Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

Orgrimmar

All the orcs who were not in the middle of fighting a demon suddenly stopped their actions when they heard the identity of the skeletal pit lord. Mannoroth, the very same Mannoroth who had corrupted them and led to their enslavement. The very same Mannoroth who Grom Hellscream should have killed but somehow, is still alive

The king of the pit lords looked around and was amused at the shocked expressions of his former slaves. It was clear that they didn't believe his identity so he decided to refresh their memories. "If you mortals do not believe me then perhaps this will." Mannoroth said and slammed his spear into the ground, releasing a powerful shockwave and completely demolished a building

Horde warriors immediately went to engage Mannoroth but with his skeletal body came a few advantages such as being more difficult to injure. Without flesh and blood, at least compared to his fully restored body, the pit lord was able to easily fend them off. Some of the weapons that pierced deep into his body ended up being burned due to the fel energies that were coursing far more freely than it normally would had Mannoroth's body been fully reconsituted. Upon forcing back those who had not died from his initial slashes, Mannoroth gathered energies on one end of his spear and shot it at any vulnerable enemies at such a rapid speed. After killing six groups of both Horde and Legion warriors, Mannoroth was interrupted when a hammer was suddenly thrown at his face

"This time, I will finish you off, Mannoroth." Thrall declared after throwing a spear so that he could retrieve his hammer

Mannoroth simply chuckled at this declaration and tried to grab the orc, who dodged his hand. "Try as you might, your kind is already lost." he replied but before he could attack again, Thrall slammed his hammer upwards, breaking one of the pit lord's tusks, causing him to growl. Before Mannoroth could recover himself, Thrall attacked with a bolt of lightning but while it did some damage, it barely fazed the pit lord who promptly slammed him away using his wings. Mannoroth then moved to finish the Warchief off but was interrupted when a large battle axe cut through his body. Growling in annoyance, the pit lord turn his sights into the new comer. "Oh? A cow? And what can you do?" he mocked and brought his spear. To his complete surprise, his opponent was able to parry without immediately being crushed by his sheer strength

Thrall slowly got up after being slammed through a building and saw Cairne fighting Mannoroth. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Warchief snuck around while the tauren and the pit lord fought each other and when he found an opening, Thrall delivered a very powerful slam into Mannoroth's hind leg, causing him to lose his balance. Seeing another opening, Cairne took advantage of this by slashing the pit lord's front body but made sure his weapon would not be burned by Mannoroth's fel energies

"Why you insignificant mortal." Mannoroth hissed when he was slashed. Out of fury, he gathered fel energies in his off hand and slammed it right in front of him. He missed the tauren but the small explosion managed to graze Cairne. While Thrall was still trying to slam his hammer into the pit lord's hind legs again, Mannoroth forced himself up and created a small omnidirectional shockwave when he slammed the ground which forced back Cairne and Thrall was forced onto his knees. With a burning glare, Mannoroth then grabbed the tauren and threw him at the Warchief. "I will tear you apart for that." he said and released another blast of energy from his spear, inflicting significant damage upon them both. Before he could move to finish them, he was struck by stray ammunition from catapults or other ranged weapons. Annoyed, he gathered an orb of fel in his hand and threw it into a sky, causing fel fire to rain down. It was a spell similar to Drak'thul's but more powerful. Combined with the gunships and the fighting, it caused even more chaos

As more demons went to fight Cairne and Thrall, Mannoroth decided to amuse himself and randomly struck down or shot blasts of fel at any living creature that was unfortunate enough to get in his way, both on his enemies and his own minions. While Mannoroth himself was personally winning all the battles against any of his foes, the same could not be said for the Legion, who were slowly losing ground. Even though most of the city and the nearby areas were already burning, the gunships were eventually lost as the Horde managed to hold their ground. Mannoroth wondered why that was and saw that there were three draenei ships that ambushed the gunships, slowly shooting them down one by one before the gunships could target them. While the pit lord was distracted in observing the gunships being shot down, he suddenly growled in annoyance when he felt someone on his back

Taking a cue from how Illidan killed a pit lord in the previous demonic invasion, Thrall managed to sneak his way onto the pit lord's back with a bunch of spears in hand. Normally, he would be burned by the flames but with a little help from Vol'jin's magics, Thrall could barely feel the flames and thrust in the spears one by one

"You damn insect!" Mannoroth tried to grab the Warchief but was stopped when Cairne, now joined by Rexxar, attacked him head on

