The Black Dragons were face-to-face with Captain Mereoleona, who had just knocked down the door.

"Dude, what is this about?" Magnus asked. "Is the capital of the Crimson Lion Kings really here?"

Luck nodded.

Dak quickly rushed up towards her. "Uh, Captain, why are you showing up on our doorstep out of nowhere?"

"It's Mereoleona!" she yelled, punching Dak in the face.

She punched him so hard that he was sent flying across the room until he hit the wall.

"What's all the commotion?!" Hiccup asked as he entered. "Sounds like a wild beast is running rampant!" He then came face-to-face with Mereolenoa. "Ah, not too far a mark."

Mereolenoa then created a fiery lion paw and pinned Hiccup to the ground. Then, with a second flaming, he placed a bottle of alcohol in front of him.

"Just take this," she said.

"What's this for?" Hiccup asked.

"It's for visiting my brother."

"I don't need a thank you present for that," said Hiccup as he rose to his feet.

She responded by grasping his throat. "Then I'll kill you."

"So you came here to thank me and moved on to killing me?" Hiccup asked.

"I'll thank you and then kill you!"

"You seriously don't joke around, do you?"

"That's because I hate jokes."

Vanessa then walked up, holding the bottle of alcohol. "Captain, you sure you don't want this? If not, it's fine. I'll take it."

"So you're only here to talk to Captain Hiccup?" said Dak, relieved. "And here I thought I was about to be dragged off to somewhere crazy."

Mereolenoa looked at him and then grasped him with her flaming paws, and she did the same to Adelaide and Luck.

"You three come with me," she said, dragging them off.

"I don't like this!" Dak yelled. "Where are we going? It's somewhere bad I just know it."

"Wait, why am I getting dragged off to?" Adelaide asked.

"I bet there's going to be a fight," said Luck.

"I just made everyone some tea, and now you're leaving?" Gordon blinked as he stood there with a tray of drinks.

Adelaide immediately looked at Hiccup pleadingly. "Hey, Captain! This madwoman is trying to kidnap three of your squad members! Don't you think you should do something?"

"If she's telling you where I think she's taking you, there's not a lot I do," Hiccup chuckled.

Magnus smirked. "If it's only you three she wants, then you must have done something really rotten. You deserve this, especially you Luck."

"These other squad members, who passed the Royal Knights Selection Exam," said Mereolenoa.

Magnus' jaw hit the floor.

"We made it?" Adelaide asked.

"We made it into the Royal Knights?" Dak asked. "That means even though I lost the tournament, Leyal didn't get ahead of me. We're still neck and neck in the race to be the next Wizard King. This is great!"

' Yeah!' Adelaide cheered. ' I'm so happy that I made the cut. Now Dak and I finally… I mean not that I care about anything like that. I'm glad that Dak passed the exam, but only because I'm proud to be your squad mate. That is all that is to me, really. Nothing more and nothing less, end of story.'

"Hey, Adelaide, we're going to be awesome, Royal Knights," said Dak.

"Yeah, sure," said Adelaide. "Just don't rush in on your own and run things for the rest of us."

"I won't, but I've been training super hard, so it will still turn out okay even if I do."

Adelaide and grabbed the helm of his robe. "What part of don't do it don't you understand?"

"Sorry," he said quickly.

"Actually, wait, they're supposed to be one more Black Dragon who made the Royal Knights," said Mereolenoa.

"Really? There's one more?" said Magnus and Vanessa together.

"Um, I'm sure it was probably me," said Magnus.

"I don't see him," said Mereolenoa, looking around.

"I'm right here!" Magnus yelled. "It's Magnus Swing of the Black Dragons!"

"It is you!" Mereolenoa snapped. "Oh well, he did receive a summons."

"I didn't pass after all," said Magnus, looking at his feet.

"Man, that's rough," said Dak.

"Too bad for you, Magnus," said Luck. "Working with the Royal Knights is going to make me even stronger, so you probably won't be a match for me any more."

"Hold on, Luck, be careful what you say," said Adelaide.

Magnus then smashed his sunglasses onto the floor. "Rub it in my face all you want, jerk. If I fall down seven times, I'll get up eight times. I just hope you will be too intimidated by just how awesome I am when you get back to the hideout."

