Malefor sped through the air, hurling himself forward with all the strength of his wings, relying on his memories as Red to guide him to the mainland.

Unfortunately, Red's memories were not Malefor's own, and were very hard to recall.

I cannot believe that that insolent dragon managed to separate himself from me! Malefor thought furiously. He was me! And how did Ignitus manage to stall me for so long? He used his rage at these thoughts to drive himself forward, and was able to shave a few hours off the normal travel time.

When at last the mainland came into view, he felt a surge of triumph. He headed to the nearest point on the mainland, but after he was a few miles closer, he noticed a great deal of activity at a point a few miles north and west of the southernmost shoreline.

Spyro, he thought. Of course, why else would that whelpling go back to the mainland, except to gather his friends to help him? Fool! Even the dragons of old were powerless against me! His friends will be ants beneath my feet!

Feeling the strength of his long-nurtured grudge rising again in his chest, he unleashed a roar and flung himself the last few miles to the small army that waited for him.

~o~

"Here he comes!" Spyro called to the fighters below him.

"Everybody, get into position!" Cynder called. "Wait for my signal!"

Quickly, everyone organized themselves into their places as Cynder had instructed them all earlier, according to how far their longest-ranged attacks were, placing the shortest-ranged fighters at the top with the cannons nearest Malefor's point of arrival. Those who could, or needed to, charged their attacks in preparation, while others, such as the cannon commanders, simply aimed, as Cynder flew up into the air to hover beside Spyro.

"Ready…!" she called below her, waiting for Malefor to be close enough to be hit by the shortest-ranged attacks that would be let fly at her signal. Everyone braced themselves for the order they knew would be coming.

Cynder waited several minutes, having misjudged the distance between Malefor and the cliffs, for which she silently berated herself. Finally, Malefor was close enough for her liking.

"Now!" she cried, and she and Spyro flew up high to get out of the way of the assault.

~o~

Malefor watched with mild wonder that was amazingly not drowned out by his rage as what appeared to be an entire wall of different projectiles flew in his direction. Even in his arrogance, he recognized that the different magical, mechanical, and makeshift missiles were too various to be blocked by a single spell.

Not bad, he mused to himself, but not nearly enough!

In short order, he cast a spell to block the purely magical attacks, released a devastating blast of Fear power to knock away the purely mechanical attacks, and flew up to dodge the rest. He didn't really think any of the attacks would be very harmful, but he didn't want to be at all injured before he could even launch his own attack.

~o~

"Ready!" Cynder called down to the force below her, after seeing the first assault be warded off by the Dark Master.

Everyone readied themselves.

"Fire!" she cried, and a second cloud of missiles followed the first.

~o~

Malefor saw the second assault coming almost before it was launched, but, thinking quickly, he realized that, if things kept up as they did, he would be too busy blocking missiles to charge up his own attacks when he finally managed to reach the cliffs.

This time, instead of trying to ward off any of the projectiles, he changed direction, and flew high up, directly into a convenient cloud cover that hung over the battleground. He got into position directly above the crowd of his foes, and prepared to launch an assault that would end the resistance with a single, devastating blow…

~o~

Everyone watched as the Dark Master flew up into the clouds. Unable to see him, a ripple of unease ran through the crowd. What could they do now?

Cynder, having used this tactic herself before, called out instructions.

"Get ready!" she called, flying low over the small army. "He's going to come down on us like a lightning bolt, and he could land anywhere, so be ready to move! Don't bother charging or readying any attacks!" As everyone fortified themselves, Cynder said quietly to Spyro, "Come here," then flew to the southeastern edge of the cliff-ground.

"What?" Spyro asked her softly.

"We need to fly around the entire battlefield on opposite sides of a circular path," she explained quickly. "Once he starts to come down from the clouds, launch the most powerful Electric Orb you can muster toward the center of the circle we'll make, and I'll handle the rest."

"You mean you have a plan?" Spyro asked her, but she was already flying to the opposite side of the area on which the army stood waiting. Realizing he didn't have much of a choice, he started flying counterclockwise around the crowd, and Cynder did likewise.

As the two dragons circled the battleground, there was a silence that increased in tension with every passing moment. Apart from the wind that was softly whispering through the dragons' wings, everything was completely quiet. Too quiet.

