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Avila managed to dodge one of Akkelas' attacks. At first she thought the dragon would use his petrifying ability again, but instead of using the technique, he was resorting for a combat-oriented attacks by throwing black blades towards the dark dragons. Despite of it being familiar to Avila, it was far more variable in size and attack, making it hard to dodge. It wasn't a true dark ability, which made it unable to be dispersed by the same ability.

Both Cynder and Yrelka had a very hard time dodging them due to their inability to move quickly enough. Cynder's leg was hurt when she was careless and got cut by the dark blade, while Yrelka had extra burden on her back, which hampered her movement, yet gave her considerable defense as the snakes were the only one able to deflect them to a degree, yet it could pose a problem if they were overwhelmed, as when that happened, Yrelka would be the one defeated first since she couldn't move as fast as them.

Yet, her ability to manipulate shadow was exceptional to make Akkelas distracted enough for Cynder to move close to him and deal a well-planted dark slash to him, causing a big gash to the side of Akkelas' head. Avila also managed to teleport closer and made a well-placed gust of wind that threw Akkelas. He could still fly, though.

"Why don't we stop this fight and talk this out? We don't need the Northern dragons to be our enemies," said Xiciro to the dragon.

"It's too late for that now, isn't it?" said Akkelas. "It's too late for us. We have waged war on the west for thousands of years ago. As old as you are, you won't understand the civil war that hardened us. You know how the humans are cowardly apes, looking for your protection while they don't earn it by enslaving the dragons."

"Then what good will it be if the dragons is ruling? Humans are not as fragile as you thought they would be. They will retaliate. Maybe not know, but later in life, when they will see a way to drive our race to extinction again."

Akkelas smiled. "You're rooting for the humans. I can agree. But again, we've made up my mind. I just wish...we never met under these circumstances."

Xiciro managed to dodge, but he felt something inside him, vibrating a lot, which caused him to cough blood.

"What did you do?" said Xiciro.

"I am not a normal dark dragon. I'm a cursed dragon. Now, either I meant that literally or figuratively, it's up to you."

"I don't believe in curses, but either way, you're still an enemy we must defeat."

"Then I believe you have lost."

Xiciro didn't have the same reaction as before; he wasn't able to see the opposing dragon moved towards him in a blinding speed and attack him from point blank range. The force of the concentrated energy could make a new hole through Xiciro, but he was fast enough to hold Akkelas' claws before it even reach him. The sheer force of stopping something with that strength caused a shockwave that threw Avila and Yrelka nearby.

"For a dragon far older than me, it's an impressive feat," said Yrelka.

"Never underestimate an Argoon dragon, especially if you're this close at my effective range."

Avila realized what Xiciro was talking about, and said, "I thought you promised not to show that, ever again?!"

"Forgive me, my daughter, but with our lives at stake, I think breaking a promise is just a minor offense. Now, just for this once, I'll become a dragon you always thought as a villain."

Xiciro's whole body was suddenly engulfed in dark aura. His appearance was similar to the one Avila saw back when they were enemies; her true nightmare. Even now, after achieving her death powers, she couldn't bear the fact what Xiciro was capable of.

And that was the power of total darkness.

"Now let's see if you really need this limb of yours," said Xiciro. In a sudden, Akkelas felt something was forcing his limb to tore off. It completed its works by cutting his limb in a gruesome way. He roared in pain, trying to understand what's going on. Xiciro made a sinister smile while he ate the limb.

"Oh, that's fucking gross!"

"What the hell is your father, Avila? One second ago he's still a nice old dragon and now...a cannibal?"

"In that form, he has complete control over darkness and he could actually use some abilities he vowed not to use, including one called Emero Carought."

"Emero Carought."

"Literally 'Dark Dimension'. I trapped him there for a century or more...when we were enemies. That dragon might be able to petrify dragons and giving out darkness far stronger than us, but even he couldn't win against my father now."

"Yes, Avila, that's kind of cool, but...your dad...he looks like he's in agony."

"I believe in him, Cynder." In her mind, though, he said, "Win this one, dad, and survive."

Akkelas lost his composure when he saw his limb was torn off by a dragon that suddenly had a darkness power on level on him. Yet, he said, "Impressive, to think that you still have that kind of energy in you."

