A colossal dragon, its scales as dark as night, pursued a squad of Peacewalkers through the snowy cityscape. Its immense burly arms beat powerfully, and its yellow, iris-less eyes gleamed with wickedness. The creature's enormous snake-like body lost balance on the uneven terrain after being hit in the face by an explosive projectile. It plummeted, causing catastrophic destruction.

The Peacewalkers unleashed a barrage of gunfire upon the ginormous creature, inflicting wounds, yet it proved inefficient. Steve and Hatta raced toward the unfolding chaos.

"Who are you?" The squad's Captain demanded.

"Leonardo Botticelli and Franco da Vinci, from the Intelligence Agency of Paasilinna," Hatta replied, Steve nodded.

The duo joined the fight, their boots crunching in the snow as they divided along the intersecting streets.

"What in the world is that thing?" Steve shouted amidst the chaos.

"This is a Wock!" Hatta yelled calling the Peacewalkers' attention.

“What?” the squad's Captain asked.

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a deafening explosion. An Alban airship plunged from the sky, engulfed in blue flames.

From the ashen skies emerged a daunting wyvern, its wings black-scaled, and its eyes burning crimson. Steve and Hatta stared in awe as two other military Albans, now engulfed in blue flames, veered away from the flying lizard's menacing presence.

"What’s that flying thing coming at us?" Steve gestured toward the flying reptile approaching,

"It's a Jeibaa," Hatta explained. "Stronger, yet dumber than a Wock."

The Jeibaa lunged, its barbed tail smashing the pavement. Its incredible size of 200 feet in length, slightly shorter than a steam-powered armored Alban, destroyed everything on its path after it landed.

Taking refuge in an alley, Steve, Hatta, and some Peacewalkers waited patiently for the dragon to pass.

Emerging cautiously, they found the Wock strategically coiled like a snake, its wing claws pierced into the ground as it lay nestled among the buildings.

The soldiers, some with apprehension in their eyes, approached the supposed intelligence agents. "We can barely fight one at a time, we must ensure the other remains unaware of our presence," Hatta recommended.

“You seem to know about these creatures,” the squad Captain frowned.

“I’m used to fighting big lizards,” Hatta smirked.

While undercover, Steve observed Hatta pulling out things from a small satchel on his waist. Oil lamps, scrolls, books, and even photo albums. Hatta revealed an assortment of pens and fifty bottles of fluorescent ink, each vibrant hue more startling than the last.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Hold on a moment,” Hatta coughed.

He grabbed several pencils, markers, and pens, along with eight hats matching the one he wore. Two telescopes, a spyglass, a compass, shipbuilding and railways blueprints, three black wigs and one blond, four Carnival masks, two kabuki masks, a deck of Spanish cards, another of French cards, and twenty soda caps emerged from the mysterious bag.

Finally, he drew forth a sword, its gray hilt adorned with a small crystal in the shape of a yellow lion. Hatta handed it over to Steve.

Hatta grabbed a long sword from his satchel, it had a handle wrapped in crimson cloth and a deep purple sheath. The blade gleamed with a perilous beauty, emitting a faint, pinkish radiance.

"Dragons must meet their end by the blade," Hatta grinned. “We’ll take care of this, take cover!”

The squad Captain nodded. “Covering fire!” the soldier commanded his men through radio.

Hatta unsheathed his sword. "Alice used this sword to vanquish the Author,” Hatta said. “The one you wield belonged to Alice's closest friend, Aria."

Curiosity gripped Steve. "Aria?"

"She perished defending Alice. It was Aria's sacrifice that drove Alice to fight the Author," Hatta sighed. "Aria, though introverted, taciturn, and solitary, found a friend in Alice. They were truly good friends."

“Get ready!” the squad Captain yelled.

As Hatta packed his belongings into his small bag, a resounding explosion resonated, waking the Wock from its slumber. The other half squad on the other side of the street had opened fire.

Steve and Hatta dashed toward the dragon. Steve gripped his katana in one hand and Aria's sword in the other.

“Brace yourself!” Hatta shouted.

“What?” Steve stopped sprinting.

Hatta raised his right thumb to his lips and began to blow, inflating his hand like a balloon. With a colossal hand, he seized Steve and launched him skyward, aiming for the creature's head.

Then swinging his sword with precision, Hatta created concentrated gusts of wind that sliced everything like razors. Meanwhile, the soldiers directed their fire at the dragon's tail, aiming to divert its attention.

