The last of the Dark Ones, who nicknamed himself Mercenary, was face to face with Spyro, who was looking at him with a determined face because, as Jhonny had told him, if you wanted to end the war, you had to have a strong cold mind. For his part, the Dark One was playing with the vials that his kind of necklace had. For a moment, Spyro noted that some vials were really blood, but others were more colored powder, and others looked like just water.
"Is that blood?" Spyro asked, "What have you done? whose is it?"
"From many places..." Mercenario replied, "Some, around you"
Spyro realized then: several dragons were defeated around him.
"Don't worry, they're alive…for now" Mercenario soothed him, "I have…a hobby of collecting the blood of those I defeat. Of course, those who offer me a good fight. However, you will be one of the ones I desire the most… for a long time"
"For a long time?" Spyro asked, "I don't understand what you're saying: I don't know you."
"No, but we have a mutual friend... or rather a friend..."
Spyro realized.
"What does Cynder have to do with all this?" he asked.
"Unlike the other Dark Ones, I am real" Mercenario explained, "The other twelve are just foolish humans who got carried away by their desire for power, money, revenge and their emotions. I, am a wandering spirit just like Malefor: I needed a body... the fact that he is alive is due to an idiot who stole and killed for money in his world: I took over his body, but his soul... let's say he is worse than dead "
Spyro listened carefully to every word, but he was still alert for any movement from the enemy. Behind Mercenary, the giant dark gem seemed more charged than ever.
"…you don't know, but…" Mercenario continued, "When Malefor was at the height of power, he ordered several black dragon eggs to be stolen: not just Cynder's…"
"So, you are…" Spyro said, stunned.
"Right, I am a true dragon. But unlike you, I only wanted the power of Darkness, something Malefor offered me very well…"
"Crap! Look at all that the power of darkness has done! Do you really think that power is worth it when there are many who suffer because of it? We must use power to help the weakest, not to harm them or fight among ourselves."
"And…still, do you accept Cynder in your life? Knowing that she has the power of darkness?"
"Cynder... yes, he possesses the power of darkness, but in aid of others, not against them..."
"Wow, she sure has changed a lot… Back in the day, she was called 'terror of the skies' for a reason. Mine wasn't as well known as hers, but I had my moments…that's when I met Cynder."
"Cynder met you?" Spyro asked, "She never talked about you!"
"As far as I know, she doesn't remember" Mercenario explained, "When she was 'the terror of the skies', Malefor had gathered the most powerful black dragons. That's where we come in. However, I had to go on a long journey and she was defeated by you…"
Spyro tried to remember that Ignitus once told him that black dragons were highly sought after by Malefor.
"Years later, after the last war, several of Malefor's servants disappeared when he disappeared," Mercenario continued, "Me too… I was reduced to just a spectral soul just like he was when your daughter defeated him. Speaking of which… I was hoping that Cynder and I… could reign together with Malefor"
"Unlike you, Cynder never wanted to be the terror of the skies," Spyro replied, "She was just being used. I supported Cynder in accepting socializing with others and since then, we have been together. You accepted the darkness and that was your destiny…"
"Maybe yes, maybe not..." Mercenario said as he took one of the vials of what seemed like plain water, "One thing is clear to me: she took a purple dragon life from me, you now have Cynder and I have nothing." ... it's time for you to pay me back..."
Saying the last, he mixed it with what looked like a green powder, turning into a substance of the same color. Then he repeated the process with a yellow. Spyro didn't understand… was it some kind of drink? To his surprise, Mercenary emanated mana... from earth?
"Dark Earth Impact!"
A shower of black rocks impacted on Spyro, who did not believe what he saw: a dragon with dark powers, using earth powers? And to top it off, of a guardian?
"Dark Lightning Fang!"
Before recovering from the last attack received, Mercenary launched himself at him with a whirlwind of black lightning that impacted all of Spyro's muscles, leaving him somewhat paralyzed.
"How can it be?" Spyro asked, "First earth with darkness, and then electricity with darkness?"
"Your friends can turn against you, that happened to me" Mercenario clarified, shaking his vials and drinking a celestial substance, "The guardians emanated so much mana that Malefor used traces of it to complete his body. I, took some of them as well to acquire their abilities and combined them with my darkness… Dark Freezing Blizzard!"
Spyro was trapped in an ice prison unable to move.
