Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose


Hero: Light and Dark Collide

What the group found on the other side of the door, which had been covered by a dark barrier, was that there was an area that looked like a console area, which controlled all of the machines that had been scattered throughout the laboratory, but, just like everything else the group had seen during their visit to this realm, the console area was wrecked and every piece of machinery was either cut apart or blown apart, before they even noticed that there was a bunch of glass on the ground that seemed to have come from a glass window that had been resting behind part of the main console. From what they could tell there was no other entrance to this area, meaning that the Dark Master, as that was who must have come through this area not long ago, had slipped through the barrier and did whatever it was that he had done while the group was fighting their way through the previous realms, though for the most part it was hard for them to determine what had happened in this chamber, other than the fact that someone had smashed the machines to pieces and carved up the area in its entirety, giving them nothing to work with. Malefor, on the other claw, took a moment to study the area they were in before, just like Spike and the others were going, before he glanced at the shattered glass window and found that there was an area just beyond where it had been resting earlier, a large chamber that looked like it had a ringed floor that some glass was resting on, before he zeroed in on an area that was more important than anything else they could be looking at, as he spotted a mass of darkness resting in the middle of the arena floor and silently beckoned with his hand for a few moments. Spyro, Cynder, and the others noticed his movement and followed his gaze, where they discovered the same mass of darkness and took a few seconds to nod their heads, as they recognized the foul darkness that was emitting from where the mass was located, meaning it had to be the Dark Master's soul, which was when they noticed something that was interesting, part of the wall had been blown open and would allow them to jump over to where the platform rested, which was odd since the Dark Master could pass through solid objects, but they focused on what was going to happen next and not on why their foe had done such a thing.

Not even a few moments later the group followed Malefor as he headed through the opening and jumped over to the metallic arena, where all of them landed on the arena floor and focused on the mass of darkness that was in the middle of the entire massive chamber, where the energy that they were feeling shifted for a moment as a shadowy form appeared in the middle of the mass of darkness, a twisted adult dragon that resembled what the Dark Master had used during their previous battle, when he was possessing Red's body, before he stood up and faced the group.

"I knew that it was only a matter of time until you showed up to face me," the Dark Master said, his tone being the exact same as when the group had faced him, where he was cold and calculating as he focused on them for a time, though that was when he shifted his gaze towards Malefor and just stared at him, but instead of looking like this was a surprise, as one or two of the group's members thought, he seemed pleased with what was going on right now, "and I knew that it was only a matter of time until you and I saw each other again, Malefor."

"Dark Master, I've come to finish what we started the last time we fought," Malefor replied, where the group figured that he must have fought the incredibly powerful dark dragon at some point in the past, especially after hearing what he had said when they discovered that Capora was under attack and that part of the threat contained Dark Magic, which was one of the dark dragon's calling cards, though even as he said that he stepped forward and put himself between the group and their foe, even though all of them were focusing on the Dark Master, "plus I heard that your entire plan was to bring down Spyro, Cynder, and the others, so you could have a number of bodies to freeze in time and use to enforce your rule over our world, all by forcing their souls out of their bodies and taking control of them whenever you felt like it... I'm going to put a stop to your foul plans and end this madness."

"And the first body I will start with will be yours... even though your annoying shining soul needs to be ejected from your body at some point," the Dark Master stated, revealing that part of his plan, his true plan, had been to find Malefor, fight him once more, and then take over the body of the first purple dragon, which would be terrible for the group due to the fact that Malefor had a sheer amount of power inside his body, before the spirit chuckled for a moment as they noticed that part of the ceiling was opening before their eyes, where it looked like a mass of black metal was resting above them and was being deployed to the area they were standing in.

The mass of metal, as it turned out, was a massive robotic dragon, like the Dark Master had intended on making a robotic suit for himself so he could battle those that came to do battle with him, as it did look like a metallic version of the form he had used during their previous battle, though before he said anything else, and gave the group time to even consider what he was trying to do, the Dark Master grinned as his magic flared for a moment and the darkness in this area flared to life as it wrapped around the suit and totally covered it, to which he pulled himself into the vortex and vanished rather quickly, causing them to remain on their guard... but not a few moments later the mass of energy died down and they noticed that the Dark Master, in the form he had used in the previous battle, was standing before them.

"Of course he would know one of the forbidden Transmogrification spells, the art of transforming metal and wire into a realistic body," Spike commented, not that he was even surprised at this point in time, given the fact that the Dark Master had told Red how to make a phylactery so he could force the soul of the dragon in question into the necklace, which was soul based magic, one of the forbidden arts that existed in their world and something not even he was foolish enough to work with, meaning there was no telling just how many of the forbidden arts he could wield against them, even though he did have to admit that it was fascinating to see one of these spells in actions.

"Wait, if he can make a body for his soul to possess, then why does he need our soulless bodies?" Aurora asked, because this seemed to be a massive hole in the Dark Master's plan to take them down and rip their souls from their bodies, so he could store them in whatever containers he had prepared ahead of time and use them whenever one of his vessels had expired, but she was hoping that someone could clarify what was going on at the moment, since this made her wonder if the Dark Master had done a little mad over the years and they were only just now seeing his madness, which had arisen after his partial defeat in Icy Wilderness.

