At full speed, Nightfury flew like the fucking wind. He and I both felt what was coming, the dark presence that loomed over the land, like a great shadow. The Frozen Shore, north of Bear Island, was probably a good hundred miles of seawater away. A ship would've had to sail for maybe a day or more just to get there; well, with Nightfury flying like an absolute mad lad got us there within less than an hour. His behavior changed, I noted almost immediately. Usually, Nightfury treated everything and everyone, excluding myself, like puny little toys that he could break and discard on a whim, much like a cat. After all, compared to everything we've ever faced, thus far, Nightfury was essentially akin to a god and I was willing to wager that, even against other Dragons, the difference in power was ridiculous. And then there was little old me; I was, more than likely, the single most powerful human being on this whole planet. Nothing could touch me – not kings and queens and certainly not knights.
But the presence we felt was unlike anything we've ever faced before.
It was... closer in magnitude to us than anything else – a true challenge, no doubt.
And that was precisely why I knew, immediately, that it was coming after us and that Nightfury and I had to get it as far away from Bear Island as possible. It was flying in from the north and so I figured we'd just meet it head on. And, upon the Frozen Shore, in the lands beyond the wall, Nightfury and I waited. The place was honestly weirdly peaceful. There wasn't any blizzard storm to rain ice and snow on my ass. Instead, the winds were calm – as calm as they could be this far north, at least. I was pretty sure that the temperature was still low enough to freeze a man solid and the only thing that kept me alive was the [Zith Robes], which regulated my internal temperature perfectly. The only sound I heard was the faint whistle of the wind and the roaring of the waves of the sea as it crashed against the frost-covered shoreline, itself riddled with long and jagged peaks of ice and stone.
This was nice. Here, I didn't have to worry about people and their tedious politics. It was just me and my dragon. And so I sat down and cupped my hands together, focusing on the Necrotic Energies within my body. No doubt, a big anime-tier fight as coming and I had to be ready; so, because I wasn't dumb, I was going to start this fight with the most powerful shit I could throw. Based on what I remembered with spell levels and such, the [Finger of Death] was probably my most powerful single target spell. I could bolster it even further with the Necrotic Energies I'd gathered and cast it from a ninth tier spell slot, boosting its damage to heaven.
So, if whatever was coming after us did not immediately die to that spell, then I'd know I'm in big fucking trouble.
[Time Ravage] was technically an even more powerful spell, but it didn't kill instantly – though, perhaps, with the Necrotic Energies I'd stored within myself, that effect might change. The problem was that there was a pretty big chance that the thing that was headed straight for us might've been an Other and, in that case, [Time Ravage] would be useless anyway since those things didn't age – at least, they didn't, since it'd be thematically weird if they actually aged.
I suppose the one last piece of the puzzle was the question of how in the bloody hell was an Other moving this fast? I felt its presence speeding towards us, faster than any horse and certainly faster than any creature of that size should be capable of moving. So, it had to be flying. And if it was flying, then the only viable explanation was that it had a dragon of its own – probably an Ice Dragon.
"Nightfury," I said, soothingly. "Calm down, boy."
Nightfury did not relax. Instead, the good boy remained alert and active, actively pacing back and forth as the presence drew closer and closer. His body temperature was hot enough that his was actively melting the snow around us, creating puddles of steaming water on the ground. He wasn't afraid or anxious, I knew that much. Instead, Nightfury was treating this the way a Fatalis would treat any other Elder Dragon that got a little too big for its breaches and needed a little reminder of the pecking order. In this case, Nightfury knew that a threat was coming and was simply preparing himself for an actual duel – not a cyber bullying as we'd done with the Wildlings, but an actual duel against an actual Dragon that it recognized as something of a peer, if not an equal.
By now, Nightfury had reached his maximum size. I always knew that he wasn't going to be monstrously large, like Balerion or Vhagar. Even in the Monster Hunter series, much of a Fatalis' size was usually just due to the length of its neck and its serpentine tail, at least when compared to something like the Lao Shan Lung or the Akantor. Size didn't mean jack shit, however, because the Fatalis – discounting the White and Crimson variants – remained the top dog in a world that was full of country-destroying dragons. And, in this world, an army of Balerion-sized dragons could attack Nightfury and they'd all get the firsthand experience of why a Fatalis was is feared in its homeverse and could've realistically caused the Doom of Valyria by itself if it awakened there. Still, Nightfury was, by no means, small. His mouth was large enough to swallow a horse whole and his tail was large enough to send castles crumbling down with a single swipe.
My eyes snapped to the dark storm that was brewing in the distance, flickers of silver lightning setting the shadows alight; thick white clouds and frigid hurricanes converged and shrouded the mountains. My eyes narrowed as I stood up. Even Nightfury stopped pacing. There, riding the storm itself, was a massive white dragon, its wings spread to the sides, each flap sending massive gusts of wind spiraling across the land. Ah, so it is an Ice Dragon – not even surprised, honestly. It was the only possible explanation. And, I suppose, the only ones with access to Ice Dragons would be the Others. "It's here."
