The destruction head let out a huge blow, but before it could hit Xabe, he dashed far away from the trees and went straight into a path where he saw another vast mountain. He felt the flames came down behind him, as if he was running away from a demon’s mighty breath.

Like the spirits of the wind, Xabe felt very light despite running on snow so deep. As a matter of fact, he had never been this fast until today. He clenched the hilt of his short wooden sword and scarf to avoid chafing. No matter where the destruction head aimed, Xabe was one step away from death.

Devastrigon started diving near the forest in order for the chaos head to dug its horns to cause a continuous explosion on the ground as it chased MaXabiere. He screamed at the top of his lungs. “Sweet, merciful Mother of my Savior!” Unfortunately, he got caught from it and was thrown across the shattering trees.

Poor Xabe was harshly rolled over at a great distance, his body contacted the very hard soil of the ground, not just the cushioning snow surface. The middle head, death, raised up and let out a- not the usual roar- but a piercing shriek.

Everyone began covering their ears: Xabe couldn’t get up from the pain of the sound, the griffins (even Jorken) were enduring such torture of such high frequency, the Flash guardian riders even began to shield their ears, including Nisr, who, despite at a very great distance from danger, couldn’t even tolerate the sound- not to mention multitasking monitoring from far away, hanging on the tallest tree, and still surviving from the debris thanks to the three-headed dragon’s wings.

Earlier at the camp, Erik heard Hugo’s voice via comms. “Erik, Erik, can you hear me? It’s the kid,” said Hugo before it began to static.

“What’s happening?” Erik turned away from the weird old lady to focus on Hugo’s voice. “You’re cutting off.”

“The kid- is -crazy shit.”

“And Dreyagon?” But all he was hearing the static sound. What’s worse, abruptly a loud shriek had fielded the entire area of the camp, even inside the tent. Yrlin covered her ears while wincing from the pain, except for the old lady, as she remained unscathed, but her expression dropped as soon she realized what was about to happen.

Erik pressed his comms. “Nisr, report.”

The voice then switched to Nisr’s. “Devastrigon is flying away from Mt. Pike. And you would not believe this. The kid-”

The ground began to tremble. Erik and Yrlin stayed down in order to prevent themselves from wobbling around. The Flash guardians, particularly high-ranking ones, were trained in a situation like this. Ever since Devastrigon and the Dragon war, it became the greatest example of what it’s like if Enchanteria was really in grave danger. As for the weird old lady, who still had not shown any reaction, had been waiting for this specific moment (according to her vision), similarly to Wayde who was outside as he gazed at the horrifying sight far away, unbothered by the shaking ground.

“Giuseppe!” Erik made contact via comms. “Whatever is going on out there. Do something, NOW!”

At the invisible Grifforth, Giuseppe observed what was happening on the huge screen. The Griffin ship was anti-roar proof against the shocking sound of Devastrigon. The three-dragon dragon paid attention on the ground while flying away from Mt. Pike. He assumed the dragon was chasing the boy earlier. That kid is insane for catching its attention, he thought. Flash guardian riders were still far away from the battle. But the one thing that Giuseppe recognized the most was there was something coming out from one specific area… where Nisr was.

Speaking of Nisr, the eagle-eyed guardian thought that it’s best to get the hell out of there before anything else would happen to him, but the thought had stopped him as the ground began to explode. Nisr had no other choice but to grab on to the boulder beside him.

From the ground erupted what appeared to be numerous rotted dragons that started flying up to the sky. Nisr quickly backed away and started to hide under the thick tree branches from above. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be noticed. However, that no longer mattered as the zombified dragons had their highest priority. “Now this is just next-level bullshit, man.” The eagle-eyed tried to use his communicator, but the signal was somehow jammed. “Fuck.” Nisr gritted his teeth.

The mounted guardians continued on to fly their way to the mad three heeded dragon. Unfortunately, an abrupt burst of flames raining down upon them. The unfortunate mounted guardians were burned and crashed to the ground.

