Notes before the chapter

This chapter and the next one contain quite a bit of fantasy violence.

For the Zelda characters and enemies, the fighting styles that they use are primarily drawn from their movesets in Age of Calamity, with some moves drawn from Breath of the Wild.

For Hiccup and Astrid, I did my best to capture the fighting styles that they use, but since they don't do a lot of on the ground melee weapon combat, I did add some touches of my own to their fighting styles.

Zelda does put some armor over her research outfit in this chapter, which are the forearm bracers and shoulder armor from the Hylian Tunic and the thigh guards from the Soldier's Greaves.

I thought that I'd also clarify the pieces of leather armor that Link had been wearing since chapter 7. He is still wearing his Champion's Tunic from botw, but has the left forearm bracer, left shoulder guard, and chest guard from the Champion's Leathers in totk. In this chapter, he adds the chain main shirt and shoulder guard from the Hylian Tunic to his outfit.

Anyways, with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 16-The Siege of Hyrule Castle

Two hours past noon on the day after the war council, the Hyrulean army leaves the Great Plateau and heads for Hyrule Castle. The army is led by King Rhoam, Princess Zelda, and Link. All three are riding horses, with Zelda riding her white stallion, Link-with Terrako on his lap-is riding his dark brown mare, and the King is riding his chestnut stallion. Hiccup and Astrid ride alongside the princess, with the Berkians riding Toothless and Stormfly, both of whom are walking.

As the army marches, the four Divine Beasts-piloted by the Champions-also move, heading to positions in Hyrule Field about halfway between the plateau and the castle.

In preparation for the coming battle, Zelda has added some armor pieces to her research outfit. She now had leather bracers on her forearms, leather armor on each shoulder, and a piece of metal armor on each thigh. Additionally, she has swapped her normal tights for pants made of a sturdier material, but still in the same dark gray-black color.

Meanwhile, Link has donned a short sleeved shirt of chain mail underneath his Champion's Tunic, but above his undershirt. He also now has a shoulder pad on his right shoulder, though this one is plain in design compared to the ornate one that he wears on his left shoulder.

Link reluctantly wore the right shoulder pad after Zelda, Hiccup, and Astrid commented that they should all have some sort of shoulder armor, with the girls wearing identical ones on each shoulder, while the boys have a detailed one on their non-dominant shoulder and a plain one on their dominant shoulder.

The army quietly marches north, past the quiet Exchange building and the Hyrule Garrison built just east of Central Tower. Following the road northeast, they cross Windvane Meadow and through the quiet Mabe Village. Two hours after leaving the Great Plateau, the army halts on the open field north of Mabe Village, east of the Sacred Grounds, and just south of the outer wall of Castle Town.

The army forms up into its separate companies. Six groups of thirty Hylian soldiers line up under the command of King Rhoam and Link. Twenty Gerudo, twenty Rito, twenty Gorons, and twenty Zora soldiers are led by their race's respective Champion-who joined up with the army after navigating the Divine Beasts into position. Finally, Master Kohga and Sooga lead a squad of thirty Yiga soldiers.

At the front of the army, Zelda takes a deep breath. Link, King Rhoam, Hiccup, Astrid, and the Champions give her encouraging smiles while Master Kohga and Sooga nod to her.

Seeing the encouragement, Zelda stands up in her stirrups and addresses the assembled Hyrulean army "Everyone, Calamity Ganon has returned, but we shall not give in. We shall fight back! Ganon's monsters will fall to our combined power. Our combined strength will see peace restored! The Calamity will feel the full force of the Divine Beasts and the Sword That Seals The Darkness." Zelda sweeps her gaze across the listening soldiers and commanders before continuing. "The enemy is strong, yet we are stronger. Hyrule shall overcome this threat!"

Zelda raises her right arm skyward and her hand emits a divine glow. She clamps her hand into a fist and the light intensifies, the Triforce mark appearing on the back of her hand before fading along with the light.

"Now," she continues, turning her horse to face towards the gates of Castle Town, before pointing with her right hand to the gates. "To the castle!"

A massive cheer rises up from the army as all the soldiers raise their weapons skyward, along with Link, the Champions, King Rhoam, Kohga, and Sooga.

