spin before a giant burning bird flew out of the lava. It flew out of the volcano allowing me to see its feathers were black with orange around the edges and its tail feathers looked almost identical to flames as did its wings. (AN: Picture the phoenix from god of war 2) It circled the volcano twelve times before coming to land on the wings of the statue of Toothless with the top of its head flaming like a crown upon its head. It was then I recognised the bird as a phoenix as I looked into its eyes that glowed as if they were made of fire before it bowed to me. I hesitantly pet its head finding it to feel warm against my hand as I felt a bond form between us before I said.

"Things on this island just got a whole lot warmer." The phoenix began trill a tune that was truly beautiful and calming.

AN: Hey guys sorry for the delay in this one but on Friday a taxi rear-ended my car on my way to work so I had to take care of a police report for insurance purposes but it left me shook up so I had trouble writing. On Saturday I got pretty far and was planning to finish it off this morning only to discover over half the work had been erased so I had to restart. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will review kindly and just a heads up I'm taking the Poll down tomorrow morning.