//------------------------------//
// Hero: A Chilling Discovery 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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It didn't take Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group all that long to reach the homeworld that they were heading towards, as each of them reappeared on the Teleportation Device the Professor had installed in Frostbite Village and moved out of the way so Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Amelia, Flame, and Aurora could safely arrive in this realm once each of them used the machine themselves, though since Spyro was the first one of the group to return to the land that they had been saving earlier he came to a stop as he stared at the cave that would allow them to enter the domain of the next Guardian that was waiting for them. Normally he and the others would have assumed that the mammoth they had seen earlier would have been the one they would have fought to save this land, though since they had freed it the only way it would be inside that cave was if Red tracked it down and put another mind control collar around its neck, though as he thought about that Cynder and the rest of their group used the Teleportation Device to appear near him and walked down to where he was currently sitting, before they faced the cave that was in front of them. Given the fact that they hadn't fought all that much during their backtrack session, since all of their enemies had been taken out before hand during their exploration of the other realms, each of them was rested to a degree and was ready to go, based on what Spyro was seeing, though when each of them nodded their heads he knew that they were ready to go and he stepped forward, passing through the area that the dark barrier had been resting in earlier and entered the cave, which also the moment they noticed that a metallic structure had been built on the hill or mountain that the cave was attached to, something that each of them shelved as they delved into the cave so they could see who they would be fighting this time around. What was interesting was the fact that the path that was on the other side of the cave's entrance brought them to part of the structure's inside, which came complete with some steps that seemed to be heading towards the summit of the building and they jumped up each of them, before stopping as they found an opening that lead to the heart of the structure, or at least it seemed like the structure's heart, though it was easy to see that they weren't alone as each of them noticed that someone was standing in the middle of the area.

What the group discovered as they entered the cylindrical heart of the structure, where they walked on a stone platform to get closer to their soon to be opponent, was that a bipedal dragon was waiting for them, one who was younger than all of the Elders, had red colored scales and a yellow colored chest area, though he had a pair of curved horns that coiled back towards his head and just so happened to be purple colored, and he had crimson colored eyes, though what Spike found to be interesting was that he carried a staff with a large dark crystal on it, probably because carrying an actual Dark Gem would have been too much for him, while he wore a golden necklace that also had a dark crystal set inside the heart of it, but interestingly enough the dragon did nothing but stare at them as they came to a stop.

"Red, this is an unexpected surprise," Spyro stated, because that was the truth of the matter, as the majority of the group were used to the big bad of their adventures resting in the final homeworld that needed to be explored, in this case that should have been Volcanic Isle, the fourth and final land of Capora, though at the same time this either meant that their foe had gotten tired of seeing his work being unraveled before his eyes and came to confront them personally, leaving the Dark Master in control of the final homeworld, or he had come to surrender to them and face his punishment for the new crimes he had committed, to which he refocused on what was going on at the moment, "I'll make this short and sweet: either surrender and submit yourself to whatever punishment the Elders give you for your recent actions against the lands of Capora, or we'll have to beat you into submission the hard way."

In that moment the group waited for a few moments and found that Red had nothing to say to that, almost like he didn't care about what Spyro had said at all, though that was when Flame and Aurora tilted their heads for a moment, as the two of them had been expecting more from the dark and evil dragon that they had been told about, something that caused Spike to access his magic for a moment so he could see the strands of magical energy that were resting all around them, but as he did that he was greeted by an immense darkness that was surging out from the area that Red was standing in at the moment, a darkness that was far too much for someone like Red to gather on his own, especially in the short period of time since his banishment from the lands of Capora, before he realized something.

"Spyro, that's not Red." Spike said, though this was one of those rare moments where he hoped he was wrong and that all he had been feeling was the nature of the dark crystals that their silent opponent was currently wearing, because if he was right about what was going on they might be in for a world of hurt, but even as he said that statement the others took a moment to tilt their heads as each of them stared at the dragon that was just staring at them, though that was when Red let out a chuckle as he dropped the staff he had been carrying.

The group watched as a dark power surged around the space their foe was standing in and Red seemed to welcome it as he lowered his head for a few seconds, where his scales seemed to be darkening before their very eyes, though instead of becoming a dark red coloration they took on a dark sinister purple color, like Spyro or Spike's except totally tainted by the darkness, where the spines on his back became sharper and more menacing, his horns seemed to shrink before splitting and became a few smaller horns that resembled a twisted crown, and his eyes became black as the sclera took on a rather sinister evil looking yellow coloration, before the darkness peeled back and became a thin suit of armor that looked like it was ebony colored, almost like what a dark ruler would wear into battle.

"No... it can't be..." Cynder stated, though both she and Spyro rushed forward and drew their runeblades as they neared the area that Red was currently standing in, where their attacks were stalled as their foe raised his hands and two ebony colored katanas appeared in his hands, weapons that stopped the runeblades in their tracks and caused the floor around him to sink a little as their energies clashed with each other for a moment, where both of them were surprised by what they were seeing at the moment as they stared at their foe's face, which wasn't being protected by a helm and had been twisted into something much more menacing, a face both she and Spyro recognized.

