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Theramore Isle

The Alliance's homeland has also been under attack from the Burning Legion. This attack force was larger than the one attacking Durotar. The Legion knew that the draenei's settlement was nearby which meant that they were better protected with their long range artillery. They couldn't even attack the draenei directly as that would mean they have to go through Theramore first. Even with the artillery, they were not guaranteed to be one hundred percent safe from the Legion's attacks. To make matters even worse, Mal'ganis decided to lead this attack himself, intent on settling his score

When he was in reach, rather than wait for the gunships to get into position, Mal'ganis decided to teleport himself along with a small group of larger fel guard commanders right into the main port of Theramore at the very same exact spot that he left from when he revealed himself. The Alliance were caught off guard by the teleportation and were slaughtered

"Keep them busy." Mal'ganis ordered and began channeling his magic

The Alliance quickly reacted to the demons' presence and attacked. They tried to fight their way through the fel guards. This endeavor proved to be a challenge as the fel bats began attacking and provided cover

"Mal'ganis!" a voice yelled from behind the Alliance soldiers. It was Arthas. "Face me, dreadlord. We will finish this right now once and for all."

Upon seeing the one who considers him as a nemesis, Mal'ganis stopped channeling, having finished his spellwork. "In due time, young prince." he said with a grin and a few seconds later, three portals appeared, two to his sides and one above him in the air. These portals were connected to the gunships and the Legion's ground forces began pouring out of the demons. Fel hounds led the charge followed by the stronger demons

Arthas' eyes widened in surprise as none of them anticipated that the Legion would do something like this. "Retreat! Fall back and prepare to defend the city." he ordered, completely furious at how he was caught off guard by this very same dreadlord for the third time

Still with his grin, Mal'ganis observed as his enemies retreated. He then began casting a spell that would echo his voice throughout the entire city, fully intending to mock his nemesis once more. "Too bad for you, young prince, you never realized the true purpose of the attack earlier." he said before chuckling. "It was all to test just how far the draenei's artillery can reach. Just like always, you are just a few steps behind." he mocked and cut off the spell. He knew from Detheroc's intel and their own knowledge of the draenei's artillery that most parts of Durotar and the entirety of Ashenvale would be out of range. Theramore was a different story since the draenei was nearby. The Legion didn't bother trying this trick on the Eastern Kingdoms as they knew full well that Illidan's magical prowess was not to be underestimated and that the demon hunter could very feasibly turn the portal's energies on itself and create an explosion on the other side

While demons continued to pour out of the portals, their flyers have begun arriving in greater numbers. Fel bats led the charge and provided the cover Mal'ganis needed but now, fel guards, succubi, doom guards, eredar and more demons have begun attacking the city. They knew that a lot of them would not even make it to the city if they simply rode the gunships but Mal'ganis had prepared for this specifically

Turning his sights to the skies directly above, Mal'ganis flew to a rooftop and then used his magics to cast a spell that all dreadlords can do, a one time use portal that leads into the Twisting Nether and rain down an infernal or fel reaver. He did this a few times and the Legion's constructs began raining down on the Alliance's city. The Legion's gunships were still too far away for them to fire their own infernals or fel reavers and cause effective chaos but on the dreadlord's orders, they fired anyway

The Alliance were helpless to close the portals Mal'ganis had opened but they were able to hold their ground. Their city was already burning but that did not deter them from defending it. When the Legion's constructs began raining from the sky, the defenders were thrown into disarray

After killing a succubus, Sylvanas was forced to take cover and began taking notes of how the constructs were raining down. She was confused that up in the sky, there would be some odd spots that would disappear after a construct appeared. 'This is not from the gunships.' the general thought. 'Or at the very least, some of it is not.' she corrected her own thoughts when she saw some projectiles come from the direction of the sea. 'Someone is summoning these constructs directly into the city.' she said and slowly made her way up to a rooftop, engaging a few demons along the way. The demons were able to wound her but it was nothing fatal. On the rooftop, she finally found the reason to the conundrum. 'That must be Mal'ganis.' she thought as she observed him casting some magics. She hasn't had that much experience with the dreadlords but they all looked the same to her. Sylvanas only figured that because of how the dreadlord mocked Arthas. The general then looked around the battle. The closest one to the Mal'ganis' location was none other than Arthas himself

With a sigh, Sylvanas nocked an arrow and shot the doom guard Arthas was currently fighting. By targetting its eyes, she gave him the opening he needed to finish it off. Confused, Arthas turned around to look for who shot the arrow and finding Sylvanas. When she had his attention, she made a gesture with her hand and pointed at another rooftop. To make sure that Arthas understood what she was talking about, she nocked another arrow and pointed it at Mal'ganis

When Arthas looked at the ranger general, he followed where she was aiming at and saw his nemesis distracted. Since Sylvanas was also shooting arrows at the enemies on the way, Arthas took this chance to make his way towards the dreadlord. "Mal'ganis!" he yelled and immediately charged at him only to be met by two fel guards hiding in the shadows. Arthas was barely able to blocked one of them but the other was able nearly force him off the roof

Mal'ganis then began to laugh as he turned around. "Well, well. We finally meet face to face once more, Prince Arthas. Now, where is that other paladin or that mage woman with you?"

"You damn coward. You just ran away instead of finishing the job." Arthas hissed venomously as he slowly regained his footing. "And yet, you call me the one who fled."

