Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 445 Facing the Long Night
Braavos, the bottom floor of the Iron Bank.

The gears in the darkness groaned in their death throes.

The last key holder was hunched over, his trembling fingers stroking the black iron gate engraved with runes. His body was still covered with fresh blood, and the criss-crossing scars were hung with blue ice crystals. They were wounds cut by the Ice Mage Lord with ice magic. He could not understand the language of the White Walkers, but he could guess what the Ice Messenger wanted.

As a descendant of the Holder of the Keys, he knew well how many secrets were hidden in the Iron Bank of Braavos. These secrets must remain buried.

"In the name of gold and blood."

He crashed into the mechanism.

The sticky sound of liquid flowing came from the special pipes, like a sleeping giant beast waking up. Tens of thousands of wildfire cans buried deep in the iron vault slowly trembled, and the white sand gate used to prevent wildfire explosions was instantly locked when the mechanism was triggered. The cold seawater soaked in the wildfire cans flowed through the pipes to the outside world, revealing these weapons that Braavos had accumulated for hundreds of years. They were originally the last resort to die with the enemy when the city was broken. After the seawater flowed in, the emerald green liquid flowed through the copper pipes to every vault secret room.

Whatever secrets those ancient vaults held, the only thing left to do now was to keep them from the White Walkers.

The Ice Mage Lord's pale pupils suddenly contracted.

He smelled danger.

Without further hesitation, the Ice Mage Lord condensed an ice sword, and the moment the ice crystal blade slashed down, the head of the key holder flew off. But the old man's last smile froze on his face, as if mocking the slowness of these ancient peoples.

boom--

The first cluster of green flames burst out from the cracks in the ground, licking the ice crystal armor of the Ice Mage Lord. Wildfire is different from ordinary fire. It is a creation of alchemy and the crystallization of the Song of Fire. It has similar properties to dragon fire and can burn the cold and really hurt the White Walkers - but it will not cause permanent and irreversible damage to the White Walkers like Valyrian steel and dragon fire. The left arm of the Ice Mage Lord vaporized the moment it came into contact with the flames. There was no blood, only a wisp of pale cold air dissipated in the air.

Immediately afterwards, the entire underground vault turned into a green hell.

The two ice dragons on the ground were spewing cold wind unscrupulously. Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet shook violently.

The archipelago of Braavos was lifted up by the hand of the Titan, and countless gold bricks, account books, and mortgage contracts disappeared in the green flames. The violent explosion even affected the entire city. The shock wave shattered the remaining half of the Titan statue into powder, and the frozen sea ice shattered like shredded paper.

The ice dragon that was destroying the temples of the gods with its breath was engulfed by the pillar of fire that shot up into the sky. Its hundreds of meters long snake-like body twisted in the flames, and its icy scales peeled off like rain.

The other ice dragon's head was pierced by the splashing emerald green liquid, and the flames exploded directly in the ice dragon's head. It let out an eardrum-shattering roar and fell into the boiling sea water.
The Ice Mage Lord who remained on the top of the Ice Dragon was blown away by the air wave and fell into the canal engulfed by flames. For the first time, a look of surprise appeared on his pale face. He didn't know the situation of his companions. When his ice-blue and pale-white body condensed again on the canal, he saw his companions' bodies condensing again.

The two ice mage lords saw the shock in each other's eyes. Braavos was the limit of their influence now. If they went further south, the influence of the Song of Fire would greatly weaken them. Even in the hot south, mortals could hurt them with bronze and black iron.

The Great Wall and the Five Fortresses must be destroyed as soon as possible.

Before it was completely consumed by the wildfire, the hollow head of the Keyholder rolled to a secret door. There was an inscription of a line of Old Valyrian written by the famous Hand of Bath:
“A true dragon does not live in a golden nest”

The three dragon eggs that flowed into Braavos during the reign of Jaehaerys I had actually become circulating gold under the secret agreement between Jaehaerys I and the Sea King. After the people of Braavos confirmed that the dragon eggs could no longer be hatched under the supervision of Brother Bath, they took the initiative to destroy the three dragon eggs that were seen as being embezzled by the Sea King in accordance with the agreement. The price was the cancellation of debts of hundreds of thousands of gold dragons and a large low-interest loan of almost the same amount.