"Spyro, Cynder, its good to see you again," a sinister voice stated, a voice that informed Spike that whoever was speaking was the source of the darkness that he had detected after they entered the chamber and Spyro started talking to Red, or who his brother had assumed was Red, though that was when their foe shifted his hands and pushed Spyro and Cynder backwards a tiny bit, before a second swing of his blades knocked them both backwards as they landed near the group and glared at their foe, who definitely had a sinister smile on his face.

"Spike was right, this isn't Red... its the Dark Master!" Spyro remarked, where the statement was directed at the rest of the group, mostly to confirm Spike's statement that they weren't staring at Red and were now facing someone whose evil was the darkest in the entire world, especially when he and Cynder considered what he had done before the end of the last version of this world, the one that he was in the process of destroying before they beat him and sacrificed themselves to piece the world back together, creating the new version of the world that all three of them had been given a new life in, but even as he thought about that he and Cynder focused on their foe, something the others did as well, especially since none of them had any idea what their foe would do next.

"Indeed I am, and I am glad that you remember me." the dragon said, revealing that, against all odds, they were speaking to the Dark Master, someone even Malefor was hoping they'd never see again, something that caused Spike to think about what they were seeing at the moment so he could figure out what in the world was going on, as he already had an idea or two floating around in his head, before the sinister dragon turned his head towards Cynder, "And I can understand why you might have assumed that I was dead and gone, as you and Spyro watched as the spirits of the Ancestors dragged me into our planet's core when we last fought, but when you sacrificed yourselves to save this world my form was sundered without warning and my soul was separated from my body... and, after almost a thousand years without a body, I struck gold when Red discovered a crystal I was using as my hiding place, who didn't sense the darkness it possessed and I was able to convince him to create a phylactery, one I stuffed his soul inside after it was completed."

"And now I get why the Elders of Capora were so surprised by Red's sudden 'change of heart', his 'descent into darkness', and the need to banish him after confronting him," Spike commented, where he was grateful that the Dark Master was like some of their previous enemies, those that liked to talk before a fight started, because it allowed him to understand what was going on at the moment, even though the knowledge that he had gained wasn't all that useful, especially since none of them had any idea where the Dark Master might have hidden the phylactery, "you ripped his soul out of his body and locked him away, allowing you to get used to your brand new stolen body and commit all the crimes that the Elders have pinned on Red, all while preparing for the future."

"Which brings me to the most important question: what do you want?" Cynder inquired, though at the same time she and Spyro knew that whatever the Dark Master wanted couldn't be good for the rest of their world, especially when they took a moment to consider the fact that this dragon, this monster that clearly had no heart, had nearly destroyed the world the last time she and Spyro had fought him, so the fact that he was still alive and kicking, even in a stolen body, meant that his plans for the world had to be disastrous to some degree, "If you're planning the end of the world again, then don't bother, as the Destroyer was wiped out some time ago when Gaul tried to start what you did during the last version of this world, so you're missing a pawn in that case."

"No, you and Spyro have shown me that destroying this world will never work, so I have spent my time in this new world carefully coming up with a new plan," the Dark Master answered, though in that moment that he waved his hands and his weapons disappeared in seconds, exactly as fast as they had appeared, before the chamber shuddered for a moment as it seemed to rise out of the area that they were positioned in, where Spyro and the others watched as the roof opened up and allowed them to see the rest of Icy Wilderness, making them wonder what in the world their foe was trying to do as all of them readied their guards for whatever was coming next, "one that will allow me to take total control of this world, to forge it in my image once more, and to do that your light must be broken by being overwhelmed by the darkness that you will soon be facing."

No one said anything as they waited for the structure to come to a stop, where it was easy for them to see that the Dark Master had been planning for this day and that he had created an unnecessarily tall tower or something, as from what the group could see they were now as tall as the highest glacier that was in this island, and that was saying something, as now they were standing higher than they had been earlier, though the rest of the tower rose up behind their foe, creating what appeared to be a rather intimidating structure that he would use to assert his dominance over this island, before he took a moment to raise his hand and a swirling darkness shrouded the entire island, possibly stretching out beyond the land that they were going to be fighting above.

"Of course, taking over the lands of Capora was always a later step of my plan, as the first step was to find Ripto, give him a new scepter and the necessary information he needed," the Dark Master continued, revealing that he was actually behind Ripto figuring out where Castle Hills was located and gathering everything he needed to launch his assault on the land in question, something the majority of the group had been curious about after they brought down the villain that had tried to weaken the dragons by displacing all of the dragonflies, before the darkness gathered around him and a katana, this one with a blade that was twice as long as what a normal katana possessed, appeared in his right hand, "once you took Ripto down, and he managed to confirm that creating a dragon crossbreed was possible, I started my assault on Capora and let the Professor send Flame and Aurora to the rest of you, all so you would be brought back to these lands and grow even stronger than you had been before this 'adventure' started. I also let you assume that the Professor had fixed his various shop pads, in the sense that you could speak without being heard, all so I could listen in to whatever you were saying and where you were going at any given moment, though I will admit that his gadgets have been rather interesting... maybe I'll force him to be my scientist once I take all of you down."

