Against a steel dragon, Simon and Gale continued to take a stand. Linus attempted to attack Erza because he believed she was the one responsible for creating his curse: Irene Belserions. Hearing that she was actually Irene's daughter, he figured it was the next best thing to kill her. Simon and Gale stood against him, but Linus has now taken his dragon form and has made this even more challenging.

"Any ideas, Simon?" Gale said as they backed up a little to be ready to move away from Linus.

"You're the dragon slayer. Aren't you able to fight these things?" Simon said.

"You're the one with the enchanted sword." Gale said.

"And I'm the one that's going to crush you!" Linus claimed as he held out his claw and was about to crush down on them, but they both jumped out of the way. Simon jumped in and slashed his Dragon Slayer against Linus. It appeared to have worked as it cut right through Linus' steel. "Little pest!" He tried crushing Simon again, but Simon used Meteor and moved away. Erza was tempted to join in, but she held herself back.

'No. I must resist. Simon and Gale can handle this on their own. Stepping in now would be saying I don't have faith in them.' Erza thought. 'I've seen both of these boys grow. I know they can handle this.'

"Iron Dragon Roar!" Gale used his roar and blasted it against Linus' face, but it looked like it barely scratched him.

"You call that a roar? This is a roar." Linus claimed as he gathered power for it. "Steel Dragon Roar!" Linus unleashed a powerful whirlwind with shards of steel in it. Gale got caught in it as the roar blasted Gale into the ground.

"Gale!" Simon called as he was afraid of what happened to him. The roar left a large crater in the ground. When the roar cleared away, Simon hurried over to large crater that was left. He looked down inside and could barely see the bottom. "Gale! Gale! Can you hear me?!" When he didn't hear Gale's voice, he was beginning to fear the worst.

"I'm good!" It sounded like he was in pain, but he was alive. Gale did take a lot of damage from that attack. It knocked him right out of Dragon Force, but he was still alive and still able to move. However, Gale was beginning to feel inadequate compared to Linus. Nothing Gale tried has really made a difference in this fight. "I can't believe how strong he is. That attack could have torn through the whole mountain." Seeing the difference in their power would have made anyone feel a little miserable, but Gale was just getting more determined to beat this guy.

"Gale, can you get out?!" Simon called.

"Yeah! I'm coming up!" Gale said. He turned his arm into a pick-axe and stretched it out. He placed it in the top and pulled himself out of there and climbed out.

"Why don't you just give up?" Linus claimed with Gale shooting daggers right at him. "I might have been cursed, but this form gives me even greater power. You never stood a chance against me in the first place."

"Never stood a chance?" Gale said as those words really got to him. "Something like that should be my middle name." Gale looked back at his life and saw all that happened to him. "Compared to my friends, I always felt like I was dragging behind them."

"Gale?" Simon said as this was the first he was hearing about this.

"I felt like I haven't accomplished much compared to them, or what I have wasn't much compared to what the rest of them had." Gale said. "I awakened Dragon Force when Nashi and Nova didn't. I didn't think I would find my special someone, but I did. I've beaten just as many enemies as my friends."

"Hold on. If you're implying that about me and Sasha..." Simon said as he tried to clear things, but Gale wasn't listening.

"What's your point?" Linus questioned.

"Don't tell me I don't stand a chance!" Gale claimed. "It always seems like I don't stand a chance, but I manage to pull out!" Gale looked back at his life. He thought about all his shortcomings, but also how he managed to overcome them. All those feelings he had came rushing back. His whole life, ever since the grand adventures he and his friends had begun, he struggled to keep up with his friends. No way was he going back to that. "You think I stand no chance? You're the one that stands no chance!" All of a sudden, Gale's magic erupted right out of him and a green light shot straight into the sky.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Simon said as he couldn't believe it. Erza and Linus couldn't believe what they were seeing either. They all saw a new dragon emerging out of nothing. This dragon's entire body was coated in iron. He had dark circles around his eyes and they trailed down the side. Even his teeth were made out of iron. His wings were the only part that wasn't coated in iron, but it had black feathers in its wings.

"Gale really just did it! He summoned a new dragon!" Simon said as he and the others were amazed.

"They really can summon dragons? Who are you?!" Linus asked.

"I am Metmara. I was summoned by Gale. I already know about you. You think you're something powerful? You look like you break rather easily to me."

"Sounds like someone has a mouth." Linus claimed. As for Gale, he climbed his way up his new dragon until he reached the head and was amazed at what he just did.

"Wow! I really summoned a dragon! I bet Nashi and Nova are going to be jealous." Gale said.

