RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
Part Three: The Armies of Light and Shadow
Chapter XIV
When the armies collided, the Sea of Sand became utter chaos. Swords clashed and sparks flew, Serpentine warriors swung from ropes attached to Fangpyre choppers and slashed at Rikayla's soldiers, and the Guardians engaged with the Imperia, except for Mack, who charged into the thick of the battle trying to get through the soldiers separating him from Rikayla.
Kai blasted an Imperium with fire and was shocked when the warrior returned with its own fire attack that Kai blocked with the Sword of Fire. A similar phenomenon happened in Danny's fight with his opponent; the Imperium he was fighting shot off an ice blast that might have frozen Danny in place were it not for his quick feet.
"They're copying our powers!" Kai yelled.
Jay was nearby and asked, "What do we do?"
Lloyd roundhouse kicked three soldiers, knocking them out, and said, "Jay, you're fast—try to get close. I have a feeling they want to keep us at a distance with their ability to mimic our powers."
"Cover me," Jay said before charging a nearby Imperium.
Kai and Lloyd took out a few of Rikayla's soldiers to give Jay space to work.
Rather than blast his enemy with lightning, Jay directly attacked with Nunchucks; to his surprise, the Imperium shattered like brittle glass upon contact with the Nunchucks of Lightning.
"Wow…" Jay gaped. "They did want to keep us at a distance, it's the Weapons."
Jay turned toward the other Guardians. "They're vulnerable to the Golden Weapons!" he yelled.
"That's it?" Kai asked. "All we have to do to kill the big guys is hit them with our Golden Weapons?"
"Fan out and spread the word to the other Guardians," Lloyd ordered. "If we take these things out of the fight, it'll be easier for Mack to get to Rikayla."
One by one, the Guardians were able to close in on the Imperia and strike them with the Golden Weapons until only a couple of the original twelve were left.
The remaining two managed to close in on Mack's left and right while he was fighting Rikayla's lesser soldiers. Zee saw this and yelled after her friend. Mack spotted one of the Imperia and threw the Super Bolt at it.
The Super Bolt flew right through the warrior, shattering it. Zee leaped into the air, assisted by her wind powers, and came down on the other Imperium, plunging the Daggers of Wind into its shoulders. With that, the Imperia were destroyed in relatively swift fashion.
Within the thick of the battle, Rikayla felt the loss of each of her prized warriors, and she raged at their destruction.
"The Serpentine have given the Guardians the cover that allowed them to destroy the Imperia," the Queen of Darkness growled, speaking to Milites who was close by, guarding her.
"Make their leader pay."
Soon after the Imperia were out of the fight, Zane and Skales found themselves fighting Milites. Although he wore thick armor and wielded a large cleaver, Rikayla's dark knight boasted impressive speed and agility.
Zane managed to freeze one of Milites's legs to the ground; as Skales went in with his double axe for the killing blow, however, Milites broke free of the ice and dodged the blade, scoring a gash down the Hypnobrai General's side with his mighty sword.
Zane tried to retaliate, but his pair of sai was no match for the dark knight's charge, and the nindroid was knocked to the side as Milites escaped into the chaos of the battle.
"Nya, are you busy?" Zane asked over the radio.
"Funny," Nya replied, "I was just thinking I might take a few minutes off after that group of soldiers I just took out."
"It appears Jay's sense of humor is rubbing off on you," Zane coyly replied. "I need you to come to my location and get Skales to the Bounty; he is badly injured."
"Sure thing, on my way."
As Nya flew Skales to the Destiny's Bounty with her Samurai mech, Cole and Kai found themselves against Magno.
The pair of Guardians continually hurled stones and fireballs at the troll, but Magno countered by sending off shockwaves using his telekinesis abilities. One of the rebounded fireballs struck Kai in the shoulder, and the fire master hissed in pain as he was burnt.
Magno then charged at the Guardians, half of the attacks having subsided now that one of his opponents was stunned. Before he could close in, however, Cole stomped the ground, a large slab of which rose up and knocked the troll on his back.