Rexxar was able to break off the other tusk with his axe thanks to an opening provided to him by Cairne. Together, the two of them continued their attacks on the pit lord who was still reeling thanks to Thrall piercing his body

Furious, Mannoroth unleashed a wave of fel energy and knocked down all of his attackers. Rexxar was the first to recover but was the most unfortunate as the pit lord run him through with his spear before releasing a burst of energy. The mok'nathal was barely alive after the attack and was knocked unconscious, slowly dying. Knowing that Rexxar couldn't do much after that attack, Mannoroth turn his sights to Cairne and blocked the tauren's axe. "You think you can fight me?" he said with a grin and to his surprise, the tauren was holding his own even against someone like him. He was starting to grow annoyed when Cairne was moving from side to side, taking advantage of a pit lord's inability to quickly turn

In the meantime, Thrall was looking for an opening and knew that they couldn't hope to fight Mannoroth for an extended period. Just trying to take advantage of his lack of sideway mobility could just end up with the pit lord using his magics while waiting for more of their warriors was not an optimal solution. Instead, Thrall resorted to grabbing an axe from a fallen Horde warrior

After suffering multiple wounds, the pit lord was pissed. "Enough!" Mannoroth yelled and slammed his spear on the ground again, causing a slight tremor that prevented anyone near him from moving due to losing their balance. This attack also hit Rexxar and finally killed him. WIth a single slash, Cairne was left in the same position as Rexxar, badly bleeding in his own blood and barely alive while the others who had tried to help suffered much worse. Most were brutally killed by the pit lord afterwards. "Have you forgotten that my blood runs through your veins?! It is my fury that flows in you. It is what drives you. It is what binds you to me!" he reminded everyone present before creating a massive hellstorm of fel energy. Despite only further increasing the damage on the Horde's home, Mannoroth's attack had the opposite effect. The Legion was already slowly losing and the pit lord's untargetted spell only made it worse

While the hellstorm was still on going, Thrall finally managed to find an elevation. Without wasting a beat, Thrall jumped down and plunged the axe onto Mannoroth's head. The pit lord was caught off guard and was helpless to defend himself. Mannoroth began to yell in pain and to Thrall's surprise, the pit lord simply removed it from him

Wiith a dark chuckle, Mannoroth turned to the shocked Warchief. His head was bleeding from the attack and his blood was slowly melting anything that comes into contact with it. "Foolish orc. My body has not yet fully healed. That attack you just did will not kill me before I fully recover." he said mockingly despite his bleeding and not just the one from Thrall's attack. "You are no Grommash." he said and shot a blast of fel at the Warchief. The Legion may be on the losing end but Mannoroth was not about to retreat without crippling them real hard. He knew that Sargeras will not be pleased if his attack failed. They were more than aware that despite the limited resources, the draenei should be able to at least transport a strike force to the Broken Isles. Since the Legion forces that attacked Durotar were still on their own, that meant that the attacks on the other areas of Kalimdor still have not succeeded

Having little time left to spare, Mannoroth quickly moved towards the Warchief who was still recovering from his last attack. As he expected, Thrall was a lot weaker physically than Grom or Cairne as he wasn't able to properly parry the pit lord's strike. "As I really thought. You are no Grommash." he repeated himself and attacked again

Thrall did not wait for the second strike and quickly moved to the side, dodging the attack. Quickly grabbing another nearby axe, he threw at the pit lord but it did nothing. It simply caused Mannoroth to chuckle at the desperation

"Is this all you can do, Warchief? You are far weaker than Blackhand or Doomhammer." Mannoroth mocked as he slashed again, this time infusing his blade with fel fire

The Warchief had no other choice but dodge. He knew that Mannoroth was way beyond him in physical capabilities but physical strength was not his only method of fighting. The pit lord was still trying to strike him down so he decided to summon some spirit wolves to aid him. With a little touch of his shaman magic, Thrall was able to give the one responsible for their corruption so much trouble and kept him distracted while he worked on something

Fighting six wolves at the same time was proving to be far more troublesome than Mannoroth expected. They kept biting and slashing at different areas of his body. Frustrated, the pit lord slammed the ground, instantly killing them all. "Your turn, Warchief." he said in mockery and caused an explosion of fel magics around him

Even though the wolves were already dead, they bought Thrall the time he needed. "Not this time, demon." Thrall declared and as energies gathered around him, he shot a large and continuous stream of lightning at the pit lord who had begun to yell in pain and frustration at how he had been tricked. While he had the advantage, Thrall doubted that this would be enough to kill Mannoroth and he couldn't keep it up for that much longer. After a few minutes, Thrall finally used up all his energy reserves and was brought to his knees out of fatigue