"How did you even summon that thing in the first place?!" Linus said.

"I'm not really sure, but I'm just going for it." Gale said.

"Enough talk. Let's get busy." Metmara said as he took to the sky. Linus took the challenge as he started to fly himself and they took this fight in the air.

"Let's see how tough you really are." Linus said as he flew straight at them. Metmara flew in and the two of them smashed against each other.

"Iron Draon Sword!" Gale helped in the fight as he slashed his sword against Linus' head, but it didn't do much. All it did was leave a scratch on him. The two of them separated and Linus was still confident that he could win.

"Try as much as you like, but iron is still weaker than steel. You just don't have what it takes to beat me." Linus claimed. Gale was annoyed, but he luckily had some help. Simon used his magic and flew up to Linus. He flew around at incredible speed and his sword was able to cut through the steel body. "You pesky little insect!" Linus tried getting Simon, but Simon was too fast for him. Simon pulled away and flew next to Gale.

"Nice moves." Gale said.

"Thanks, but his entire body is coated in steel." Simon said. "I heard dragon scales are usually very durable that regular weapons wouldn't be enough. This guy is made entirely out of steel. I can't deal a strong enough attack without creating some sort of opening in it."

"I really don't know what more I can say. Just give up because you can't win!" Linus claimed. Gale was getting annoyed with this guy and was glad Metmara was here to help him.

"Can you help us shut this guy up already?!" Gale said.

"Do you really need to ask?" Metmara said. The two of them went at him again as they tried fighting Linus in the air. Metmara did what he could with some body strikes. Simon flew around and tried attacking from behind, but Linus saw him coming. Linus swung his sword-like around and kept Simon away. When Linus broke away from Metmara and swung his tail around and tried to strike Metmara with it, but Metmara was able to catch it with his teeth.

"Attack low, Simon! I'll attack high!" Gale said as he jumped off Metmara. Simon flew under Linus and smashed against him under the chin. Gale took his sword and slashed it against Linus back. Even with all that, Linus endured and tried to pull his tail free.

"Let go!" Linus shouted as he took his talon and smashed it against Metmara's face and was able to get his tail free. Gale jumped back and landed on Metmara. Knowing how durable Linus is, Gale tries to think of some way to defeat him while also getting ready for the next attack.

"Steel Dragon Roar!" Linus used his breath attack again and it caught Metmara and Gale. Linus thought he had them, but Gale surprised him as he jumped right through the attack and charged right at him. "Fool!" Gale looked like he was going to attack Linus, but Linus opened his large mouth and actually swallowed up Gale in one bite.

"Gale!" Simon shouted as he and Erza feared the worst.

"Did you think I wouldn't resort to such things?" Linus taunted. He turned to Metmara, but Metmara didn't seem bothered at all. "Well, I say it's time to..." Linus didn't finish that as he incredibly sharp pain inside him. Linus couldn't hold himself in the aid and was feeling incredible pain through his whole body. "What's happening?! Hard to breathe!" Blood shot out as he coughed. Simon and Erza didn't understand what was happening.

"Crazy, but it was ingenuous." Metmara said. Linus coughed up more blood and caused Gale to be shot out of Linus and hit the ground.

"I feel like gagging myself." Gale said. Linus couldn't hold his transformation and reverted back to his human form.

"You little pest! What did you do to me?!" Linus said with him having trouble breathing.

"I just...cut up your insides." Gale said.

"But how? My insides should be as hard as steel as well." Linus wondered, but a thought soon came to him. 'Did he somehow devour the traces of steel from my attack to make his own attacks stronger?!'

"This fight is over, but it just didn't happen the way you thought." Gale claimed. Linus dropped to his knees as he suffered from all the pain he felt. There was no way anyone could help him.

"You brought this upon yourself." Metmara said as he came down. "You were willing to hurt so many because you couldn't let go of the past. If you have let them go, all this could have been avoided. It's such a shame. You made a great warrior. It's too bad that all we can give you now is death." He raised his claw and was ready to stomp down on him.

"Wait." Simon said as he landed down and moved forward. "Please allow me to do it."

"Why?" Metmara said.

"He originally started as a human." Simon said as he tried to show some sympathy for Linus. "Think of it as a form of respect. He should die by the hands of a human, not a dragon." He stood over Linus and had his sword ready.

"You're really going to kill me?" Linus said.

"All I'm going to do is put you out of your suffering." Simon said. There wasn't anything anyone could do to help Linus either way. By doing this, the suffering he's endured for so many years will come to an end. With whatever respect Simon had for this enemy, he ended it with one swing of the sword. Another poor soul's suffering has ended once again.