He then turned towards Vanessa. "All right, time to start my training. Let's do this, Vanessa."

"Me?" Vanessa frowned. "But I was just about to pop open this booze."

"I want to get stronger, and pronto, no, I have to get stronger."

"Well, if you insist," said Vanessa. "I guess I make time for you, Mister Delinquent."

"I'm not a delinquent!" Magnus snapped and turned to Luck. "Better say your prayers, Luck and… uh, come back here in one piece."

Luck laughed. "Sure!"

"The same goes for you guys," said Magnus, looking at Dak and Adelaide.

"Gotta," Dak nodded.

"Obviously," Adelaide smiled.

"We'll be cheering you on," said Gordon.

Hiccup smiled. ' Look at them, smiles all round. Show them what you're made of.'

They soon made their way to the capital and Magic Knight Headquarters, where they met up with the other members of the Royal Knights at the Tower of Hope.

Mereolenoa stood in front of them and began calling out their names. "From the Silver Eagles: Nils Rargus…"

"Here," said Nils.

"The Vice-Captain of the Coral Peacocks, Carl Vermillion…"

"I never tire of hearing the beautiful melody that is my name," said Carl.

"From the Blue Rose Knights: Puli Angel…"

"In the flesh," said Puli. "What you say, folks, did you miss me because I'm back?"

"En Ringard of the Green Praying Mantises…"

"Yes!" said En's talking mushroom. "I'm fired up. Let's put them much in mushroom!"

"Hooray," said En sickly.

"Representing the Grey Dear: Captain Gustav Larson as well as Fragil Tormenta!"

"Yeah," said Fragil.

"Yeah, that's me," said Gustav, looking depressed, "I'm the failure who lost even though he's a captain."

"Please, sir, this is not the time to dig deep," said Fragil. "Stay strong."

"And from the Golden Dawn: Hamon Caseus, Klaus Lunettes, Maple Vermillion and Leyla! Sound off!"

"Here!" said the Golden Dawn saluting.

"I see our squad is the most representative among this group," Hamon noted.

"Well, we are the best of the best," said Klaus as he adjusted his glasses. "I can't say I'm surprised."

"And it's no surprise that you got in," said Summer, looking at Leyla. "I mean, you were a complete powerhouse during the tournament."

"True, but there were some tough contenders," said Leyla.

"Now, the Black Dragons: Luck Volta, Adelaide Jorgenson and Dak. Are you present?"

"Here!" said Dak and the others as they saluted.

Dak then looked back at Leyla. "Hey, Ley, looks like we both made the cut."

"I'm not entirely surprised that you made the cut," said Leyla, smiling.

"But you really shouldn't get ahead of yourself," said Summer.

"No way, I'm not giving up ever," said Dak.

' I certainly vouch for the stubbornness,' said Adelaide, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, Dak, I'm so happy you and I get to work together again," Mapel smiled.

"Yeah, should be fun," Dak smiled back.

Adelaide narrowed her eyes.

"Let me introduce myself as well!" Mereolenoa barked. "As you may know, I'm Mereolenoa Vermillion, Captain of the Royal Knights!"

"No way," said Dak. "I didn't know she would be in charge of this thing." He then turned to the others and noticed that they weren't surprised. "You guys can't say you're not surprised."

"No, I assumed it would be her. She was the one who came to get us, and now she's doing the Roll Call," said Adelaide.

"What's wrong?" Mereolenoa asked.

"Nothing!" said Dak quickly. "Everything is peachy, Captain, I swear."

The two Crimson Lion Kings, Ben Benfunk and Ruben Chagar, were quite pleased to hear that their captain was in charge of the Royal Knights.

"Our captain really is something special," said Ben. "She was the one who rallied the Crimson lying Kings after what happened with Captain Thuggory."

"Right," Ruben nodded.

' I personally wished that title would have gone to our Captain Vangeance, but he's busy commanding security forces in the capital, so she'll have to do,' said Klaus.

"I thought Captain Hiccup would be in charge?" Dak whispered to Adelaide. "I mean, he did fight the leader, the Eye of the Midnight Sun before."

"I guess he's needed to protect the borders," said Adelaide.