The dragon turned its head and opened its cavernous maw, hoping to ensnare Steve in its jaws. Yet, the relentless gusts of wind Hatta cast battered its face.

Steve landed on the creature's forehead and, with all his might, drove his swords into the dragon's eyes.

The beast writhed in agony, unleashing a dissonance of screeches and roars. It thrashed about, but Steve took advantage of another of Hatta’s gusts of wind, pulling his swords and soaring to land on the dragon's back.

Hatta landed gracefully nearby. The dragon though incredibly big, was still shorter than half of a Jeibaa. It slithered through the city's streets, obliterating everything in its path.

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The Peacewalkers, hidden in the nearby alleys, observed in awe as the “special agents” waged war against the lizard.

Hatta handed Steve one end of a metal chain retrieved from his bag. "I need your assistance in fastening this chain to its right tusk. I will do the same for the left."

Steve nodded, his brow furrowed as he attempted to discern Hatta's strategy.

They executed their plan, exploiting the relative calm of the dragon's movements. Extending the chain in full, they leaped and clung to a protruding spine on its back. The chain swung them up toward its gaping maw, and they landed on its tongue just moments before it snapped shut.

Hatta's topper hat illuminated like a radiant lamp, casting a vivid fluorescent green glow.

“Useful, right?” Hatta giggled.

They ventured toward the dragon's two largest upper fangs, securing the chain to each.

The dragon resumed its violent convulsions, making it nearly impossible to maintain their footing. Its mouth clamped shut, and its tongue thrashed in an attempt to swallow them. Hatta prodded the tongue with his sword, compelling the dragon to release a deafening, ear-splitting scream.

Hatta gripped Steve's right hand as he teetered on the edge of the mouth of the creature. With a swift motion of his sword, Hatta conjured another gust of wind, and they soared outward, gliding.

Turning himself face down, the old man released a burst of air one more to push themselves upward and land on the back of the dragon's head. The best thrashed trying to rid of them.

Steve helped Hatta reach the beast’s neck, where they had secured the chain. Hatta reached them and steered the dragon like a seasoned rider.

The colossal creature gradually settled, its tumultuous rage giving way to submission. Hatta's command had tamed the savage beast. Steve grabbed the lizard’s protruding scales as he tried not to fall.

Hatta pulled on the chain, and the snake-like creature started to fly, heading toward the Jeibaa that had been wreaking havoc a few blocks away. The other dragon was engaged in a persistent rampage, pursuing the Peacewalker’s unrelenting gunfire.

In the end, Steve comprehended Hatta’s plans, the dwarf had orchestrated a collision between the two behemoths.

The Wock employed the massive claws on its wings to fend off the Jeibaa's onslaught. Hatta and Steve jumped off the creature landing on the rooftop of a damaged building.

The two dragons fought each other in brutal combat. The Jeiba came on top, however, its injuries were far too great. The Peacewalkers launched an explosive projectile at it that finished it off for good.

For Steve’s disgraced, the two-story building Hatta and he had landed, started to crumble down due to the explosion.

“Steve!” someone shouted. He wasn’t sure where that voice came from. Yet, someone cleaned the rubble all over him.

“Leo, and Anna?” He groaned.

Then he noticed Damon helping Hatta to his feet.

"What happened here?" Leo asked, scanning his surroundings.

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story,” Hatta introduced himself and proceeded to recount all the things that happened after leaving the courts.

“Let’s get out of here before this building collapses,” Damon said, and they did, reaching the street.

The earth trembled beneath them. Another earthquake shook the ground. The Main Courthouse, the Palace of Jäävarasto, detached itself from its foundations on the ground and started levitating like Völundr's Floating Castle. The structure bore a Gothic façade with an imposing dome, a weird amalgamation between the American Capitol, and a Gothic cathedral.

Darkness enshrouded the sky, and the building's once-pale walls darkened. Thousands of colossal flying creatures, including both Jeibaas and Wocks, emerged from within while an abundance of trees and other vegetation sprouted and entwined around its walls.

Snow began to fall.

“What?” Steve murmured, eyes wide open while looking at the distance.

“The building is flying!” Leo said.

“Do you guys hear that?” Steve asked. He noticed the faint clank of metal against metal and the noise of heavy steps stomping the ground.

“Be prepared,” Damon said.

