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

After I had finished speaking, the others stared at me. "What was that?" Rose asked softly.

"As far as I know, it has no name, but it was written centuries ago by one of my more poetic ancestors. It seemed appropriate."

Dart stood. "You're right. We can still try to head him off at the Moon That Never Sets! We'll stop my father at the source!"

At that moment, Coolon swept through the air toward us. "Do you want to have wings?"

Dart nodded decisively. "Yes. Take us to the Divine Tree!"



Aboard Coolon, the journey to the semi-mythical Divine Tree that was the center of Mille Seseau's crock of a religion took mere minutes from Mayfil.

As the Tree came into view, Rose nudged my arm. "Ian, look."

I glanced at the sky, then took a double take and stared. "Nanigoto okeru za seken… Sono Hisakata Ketsu Konrinzai Kasane…"

The Moon That Never Sets was finally setting, crashing into the Divine Tree. As it descended, Virages flew from it, surrounding and protecting it.

There shockwave when the Moon struck the Tree was incredible. Dust clouds formed, and we were rocked by turbulence. Then the Virages took note of our presence.

"Dart, we gotta bail! Those Virages are gonna blow us out the sky!" Without waiting for a reply, I grabbed Rose's arm and hurled us off Coolon's back, just in time to avoid being blasted by the first Virage to get in range.

Moments later, Coolon was mortally wounded by the Virage attack and began an uncontrolled descent, with the rest of the group still aboard.

Meanwhile, Rose and I had transformed, and were doing what pilots called trading altitude for airspeed, diving toward the Tree. Ryan, Karen, everyone… Are Rose and I the only ones left? Is it up to us now?

Having by now several flight-hours under my belt, I knew enough to flare just before landing, lest I smash into something at a hundred miles per hour. Even so, I hit fairly hard, right next to Coolon's corpse. The landing dazed me for a moment, so I did not at first realize we were not alone.

"Rose! Ian! You made it!" Ryan and the others were just recovering from their own hard landing. "We thought you two fell to death."

I snorted. "You should know better than that, Ryan. I'm not about to let a mere fall kill me." I glanced around. "This place is where life began? Give me a break. It makes about as much sense as the idea that we evolved from monkeys." I saw Miranda begin to protest and continued. "I know it's practically your national religion, Miranda, but do you really think that humans were created by the same so-called deity that is now trying to destroy you? What a crock." I returned to human form. "Come on, let's climb. It's a long way up."



The only thing of note as regards the climb was that Miranda refused to say a word to me and glared constantly. I didn't particularly care. As far as I was concerned, the only way in which this differed from her normal attitude was that her irritation had a target.

It was near the top that things got interesting. Somewhere along the way, we had apparently awakened an insect from its cocoon hibernation, and it was none too happy. It also appeared to be very large, very strong, and very poisonous.

I drew my katana. "A fortune's worth of ancient weaponry," I began, taking a slice at it, "and I'd give it all for one stinkin' can of bug spray."

Ryan grinned. "You mean you didn't bring any? No ninja should be without bug spray. What if you have to hide near a hornet's nest?"

"Ahh, just shut up. We've got to kill this thing."

"Final Burst!" Dart's spell caught me completely by surprise, and I had to jump out the way.

"Thanks a lot, Dart," I muttered. "Next time why don't you just ask me to move, okay?"

Dart's attack finished off that form of the bug, but it promptly turned into something even uglier, forcing us to try and kill it again.

It was easily disposed of with a few sword strikes, but it once again evolved. "This is getting ridiculous!" I turned to Ryan. "Okay, I'm getting tired of this. Give me that bug spray you mentioned. Maybe that'll kill it."

I didn't even bother to catch it when Ryan tossed it to me. I simply sliced off the cap, which shot the entirety of its pressurized contents directly at the insect. It withered and died within moments.

I stared. "We go to all that trouble, and all we needed was that?"

Albert laughed. "Sometimes it's the simplest solutions that we overlook, Ian. What matters is that it's dead, and we can move on."

"Over here," Dart called. "I think this leads into the Moon itself."

Soon, Zieg. Soon I'll fulfill my promise to kill you. I hope you're ready.



After the bizarre mechanism that gave us access to the Moon's interior, things got even stranger. We appeared to be in a forest of some kind, which struck me as illogical.

Miranda's reaction was rather different, one of recognition. "I know this place…" she whispered.