"If anyone has a complaint, don't hold back," said Mereolenoa, and flames immediately surrounded her body. "I certainly won't hold back when I crush you for it!"

Unsurprisingly, no one uttered a word.

"All right, let's get back to business," said Mereolenoa. "After enduring a cutthroat competition, you 16 have been selected to be a part of this team; assuming that there are no objections, I hereby announce myself as your leader from this moment until the Eye of the Midnight Sun is annihilated."

"Yes, ma'am," they said, saluting.

Mereolenoa then performed a headcount, noticing that someone was missing. "Someone is missing. Does he think promptness is a joke?"

"I'm a bit late," said a voice above them. Everyone looked up and saw Zora looking down at them, and then he jumped down. "Sorry, guys."

Mereolenoa responded by sending a fireball his way, but he quickly conjured up a trap which absorbed the attack and said it right back at her. However, she easily withstood the attack and didn't even have a single scratch on her.

"Well, well, a class clown," she said.

"Come on, let's be reasonable; if I'm entrusting my life to you, I would be stupid not to know what you're made of," said Zora. "Anyway, the pleasure is all mine."

"Hey, it's you again!" said Dak, recognising him, but saw that he was now wearing a Black Dragon robe. "Wait, why are you wearing a Black Dragons robe?"

Zora chuckled. "It's simple: I'm one of the Black Dragon. Why would I be wearing the uniform?"

Dak and Adelaide just stared at him, shocked.

"You're a Black Dragon? Like one of our black Dragons?" Dark stared.

"That's it; I want to know everything in detail," said Adelaide.

"All of a sudden, you got me feeling nostalgic for the old days," said Zora. "I used to go around beating the daylights out of Magic Knights one by one, and I had some pretty good reasons for doing it."

"You hurt Magic Knights?!" Dak yelled. "That is not okay!"

Zora flipped him with his finger. "Chill out; I just told you a good reason for it, didn't I? Here's what happened. Not too long ago, I ran into this savage monster of a guy and ended up taking a serious beating."

Zora began thinking back a few months ago; he had just beaten up some corrupt Magic Knights. Captain Hiccup then arrived on the scene, and the two of them fought, but it was a one-way fight.

"What's your problem?" Zora asked, exhausted.

Hiccup looked at him closely and then tossed him a Black Dragon robe.

Zora caught it instead ."What's this?"

"You have some skill, someone to give you one of these," said Hiccup as he began to walk away. "If you don't like it, you can toss it."

"Stop playing games with me, Magic Knight!" Zora yelled. "Like I would be caught dead in this. Besides, I don't think you're supposed to hand these things out like candy."

Hiccup looked back at him and smiled. "I expect you to know that. Your father helped me out in a jam way back, but I never got the chance to repay the favour. Looking out for his son is the least I can do. I'll let you decide if you want to put it on or not."

Zora watched as Hiccup walked away and then looked at the robe.

"And that's how it went down," said Zora, finishing his tale. "Captain Hiccup scouted me for the black Dragons and made me an official member of the squad."

"That's not fair, Xerx; you're obviously playing dirty," Dak complained. "I have to work so hard to get in."

Adelaide remained quiet as she didn't take the entrance exam.

"Yeah, by the way, my name is not Xerx," said Zora. "I'm Zora Ideala, and I have rank you."

"What's with the Zora stuff? Don't tell me that your name," said Dak.

"Ha, if I'm not mistaken, that's exactly what I just said."

"Why would you lie about that?"

"You know what they say: if you want to fool your enemies first, you must start out with your friends."

"What?! But who is your enemy, and are you really ranked higher than me?"

"That's right, so start grovelling."

"Forget it! You start apologising!"

' This is it; for now on, I'm going to set my sights on being a super mage. A real Magic Knight,' said Zora. He then tossed Dak a rainbow stink bug. "Here, as a souvenir for our reunion, have a rainbow stink bug."

"The stench!" Dak cried. "Hopefully, it gets less smelly the more you get used to it."

"I highly doubt that," said Adelaide as she pinched her nose.

"No, you're right," Dak agreed, doing the same.

"You're tough," said Luck, looking at Zora. "We should spar sometime."

"I'm hearing a lot of jibber jabber from over here!" Mereolenoa roared furiously.