Hugo and Willy, including the other guardians, glanced back to see the zombified dragons descending their way toward them. The elf guardian widened his eyes. “Shit. You have got to be kidding me.”

Hugo exclaimed, “Tch! You can say that again, the communicator’s not working- must be the shriek of Devastrigon.” The storm summoner raised his hand at the blizzard above them. Soon it gathered into a circular formation where the zombified dragons couldn’t see them. Despite the dead flying reptiles’ ginormous size, even they couldn’t pass through the cyclone.

What was happening right now could be getting any worse. Back at the Grifforth, Giuseppe was shocked to the core. Undead dragons, that’s new. “Giuseppe!” Erik’s voice boomed into his eardrums.

He pressed his communicator. “Yes, yes. I heard you. Initiating active mode.”

The invisibility cloak began to slowly vanish as it revealed its majestic golden appearance. At first, the Grifforth was seen in a sitting position, until its legs and wings began to unfold. Front talons raised while the back opened up four large thrusters, and the large wings pointed backwards for aerodynamics.

Giuseppe faced the Flash guardians who were working on the holographic computers. “We must maintain this level while firing at the dragons. Let’s keep those undead reptiles slain, yes?”

Since the Dragonslayer could always handle the Devastrigon, the Grifforth would take care of the undead dragons in order for the Flash guardian riders to complete what's left of their mission: restrain the three-headed dragon and stop the Destroyer knights.

From the Grifforth’s shoulders and to its talons popped up plasma cannons- incredible inventions by the brilliant minds of Enchanteria who worked together in order to give (at least) a certain amount of damage to, specifically, the Darken dragons (including undead dragons, of course).

Flash guardians in a holographic control room of the cannon held the levers in each hand while watching the full view of the dark forest behind a curved monitor, seeing the dragons flying over the desperate guardians behind the storm. The levers served two purposes: to maneuver the cannons and shoot.

Ready.

Aim.

Fire.

Fully trained in marksmanship, the guardians controlling the cannons blasted the dragons out of the way. Luckily, they weren’t near the spinning storm.

On the ground, Hugo and Willy recognized the blasting sound and the howling of the dragons. Willy clenched his fist out of excitement. “It’s the Grifforth. Nice!”

“Good.” Hugo released the swirling wind that protected them. “That should keep them busy. We need to fly faster, though, otherwise we might end up getting obliterated from the blast. Jorken!”

Jorken the bronze griffin shrieked before dashing through the forest while the rest of the remaining riders continued following them.

Meanwhile, as he was trying to get up, Xabe felt a sudden jolt as if something inside was waking up, he then gasped as some areas near him exploded. Even he couldn’t believe that dragons began to burst from beneath the ground. “Undead dragons?! Come on!”

He looked back to see Devastrigon getting closer. “Okay, if that’s how you want to play it, you three-headed, ugly bastards.” Xabe got up and took a good look at Devastrigon while dark, rotten dragons swirling around it. How on earth can they even fly with all their wings tor and punctured? He initially thought. Xabe, just focus. Hope for the best that the Dragonslayer is still alive- that you’re still alive. You’re going to see dad and force him to explain EVERYTHING. Just need to think and focus.

Xabe started jumping several times while waving his arms up. “Called your friends to join the fun, huh?! That’s right! Come and get-” The undead dragons then started descending before breathing out hellish fire. “AAAAAAAARRGGGHHHHH!” He screamed just in the nick of time to quickly moved himself away from it.

Things got more bizarre as the situation turned into cat and mouse, though, unfairness, the cats could burn the mouse. However, the mouse was fast enough to evade the coming flames of doom. Each tree he passed, Xabe’s hands were like lightning as he grabbed any stones he could find. He also began to notice that he was kicking the snow so hard in every step, he thought of something… incredibly ridiculous.

As Xabe ran across the snow, its pile blasted towards the undead dragons’ faces, blocking their vision. At that very moment, every time the boy hid behind a tree, he threw rocks with immense amount of effort that it started to blast the undead dragons.