"Because, even with his vast power, a body made with this particular spell can only last for a limited amount of time, so its more to wear us down and push our souls out of our bodies so he can move into one," Spike answered, because while he had no desire to try some of the forbidden spells that were inside the Arcanaeum, which spoke of the danger that some of them possessed if they were misused, he did consider the information to be useful and that's why he had read the tomes in question, as it was coming in handy this time around, even if he couldn't actually counter the magic the Dark Master had used to create this body of his, "I would have say that this body will only last maybe thirty minutes, possibly an hour based on all the power that the Dark Master has access to, so we either need to fight him until the time limit and cause the body to fall apart on its own, or we need to deal enough damage to the body to force it to fall apart sooner."

"And a fourteen year old dragon knows even more than what he showed during our previous fight... I think I know whose body I'll take over after your body expires," the Dark Master stated, though in that moment he focused on Malefor as the darkness covered him for a moment and the attire he had been wearing during their last battle reappeared, though not his blade this time, which he could summon at will based on what they had seen so far, something that was followed by the outer ring of the metallic platform glowing as Spike noticed that there were a number of runes lining the area they just so happened to be standing in, "but, before I can do that, you need to be taken down first, where your body and my soul will become one once more and I can use my full power against the heroes of this world... and, to make sure you don't hold back, we need a better arena to fight in."

In that moment the group watched as the runes glowed and they disappeared from the massive chamber that they had been standing in, though it wasn't long before they reappeared in what appeared to be a wide open area of some kind, like a wasteland or something, but from what each of them could see the area that they had appeared in was rather large and it seemed to be more like a continent than an island, complete with mountains, lakes, and who knew what else, as it was easy to see a forest at the very least, before the group focused on Malefor and the Dark Master, who had appeared in the middle of the nearby field, even though the Dark Master had shifted his glance towards Spike.

"Your name was Spike, correct?" the Dark Master inquired, where the group wasn't sure how he had learned that name, other than through the various shop pads that had been scattered throughout the lands of Capora, though they nodded to show that he had gotten the name correct, even though they were curious as to why he would even ask such a thing, due to the fact that the battle for the fate of the world would be starting soon, "Tell me, what sort of spell do you think I prepared before all of you arrived inside that ruined laboratory, to bring us all the way to his place?"

"That was a runic circle, one created to cast the Greater Teleportation spell, which covers vast distances and is superior to the more basic Teleportation spells," Spike replied, as he understood what the Dark Master had done and was willing to share his knowledge with the rest of the group, showing them that their foe had definitely prepared for their arrival and had made sure to make a magical circle that would allow him to transport all of them to an area that would allow them to go all out, or at least that was what he assumed based on what he was seeing at the moment, "and, based on the area you brought us to, this is the Nameless Continent, a landmass that is located far away from all of the other continents and the islands that the dragons, not to mention the other races of the world, call home, meaning its the perfect place for a battle that involves us unleashing our full power in a battle to bring you down."

"Correct on all accounts," the Dark Master said, though that was when he turned towards Malefor once more, showing the group that he considered the first purple dragon to be a greater threat to his plans, which made sense due to the power that Malefor possessed and could use at any moment, before he spread his arms out and gestured to the landmass he had brought them to, as there was nothing here that would prevent him from using his full power, especially since he was under the impression that Spike could shield himself and the others with one of his spells, "I picked this to be the area for our final battle, where we shall fight for the fate of this world, due to the fact that no one lives here, as it will allow the both of us to use our full power against each other, without having to worry about anyone being hurt or anything important being damaged by our attacks and spells."

"Dark Master, I will not attempt to talk you down, as I know such a thing will not work on the likes of you," Malefor said, as he knew that his foe was basically darkness incarnate, the master of all things evil, and that there was no way he could convince the dark dragon to admit that he was wrong and give up on his plans for world domination, and he was sure that Spyro, Cynder, and the others would fail in the same way, to which he sighed for a moment as he tapped into his power and focused on the being he would be fighting, "so if its a fight you want, then its a fight you shall have... even though I am planning on taking you down, here and now."

In that moment the Dark Master grinned as he and Malefor jumped back a bit to put some distance between them, which also gave Spike a chance to see that they weren't being invited to the battle and gave him an opportunity to throw up one of his barriers around all of them, though as soon as that happened both of the ancient dragons summoned their powers and the ground beneath both of them cracked as their auras flared to life, indicating that they were powering up for what was going to be coming next, and once they were ready the pair started to march towards each other. For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening as Malefor and the Dark Master walked towards the center of the area they had been teleported to, though before the group could say anything they watched as the air shuddered as such a thing happened, but what was really happening was much more impressive than what the group might have been thinking about, as Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember, at the very least, could see that both of the older dragons seemed to be throwing their fists at each other, without their arms appearing to move at all, and the air shuddered as such a thing happened, where it looked like there were a few white circles in the air that vanished not a few seconds after they appeared, no doubt signaling the areas their fists came into contact with each other. Of course that wasn't the only thing that happened as the two clashed like this, even if it was odd for them to use their fists after what the Dark Master did earlier, as there were fast moving red bolts of energy that burst out of the area that the collisions were happening in and smashed into the rocks and hills that rested around the area they were fighting in, allowing the group to watch as holes were blasted into the valley they were standing in, not to mention craters every now and then, which was understandable given the fact that these two dragons were quite powerful. This surprised the group, as the entire plains they had been teleported to was breaking before their eyes as it experienced the sheer power that the pair of dragons were using against each other, where it looked like both of them were wielding most of their power right now, like they were sizing up their foes before they used their full power, and the closer they got to each other the heavier the damage got to the entire area they were fighting in, as larger areas started to fall apart as that happened, before it looked like a flurry of blows was coming from each of the combatants as they got even closer to each other.