"I won't lose."

"Yes, but how about you start thinking about the ones you're trying to save?"

Xiciro realized his intentions, but despite of his newfound power, he couldn't be fast enough to stop him from approaching Avila. Fortunately, she still had a fight in her, and she managed to let out a strong close-range dark blade thrust through the dragon. Yet, to their horror, he didn't stop, and managed to grab Avila's chest.

"Your heart is mine," said Akkelas. Avila couldn't stop it, and Xiciro wasn't even able to move closer, which was attributed to Akkelas' dark powers. All seems lost when suddenly, a blinding light came from the side and started to burn Akkelas (and Xiciro). Despite of this, Akkelas was still able to find the attacker and caught him before another attack came. He was Shirdan.

"I remember you as the one that free us? Have your personal goals been satisfied?"

"I am here to right my wrongs," said Shirdan. The claw that caught him started to bleed through his leg. "There won't be a second chance at killing you this close."

"Don't get cocky just because you're a light dragon, kid."

"Did I ever mention that I'm the one that will be dealing the killing blow? Now, Xiciro!"

Akkelas could feel his body was being pulled from his place, and he saw a giant field of darkness around him. His composure started to break, and he panicked. He tried to attack Shirdan and managed to claw one of his eye. The yellow dragon roared in pain, but tried to break free from the dragon before the black hole started to engulf him. As a light dragon, being sucked into a world of complete darkness would kill him. It was proven when some of the dimensional energy sparked and landed on his leg. It burned him.

"I am not going to be defeated by a second-rate dark dragon!" Akkelas turned around and tried to attack Xiciro with another barrage of blades from his body. The other dragon got hit by the wings and horn, but he still went on. Despite of his strength, however, he couldn't even maintain Emero Carought with resistance like Akkelas.

Suddenly Cynder and Avila flew to him and touched him. They channeled their dark energy into him and greatly amplified the black hole.

"We will survive this, dad. Promise me you won't leave me again!" exclaimed Avila.

"Don't let up, old dragon! I may not know my father, but Avila's father is my father anyway! Stay...determined!"

Xiciro smiled and roared with all his might, powering the suction power of the darkness to the point where Shirdan was also pulled.

"If I can't escape this, then you will be the example of overused of a deadly power!" Akkelas pulled Shirdan in. But the light dragon opened his claws and channeled what's left of the beam of light by this point in the black hole.

"I prefer to stay in the light, asshole!"

With a blinding laser beam, he shot through Akkelas's limb, but in doing so made his leg bleed. With a roar, Akkelas was thrown into the dark dimension. Before Shirdan would meet the same fate, Xiciro stopped the power from sucking the light dragon in. Shirdan was unable to flap his wings in time and started to fall. Sannourah opened his portal in the right time and he fell harmlessly outside Spyro's cave.

Trying to understand what just happened, Shirdan looked around and said, "Well, that's kind of trippy. Are you Avila's friend?"

"At least I saved you in the nick of time."

"Your timing is never better. Now take me back there."

"Oi, do you understand what problem you're in now? You almost lost the function of your left front leg and you still want to fight? Come on, you finished that dragon up! Let yourself have a little rest."

"This fight is far from over."

"Well I'm not risking your life. I don't want to see dragons dying again!"

"Hey, it's not your call!"

"Who has the dimensional power between us, huh? Just ground your wings and take a goddamn rest."

While Shirdan was bickering with Sannourah, Avila, Cynder, Yrelka, and a much weakened Xiciro were watching each other and made a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe we did it. We killed another World Eater," said Avila. "If Shirdan wasn't there to help us, we won't stand a chance."

"That young dragon can be a life-saver if he want to. I knew he had it in him," said Xiciro. "But then...he won't take another news quite easily."

"What do you mean?"

"His companion, that bear Shifter...he was killed by a Northern dragon. He may or may not know about it, but...this war had taken a toll in our lives."

"And we still have one more World Eater left." Avila then remembered Seraphor. She then stood up and stare at the place where Seraphor was fighting the dragon. The place was full of scenery changes and no-man's land. Cynder also stood up and saw the whole thing.

