"Lord Aria all is prepared" Hanabusa reports standing outside her door

"...and they're ready to go?" Aria asks hesitantly

"They await your command" Hanabusa replies then puts his hand on the door "..my lady please don't force yourself to do this if you don't want to"

"I do want to" Aria tells him "I'm just preparing myself.. for what it means"

"The final battle" Hanabusa says

"Yes" Aria opens her door and walks out

"your majesty" Hanabusa bows

Aria lets out a breath "let's go"

-

The ninja are in the city with Wu and Misako when the ground begins to tremble violently.

"uh is anyone getting the feeling of de'ja vu?" Kai asks

They run out to see stone warriors crawling out from cracks in the street just like they had done years ago when the Overlord reemerged. The stone warriors looked new and remodeled, they had modern armor made by Aria no doubt.

"Well now we know what she's been doing while we were distracted!" Jay shouts

"Ninja, protect the citizens" Wu commands

"Ninja go!"

The ninja quickly get to work keeping the citizens out of harms away. Lloyd however was looking for Aria, if the stone warriors were here then where was she? Lloyd suddenly realizes that she must be looking for the core and started heading towards the castle, alone.

Hundreds of guards were on the look out and Lloyd managed to get past them without being spotted. None of the guards were wearing the white uniform of the Vampire Knights, they must've been with Aria.

Lloyd heads to the doors leading to the basement, in which he entered. It had parts of armor and dark matter around, Aria was definitely working on the new stone warriors down here. Lloyd went to the back of the room and opened up the cellar leading into the serpentine tunnels.

"Their's no going back now" Lloyd tells himself before climbing in and closing the door behind him

Lloyd made his way through the tunnels using his elemental fire to light the way. Of course their's no way that the core would be out in the tunnels right? So their has to be some kind of passage that opens.

"You're working on my last nerve right now Skales"

Lloyd heard Aria's voice and quickly ran to the opening where the snakes lived. He hid behind the wall and peeked in. The Vampire Knights were around keeping the snakes at bay while Aria stood in front of Skales.

"We're telling you we don't know" Skales argues "what usse would I have of lying to you Lord Aria?"

Skull of Hazza D'ur: He lies

"Shut it you ssstupid ssskull!" Skales shouts at it "I'm not lying"

Skull of Hazza D'ur: You are too

"Are not!" Skales argues

Skull of Hazza D'ur: Are too!

"Shut it both of you!" Aria growls

'ok so this situation is bad' Lloyd thinks to himself 'but Aria looks really hot right now..'

Skull of Hazza D'ur: My lord, I can open the passage to the core, it is hidden somewhere in these caverns

"Skales you made this place your home to escape the dangers of above" Aria says "but by not showing me where it is you are bringing yourself, your family, and your tribe harm, so I suggest you show me that passage"

"Daddy is she talking about those big doors with the strange wording on it in the northern halls" Skales Jr speaks

"uh- i- no" Skales says quickly

"Oh, some big doors with symbols" Aria walks over to Skales Jr "is it somewhere you can't go?"

Skales looks at his son "Skales Jr don't-"

Kaname covers his mouth.

"Dad" Skales Jr looks over worried

"Don't worry he won't hurt your dad" Aria smiles "just show me where the doors are, ok?"

Skales Jr nods, he takes Aria's hand and leads her out of the room, only Hanabusa and Kaname follow, the rest of the Vampire Knights stay behind to watch the snakes. Lloyd quickly follows behind them, being careful to not make a sound and to stay hidden.

They soon come to the large door with symbols that Aria recognizes as draconian. Aria smiles and pats Skales Jr's head.

"Good, thank you" Aria pushes him back gently "go ahead and go back to your family"

Skales Jr nods and runs off as Aria, Kaname, and Hanabusa face the door.

"Alright skully" Aria holds the Skull of Hazza D'ur up "open it"

Skull of Hazza D'ur: yeah yeah, I got it

The Skull of Hazza D'ur started chanted and he soon glowed green, then the symbols on the door glowed green until they suddenly opened. A rush of strong energy was released through the door that sent Hanabusa and Kaname to their knees.

"There it is boys" Aria smiles "the core"

In the center of the large stone room was a large black and white crystal. It wasn't just large though, it was massive, about 5 times the size of a human. Aria walks towards it and held her hand out.

"No don't!" Lloyd ran out of hiding and into the room

Aria faces him looking startled and took a step back toward the crystal.

"don't try to stop me Lloyd" Aria says "you won't be able to handle the consequences"

"Aria.. if you do this.. their's no going back" Lloyd takes steps towards her "just come back to the surface and call off the stone warriors.. please.. then we can fix things"

"fix what?" Aria asks "it won't bring back my mother and father, but this will"

"but it'll change ninjago forever" Lloyd argues "a world consimed by darkness will only have bad consequences"

"...but I have to do it.. for my family.. for me" Aria takes another step back "I'm sorry Lloyd"

"Aria" Lloyd steps towards her

Aria reaches out and touches the core.

"No!" Lloyd shouts running towards her but is sent back by a pulse of darkness

The realm's core turns completely black and is radiating darkness. Above, dark clouds form and the city turns dark, the citizens and the ninja look around in fear as they could hear laughter. Suddenly ghosts were flying everywhere frightening the citizens, and their was nothing the ninja could really do. They tried destroying them but they just reappeared.

Back down below, Lloyd was pressed down by the darkness. The sound of Aria's heels against the stone floor was getting louder as she walked to him. Lloyd looked up to see Aria, Hanabusa, and Kaname standing before him.

"Their's no going back now" Aria's eyes glow purple "Lloyd"