"You okay?" Cole asked.
"It hurts, but it's not too bad—I'll be fine," Kai said through gritted teeth.
As Magno got back to his feet, the earth and fire masters whispered to each other, quickly coming up with a plan.
Magno charged, and Cole gave Kai a boost, helping him leap into the air and over Magno's head. The maneuver had the effect of making the troll stop charging to make sure he wasn't being outflanked.
While Magno was looking back and forth between his opponents, Cole tossed a large stone at him; before Magno could rebound it, Kai blasted it with a jet of flame and shards of rock rained down on the troll.
Magno was stunned, and Cole used a hefty portion of sand to create a giant boulder, bringing it down on Magno and destroying him. The troll dissolved into a black mist, and Cole and Kai fist bumped.
Mack charged at Rikayla's chariot after taking down a group of her soldiers, but he was suddenly attacked by Scio and Dubito who seemed to come out of nowhere. The Green Ninja spun the Super Bolt in a constant arc around himself, defending from the fast and unrelenting attacks from the two pairs of twin short swords.
The flurry of attacks caused Mack to misstep; as he slightly stumbled, Scio managed a shallow cut on Mack's chest, just below the armor on his left shoulder. Before Dubito could follow up, Mack tapped the Super Bolt on the ground and green lightning came down and struck the scouts, destroying them.
A group of Rikayla's soldiers headed up by Tenebris was bearing down on a crashed Fangpyre chopper. As the group prepared to slaughter the incapacitated and stunned Serpentine crew, the ground shook beneath them.
Before they could react, the dark warriors were ambushed by several Constrictai that emerged from beneath the sand. The Constrictai elder Skalidor grabbed Tenebris by the throat with his mighty tail, but before he could squeeze, he had to dodge a sword swipe that would have otherwise taken off his head.
Skalidor turned and found himself facing a clone of Tenebris; while Skalidor was distracted, the real Tenebris managed to slip out of the deadly grip of Skalidor's tail. The clone disappeared as Tenebris ran Skalidor through the chest from behind with his broadsword.
"NOOO!" Danny roared as he threw the Shuriken of Ice at Tenebris.
Tenebris managed to throw the dying Constrictai elder off his sword and to the ground in time to block the icy attack, but then Danny attacked up close with a ferocity that surprised—and frankly, impressed the dark warrior.
Danny used his power to cause the Shuriken and Tenebris's sword to stick together.
"That was a cheap shot, you coward," Danny growled as the two warriors struggled. "Let's see how you hold up in a real fight."
Tenebris gave a throaty laugh in response. "You are doing a good imitation of a worthy opponent. But in the end, your power only goes so far; for all your strength and resolve, you are still a slave of the light. The shadows will always outnumber you."
Danny suddenly felt alerted to a presence behind him, and he broke off his lock with Tenebris to block a flurry of attacks from three clones of Tenebris who were closing in on him.
Milites came up against Lloyd, bringing his giant claymore to bear and expecting to overpower this opponent as he did all the others he had fought over the centuries. But the ancient knight had never fought the Golden Ninja.
Lloyd was fighting with a golden sword; in appearance it was a simple katana, but Lloyd had constructed this sword from pure light, and it would stand against any amount of force.
That was proven when Milites raised his claymore above his head and brought it down. Lloyd blocked the giant sword with his own blade, and the dark knight bounced backward.
Milites was not stunned for long, and he engaged in swordplay with Lloyd, who skillfully parried the dark knight's attacks. Lloyd blocked a particularly forceful swing and used the opening that created to cut off Milites's right arm—the golden sword went through the thick armor like a hot knife through butter.
"HOW?" Milites roared. "I am impenetrable!"
"You are animated by nothing but shadow," Lloyd said, "and light always drives shadow away."
Without another word, Lloyd blasted Milites with a beam of golden light, and the armor clattered to the ground, its wearer destroyed.