Not a few moments later the area Malefor and the Dark Master were standing in exploded, containing the power of the Elementium Bomb that Spike had created during their training session with Malefor in the past, which was why they were thankful for the barrier as the explosion tore into the surrounding landscape, leaving a massive crater behind, while the wind whipped around the continent, as if a hurricane had struck this area, though that was when the group noticed that both Malefor and the Dark Master took to the air and continued their battle. As it turned out the Dark Master went on the offensive first, lashing out with his fists as he tried to punch Malefor in the chest and knock him into the ground, but what happened was that his attacks missed as Malefor ducked and weaved around the punches and kicks that came his way, either due to the fact that he was a better fighting and his experience was aiding him or he was using his Sage's Vision to see the attacks that were incoming, before his foe tried to grab him from behind and he spun around while waving his left arm for a moment. That motion allowed him to knock his foe's arm backwards and stall him for a moment, where he took advantage of what was going on and charged his magic into a sphere of pure energy that rest above his left hand, which was where he loosed the power in a burst like motion that sent his foe flying backwards through the air and crashed him into one of the rock walls that was nearby, smashing the entire thing to pieces and left a pile of rubble behind, where he followed it up with a burst of purple energy bolts that rushed into the air and slammed into the area that the Dark Master was resting in, blowing the entire area his foe was standing in apart in the process. Not even a few moments later his foe did the same thing, as in he loosed a sphere of dark energy that flew through the air and signified that he was going to add his magical powers to the battle they were in, though Malefor saw it coming and smashed the attack by flaring his aura for a moment, causing smoke to fill the area that he was floating in as the Dark Master rushed through the air and swung his fist towards the right side of Malefor's face, who dodged the attack before it could hit him and as he moved he kicked the Dark Master in the side of chest, sending him flying through the air once more, and he loosed a beam of energy that struck his foe in the chest and sent him right into the pile of rocks he had created earlier, blowing the entire area around the pile apart in what appeared to be an instant.

In the next few seconds a pillar of dark purple energy burst out of the area the pile was resting in and the group watched as the Dark Master emerged from the hole the attack had created, where he had his arms out like he was welcoming the next incoming attack and he huffed for a moment with a smile on his face, as if he was enjoying himself more than when he fought the group in Icy Wilderness, though for the most part Malefor stayed where he was floating for a moment, no doubt planning out what his next move would be as he waited for the pillar to die down.

"I... I don't believe it... he was hold back against us!" Cynder remarked, as she had been studying the fight that was going on right now and came to a startling conclusion as she stared at the Dark Master, who dismissed his pillar as he reached an area that was level with where her father was floating, though her statement was referring to the dark dragon she and the others had fought back in the previous homeworld, one that had been severely damaged thanks to the power that the Dark Master wielded, where she growled for a moment as she said that, "He wasn't even taking us seriously..."

"Then its a good thing Malefor showed up when he did, because I'm not sure we'd survive against this," Flame said, as he knew everyone had bad memories of their fight with the Dark Master and that all of them would agree that this was good for all of them, as it sure seemed like the first purple dragon had the power to stand up to their foe and, if they didn't step in to do anything, he was likely going to beat the dark and vile dragon in due time, though at the rate things were going he was sure that this uninhabited continent was going to be sundered at some point, given the powers that both combatants happened to be wielding at the moment.

"Still, the Dark Master wasn't taking us seriously and he nearly beat us earlier... I'm not sure how to feel about that, given that we threw everything we had at him," Spyro stated, as he agreed with Cynder, it was clear that the Dark Master hadn't been taking their fight seriously and had been toying around with them, despite the fact that his attacks had carved up the homeworld they had been fighting above, and the only reason he was even using his full power this time around was due to the fact that he was in the middle of facing Malefor, who was still the strongest dragon in the entire world, even though the heroes intended on overcoming him one day, despite the fact that this battle was ruining their ideas of ever beating Malefor, as his power was more than what they were expecting.

In the following moment the Dark Master rushed through the air and swung his fist at Malefor, who raised his own hand in response and countered his foe's attack with the same attack, where the air shuddered for a moment as the two fits came into contact with each other, followed by a burst of wind emitting from where they were floating, before Malefor pulled back like he was falling and then, as his foe moved over where he had been positioned earlier and allowed him to kick his foe hard in the chest, sending him right up into the air and get him further away from where Spyro and the others were resting under the barrier Spike had created. For a moment the Dark Master allowed that to happen, since it gave him a bit of time to comprehend what was going on right now, before Malefor rushed into the air and followed his foe, who flipped backwards and used his momentum to stop himself as he glared down at his opponent once more, which was followed by him enlarging his aura as it caused the air to shudder once more and he calmed himself down as he stared down at his foe, where Malefor kept his distance for a moment as he locked eyes with the Dark Master. The two remained like that as they fell back down to the ground and, once they reached the shattered earth they had started fighting in, they flipped for a moment and landed on some of the stones with ease, but as soon as that happened the pair rushed forward and lashed out with their fists once more, though the first move came from the Dark Master, who tried to flash into the air above his foe and swing his legs downward, where Malefor lashed out with his fist and struck his foe in the chest with a burst of the wind that was around them, a Wind Punch from what Spike had read from the tomes, though the attack knocked his foe backwards and caused the Dark Master to crash into one of the large stone shards that rested nearby, smashing it apart in a matter of seconds, but he didn't stay down as he rushed straight at Malefor again. Not a few seconds later the pair of combatants lashed out at each other in rapid succession, their fists colliding as bolts of lightning rushed out from where they were fighting, bolts that struck the ground and the rocks that were all over the area, causing explosions to occur all over the place as the pair fought each other, surprising everyone as they witnessed what was going on, as this was beyond what happened when they fought the Dark Master earlier.