"You... your after one of our bodies, aren't you?" Spyro growled, showing that he didn't need Spike to explain things to him this time around, as he had learned enough from watching and listening to his brother over the years to be able to draw his own opinions on whatever they were hearing, though he did catch Spike nodding out of the corner of his eye, showing that his brother agreed with his statement, hence the reason he focused on the Dark Master as he gripped the handle of the runeblade he was carrying and the others prepared themselves as well.

"Indeed. That is why this battle is happening now, as all of you are strong enough to either bare the weight of my soul or become enforcers to spread my influence," the Dark Master said, where he raised his empty left hand towards the center of the darkness for a moment and continued to wear the smile on his face, almost as if he was pleased that everything had come together so perfectly on his end, though as that happened the group could see that red lightning danced around the center of the sky, meaning something had to be going on above their heads, before he glanced down at them for a couple of seconds as he readied himself, "the question is this: who is the strongest among you, the one that will outlast the rest of the group... let us see how strong you really are!"

In that moment the Dark Master swung his left hand towards them, causing the darkness in the sky to descend down on the rest of Icy Wilderness, before he gripped his weapon with both of his hands and flew through the air as he targeted the group, where both Spyro and Cynder clashed against his attack with their runeblades, causing Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group to separate from each other, with Spike taking a moment to weave his magic through the air so he could temporarily enchant Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca's attire so they could fly through the air like dragons, as he had the feeling that them remaining on the ground would be a bad thing given who they were fighting. Once that was done Spike rushed through the air and targeted the Dark Master while Spyro and Cynder held him in place, where he loosed a volley of large sized Fireballs at their foe and made sure that they came from the right, meaning he wouldn't be able to use his sword to take all of them out in a few seconds, which would also give his brother and Cynder a chance to get out of the area before the spheres struck their target, only for him to be proven wrong as the Dark Master shifted his left hand and parried the incoming attack by releasing the same number of Fireballs into the air that Spike's were coming from. It was in that instant that Spyro and Cynder pushed themselves backwards while their foe was distracted by what Spike had done and them, in a moment and without warning, rushed forward so they could cut him down, only for the Dark Master to parry both of their attacks with the edge of his long katana, which was such an odd weapon when the group took a few seconds to even consider why he was carrying such a thing, but as that happened he also shifted his stance and knocked both of them back not even a few seconds later. Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca appeared in the area that they were fighting in, having used the enchantment Spike had given them to get into position, before Amelia loosed a few arrows into the air, Bianca sent a few Lightning Bolts out into the space that was in front of her, and Hunter used his blades to lash out at the Dark Master, but, instead of their attacks hitting their target the Dark Master spun around and swung his blade a few times, breaking all of the arrows apart, parried Hunter's attacks and knocked him backwards, and countered all of Bianca's Lightning Bolts in a matter of seconds, with none of the lightning sticking to his weapon.

Ember then rushed through the air and struck the Dark Master with the full power of her Warrior's Armor and made sure the Fangs of Felinia were in a bladed tonfa form as she smashed into her foe's side and seemed to send him flying, or at least that was what she was hoping and was proven wrong as the sinister dragon revealed something terrifying, he also had access to the skill she had used against him and had stopped the attack from doing all that much damage to him, all so he could rapidly fly through the air, as in he flew backwards and then approached Ember's position from an entirely different direction, before he swung his weapon and she parried the attack, event though that sent her flying through part of the tower and smashed her back into the interior. That was a shocker to most of the group, as they were used to seeing Ember being able to take on almost everything that they faced when she used the Warrior's Armor technique, though this confirmed that the Dark Master was dangerous, far more than what they were expecting to discover, and when he flew  towards the area that Ember had been sent into, showing who he was targeting next, both Spyro and Cynder intercepted the attack with their runeblades and were pushed into the structure as well, something that was starting to fall apart, as what the two of them had done had knocked their foe into a lower part of the tower. A few moments later the pair huffed for a few seconds as they noticed that the Dark Master must have been separated from them, though that was before he jumped through the hole they had created in the side of the structure and rushed at the area the two of them happened to be standing in, though the odd thing was that he did a series of backflips so he could enter the area they were resting in, to which they parried his incoming attack and jumped backwards, but that was when the three of them rushed at each other and let their blades clash with each other as they moved through the structure, where it appeared that the collision of their energies was in the middle of breaking the area that they happened to be fighting in. Of course the tower breaking didn't stop any of them from separating from each other and clashing again and again, as neither Spyro or Cynder cared all that much since it appeared that the structure their foe had built was collapsing around an area near the village that also did no damage to where Moneybags had set up shop, though another reason for them not to care about that was due to the fact that they were sure that someone had told the bear to move, though their attention was brought back to the fight as the Dark Master swung his blade and they dodged the attack, where the edges of the tower caught on fire after his blade cut parts of them into two halves.