Haschel glanced at her. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head. "I've… got something I need to check. I won't be long." Miranda ran off, deeper into the woods.

"I guess we wait for her," Dart said.

"I guess so." I dropped easily into a meditation position. A ninja was never bored, never impatient. In times when waiting is required, no one waits better than a ninja.

Miranda was subdued when she returned, and refused to discuss her experience. Whatever had happened, though, had affected her deeply. That much I could see.

Things became progressively stranger the farther into the Moon we went, culminating in a place that looked eerily familiar, though I couldn't identify it.

"This is Bale!" Albert exclaimed. "From twenty years ago, if I'm not mistaken. Why is it here?"

I narrowed my eyes. "The Moon is recreating places from our pasts. Miranda's forest, and now Bale from twenty years ago." I paused. "Wait a minute. Twenty years… Albert, didn't Doel murder your father around this time?"

Before he could reply, Haschel jerked in shock. "It can't be…" He abruptly ran off, following a girl he'd seen.

"Haschel-" Dart started after him.

I grabbed his arm. "Dart, let him go. This is something he has to do on his own." I didn't explain; I couldn't, knowing what I knew. I didn't know how Dart would react if he knew that the girl Haschel had seen was Claire, his long-lost daughter… and Dart's mother. This was a mere image, and we couldn't afford to have our leader torn up at a time like this.

When Haschel returned, he appeared depressed, but, at the same time, relieved. I suspected he'd finally accepted that Claire was gone for good. Now he could move on with his life. The twenty-year search was over.

With Haschel's return, we were able to move on, leaving the ersatz Bale via an odd portal. From there, we found ourselves walking on what seemed to be clouds.

I saw movement in the corner of my eye. When I turned, my heart skipped a beat. Dragon. That's not good. What was worse, while I'd never seen it, I thought I recognized it from Rose's description. "Rose, is that…"

Rose looked, and her eyes widened. "Michael…?"

The Black-Burst Dragon, Michael, dead for a thousand years, was flying toward us. And he wasn't looking friendly. I jerked back. "I don't think he recognizes you, Rose. Run!"

My warning came too late. Michael unleashed a flurry of black laser shots, blowing us through various holes in the ground beneath us.

The blow knocked me out, and I fell, unconscious…



When I came to, I found myself lying in a forest with a castle in the distance. Ryan and Lloyd were nearby.

"Ian, you're awake!" Ryan walked over and helped me to my feet. "I was wondering when you were going to. Look, I know this isn't from my past, and Lloyd says he's never been here, so I thought you might recognize it."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do. And you're not gonna like it. This is the Forest of Eternal Night, circa 1094 A.D. That castle belonged to Walter Bernhard, a vampire. And I think we're going to have to go there to face our test."

"Forest of Eternal Night…? What are you talking about, Ian?"

"In 1094, this forest, located in Romania, was in constant darkness. It was later discovered that the cause was the Ebony Stone, a great treasure of the vampires. What matters right now, though, is that that castle is almost certainly occupied by a vampire at present. That, no doubt, is why the Moon arranged for us to be in this particular place. Now let's go." I glanced at the other occupant of the clearing. "You, too, Lloyd."

The Forest was eerily silent as we approached the castle. This did not surprise me, but the absence of activity within the castle itself, even the Pagoda of the Misty Moon, was troubling. Perhaps whatever intelligence manipulated things within the Moon wanted us rattled, or perhaps our trial was going to be sufficient.

The seal on the throne room was broken, as I had anticipated, but the sight that greeted us from the throne itself was a surprise.

"Well, well, well… you look surprised, Takahari," Count Draco von Schneider said. "I suppose you were expecting a facsimile of Walter Bernhard, Mathias Cronqvist, or perhaps even that upstart Joachim Armster? But no, you have me to deal with. And I promise you that this will be our final encounter."

Arashi-Jisan was in my hand in an instant. "I know, Count. I have no intention of letting you live. You've been a thorn in my side long enough!"

Draco stood, drawing Soul Slayer. "Arrogant upstart."

Before either of us could move, Ryan leapt into the fray, swinging Soul Cleaver. The blade clashed against its evil twin, once, twice, and then a third blow shattered it. "Okay, Ian, he's all yours!"

With a howl of rage, von Schneider tossed away the empty hilt, then drew his broadsword. "You're going to die, Takahari!"

