A.N: I took the appearance of the new Aatrox but I gave him the background story of the old version before his lore update because I like his old lore more than his new one.
Chapter Thirty-four
Aatrox smashed his blade on the ground in front of him, killing a few dozen soldiers from Noxus and the Monarchs. Caius' facial features changed behind his helmet. His wide grin faded and was replaced with an open jaw and a shocked face. Aatrox swung his sword again and killed more soldiers on the ground, this time from both sides. Caius stared at him in disbelieve while the red demon-like creature stamped on a few of his original allies with his feet as he walked towards the north wall.
"What are you doing idiot? Why are you killing my soldiers?" Caius shouted angrily.
"You said that I should kill everyone who is standing in my way" the Darkin answered coldly, not caring about Caius' emotions.
"I didn't mean my soldiers. Now stop slaughtering my warriors and kill those who had annihilated your race and those who support them" Caius shouted in a demanding tone. Aatrox just stared at the Shadow Monarch and didn't move or did anything else.
"What are you doing you fool? Kill them all. NOW" Caius demanded. Aatrox kept staring at him with a blank expression on his face. Caius got mad and kept shouting at him. The heroes from Azeroth and Runeterra observed what happened in front of them. Sylvanas and the other archers had drawn their bows while the mages and cannons were aiming at Caius and the red, giant Darkin.
"I don't listen to mortal fools who are trying to give me orders" Aatrox hissed, his voice became louder and more aggressive as he continued "I AM AATROX. I AM THE ENDER OF WORLDS AND NO ONE WILL GIVE ME ORDERS". He lifted his massive sword in the air and walked towards Caius. The shadow Monarch tried to move away but he noticed that red glowing chains had sneaked around his body and prevented him from moving or doing anything else.
"What are you doing Aatrox?" Caius shouted angrily, his only left eye was staring at the Darkin. Aatrox came closer to him until he stood above him. Caius last healthy red eye was widened in shock as he realised what the Darkin was about to do.
"No please. I'm begging you, don't do that"
Aatrox ignored his shouts and begs and lifted his sword in the air so that its tip was a few dozen meters above Caius. "I don't like mortal weaklings who are begging for their lives" Aatrox hissed and held his sword in both hands as he crashed it down at Caius and completely annihilated him. The blade also pierced through the ground with ease and left a big yawing hole in it as he pulled it out.
Aatrox turned his head towards the wall and regarded the mortals who stood behind and on top of it. Their facial expressions were mixed, a lot of them were scared and the others were worried or feared him. The heroes didn't show that they were happy that Caius was dead because they had to deal with a worse and more powerful creature which was a danger for Azeroth, Runeterra and the entire universe.
"Don't look at me like that. I didn't do you a favour. It's getting even worse for you now" Aatrox shouted and lifted his sword, with one hand, in the air. None of the heroes was able to react so fast so that he or she would have been able do something against Aatrox's next action. He took a swing in form of a curve and destroyed a large part of the wall on the right side next to the main gate. A lot of defenders, who had been standing on this part of the wall, were either killed by the sword blow or feel to the ground and died because of the wounds caused by the fall. A few of them survived the fall but a lot of their bones were broken and most of them weren't able to stand up alone. A lot noise came out of Aatrox's jaw which sounded like a dark and evil laughter.
"FACE THE WRATH OF THE DARKIN" Aatrox roared and swung his sword again. This time he destroyed a large tower on which a cannon and a large catapult had been standing. Both siege engines had tried to shot at him before they were destroyed, without success. The other engines and the heroes fired everything they got at him and they managed to hit him with almost all of their missiles, arrows, spells and bullets but most of these missiles were blocked by his thick skin or the wounds were healed within the blink of an eye.
Sylvanas shot one of her most powerful arrows aimed at the Darkin's head but he ignored it, although it hit him in the head it didn't seem to hurt or bother him. "DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOU CAN HURT ME MORTAL FOOLS?" Aatrox shouted with a much shriller voice. "I AM AATROX, THE DARKIN BLADE, THE WORLD ENDER AND YOUR ANNIHILATOR". Aatrox lifted his sword in the air again and destroyed the massive main gate with a simple strike.