Run. Hide. Throw. Grab more rocks. Repeat. Run. Hide. Throw. Grab more rocks. Repeat.

In short, MaXabiere was like a moving gun firing back at the dragons- even the large mass of the Devastrigon itself.

This was also the part when the mouse used its wits against a large predator.

This was Dreyagon’s chance to give heavy blows to the Destroyer knights as they were still distracted from whatever was going on at the bottom. For payback, Dreyagon pushed the Chaos Destroyer knight with such might, he was thrown far away. But before the knight could crash-land, the slayer grabbed something behind his back to pull out a grappling hook which he threw and wrapped around the knight's leg.

With just one hand- even holding his shield, he yanked the grappling hook with the Chaos knight and swung him right straight to the Destruction knight. Even the knight’s great sword were no match from the unexpected attack- considering the weight of the Chaos knight.

With the two of them thrown together, even the last knight could reach his death as he- along with his brothers, were thrown away into the ground (by ground, it was the hard surface of the three-headed dragon’s back).

As tough as they were, the Destroyer knights quickly got up. The Destruction knight spoke, “Something is not right.”

“I feel the chaos is not as planned,” grunted the Chaos knight.

The Death knight rose up. “There’s something Dreyagon knows that we don’t. We must retreat.”

The three looked at the approaching slayer. “Seems we have truly underestimated the power of the Dragonslayer. Nevertheless, he cannot afford to waste time.” The Death knight raised his weapon with a loud growl, which was a powerful necromancy spell to summon his fallen Darken clan warriors.

The ghosts were layered with armor and armed with deadly weapons. “We must see into this situation,” the Death knight said lastly before leaping into the burning mane of the middle head’s back. After that, the Chaos and Destruction knight leaped to their respective dragon mane.

Now Dreyagon would have a much harder time as he was battling against the ones he killed before. Age had not been so kind, even for the living legend himself.

Inside the flaming mane of the three heads, the Destroyer knights were transported inside the realm of their great end bringer. They were in the Destroyer realm. The place was like a wasteland painted in crimson red: with the tall black mountains at the distance, the thundering dark clouds above shooting red lightning of terror, and the chaotic storm that rages on the dry land. In order to ride the Devastrigon itself, first, they must enter into its subconscious via opening a portal to a realm where they can harness its power.

Even though the dragon was in a broken state on the outside, its corrupted spirit was entirely whole. However, with the power of dark magic, the Darken clan had become so much powerful. In order to tame Devastrigon, three knights were selected based on their power and willingness to ride the dragon in exchange for their mortality.

In the realm that resembles Devastrigon’s mind, the Destroyer knights could, perhaps, unlock its true power.

The three stood on a bedrock platform with the carved, flaming insignia of three dragon heads in a spiral formation. In front of them was a grand opening where they could see the outside world through the eyes of Devastrigon- they even were surprised as they saw an unlikely guess.

What appeared before them was a young boy with a red scarf that was running incredibly fast and was able to evade the chaos, death, and destruction all at once.

The earth began to shatter, but the boy hopped on each flying platform like lightning. Even the undead dragons started to burn the entire forest despite the hard misses they made. The Chaos knight raised his voice in disbelief. “A boy?”

The Destruction knight darted at the Death knight. “Has the Dark superior foreseen this?”

“No.” The Death knight shook his head. “Even we didn’t see such occurrence.”

“I can feel something,” snarled the Chaos knight. “A great disturbance for our plan since that roar. But what if our vision is not enough. Perhaps that seer knows the real truth behind it all?”

The Destruction knight glared at the scene. “And what kind of boy that took the great Devastrigon’s attention?”

The Death knight paused to carefully sense about the boy. Every time he threw a rock that burns into a small meteor to the dragons, out run the hellish flames, and running through debris from the attack. That was then he finally had come into a realization. “I sense it, brothers. Before we had awakened the Devastrigon, it was uncertain if it would rise up or just lay on down on the crater. The three-headed dragon held itself back because of… him. But no matter, our plan must continue.”