Of course it wasn't long before the pair stepped away from just throwing punches and kicks, even though doing that had done a decent amount of damage to the surrounding area that they were fighting in, because the pair started to channel their magical spells and hurled them at each other, where the group watched as Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, Shadow, Wind, Fear, and Poison type spells, where Spike noticed a vast number of different spells and could barely keep up with naming the ones that he recognized right off the bat, making it look like they were in the middle of a nightmare or something, due to all the elements that were flying around, before Malefor punched the Dark Master in the side of his face and sent him flying into the side of the nearby mountain, creating a circular crater in the process.

"You're quite strong, Malefor, more than I was expecting after our last battle," the Dark Master stated, where he took a few seconds to pull himself out of the rubble he had been buried under and dusted off his attire as he did that, though once that was done he glanced up to where his foe was floating at the moment, even though Malefor was staring down at him while he planned out what sort of tactics he wanted to use next, as he knew something that not many others might know and he wanted to get it out in the open, "but I know you are still holding back. What's wrong? Scared that you'll wreck the rest of the continent with your power, or are you scared that you'll frighten the heroes that are watching us?"

"No, I was giving you a chance to admit defeat, but it seems that such a thing won't happen," Malefor replied, to which he focused his magic once more and a sphere of energy formed around his body, this one containing a very familiar brilliant purple coloration to it that most of the group recognized, though that was when the energy started to expand before the Dark Master's eyes, taking on the shape of a massive bipedal dragon, where the lower part of the sphere morphed into the legs, the middle becoming the chest and tail, leaving the upper portion to become the wings, arms, and the head, before a familiar suit of samurai armor, styled in the art of the Moles of Warfang, appeared all over the construct's body, wings, and its tail, before a pair of sheaths appeared at the end of the transformation sequence as Malefor stared down at the Dark Master once more, "Allow me to introduce one of my greatest techniques, the Spirit of Valor, a power originally designed to destroy the Destroyer, if it was ever freed from the prison I locked it inside, but then, after some time, I determined that it was far too dangerous and created another technique to deal with the Destroyer... however, from this point forward, I will be using all one hundred percent of my power, so prepare yourself."

The Dark Master barely had a chance to ready himself as Malefor flew through the air, with the Spirit of Valor following his movements, much to the dark dragon's surprise, and reached the area that his foe was now floating in, where he raised both of the Spirit's hands into a combined fist and brought them down right on top of the Dark Master's head, something that sent him flying right into the ground and caused a massive crater, easily the size of the metal platform they had found the dark dragon's spirit above earlier, to form at the base of the mountain, even though that attack also shattered a small section of the mountain as well. In the next few moments the Dark Master burst out of the crater he had been forced to make, as he now understood the sheer power of the Spirit of Valor, even though Malefor knew he only understood part of his technique's power, and rushed up to where his foe was positioned, clearly intending on punching Malefor out of the magical construct so he could bring it all down in a matter of seconds and deal with his foe, but that was the moment that the Spirit's right hand moved into position and caught the attack before the Dark Master could reach his target, something that caused the air to shudder for a second, before Malefor quickly pulled the right arm back and punched his foe with his left fist, sending him right into the side of the mountain and blew the upper peak to pieces. Once that happened it looked like the Dark Master was tired of what was going on and drew his long katana from the shadows as he carved up the small amount of stones that were around him, before he burst out of the area he was standing in and rushed over to where his foe was standing, where Malefor quickly drew the pair of katanas from the sheathes his technique was wearing and used one to parry the incoming attack, though the collision of the two weapons carved a massive gash into the ground, one that almost looked like it might be a river of some kind, if it was full of water anyway, but that didn't stop the impressive display that came next. What happened not a few seconds later was that both Malefor and the Dark Master lashed out at each other in rapid succession, their blades dancing between them as the collisions of their blades tore into the landscape they were fighting in, as chunks of earth were removed as the two of them dueled each other and a number of gashes were carved into the area as well, though at this point the group was thankful that they weren't involved in this battle, as they would have been a liability that could have done in Malefor, or opened his defenses at the wrong moment.