It was hard to tell if that was just the Dark Master showing off just how much power he had, and his magical power had to be above Spike's given that he hadn't died and been reborn like them and a few others in Warfang, though that was when they clashed with the incoming attack that was coming their way and they stood their ground in the middle of the falling apart stone floor that was inside the tower, something that caused the Dark Master to raise an eyebrow for a moment as he observed what his main targets were doing, as they were the ones that smashed his plans the last time they saw each other and he was planning on taking them down first.

"Oh, where did you two get this strength?" the Dark Master inquired, showing the pair that he was a little interested in how they could have gotten much stronger than what he was expecting them to be, as both of them weren't holding back and that meant he was seeing their true melee strength, because they understood just how dangerous he was and knew that holding back their true strength would only make things worse when their foe stopped playing around, as the Dark Master certainly wasn't using his full strength at the moment, which definitely worried them a bit.

"As if we'd tell the likes of you!" Cynder remarked, though in that instant both she and Spyro combined their powers into a single attack, where Spyro used channeled the power of Windshear as Cynder did the same with Penumbra, allowing the shadowy flames and the wind to merge into a single burst of energy that smashed into the Dark Master's chest and blew up the area that they were fighting in, hopefully pushing their foe outside the tower as one of the support pillars shattered not a few seconds later, to which she and Spyro nodded to each other as both of them headed through the opening that they had created with their combined attack.

When the two of them appeared outside the tower they heard the sound of something breaking and glanced up towards the sky for a moment, where it looked like part of the upper levels of the tower were falling towards them, to which they moved out of the way and landed nearby, mostly to see where the fragment landed and watched as it crashed into the ground that was near the Professor's Teleportation Device, something that was followed by Moneybags rushing over to it while a metallic dome sprung up to keep it safe, even if that switched the machine into the offline mode, though he made sure that the two Penguins were with him before the dome closed. After that happened, and they could see that the piece of the tower was on fire as well, the Dark Master rushed down at the area they were standing in and Elora kicked him in the side of the head, sending him flying through the air and that opened his defenses so Spike and Bianca could release a volley of Fireballs, Ice Shards, and Lightning Bolts, mostly to make it impossible for their foe to overcome the amount of spells that were coming his way and do some damage to him, even though Spike was also looking for a way to separate him from Red's body, despite the fact that such a thing meant that they had to find the phylactery that held Red's soul, all to prevent the Dark Master from remaining inside the body he had stolen. The Dark Master, on the other hand, used his blade to cut down the attacks that were coming from his left and used some magical spells to cancel out the spells coming from his right, the same spells no less, to which Spike had to sweat for a moment, as it sure looked like their foe might also have Sage's Vision, something that would make this fight incredibly harder if that was true, as he would be able to see all of their attacks coming accordingly and counter them with near perfection, so instead of worrying about that he hoped that their foe was being lucky and nothing else. In the following moment, after stopping all of their attacks from hitting him and knocking him out of the air, Hunter and Amelia rushed in with their blades, as they knew that bows would be useless against someone like him, though he dodged the attacks that were coming from Hunter and kicked him in the chest, which sent him flying into the snow covered top of the nearby mountain, before delivering an uppercut to Amelia before he took a moment to hurl her into the same area that her brother was resting in, before Flame and Aurora appeared nearby and combined their Fire Breaths into a single entity that raced towards their foe.

Before it could reach the Dark Master, however, their foe waved his left hand and called upon the power of Ice, where he froze the attack before it could even hit him, before he rushed through the air and left his blade behind, something that was followed by Flame getting kicked in the side of his body and being sent into a different peak while Aurora received a punch to the side of her head, one that knocked her into another peak, though as he grabbed his blade Cynder loosed a powerful burst of wind energy, Spyro added a powerful charge of his Lightning Breath, and Elora, in an odd twist of fate, was able to draw upon something that had been building inside her and released a powerful burst of flames into the mix, where the combination attack exploded when it came into contact with their foe's back, blowing the entire area that he had been in apart not a few seconds later.

"Elora?! When did you..." Cynder started to ask, though it was in that moment that she, Spyro, and Elora noticed movement inside the smoke and realized that the Dark Master was still kicking, not that they were really expecting anything else since he was a tough customer and were really hoping that the attack would have stalled him for a few more moments, mostly to give them some time so Spike could come up with a plan of action that would allow them to take down their foe, in the sense that he'd stay down and admit defeat, but even now it seemed like he wasn't willing to give them that either, which just meant they would have to beat him into the ground, somehow.