"Win, Sera," said Avila beneath her breath. Cynder also said, "Don't die, Spyro."

On Seraphor and Spyro's side, the fight went on without any time to rest. Gothen had a vast knowledge of magical abilities, which made Seraphor and Spyro at their disadvantage. Both of them were greatly hurt after what supposed to only be a half-hour fight. Gothen, on the other hand, wasn't all that hurt except minor cuts and burns. Seraphor's claws broke after hitting Gothen when he was using a defensive spell. He also had a hard time breathing because his ribs were broken in their first altercations. Not only that, they were threatening to pierce his already weakened heart. If he used more Accel run or to use his old electric wings technique, he would get a cardiac arrest again.

Spyro and Shyplis weren't so well-off, either. Despite of having a resilient body and their great control over a bigger set of area, they couldn't keep up with Gothen. Unlike Seraphor, their adult bodies mean that they must endure the barrage of magical energies that hit them, while managing to dodge some. They also realized that Shyplis had a time limit before he must take a rest within Spyro (they never knew it before since they never fought more than thirty minutes).

"I am very disappointed in you, Seraphor," said Gothen while licking his wound with his long tongue. "I never thought a silver red like you can be so easily defeated. Your ancestor, Abridorn, is far better than you are, at least, in term of strength. Even your friend cannot help you, either."

"Guess I am not that good in playing dirty, huh?"

"Dirty or not, you're not worthy of being in your line of heritage, Seraphor. Time to say goodbye!"

Gothen readied a big fireball from between his front legs. It was the same ability that caused the crater around Seraphor. It was easily as big as Gothen himself, and the next time he took it, he wouldn't get out whole again.

Knowing that everything he thought in his mind wouldn't work now, he closed his eyes, ignoring Spyro's plea not to give up.

Spyro himself wasn't in the condition to help Seraphor after an attack from Gothen broke one of his back legs. The least he could do was to use a nearby cactus to shot its needle leaves towards Gothen. It also failed due to Spyro's lack of concentration in that state. Bloodied and unable to feel anything, he fell unconscious after the attempt.

What he didn't see was how a black wolf and a golden brown one came running towards Seraphor. One of them shouted something that caused time to stop momentarily while Gordon ran as fast as he could tackling Seraphor away from the area of effect while Rex deleted the possibility of the giant fireball to hit the crater. When time resumed, Gothen was genuinely surprised by the turn of event. Then he saw Rex in front of him, with Gordon, being at the same size as Seraphor, stood in front of him growling menacingly to the Northern dragon leader.

"That felt like Madsen's ability. You...were you the one who killed him?"

"I never killed him. I just sent him somewhere away from this era," said Rex.

"And that fireball? What did you do it? I didn't feel any magical residue from you destroying it."

"I deleted it from the event timeline. I basically never happened, but your retained the memory of it ever happened."

"Now does this the point where you take over that dragon's fight? So be it, then!"

"When did I say I am the one to fight you?"

Gothen didn't understand what happened, but he was more surprised when a dragon snuck up behind him and held him into submission. The dragon, Riant, saw the opportunity and engulfed both of them in a water sphere. Gothen couldn't concentrate when the air was cut off from him, but saw, in horror, that the water was forcefully went inside his body.

"I've absorbed all the water reserve in the lake. Now let see how much that big body of yours manage to hold all those water before popping like an overflowing water sack!"

But Riant didn't know that Gothen's wings were still free to flap and with a strong burst of raw magical energy, Riant was thrown away. Gothen managed to turn around and used his telekinesis ability to pull the water dragon back to his opened claw, which could grab Riant's throat. The dragon was gasping for air and trying to claw Gothen, in the process losing his grasp on his ability.

"I won't be defeated by a second-rate Western like you!" exclaimed Gothen. "Now do me a favor and die before I lose my..."

Before Gothen could finish, a scorching hot pillar of fire pierced through his side. It was so hot that it cauterized Gothen's wound immediately. The dragon roared in pain and turned around, wanting to know which dragon had the nerve to hurt him this badly, only to realize that it wasn't a dragon, but a dragon-sized Wyvern.

"Hello boys, did I miss the party?" said the shrill-voiced dragon-wyvern.

"Angelus?! I was hoping for Ramusk to come but..."

