It is said that only the Dark can destroy the Dark. That, in itself, is true.

But it is no less true that the Dark's power can be broken, and that breaking does not differ greatly from destruction. For the Dark is destruction, the all-consuming need to rend and tear and annihilate, and never is that threat of annihilation greater than when Light and Dark are in direct, open conflict...as they are now.

The spell that Merriman has worked into the golden shield is a spell specifically designed to break the power of the Dark. He has used it once before, against the White Rider's colleague. He had nearly used it on one other previous occasion against the Mordred of his own world, in a last desperate defence of his lord Arthur -- but had stayed his hand, at the last moment. Both occasions were moments of dire need.

As is this one.

The Dark strikes the shield with a force almost beyond mortal comprehension. Everything that the White Rider of the Dark was and everything that the White Rider of the Dark wished upon all of creation is focused in that single blast of power. It is the crushing weight of despair and the blind rage of murderous fury, the twisted pain of betrayal and the choking nausea of terror, seeking to consume its greatest enemy.

For a moment no longer than a heartbeat, there is a gaping sense of nothing --


the high joyous sound of many bells ringing


-- and then there is a great flash of searing Light, and the world turns in on itself in a soundless explosion.