"No idea how I learned your Fire Breath, nor do we have the time to find out," Elora replied, figuring that she would take a few seconds to answer Cynder's question, even though she really had no idea how she had managed this and figured that the most likely explanation was that the reward of the Water Breath had awakened something inside her, though she was planning on asking Spike once this was all over as she focused on the smoke, where the Dark Master brushed off some of the dust that had gotten on his body, or at least that was what she assumed they were seeing, meaning that he might be ready for the next stage of their battle.

It was in that moment that the Dark Master vanished and reappeared on the top of a nearby peak, where he swung his blade for a moment and actually cut a cube out of the stone, one that he sent right at the trio that had fired the attack at him, something they had to dodge as the stone went off into the distance and smashed into one of the glaciers that rested around the island, though that didn't stop their foe from using his magic to lift the fragments and hurl them at everyone he was fighting, showing them that he planned on bringing down as many of them as he possibly could so he could focus solely one Spyro and Cynder, the main ones that he wanted to defeat last. Several of them moved out of the way to avoid being stabbed or impaled by all of the ice fragments that were being sent their way, while the likes of Spyro and the others that could use magic lashed out with their powers so they could break down the pieces of the glacier, and in the end all of them were able to emerge unscathed, but as that happened Spike landed on the ground and focused on the center of the sky, as there was a spell he wanted to use and hopefully the others would keep the Dark Master busy so he could build all of the necessary energy to do what he had in mind. Spyro, Cynder, and everyone else that knew what he was doing, as out of their entire group only Flame and Aurora had no idea what he was doing, rushed into the various areas of the village that they had been fighting above, where it was clear that the Dark Master didn't seem to care about the structures that were around the island, not that Spyro or Cynder expected anything less when they considered what he had done in the past, though when the Dark Master landed on part of the ruined tower Spyro rushed forward and swung Windshear right at him, releasing the power stored within in the form of the Wind Scar attack, only for the Dark Master to disappear from the area he had been standing in and appeared on a higher floor that was somewhat intact, where he stared down at him for a few seconds with a smile on his face as he noticed the smoking hole the attack left behind. It was clear that the Dark Master was simply toying with them, showing that he believed that he was above them all and that he didn't have to use his full power to bring them down or make them kneel, though Spyro smiled to himself for a moment, as having that sort of mindset would be the end of their foe, especially since it appeared that he was currently ignoring Spike and what he was doing at the moment.

Fortunately, due to what the Dark Master had done to the sky, it was rather easy for Spike to tap into the power that was building above their heads and prepared his attack without their foe knowing, though while he was doing that most of the group fell back, as Hunter, Amelia, Flame, and Aurora knew that the Dark Master would overpower them and it was that reason that prompted them to look for openings before any of them tried to attack him again, hence the reason Spyro, Cynder, Ember, Elora, and Bianca remained in the air, where everyone but Bianca attacked their foe with the weapons that they had in their possession. The shocking thing was that their foe was able to spin around whenever someone tried to hit him, no matter what direction they were coming from, smashing apart any spells that came at him while also parrying all of the attacks that were coming at him, showing the group that he must have been practicing his fighting skills against his shadows or something to get as good as he currently was, but regardless of what sort of skills he had they had to keep him distracted so Spike could hurl whatever spell he was preparing down at him. While they were doing that Bianca weaved her magic through the air and wrapped a sphere of fire around the Dark Master, where it was hard for them to believe she had been able to do such a thing after seeing everything that their foe had done in the past, but that didn't stop her from hurling another large Fireball at what she had done, though it was in that moment that the Dark Master swung his strange katana and shattered the sphere of fire, not to mention the large Fireball, and the force of his attacks caused some of the group to lower themselves in the air as they braced themselves so they could withstand the force of his attack, before he swung his weapon diagonally at Spyro and Cynder, who dodged the attack. What happened after that was something all of them weren't expecting to find, as the Dark Master's attack, which had also been a thin wave of energy since none of them had been near the area their foe had been floating in as he fought them, had struck the ground as well and actually cut through all of the stone and earth that was in its way before it finally dissipated, basically cutting a gash into the ground with ease, something that he repeated as he aimed at Bianca, who dodged the attack by teleporting out of the way, even though the second attack carved up the area that was near Vicky's castle, who was going to be pissed when she saw that her domain was split in half.

"Damn, its like fighting my father all over again, only much worse," Cynder remarked, referring to the fact that when they faced her father, and later received his training to better themselves for whatever adventures were coming their way, but the difference between the Dark Master and her father were night and day, as her father thought about the land and only used his most dangerous techniques whenever he felt the need was great and that he could minimize the damage, while the Dark Master seemed to be of the opposite opinion, using whatever techniques whenever he wanted so he could inflict quickly inflict the maximum amount of damage to his opponents.