"As strong as he is, he's still pre-occupied."

"I thought you're..."

"Dead? That's a naïve question, don't you think? I am a hell dragon, of course I'm 'dead'. You don't read the news often, do you?"

Angelus then turned her gaze towards Gothen. "Now you said you're as old as I am? Well, between the two of us, who's the one more experienced?"

"Yet another weird dragon," said Gothen. "Just how many friends does Seraphor had?"

"The strength of that little one is not from his overwhelming abilities and his great control of four elements," said Riant. "But it's his ability to make friends from anything unconventional that makes him a true hero."

"We all know one day he would exhaust himself from using that powerful ability of his," said Angelus. "When that time comes, we will be backing him up, even if we're separated."

"As much as I hate the midget, his fearlessness towards me is something I can respect in him," said Xarzavio flying towards the group.

"Whatever will happen in the future, we are given his hope and desire to fight despite of his handicaps," said Ernest. "Only a true dragon can convince others to fight for him, without running away from it."

"To be fair, you're still good in my book, but your subordinates didn't know the concept of friendship," said Rex.

"You might be the World Eater, but this world is far bigger than your title might suggest," said Gordon.

Gothen didn't understand what made Seraphor stronger than he was. By this point, he didn't know Seraphor's true ability, and was greatly in rage for the defiance of the dragons in front of him. He said, "This is all a lie...you helped him out of fear of his powers, right? A silver red dragon doesn't need friends!"

"Do you think we fear him? He may be an asshole sometimes, but he's far from a tyrant," said Angelus.

"Yeah, I'm easily stronger than he is," said Zarxavio boasting on himself.

"You're the one governing your kin in fear, Gothen."

Now angry, Gothen used his magical attack to try to attack one of them, which was Riant. Yet it was just a distraction. The truth was, he attacked _himself_with the magic, and it transformed him into a black monstrosity far bigger than the dragons they all knew. He was like a giant flying mountain, and was highly unstable with the raw energy he gave himself.

"What the hell happened?!" exclaimed Seraphor from afar. "That's one Deathwing shit right there!"

"My guess is that he used his power on himself. He can absorb energies like me," said Gordon. He then sniffed something in the air. "Oh my god...not now."

From the distance, what remained of the Dragonsbane forces started to march towards them, intending to gain the spoil when the dragons were together and weakened from their war. Seraphor also saw this and whispered, "I can't...fight without risking my heart."

Then he saw some Shifter, all were injured and bloodied in separate fights and in their animal forms, walked slowly in front of Seraphor and Gordon. Kumiho moved towards Seraphor and healed his ailments, but it wasn't enough despite of her powers, but was enough to keep Seraphor away from critical state.

"It's our final stand," said Sai to Gordon. "Until the dragons were all defeated, we need to stop those humans from spoiling their war."

"We are only 15 left! Those are one hell of an army there!"

"I thought they are all destroyed by the Northern dragons!" said Seraphor. "Gothen said it himself."

"Do you understand the concept of underground operatives? These are all backups, and not something we can make fun of. I guess we don't have any choice, do we?"

Gordon stood in front of the Shifters. He wanted to say something, but then relented from it and turned around, running towards the enemy in their final attempt to fight.

Then another surprise came to them with some of the humans joining them, one of them was who Gordon knew. Before he could call his name, he raised his sword and all of the Shifters were surprised by a sudden de-cloaking scenery of hellhounds, horned anthropomorphic dogs of all kinds, running towards the massive army. Gordon just laughed it off, saying, "Even the forces of hell is supporting us!"

The Dragonsbane was easily defeated because of the hellhound's hellish powers. They were all caught by surprise from the sudden turn of event. It was hard to retreat, too, when a trio of giant dogs were blocking their way. Their anti-dragon weapons were also useless to hellhounds because they were mowed down by different kinds of machine guns far more advanced than the muskets, spears, and swords the Dragonsbane had.

With the whole army decimated by the forces of hell, the Dragonsbane was no more, with all of their operatives dying and no one was spared in that fight. It was all over before it could start. Gordon and the rest of the Shifter could rest easy, now with no Dragonsbane to worry about.

It's now up to the dragons to end the fight once and for all.