I smiled coldly, then lunged, swatting his sword away and getting in a glancing blow to his shoulder. "Yoroshii myouri, koumori!"

The count spat out something vile in German, then leapt over me, trying to get behind me.

I spun, lashing out with my foot in a spinning kick that knocked him flying. "This is the end for you, kakushigo. This is your last day of life, and the beginning of the end for your foul kind. Accept your fate."

"Never!" He climbed back to his feet, then threw a dagger at my arm, which I swatted away with ease. "One day vampires will prevail over humans, and the only way to survive us will be to become us!"

"There's no room in my utopia for your kind, either, vampire." Lloyd's unexpected contribution to the conversation came at the same time as his sword cutting through von Schneider's neck. "Takahari, now! Through the heart!"

I yanked a silver stake off my belt, kept there for this very purpose, and threw it into von Schneider's chest.

I raised my arm to protect my face as the vampire's body exploded, finally ending one of the longest reigns of terror in human history. The last vampire of Earth, other than Dracula himself, was gone.



It took a little while, but we finally regrouped back in the image of Bale, to find that Kongol, Albert, Dart, and Rose had gone through their own trials in our absence.

When we were back in the inn, Ryan glanced my way. "Okay, Ian, it's time for some explanations. Now, we know that vampires are real, after von Schneider and his ilk, but I thought for sure that Dracula was just a myth. And just who are the Belmonts?"

I sat back. "Long story, Ryan. Let's start with the year 1094 A.D. The year I spoke of earlier. At the time, in Romania, there were two leaders of knights that were said to be greater in battle than any other. They were Leon Belmont, and Mathias Cronqvist. Now, the year before, Cronqvist's wife had died, and in this particular year, Belmont's fiancé, Sara, was kidnapped by Walter Bernhard, and Leon gave up his title to hunt down Walter and save Sara. Unfortunately, Sara did not survive, and Leon had a bigger shock after killing Walter: Mathias Cronqvist, his best friend, had orchestrated it all, to obtain Walter's Ebony Stone. Using the other great vampire treasure, the Crimson Stone, Mathias turned himself into a vampire, in his rage at his wife's death. He wished to live forever, and in time became Dracula."

"What's that have to do with later members of the Belmont family?"

"After Mathias fled and Leon killed his minion, Leon Belmont swore to fight Dracula till the end. 'From this day forward, the Belmont Clan will hunt the night.' Since then, every time Dracula has resurrected, there has been a Belmont to fight him."

Albert nodded. "And this is why you hate vampires so much. Both your families have fought them for a long time."

I stared grimly at the ceiling. "There's more to it than that."

The others knew better than to ask. When I spoke like that, it was something I didn't want to discuss. It was something even Ryan didn't know, something that no living soul knew about. And I intended to keep it that way.



We moved on soon after that. It was time to finish this, and the never-to-be-sufficiently-accursed Moon seemed to be through with testing us, so it didn't take us long to traverse the surreal landscape.

We were wrong about no more tests. Meru had to go on alone, being the only flight-capable member of our party, and open the way for us to cross the bottomless pit.

When she returned, it was evident that she, too, had been tested. But from there, our way was clear. No obstacles stood between us and the final area of this infernal place.

It wasn't long after that that we faced the final opponent between us and Zieg: a Super Virage, the same sort we had faced in Kadessa. It had killed me there, and only Miranda's presence had kept it from being permanent. But this time, I was going to smash it.

I slowly flexed my muscles. "Dart, I'll handle this. It's payback time."

Dart started to protest. "Ian, you can't handle this alone-"

Rose interrupted him. "Let him go. He knows what he's doing." She glanced at me. "Be careful."

"Always am." Arashi-Jisan leapt into my hand. "Hon'in gozen yuki dzuki enjoi kono." I raised my blade to a guard position, then stood there, waiting.

When the Super Virage finally attacked, I leapt sideways, then dropped a powerful blow on its head. "Too slow." I followed up by jumping over it, twisting around midair and slicing it in what passed for its back. "Over here!"

It turned, trying to hit me with its arm, and I casually backflipped out of the way. "Time to end this." I left the ground in a flying leap, landed on the Super Virage's head, then jumped high into the air and held my katana out.

The fall was of sufficient speed to allow me to slice all the way through its body. When I determined that it was indeed dead, I calmly stepped back. "Let's go."