Astrid activates her axe and raises it skyward, followed by Hiccup igniting Inferno and lifting the sword skyward, cheers coming from both of them. Toothless and Stormfly also add their roars to the rallying cheer. As the noise quiets down, Hiccup extinguishes Inferno and returns it to his hip, while Astrid keeps her axe out.

After the cheer ends, Zelda spurs her horse forward, followed by the other commanders and the soldiers, all charging to retake the capital of the kingdom. As they approach the closed gates of Castle Town, several Gorons take the lead and ram into the doors, opening them, allowing the rest of the army through.

As soon as she enters Castle Town, Zelda guides her horse left onto a side road, followed by Hiccup and Astrid riding on Toothless and Stormfly. Zelda stops at a public garden with a little pond, gets off her horse and ties the reins to a fence.

The princess pulls the Sheikah Slate and a second relic out of her saddle bag, then walks over to Stormfly. Astrid extends a hand and Zelda takes it, boosting herself into the saddle. Zelda attaches the second relic-an Ancient Overclock Unit that amplifies the power of runes-to the Sheikah Slate.

After checking to make sure Zelda is ready, Astrid tells Stormfly to take off, with Toothless leaping skyward as well. The two dragons quickly gain elevation as they fly west to get into position.


After Zelda swerved off with Hiccup and Astrid, King Rhoam and Link-both still on horseback-lead the charging army though the central square.

Three large lanky Silver Moblins are sitting at the north entrance to the square, and look up with surprise at the charging army. Before they can get their large bone adorned clubs, Link and King Rhoam are upon them.

Link downs one of the Moblins with a slash to the chest from the Master Sword and wounds another with a stab to the shoulder. Meanwhile, King Rhoam raises his massive Royal Claymore and hits the third Moblin with a staggering vertical slash, the monster crumpling under the tremendous force of the blade.

Hearing the soldiers slow down to finish off the Moblins, both the King and Hylian Champion slow their horses to a walk and both dismount. They then send their horses down one of the streets heading west and away from the battle.

Link pulls the Hylian Shield off of his back and looks at King Rhoam. Urbosa, Mipha, Daruk, Master Kohga, and Sooga walk up to them, followed by the Hylian, Gerudo, Goron, Zora and Yiga soldiers. Revali has already taken to the skies with his countrymen to attack the castle from the air.

King Rhoam nods and the army charges once more, led by Link, King Rhoam, Urbosa, and Daruk. Five hundred feet stand between the charging force and the gates of Hyrule Castle. However, three roadblocks, ten Silver Moblins and a Guardian Stalker guard the stretch.

Daruk pulls ahead, pulling his enormous Boulder Breaker sword-club off his back and swings it at the first roadblock. The barrier crumbles at the blow, surprising the two Moblins behind it. Still running, Daruk simply elbows one of the monsters, sending it staggering back.

Link charges the second Moblin-armed with a spear armed with bone spikes. The monster thrusts the spear forward with surprising speed, but Link sidesteps the attack and brings the blade of the Master Sword down onto the Moblin's shoulder. Roaring in pain, the wounded monster swings its spear in a wide arc, but Link dodges again, and with a quick slice of the Master Sword, the spearhead is separated from the shaft.

Stepping back, he prepares to finish the monster, but suddenly, a large spiked metal ball bearing a glowing orange Yiga eye appears above the Moblin and crushes it.

Link looks to his left and sees Master Kohga flash him a quick thumbs-up before the Yiga leader levitates and starts summoning numerous stone balls, also adorned with the Yiga eye. After conjuring about ten of them, Kohga points at the second barricade and the stone balls fly at it, exploding on impact, breaching the obstruction.

King Rhoam surges through the opening, swinging his mighty claymore in a circle, sending the startled four Mobins flying away, all greatly wounded.

Meanwhile, Urbosa duels the Moblin that had been elbowed by Daruk. She dances around the wounded monster, getting in lightning fast strikes with her scimitar and dodging any counterattacks. In the corner of her eye, she sees Link and the King charging the final roadblock. She spins around, finishing the Moblin off with a slash while snapping her fingers. A strike of lightning strikes the obstruction, blasting it apart, plus killing one of the Moblins behind it.