"Oh, is someone having second thoughts?" the Dark Master inquired, where he smiled for a moment, showing them that he felt that they should surrender before he ended up killing one of them with his attacks, but given the fact that he was in the middle of breaking Icy Wilderness the group wasn't about to stand around and do nothing, especially since it was in that moment that Hunter and the others lashed out at their foe as they joined the dragons that were facing him, but, just like what had happened so far, history repeated itself as he parried the incoming attacks in a matter of seconds before he came to a stop with a smirk on his face, all while focusing on Spyro and Cynder, "I've thought of a wonderful present for all of you, both enemies of old and enemies of now... how about I give you despair!"

In that moment Spike, taking advantage of the fact that the Dark Master was talking and not paying attention to what was going on around him as his enemies readied themselves, called forth the lightning serpent that was the Storm's Wrath, his favorite Lightning style spell, and hurled the massive spell down at his target, though as the lightning serpent burst out of the sky, and rushed down towards the area that their foe happened to be floating in, the Dark Master raised his hand and used his energy against the serpent, not to reign in its power and use it against the others, like one would assume, rather to break the entire spell to pieces and scatter the energy entirely. Spike growled for a moment, as he couldn't believe that his foe had been able to do something like that, before he grinned as his power flared, because in the off chance that the Dark Master did something to the Storm's Wrath he had three more elemental attacks prepared, as the sky broke open as a Flame Emperor orb, a pair of Earthen Daggers, and an Ice Hydra with seven heads rushed at his target as Spyro and the others dropped out of the area so they could avoid what was coming next, because the energy of the Storm's Wrath was still in the middle of dissipating and that meant his target must have no idea what was coming next. That was, however, when the Dark Master proved Spike wrong again, as he swung his weapon and cleaved the Earthen Daggers apart, used his own magic to blast apart the Flame Emperor in a matter of seconds, and grabbed the Ice Hydra so he could hurl it at the ground that was below him, even though it appeared that he, somehow, stole the spell from Spike's control, without going through the sequence that required him to do so, like how Spike did against Ripto, though when the attack hit the area of the homeworld that the Dark Master sent it to the group watched as a massive icy fortress suddenly sprung up all over the place, a large mimicry of Vicky's castle. What happened next was that the Dark Master weaved his magic all over the entire island and the group watched as he gathered a whole bunch of ice, stolen from the glaciers and the mountains that were scattered around the homeworld, before he added everything he had stolen to the massive icy fortress, which he also raised into the air and made what appeared to be a floating fortress made of ice though that was when he took a moment to beckon for them to come at him once more.

Hunter moaned for a moment, as he declared that the Dark Master was just 'flexing' on them at this point, basically in the sense that he was showing off for fun at this point, before the group rushed through the air and wasted no time in lashing out at their foe, where Spike continued to think of something, anything, that might be able to help them out and bring the Dark Master down, before recalling that they had recovered the ninth and final runeblade, which was when an idea came to mind, one that would take time for them to put in motion. As they lashed out at the Dark Master, however, the attacks that their foe sent their way ended in him breaking the icy fortress that he had constructed, but the terrible part about this was that each of the fragments that fell away from where they were fighting ended up, somehow, being on fire and struck the ground that was scattered throughout the homeworld, where Elora and the others could see that either their foe was trying to burn this island to the ground or it was a side effect of their battles, something that they would have to fix once this battle was over. It was around that time that Spyro and Cynder called their true full power to the surface, resulting in a flaming aura for Spyro and a dark one for Cynder, as they rushed through the air, smashed right into the Dark Master's chest, somehow bypassing his weapon entirely, before the pair were able to smash him through the floor and came to a stop once they smashed into the side of Vicky's castle, something that was followed by Aurora flying into the area so she could pick up the Ice Princess, who was shocked by what was going on, and took her outside so she could be dropped off at the shelter that Moneybags and the others that weren't part of this fight were hiding in. The Dark Master grinned for a moment as he stared at his current opponents, as he knew that both Spyro and Cynder were strong and this confirmed all of his suspicions, hence the reason that they continued to move around the entirety of the castle he had trapped Vicky in earlier, where the pair couldn't help but watch as the entire structure was sliced apart by what was going on, fragments flying out all over the homeworld that they were trying to save as their foe spread the flames that were attached to each of the metallic pieces, before Elora appeared near them and punched the Dark Master in the side of his face, knocking him into the air so the pair could follow him once more.

What was interesting was that their foe came to a stop and stood on the side of the structure that was up in the air, where they simply flared their wings and stared at him for a moment, as there was literally no telling what he had in mind or if he would fight like they had seen in the past, even though he hadn't done anything remotely close to what they had seen the last time they had fought him like this, so all they had to do was be patient and see what he had planned next, but even as the pair thought about that it was easy to see that the handles of their weapons were glowing a little, meaning Spike must have a plan for the runeblades.