Steve then noticed the Peacewalkers that had helped defeat the two big lizards retreated.

“We need to move,” Steve said. However, hundreds of humanoids in shining armor resembling chess pieces, encircled them.

"This is no ordinary challenge," Damon remarked.

“Hey Anna, take this!” Steve handed her Alice's sword.

“Wait!” Leo said, drawing a revolver on his right arm with brush and ink, the sketch peeling off like a sticker. On his other forearm, he sketched a bullet he loaded on his gun.

“Neat,” Steve smirked, Leo grinned.

Damon adopted a Ma Bu, horse-riding kung-fu stance, he began by placing his feet parallel a shoulder-width apart. The feet are parallel, straight forward, then bending the knees.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“Getting ready to fight. You should do the same.”

The chess-like armored humanoids advanced toward the group.

Damon leaned backward placing his body weight into only one leg and then extending the other. In seconds, he landed a crushing kick on the chest of one of the armored humanoids, sending twenty flying. To Steve's surprise, the armored creatures were empty on the inside. Regardless of the damage Damon inflicted, the soldiers continued their relentless advance, encircling the group. Although not as efficient, Steve helped him out by kicking and hitting them with his sword.

No matter how many Damon destroyed with his kung-fu skills or he struck down with this sword’s swings, the armors would regenerate and reassemble.

"We need to run away, he can’t win this way," Hatta yelled. "To defeat the Arcis, we must extinguish the flames inside their chests."

“I’ll open a way,” Damon groaned. “Go!”

Damon's powerful kicks and Steve's swinging sword strikes managed to open a path for them to escape the relentless assault.

Steve led the way as the group sprinted away from the empty armors.

"Can we extinguish the flames with water?" Leo asked, and Hatta nodded.

“What are you planning?” Steve asked.

Leo kissed his ring and disappeared.

“Ah!” Anna shouted. “He ran away!”

However, Steve glanced at back Damon, wondering if they should do the same.

"If we don't fight them," Damon interrupted, "they will slaughter all the civilians and Peacewalkers who haven't evacuated this district."

They sprinted for about a quarter mile until they reached an intersection. With renewed determination, Damon and Steve launched relentless attacks against the advancing Arcis which were drawing nearer. Even Hatta found himself drawn into the fight, wielding his sword to conjure mighty gusts of wind that sent dozens of armored foes flying.

Anna, however, remained on the sidelines, behind the men.

“Anna, take cover!” Steve shouted at her.

“I can fight,” she said. Anna struggled to copy his movements. Her first attempts were far from perfect; her balance faltered, but with persistence, she managed to strike down a couple of empty armors.

As Steve pressed onward trying to clear his way. He encountered a new threat, armored humanoids riding heavy-armored horses.

“We can’t keep this up much longer,” Steve panted. One of the empty armors kicked Anna, so struck it down while she helped herself to her feet.

No matter how many times Damon destroyed the armors, the pieces regenerated and reassembled a few seconds later.

“Run!” Damon yelled. Steve grabbed Anna by the arm and pulled her away followed by Hatta.

Damon proceeded to release a burst of blinding energy from his body. Destroying dozens of Arcis. Then he dashed, following Steve and the rest.

The group reached another intersection about two miles from where they originally started reaching Alonzo Street where the Commercial District started. At this intersection, they continued their advance on the way to the floating Palace of Jäävarasto.

Another squad of horse-riding Arcis and a couple of footsoldiers blocked their way.

“Ah,” Steve panted. The Arcis started charging after them.

They took a detour arriving at Humboldt Street in the same district where they were finally surrounded.

However, Heavy rain descended upon them, evolving into a deluge of water, its force resembling a turbulent vortex. A colossal wave surged, submerging the armored enemies in its tide. The once formidable adversaries lay defeated on the soaking ground, motionless.

Leo fell from the sky, crashing into the snowy ground with a thud. “Ouch!” he complained. In pain, he staggered to his feet.

"You coward!" Anna scolded him, slapping his face.

"I returned to Völundr’s Castle to get this canvas," He showed a wet canvas. "I used it for my painting." He smirked. "I painted a raging ocean and I brought it to life.”

“Good thinking,” Steve cleared his throat. “Next time, try letting us know before you disappear.”

“Well, we ended up far away from the courts,” Damon interrupted. Steve noticed they reached the train station, a far cry from their original destination.