Surging forward, Link swings the Master Sword at the next Moblin, the blade slicing clean through the monster's arm. The Hylian Champion then winds up his blade, and breaks into a spin attack, slashing aside two more of the monsters. He then turns the spin into a thrust, the blade of the Master Sword impaling the chest of the final Moblin. As the monster falls to the ground, a red dot appears on Link's chest and the Master Sword lights up, alerting him to the presence of a corrupted Guardian.

The Champion raises the Hylian Shield and waits for the Guardian to fire. The rogue relic fires the laser right and Link deftly parries the attack, sending the beam right back at the Guardian. The blast hits the machine right in the eye, causing it to stagger back. It then fires another beam without aiming, but Link sidesteps it, uses one of the Guardian's legs to propel himself into the air, before driving the Master Sword into the relic's eye. He jumps back and raises his shield to protect himself as the destroyed Guardian explodes.

Looking back, he sees that the rest of the Moblins are dead, and the army ready to exterminate every atom of monster from Hyrule Castle.

They are about to charge into the castle, but a deep echoing roar catches their attention. Link looks up and sees Calamity Ganon's spectral form appear, circling around the Sanctum before roaring again.

Four large concentrated orbs of Malice shoot out from the spectral jaws, three landing on the main castle, and one landing inside the main gates.


As Toothless and Stormfly turn back east towards Hyrule Castle, an echoing roar sounds and the Malice wisps surrounding the castle suddenly become more concentrated. Hiccup, Astrid, and Zelda's eyes widen as Calamity Ganon takes shape. The spectral abomination circles above the Sanctum and roars once more.

Zelda's eyes widen as she sees four concentrated bursts of Malice fly out from the Calamity and land around the castle-one near the main gates, one in the main courtyard, and two near her room.

"What are those?" Astrid asks.

Zelda shakes her head as she replies. "I'm not sure. Could be those elemental phantoms or just massive Malice structures to slow us down."

Hiccup and Astrid nod while Toothless and Stormfly keep heading towards Zelda's room.


The main army arrives at the main gate of Hyrule Castle, with Mipha and her Zora soldiers having separated to climb the waterfalls up to the main courtyard.

However, one small problem faces the assembled army. The gates are shut, open outwards and can't be opened from the outside.

Surprisingly, Master Kohga steps forward. "My face!" He shouts as he claps his hands together and vanishes in a puff of smoke. Suddenly, a moment later, the front gates slam open and a giant spiked ball bearing the Yiga symbol bounces off into the moat. On the castle side of the now open gates, Master Kohga stands and splays his arms out into a pose, enthusiastically shouting "KOHGA!"

Urbosa face-palms, shaking her head, while Link rolls his eyes and the Yiga soldiers cheer. Link raises the Master Sword, the sacred blade glowing, and points it to the castle before he charges. Urbosa, Daruk, the King, Kohga, and Sooga all follow him, followed by the soldiers.

Link suddenly halts upon seeing something not natural in front of him. A swamp and numerous large spikes of Malice block the road to the First Gatehouse and the hallway leading to the Great Hall. The giant Malice structure is partially on the cliffside and partially on the road, with something being held in place by the spikes of the evil substance. He gasps as he recognizes the figure suspended in the Malice as one of the elemental phantoms of the Calamity that attempted to seize control of the Divine Beasts.

The other commanders stop behind Link, also looking at the Malice structure. Suddenly, a large force of Lizalfos-fast lizard-like monsters-and Moblins appears on the path to the right of the main gate that descends to the moat.

Seeing the approaching enemy, King Rhoam gives his orders. "Link, Urbosa, deal with that Malice," he says. "Myself, Daruk, Master Kohga and Sooga will help the soldiers deal with the monsters." At that, the King, Goron Champion, and the two Yiga commanders rush off to aid the soldiers.

Swords and shields both ready, Link and Urbosa approach the Malice swamp. As they approach, the suspended phantom moves, twitching before removing itself from its restraints. Link glares as he recognizes the monster as the elemental phantom as the one sent to kill Mipha.

