3rd POV

William, still in the long-ruined remains of a former home of a Drakebane, continues reading the journal of Project End.

Intrigued by what he's read so far, he continues further. Talks of ways to defeat dragons, ways to defend from them, even what weaknesses they've found, riddled with messy sketches, notes and mathematics throughout.


The Dragons… The false gods of this land… We must find a way to get rid of them… They are too powerful, and have grown complacent, lenient… Was their purpose not to carry the Titans' will? Why have they become so soft?

Their devotion to the Titans has been shaken! They must be dealt with!


After years of death and failure, we've discovered another weakness! In their draconic form, their nostrils are a vital part of their internal magic system! If their snouts are clogged for too long, the buildup of magic can start to hurt them! All we need is a way to apply this…


We've begun work on the project, a beast made to exploit every known weakness of a Dragon. We've decided to use an ancient human language to name it. From what we understand, it roughly translates to "Tracker", fitting enough, seeing as the beast will use stealth to get the upper hand.


After many failed attempts to create this beast, we made a breakthrough! So much effort and magic has been used in this experiment, we can't let this specimen perish like the others did…


It's survived… IT'S SURVIVED! We've done it! The beast is alive and awake! We've created a counter towards Dragons! We're beginning work on more, one will not be enough to guarantee the Dragons' extinction. These Ichneumon will be invaluable to us!


I've repeatedly told many of the others to not get too attached, there's a very high likelihood that many of them will perish, being somewhat closely related to the Titans, Dragons are like Demigods of this realm… Though they have found a name that I quite like. Researching human languages, we found some numeral systems, and they decided on calling Specimen 618, the first survivor, "Rokicha," after Roku, Ichi, and Hachi, each digit's respective number


Some of the others have gotten very attached, constantly calling 618 by his nickname, despite my constant pleas. He's doing quite well at purging the dragons from this land, however I fear he still may not be powerful enough…


Well… It's finally happened, after months of successful cleansing, Rokicha has perished in battle with a dragon. It seems as though they're getting stronger over time… How can we circumvent this…


We've made another breakthrough! It took months, but we found a combination of spells and forging techniques that can harm a dragon much deeper than we thought possible!

Draconic Bane is what we've decided to call it, and we'll soon be attempting to Incorporate the enchantment into the Ichneumon's biology. Perhaps its skeleton? We begin today… to begin the construction of the true end bringer of the Draconic Race.


We've had only failures so far. We've managed to create the metallic skeleton and enchant it, but attempting to add the flesh and muscle to is has proven nigh impossible. Nothing will stay on the skeleton, if it doesn't fall off, it starts decaying. Not immediately, but it deteriorates faster than is natural…

Maybe infusing the skeleton with magic before creating its biomass is the problem?


The first attempt to infuse a live specimen with Draconic bane has ended in disaster… Mid procedure, it broke free and went on a rampage, destroying most of our laboratory and everything in it. We'll have to move somewhere else…


We've successfully set up a new laboratory in a cavern within The Knee. It will soon be time to begin our experiments once again…


Even after starting nearly from scratch, we've gotten back to attempting to infuse a skeleton with Draconic Bane, and in just a week as well…

We've taken even more precautions this time, stronger sedative spells and plants, stronger restraints, everything should go according to plan…


It took months, but we've finally gotten a specimen to survive the initial procedure, though we are already seeing signs of decay… If it had something to absorb the excess magic causing the deterioration…

Hmm… Actually, that's a good plan.


We've successfully captured a Basilisk. We just need to figure out how to incorporate its magic eating into the biology of our Ichneumons. Do we need just DNA from it, or do we need to incorporate a specific part of it? We'll need to do some dissecting to find out.


After surprisingly few attempts, we've managed to correctly incorporate a small piece of magic absorption into an Ichneumon with a regular skeleton. It's become riddled with fatigue, but that will change once we enchant it.


Subject #4 has successfully survived the procedure. No more fatigue from draining its own magic, no signs of deterioration from excess magic. I believe we've successfully created a perfect dragon slaying beast!

Continuing with the naming theme, We used a human language. The number 4 in their language sounds like their word for death, which fits oddly well. Its name will be "Shūen o motarasu mono," Meaning "Bringer of the End," though since it doesn't quite roll off the tongue, I'll use another word for end in their language.


SUBJECT #4: SHŪEN O MOTARASU MONO

CODENAME: OWARI

Owari has come along quite nicely so far. We are testing his abilities, and his powers far surpass our calculations. This will surely bring an end to the Dragons. Though I do fear the possibility that he will become too powerful… I'm currently devising a plan for a scenario when he gets out of hand.


Owari has successfully killed a dragon. His stealth made the ambush easy. He was easily able to pierce its thick hide with his claws. He managed to plug its nose to cause a buildup of magic. Everything we created him to do, he executed perfectly! Our perfect weapon, The End Bringer, has been a success! Now to end the era of the dragons!


It's now been months since we've seen a dragon. I believe we did it! Owari will continue searching and reporting back for the next few weeks, just to be sure. Though he does seem uneasy… I don't know why, he's fulfilling his duty beautifully!


Owari's uneasiness is clear to me now. If his purpose is fulfilled, what does he do now? He has no ambitions, no aspirations. He has nothing now… No will of his own, simply doing what we asked, time and time again… He's grown concerned about what we'll do with him. Thankfully I've designed a feature for this exact scenario. With a powerful spell, we can induce a state of hibernation, only able to wake when he senses the magic of a dragon.

I am regretful that I'll have to do this, but we've found a deeper chasm. We've completed our mission… It's time to let Owari rest…


As he turns the final page, William finds a map leading to the cavern his ancestors left the creature in.

Placing the book into his bag, he sets off for the ravine.