"He's coming. Prepare for the assault! We'll have to defeat him before asking him for help," Enya yelled out a powerful ancient incantation: "Scorpio Style, Hunter Art, Slayer Mode, Purple Zen; Horse Spirit, Ring Twelve - Purple Poison Pegasus!"
She unleashed the Purple Water Pegasus spirit of fin-like wings, liquid mane and tail, and a shell-covered horn. It neighed furiously and reared, having placed Enya in its core.
"Aries Style, Tamer Art, Beast Mode - Fusion!" Scott cried. Fireball glowed yellow and fused with him. Scott got embraced by his Yellow Dragon spirit: "Dragon Spirit, Ring Twelve - Yellow Fire Dragon!"
"Virgo Style, Tamer Art, Predator Mode - Fusion!" Tiger fused with all of her three pets. Then she unleashed her Ox spirit: "Ox Spirit, Ring Eleven - Green Nature Ox!"
The others unleashed their spirits as well. The dragon roar came closer. From the dark night sky, a large black-to-blue dragon dived in, dashed on the floor and made a crack. It was gigantic, even bigger than Fireball and Scott's Dragon spirit fused together. It roared, unfolded its black-to-blue wings, and took a battle pose.
"Ah, why is he so hostile?" Erisa shuddered inside her Bunny spirit's core.
"It is expecting a sacrifice. But the hell we're giving it!" Goldmund shot a black sand ray at the dragon. "I'll be the decoy. You three subdue it!" he glanced at Enya, Tiger, and Scott. "The others help me!"
The battle began. Goldmund, Nina, Tamie, Nick, Erisa, Riza, and Edmund threw various powers at the enraged Moon Dragon, trying to injure him and grab his attention, while Enya began accumulating her Purple Zen energy to cast a powerful ancient incantation that would allow her to subdue this gigantic dragon.
Scott's Dragon spirit growled and went on the direct offensive, dashing at the Moon Dragon (even though he was of a smaller size than the opponent), and began biting him on the neck:
"Take this, you damn lizard!"
"Hey! Dragons are not mere lizards!" he heard the telepathic message of Fireball in his head.
"Heh! Winged lizards. Big deal!" Scott chuckled, apparently in the mood of teasing his comrade to pay back for his insults of before.
The Moon Dragon was getting more and more enraged. It opened its mouth and spat large current of water which hit Scott's Fire Dragon spirit and made it vanish. It also wounded fire dragon Fireball so direly that he got separated from Scott. He emerged as a red dragon and fell to the floor injured. Scott, barely conscious, coughed and looked up at his fallen comrade:
"F... Fireball..."
"Scott!"
Tiger got worried once saw her Beast-rank father collapse. However, the Moon Dragon didn't sleep meanwhile - it threw another shot of water ray, now at Tiger. This latter didn't tremble. She - the Nature Ox - was stronger than the Water element. Her Nature Ox charged forward and stabbed its large boulder horns right into the Moon Dragon's belly. The Moon Dragon bellowed in pain. He swung his ice claws and scratched the Ox spirit's face. Tiger shrieked as she was linked with the Ox spirit, so the scratch-mark appeared on her own face. Before she could counterattack, the furious Moon Dragon blew snow blizzard out of its mouth. Ice and snow were too much for the injured Nature Ox spirit to handle - it vanished. Tiger collapsed to the ground, wounded and bleeding.
"Tiger!" Scott barely stood up and trotted towards his daughter.
"I'm fine..." Tiger gave him a courageous smile.
The Moon Dragon had gone all mad. He blew snow blizzard all around the hall. The friends had a difficult time dodging his attacks when they heard Enya's proud cry:
"Done! Scorpio Style, Hunter Art, Slayer Mode - Subduing Poison Chain!"
Enya's Purple Pegasus spirit released Purple Zen-infused powerful chains which coiled around the Moon Dragon's neck, hands, and wings, and hit him with immense Purple Zen poison power.
The Moon Dragon roared in pain. He struggled against the chains, but as the Slayer rank (the final, Rank Eight of the Hunter Class), Enya, who had already accumulated the necessary energy, was powerful enough to hold him. She injected more and more poison in his body. Tiger grew compassionate with the giant dragon roaring and bleeding in pain:
"No! Stop! You're hurting him!"
Enya didn't listen to Tiger - she knew if she stopped it would mean their end. The Moon Dragon, unlike Tiger, wouldn't pity his opponents - the human species he hated so much.
The weakened dragon diminished in size and began morphing into a human. Fireball quickly turned back into his human form too and shouted as loudly as he could:
"Be careful! He'll gain more energy now when he turns into a human-dragon hybrid. It is his second transformation before he completely surrenders - the Dragon Face!"
He had barely finished his words when the giant dragon morphed into a two metres tall human-being, but it could hardly be called a human - apart from a human-like body and long fiery orange hair, it had giant claws on both hands and feet, torn black clothing, and a horned dragon face as if a mask.
"Ah, what a monster!" Nina and Tamie grew frightened.
The worst was still forward - just as Fireball had said, with this transformation, the Moon Dragon gained even more power. He broke Enya's chains and charged at no one but Riza. Tiger jumped before her friend who was frozen in fear:
"Riza!"
"Tiger! Riza! Look out!"
Scott ran towards them. Tiger accumulated her Green Zen energy and wanted to make a giant shield but was late. The Dragon Face swung its icy claws at them. The girls screamed and closed their eyes.
Little droplets of blood reached Tiger's hands. The frightened girls reopened their eyes and shrieked - the icy claws had pierced through Scott's chest, as he had jumped in to protect them.
"Dad!"
"Scott!"
"I... promised Dana," Scott coughed blood as he smiled at the girls, "that I'd protect you both, even if it cost me life".
He fell to the floor.
"No! Dad!"
Tiger yelled in horror - he couldn't be gone, not when she had finally found him! Riza was no less dreaded - how would her mother feel now? The man she loved had... No, not only that!
"Scorpio Style, Hunter Art, Slayer Mode - Zen Chains!"
Enya threw the subduing chains at the human-dragon monster again, tied him and hit him with powerful Purple Zen currents over and over. The beast shrilled in pain. His dragon mask shattered. He blacked out, revealing the face of an orange-haired young man.
In the dark night, Tiger's and Riza's painful sobs and the friends' laments could be heard throughout the Moon Temple.