A massive bullet, fired by a cannon hit him in the chest but he didn't move a small centimeter backwards. He stood on the same spot and looked at the cannon which had shot at him. He walked to the turret, on which the cannon stood and then he grabbed the tip of the turret with his free hand. He squashed the tip and the cannon which meant the death for all the soldiers who had been standing on top of it. He turned his head to the left side and spotted the elemental lords who were attacking him with large rocks, water fountains, meteors, lightning bolts and powerful tornados. Aatrox was not impressed by their attacks, he didn't even tried to dodge it. He got hit by the spells but it turned out that he was not harmed at all by them.
He prepared another strike and the heroes tried hard to prevent him from attacking but they had noticed fast enough that they couldn't do anything against the Darkin. Aatrox executed his strike and destroyed a large part of the wall on the left side of the destroyed main gate. He killed at least over twenty soldiers with that strike, most of the victims of this strike were tauren, blood elves or members from the other races of the Horde.
Aatrox noticed that the corpses of the fallen defenders were raised by Sylvanas' val'kyries. "Resurrect! Return! So I may kill you again" Aatrox shouted amused, his lips were formed to a wide smile. "To the end of times, I shall kill you again and again" Aatrox shouted and killed a group of freshly raised forsaken.
"I could kill your winged ladies first so that they can't resurrect your fallen soldiers anymore… but that wouldn't be as satisfying as killing you over and over again" Aatrox shouted and stamped on a smaller turret, squashing it completely. The heroes kept firing, all what they have got, at him without success. They didn't manage to hurt the Darkin, they didn't managed to stop him from slowly destroying their defensive structure. He took the wall and the turrets apart but he did that very slowly with pauses of several minutes before he swung his sword again. Aatrox had managed to destroy eighty percent of the wall within an hour, he had done it very slowly on purpose because he wanted to let the defenders suffer more. He also enjoyed seeing them terrified, in fear and not sure what to do. The heroes had rushed away from the wall and because they know that they couldn't do anything expect watching him destroy everything.
Not even the zeppelins, the fly machines, or the fel bombs had managed to harm him. The heroes knew they couldn't attack him with manabombs without risking that the world tree would be damaged heavily as a result. The last commander of the Monarch of Darkness Ke-Jin had arrived and had transformed into a tall, purple skinned demon but he wasn't able to stop the World Ender. He managed to cause a small wound in Aatrox's left upper thigh but then he was grabbed by the Darkin's free hand and was squashed like a little insect. Cassiopeia, Renekton, Xerath and the other commanders of the attacking army had managed to escape through a portal, which meant that the only enemy, who was left, was Aatrox.
"What are we doing now? We can't stop him but we can't stand here and watch him destroying everything" Alleria said and looked at Sylvanas and then at Anduin. Sylvanas stayed silent so Anduin responded. "I don't know…Our warriors are exhausted, not even the mages, the engines and the fel had hurt him. We should…." Anduin wasn't able to finish his sentence because Aatrox interrupted him by shouting "THIS WORLD BELONGS TO THE DARKIN! I WILL LEAVE THIS WORLD IN RUINS! FOR MY FALLEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS".
Aatrox rammed his sword as deep as she could in the ground. The ground started to split up as a result, large, deep and wide cracks and gaps were formed and even small volcanos were formed which started to spit magma and lava out.
Aatrox pulled his sword out of the ground and walked towards Nordrassil. He was hit by innumerable spells, arrows and other missile but they didn't manage to hurt him. He swung his sword and shattered the barrier around the world tree without a problem. The barrier shattered into millions of small pieces, which were dissolved before they landed on the ground. He stopped his actions and observed the surroundings. His smile became wider as he observed the erupting volcanos out of which opening came thick and black smoke. Lava rained from the sky and killed or at least heavily harmed the ones which were hit by just a single small drop. A few dozen defenders weren't able to escape the fissures, which were heavily increased in size within a few seconds. A lot of them fell and were devoured by the fissures.
Aatrox raised his sword and trusted half of its blade in the world tree. It pierced through the wood like butter and the smile of its carrier became wider as he heard the loud and dismayed grasps of the night elves and their leaders Tyrande and Malfurion. He pulled the sword out and regarded the huge and deep hole in the tree's trunk. He prepared another strike but then stopped his action as a new idea came in this mind. He trusted his sword in the ground and lifted his left arm in the air. The heroes observed what he was doing and noticed soon enough that he had summoned a gigantic meteor, which was coming from the sky and flew towards the ground. Sylvanas guessed that the meteor would need a few minutes to impact on the ground.
"COME MORTALS! YOUR DESTINY AWAITS YOU. THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU" Aatrox shouted amused and observed the meteor which came closer and closer over the time while the soldiers of Azeroth and Runeterra broke out in panic.