While Lloyd obliterated Rikayla's dark knight, Mack and Kasey faced off against the swift blades of Ferra. She was not as skilled at swordplay as Tenebris, but she more than made up for that by wielding a katana in each of her four hands.
Mack and Kasey attacked with the Super Bolt and Spear of Water in alternation, but Ferra blocked each blow with her constant whirlwind of swords. After several blocked attacks, Ferra went on the offensive, softening her opponents' defenses and scoring a few shallow cuts on their arms.
When Ferra landed a cut on Kasey's leg, Mack spun the Super Bolt like a fan in Ferra's direction, using the power of Wind to blow her off her feet and giving him the space to check on his fellow Guardian.
"I'm okay," Kasey said.
"Good," Mack nodded. "Now, let's finish this. I'm going to get her off-balance, you finish her off."
Kasey nodded.
Ferra recovered and came charging at the two Guardians, blades spinning. Instead of fighting force with force, Mack held up the Super Bolt at an awkward angle and Ferra knocked it aside.
Ferra reared back to strike with two of her swords and Mack ducked; Kasey leaped and flipped over Mack's head and came down driving the point of the Spear of Water into Ferra, who cried out before shattering.
After a few deep breaths, Kasey spoke up. "Well, that's one more down."
Danny barely managed to defend himself from the deadly quartet's furious attacks. When his guard was almost completely worn down, Danny spun the Shuriken in his hands and created a wall of ice around himself; he then shattered it and the shards stunned Tenebris and his clones.
Danny threw one of the Shuriken and it flew in an arc around himself, clipping all four of his attackers. The three clones dissipated, but the real Tenebris only suffered an injured shoulder. The commander of the Army of Eternal Darkness roared in rage.
Tenebris picked up a fallen Serpentine warrior's double fang knife and used that along with his sword to unleash relentless attacks on Danny, who could only guard himself by knocking the blows away with his faithful Golden Weapons.
Tenebris scored a cut on Danny's arm, causing him to drop one of the Shuriken and leaving him with only one of the throwing weapons to defend himself.
It was not enough.
The Ice Guardian managed to block two more quick strikes before Tenebris spun around, landing a precisely aimed kick on his opponent's wrist, breaking the bones on impact. The remaining Shuriken of Ice fell to the ground, and Tenebris swiped his sword, gashing Danny's chest from right ribs to left shoulder.
Before Danny collapsed, Tenebris grabbed him by the neck.
"You should've listened to Rikayla and stayed home with your little sister," Tenebris sneered before throwing Danny harshly to the ground, his stunned and bleeding body landing against a large rock.
"Screw you," Danny choked out.
Tenebris touched his injured shoulder, hissed in pain, and spit on the ground. "Wart," he growled before slipping back into the chaos of the battle.
Morro may have been enjoying himself a bit too much.
Rikayla's soldiers kept coming at him, but they all got caught up in the whirlwind Morro was sustaining around himself. Zee circled the outside of the tornado; when the dark soldiers would land after being lofted, the Wind Guardian would finish them off.
Indeed, the couple made a good team.
"GHOST!"
Morro and Zee had no time to react to the booming voice before they were both knocked over by a shockwave. Morro only just managed to grab Zee and roll out of the way of Bruta's charge.
Bruta stopped and stared at the wind masters, especially Morro.
"The other ghost crushed my husband," she spat.
"And you want to get crushed by a ghost too?" Morro taunted the troll. "How romantic, to want to share the same fate."
"I'm not stupid, ya know," Bruta yelled. "Rikayla told us we couldn't die. But while I was pinned down by Serpentine, I watched the other ghost kill my husband—he EXPLODED! Rikayla lied to us!"
Bruta seemed to calm. "She lied… but I'm still gonna make you pay for Magno. I'll crush you both for him."
The troll then roared and charged. She stopped short and stomped the ground, stunning Zee and knocking her to the ground.
Morro attacked Bruta with his pair of katana, but they were easily slapped aside—no match for her strength. After Morro managed to cut Bruta's arm, she yelled in anger and stomped again. Morro stumbled and Bruta kicked him in the back, sending him flying. He landed in a heap nearby and didn't move.