The monstrosity is at least four times as tall as Link, skinny, and its red hair runs down its back to its 'hips' though the thing has no legs . Its body is made of Malice, adorned with several pieces of Sheikah tech. The 'face' of the thing is a plate of tech somewhat resembling a bulky bow in shape, with a long 'nose' descending from the center. A single red eye identical to the ones of Guardians glares at the Champions. Where the monster's left hand should be, there is a Sheikah tech contraption that flicks upwards as a long spear materializes, while the right hand doesn't exist. Instead, a chain of blue energy connects the lower arm to a large spiked mace made out of ice.

Shrieking, the phantom swings the mace at Link. Caught by surprise and being unable to doge, he raises his shield.

Urbosa winces at the sound of the ice mace slamming into the Hylian Shield and pushing Link backwards a good five feet.

Now turning to Urbosa, the phantom also swings its mace at her, but she widens her stance and parries the attack. With the monstrosity momentarily surprised, Urbosa darts forward and slashes at the phantom several times before pulling back.

Now recovered, the monster swings its spear outwards in a wide arc. Urbosa ducks under the attack, but Link backflips out of the way, before rushing in close and hitting the Malice monster repeatedly with the Master Sword. The phantom shrieks in pain and backs away.


Meanwhile, Toothless and Stormfly land on Zelda's courtyard with the princess and Berkians dismounting. Astrid grabs her Royal Broadsword from Stormfly's saddle, attaches the scabbard to her belt and draws the blade in her left hand, while her axe is in her right hand. Hiccup draws Inferno but keeps the blade unignited, while Zelda holds the Sheikah Slate.

Zelda gasps upon seeing a massive structure of Malice completely blocking the stairs to her room.

Noticing two figures suspended amongst the giant Malice spikes, Astrid sheaths her weapons and grabs her Royal Bow from Stormfly's saddle. She nocks two bomb arrows to the string, draws the string back and releases. The arrows collide with the figures and explode. Both figures screech and flash to life, descending from the Malice structure.

Zelda's free hand balls into a fist upon recognizing the two figures as two of the elemental phantoms of Calamity Ganon, specifically the ones sent to kill Urbosa and Daruk.

The first phantom is about two heads taller than Hiccup, has a hunched figure, long shaggy red hair hanging behind its Sheikah tech plate 'face,' and six orbs of electricity circling behind the body. Its left arm ends in a circle of tech, which suddenly materializes a shield, while a curved hook-like sword materializes where the phantom's right hand should be. Both sword and shield are energy based like Astrid's axe, but are lime green in color.

The second phantom is larger, with a squat body, a large bulky right arm, and a skinny left arm. The right arm ends in a large energy blade that glows orange. A unique feature of this phantom is its hair. While the electric phantom's hair is normal, the larger phantom's two long locks of hair are lit on fire.

The main bodies of both phantoms are made of solid Malice, with numerous pieces of Sheikah tech serving as armor. Both phantoms also have no legs and levitate instead.

Astrid has just redrawn her axe and sword when the smaller phantom moves.

With inhuman speed, it dashes across the courtyard and swings at Astrid with its sword. Caught extremely off guard, Astrid barely ducks, but before she can retaliate, the phantom is back on the other side of the courtyard.

Also alarmed at the monster's speed, Stormfly squawks in distress and takes off to the safety of the sky, though she stays close to the courtyard.

Astrid looks at Zelda. "Any tips on dealing with these things?" She says, still surprised at the phantom's sheer speed.

Zelda doesn't take her eyes off the enemies, but does respond. "The smaller one has lightning based powers, is very fast and can create two duplicates of itself, though the duplicates are much weaker. It's definitely the most dangerous of the elemental phantoms, probably because it was sent to kill Urbosa. The other one is fire based. Its attacks are much slower, but it does hit hard, even without fire magic. That one almost killed Daruk"

Both Hiccup and Astrid's eyes widen at the information. Now knowing that they are facing enemies specifically created to kill the two most powerful Divine Beast pilots, they take a step back.

Hiccup grabs a Soldier's Shield from Toothless's saddle, puts it on his right arm, and gestures for the Night Fury to stay back.