What was important about this was that, despite the power that the Dark Master possessed, it was clear that he might be having a hard time keeping up with Malefor's attacks, even though he did dodge one attack and watched as it cleaved part of the mountain into pieces, though when he swung at the Spirit of Valor, in a flurry of attacks that were designed to cut it apart so he could get at his foe, he found that the armor of the magical construct was stronger than he thought it might be and that his attacks bounced off of it without doing any damage at all, something that seemed to be annoying his foe while they fought each other. While that happened, and the ground shattered under the power of their attacks, Spike took a few seconds to feel the magic in the air, to see how things were going for the combatants, and felt something odd, there was a surge of magical power that was definitely Malefor's, though it wasn't coming from the Spirit of Valor, like one would think based on what they were seeing as the pair engaged each other, to which he carefully looked around the area Malefor and the Dark Master were fighting in, just to make sure that their foe didn't see what he was doing, before glancing up at the area that was far above the combatants, where he found something interesting, Malefor was floating above the battle that was raging and seemed to be gathering his power as silently as he could. At first he wondered what in the world was going on, before he figured out that Malefor had, at some point in time, cast an illusion spell of some kind and placed the illusion inside the Spirit of Valor so he could remain at a distance and observe what was going on with the Dark Master, but while he did that he was also preparing another attack so he could trap his foe and either smash him to pieces or just blow him up and end the fight before too much damage could be done to the continent they were fighting on, but as he watched what was going on, while the others focused on the main battle that the Dark Master was in, he noticed that Malefor was in the middle of gathering a significant amount of power from the nine elements that made up their world, the eight both he and his foe had used against each other and the ninth element that he and a few of them could use, the Aether. It only took Spike a few seconds to realize what Malefor was doing, he was combining the scattered spheres of the nine elements into a single attack, a massive sphere that rested above his hands, which were pointed towards the sky and his palms were facing the core of the attack, meaning he was forming the Elementium Bomb, the same attack he had used in desperation when he and the others first fought against the first purple dragon after they stopped Gaul's plans, where he prayed that the Dark Master didn't notice what was going on until it was too late for him to do anything about it.

Malefor wasted no time in making sure that the elements were combined in the correct manner and that the attack was perfectly ready for what he had planned, though when the Spirit of Valor smashed the Dark Master right into the ground by overpowering his foe's attack with a downwards attack of its own, he used a bit of his magic to move the Spirit out of the way and then, before the Dark Master even had a chance to understand what was going on as he shifted in the crater that had been formed around him, he hurled the Elementium Bomb down to the area that his foe was resting in and the massive sphere headed down towards his target. The Dark Master barely had a chance to understand what was going on as he glanced up at the sky and found the attack coming down at him, where the group watched as he channeled his own power and quickly summoned the power of the Aether, the darker side since the element was split between the power of creation and and the power of destruction, as that was Spike knew from his research, and the dark dragon seemed to use both his magic and the Dark Aether, as it was called, to guard himself against the massive incoming attack. As it turned out that was a bad decision on the Dark Master's part, as trying to stop the Elementium Bomb from touching him required all of his attention and magical energy, meaning there was no way he could teleport out of the area that he was standing in, so the group watched as he was pushed deeper and deeper into the crater that he had been sent into thanks to Malefor's earlier attacks, where the ground around him cracked and shattered under the intensity of the power that had been used to form this massive attack, one that had Spike a little worried as he reinforced his barrier, mostly due to the fact that he felt there was a chance that the elemental energies could be infused into the continent once the attack was done and they knew the outcome of the struggle. Malefor, on the other claw, was focusing on the attack and pushing it deeper into the ground, as he knew that the Dark Master was trapped under the Elementium Bomb and he wasn't going to stop until he was sure his foe was taken out, not to mention his evil was wiped out entirely, though what he found to be interesting was that the edge of his attack pushed beyond where the Dark Master's hands were resting and actually trapped his foe inside the massive sphere, to which he flexed his fingers for a moment and the power of his attack expanded, detonating within seconds as Spyro and the others covered their eyes.

The resulting explosion shook the entire continent and caused the air around them to shudder, where the group was sure that large fragments of the landmass might be torn out of the ground or something like that, and when they opened their eyes a few moments later they found a massive crater, easily twice the size of what the Dark Master had been resting in before the Elementium Bomb was thrown at him, and the continent seemed to be intact for the most part, save for all the damage that had been done so far, though that was followed by another pillar of dark energy bursting out of the crater as the Dark Master rose out of the hole and huffed as he stared at his foe, where his damaged armor, which happened to be missing several pieces, revealed he had taken some serious damage from the Elementium Bomb.

"You would think that such an attack would blow one of his arms off or something," Ember remarked, because while that attack was strong and had done a lot of damage to this continent, all it seemed to do was blow away a great deal of his armor and partly wrecked his body, if the scratches and scuff marks were any indication, meaning the Dark Master was still capable of fighting and that was what he was going to do as he and Malefor lashed out at each other, before she took a moment to glance at the rest of the group, "come on, there has to be something we can do help Malefor, instead of just sitting on the sidelines and observe everything that's going on... Spike, there has to be something we can do, some sort of unknown magic that we can throw at the Dark Master while his attention is focused solely on Malefor."

"...Harmony..." Spike said, where he sounded like he was focused on something other than the fight, before he shook his head for a moment and refocused on what was in front of them, which was when the Dark Master took to the air as he rushed up to where Malefor was floating and the two engaged each other once more, where the former used his long katana once more as the latter reformed the Spirit of Valor and let their blades clash as the air shuddered, "I'm not sure if this will even work... I'm not even sure how I know this, if I'm being perfectly honest... but this magic might work, even if it is comprised of six elements, or maybe they're components of some kind: Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter... or at least that's what I'm feeling at the moment."