That attack however, had a very large effect. Most of Mannoroth's body has been destroyed. His front body has been cracked with fel energies and blood pouring out, his left arm near unusable, his other arm in not much better condition and both of his wings have been destroyed. Rather than be furious, Mannoroth appeared to have enjoyed himself. Even the pit lord king had to admit that he was impressed despite his injuries and he knew that this was not the end for him since his soul would still return to the Twisting Nether but he was afraid of Sargeras' wrath if he failed. "That was good. Now I see that you truly are good enough to command your kind." he complimented and tried to get up only to be stabbed by a large axe to the side of his head near where he was struck before. That finally caused the pit lord's body to combust

Thrall's eyes widened in horror. Mannoroth was about to be killed again but like with the last time, it came with a heavy price. "Cairne, no!" he yelled desperately. "Get out of there!" but it was too late. The tauren was too injured to move any further and got caught in the explosion of the pit lord's body, killing him

The huge explosion from Mannoroth's death created a distraction and stopped all the fighting. The demons knew that only one thing could have caused that would be the pit lord's death. The other two that came with him have already been defeated as well. With nearly all of their gunships shot down and their commanding officer dead, all surviving demons retreated with the Horde firing on them

While the battle was over, it did come at a heavy price. There was a large number of losses on the Horde and their home is more or less completely destroyed

Ashenvale Forest

The Legion was not just attacking the Horde's home. With Detheroc's information, the demons were aware that their old enemies were crippled and occupied while their draconic allies themselves were crippled or with the Scourge. It was the perfect time to attack but the force that attacked Ashenvale was significantly smaller than the ones in the other areas of Kalimdor. Even with all their forces, the Legion could not afford to put too many resources to attack the mortals since they need to pressure the Scourge a lot more and they still needed to finish building their defensive positions in the event their attacks failed

Despite the limited resources they used in invading Ashenvale, they were able to almost instantly set fire to the forests, that were barely clinging onto life, unhindered. The night elves' home was so far away when compared to the other areas of the Barrens so the draenei were not able to build their long range artillery that were designed specifically for the gunships. This made things easier for the Legion as they suffered little to no casualties upon landing. The demons were able to quickly secure a foothold on the eastern coast as the coastal areas were the ones that were the least defended. The gunships had a field day and threw the forests into complete and utter chaos. They were even able to empty all of their ammunitions and the gunships had to recharge

After the first barrage from the gunships, the Legion's ground forces finally invaded the forests. All of the Ashenvale inhabitants, which included the furbolgs, dark trolls and other creatures that lived in the forests, quickly went to fight off the demons. Since the gunships only fired at random, they did not inflict that significant number of casualties even with the infernals and fel reavers from their ammunition. The Ashenvale inhabitants have already learned how to effectively fight off the demons' constructs and were able to fend them off

In the middle of the chaos, two large doom guards, one larger than the other, suddenly appeared flew down and slaughtered an entire group of furbolgs. They were none other than Kruul and Kazzak, the latter of which has fully reconstituted himself

Upon eyeing the larger doom guard, Shandris immediately recognized who he was. Her surprise did not go unnoticed by her own subordinates

"Shandris? What's wrong?" Naisha said, noticing their general's uneasiness

"That doom guard." Shandris said, pointing to the largest one. "He was killed in the last invasion. He was one of the Legion's commanders."

"What? Then how is he still alive?" Naisha responded back before the group was forced to hide from the Legion's attacks

"It doesn't matter now." Shandris said eventually. "Just kill them before they finish what the Nightmare started."

The night elf group then began to fire back at their enemies and began inflicting some casualties while providing cover for the furbolgs who engaged the demons in a melee battle. Kruul was engaged by multiple dark trolls and Sentinels but was able to hold his own with the help of his magics. After a while of fighting, things turned dire when a large number of infernals suddenly arrived

Shandris knew that they couldn't fight them. What they were facing was the bulk of the Legion's invasion force so they had no other choice. "Retreat. Pull back deeper into the forests, now!" she ordered before her group shot their arrows, imbuing them with slight frost magics. Their spell casters then began casting a spell that would use the darkness of the night hide them in plain sight

"The night elves retreat like cowards!" Kruul declared when the furbolgs disengaged. "Chase them down. Do not let them escape!" he ordered

