Hiccup woke later that evening, just before the sun was about to set, and began to tell Astrid everything about his dream and everything Jill told him.

"So we now know the spy is female," said Astrid.

"Who apparently loves Loki," said Hiccup.

Astrid shuddered at the thought. "That is a mental image I can do without."

"And Loki agrees with me and says that this is going to be our final battle," said Hiccup.

He watched as everyone set up the last line of defences, but it was nothing more than barricades using classroom tables and chairs. Deep in his heart, he knew it wouldn't withstand a full-blown assault, but it was about all they had.

"And you say that Loki doesn't love her back," said Astrid.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, and I can tell you that even Gullveig found that disgusting. It's clear that he is merely using her as a means to an end, playing with her heartstrings."

"Then it's safe to say that the spy is not one of Loki's children," Astrid concluded.

"Christina will be happy," Hiccup joked.

Astrid turned on him, narrowing her eyes. "This is no laughing matter, Hiccup. We need to find the spy. It's almost sunset."

"But there has to be at least 40 girls remaining," said Hiccup. "I very much doubt we'll be able to narrow down the list in time before they attack."

"We might have been able to locate the spy if you had told us all this sooner."

"It was in a dream I just had," Hiccup protested.

"Have you told Mimir about any of this?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, but he agrees when he says that this information came far too late."

Astrid then slammed her face down on a nearby table in frustration. "We finally have some useful information we can't act on it; it's infuriating."

"I know," Hiccup nodded.

Astrid then took a deep breath and stood up straight. "You mention that they've lost about half their forces, and their morale is low."

Hiccup nodded. "That's right. I get the feeling that Loki is a bit desperate."

"Let's hope that gives us the advantage," said Hiccup.

Hiccup had a feeling there was a small chance of that. Loki may have been desperate for victory, but he still had his sharp mind.

"So you want to discuss about Jill?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid closed her eyes. "After hearing what you told me, but I feel sorry for her. For my childhood was rough, can scarcely imagine what she went through."

"Certainly explains why she doesn't talk about her past," Hiccup nodded.

"But she's right when she says there's nothing we can do, especially now. However, when all this is done and if we survive, I'm going to apologise to her."

"Why?"

"Because I for that she had it so easy, that she had this perfect family. Also, I was a little jealous since the two of you have been spending a lot of time together recently."

"Only as friends," said Hiccup quickly. "In fact, she's the one that keeps pushing me to have a relationship with you."

The moment the word escaped Hiccup's mouth, he immediately regretted admitting that.

Astrid slowly turned to him. "She has?"

Hiccup felt his face turning pink. "I-I suppose she things that were perfect for one another."

"Funny because my stepmother said the same thing," said Astrid, now blushing.

Hiccup's eyes widened. "Wait, Sif has also been talking to you about us?"

"I take it that she's been pushing you into a relationship as well."

Hiccup immediately felt a bit hot under the collar and was now wishing he had never started this conversation. "She made that impression."

"To be honest, I've been thinking a lot about the two of us," Astrid admitted.

"Y-You have?" Hiccup gulped.

"It, to be honest, been thinking about it a lot and knowing that we might die at any moment; I worry that we've wasted the opportunity to get to know one another."

Hiccup admitted that he wished he had been more forthcoming with Astrid before this went down.

"Astrid, I would like nothing more than to kiss you right now, but I've always wanted it to be perfect."

"That's sweet, Hiccup, but it doesn't have to be perfect."

"Yes, it does," said Hiccup, looking into her eyes. "I want the two of us to be perfect but unwatchable. That's possible with us being demigods. You know as well as I how short our life expectancies are."

"And I would savour every single second of it," Astrid smiled.

Hiccup continued looking at her eyes, and she continued looking at his. Their bodies began to move on their own. He wrapped his arms around her waist and felt her hands against his chest. The head slowly turned as their lips drew closer and closer to one another, and that's when they kissed.

The moment their lips touched one another, Hiccup felt as if the entire world stood still. Everything left his head: the battle, Ragnarok, Loki, the spy and everything else. All he was focused on was Astrid herself. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but to Hiccup, it felt like hours.

"You know, I think that kiss was perfect," Astrid smiled.

"Yeah, I guess it was," Hiccup agreed.

"Uh…" said a voice.

They slowly turned their head and saw Fishlegs standing there with his mouth open like a fish. It immediately dawned on them that he had just witnessed their kiss, and they quickly parted away from one another, their faces as red as tomatoes.

"I-I'm not disturbing you, am I?" he asked.

"N-No, w-we…"

"Kissing?" said Ragnar, smiling as he joined. "It's about bloodied time."

They looked around and saw that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were looking at them with open mouths.

Hiccup had never felt so embarrassed in all his life; he couldn't believe that he just kissed Astrid in front of everyone.

Jill then clapped her hands together, earning everyone's attention. "Okay, that's enough staring. Let's all get back to work."

Everyone then started to break away and continue with prepping the defences.

Jill then turned her eyes to Hiccup and Astrid and smiled. "It's nice to see the two of you have finally admitted your feelings."

Hiccup then cleaned his throat. "W-We just wanted to clean the air a bit."

"Well, you've certainly done that," Ragnar smiled. "Now, if you two lovebirds don't mind, we got an entire universe to save, so shall we get some work done?"