Then, a gasp ran through the crowd as, looking up, they noticed that a point in the clouds directly above them seemed to be growing darker, like a thunderhead. Some of the onlookers blanched in fear, while others readied their weapons, aiming at the force that was collecting high above them.

"Hold steady!" Cynder called, silently raging that people were choosing different courses of action. They're gonna get us killed, she thought.

The darkness above them grew for several minutes, and even Cynder started to worry. How much power is he going to be launching at us, anyway?

Suddenly, there was an enormous rumble from above, and Malefor hurled himself downward like an entire avalanche of lightning bolts, gathering all his power together to unleash in a single blast on contact with the ground.

"Now, Spyro!" Cynder called, but she didn't have to; an enormous ball of electricity was already flying toward the center of the circle the two dragons made.

Praying to the Ancestors that her theory was right, Cynder flew only as close to it as she had to in order to trap it in a pocket of wind and did so, stopping its descent. To her delight, the electricity from Spyro's orb melded into her Cyclone breath, creating a whirlwind of wind and electricity which she controlled.

Quickly, she flew under the Dark Master and aimed the web of wind and electricity directly at the oncoming dragon. Malefor, going too fast to maneuver at all, hit the entire thing head-on.

The two forces collided with such a ferocity that most of the assembled army cried out in alarm. Malefor, in spite of Cynder and Spyro's combined forces, was hardly at all impeded by the force he met with due to the fact that he had so much power at the ready, though a good chunk of it was shaved off by the force of the combined elements, and Cynder, quickly realizing this, was just barely able to get out from under him before he crashed to the ground in an explosion of power that threw everyone backward from the blast radius, both on the ground and in the air, though the blast was not as powerful as it would have been if not for Cynder's ingenuity.

Not even pausing to observe the effect his assault had had, Malefor immediately started attacking everyone and everything around him, his tail whipping around and knocking out anyone unlucky enough to be in its path, his wings battering anyone nearby with crippling blows and blasts of wind, his claws tearing through everyone before him as he drove his way through the inexperienced fighters, dealing devastating blows in every direction, and his head, with its three horns and terrible jaws, impaling or sinking into anyone he could reach, throwing them yards away. Even without using any sort of magic, he was a devastating force, an army all his own, seemingly unstoppable.

Valiantly, Spyro's friends tried to attack the mighty dragon. Those who could attacked from a distance with lasers, arrows, missiles, or spells, while those such as Bentley and Sheila tried to get close enough to hit him. The dragons manning the cannons tried blasting their various forces at the Dark Master, the fairies swarmed around him, trying to combine their powers into a significant force, and even Sparx tried throwing as powerful orbs as possible at the rampaging beast, but all to little avail: Malefor shook all of these assaults off like pebbles thrown at him, even though the combined forces did manage to wound him slightly.

Spyro and Cynder launched themselves down on top of Malefor together, putting forth all the power they could muster, and chaos ensued, each individual attacking in their own most powerful way. Malefor paid less attention to warding off the various attacks, and more to trying to kill Spyro and Cynder. He put in everything he had, knowing that this was his last chance to extinguish the entire race of dragons - or at least, the dragons of old - and also knowing that he had to kill or be killed in this battle.

Each attendant landed at least one blow on the great dragon, and Spyro and Cynder were able to combine their Electricity and Wind powers to unleash a doubly powerful force on their enemy. After over an hour of fighting, Spyro and Cynder sensed a shift in the tide of battle as Malefor was finally worn down. Malefor realized this, too, and redoubled his efforts, calling upon his magic now and blasting everyone with a variety of elements. The earth rumbled as it shook and split, the ocean rose up in enormous waves to crash down on the army in the form of both water and ice, the wind grew fierce and threw people against the rocks, lighting bolts rained down from the sky, Malefor's claws became blades of shadow, his teeth and tail were imbued with poison, and he breathed enormous blasts of fire in all directions.

Spyro was stunned; he didn't know how to use several elements at once. He hadn't even known it was possible, but Malefor was using almost every element in the world.

"He has the kind of power that comes with age and experience…"

Cynder's words ran through his mind as Spyro tried to regroup. He and Cynder tried fighting back with their own elemental powers, but even their new combination of Electricity and Wind was somehow turned back by Malefor's sudden release of his mastery over the elements.

"Cynder!" Spyro called to her as he realized something. "There's one element he's not using!"

The two flew up over the Dark Master, trying to dodge the fury of the elements, while Cynder thought about what he said.