Even though Kazzak was the one in charge, he shared his own subordinate's desire to get revenge on the night elves and simply pressed on. Before Kazzak himself could join in the pursuit, he was distracted when a large explosion of fel energy in the sky. There was only one thing that could have caused it. "What?!" he said in surprise. The answer soon revealed itself when multiple dragons flew overhead heading straight to where the gunships were hovering. Turning to his own minions, he yelled at them. "Do not let them destroy the gunships!" he ordered. His minions obeyed and took flight. The large doom guard turned back and noticed that Kruul and the others were already gone so he trusted that Kruul would be able to deal with the night elves. Kazzak himself then took flight in pursuit of the dragons

The limited number of gunships were under attack by the dragons. Caught off guard, they were not able to change the targets of their weapons before they were attacked. Five gunships out of the nine brought were immediately down by the initial assault by the dragons, which was mostly bronze and a few red. There was not a single green dragon in this battle. A few minutes later, six more were downed as the dragons targetted the engines

After seven gunships were downed, only then did the demons' flyers became an actual problem. Doom guards and succubi have began inflicting damage upon the dragons but they still continued to assault the gunships. Since the most of the demons were already pressing on deeper to the forest, the dragons were able to fend off their attackers, that was until Kazzak himself killed two dragons by slashing them across their necks and released fel fire inside them. Before the doom guard could kill more, Alexstrasza flew at him and bit him in the body. Kazzak screamed in pain and his body was instantly torn in half. The dragonqueen then quickly released a breath of fire and killed the doom guard commander

"Finish the gunships off." Alexstrasza ordered after killing Kazzak. "Then we can go and help the night elves."

In the next few minutes, the dragons suffered casualties as the gunships finally fired their weapons at them. While the demons' air warriors were all killed, they did buy enough time for the gunships to finish changing targets and fire at the dragons. Even Alexstrasza herself was injured from their firepower and crashed into the ground. Soridormi noticed the dragonqueen fall to the ground and quickly shot her own breath at another gunship, inflicting critical damage and caused it to crash since she targetted its engines. The other dragons mimicked the bronze dragon's actions and flew in evasive maneuvers in an attempt to avoid the fire. Eventually, they finally finished off the the Legion's gunships

While the gunships were under attack, Kruul's forces pressed on deeper into Ashenvale and eventually reached Felwood. They were pushing on unhindered, not a single night elf or any other Ashenvale inhabitant got in their way. Kruul became concerned at the lack of resistance and even if the night elves were greatly crippled, he doubted that even they would let them pass that easily. His suspicions were proven right upon they reached the edge of Felwood. The dead trees that weren't burned by the gunships suddenly began to move. It immediately put the demons on alert but it was too late. A number of fel guards and infernals were immediately killed and broken when the trees came to life into treants and ambushed them

"Look out!" Kruul yelled and killed a treant before he too was pierced by another treant. Shrugging it off, he burned his way through his assailant before engaging the other treants in battle

The demons quickly followed the doom guard commander and engaged the demons. When the fighting finally seemed even after some time, the ground itself began to shake and were revealed to be mountain giants in disguise. Caught off guard, the giants quickly targetted the infernals and fel reavers. More arrows soon began to rain down upon the demons, revealing the rest of the night elves and their allies

Furious, Kruul threw fireballs at his enemies, forcing them back. He was not able to keep it up for very long as that would leave himself open to attack by the treants or mountain giants so he had to be careful. "These damn night elves are their tricks." he growled after killing two treants in a single slash. He gave an order for the gunships to fire down their weapons but got no response. "Kazzak..." he said, only now realizing that their main commander was not here. With the gunships giving no response, their stray shots flying overhead and the fact that Kazzak was not present all pointed to the possibility that something has gone wrong. "How many tricks do these cowards have?" he wondered in annoyance. "Finish them!" he yelled as he began to fall back. When he tried to take flight, he was suddenly tackled by a bear. "What in-!" he said and pointed his sword at the bear, which then began to transform and take the shape of one of their most hated enemies. Kruul has never met this particular night elf but he has heard stories about him

That night elf was none other than Malfurion Stormrage. "You are not going anywhere, doom guard." he declared boldly before creating large vines to attack the demon. Kruul managed to cut the first but was thrown away by another. Malfurion did not allow Kruul to recover and quickly moved in front of the doom guard. Using his wing, he used his powers to transform the feathers into thorns and slash demon across his face. Kruul growled in pain and managed to push back the arch druid

"Stormrage, I presume." Kruul said with a grin. "The one responsible for our defeat ten thousand years ago. Let us see if you live up to your reputation." he said and charged at the druid