"You should be glad," Mercenary sneered as he took the fourth red-orange vial, "You and Cynder aren't the only special ones anymore..."
He withdrew a bit and then mana emanated… this time fire.
"Dark Blazing Dragon!"
The great dragon of flames appeared, but in its version bathed in dark mana, it rushed towards the frozen Spyro, melting the ice and impacting on his body. Luckily for him, the ice had dampened the extreme heat, although the purple dragon felt a little hot.
Mercenary attacked again with the lightning attack, but Spyro was not willing to go down so easily:
"Earth shield!"
Spyro created a dome of rocks that received the attack. The shield was strong enough that Mercenario couldn't break through it. Then he got ready to attack:
"Dragon Comet!"
Destroying his shield, Spyro countered with a direct flame tackle. Mercenary, for his part, defended himself with his wings. The purple dragon's strike knocked the Dark One back three meters, but he failed to break through his defense. Backing away, Spyro tried something else.
"Eath impact!"
"Dark Freezing Blizzard!"
Spyro attacked Mercenary with a flurry of ground missiles, but he countered by freezing and slowing them down and then smashing them to pieces. Spyro was puzzled, how could he do everything that his friends did? Was there a technique that this enemy didn't predict or do exactly the same?
In an unguarded moment, Mercenary charged at him, swinging his bladed tail rapidly. Spyro became conscious in time and managed to dodge all his enemy's deadly strikes and backed up a bit. Then the Dark One began to laugh.
"You weren't as fast as you think..." he told him while showing his the tip of his tail: a drop of blood showed on it. Then Spyro noticed the small cut on his right paw. Fortunately, it had not become worse. Unless….
Mercenary then took the bloody tip on one of the vials from him again. Fearing for what he would do, Spyro quickly attacked.
"Ether Fury!"
Ether's energy blast shot at full speed towards the enemy, but Mercenario drank his potion mixed with Spyro's blood just then. At the same time, his mana started to be Ether mixed with darkness.
"Dark Ether Fury!"
Mercenary had made it. He now counterattacked with an opposing energy: the Dark Ether. Both energies collided with each other, but Spyro was a bit weaker from the previous attacks so the energy was slowly starting to recede towards him.
"You can't beat me, Spyro!" Mercenary yelled at him as his darkness mana increased the Ether mana he had just acquired.
"No... I won't give up..." Spyro thought to himself trying to increase his warrior spirit.
The clash of energies exploded near him, dealing a lot of damage and causing a huge shock wave and blinding the sight of both combatants. Spyro was still alive, but he was trapped under a pile of rocks and pretty exhausted from that last effort.
"He's very strong…" he said to himself, "He knows all of my friends' skills and has ingested mana residue with my blood… is he stronger than me?"
"You define that if you really believe it..." a voice told him in his mind,he quickly recognized it.
"Ignitus!"
"That's right... it looks like you're in big trouble again, Spyro."
"Yes… this enemy has absorbed my friends' mana and some of my blood… He has all of our abilities and combines them with his… I should have foreseen something bad before all his plan started…"
"There is no use in regretting the tree that has already fallen, Spyro. You get down to work and plant a new one…"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really think that your powers, Cynder's, or the Guardians can be so easily copied? Don't you remember the first lesson I gave you the day we took back the temple?"
"Unleash the dragon inside me…"
"Yes, every skill can be copied or imitated to perfection, but only with the true dragon within you can true strength be acquired. A dragon like you or your friends is not powerful according to the mana you control, but in…"
"Complete dominance over it… It's true, I had forgotten. Thank you, Ignitus…"
"Don't give up Spyro..."
Outside, Mercenary's mana of darkness was filling the air. Just then, Cynder flew in to assist Spyro. The Dark One, seeing Cynder again, began to smile.
"Cynder... long time no see again" the Dark One told her.
Cynder didn't say anything at the time, just stared at him. After a few seconds, she spoke to him:
"Mercenary" she told him as if she remembered it just by feeling the mana, "I never thought I would see you again…"
"Oh! and I thought you hadn't told Spyro because you didn't remember…" The Dark One was surprised, "What a surprise! So, you know that I want you back as 'the terror of the skies'."
"Enough!" Cynder claimed, "I'm not that winged demon anymore. I'm just Cynder. I will never be Malefor's puppet again… Shadow Dragon!"