"Sorry, Ma'am!" said Dak and Adelaide.

They then noticed that all the other Magic Knights had disappeared.

"Hey, wait," said Dak, looking around. "It's just us."

"Everybody else left ages ago to change into their Royal Knights robes!" said Mereolenoa.

"You mean we get special uniforms and everything!" said Dak excitedly. "This day keeps getting cooler by the minute."

"They were designed for our fight against the Eye of the Midnight Sun, which means they will be exceptionally resistant to magic attacks. Now quit wasting my time and go put yours on."

"They're certainly snazzy," said Summer as she flew in.

Leyla followed closely behind them and wore her Royal Knight robe. They were certainly very regal, and they had the emblem of the Clover Kingdom embroidered on them.

"Looks like we finally get to wear the same robe, Dak," Leyla smiled. "However, this won't change anything. I'm still going to become the Wizard Queen."

"Sorry, Ley, I'm going to be the Wizard King," Dak vowed.

"Keep dreaming."

Moments later, everyone had gathered around once again in their Royal Knight robes.

"All right, everyone, is anyone wearing their robes now?" Mereolenoa asked.

"Ah, so beautiful," said Carl. "To think that a mere man-made garment would suit a God so perfectly."

"To think that you're narcissism would give me such a perfect urge to punk," Maple grumbled.

"They certainly make it official," said Klaus.

"And I must say they are awfully flattering on those of us who sport a more robust figure," said Hamon.

"That's right, I'm ready for anything," said Puli.

"I suppose they're not too terrible," said Adelaide.

"They certainly seem fashionable and functional," said Dak as he stretched his arms. "I move around freely in these."

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what they can do in battle," said Luck.

"So long as they help, I care less what they look like," said Zora.

"I should also mention apart from you lot we ended up calling for some extra people to help out," Mereolenoa informed them.

"Some extra people?" Dak and Adelaide frowned.

"These Magic Knights may not have participated in the selection exam, but their special skills will be indispensable," said Mereolenoa as the newcomers stepped out of the shadows, and Dak recognised them as Cob and Slade. "Meet Cob Portaport and Slade Tium. Slade's Stone Creation Magic can summon a mockup of the enemy hideout and give us an idea of the magic power possessed by the majors hiding out inside. And Cob can wield the ever so-useful Spatial Magic; we've enlisted his support since Finral Roulacase is still in recovery. Last but not least… Snotlout Jorgenson! He'll be joining us as well."

Adelaide was surprised to see her older brother. ' My brother is here?'

"This Silver Eagles captain will be fighting with us?" said Ruben. "I'm glad we have."

"Definitely," said Nils. "Having the opportunity to fight with someone like him, it's really an honour."

Mereolenoa looked at Snotlout. "I was certain that you would refuse my offer. What caused you to change your mind?"

"I'm only acting on orders from His Majesty," Snotlout huffed.

Mereolenoa looked back at the others. "With these three, the Royal Knights are complete. I'm expecting great things."

"Hey!" said Gustav, looking at Snotlout. "That's not very nice of you, Snotlout. What makes you think you can just waltz in here and become one of the Royal Knights? I mean, you didn't even compete in the selection exam."

"A better question would be why you chose to take the test in the first place despite being a captain," said Snotlout.

"Huh?! I thought that was the only way in?!" Gustav moaned.

King Clover then entered the room. "Salutations! The Eye of the Midnight Sun is strong, so we are lucky to have the help of our fearless Magic Knight captains, especially those who possess royal blood. You are called the Royal Knights, after all."

"It's the King," Dak blinked.

"Give a warm welcome to His Majesty King Augustus Kira Clover the 13th!" Mereolenoa boomed.

King Clover was quite taken aback by this. ' Oh dear, she's terribly intimidating. I'm not used to being addressed by my full name.'

He then attempted to regain his composure and addressed the Royal Knights. "Attention, Royal Knights, you must sully the proud name of—"

Mereolenoa then cut across him. "As I am sure that you're aware, victory is all we need! The Eye of the Midnight Sun is a contemptible terrorist organisation. If we don't put up by the roots ourselves, our nation will never know peace. We may have successively banded together to drive them out during the attack on the Royal Capital, but the cost was unspeakably great. My fool of a brother, Thuggary, fell for this scheme and remains bedridden to this day.