The situation broke out in panic too and the defenders started to ran without a purpose and a destination in circles like scared chickens. Sylvanas was the first one who calmed down and immediately knew what to do. She told Jaina, who stood a few meters away from her, that she and the other mages should open as many portals to Runeterra as they could. Jaina nodded, she created duplicates which looked for other mages and then she started to open a portal.
Alleria rushed to Sylvanas and said "It seems that you have a plan sis"
"Yes Alleria, I have a plan. Our only choice to survive this is to evacuate everyone from this planet"
"But that means that we have to abandon Azeroth and the three wells"
"We have no other choice. Besides we can't do anything against him and he didn't seem to want the power of the wells"
"He wants to destroy Azeroth"
"We have no other choice. Or do you want to stay here and get blown up by the gigantic meteor?" Sylvanas asked and looked at her sister. Alleria shook her head and told Sylvanas that she had no idea what else they could do. Sylvanas looked around saw that the first soldiers rushed through portals which were at least five meters tall and ten meters wide. She counted that at least seven of these portals had been opened. She looked in the sky and noticed that the meteor had travelled half of the distance to the ground.
"We don't have much time left. Hurry!" Sylvanas shouted loud enough that even the soldiers, which were almost one hundred meters away from her, heard her command. Indeed the soldiers hurried and went through the portals as fast as possible. More and more portals were opened but Sylvanas knew that it was impossible to evacuate all soldiers, all wounded people and all supplies.
"Ignore the supplies just try to evacuate as many people as you can" Sylvanas shouted to the commanders and the other heroes then she created a portal with Elise's help. The portal was not as large as the other portals but it was large enough so that five persons could pass it at the same time. The meteor had come closer and was now only a travel of two or three minutes away. Aatrox regarded the mortals amused who fled away from his might.
Sylvanas ordered her val'kyries to go through the portal then she looked around and noticed that the elemental lords had already left Azeroth. She also saw that the heroes of Demacia went through the portal one by one after they had evacuated the last remaining soldiers from Demacia. Sylvanas knew that not even half of the forces had escaped through the portal but she also knew that they had no more time and that she had to go the through the portal before it would be too late. Sylvanas pushed Elise and Alleria through the portal and shot a glare filled with hatred at Aatrox before she went through the portal too.
She arrived in the gigantic square in front of the Citadel of Dawn. She looked around and spotted Elise and Alleria a few meters away from her. She rushed to them and hugged Elise tightly, kissing her softly and rested her head on her left shoulder. Alleria looked around and spotted thousands of people who had been previously on Azeroth. She also spotted a few hundred citizens of the Demacian capital city who stared at them in surprise. Alleria noticed that each commander and important personality, who had survived the war, had managed to get to Demacia. She spotted the leaders of the Alliance who had come together and seemed to try to calm down the people, who had fought on Azeroth.
"I can't believe that we were forced to abandon Azeroth. We had fought so long for its safety and we had lost so many good people but we failed and the others died for nothing" Alleria said, her voice was filled with grieve, sadness, anger, doubt and disbelieve.
"We had no other voice Alleria. This monster would have killed us" Elise said and looked at her lover's sister"
"You are right but it still was the wrong decision. I wish we could have done something against Aatrox but our attacks didn't bother or hurt him. He was too powerful for us. We became so much stronger over the past years but these additional powers were useless against him…"
"If we would have had another choice, we would have taken it but blaming us now wouldn't change anything. We have to move on and think about what we should do now" Sylvanas responded and tried to calm down her sister by looking deep in her eyes.
"So what do we do now sis?" Alleria asked, she was still busy dealing with her emotions.
"I don't know but be certain that we have to end this war by attacking Noxus sooner or later. Elise told me about its weaknesses and about secret entrances. But… we should not discuss this now. We need to rest and assimilate the events of the past weeks. Then we and the other leaders can meet and discuss what to do"
"You are right Sylvanas. All of us need to get some rest now"
A few days later
Sylvanas sat in an armchair in one of the noblest guest rooms in the Citadel of Dawn. The room's walls were decorated with expensive ornamentations, made out of gold and rare crystals. The room's furniture was made out of a very expensive wood, which was rarely found in Runeterra. The furniture was also painted in gold and decorated by a lot of symbols and signs which stood for Demacia. The floor was covered by a blue carpet which was made out of the same exquisite material, out of which the wall carpets were made.