We didn't have to go much farther to find Zieg. He was standing before what I assumed to be the Virage Embryo itself… and Shana was floating near it, as well.

"Father!" Dart shouted.

"You're too late," Zieg said contemptuously. "As always."

"Not necessarily," Ryan said. "We can still kill you."

Zieg laughed. "Not with this on my side!" He gestured… and the Red-Eye Dragoon Spirit lifted itself from Dart's neck and floated over to Zieg.

Rose jerked. "What!? The Dragoon Spirit still recognizes you!?"

"I was the original bearer, and a Dragoon Spirit never forgets a master."

Rose pointed her sword at Zieg's throat. "You don't deserve to use that."

"And what do you intend to do about it?" he asked, his voice mocking.

Dart pulled something out of a pocket. "How about this!?" He tossed the Psychedelic Bomb X, the weapon Savan had created, at his father.

It did nothing. "Is that the best you can do?" Zieg taunted.

"One way or another, you're not surviving this encounter, Zieg," I growled. "You're gonna die here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" Zieg raised the Dragoon Spirit. "I think not." Once in full Dragoon armor, he threw his sword in the air, in a maneuver I found all too familiar. "Flame Shot!"

I had no time to guard or dodge, and the fiery blast of magic struck me in the chest, flinging me into the wall. "Ugh!" I dropped, dazed, and my sword fell from my hand.

As I tried to recover, I watched the ensuing battle. Dart, too, was forced into a more passive role, since, without his Dragoon Spirit, he was unable to reach Zieg's altitude.

Meru was doing the most damage, with her water-based magic. Albert had cast his Rose Storm spell to protect us, while Miranda was tossing in the occasional healing spell. Other offensive spells were hitting Zieg from time to time as well, from the other Dragoons, but he was apparently able to take a lot of punishment. The battle wasn't going well.

I managed to push myself to my knees, then slowly stood. I tossed away my cape, then unbuckled my armor and dropped it. I then pulled the Masamune off my belt and set it aside.

As I approached, Zieg was attacking Rose, driving her out of Dragoon form and into the ground. "Goodbye, Black Monster."

"No!" As Zieg raised his sword for the killing blow, I somersaulted through the air, bringing Arashi-Jisan down through his wrists, cutting off his hands. "I won't allow you to do this!" I kicked him back, then, as he stared at me in shock, I reared back and swept my blade through his neck.

I twirled the katana through the air and dropped it back into its scabbard even as Zieg's head bounced away from his shoulders. "Soshite dakara itto shimekukuri, Zieg. Just as I promised you in Vellweb."

I turned and took Rose's hand, helping her to her feet. "I'm sorry, Rose. I wish it hadn't ended like this."

She shook her head. "You did what you had to do. That wasn't the Zieg I knew long ago. Now it's over, and we survived."

"It's not over yet, human."

We spun around. A wraith-like apparition was rising from Zieg's body. It looked almost like… I whipped my sword out once more. "Melbu Frahma!" He had no physical form, but I knew those eyes from Rose's description.

Frahma's spirit laughed. "Pitiful human! I sealed my essence in the Dragoon Spirit eleven thousand years ago. When the Black Monster attacked Neet, that foolish human tried to use his Dragoon Spirit, and it was then that my moment came, and I took control of him!"

Rose was actually shaking. "Then- Zieg was-"

I felt the flames of fury growing in my heart. "I killed the father of one of my closest friends, and the fiancé of Rose, for nothing!?In all my years of killing, I have neverkilled an innocent, and now you've forced me to kill him, of all people, for no reason!?"

Frahma laughed once more. "Now I merge with the Flesh of the God of Destruction! Now I complete my vengeance!" As the tentacles reaching for Shana's inert body waved, Melbu Frahma took her place, and there was a flash. "Now I have acquired all! Now the world will be remade as I see fit!"

I snarled. "You monster!"

Dart stood from where he knelt, next to his father's body. He had reclaimed the Red-Eye Dragoon Spirit. "You'll pay for my father's death!"

"Inferior humans! Accept your fate!"

I raised my Dragoon Spirit. "All that time ruling them, Frahma, and you never learned the most important thing about us humans: we never give in to a fate we have not chosen ourselves!" I focused. Diamond Dragon, I call upon your Spirit to serve me, as was foretold in the Prophecy. Aid me in defeating this abomination!