"I'm not using Fear!" she cried back over the roar of the raging maelstrom of power that whirled around the entire battlefield, "and you promised I wouldn't have to!"

"Use it so my Fire Breath can get through to him!" Spyro told her. "He might not be able to force it back if it's combined with an element that he's not using!"

"I hope you're right!" Cynder replied, deciding not to hold Spyro's lack of clairvoyance against him, and the two flew down on the terrible beast again. Spyro summoned all his mastery over the element of Fire, the element that had gotten him through thick and thin in both lives, and Cynder prepared to enforce Spyro's fire blast with her own Phantom Fright blast.

Together, they released as one the two elements with as much force as they could muster. The elements combined, and the result was a fiend of flames that burst forth and literally attacked Malefor, who in turn was so surprised by this that his concentration slipped, and the elements abated.

Spyro and Cynder glanced at each other, amazed by what they could accomplish by combining their elements, and wordlessly agreed on the next combination. Spyro shot Ice Shards down on Malefor, and Cynder added Shadow Fire to the projectiles. The result was a shower of needle-thin ice shards that burned with the force of Shadow. The storm assaulted Malefor before he could brace himself, and the ice burned through his scales and skin and filled his body, slowing his movements.

Spyro and Cynder knew what to do next. Spyro flew up high directly over Malefor and transformed himself into a wrecking boulder. Timing herself, Cynder hit the boulder downward with a Scorpion Strike. The combined force launched Spyro down on top of Malefor hard, driving the beast hard into the ground and filling his veins with venom. It was a mortal blow.

Spyro and Cynder gently landed by the fallen monster, who didn't rise. When he didn't, the chaos ceased, and everything was still as the fighters looked in awe at the fallen purple dragon.

The Dark Master lay still, utterly defeated.

"Spyro…Cynder…" he gasped with his dying breaths. "Why…did the Ancestors give you victory? Why…can't I win?"

"Because you were wrong," Spyro answered. "Purple dragons weren't meant to destroy the world. Your thirst for power drove you insane, and you stopped being a dragon."

"Millions of innocents lost their lives because of you," Cynder added. "Nothing can justify that. Nothing."

"Was I wrong…?" the Dark Master whispered ponderously. Then, gathering a modicum of strength, he asked, "Spyro…Cynder…what did I become?" He swallowed and closed his eyes. "Am I a monster?"

"Yes," Spyro replied gently. "That's what you turned into when you let your drive for power control you."

"I understand now…" the fallen dragon said, barely audible. Then, he chuckled weakly. "Perhaps…my purpose…was creating the two of you. If I hadn't become…what I became…you two…would never have achieved…your potential. Perhaps…I did something good for the world…though I was so wrong…"

Amazingly, it was Sparx who flew close to the defeated creature and spoke.

"If there's one thing I've learned from all this, it's that no dragon is born evil," Sparx said to Malefor. "I mean, Red was part of you, and he turned into a good guy. Maybe there's still some good in you, too."

Spyro and Cynder looked at Sparx, amazed; this was the last thing either of them would have expected of him.

"It's too late for me…" Malefor breathed miserably.

"I thought that, too," Cynder said, stepping forward. "Your madness for power infected me from the moment I was born, and when Spyro freed me, I was so afraid that being evil was my nature. I was wrong, too."

"Cynder…" Malefor spoke, his voice filled with real remorse. "I'm so sorry…for what I did to you…for what I made you do…for what I made you believe about yourself…It was me, Cynder…I put that thought in you…to use you…to bring Spyro to my mountain…You were never mine…"

"I forgive you," Cynder said, to the amazement of everyone present. "I know from you what it's like to be controlled by your own power, and I know that it wasn't entirely your fault."

"Spyro…" Malefor breathed. "I'm sorry…for what I put you through…for Ignitus…for what I said…" He closed his eyes once more, never to open them again. "I'm so sorry…for everything I've done…"

"Maybe the Ancestors can find it in their hearts to forgive you," Spyro told him. "As for me…I don't want to be like you. I can forgive you for what you've done to me, but that's all. When you see Ignitus and everyone else you destroyed, you can ask for their forgiveness. Maybe they'll forgive you, and maybe not."

"Being sorry helps," Cynder added.

"Thank you…both of you…" Malefor breathed as he faded away. With his last breath, he said,

"Spyro…be better than me…"

Then he was gone, and his body faded away into nothingness.