The Destruction knight crossed his arms. “Hmph, then we shall move forward like we always have.”

The Chaos knight chuckled, “Dreyagon maybe the only one to compete with us, but this one has my interest.”

The three of them raised their arms with open hands as it ignited with flames. “Nothing can stand in our way, not even a weird young boy,” said the Death knight.

The mind of the three Destroyer knights and Devastrigon had been synchronized for they share the same intentions to bring an end to the world. But right now, and sensing this great interference, they must end his life- and perhaps consult with the Dark superior about this weird young boy.

The undead dragons flew away to make room for the great three-headed dragon as they began to exhale their firepower at once. Xabe, looking back at the dragon after a very long-running to the mountain, started to think the unthinkable.

He quickly picked up three large rocks and cradled it with his left arm. He picked up one and threw each of the large rocks straight into the three heads’ opened mouths. The thrown large rocks were like shooting stars that burst to the three heads’ throat with great impact.

Devastrigon began to cough and even attempted to gurgle out the debris from three very tiny rocks. Xabe stifled his laughter. Seeing a colossal menace trying to puke out its “hairball” like a cat was a sight to see.

But it didn’t last long. Its wrath was enough for Xabe to really catch its attention. He oscillated between Devastrigon and the mountain he was trying to lure the dragon to. Without further a do, he sprinted on.

Fortune must have favored him for the highland came with bizarre structures with its slope and looped forms that Xabe could use as hiding spots and a safer way to travel via a rocky corridor, not to mention the many trees so large and crooked that even the boy’s senses felt something was not right.

He went into a tunnel to conceal himself from Devastrigon’s field of vision. The large gaps on top of the tunnel served at least as a view to see the dragon’s presence. It’s best to stay in the shadows in order to avoid getting spotted. Speaking of the devil, the luminosity from the gaps were devoured by shadows as the boy began to sense the Devastrigon.

A windstorm barged into the area from the slow yet strong wave of the three-headed dragon’s wings, followed by the chilling sound of the bellowing undead dragons. While looking up, Xabe slowly skidding his boots away from the huge gap in front of him.

Abruptly, his left boot bumped into an unknown object with a crunching sound. His eyes widened and soon felt a chill on his spine. He reluctantly looked down to see a cracked skull decayed for angels knew how long. Xabe also noticed that there were more loitered inside the tunnel- but not just skulls, but the skeletal remains of these who met their unfortunate demise together with broken weapons.

The boy saw that most skeletons wore rusty armor and helmets. He mumbled, “What the-” but then his curiosity was cut short as the skeletons began to rattle. That’s when Xabe knew that he needed to get out. He hopped his way to a gap that led outside the tunnel and quickly hid to a boulder. “Great, what the hell is the Dragonslayer going to do now?”

Dreyagon, after smashing the dead with his shield and slashing them away with his sword, caught a glimpse of the mountains- and he sighed in relief that it was not Mt. Pike. His eyes then darted at the flying zombified dragons as they began to charge at him, but he had a better idea than slaying them.

With his grappling hook, he hurled it at the nearest dragon and was pulled along as it ascended. Curse this old age, he thought. As the dragon and him were in the air, he yanked the hook and to force himself down to the mountain. The Dragonslayer bent his knees before launching himself with such power, he used his shield to make a great impact on Devastrigon’s right rib cage.

The three Destroyer knights stumbled as the realm jolted from the sound. “I really hate that guy,” said the Destruction knight.

The Death knight regained his balance. “After many years, this slayer has become nothing more than a nuisance.”

The Chaos knight laughed hysterically, “Then let’s get this over with. Chasing the boy was fun and all, but we have better things to do.”

“Well said, brother,” nodded the Destruction knight.

The Dragonslayer ricocheted every time he landed on different mountains to give heavy blows to its torso.

The Death knight scoffed, “Shall we demonstrate to this fool what real power is?” He raised his hands higher. The two followed his example as their hands finally began to burn brighter. Devastrigon began to glimmer with the color of raging orange.