Malfurion already got up and was forced back from the demons' attack. Unlike his brother, he was not as good at close combat and was unable to mount a counter attack. What he lacked in fighting abilities he made up with his druidic powers and Malfurion trapped the doom guard in vines. 'That won't hold him for long.' he thought and began transforming back into a bear. As he expected, Kruul burned through in a matter of minutes and began charging again. In his bear form, Malfurion stood a much better chance

Kruul tried to slash down his opponent but Malfurion in his bear form was a more difficult target to hit and dodged the attack. The druid then reacted quickly and bit on the doom guard's sword arm to prevent him from moving. Kruul hissed in pain and struggled to break from the bear's grip. Annoyed, Kruul decided to transfer his sword to his other arm and nearly sliced off Malfurion's head. While he did miss, he was able to inflict a wound on the druid's head. As Malfurion was forced back, the druid quickly shattered Kruul's armor using his claws before falling back when the doom guard released fel fire in an attempt to burn him

The druid then decided to transform back to his regular form and there was a wound on his head which was bleeding. Realizing that he wouldn't have an easy time even in his bear form, Malfurion decided to summon more treants to aid him

"What's wrong, Stormrage? Too afraid to fight me on your own?" Kruul mocked as he began slicing up the treants while making sure that his opponent never leaves his sight

Making his feathers glow, Malfurion shot thorns while the doom guard was distracted. These thorns were sharp enough to pierce Kruul and inflict significant damage and allowing the treants to inflict even more wounds. Calling upon the powers of nature, the treants moved back right as Malfurion shot volatile projectiles made up of the spirits of the forest. That attack caused a huge explosion. More demons then attacked the druid while he had his back turned and another doom guard was able to inflict a wound on his back before a succubus wrapped her rope around him and threw him away. Before the demons could continue their assault, a large fireball came racing from the smoke and hit the arch druid

Kruul then forced the smoke to clear and he revealed himself to still be alive but in a really bad shape. He had multiple wounds and one of his wings was completely gone. "Finish him off!" he ordered to his minions as he was forced on his knees. "Make the night elf pay!"

Before the rest of the demons could attack the injured druid, one of the succubus was killed when a flaming arrow was shot at her head. The others turned to where it came from and saw another night elf killing them

"It is you who will pay for defiling our home, demon." their attacker said, which was Tyrande. As the demons moved to attack her, she called upon a starstorm to strike. It wasn't as powerful as the ones she summoned during the war against the Emerald Nightmare and it didn't kill any of the demons. However, it did disorient her enemies and with her blades, she was able to kill them all in a melee combat. When she finished off the other demons, Tyrande turned her sights to Kruul, who began to get up and charged at the new opponent. Since the doom guard was badly injured, his movements were a lot slower and he couldn't cast his spell properly while Tyrande was barely scathed as all she did was provide cover from a distance. Dodging Kruul's slash, the priestess used one of her glaive to stab him in the chest and forced him to move back. As Kruul was recovering himself, Tyrande went for the head and sliced it off, killing him. With their enemy now dead, she quickly ran over to her lover. "Malfurion!"

"I'm alright, Tyrande." Malfurion said despite his wounds and she began healing him

The battle continues on. These first few chapters of the Legion invasion is basically the equivalent of the Legion assaults in WoW. I decided to hop on the trend and have Mannoroth defeated, again. Although this time it wasn't a humiliating defeat. He actually stood a chance and greatly crippled the Horde. I'm not sure if a partly reconstituted demon is as powerful as its fully healed version in all honesty but in this story, it would mostly depend on the demon in question

On the topic of Mannoroth, I did write to being able to take on and kill multiple Horde warriors and a few high ranking officers. I don't think Thrall is as physically strong as Mannoroth at all but I think he can manage to beat him in raw power since Green Jesus is powerful himself. Although since this invasion is much earlier than in WoW Legion, Thrall just isn't on the level of power he displayed in the canon not to mention he was somehow beaten by random demons in the Broken Shore. Or maybe his powers just doesn't work against demons or something but whatever

Before anyone else gets any ideas, no, Kruul is not as powerful as Malfurion. The only reason why he 'lost' is because he was blindsided. In all honesty, I'm not too familiar with how Malfurion's powers work. All I know is that it's related to nature in one way or the other and I don't think he is as powerful as Illidan in the canon, at least when both of them finally reached their peaks. However, in this chapter, he is significantly powerful but just got hit by an unexpected attack so Tyrande had to save him but if he wasn't ambushed, Kruul would have been dead already. I doubt a random Doom Guard commander is as powerful as Malfurion