I hopped and climbed onto Nightfury's back and, within moments, the both of us surged through the open air. Nightfury roared, fire blazing from his maw, and I felt a great burst of heat and power exploding out of him. And the sky on our side turned black, filling up with ashen smoke and swirling masses of fire and dust. I felt Nightfury's power spreading across the vastness of the open sky, gathering clouds and filling them with his power. Streaks of red lightning and waves and tongues of fire danced between the smoky clouds. I grinned. I'd forgotten that both the Crimson and White Fatalis possessed the power to alter the weather, summoning great and powerful storms to aid them against the Hunters.
I wasn't aware that the regular Fatalis even possessed this sort of ability, but boy was I grateful for it.
Unfortunately, I wasn't too excited about the fact that the Ice Dragon, which was now maybe five hundred meters away, at most, was big enough to probably cause a landslide just by landing atop a mountain, like a damn Dalamadur but with wings. And it wasn't slow. Though, I couldn't quite rightly say that it was faster than Nightfury, either. Not excited, but I couldn't deny the fact that this was going to be fucking epic.
I breathed in and drew the [Great Boner] from my bag of holding. I wish I'd taken Longclaw before I came here, but it was a little to late for that now. The book stated that the Others could only be killed with dragonglass or Valyrian steel. Well, I'm going to see if it can die if I beat the ever living fuck out of it. And if that still doesn't work, then I'm having Nightfury throw it to outer space and see how much it likes the cold of the void, like Khars from Jojo.
The storm of ice and frost clashed against the storm of fire and smoke, and all was dark and black as the two elemental storms crashed into each other. Nightfury flapped hard and surged upwards just as the Ice Dragon roared and tore through the blackened clouds, a bone-chilling howl escaping its maw – a sound that was akin to the breath of winter, the whistling noise of a blizzard. Good call, I figured. A head-on collision, mid-air, against something far larger and heavier, was a good way to get physically overpowered. Nightfury then twisted and flapped his wings once more and surged after the Ice Dragon. We were behind it now, its white tail thrashing about like a great serpent. It was fast, but Nightfury was faster and far more nimble. And we were above it within mere seconds.
Briefly, even through the haze of white clouds and smoke, I caught a glimpse of the Other, who rode upon the back of the Ice Dragon, icy white hair fluttering like a cape in the wind, skin as white as snow, and covered in some kind of icy metal that glinted with an almost pinkish light; a sword of ice dangled from its right hip. It turned to me, eyes blue and cold. And I gave it the middle finger, which perplexed it if nothing else. And then, Nightfury roared and unleashed a cone of fire so powerful and so great that it banished the clouds and winds all around us, so hot that it appeared white and silver, more akin to a beam of plasma than it was to flame. The Ice Dragon screeched in pain as the surge of fire sent it hurling towards the ground below, its wings unable to slow its descent.
The Ice Dragon crashed into the icy wasteland below us, sending great blocks and chunks of ice and stone and debris flying in every direction, its wings shredded by its landing. A shroud of smoke and steam arose around it, but Nightfury did not stop its flames. Instead, it hovered high in the air and, instead, intensified the beam of white-hot plasma until the very ice below us cracked, birthing great fissures and fractures that grew for miles and miles. The Ice Dragon's roars vanished beneath the storm of heat, its thrashing form shrouded by steam and smoke.
Nightfury stopped about a minute later.
And, by then, the entirety of the Frozen Shore was altered, the land cracked apart and ruined, great jagged pillars of ice and stone rising from the ground, massive fissures and furrows, where the earth itself was torn asunder by the Ice Dragon and Nightfury's breath. Honestly, I had no idea he was even capable of that. The effort of doing such a thing, however, drained him, something I realized from our link. Not immensely, of course, but the good boy went above and beyond there, unleashing a breath that would not have been out of place for a Crimson Fatalis, instead. Above us, the icy storm continued it war against Nightfury's black storm – ice and fire, frost and smoke swirling and twisting.
Nightfury descended upon the broken ground, panting slightly, a hundred or so meters away from where the Ice Dragon crashed down, a place that I noted was now more akin to a lake, the ice having melted from the intense heat of Nightfury's breath. I turned and laid a hand on my dragon's snout, caressing it slightly. "Don't worry, boy; you get some rest. I got this. It's my turn now."
My unpaid interns weren't here, but I was pretty sure the Other could try and wrestle control over them from me if they were; so, it was probably best not to risk anything. I breathed in and twirled the [Great Boner], knowing well enough that, despite the damage it must've suffered from Nightfury's breath, the Ice Dragon was probably still somewhat alive – if only barely. And I knew for a fact that the Other was definitely still alive and kicking. Time slowed to a crawl as a spear of ice flew right at my face, something I only barely managed to push aside with the [Great Boner] in a panicked burst of speed.
"Son of a bitch," I muttered.
AN: Chapter 32 is out on (Pat)reon!