"Oh, and if you're thinking of surrendering, I want you to drop to your knees and beg for mercy!" the Dark Master stated, his statement being for everyone that was currently fighting him, not to mention those that were watching them fight, as if he still believed that he was above what everyone else was capable of and that no one could really touch him, but it was in that moment, while Spyro and Cynder were watching him, that he held his hands out and the upper part of the fortress he was standing below shattered, the fragments falling down towards the entire area that they were fighting in.

Spyro and Cynder nodded to each other for a moment before they rushed through the air, where they swung their blades and cut their way through all of the heavy ice that the Dark Master intended on dropping on them, though what was a tad bit interesting was that he also cut his way through several parts of the ice and clashed with the pair in the center of the mess he had made, where they carefully flew around the area they were in and let their blades do the talking as they fell through the air and got closer to where the ground rested, but during that exchange Cynder managed to cut off the strap of the necklace the Dark Master was wearing, not that he seemed worried about that as they escaped the area in question and flew up to the top of the icy fortress. As the pair landed on the top of the icy fortress, just to pause for a few seconds since the Dark Master wasn't right behind them like usual, they had to huff for a moment as they realized just how strong their foe was and hoped that whatever plan Spike was creating was more than enough to bring their foe down, but if that failed they were going to have to bring in the big gun and have Malefor deal with the Dark Master, because at this point even Spyro was starting to doubt their chances of success against the might they were facing. Of course neither of them could rest for very long as the Dark Master landed nearby and rushed at the area that they were standing in, where both of them went on the defensive as they parried the incoming attacks that were being sent their way, though that didn't do much in the grand scheme of things as their foe knocked them backwards with the base of his weapon's hilt and pushed them backwards, though as both of them paused for a moment, just to catch their breath and come up with a plan, their foe forcefully lifted them into the air with his magic, lashed out with his blade for a moment and forced them to parry the attacks in question, and then he kicked both of them into one of the icy walls that were nearby, smashing the area to bits in the process. It was in that moment that both of their weapons glowed for a moment as they vanished, meaning Spike needed them for something, before a familiar unique runeblade, the ninth and final one that had been recovered during their last adventure, to which Spyro drew it and rushed out into the open area that their foe was fighting in, where Cynder did the same thing and used her elemental powers to lash out at their foe, though for the most part nothing seemed to be working as the Dark Master parried their attacks and the area that was around them shattered under the weight of their energies colliding with each other.

In the end Spyro and Cynder, who were eventually joined by everyone else but Spike, crashed into the roof of the massive icy structure that they were fighting above and huffed as they stared up at the Dark Master, as all of them were having a hard time imagining actually winning this fight, all while their foe floated up in the air that was above where they were now resting, the look on his face showing that he still believed that he was going to win this battle and that there was nothing they could do defeat him, even if Spyro noticed that Aurora had grabbed the necklace for some reason, before returning his attention to their foe.

"All of you fought well, but now this battle is over," the Dark Master said, where he shifted his stance for a moment as he made sure his weapon and his power were at the ready, showing the group that the next attack was likely going to be his last, that the end was coming and that if they did nothing he was going to wipe all of them out in an instant, while the odd smile on his face indicated that he was happy that they fought him with everything they had learned over the years, as in they should have no regrets now that they've failed to overcome his incredible power, "the time for darkness to cover this world has come at long last!"

It was in that moment, while the Dark Master was talking, that Spike landed on the part of the roof that was near him, but his eyes were focused on Spyro and the others as Almos, the runeblade that was connected to the Aether, started to glow, to which the group, sensing that he had a plan since his power had weaved around eight of them and left Spyro alone for a moment, stood up as the lone dragon leapt into the air and swung the blade, surprising the Dark Master for a moment as he actually pushed him higher into the air, pushing him away from his friends and family.

"Dark Master, it seems that you still don't get it," Spyro stated, where this time around he could feel the energies that were in the air, more so than when he trained with the others and faced Malefor in battle, and that a decent amount of it was currently wrapping around the blade he was carrying while he spotted eight other points in the area, exactly in the space that he was pushing his foe towards, though that was when he focused on his foe again, "your plans will never succeed, not if we have anything to say about it!"