"Hiccup, I'll handle the fast one. You and Zelda deal with the fire one," Astrid says, readying her weapons.

With a yell, she rushes the lightning phantom. The monster immediately rushes forward as well, but this time, Astrid is ready for the thing's lightning fast speed. She ducks the swipe from the sword and slams her axe into the phantom's shield. The shield immediately deactivates, stunning the phantom.

Taking advantage of the moment, Astrid slashes at the monster with her sword, before delivering three slices with her axe. The last hit causes the phantom to screech in pain and it retreats to the other side of the courtyard. It holds up its left arm and its shield reappears. Astrid charges again, determined to keep the phantom in the narrower northern part of Zelda's courtyard.

With the lightning phantom fighting Astrid, the fire phantom approaches Hiccup and Zelda. It conjures a cluster of small fireballs in its left hand and hurls them at the waiting pair. Zelda and Hiccup leap to the side, avoiding the attack. The princess then goes on the offensive, taking a spectral magnet, grabbing a metal crate and swinging it at the phantom, hitting the monster in the face.

With the beast momentarily off guard, Hiccup pulls Inferno off his hip, ignites the blade and rushes forward, getting two hits in on the phantom before he backs up.

Now recovered, the fire phantom does something that catches both Hiccup and Zelda by surprise. It raises its head back before swinging it in a horizontal arc, its long flaming hair now effectively a giant flaming weapon.

Zelda creates an ice block the height of two people with the Sheikah Slate to protect herself while Hiccup leaps backward.

Even though he dodges the fiery hair, it brushes the tip of Inferno's blade. The flames on the sword suddenly get more intense as the fire magic of the phantom reacts with the Monstrous Nightmare gel on the sword. Hiccup and Zelda both look at the empowered weapon before turning back to their foe.


Back down at the gate, the spear-wielding Ganon phantom is still locked in battle with Link and Urbosa.

It curls into itself before spreading out its arms, causing an orb of ice to appear in front of Urbosa. The orb promptly shatters, sending freezing cold sharp shards of ice in every direction, but Link and Urbosa use their shields to protect themselves.

Screaming in frustration, the phantom starts rapidly swinging its mace over its head, winding up the weapon. In the blink of an eye, it slams the mace down at Urbosa, who barely dodges. The malice monster then slams the mace down again and this time, Urbosa catches the blow on the Daybreaker, but she is pushed back a ways. The phantom rapidly slams the mace down a third time, shattering Urbosa's guard and sending the Gerudo Champion flying back several yards.

As the phantom's third mace slam sends Urbosa flying, Link darts in and slashes at the monster several times before darting back. Enraged, the monster turns its focus to Link and swings its spear at him.

Link easily sidesteps the attack and rushes the phantom. He launches into a spin attack while propelling himself into the air before slashing at the monster's eye several times. Link then grips the Master Sword in a reverse hold and slams the sword into the monster, returning to the ground.


Up in Zelda's courtyard, Astrid manages to keep pace with the lightning phantom. It momentarily retreats, hurls several orbs of electricity at her, then dashes forward again. Astrid dodges the orbs of electricity and swings her axe forward. The weapon slices into the phantom, causing it to shriek in pain. She follows up with her sword and hits the monster on the shoulder.

Suddenly it swings its sword around in a spin attack. Astrid grunts as the phantom's blade slices through the edge of her left forearm bracer, though it thankfully misses her skin due to the thickness of the bracer. She manages to block the next swing with her axe, though the force of it sends her stumbling back several yards.

The phantom holds up its shield, suddenly crackling with electricity. After a moment, it swings the shield to the side, along with its sword and unleashes a large outwards beam of lightning at Astrid.

She dodges the attack, but hears Toothless grunt in pain. She goes to look at the dragon, but the phantom charges again, swinging its sword and Astrid blocks the blade by crossing her weapons in an x shape.

Hiccup also hears Toothless grunt in pain and in the corner of his eye, he sees a large blast of pale green and white lightning emit from the phantom that Astrid is fighting.

He looks at Toothless and sees the Night Fury licking his left hind thigh, which is slightly smoldering from where the lightning beam grazed him.