Zee recovered in time to see Morro land. She got to her feet and charged at Bruta. She knew that Morro couldn't be killed in battle since he was a ghost, but he had previously told her that he could still feel the pain of severe physical trauma. The thought of him being hurt by this creature enraged her.
"HEY!" Zee yelled before jumping onto Bruta's back and climbing to put the troll into a chokehold.
Bruta thrashed about and got herself free of the chokehold in only a couple of seconds. Zee leaped high into the air, assisted by her powers; she then threw the Daggers of Wind at Bruta. Bruta dodged one of them, but the second struck her in the chest. The troll cried out in pain and anger before becoming a plume of black mist and blowing away.
Zee went immediately to kneel by Morro's side. He was on his back, arms and legs sprawled out, and his eyes were closed.
"Morro?"
Morro didn't respond or open his eyes but reached for Zee's hand, which she gladly gave for him to hold.
"I'm okay," he said softly. "She got me good; the pain will pass in a few minutes."
Zee let out a deep breath. "Good. I kicked her ass real good for you."
Morro opened his eyes to look into hers and smiled before letting out a small laugh. "Thanks."
The Army of Eternal Darkness continued to thin; the Serpentine now outnumbered them. The remaining soldiers began to rally around their maker, the Queen of Darkness, hoping to form a buffer between her and the Guardians, who had all but cleaned up her allies.
Tenebris approached Nya on her Samurai mech (she had just thrashed a squad of soldiers) and attacked. Nya handily knocked him aside.
Tenebris stood and called out, "Come down off that machine and see how you weather a fair fight,princess!"
Nya sneered but did as the dark warrior challenged her to do, katana in hand. The two then engaged in a fierce sword duel. Neither was able to break the other's defense, until Nya gained some leverage and landed a big kick to Tenebris's knee.
If not for his armor, the kick could have incapacitated him. Instead, Tenebris quickly recovered and countered before Nya could follow up. He forced her into a sword lock and overpowered her into a headlock.
"The Guardians are going to win this battle," Tenebris growled, dragging her as she struggled. "I'm leaving, and you're coming with me. We cannot defeat them, but I will take from them what I can."
Jay finished off the last roaming squad of Rikayla's soldiers that had not abandoned the fight to guard their queen. The Serpentine harassed those troops at the buffer line they had established.
As soon as he finished off that squad, Jay got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He looked around until he spotted Tenebris dragging Nya in a headlock a short distance away. He became a mixture of angry and fearful; the Guardian of Lightning used his speed to dash toward Nya and her very dangerous captor.
Jay stopped a few yards from them. "Stop! Let her go!" he yelled, swinging the Nunchucks of Lightning above his head.
"Jay!" Nya screamed, "Look—"
Tenebris covered Nya's mouth with his hand. "Quiet, whelp," he hissed.
"I'm not gonna ask again," Jay said darkly. "Let her go, or else."
"You are so focused on the enemy before you," Tenebris said as if giving a pompous speech, "that you may have forgotten to check behind you."
Jay turned around just in time to block an attack from a clone of Tenebris. Jay defeated the clone quickly, but Tenebris had succeeded in dragging Nya to the spot were the armor of Milites lay.
"Have it your way," Jay whispered.
Time seemed to slow as Jay aimed the Nunchucks. With pinpoint accuracy, Jay sent a lightning bolt from the Nunchucks that struck Tenebris in the face. Tenebris cried out in pain and dropped Nya.
Jay used his speed again to catch Nya before she even hit the ground and carry her back to the Samurai mech.
Nya kissed Jay on the cheek and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you," she managed to get out between sobs. "I thought he was going to kill me."
Jay didn't want to, but he separated from her. "I don't think that lightning bolt killed him; I gotta go finish him."
Jay and Nya shared a kiss, and Jay began walking back to where he left Tenebris, determined to finish that fight and enact the dark creature's destruction.