At first the rest of the group had no idea what Spike was talking about, not that such a thing was a surprise given all of his magical knowledge, though that was when a brilliant blue aura formed around Aurora, a purple aura formed over Flame's body, Spyro had a brilliant orange aura, Ember raised an eyebrow as a red aura wrapped around her, Cynder found a pink aura around her and said nothing about it, and a magenta aura formed around Spike, though once that had happened he lowered the barrier enough so the six of them could move out due to whatever magic he was channeling. The six of them floated in the air for a few seconds, where the auras that had wrapped around them seemed to have a little break off and form a gemstone that contained the coloration of their auras, before they formed a circle as they floated in the air, even though each of them were focused on their target, the Dark Master, who was busy fighting Malefor, but even as they did that Spike waved Akilesh as he readied whatever was going on, since at this point he was going with the flow as well, just so he could understand what was happening. Once they were ready, as Spike was sure that the magic was waiting on all of them and he could see that the others were ready to launch whatever they were doing, six beams of magical energy, each possessing the same coloration of the auras that had formed around the six of them and the same coloration of the gems that had been created, burst out of where they were floating and spiraled around each other as they rushed up to where the Dark Master was floating at the moment, where Malefor noticed that something was happening and punched his foe so hard that the dark dragon went flying right into the magic that was coming his way. The moment the rainbow colored attack collided with their target the sky lit up as an explosion rocked the upper reaches of the continent, causing Malefor to push himself back to the ground so he could withstand the pressure that was coming from what the group had done, but even as that happened everyone was hoping that the Dark master had been blown up and that he wouldn't emerge from the smoke at all, because if he survived the attack they would need to go on the offensive to take their foe down and save the world from his sinister plans. As that happened Spike and the others landed on the ground for a moment as the rest of their group rushed over to where they were standing, just to make sure that whatever magic they had channeled didn't have any negative side effects for them, though before anyone could actually say anything something burst out of the sky and crashed into the ground nearby, cracking the stone as everyone turned towards it, where each of them took a moment to raise their defenses in case the Dark Master was still active.

"I have no idea what you just did, but it sure stung a lot," the Dark Master said, where he emerged from the smoke as he brushed off any new dust that had appeared on his attire thanks to the rainbow colored attack, though the only damage they did was, from the looks of things, shatter more of his armor, break his long katana, and maybe lighten his dark aura, even though the sheer amount of darkness he had access to was pretty much the same as it was earlier, before he took a moment to glance at the group and Malefor as the darkness surrounded his body once more, "though ultimately it was a useless gesture, as you did next to nothing to my body or my soul, and now its time for all of you to be punished for what you did during our previous battle."

In that moment the group separated from each other and launched an all out offensive against the Dark Master, where Bianca wasted no time in bothering to pick an element to wield, not after what she had seen during their previous fight and what had happened during this one, rather she channeled her magical power on its down and just loosed blast after blast at their foe, while at the same time Spike did the same thing as the rest of the dragons and Elora flew around where the dark dragon was located, where the flyers loosed their elemental breaths down at their foe, and Malefor, seeing that all of them were too close to his target, temporarily dismissed the Spirit of Valor as he blasted the area as well, hoping to do some damage to the Dark Master, even though now he realized that they might be stalling for time. The reason for that thought was the time limit that their foe's body was subject to, because once thirty minutes to an hour had passed, since the body's creation to be exact, it should start to unravel and expose the Dark Master's soul, something that would ensure their victory if they were fast enough to capitalize on the opening, so he also channeled his own attacks into the area that everyone was targeting as he made sure not to hit anyone else, despite the fact that he was hoping that doing this would force their foe to admit defeat and surrender to their power. In the following moments the Dark Master released a burst of magical energy that caused all of the incoming attacks to stop in their tracks and knocked them backwards, though after doing that he burst into the air and rushed towards his first target, this time heading right for Bianca, who reached into her robe for a moment and pulled out her wand as she released all of the power that was stored inside it's crystalline form, as she had kept it on hand after starting to learn from Spike and figured that she could use it when she really needed all of the power that she stored inside it, where she intended on loosing a burst of potent energy right into the Dark Master's face and knock him backwards, or at least that was her hopes on the matter. What actually happened was that her foe just smashed into the pointed tip of her attack and pushed through it without even stopping, showing her that she was totally outmatched and worthless in a fight against the Dark Master's full power, though before she could pull herself away from where she was standing the dark dragon stopped in front of her and swung his left arm for a moment, where he struck the wand and knocked it out of her hand, even though the force of the attack shattered her wand instantly and caused all of the fragments to fall to the ground, before he punched her in the chest and she was sure several of her bones might have cracked, even though a rib likely cracked as a kick struck her and sent her flying through the air.