Cynder attacked with her powerful Darkness ability, but Mercenary stopped her with a single claw. The dragon was shocked: she knew Mercenary, but he was never stronger than her. In a single blink, Mercenary had grabbed her neck and was strangling her.
"If you don't want to come back for good..." Mercenario told him, "We'll have to convince you..."
Cynder tried to escape her with her powers, but just as she sometimes nullified the powers of the Dark Ones, Mercenary nullified his own. Furthermore, she was exhausted because in the previous fight of hers, the coffin had absorbed some of her mana. But before getting any further, a comet of fire suddenly came knocking down the enemy and freeing Cynder: Spyro was back.
"Spyro…" Cynder said trying to breathe.
"Don't force yourself, Cynder..." Spyro replied, "Take a breath, this fight between him and me isn't over yet..."
"You are more tenacious than I imagined" Mercenario told him, recovering from the blow, "That explains why Cynder couldn't against you... If you want more punishment, that's fine... after all, you can't do anything that I already know …Dark Freezing Blizzard!"
Again, Spyro was trapped in an ice cube. Mercenary started to attack again, but in that instant, the purple dragon emanated so much fire's mana that it shattered the prison he was in.
"Curse you... Dark Burning Dragon!"
Again, Spyro didn't make a move, but attacked directly with a simple lunge and destroyed the attack like it was nothing.
"What? Before it affected him…"
"It's because I've noticed that you only copy someone else's mana" Spyro told him, "It's true, it hurts as much as the original, but without the same spirit that we show in battle, it can't maximize that stolen energy to the fullest. All I have to do is exceed my normal limit to become immune to your attacks."
Mercenary understood then.
"Okay…" he told him, "If that's true, then I'll increase my darkness more and defeat you with your best attack… Dark Ether Fury!"
Again, the blast of Dark Ether shot out forcefully from Mercenary. Spyro then increased his mana beyond the limit as he himself said, creating an energy field around him and blowing up the rocks around him.
"Maximum Ether!"
A large display of Ether energy, more powerful than what Spyro used to throw, was directed with great force and speed at the Mercenary's attack that ripped apart as if it were a rookie's attack. Upon hitting his target, a large explosion was produced. When he was done, Spyro was surprised as the smoke cleared: Mercenario was still alive, but he…was trudging.
"Well done Spyro..." Mercenario told him as small traces of ash of darkness were peeling off his body, "I knew... I couldn't be the same as you..."
Cynder got up at that.
"Why did you want to be just like Spyro?" Cynder asked.
"Ha…" Mercenario replied, "When we were in the service of Malefor… we were just co-workers… I thought we had things in common… and then you changed… and I was reduced to a spirit… I thought if I mastered the same elements as Spyro… would be someone for you…"
"I was never interested in you beacause I was under a dark spell… Spyro, for his part, he saved me from the Darkness. I don't love him for being the legendary purple dragon or for having all those powers, but for being who he really is at his heart."
Mercenary kept disappearing, but he made a smile.
"Well... I had to try..." he said, "At least death doesn't feel so bad... Spyro, take care of Cynder... And try to survive what's coming your way..."
With these last words, the Dark One's body disappeared. Cynder something wrong for not mentioning it to Spyro before, he said:
"Sorry Spyro, I know I should have said it sooner..."
"Don't worry, that's over now" Spyro replied, "For now we must…"
But before they could continue speaking, the earth began to shake and the great dark gem began to shoot black lightning and a strong dark blizzard in all directions. Both dragons were digging their claws into the ground so as not to be blown away by the hurricane.
"Mom! Dad!" a voice yelled, and Nina along with Edel, Ray, Thorr, Aurora, Ash, Flint, Sam and Rayla came to where they were struggling with the strong current.
As soon as they landed, the strong gust stopped and a black beam almost hit them. Then the black gem began to crack and broke into a thousand pieces. But that was not the worst: among the wreckage, a great presence that emanated a mana of darkness greater than all the Dark Ones had appeared.
Now twice its normal size, its scales were dark purple, with crimson hues evident on its nose and the tips of its horns. These were curved at the sides resembling a crown. Its wings were a dark red coloration with lighter colored membranes, and the spurs on its wings were light yellow… and its eyes, were yellow with a dark tint. Every particle of his body radiated a darkness.
In front of our heroes' eyes he had returned: Malefor had risen.