Tenebris lay in pain beside the ancient armor, muttering in frustration. The right side of his face was burnt to a crisp.
"Fool queen," he growled. "I warned you before any of this started that you were not strong enough to harness this power. You didn't listen to me, and you waged a war that you could not hope to win. But no matter; our master will see his will done."
He glared in Rikayla's direction, surprised to see her staring straight at him from her chariot.
"This isn't over, dark one," he snarled before teleporting away with the armor.
Jay arrived at the spot just in time to see Tenebris disappear.
Rikayla roared in anger, blasting a Fangpyre chopper out of the sky and screaming, "COWARD! TRAITOR!"
Everyone on the battlefield heard the outcry, but the next thing the heroes heard was more chilling.
"Guardians—everyone," Mack's voice came over the radio. He sounded panicked, a tone that was unusual for him. "Danny is down."
Mack had radioed the other ninja the moment he saw Danny laying against that rock, the sand around him stained red. He sent up a green flare so that the others knew where to find him. Mack ran toward his old friend and knelt beside him. Danny was breathing, but it was labored. His eyes were open, but they were unfocused.
"Danny. Hey!" Mack gently tapped Danny's face. "Danny, look at me. Look at me!"
Danny forced his eyes to focus on Mack and let out a small laugh.
"Hey, Mack. Looks like he got me, that son of a—"
Whatever obscenity Danny was about to use to refer to Tenebris was cut off by a gasp and a cough.
Mack took Danny's hand in his own and felt a heaviness in his throat. "You're gonna be alright; I'm gonna get you to the Bounty and they'll—"
"Mack, no."
"Just hold on, you're gonna be—"
"Mack," Danny said with as much strength as he could. "It's too late. And…"
Danny looked past Mack to the buffer line. The army was still putting up a fight against the Serpentine.
"They need you," Danny said.
"Then we'll get somebody else to—"
"All of you." Danny squeezed Mack's hand.
Mack's eyes filled with tears. "All ofus, you mean?"
Danny coughed weakly. "I sure hope not."
There was a pause.
"Mack, listen," Danny spoke up again. His voice had barely any tone. "I don't regret this. It's my duty, and it was my honor to fight beside you all."
Danny coughed again. He was having trouble drawing breath. His next words were in a weak and shaky whisper.
"Mack… Tell Emily… I love her… Look—"
Another cough.
"Look after her… my sister… look after her."
A deeper breath, and barely audible words: "Go win this war."
The grip on Mack's hand slowly loosened to nothing, and the labored breathing stopped. Danny, the Ice Guardian, had fallen in battle.
Mack knelt there, mouth agape, tears freely flowing down his face. After a few moments of shock, Mack bowed his head and then closed Danny's eyes.
One by one, the rest of the Guardians came up to the scene, each of them stunned at the loss of their brother. Zee and Kasey were hit hardest by the loss, having known Danny for years along with Mack, and the others rallied to hold them as they wept.
Mack stood up and faced the Guardians. He was about to speak, but then he saw Rikayla a distance away behind them. She had blasted through the buffer line and was headed their way on her chariot, her army going with her and the Serpentine retreating ahead of them.
Mack looked to the west, at the setting sun, and narrowed his eyes. He wiped his face, cleared his throat, and turned to the Guardians.
"The sun is setting," he said, emotion gone from his voice. "She's growing stronger every minute… we're running out of time.
Danny gave his life for the struggle to defeat the darkness. He used his last breath to make a request: 'go win this war.' We've thinned out her army enough. I'm taking Rikayla. Be ready to back me up. And Zane… take the Shuriken of Ice."
Zane nodded.
Lloyd put a firm hand on Mack's shoulder. "We're right behind you—be careful."
The Guardians walked forward, Mack at their head, as the two armies charged their way. Seeing the Guardians, the Serpentine stopped their retreat and reengaged with the remains of the Army of Eternal Darkness.
The Guardians blasted dark soldiers left and right, each step bringing them closer to their ultimate enemy.
