I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, Count Draco von Schneider, and Kenji Okamura

I hovered several feet above the ground, slowly flapping my wings and staring down at my clone. Both he and von Schneider looked startled, looking up at my Dragoon-armored form. "That's right, Draco, you didn't know that I am also a Dragoon." I held Arashi-Jisan before me and glared down at the vampire and the clone. "I am the Dragoon of the Diamond Dragon, and your weapons cannot harm me."

"You can still be beheaded, though," the clone said. "You can die in the same way as the dozens you've killed." He smiled. "A nice irony, that. Killed in your favorite method, with one of your own swords. Doragon-Adauchi will be the end of you, Ian. As you said, there can be only one of us. Now come on! Or are you too scared that you'll lose to yourself?"

"I will never die." I folded my wings and plummeted, katana thrusting at my enemy. My blade was glowing, the result of a kuji spell that set it afire.

The clone parried almost casually, swatting my sword aside and countering. As his blow glanced off my armor, he spoke. "You'll never die? Think you're immortal, do you? That's rather arrogant of you, isn't it, kakushigo?"

My face went white with fury. "If anyone's the kakushigo here, it's you! You don't even have parents! You're just a clone of one of the Kyuuketsuki Ryoushi's honorable warriors! You have no right to exist! Diamond Storm!"

I'd never seen anyone other than myself move as fast as he did, deflecting diamonds with Doragon-Adauchi. Of course, he is me, so I guess it fits. But he'll pay for calling me that!

He laughed. "And as for the diamond armor…" The clone performed a kuji technique, and his sword gleamed with magic fire. "How well will it stand up to a magic blade?"

Oh. No. Rose warned me about that. Against a sword that's made of magic or enhanced by it, my armor is no better than that of your average knight. My fear held me in place a moment too long. The magically empowered blade sank through my armor, into my stomach, leaving my looking numbly down at the wound. Is this it? Killed by a clone von Schneider created of me?

"Ugh… no…" I weakly tried to yank the sword out, and then the clone pulled it out himself.

He laughed again. "So the copy has defeated the original. Oh, the irony. Well, look on the bright side. At least there will still be an Ian Takahari around. It just won't be you." He contemptuously wiped his blade clean on my armor, then sheathed it. "I guess you were wrong about never dying. Goodbye."

With the blade no longer supporting me, I began to fall back, awareness already fading. No… von Schneider's beaten me… this can't be…

Then there was a tugging on my belt, where one of my pistols was holstered. Moments later, a pair of shots rang out in quick succession, one hitting the clone in the left leg, the other in his right arm. Rose had recovered just in time.

"Astral Drain!" Her rapier buried itself in the clone's chest, drew out his energy, and lanced out to heal my wound. "He was right. There can be only one of you, and the world is better off with the real Ian Takahari." Rose swept her sword out in an arc, neatly slicing through the clone's neck, decapitating him. The falling body glowed briefly, then faded, leaving only an odd artifact behind.

Von Schneider glared at Rose, then sneered at me. "Maybe you're right about never dying, Takahari, but when next we meet, only one of us will walk away, even if I have to lock you in a dungeon to be rid of you!" The vampire promptly turned bat and fled, leaving the battlefield behind.

Returning to human form, Rose helped me to my feet. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah… just barely. Thanks." I staggered over to the artifact left behind by my clone's demise. "What is this thing, anyway?"

Rose examined it. "Wingly artifact. As you saw, it creates a copy of a person, using a sample of the original's blood."

"Well, von Schneider's gotten plenty of blood out of me over the years, so I guess it's no surprise."

"Perhaps… but I thought this was destroyed in the Dragon Campaign. It appears more of the Winglies' magical items survived than was thought. That's not good." She picked it up. "What do you think we should do with it?"

"Throw it into a black hole, for all I care. I've never approved of human cloning." I reached down and retrieved the clone's sword. "Doragon-Adauchi. Dragon's Vengeance. I never thought I'd come across it again. An ancient sword, said to have been forged of metal from a Dragon's hoard." I thought for a moment, then held it out. "Here. I can't carry three swords, and I would prefer someone still have it. An appropriate weapon for a Dragoon."

Rose took it, and drew it from its black scabbard. "Interesting," she murmured. "A well-made sword, whether made from Dragon's steel or not." She examined the fire-breathing Dragon design that was engraved into the blade. "Whoever created it was a master of his art. Thank you." Rose sheathed the katana and slung it over her shoulder. "What did he call you, anyway? I gather it was uncomplimentary."

"You could say that. 'Kakushigo' roughly translates as bastard. That's not the sort of thing anyone likes to be called." Glancing at the sky, I recalled what we had been in Kadessa for in the first place. "We'd better get going. The others will be all the way back to the Forest by now."

Rose put a hand on my arm. "One more thing. If something happens to me on this journey, will you replace me as the Black Monster?"

"Why me?"

"Because I can trust you to do what is necessary. I don't think any of the others could bring themselves to do it, and you're the only one who knows the truth."

"There's still the problem that I probably won't live even to see the next appearance of the Moon Child."

Rose held up her choker. "Should it come to that, use this. The magic that has kept me alive for eleven thousand years is within this."

My decision was a forgone conclusion. "Of course. Someone has to do it, and I suppose I really am the best choice if it comes to it. If you don't make it, I promise your work won't have been in vain."