Elora appeared to the side of the Dark Master and punched him in the side of his face with all the power she could muster, where it looked like her attack might have done something as she actually moved his head for a moment, but that was the moment that he gripped her wrist with his right hand and pulled her fist away from his body, where he quickly raised his spare hand to wipe off the area she had struck, before he twisted her arm, hard enough to where Elora screamed as she felt her bone, which had been empowered by the changes to her body, snap like a twig, even though that didn't stop their foe from switching his hands to grab onto her horns and smash his knee right into her chin, and then grab onto her tail as she was knocked into the air so he could throw her off into the distance and smash her into some rocks. While his guard was down, and he was still in the middle of lowering his arms and legs, Hunter and Amelia rushed at where their foe was standing and swung their blades down at him, because arrows were useless in the grand scheme of things thanks to what happened the first time they fought the Dark Master, though that was when their foe dropped down to the ground and let the blades pass over his head, or at least that was what the group assumed he would have done since what he actually did was lash out with his feet and let the bottom of his limbs smash into the sides of the incoming blades, breaking all four of their normal blades into pieces within seconds. The Cheetah siblings barely had a chance to register what was going on as the Dark Master brought his legs back, stood up, and then rushed forward, making sure that both of them were struck by his arms as he passed between them and pulled them with him for a few seconds, where if he had struck some boulders as he did this it would have caused some serious damage to his foes, before he stopped so they could stagger for a few seconds, something that was followed by him spinning around so he could kick the side of Hunter's left arm, breaking the bone in the process, and then gripped Amelia's tail so he could spin her around a few times before using her as a bat to hit Hunter in his chest and send them flying through the air, even though he was grinning as the air struck a boulder and just crumbled to the ground in defeat. Spyro and Cynder nodded to each other as they jumped backwards for a moment and got away from the Dark Master, which was when Ember rushed in with her entire body hardened by the Warrior's Armor skill once more, though as she lashed out at the dark dragon her foe caught her incoming attack, picked her up by her tail, and then used her to bat away Flame and Aurora, who rushed in to use their Fire Breaths on his backside, before tossing her into a boulder like he did with the rest of the group.

Spike flashed into the area after that happened and lashed out with his magic, though this time around he forced his body to take on a pseudo bipedal stance, just like what happened when he had his Archmage ceremony, and used Akilesh at the same time, where he lashed out with every Aether spell he knew, save for the more forbidden ones that he read about in the past, though as the Dark Master lashed out at him he also used the edge of Akilesh to parry incoming attacks and use his foe's momentum to open holes in his defenses so his spells had somewhere to strike. Of course the Dark Master, who seemed to be a fan of breaking the weapons that the group was bringing to bare against him, tried to smash the shaft of Spike's staff, though the ancient staff resisted the power of his attacks and that opened the way for Spike to loose a burst of Aether energy right into the dark dragon's chest, sending the Dark Master backwards, which was fine since he jumped backwards as well as everyone else did their best to move out of the surrounding area as Malefor sent a volley of small Elementium spheres at their foe, blasting the area that their foe was standing in apart, and when the smoke cleared they found that the Dark Master was getting annoyed since it looked like his attire was falling apart and the scratches on his body indicated that he was losing ground. Truthfully that was just a distraction as Spyro and Cynder flew down from where they had been lurking and stayed near each other, as they were combining their elemental powers, all eight of them and both the light and the darkness that formed the Aether's powers, into a sphere of energy that rested between the two of them as they flew through the air, though as they rushed towards the Dark Master their foe turned around and loosed a beam of energy right at them, only to miss as his targets flew towards the attack and used a coil motion so they could get down below him, causing a look of shock to appear on his face as he noticed what was going on at the moment. It was in that moment that the pair released their attack and loosed an Elementium Burst, as Spike would call it, up in a diagonal motion and let the power of the energy knock the Dark Master up into the air, even though this close range attack would do a lot of damage to him, to which the group watched as the beam soared into the air and seemed to disappear after a certain amount of time, allowing them to focus on what might emerge from the smoke, as there was no telling what might happen next since this was the Dark Master they were fighting.

When the smoke died down the heroes could see that the Dark Master had been knocked into the air and that he was in the middle of charging up his own next attack, even though his armor was broken and shattered at this point and part of his body seemed to be in the middle of unraveling, his right shoulder based on what they were seeing, meaning they might have reached the point where either the time limit had been reached or they had done enough damage to force this upon their foe, but that didn't stop him from hurling the surge of elemental power, all nine mixed into a single bundle like the group had done to him in the past, down at the ground, something that didn't cause an explosion, like they expected, as his attack caused the continent to shake... where they watched as the ground cracked and the continent shattered before their eyes, forming a number of scattered islands that were now floating in the air.

"Either he's going mental, or he doesn't care that his body is falling apart," Cynder commented, though at this time most of the group were hanging back, as those like Hunter and Amelia would only get in the way and hurt their chances of bringing down their foe and saving the world from his evil, allowing those that were willing to stand up to the Dark Master to stand at the edge of the island that they were now standing on, even though from what they could see there were eight islands that were infused with the eight main elements of their world, based on the flames that danced around one of them and another that seemed to be in the middle of freezing over, though she paused as her father landed near her, Spyro, Spike, and Ember, since they were the only ones of their group even willing to stand against the Dark Master at this point, given how he was wrecking the others, "What do we do next?"

"This has gone on long enough, so I'm going to break my own rule and use one of the stronger forbidden spells to take the Dark Master," Malefor stated, because he had been planning on figuring out another way to defeat their foe, given what Spike and the others had done to several of their earlier foes, but this time around, after seeing all the destruction that the dark dragon had caused, so much so where he shattered the Nameless Continent and created a vast number of floating islands, and possibly changed each of them into something new, he was willing to stop trying to fight the Dark Master and just eliminate him with one of the strongest spells he knew, hence why his hand was held out towards Spike as he focused on their foe, "Spike, do you mind if I borrow Akilesh for a few minutes?"