Mack used the Super Bolt to shatter a group of soldiers between him and Rikayla; there was nothing between them now.
Rikayla countered with a blast from the Hammer of Night that knocked the Guardians off their feet. She then attempted to retreat, but Mack quickly used the Super Bolt again to destroy one of the wheels of her chariot.
The chariot fell over, its horses disappeared, and the Queen of Darkness was tossed onto the sand. She stood up and found herself standing off with the Green Ninja. The Guardians formed a broad circle around them and fought off any of her soldiers that might interfere with their imminent fight.
"I gave you a chance to avoid this," Mack calmly said.
"Look to the west, slaves of the light," Rikayla called out. "Despair at the sight of the disappearing sun; this sight is the harbinger of your doom! Come, night! Come, and welcome the true master of the shadows!"
Rikayla outstretched her arms, and she screeched deliriously, "The Apex is upon us!
"The Overlord comes!"
Mack was taken aback by Rikayla's words. The Hammer of Night began to glow with an ominous black and purple aura, and everything suddenly made sense.
The dark ritual that Garmadon had caught Rikayla using to communicate with a "demon" years ago.
Rikayla's inexplicable great power.
Her obsession with the Apex.
The Overlord's spirit is residing in the Hammer, Mack thought. And she needs the unbridled power of darkness—only accessible during the Apex—to release him.
"No!" Mack yelled, attacking Rikayla.
Rikayla was forced to stop summoning the Overlord in order to defend herself, and the Green Ninja and the Queen of Darkness engaged in a vicious duel.
Both were throwing their full strength into each attack, and both were extremely adept at using their weapons to maintain a strong defense. The result was a deadly dance that was, perhaps, too graceful in execution for a battlefield but far too vicious for any other place.
Every blow blocked and countered by both fighters seemed to carry the fate of the universe with it.
Mack and Rikayla both went for a big swing, and the Super Bolt and the Hammer of Night locked together. As both struggled to overpower the other, the energy between them built until it exploded, sending them flying from each other.
Seeing the opportunity to take advantage, Mack quickly fired a blast from the Super Bolt that struck near Rikayla, knocking her further back into Kai, who kept her from falling and shoved her back toward Mack. Mack attacked up close again, sensing that he was wearing down Rikayla's defenses.
Suddenly, Rikayla ducked down, causing Mack to whiff on one of his swings. Rikayla struck Mack in the right knee with the Hammer, causing him to collapse and writhe in agony.
When Mack went down, the rest of the Guardians immediately set upon Rikayla. She practically caught their attacks in her hand and fed them back to the attackers.
One by one, the Guardians and their allies and friends found themselves beat up and laying on the ground, surrounded by a circle of fighting as the Serpentine struggled to maintain the barrier with the remnant of the Army of Eternal Darkness.
Lloyd was the last to be tossed to the ground, and he ended up beside Mack, whose pain from the knee attack seemed to have at least somewhat subsided.
"Mack," Lloyd coughed, "we can't give up. Not now. We've come too far."
Mack looked at Lloyd, his expression difficult to read, as usual.
"Lloyd, listen to me. Either Rikayla or myself is about to be destroyed by the other. If I fail, take everyone, and hide. Find the deepest place you can and hide from the spread of the shadows."
Lloyd looked horrified at the idea of abandoning Mack. "We can't just leave you—"
"Not up for discussion," Mack said firmly. "Promise me. Protect my family—our family."
After a moment of hesitation, Lloyd closed his eyes and nodded. "Okay. I promise."
Rikayla came to stand over Mack and Lloyd.
"Your promises will not hide you from me," the Queen of Darkness growled before backing up.
"Stand up, Mack. I won't kill an enemy while he lays on the ground without honor."
The Green Ninja slowly got to his feet, his right knee still weak and in pain.
"Honor? How dare you talk about honor?" Mack demanded. "My friend Danny knew more about honor than either of us ever will, and he fell to the blade of one of your goons."
