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"What the hell are you talking about?! Open your eyes, Scadel! These humans are trying to kill your race, our race! I can understand if you're brainwashed but I know you're not!"

"Avila...it is best if we stop talking and fight him. Whatever your reason, Scadel, the fact that you killed Erakor warrants your death."

Scadel opened his wings and said, "Then let's fight to the death."

Avila saw how her father turned from a loving and caring father to a dangerous dragon with old darkness aura. It felt so dark and full of hatred, like regret. Avila wanted to help, but her concern right now was to Seraphor and... something that suddenly came out of nowhere. Was it electricity?

Xiciro and Scadel flew on the skies between the Argoons fighting with some dragon slaves. Xiciro managed to absorb most of Scadel's darkness, but he was outmatched in term of speed and agility. He was also outmatched in melee combat due to his affinity in using darkness. Scadel stayed calm throughout the fight, while Xiciro, fueled by hatred and desire for vengeance, fought relentlessly with his own darkness. Of course, some of them hit Scadel, but he did not even make any expression of pain, or even any expression at all. Like the first time he met Scadel, the Argoon was hard to read.

"Why are you fighting for the Dragonsbane? I thought you're the one that hates them! Is that a lie for you to approach Erakor?"

"I admit, I've lied to you all in Nia Baleth, but the reason I work with these wretched being is solely to save those eggs. You, an outsider, would not understand the pain and anger of losing those eggs."

"I can't understand you, Scadel! They are clearly trying to make them into one of their armies!"

"I understand that perfectly, Xiciro, but he gave them hope and freedom unlike anything the Argoons had ever done before."

"What?!"

"You can feel his darkness emanating from the arena below. How it's cold, ancient, and powerful."

"You mean Bartoz? I know his darkness, but this is not him!"

"Yes, the dragon, Konaz, had given me the details of that dragon. He's the original darkness, but he's not as powerful as Konaz."

"This is pure madness, Scadel. You are talking like a fanatic who lost his path and only see one false idol!"

"If I don't do this, then they will die," said Scadel while attacking Xiciro. "The eggs will die."

"Then save them if you can! What happened to you, Scadel?"

Scadel slowly lost his calm façade and broke down in front of Xiciro's eyes.

"I can't let them die! I know I can't! They are the future of our race, the Argoons, but I can't let them die! That is why, I...I...defiled them into...monstrosities."

Hearing those words made Xiciro realized the horror that Scadel had caused. He knew it perfectly well. He knew how the eggs could be Darkened for survival, but improper use of the darkness will cause them to become uncontrollable monstrosities. It was only in theory, since Xiciro had never knew any incident like that.

There was no such incident, except his own. He and his mate had done that before, and the product was Avila, their dark angel, their little monster, their daughter.

"What have you done to your own children?!" exclaimed Xiciro in pure terror.

"I... they said the eggs were not going to survive without external help. Erakor told me a way to make the eggs survive is to make them into Dark Angels, at the cost of their parent. I couldn't do it. My mate had died, and I could not die. So, I took the alternative. I used a ritual to force the eggs into Awakened before they hatched. I should've known better."

"What happened to them? Scadel, tell me what happened to them!"

"They...were deadly, and stink of death. I knew that it failed, and if I didn't take them away from Nia Baleth, they would contaminate the eggs and turned them into...monsters. I can't let them die, but I can't let the Argoons suffer my fate. So, I took them to this prison, as Konaz could stabilize them, by making a deal. If I can kill Erakor and open Nia Baleth, then he would fulfill the end of the bargain."

"Scadel, you do know that is a lie, right? If he can have two dangerous Argoons with unstable darkness and possible personality in their army, we will be decimated! No, not just us, but the Dragonsbane, too! Darkness is not something that can be easily controlled. I may come naturally in us, but if you put it to the dragon with hatred that fueled his darkness, then nothing will be right."

"It is too late!" exclaimed Scadel while charging up his darkness-enforced wings. "Everything has been done! I am no longer able to change it! I will see to it that my hatchlings will survive, even if they must destroy the world and kill everyone I love!"

"Scadel, listen to me. I know this aura. There's a less malevolent dragon fighting against the dangerous darkness. I can trust him. We can still save your hatchlings. He is the original darkness."

"Original darkness! Then everything will end up the same, anyway! I will gladly throw my life away to save the eggs he had taken! This world is nothing but despair! You, fellow sinner, will soon know the futile effort of saving a life and sacrificing the others! Let all be one singularity of darkness!"

"Then you are beyond saving. For that, you must die."

Xiciro was reluctant to kill the misguided dragon, but he knew that Scadel had lost his sanity when he realized the mistake he had made. Xiciro had done the same thing to Avila, but his version was not like Scadel's. Years of planning and research helped him stabilize Avila's last egg, but at the cost of his own purity, in which he walked in the path of the Awakened. Avila, his mate, saved her daughter by giving her the blessing of the Dark Angels, at the cost of her life.

He did not want it all to go to waste. He did not want Avila to die, too. At least, for once, she had a loving dragon that could support her. Xiciro would need to make things right to Scadel by relieving him from his burden. He had been lost. He could not be told to meet his hatchlings anymore. He's long gone. His hatchlings would understand, and hope that Scadel would still be remembered as a loving father, unlike him, who had lost that before. Such is the life of dragons.