Spike wasted no time in magically tossing the staff over to Malefor, who caught it instantly and spun it around until he was pointing the tip right at the Dark Master, where it was resting in his right hand, though Spyro added another item to what he had access to by tossing Almos into the air, allowing the first purple dragon to use both of his Aether weapons as he caught the sheath, attached it to his armor, and quickly drew the runeblade as he charged through the air, where it took him only a few seconds to reach the dark dragon they had been fighting and swung the Aether runeblade at his foe, which was when a wave of destructive energy rushed out and smashed right into his target before he could react. The resulting explosion caused the air to shudder as smoke filled the sky, though he rushed towards the smoke cloud and thrust Akilesh at it, where a burst of Aether blasts rushed out of the staff and the entire sky above their island lit up as the Dark Master was blasted several times in a row, knocking him around like he was a doll or something, and when the dark dragon was able to regain himself the two charged at each other once more, though as the Dark Master swung his foul darkness, all to cut through his foe, Malefor raised Almos and parried the incoming attack like it was nothing, before shifting his grip and swung his blade again, cutting into his foe's chest with ease. The Dark Master staggered backwards for a moment and took a few seconds to gather his magic so he could loose a number of dark spheres into the air, where they rushed at the area that Malefor was standing in, who shifted his stance for a moment and spun around Akilesh as the attacks came his way, where he caught them and channeled his own power to transform them into Aether blasts, ones that were sent flying right back to where the Dark Master was floating, something that surprised his foe as they barrelled into his chest, blasting him even further away from the island that the others were resting on, watching the fight as he quickly turned the tide against their foe. He was also sure that his foe was surprised by the power that he had been holding back, as with both Akilesh and Almos in his possession he was at his full legendary power, but he used that confusion to his advantage as he gave the Dark Master no time to focus on what he was doing, or give him the chance to defend himself, as he rushed through the air and switched his grip on the runeblade, so that this time the base of the handle was pointing at the dark dragon, which he slammed right into the Dark Master's chest and quickly activated the spell he wanted to use.

What happened was that there was a flash and a pile of ruined machinery, the parts that went into making the form their foe had possessed, crashed into the ground, leaving the soul of the Dark Master behind, who seemed stunned by what had just happened to him, but instead of allowing his foe to leave this time, as he had escaped the last time they fought each other, Malefor used his magic and Aether chains wrapped around his target's transparent arms and legs, locking into place and preventing him from leaving, before he sheathed his runeblade and raised his empty left hand towards the now immobilized Dark Master, who seemed to be totally caught off guard by what was going on.

"Destruction!" Malefor called out, this time channeling an aura that contained the destructive nature of the Aether, as the forbidden spell he had been thinking about came from the element in question, so he was surrounded by a dark purple aura as he focused on the Dark Master and nothing else, because if this failed he knew that the dark dragon would only escape from them and flee to another part of the world again, forcing them to hunt him down and repeat this again, so he was ending this now, before his foe could escape.

It was in that moment that the Dark Master screamed as his transparent soul-like body started to break up before his eyes and the eyes of those who were observing the battle, though it was more of a painful scream, as the forbidden spell that Malefor was using at the moment was designed to erase the existence of anything or anyone it was used on, hence why he deemed it forbidden since it could be disastrous if it was used by someone like the Dark Master, and it wasn't long before he reduced the soul of the dark dragon to mere particles, finally destroying his ancient enemy at long last, before he took a moment to float down to where the others were resting and returned the Aether weapons to those that had been using them before this battle had started.

"So... is it over?" Hunter asked, because at this point he was hoping that the Dark Master was taken care of and that there was no chance of him coming back for another round, otherwise he would withdraw from such a fight since he had next to no weapons left, his body was sore, and it would be some time before he and the rest of the team, those that had been wounded, would be able to heal and return to their full strength again, though he could tell that everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing as Malefor huffed due to the amount of power he poured into his attack.

"Yes, that spell destroyed the Dark Master's soul, so we shouldn't be seeing him ever again," Malefor replied, though even as he said that he coughed for a moment, as the Destruction spell really took a lot out of him, since he had poured nearly everything he had into it so he could wipe out their foe, before he leaned against a nearby tree, which had survived the entire fight somehow, and stared out at the floating islands that were scattered all over the place, resting far above where the continent had been resting earlier, "Let's rest here for a few minutes, where we can bandage each of you up as best as we can, before we head back to Capora... though we're going to have to rename this place... maybe the Floating Isles, or possibly something like Sky Islands."

"Skylands sounds about right for this place," Spike said, where the group took a moment to stare at everyone else as they considered the name that Spike had said, before deciding that there was no reason for them to even question it, as he was right in his suggestion, even if he had combined the parts of the second name Malefor had suggested, before each of them carefully sat down and stared at the rays of sun that were reaching this area, even though some were also staring at the newly created islands, as they wondered what might happen to this area in the far future, once they got over the magic that had gone into creating each of them.

In the end the group breathed a sigh of relief, because with the Dark Master's defeat, and the destruction of his soul, an action that should mean he was never coming back from what happened to him, their adventure in Capora was basically over and they could head to the beach or something once this was over, but Spyro, Spike, and Ember knew that there was once more dragon egg to recover before they could officially call this adventure over, so they would get some rest, make sure those that were wounded had some casts or something to deal with the bones their foe had broken or cracked, and then bring this adventure to a close.