I spent a week writing this chapter and I'm finally happy with how it turned out. I had writers block so its not as perfect as I would like it but please enjoy anyway.
Ethelberd was just too powerful. His last attack almost finished them, but the dragons had managed to protect them from the worst of the blast.
"Ready to surrender, Earthmates?" Ethelberd chuckled.
"No way in hell!" Frey yelled. Pain was shooting up her arm from when she landed on it.
"You okay?" Raguna asked her. Frey nodded and noticed that he had a cut on his cheek.
"I don't know if we can stop him." Micah said. Ethelberd's dragon form was strong, much stronger than they were. Not one of their attacks had damaged him but his last attack nearly killed them. Micah didn't think there was anything they could do.
"We have to!" Frey yelled startling them. "If we don't stop him then everyone we care about will get hurt. Dylas, Danny, Noel, Luna, everyone in Selphia. They're all counting on me, I can't let them down. I will protect them.
"It's the same thing for all of us." Raguna said. "Everyone we know is counting on us to stop this."
"Are you done with your pathetic display of sentiment?" Ethelberd laughed. "I'm going to kill the four of you so you won't have to worry about anyone else."
"Frey." Aria tugged at her arm. "I have an idea but I need time."
"Say no more." Frey smiled. "We got it."
"We'll keep him occupied." Micah raised his sword. None of them knew what Aria was planning but they trusted that she had a plan.
"Come Earthmates, feel the power of a god." Ethelberd roared. Raguna moved first, his sword struck the inner thigh of the black dragon but the result was the same as last time.
"Pathetic Raguna." Ethelberd swatted him away with his wings and then pinned him under his talons. "All you've done is make it easier for me to kill you." Ethelberd didn't notice Aria muttering something behind them. Aria finished her muttering.
"Dragon Break!" She yelled. Magic radiated out from her and settled on Ethelberd. Ethelberd's body began to glow with a soft white and then the light vanished. Ethelberd swung his head around looking at his body but didn't notice any changes. He spread his wings and laughed. "What was that supposed to be?"
Aria ignored him. "Frey, try another magic attack. Make it a good one." Frey looked at her strangely but did what Aria asked since she seemed to know something they didn't. She concentrated her energy and said her spell, "Explosion!" She hurled the concentrated fire magic at Ethelberd's wing. This time when it hit Ethelberd roared in pain.
"You injured him." Micah said in disbelief. "How is that possible?"
"Dragon Break." Aria stated. "It's an old magic that only Earthmates can use. I used it on Fiersome, it takes away protection and allows attacks to cause damage. I didn't know if it would work on him or not but I had to try."
"We can stop him now." Micah said.
"Hit his wing joint." Aquaticus instructed. "It'll put him off balance and prevent him from flying."
"Got it!" Frey exclaimed. Frey prepared another spell. "Be ready." She heard Terrable tell Raguna. Frey released her spell and struck Ethelberd on his right wing joint. Ethelberd staggered back allowing Raguna to get away. As he ran he cut Ethelberd's leg with his sword. The resulting cut began to bleed and Ethelberd roared again.
"Die, you pathetic worms!" He shot black fire at them. Frey and Aria put up a shield around them. The shield deflected most of the attack but they still got slightly burned.
"I can't keep this up much longer." Aria panted.
"Neither can I." Frey said. She was exhausted, all her magic attacks had used up a lot of rune energy. She probably only had enough left to perform one more attack. "We need to finish this quickly."
"I know but we'll need several more attacks to bring him down." Raguna told her. None of them were at full strength because of everything that had happened in the short period of time. "Even with Aria's dragon break spell his scales still offer him a lot of protection."
"Can the four of you perform magic spells?" Terrable asked.
"I can do some." Micah replied, he turned to Raguna. "How about you?"
"Some." He said. He still didn't know where this was going.
"Prepare your strongest spells." Fiersome instructed. "Next time he opens his mouth send your attacks down his throat. With the dragon break spell in place it will kill him."
Now understanding the plan the four of them concentrated the last of their rune energy into powerful magic attacks. They felt the original Native Dragons add their power to the attacks.
"I will win Earthmates." Ethelberd prepared his attack.
"Now!" All four native dragons shouted. They aimed and released their spells at his open mouth. All four spells went into his mouth before Ethelberd even knew what was happening. Ethelberd's body began to convulse as the rune energy reacted and exploded within him.
"This cannot be happening!" He roared. The rune energy began to tear cracks in his body and gold light began to leak out from the cracks in his black scales. "I had everything, how could I lose to you Earthmates again." He threw his head up as more cracks began to appear on his body and the rune energy was fully released inside him. The resulting explosion killed Ethelberd instantly and knocked them out.
When they woke up they found themselves back where they had woken up after the base had exploded. All four of them were together and injured. Frey had a large bruise on her arm as well as cuts all over her body but Raguna was the most injured. He had cuts on his body and a large scratch from Ethelberd's claw.
"We're back here again." Micah said looking around.
"That is correct." They looked up and saw the full forms of the Native Dragons. "This is where the four of us must reconvert the rune energy." Ventuswill said.
"Reconvert? What happened to Ethelberd?" Frey was eager to know.
"Be calm." Aquaticus said. "Ethelberd is dead, for good this time." All four of them smiled. Aria jumped on Frey while Micah and Raguna just smiled. It was finally over for all of them.
"The only thing left is too reconvert the runes that Ethelberd corrupted." Terrable said. "This is something that only we can do. We will bring the runes back into balance here and soon this will restore balance to your world." Terrable noticed Frey's expression. "Is something wrong Frey?" She asked.
"I'm glad we stopped Ethelberd but it seems to me that you could have done that without our help." Frey explained.
"Then you are wrong." Ventuswill's voice resounded. "Although powerful we could only stop the destruction he was causing to the rune energy. Only you four could have stopped the chaos he was causing to the people in your world. We balance the spiritual element while you handled the physical problems, to explain it one way."
"In the form we were in it was not possible for us to move on our own or stop Ethelberd. We needed you to wield our magic to stop him." Fiersome said.
"Ethelberd won't ever come back?" Raguna wanted to confirm this.
"No, his soul was completely destroyed by the corrupted rune energy coming into contact with your rune energy." Fiersome said. "He tried to use power that was never his in the first place."
"Ethelberd never had any power. Whatever power he had was a sham of the real thing." Frey said remembering when he had tried to steal Venti's power.
"Exactly." Terrable said. "Ethelberd never understood what you did, that is why he could never win against you."
Fiersome raised his head and looked up at the sky. "It is time." He stated.
"So it is." Aquaticus noted. "We must go."
"Thank you for your help, brave heroes." Terrable said. "It is time for us to leave now. You will awaken soon enough." After Terrable finished talking the Forest began to fade and everything went blank.