Avila, on the other hand, was concentrating on the aura she felt. It felt like lightning, and was so powerful, but she couldn't understand what. She felt the same thing many years ago, but the one with the same intensity was only Seraphor. She knew her mate's unique aura due to his hybrid status, but this one was pure electricity.

It suddenly struck her when she realized that it was similar to a draconian near her.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Avila with a gasp.

"Damn right it's impossible!" exclaimed Richard beside her. "He can't be alive!"

"I saw his body explode in front of my eyes, Richard! There's no way..."

"There's still a possibility! Do you remember his organic metal? We called it nanotechnology, and it's self-regenerating! If one remains, it will reform. At least, that's what I learn from watching science fiction movies."

"Whatever, Richard! Can you blast through that wall?"

"I can if it's not being reinforced with magical shield! We still have one rocket left and I can still use my railgun, but they won't do anything unless the shield's down or the wall is breached from the inside!"

Just then, Xiciro managed to get the upper hand by risking himself between Scadel's wing slash. It almost cut his wings, but he didn't heed them as he grabbed Scadel. The dragon tried to struggle, but Xiciro's bigger body means that he was pinned.

"If you wish to die that much, then I will grant you that peace! It is better if your hatchlings do not see you in this state!"

"I will not let your plan succeed! I will die, but you must come with me!" "Oh, I will, Scadel. This is a matter of luck and skill. That dome has a glass with no shield up, right?"

Scadel realized what he was trying to do, but he knew his death was inevitable. Xiciro then said, "Here we go!" and started flying downward with breakneck speed. In the final moments of his life, Scadel realized that his decision was wrong and regretted everything he had done. He knew he was desperate, but this caused him to fall into the dark abyss and unable to recover. He knew that death was the only way to atone for his sins.

He felt his body touched the glass wall. He knew it is time. He barely felt the sharp edge in the middle of the arena pierced through his back and into his heart. His life flashed in front of his eyes, from the moment he hatched in front of his loving parents, his successes, his failures, and his greatest moments. It felt so sudden, and everything was no more. He fell into the dark abyss that he feared, but now, he embraced it as friend. It was only peace and silence.

Xiciro flew to the side before the same spike-like structure hit him. It wasn't all that effective and he ripped part of his wings, but otherwise, there was no serious injury. His problem, however, started there.

He was in the middle of two darkness titans fighting each other. Bartoz, the dragon he knew, was fighting a dark purple dragon with similar abilities with him. Xiciro realized that they were fighting to a standstill and wouldn't be able to gain the upper hand unless an external help was given. Xiciro then quickly used his ability to absorb some of the enemy's darkness into him, which caused Bartoz to be able to attack the other dragon.

He quickly joined Bartoz. The dragon saw him, smiled, and said, "Ancestors...you really are here. Worked out those wings of yours?"

"I'm not here to listen to your unnecessary comment, Bartoz," replied Xiciro. "We both tried to find you and what do I find? You are fighting on par with this weakling? Do you still felt sympathy over this undying dragon?"

"Why does everyone keep reminding me? Is it something to blame for?"

"You do know you're fueled with the suffering of others, right?"

"Yeah, right," said Bartoz with a scoff.

Meanwhile, outside, some seconds before Xiciro talked with Bartoz, a blast from behind the wall opened the interior and the shield. A surprised Avila was greeted by a blue-scaled dragon that was standing upright and carrying makeshift weapon. He noticed the black dragon and said, "You're the help, right, love? We need your help!"

Avila turned towards Richard, who nodded and followed the dragon. They saw what was unfolding inside, and Avila saw her mate, injured after a fight with darkness, being treated by a light-blue scaled dragon. She tried not to get distracted, still thinking that he wouldn't recognize her anyway. Her attention was towards her father and Bartoz. Both dragons were casually talking to each other without realizing an attack coming from the dark purple dragon. She quickly used her wind walk and directed a strong gust of wind towards the dragon. He was quickly thrown back as he wasn't realizing the strong wind coming towards him. She then stood between the two of them.

"Stay alert, father! I know he is a precious friend but this is not the time!"

"Don't worry, Avila, my dear," replied Xiciro. "I am perfectly fine."

The whole conversation caught Bartoz's attention. With a surprised gasp, he said, "You told her?!"

"No, not really. She's a genius to be able to find out. I still need to have a long talk with her mate."

"Stop talking and concentrate on the enemy!"

Avila didn't have time to help her father when a dragon leaped towards her. She was small enough to move the dragon away from her and quickly throw him away with wind. Her attention, though, was to a chained dragon in the middle of the arena, close to dying. Her Dark Angel ability showed her that he was already dying and was beyond help, but she needed to at least lessen his suffering.

She approached the sea dragon, but before she could do anything to him, a sudden blast of light came out from somewhere near the dragon. She quickly saw a familiar figure, Raithorakh, morphing into a dangerous weapon that quickly decimated everything on sight into dust, especially the spectacle. She could only sit there and say "wow" towards Raithorakh. It clearly outweighed her sense of nostalgia and by seeing Seraphor near him.

The fight was short and quite rapid. There was no meaningful loss from the Argoons except some that were attacked by the sky anchors. Everything seemed so fast, but what made Avila felt nostalgic and sad at the same time was the appearance of her beloved, Seraphor.

It was only time before he could recognize her, or not at all.