"Based on what we've learned from the operatives we have captured, their leader is a mage called Licht, who carries a four-leaf grimoire. The three mightiest fighters were once made up of a group called the Third Eye. The Eye of the Midnight Sun intends to gather magic stones because they believe that doing so will allow them to be reborn in their true forms and possess incredible power.

"They have all but three stones. Fortunately, the Black Dragons were able to recover two of them before they were located. Once more, they were able to defeat the Third Eye Vetto, a wielder of Beast Magic, and for now, they have determined Fana and her fire spirit salamander. The final member of the Third Eye is the Copy Magic user known as Rhya; he and their leader, Licht, are without a doubt the greatest and most powerful enemies we'll face during our campaign.

"Their stronghold is their last line of defence they have; if we attack it, the enemy is likely to put up all-out resistance. We may see some casualties, but victory will still be ours in the end. Every life in the kingdom is at stake, and anyone here who is uncomfortable with that, I'll kill you now and save the enemy the trouble! Are you ready?!"

"Ma'am!" everyone nodded.

Mereolenoa then turned to King Clover. "And now, his Majesty Augustus Kira Clover the 13th!"

"There's no need to raise your voice," said King Clover, a little startled.

"I'm done; feel free to continue with your address," she said.

"Uh, thank you," said King Clover. '"Continue", she tells me after she rudely interrupted me with such a lengthy speech. There's nothing left for me to say.'

He then cleared his throat and turned the Royal Knights. "Well, do your best, Royal Knights. Dismissed!"

Everyone just stared at him.

"Was that it?" Dak blinked.

Everyone just looked at him blankly.

Dak then raised his hand. "Wait, your Majesty. Where do we find the Eye the Midnight Sun's hideout anyway?"

' Oh my, for a vexatious peasant, he brings up a good question,' King Clover admitted, seeing this as his chance to shine. "You see—"

Mereolenoa then suddenly cut across him again. "Rest assured, we will be making our way to their base immediately. Listen up. It lies within a floating dungeon residing within the Strong Magic Region called Gravito Stones."

Within the secret headquarters, Rhya were just lame back and dreaming.

He was resting beside a tree and watched as two elves approached carrying baskets of fruit.

"Wow, it sure is late," Rhya yawned.

"Hey, Rhya," said a small boy.

"As I expected, you're wearing the same cowardly expression as usual," said his older sister.

"Come on, don't be like that," said Rhya. "We should go get some drinks together."

"No, forget it," she said, walking away with her brother.

"You're a lightweight," her brother teased.

The scene then changed, and he was now sitting at the table with a number of elves and a heavily pregnant human woman.

"Oh hey, there you are," he said.

"Hello, Rhya," said Licht.

"What took you so long?"

"Let me guess, waking up is a pain to now," said Vetto.

"You're the worst," said Fana.

"Get off my case," said Rhya; he then turned to a small boy sitting next to Licht. "Hey, Patolli, I see that you're still clinging onto Licht like nobody's business. He's going to belong to a human after tomorrow's big ceremony, so you better start letting go of him."

"Leave me alone, Rhya," he said. "That's my choice to make, not yours."

"Excuse me?"

"It's all right," said the human woman. "After we get married, Licht will still belong to everybody."

"Man, human princesses are so generous," Rhya chuckled. "I'd be careful what I say if I were you, though, Tali. Before long, there won't be any room in his busy schedule to spend time with you."

"You don't have to be so blunt about things," said Veto. "Patolli knows what to expect."

"So what's it like knowing that you will be a father in a few months' time?" Fana asked, looking at Licht.

"I sense that the mana has blessed our lives as well," he said. "When our child arrives, we know that your kind will welcome it, and we're quite thrilled." Tali chuckled, and Licht placed his hand over her stomach. "This little one here is the key to our future. The bridge to unite elves and humankind."

"Congratulations, Licht and Tali," said Rhya.

"Congratulations!" said everyone.

Rhya awoke with tears in his eyes; he then sat up and placed his hand over his face.

"That was odd," he said. "What a dream. Kinda faint, though. It's almost time to wake up."