Hiccup turns back to the phantoms, tranquil fury appearing in his eyes. With a yell, he lunges at the fire phantom, Inferno held back for a sweeping cut. Zelda hears the yell and backs up, stopping the barrage of Remote Bombs on the phantom.

The fire phantom swings its massive blade in a wide horizontal slash, but Hiccup ducks under it and lunges at the monster's right shoulder. The phantom screams in pain as Inferno, supercharged with the phantom's own fire, buries itself into the monster's shoulder. Hiccup rips his sword away and backs up, while the Malice that makes up the body of the phantom patches the wound.

Hearing its brethren cry out in pain, the lightning phantom disengages Astrid and swoops over to Hiccup, swinging its lightning charged sword at the chief. He throws up his shield, stopping the attack, and the wooden shield neutralizes the electricity. With the lightning phantom's sword lodged in Hiccup's shield, he takes advantage of his left handed nature that has his sword facing the phantom's unguarded right side. Hiccup thrusts Inferno forward, the blade piercing the Malice skin.

The phantom loudly screeches in pain at the empowered flaming sword piercing its body. Hiccup turns Inferno's blade ninety degrees and swings to the left, causing the sword to slice free of the monster's body, but before Hiccup can follow up, Astrid leaps at the lightning phantom and brings down her axe and sword onto the phantom's back. The monster shrieks in pain once more, before it recovers and suddenly zooms away, hovering about ten feet off the ground.

Hiccup turns his attention back to the fire phantom, facing away from him and currently being pelted with shards of ice generated by the Sheikah Slate. He runs forward and swings his sword at the monster's unguarded back.

As the monster staggers from the attack, a man height metal stake suddenly slams into the ground next to Hiccup. He hears more loud thuds and sees numerous other metal stakes lodged into the ground, before he looks up, seeing the lightning phantom with its sword arm raised.

It rotates its sword, crackling with lightning, as the metal stakes start emitting sparks of electricity. Realizing what's about to happen, Hiccup and Astrid get away from the stakes as lightning strikes each one, causing the stakes to shatter.

"Hiccup! Astrid!" Zelda cries out. "I'll deal with those stakes. You keep the fire phantom occupied."

They both nod and charge the larger monster. Seeing them approaching, the fire monster raises its sword for a massive vertical slash, but Hiccup and Astrid are quicker. They both leap and slice at the monster's sides, Inferno ducking around the left arm and slicing the left side, while Astrid's axe slashes the phantom's right side, right below the sword arm.

Caught completely off guard, the monster cries out in agony. It backs away and conjures a flame in its left hand, before holding the flame to its sword, infusing the blade with fire.

As the fire phantom ignites its blade, the lightning phantom calls down another set of stakes.

Before they can be electrocuted, Zelda grabs one of the stakes with Magnesis, and maneuvers the stake over to the phantom. As the stakes get hit with lightning, the one next to the phantom is stuck, hitting the phantom and causing it to fall to the ground.

Seeing the foe down, Astrid rushes over to it and unleashes a flurry of slashes with her axe and sword.

Zelda meanwhile, reengages the fire phantom, using the Sheikah Slate to pull up a pile of metal swords and shields, before flinging the pile at the fire monster.

While the mass of swords and shields hurts the phantom, the monstrosity isn't stunned. Suddenly, the flaming hair and sword grow more intense as the phantom appears to be charging up for a fiery spin attack with its sword. Instead, it starts swinging its flaming hair while moving forward.

Hiccup manages to tank one hit with his shield, but a second hit from the flaming locks sends the shield flying away. Realizing that he has no protection and seeing the hair coming around for a third pass, Hiccup throws his hands over his face in a futile attempt to protect himself.

Seeing her friend in immediate danger, Zelda uses Cryonis to create a pillar of ice in front of Hiccup. The phantom's hair slams into the ice block, shattering it, but causes the monster to lose its momentum. Hiccup quickly swings Inferno at the stunned Malice monstrosity, causing it to grunt in pain. Before he can get another attack in, the phantom recovers, though it is noticeably more sluggish than when it first awakened.

Seeing that it must be close to defeat, Hiccup points at the phantom with Inferno and calls to his friend. "Bud, hit it!"