It was a win-win for both parties.

Unfortunately, now they have all turned to ashes.

The shattered ice unexpectedly became a way out for the survivors. The survivors, like a school of fish driven by a cold wave, crowded on the broken merchant ships and rowboats. The scene of the destruction of Purple Harbor still burned in their eyes - the relatives frozen by the breath of the ice dragon, the roar of the wildfire explosion of the Iron Bank, the last roar of the Faceless Men..., behind them was the burning city and two seriously injured ice dragons. When the first Braavosi sailboat approached the port of Pentos, the flag for help hanging on the mast trembled in the wind, but what greeted them was the navy of Pentos hiding in the river.

They violated the treaty they signed after their defeat.

Governor Lorient of Pentos stood on the Diamond warship, squinting at the dilapidated ships.

"Braavosi?" he sneered. "The impostors of the Iron Bank would also ask for help?"

"Sir, they said the city was destroyed by an ice dragon," the adjutant began, but was interrupted by Lorient raising his hand.

"Lies." The governor's ring gleamed in the sunlight. "Braavos is best at packaging disasters as tragic events. Then they sell them for a high price."

He gave the order grimly:
"Any ship approaching the port will be sunk."

Pentos ballistas poured fire on the ships that had barely escaped, a Braavosi rowboat filled with women and children rocking on the waves. The flames swallowed the cries.

Only seven ships broke through the siege and reached Dragonstone. Of course, the Faceless Men's apprentices' ships were faster. So when the ragged survivors knelt before King Rhaegal I, who had been waiting here, the king already knew what had happened. He had even sent ravens to the lords of the kingdom. He also personally flew to Dragon's Nest to ask about the legend of the White Walkers, Igor and Ringol.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what I need is evidence that is sufficient to thoroughly convince the princes." After settling the refugees, the king asked sincerely.

The first person to offer evidence was the last holder of the key to the Iron Bank. He presented the king with an ice dragon scale: "The God of Cold has created a new monster, Your Majesty the Dragon King."

"No, this is not a new creation." Osiris Vareses said in a deep voice: "Ice Dragon. It seems that my grandfather's prophecy was correct. Your Majesty, this long night will probably be extremely long."

Reg stroked the strange patterns on the ice dragon's scales and suddenly clenched his fist. The edge of the scales cut his palm, and blood dripped onto the black stone ground of Dragonstone, hissing.

The white crows have brought the signal that winter is coming, and Duke Adler of the Stark family has also made preparations. His eldest son Rickard Stark and his younger brother Athos Stark immediately led a group of elite northern soldiers to the Black Castle to assist in defense after receiving the urgent report from the Night's Watch. The Night's Watch paid a heavy price for its negligence. Thirty elite rangers were left outside the Great Wall without any reason, which made the commander-in-chief Jack Moosegood lose face. The furious Athos Stark promoted Daniel Mallister, the commander of Deep Lake House, to the chief ranger to replace Jack Moosegood in charge of defense.

"Send a message to Igor," the king said to Osiris, "I have the evidence and can set out now."

Under the gaze of the bloody comet, the surviving Braavos people hugged each other and cried bitterly. As soon as their tears rolled down their cheeks, they were blown into ice beads by the sea breeze.

Harrenhal, Hall of the Hundred Hearths.

In the vast hall, the firelight from the fireplace cast the coat of arms of the major families on the mottled walls: falcons with spread wings, leaping trout, roaring lions, blooming golden roses, spears piercing the sun, falling meteors, roaring direwolves, checkered lions, strong stags, coiled three-headed red dragons and silver dragon laurel leaves, and golden sea monsters.

Although the royal family was depleted in population, it was still overwhelmingly powerful with the help of the Varese family. In addition, the news of the destruction of Braavos had spread, and the princes believed it to a large extent. Therefore, the army gathered quickly.

King Rhaegal Targaryen I sat on the throne of Harren the Black, his silver hair beneath his crude crown turning slightly red, as if reflecting the blood-red comet that had not yet dissipated in the sky.

He was waiting for the southern princes to gather.

Due to changes in the world line, some original characters will appear earlier.

(End of this chapter)