I was the first to transform, but the others weren't far behind, with the exceptions of Lavitz and Lloyd, since they did not have Dragoon Spirits at all. But they were both formidable fighters, particularly with Lloyd's Dragon Buster on our side.

"Let's go! Explosion!"

"Rose Storm!"

"Death Dimension!"

"Star Children!"

"Galaxy's End!" Karen's spectacularly devastating, and completely unexpected, spell did extreme damage, destroying the nearby tentacles and seemed to finish of Melbu Frahma himself, but, as I suspected, things simply became more surreal, as Frahma changed into another form and the area around changed drastically.

The First Generation,a silent voice seemed to say.

"What now?" I asked rhetorically. "I guess it doesn't matter. Diamond Cannon!"

"Time's Arrow!" Ryan struck at the new form with a spell that he had evidently kept in reserve for this, our final battle in our quest that began months before.

"Thunder God attack!"

"Meteor Strike!"

"Diamond Dust!"

Dart reeled back from a strike that looked remarkably similar to the Divine Dragon's cannon, then hit Frahma with another spell of his own. "Final Burst!"

With that smashed, Melbu Frahma changed three more times, the environment becoming more surreal each time.

The Fourth Generation.

"Who keeps saying that?" Karen wondered aloud. "Most battles like this don't have play-by-play like Earth's sports do."

"Makes more sense for this, though, doesn't it?" Ryan commented. "Sports are boring; I'll take a fight to the death anytime."

"Keep your mind on the job, ninja! Don't get distracted or you'll get dead." I used a kujilightning spell on the current variety of God of Destruction.

That form was taken out easily enough, and things changed once more.

The Sixth Generation.

This was clearly the final form, Melbu Frahma's last-ditch effort to stop us. It also forced us out of Dragoon form; it seemed to have the same magic as the Dragon Block Staff.

"I guess it's physical attacks from here on," Dart said. "Blazing Dynamo!"

"Shun Goku Satsu!"

"Demon's Dance!"

"Flower Storm!"

"Omni Sweep!"

Gradually, we whittled away at him, taking the occasional hits but nothing serious. At last, it appeared that we had won, as Melbu Frahma began to explode.

Dart swept down to where Shana lay. "Shana!"

She began to stir. "Dart?"

Haschel grunted, and Miranda cried out. Frahma coming back for another attack.

"How dare you… Inferior humans cannot outshine me, a god!" With his one regenerated hand, he sent a blast of magic at Dart and Shana.

I landed near Rose. "You know what we have to do."

She nodded. "Yes."

"Then let's finish it. Diamond Cannon!"

When Melbu's hand exploded, Dart turned. "Ian! Rose! Get out of there!"

I walked over to where I'd left Migi-no-te, picked it up, and threw it. "Take it, Ryan! Keep it safe."

Ryan caught it, but shook his head. "We're all getting out of this together!"

"Get out of here, Ryan! Save yourself. We'll handle this."

"No…"

"Takahari, wait." I turned, surprised at Lloyd's call. "Catch!" He tossed me the Dragon Buster. "Good luck!"

"Same to you, Lloyd. Maybe I'll see you after this. But in case I don't make it… thanks." I turned away. "Let's go, Rose." We took off again, adding our power to the Dragon Buster to increase its size.

As the others took wing, fleeing the collapsing Moon, we brought the Dragon Buster through Melbu Frahma's body.

I held onto Rose as Frahma died. Despite my words to Lloyd, I knew we'd never make it out in time. And so here ends my quest, with Rose, as it should be. Goodbye, everyone. And the world went dim…

Author's note: Obviously, this is not actually the end of the two. But that will be dealt with in the 30th and final chapter. Now you see how I intended to reconcile this with the game's ending: I killed off Zieg. Of course, he died in the game, too, so this was merely a little ahead of schedule.

The sequel will be started soon, so you won't have to wait long to see the further adventures of the Diamond Dragoon.

The translations for this chapter: "Nanigoto okeru za seken" is "What in the world"; "Sono Hisakata Ketsu Konrinzai Kasane" translates as "The Moon That Never Sets"; "Hon'in gozen yuki dzuki enjoi kono" means "I'm going to enjoy this".

I've also revised some earlier chapters; I noted some inconsistencies within the story and fixed them.

These will be the final author's notes; the ending I'm planning for the final chapter will be better left as the end of the update. Please read it and let me know what you think. ~Solid Shark