"Yes, let's get to work," Astrid nodded.

They then suddenly heard the fire alarms ringing.

"A fire?" Fishlegs frowned.

"No, it's a warning," said Hiccup. "Mimir said that he would use the fire alarms to warn us if the enemy is about to attack."

"If only we had a bit more time," said Astrid, looking at the makeshift defences. "Not certain these defences will slow them down."

"We have to do everything we can," said Hiccup.

"Still no word on Snotlout and the dwarfs?" Ragnar asked.

Hiccup shook his head. "We haven't heard a single thing."

"Then odds are the dwarfs won't be joining us," Astrid concluded.

"Then we'll have to make do with what we have," said Hiccup.

They then suddenly heard the sound of something hitting on the door. And they had completely barricaded the door with anything not nailed down, and they could see that he was starting to buckle.

"Either that's an extremely strong door salesman, or it's a troll trying to break down the door," said Ragnar.

"Everyone stand ready!" Hiccup ordered as he drew his sword. "We can't let them get into the Plaza."

Everyone immediately moved with weapons at the ready; the archers hung back and had already placed arrows inside their bows. The door buckled again. It looked as if it was about to break apart. Hiccup had never felt this anxious before, and that was saying something.

Everything he had done up until now had been training him for this moment, and he was determined to see it through. If only so that he could be with Astrid and see his father finally getting married.

There was another blow on the door, and this time, it ripped it off its hinges. They could see sweeping away the makeshift barricade, which was a troll with a war hammer. The archers immediately let loose a volley of arrows at the troll; some of them bounced off its armour, but others managed to hit their mark, and it toppled over.

No sooner had it collapsed than orcs and goblins began to climb over its body and swarm in like a plague of locusts. The front line, led by Astrid, immediately engaged them and soon began the bloodied conflict.

They had one advantage: the orcs and goblins were limited to going through the door itself, meaning only three or four could enter simultaneously. With that, they could bottle them up at the entrance, but they just kept coming.

"We're starting to get low arrows!" Ragnar warned Hiccup.

"Then save them for any shamans; the last thing we want is spells thrown around the place," Hiccup ordered.

Hiccup then quickly moved in to help with the front lines; he just managed to save Astrid from a goblin that tried to attack from behind.

"Thanks, but they just keep coming!" said Astrid as she beheaded an orc with her axe. "We can't keep this up much longer."

"We have to start falling back," said Hiccup.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jill asked.

"No, but Astrid's right, we can't keep this up, and the frontline is starting to buckle."

Hiccup was right. Despite the number of orcs and goblins they killed, the demigods were starting to get overwhelmed. The enemy had already penetrated the defences' first line and killed a few demigods in their path. At this rate, the next half an hour, all of them would be dead. There would be no stopping them from getting to the Plaza.

"We need to lead them to the canteen," said Hiccup.

"Why there?" Jill asked as he plunged his sword into the chest of an orc.

Hiccup just managed to block the blow from a goblin and smashed his shield into it. "Let's say we have something special on the menu."

"You heard the man fall back in the canteen!" Astrid ordered.

Thankfully, the retreat was rather orderly; they retreated in such a way that it drew the enemy forces towards them. To the untrained eye, it looked as if they were running away, and so filled with confidence, the enemy forces followed them, hoping to wipe them out once and for all.

They soon entered the canteen, which only had one main entrance and a door leading to the kitchen.

"Any reason why you want them into the canteen?" Astrid asked, looking at Hiccup. "Because if you don't have a plan, we're dead."

Eret nodded in agreement. "Yes, mind sharing with the group?"

Hiccup smiled. "You're just about to find out. Ruff! Tuff! Now!"

Suddenly, a huge explosion emanated from the kitchen, and all different kinds of food shot out of nowhere.

"Take cover!" Hiccup yelled at the top of his voice.

Hiccup and the rest of the defenders quickly ducked under the tables, but the enemy forces were not as lucky. They were soon covered head to foot in all kinds of condiments and mixed job tomato ketchup, mustard, soy sauce and mayonnaise.

"Now, while they're winded!" Hiccup roared.

Hiccup instantly emerged from the table and quickly charged at the stunned orcs and goblins. Astrid and everyone else were still rather stunned by what they witnessed, but they still followed his orders and charged at the enemy. The orcs and goblins were still rather stunned by what just happened and were ill-prepared for the charge of the demigods.

The twins then jumped over the tables and transformed into tigers, launching themselves at the orcs and goblins, moving them to pieces with their fangs and claws.

With a lot of effort, they finally pushed them out of the canteen, and the survivors began running scared.

"That was brilliant, Hiccup," said Astrid amazed.

"Never thought we would win by with condiments," said Heather.

"But could you come up with a much less messy plan?" Eret asked as he wiped the mustard office space.

"Sorry, but I had very little time to prepare," Hiccup apologised. "Is that you have to admit none of them saw that."

"Indeed, quite the plan, young Hiccup," said a sinister voice.

Hiccup recognised that voice all too well and looked down the corridor to see standing there was none other than Loki.

"Alas, all your trickery has come to nought because there's no way you can outwit the master of trickery," said Loki, smiling evilly.