On the lap of the Warchief rested a huge pile of documents, mostly name lists of the ones who were definitely dead. The rest of the documents were reports of missing people and lists with the names of those who had escaped from Azeroth. She threw the documents on the floor. She bent forwards and rubbed her forehead with her left hand while millions of thoughts raced through her brain. Sylvanas was definitely overtaxed with the current situation.
They have lost Azeroth to this Darkin, most warriors from Azeroth or Runeterra died during the war which had started three years ago. The war was not over, their enemies didn't won but they had managed to doom Azeroth. They snatched the beloved Azeroth away from its inhabitants. Most of the survivors had lost their native planet, their homes and their families. A large number of innocent, non-military persons were still on Azeroth and at the mercy of this avenging unholy angle better known as the vengeful Darkin Aatrox. Sylvanas was sure that he would spare no creature on Azeroth, not even the innocent ones, the women or children. He would slaughter everyone who would cross him. The worst part was that Sylvanas couldn't do anything against it. She had become so powerful over the past three years. She was pretty sure she that was almost on the same power level as a titan. But she had witnessed that the combined power of the heroes of Azeroth and Runeterra wasn't even enough to harm the World Ender.
She had asked herself, multiple times over the past years, where the titans were. The creators of the universe, had disappeared years ago before the war had started. Not even Magni Bronzebeard, who had a rapport with them, wasn't able to find them in the past years. Sylvanas believed that the titans had abandoned them in the most vulnerable moment were the inhabitants of Azeroth and Runeterra had needed them the most.
She didn't know that the Monarchs had tricked the titans and captivated them in an, for the inhabitants of Azeroth and Runeterra, unknown dimension. Caius had stolen their powers and had used these powers to creature more soldiers. The titans were still locked in that dimension and waited that somebody will find them and free them one day.
Sylvanas stared at the wall on the opposite side of the room. She blamed herself that she wasn't able to protect Azeroth and its inhabitants, she knew that nobody could have saved it but she still felt guilt and sorrow every time she saw someone who had lost everything because of her failure. She had disappointed the inhabitants from Azeroth, the Horde and her people the Forsaken. So many lives were sacrificed for no purpose. They had tried to defend Azeroth but the fallen had died for nothing. Azeroth was not destroyed but it has to suffer under the wrath of a monster.
Sylvanas was brought out of her thoughts as she felt a warm hand stroking her chin. She turned her head a bit and saw Elis who looked at her with a worried expression on her face. Her lips formed to a small smile as the Spider Queen noticed that Sylvanas was looking at her.
"Is everything alright?" Elise asked and slowly crawled in Sylvanas' lap. She placed her arms around Sylvanas' neck and hugged her tightly.
"Not really… My task was to protect Azeroth with all of its inhabitants but I failed. My weakness doomed my people, the Horde and every other living being on Azeroth" Sylvanas said, her voice was filled with sorrow, self-hatred and anger aimed at herself.
Elise took a deep breath and responded "It's not your fault baby…You did everything you could. We did pretty well against Noxus and we killed all leaders of the Monarchs. We would have won the battle and saved Azeroth if Caius didn't summon this demon".
"Would have… You said it how it is. We would have won but we didn't. I did everything in my possibility to defend Azeroth but I didn't succeed…I'm a failure"
"No you are not… You became a very powerful being and you did your best to defend our worlds. Don't forget that you didn't fight alone. The leaders of the Horde, of the Alliance and the leader of our allies from Runeterra fought with you. Together we did our best and we failed together. It's not your fault" Elise said with a calming voice and tried to convince Sylvanas that it wasn't her fault. Sylvanas was silent for a few minutes and closed her eyes while she enjoyed Elise' touch. She tried to order her thoughts while Elise massaged her shoulders softly but it was harder than Sylvanas had thought.
Sylvanas opened her eyes after quite some time and looked in Elise eyes, which were filled with worry. "You are right it's not my fault alone but that doesn't change the truth that I wasn't able to protect my people"
"Sylvanas…" Elise started but she was interrupted by her lover who silenced her, by placing her index finger on her lips. Sylvanas placed a soft kiss on Elise lips and signalized her that she should stand up. Elise did as she was told and looked at Sylvanas. Sylvanas told her that she needed some time alone to assimilate the events of the past week.
"I will come back in a few days. Tell the other leaders that I want to have a meeting with them in a week. We need to discuss what we will do next" Sylvanas said and looked at Elise before she walked out of the room, not waiting for her lover's answer.