A moment later, a purple white plasma blast hits the phantom right in the face and Hiccup slices at the monster's arm.

The phantom staggers back from the combined force of a plasma blast and slash from Inferno.

Seeing that the monster is almost defeated, Zelda rushes forward. Using Magnesis, she rips a minecart up from the ground into the air and freezes it with Stasis. She then taps on the Sheikah Slate, causing a barrage of Remote Bombs to detonate against the frozen minecart. Once the bomb barrage finishes, Zelda covers her head and looks away as the Stasis effect on the minecart ends, causing the metal cart to fly into the fire phantom's face at a ridiculously high speed and explode on contact.

With a final screech, the fire phantom starts bleeding Malice before exploding in a burst of magenta light, leaving nothing behind.

Upon seeing its brethren killed, the lightning phantom zooms away from Astrid, curls into itself and spins around. Strands of blue energy surround it, as two blue tinted clones of the lightning phantom appear. All three then go on the attack, with the clones targeting Hiccup and Zelda, while the original phantom goes for Astrid.


Link leaps to the side as the spear-wielding phantom lunges at him. The Hylian Champion manages to get a few hits in with the Master Sword before retreating as the phantom slams its spear into the ground, causing a burst of ice to appear around the spear.

Unfortunately, Link's retreat isn't fast enough and he gets hit by the edge of the burst. But before the phantom can follow up, something circular and charged with electricity hits it in the face.

Furious, the phantom looks in the direction of the projectile and sees Urbosa catch her Daybreaker shield in her right hand, before slipping her left hand back into the shield's strap.

Now having the monster's full attention, Urbosa slides her shield onto her scimitar's scabbard. She points at the phantom with her left hand and snaps her right fingers, causing a dome of electricity to swirl out from her. The Gerudo Champion then redraws her scimitar and shield, spins around, and slashes in the phantom's direction with her scimitar. At the action, a massive bolt of lightning hits the phantom, heavily damaging and stunning it.

Seeing that the ice phantom is weakened, Link runs up to it and hits it several times with his sword, before backflipping away, twirling his sword and shield as he sheaths them on his back. He then leaps into the air, pulling a Knight's Bow out of his belt pouch and nocking an Ancient Arrow to the bowstring. He pulls the bow back to full draw and releases the string, with the Ancient Arrow hitting the wounded phantom in the eye.

As Link lands, the phantom screeches, leaning back and bleeding Malice before exploding in a blast of magenta light.

With the phantom dead, the massive Malice structure blocking the road forward disintegrates, turning into smokey orbs of Malice that head towards the upper castle. With the Malice gone, Link notices the Hyrule Castle travel gate where the Malice had been, realizing that it wasn't working because it was submerged in solid Malice.

King Rhoam, Daruk, Master Kohga, and Sooga approach along with the soldiers, having finished off the Moblin and Lizalfos force, while Link and Urbosa fought the phantom.

King Rhoam points to the open hallway leading into the interior of the castle, specifically the Great Hall. "Kohga, Sooga," he says. "Take your soldiers and clear out the eastern halls."

The leader of the Yiga Clan enthusiastically nods and runs up to the entrance before stopping. "KOHGA!' He yells as he claps his hands together before jumping to the left as an identical clone of himself leaps away to the right. The two Master Kohgas then charge into the hallway.

Sooga walks up to the entrance after the two Kohgas have vanished from sight, and draws his swords. "Glory to Master Kohga!" Sooga yells, raising his right hand sword skyward before charging in after his master. Thirty throats echo the cry before following Sooga into the castle.

As the Yiga Clan rushes off, Urbosa shakes her head at the clan's antics.

The King addresses Daruk while pointing at the same entrance. "Daruk, take your soldiers and clear the western hallways. Also, make sure the Yiga don't get too carried away."

Daruk nods understanding before rolling into the hallway, followed by his Goron soldiers.

"And us?" Urbosa asks.

King Rhoam smiles at her as he replies. "To the First Gatehouse."

With that, he starts jogging up the road, followed by Link, Urbosa, Terrako, and the Hylian and Gerudo soldiers.