The moment Dreyagon was in midair, he saw the dragon glowing and knew something terrible would happen. He took a deep breath to gather his roar, but it was far too late as Devastrigon let out an outburst of flaming storm that pushed the slayer away.

It was so strong and severe, everything it touched burned into oblivion- even the undead dragons became fully dead as they got burned into ashes. As Xabe took a peek, he was also blown away because even the giant boulder wouldn’t be sufficed for his protection. He felt the heat burning the surroundings, but not him, though.

While the Grifforth was taking care of the swarming, undead dragons, the Flash guardian riders charged their way to the mountain where they could see Devastrigon’s vast size that outmatched the size of the highlands. But they immediately saw its outburst of flaming waves. Judging from its deathly contact, it’s best to be protected than charging mindlessly.

“Shields!” Willy, for a short, gentle elf, raised his voice. The riders cast a spell before a huge blue circle with runes appeared right before them. “Hang on!” The Flash guardian riders pressed on and endured the violent surge of the flaming waves. They made their shield disappear as the heat died down. “Holy crap, that happened just now.”

Hugo muttered, “Let’s hope the boy lives.”

“Yeah, and get more guardians here.”

Under a tree branch below, Red the pileated woodpecker saw the flying guardians. Luckily the flaming waves had died before it could reach the bird. But the woodpecker must see this thorough as it flew off to follow them.

And, for the record, the boy was alive, he was thrown off again and rolled across the ground, now covered with ashes. He laid on his back while getting blacked out from the energy. Suddenly, there it was again, while his eyes closed he had a brief vision- a vision of a mysterious figure dressed in white while wearing a golden winged helmet with a red ponytail at the back of it.

The vision was cut short, so that was the only image Xabe captured before he woke up and gasped for air as if he was defibrillated by a sudden voltage. What was that? He still felt the pain as he got up.

Everything looked ruined and burned. What’s worse, he saw the Dragonslayer unconscious on the ground and was far from him. His bronze shield torn in half and his steel sword missing a blade. His armor was worn out- even his horned helmet was tossed at the distance.

Xabe’s eyes widened. He saw what seemed to be the unimaginable- the slayer was defeated. He then looked up to see Devastrigon opened its mouths to breathe what could be the end of the Dragonslayer. “Oh no.”

The boy sensed the Flash guardians flying here close. He doubted that they could come in to the rescue. There was not enough time. His thoughts ran fast.

Shit.

What do I do?

The Dragonslayer is down.

The Flash guardians would be harmed.

I’m still here with this damned short wooden short.

What if the weird old lady said was a mistake?

Why on earth am I even here for?

What would dad be explaining about?

Shit, or am I really going to die here?

Dammit, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!

I don’t even get time to pray.

He didn’t even need to pray, for it was already answered as his senses grew stronger.

The Death knight stated what could be his final words to the slayer. “Goodbye, Dreyagon.”

Xabe suddenly became hesitant because he still didn’t know what to do next. However, his senses began to pull him toward the fallen hero. Xabe’s turquoise eyes began to blink yellow as he changed glances between the slayer and the dragon. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows.

His feet and arms became restless. He must clear his mind. He couldn’t just stay here and watch. Xabe began to close his eyes once and took a deep breath. Trust your instincts and let your power flow. And he did, despite the doubts, he knew what he had to do, even if it looked like that this could be the death of him.

The moment Devastrigon charged off what appeared to be its strongest fire breath yet, Xabe dashed to the fallen slayer much faster than the speed of sound. But it was no fire breath at all- the three heads unleashed more like a great energy beam that could potentially kill its enemy once and for all.

Dreyagon weakly opened his eyes to see the upcoming fire. But before it could reach him, Xabe charged into the blast while his left arm fully stretched. He had never felt this way before. As if he was finally letting go what is meant to let loose- and at this right time as well. In order to face the great danger, Xabe yelled at the top of his lungs. Not by fear; but by righteous rage. Enough is enough. After six years of holding back- six years of his inner power asleep, at last, the Dragonslayer awakens.