* * *

When we returned to the Forest of the Winglies, the Ancestor informed us that the others had already gone to Deningrad, and might well already be on the way to the Mountain of Mortal Dragon, where the Divine Dragon resided.

We found them in the forest just outside Deningrad, after leaving the Winglies' forest. Dart was the first to spot us. "Rose! Ian! You're alright!"

"Yeah, Dart, we're okay. Barely." I was still limping slightly, and my stomach was sore.

"What happened back there?" Ryan asked.

"The vampire created a clone of Ian, armed with one of his own swords," Rose replied. "Ian was nearly killed."

"And von Schneider?" Albert inquired.

"Still alive, unfortunately." I leaned against a tree. "After the clone stabbed me, Rose killed him, and Draco fled. If Rose hadn't been there, I'd be dead. As it is, the clone lost his head, and we destroyed the Wingly artifact that created him. I can't believe that koumori actually cloned me. And it's even worse than that."

"Worse how?" Karen asked.

"He's obviously found the dojo, Karen. The sword that nearly killed me is Doragon-Adauchi. You might remember that that was one of mine."

Ryan glanced at the sword hilt now visible over Rose's right shoulder, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face. But he said nothing, so I ignored him. "How badly did the Divine Dragon damage Deningrad?"

"The Crystal Palace is about half its original height now," Dart said. "Everything above the throne room is gone."

"And Shana?"

"She's fine. Though the reason for that is something I still don't understand." Dart shook his head. "When we entered the throne room, it was hard to see, it was so bright. Shana was floating midair in front of the queen. When the light faded, she had no memory of it."

There's something odd about Shana. Humans aren't supposed to be able to use magic, except for kuji, and nothing she's done can be explained by that. Most peculiar.

"Is everything ready for our journey to the Mountain?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. We were just waiting for you two to return."

"Then let's get going. I should be fully recovered by the time we encounter that thing."

"And if you're not?" Haschel asked.

"Then I'll just have to do the best I can."

* * *

The Mountain of Mortal Dragon. The last place in Endiness where the creatures of the Dragon kind still resided. At the peak, the Divine Dragon perched. Our aim was to kill it, the last true Dragon in the world. It wouldn't be easy, particularly since the Dragon Block Staff would preclude the use of Dragoon Spirits.

The trip up was nothing to write home about. Just your typical mountain, with a few dozen monsters thrown in. Along the way, I began instructing Rose in the use of her new weapon, and its history. I had been taught that to fully master a weapon, you had to have full knowledge of it; design, history, and manufacture.

This included studying the Scroll of the Nine Hands; the Kyuuketsuki Ryoushi had long been in the habit of using kuji to imbue swords with special abilities, such as elemental strengths, danger warnings, and healing powers. As it happened, I had used Doragon-Adauchi for a complex experiment years before. I had given it strength in fire, darkness, and wind, and given it healing properties. It was a formidable weapon, but I had never used it in battle. For a ninja, I was rather sentimental, so Arashi-Jisan had been my primary weapon for years.

Near the top of the Mountain, we heard the clash of swords. Someone was already fighting the Dragon. When we reached the summit, we discovered the last thing I would have expected: Lloyd was fighting the Divine Dragon.

He had just taken a hit from the Dragon when we arrived, and turned back to look at us. "I thought so. You're a little late. It was a tough fight, but I've almost got it."

"Tojikomeru, temae kakushigo!" I unleashed a torrent of Japanese at him, despite the fact that he couldn't understand a word of it. "You released it, and then found that you couldn't control it, right?"

Lloyd shook his head. "I can't stop you from thinking that."

"Forget Lloyd for now," Dart said. "We've got bigger problems. Let's take it!" He tossed the Dragon Block Staff into the air, where it hung. Immediately, I felt my Dragoon Spirit weakening. This battle would have to be fought with our physical strength alone.

I drew Arashi-Jisan from its scabbard, then leapt into the air, aiming for the Divine Cannon on its back. When I hit, I flipped back out of range of the Dragon's counterattack, then struck it with a kuji fire spell.

Rose had both swords out, rapier in her right hand, Doragon-Adauchi in her left. Her standard attacks were slightly modified by the use of two swords, but the results were devastating.

"Ugh!" Ryan's sound of pain got my attention quickly, and I ran over, tossed him a Healing potion, then hacked the Dragon limb that had hit him.

"Ryuu ki Doragon!" Karen and Kenji double-teamed the Divine Cannon, while Dart and Albert attacked the Divine Ball section.

Once the Divine Cannon and Divine Ball had been destroyed, we concentrated on the Divine Dragon's main body. Along with Ryan, Karen, and Kenji, I began a massive kuji spell. The resulting explosion inflicted massive pain on the Dragon, giving Dart the opportunity to deliver a death blow.

But it wasn't Dart that finally killed it. Lloyd jumped into the fray, and sank the Dragon Buster into the Divine Dragon's seventh, magical eye.

"Lloyd!" There was a glow, and when it faded, Lloyd was holding a gleaming stone. "Is that!?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yes. The Dragoon Spirit of the Divine Dragon."

Author's note: Finally, I actually got the story this far. The encounter with the Divine Dragon was originally going to be two chapters ago, but I digressed several times to deepen the story. To answer Sword Master Jeff, this will have an Ian/Rose romance. It may take a little while, but it will be there. As usual, please read and review.