Hiccup dives and rolls, managing to grab his shield where it was flung after he lost hold of it. The moment he is back on his feet, the clone of the lightning phantom rushes in to attack the young chief. He throws up his shield as the phantom's phantom unleashes a barrage of quick slashes before retreating.

Hiccup suddenly gets an idea on how to deal with the clone. He reverses his grip on Inferno, wincing as the supercharged fire on the blade nears his skin, and presses a button on the pommel, causing green gas to start billowing out in front of Hiccup. The phantom clone rushes in again and Hiccup raises his shield to protect his face before reversing his grip on Inferno once more and thrusting the flaming blade forward.

The clone screeches in pain as a powerful explosion engulfs it, while also distracting the other clone and the lightning phantom.

Zelda takes advantage of the distracted clone fighting her. She freezes it with Stasis, creates an ice block in front of her, then drops a large Remote Bomb onto the frozen phantom. The blue orb detonates, killing the clone-which dissolves into strands of blue energy-while the ice block shatters, but protects Zelda from the blast.

The lightning phantom charges at Astrid once more, its sword and shield now infused with electricity.

Seeing it approach from her left, Astrid raises her sword to counter the attack. The monster's electrified blade slams onto Astrid's blade, with the electricity traveling into Astrid's sword.

She yells in pain, dropping the sword and stumbling back several feet, axe raised to protect herself. After shaking off the effect of being electrocuted for a second, Astrid glares at the phantom.

With an angry yell, she runs at the Malice monster, axe raised high. The phantom raises its shield, but Astrid swings her axe down hard, shattering the shield.

The monster stumbles back, stunned by the sheer force of Astrid's attack. Following up her advantage, she delivers several more mighty slashes from her axe, severely injuring the phantom.

Seeing it on the verge of defeat, Astrid moves in again for a final series of blows. She draws one of her daggers and stabs it into the phantom's eye before pulling the dagger out. Even as the Malice monstrosity wails in pain, Astrid hits the phantom with two powerful diagonal cuts. She then leaps up into the air, raising her axe high above her head. With a triumphant cry, she brings the axe down onto the phantom, decapitating it. The head shrieks in pain as the body writhes, bleeding Malice. Astrid leaps away as the phantom explodes with a burst of magenta light.

After the light from the explosion fades, Hiccup, Astrid, and Zelda see the massive Malice structure blocking access to Zelda's room dissolve into wisps of Malice that disappear in the direction of the Sanctum. Zelda smiles at the Berkians before she runs up the stairs to her room and goes inside.

Astrid takes a deep breath, her heart racing from the intense battle with the lightning phantom. She feels a tap on her shoulder and looks up. Hiccup is smiling at her and holding out her Royal Broadsword. Nodding thanks, she takes it and sheaths it in the scabbard on her right hip.

Running footsteps catch their attention and they look towards the stairs. Zelda is running down them with the Bow of Light in her left hand. Approaching the couple, she raises her right hand and in a flash of light, an white arrow with a tip resembling a battle axe blade appears. Zelda nocks the arrow to her bowstring and looks at Hiccup and Astrid with a smile.

"Let's destroy the barrier around the Sanctum," Zelda says, before running towards the stairs leading down to the main courtyard.

Hiccup and Astrid share a look and nod, before they run after Zelda.


The final battle will continue next chapter...

Couple notes for the chapter

For those that didn't figure it out, the elemental phantoms are the Blight Ganons. Hiccup, Astrid, and Zelda fight Thunderblight and Fireblight Ganon while Link and Urbosa fight Waterblight Ganon. The Blights are using their Age of Calamity designs. I don't refer to them as the Blight Ganons in the story because in universe, they are only ever called monsters or things. Windblight will appear in the next chapter, don't worry.

Toothless and Stormfly will have bigger roles in the next chapter.

The arrow that Zelda creates at the end is the botw era Light Arrow.

I did my best to not make some people look weaker than they should be, but if that is present, I apologize.

It will be a little bit before the next chapter is released because the battle chapters are longer to write because I plan out the fights, play out the specific moves used by characters in my head, then put it into understandable writing.

Hope you enjoyed part 1 and see you in the next chapter :)