That only made the Dark Master grin, almost like he was expecting someone to challenge him again, before their blades clashed in the air once more, though this time around nothing in their immediate area was ruined as Almos glowed bright blue for a moment, which was when Spike activated his magic and the other eight runeblades appeared in between the two weapons, before the spell sent the eight of them flying in eight different directions while, at the same time, opening their foe's guard for a few seconds as Spyro flashed up into the air and started to channel his full and unbridled power into the next attack. At the same time, before the Dark Master had a chance to recover himself since not even a second had passed yet, the rest of the group appeared in the space around their foe, standing behind one of the runeblades that he had called to this area, even summoning most of them from the Arcanaeum, where Cynder quickly appeared behind Penumbra, Flame took up a position behind Flamestrike, Elora appeared behind a sinister red blade, which was Dread, the runeblade of Fear, Hunter floated behind Frostbringer, Ember made sure Tremor was in front of her, Bianca waited right behind Storm's Fury, Aurora had Windshear floating in front of her, and Amelia floated behind a runeblade that had a poison droplet marking on it, which made it Scorpion's Sting, the runeblade of Poison. As soon as everyone was in their positions, and no more than a few seconds had passed, the eight of them grabbed the runeblades that were in front of them and rushed forward, their speed being increased by whatever spell Spike had weaved into the combination attack he had prepared, where they were able to smash through the Dark Master's lowered defenses and slash into his body with ease, even though each of their attacks caused him to spin around in place as he was struck, though as that happened the only one to remain in place was Spyro, as he was making sure that all of his power would be brought to bare against their foe. Once the first volley of attacks was complete, the first eight strikes to be exact, Spike nodded his head and the rest of the group repeated the motions, allowing the second strike to knock their foe around once more as they returned to the area that they had started in a few seconds ago, before Spyro burst out of the air, with Almos glowing in a bright light, and struck the Dark Master in the chest, hard enough to actually phase through Red's body and hit the soul of the Dark Master instead, even though that was followed by him smashing their foe into the top of the icy fortress.

The icy structure shattered into a thousand pieces and rained down on the majority of Icy Wilderness, showing just how strong this attack was, before Spyro slammed the Dark Master into the ground and jumped to the side so he could huff for a moment, as channeling all of his power into a single attack like that had nearly wiped him out, and over the next couple of seconds Cynder and the others landed near him, though at this point if the Dark Master persisted they knew that it had to be game over for them, but when the smoke cleared they found that most of the shadowy armor had been broken and that some decent damage had been done to their foe, but the Dark Master was still kicking, even if the attack had snapped his weapon in half as well.

"You tried to break the connection between Red's body and my soul," the Dark Master said, showing that he understood what Spike's plan had been, though that was when he chuckled for a moment, almost as if he couldn't believe what they had tried to do and the amount of power that they had brought to bare against him, before he refocused on them as he glanced around the part of the homeworld all of them were standing in, maybe looking for any other traps that might have been prepared ahead of time, "Well then, I suppose its time we brought this battle to an end."

"I couldn't agree more," a voice said, this one sounding exactly like how the Dark Master had sounded before he revealed himself to the group, meaning it had to be Red's voice, though that was when Spike chuckled as he removed part of his magic and revealed that the Aurora that was standing near them was just an illusion, as he had realized why the necklace was so important and what it was, something that was followed by chains of red energy wrapping around the Dark Master and pulled his arms, legs, wings, and tail in several directions, even though he had a few seconds to turn around and find that Aurora was standing behind him with the necklace pointed at him, meaning that the soul of Red was restricting their foe, even if he could only give them a few precious moments to do something.

"Aurora! Red! Do it now!" Spyro stated, where he forced himself to stand up and tap into the Aether for a moment as he swung the tip of Almos at the Dark Master's back and released a burst of golden energy that raced forward and slammed into his target's back, causing their foe to grunt in pain as he realized that they were doing something different, though as he said that Cynder and the others that had access to magic added some of their own magical chains to what was going on at the moment, just to keep their foe restrained before he was able to do anything.

Not a few seconds later Aurora raised the necklace for a moment and applied her magic to it, where the metal snapped and then she smashed the dark crystal that had been in the center of the piece of jewelry, something that was followed by a transparent specter appearing in the space in front of her, one that looked exactly like how the Dark Master had before he revealed his true nature to them, to which Red gathered all of his magical power and rushed forward, like an arrow that was loosed from a bow, and struck the Dark Master in the chest with enough force to release a flash of golden light and caused everyone to cover their eyes... though when the light faded the darkness of their foe pulled out of Red's body, as in it was actually Red's body and not the twisted form their foe had used, before escaping into the air.

"Of course he's not done for," Spyro moaned, where he watched the dark mass that was the Dark Master's foul soul flying off in the direction of Volcanic Isle, meaning that their foe was fleeing and, more importantly, might be heading for another body that he could have prepared ahead of time, just in the off chance that he could have been pushed out of Red's body, but they were in no condition to move yet and so he called for everyone to take some time to recover their energy, along with healing their bodies since the Dark Master had packed quite a punch, which was when he noticed that Red was laying nearby, probably exhausted as well, given all the effort he likely put into getting his body back, and if it wasn't for the fact that he was breathing he would have assumed being separated from his body for so long might have killed him, but at the very least they had freed him from their foe's influence.

Spike and the others nodded their heads in agreement, as they felt that resting was required after the battle they had just been in, though Spike made sure to return all of the runeblades they weren't using to the Arcanaeum and had Almos put back in the pack he had been keeping it in, before all of them laid on the ground and rested as they stared at the sky, as none of them had been expecting to fight the Dark Master and it only made them wonder what in the world would happen the next time they faced him in battle again, especially after everything that happened over the course of this battle.