Rikayla laughed. "What honor could a slave of the light possibly possess? You're all the same to me: weak, cowardly—your friend was no different. Though he betrayed me and fled, I still must admit this: Tenebris did a service removing him from a battle in which he did not belong."
Something snapped in Mack. He picked up the Super Bolt and furiously attacked Rikayla. Though she blocked his blows, he had caught her off-guard and was able to stay on the offensive pushing her back.
By this time, the Army of Eternal Darkness was totally annihilated, and so the Serpentine army simply stood by looking on. The other Guardians got to their feet and also watched as Mack wore Rikayla down.
Rikayla dodged one of Mack's blows instead of blocking, and she then managed to gain a few yards of space before gathering dark power in the Hammer of Night and blasting it at her enemy in the form of a black and purple beam.
Mack countered by blasting his own bright green beam from the Super Bolt. The two beams connected and pushed on each other. For a moment, it appeared that Rikayla's power would overtake that of the Green Ninja.
Then, the Guardians gathered in a semicircle around Mack. He looked at each of them, and then he closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened his eyes, they shone with a brilliant green light, and the beam issuing from the Super Bolt became brighter as it quickly began to overtake that of the Hammer of Night.
The connecting point of the two beams raced toward Rikayla, and her face became fearful.
A blinding explosion occurred as the Super Bolt's beam won the tug-of-war and the Hammer of Night was shattered.
The explosion left Rikayla laying at the bottom of a crater, her armor cracked, her golden crown broken in two, and her weapon destroyed. A thin purple mist swirled weakly far above the crater, and the Guardians stood firmly on their feet—not rocked by the explosion—at the crater's edge.
As the sun completed its descent below the horizon and the Sea of Sand was plunged into darkness, Mack took a deep breath and started limping to the bottom of the crater, the Guardians following behind him.
"This is where your power has gotten you, Rikayla," Mack said when he reached her. "A big hole in the ground."
Rikayla took a shaky breath and growled, "You know nothing of the darkness. Nothing of its resilience. Be warned, Green Ninja. Your victory is a fleeting one."
After a moment of silence, Mack responded: "We'll see."
The Green Ninja then blasted Rikayla with the Super Bolt, and the Queen of Darkness exploded into a cloud of dust, which then collapsed down to a single point and disappeared.
"FOOLS!" a sinister voice boomed from above the crater as soon as Rikayla was destroyed.
The Guardians looked up to see the purple mist thickening and beginning to take the shape of a large dragon.
"The Overlord," Lloyd gasped.
"Everyone, space out around the edge of the crater!" Mack shouted. The Guardians formed an even circle around the crater into which the Overlord was descending, and their allies stayed well back.
"Alright, listen up—quick," Mack radioed. "Lloyd is going to focus the power of the Golden Weapons minus the Super Bolt to project a dome of elemental energy to trap the Overlord before the Apex restores his power."
Zee, Kasey, Cole, Kai, Zane, and Jay held up their Golden Weapons, and Lloyd—giving off an increasingly bright golden light—rose into the air above the Overlord. Lloyd outstretched his arms, and shimmering golden dome appeared over the dark dragon, who was almost fully formed.
The Overlord raged and struck the dome but was knocked back by the power of light.
Lloyd landed back on the ground near Mack and asked, "Now what?"
"We don't have the power to destroy the Overlord," Mack replied. "Instead, I'll banish him into the Ethereal Divide—world between worlds…"
The Green Ninja held his weapon horizontally in front of himself and closed his eyes. "May his reign over the emptiness be long and prosperous."
Mack opened his eyes, and they glowed bright green again. The Super Bolt also gave off a green glow, and the golden dome became the same emerald light.
Mack let go of the Super Bolt, and it turned to stand vertically in front of him of its own accord. He held out his right hand, fingers spread apart, and stood there for a moment.
Everything went silent.
Then, Mack brought his fingers together, bringing his hand into a flat position. The dome glowed white, as if unimaginably hot, and collapsed faster than the eye could perceive.
In fraction of a second, the Overlord was gone.
The war was over.