The dreadlord then sported a wicked grin. "Because that is the difference between us, young prince. We do not fight the same battle. You are only thinking of the current battle while I am thinking about the full war. That is the flaw you mortals all have." he said and began motioning for the fel guards to leave them. "For all your talk about honor or chivalry, you only end up feeding our meat grinder." he finished and threw a ball of fel at his opponent who was able to dodge. Using his claws, Mal'ganis used it as a pseudo sword to parry Arthas' own. With them in a lock, the dreadlord used his other hand to slash the prince, who was forced to move back. The prince then quickly charged right back but Mal'ganis casted a sleep spell. Rather than let his enemy remain unconscious, Mal'ganis grabbed him by the leg which instantly woke him up before slamming him into the floor and throwing him into a wall. "Are you listening, Arthas?" he asked in an almost soothing tone

Arthas slowly got up but his body was throbbing in pain. "Do you ever stop talking, you damn demon."

Mal'ganis decided to ignore his comment. "I will tell you a little secret, Prince Arthas. Whether you believe me or not is entirely up to you." he spoke while his nemesis continued to glare at him. "The Legion's greatest strength does not lie in our numbers nor is it in the level of power we possess. It is in our understanding of how our enemies work. How do you think we were able to infiltrate the Alliance and gain recruits from your kingdoms so easily? Because we had a great insight in how your so called leaders would think and the effects on their subordinates. How we threw the Eastern Kingdoms into complete disarray is our greatest strength and your greatest flaw. People like you only expect the enemy to attack straight to your face and never at your back. That is also why Illidan Stormrage is such a threat as he also fights in the same exact way. Your own arrogance that the universe revolves around you, that if you do nothing that is so called 'sinful', then you will be able to defeat any enemy by being pure or honorable, only leaves you vulnerable."

The prince listened to his nemesis intently but ignored the first part. It was only when the dreadlord spoke about their infiltration that he finally listened. What his nemesis had said was eerily similar to what Uther had said to him after the events of Northrend except Mal'ganis was simply far too blunt. 'How many times have we suffered all because of that mindset? Uther told me not to be like him. Was this what he was talking about?' he wondered. He shoved all those questions down and gripped his sword tightly. Arthas was baffled on why Mal'ganis would talk about things like this especially with all the chaos going on

"Now then..." Mal'ganis trailed off as he summoned a sword into one of his hands. "Take that information to your grave, young prince." he said and charged at Arthas. The prince jumped to the side and quickly took a jab at the dreadlord. Mal'ganis caught Arthas' sword with his bare hand that he infused with a small amount of fel to protect it before using his other hand to cut him down. Arthas was able to erect a shield around him in time but as soon as he dropped it, Mal'ganis threw a swam of bats at him

Arthas was stunned as the bats bit him all over his body and this opening allowed Mal'ganis to kick him off the roof and onto the ground. As Arthas slammed in the ground, the dreadlord jumped down and was able to run him through. The prince hissed in pain and coughed up blood when a blade pierced him in the torso, completely furious at himself for losing to Mal'ganis like this

"Just like any typical mortal." Mal'ganis said as he removed his sword. "So easy to manipulate and so blind to the reality of what they face." he said while gathering another horde of bats. As he was about to finally kill his nemesis, he left himself open to attack and was struck with a pyroblast. The dreadlord reeled from the attack and turned to where it came from, finding another familiar face. "Ahh, Jaina, was it? I have been wondering where you were." Mal'ganis greeted her. Ignoring the dreadlord, Jaina simply teleported to the wounded Arthas and completely avoided a fight with Mal'ganis. When he tried to attack her, Jaina teleported again and got Arthas out of there. Mal'ganis was surprised at this turn of events. "Not even a word." he commented before he casted the spell from earlier to summon more of the Legion's constructs. He wasn't aware if the gunships were still hovering or not but it didn't matter as thanks to the portals he had created, most of the demons were already in the city. Upon looking at the portals, he noticed that no one was coming over anymore. 'All of our forces must be engaged by now.' he thought. He neglected to close them to give the Alliance the impression that there were still more that were waiting to cross

Suddenly, an incredibly poisoned arrow was shot at Mal'ganis. The dreadlord hissed in pain and when the poison finally took effect, he was brought to his knees. In agony, Mal'ganis pulled the arrow out. "Who did-" he demanded to know but was cut off when another arrow was shot at him. He looked around and finally saw who attacked him. "You..."

"I will kill you for what you did, dreadlord." Alleria hissed, her voice filled with venom and her face reflected nothing but pure hatred. In her time in Outland, she had learned how to make arrows that were laced with a poison that would completely incapacitate a demon. She never really had any use of it up until this point. In the short amount of time between Kael's treason and the Legion's invasion, Alleria had, in secret, created a small number of these arrows. "You took my family from me demon and I will make you suffer for it."

Despite the pain and the fact that he could barely move, Mal'ganis began to chuckle. "Do your worst, elf. You know as well as I that we demons cannot be killed here."

"But I don't intend to kill you." Alleria said back. However, the two were soon under attack by a doom guard. The ranger was about to take aim at it but it was killed before she could. Alleria turned to look to who killed it and saw her sister covering her back. Knowing she was safe, she drew another arrow in her quiver and stabbed the dreadlord with it, slowly and painfully

Sylvanas was still on the rooftop and provided cover from above. Demons attacked her now and then but more rangers arrived to support her. When Alleria arrived to help Arthas, she was concerned on what her sister might do but she couldn't really do anything to stop Alleria from torturing Mal'ganis. Sylvanas had to focus on fending off the remaining demons in the area

"Sylvanas, look!" one of the rangers of the roof said a few minutes later

The ranger general followed her subordinate's line of sight and saw that the portals created by the dreadlord slowly starting to collapse on itself. "Mal'ganis must have been the one keeping it open." Sylvanas said and glanced down to her sister, who was busy torturing the dreadlord. 'Damn it, Alleria. Don't go too far with this.' she thought before turning to the rest of the rangers. "Our city maybe burning but our forces still hold. Let's finish this up before the Legion sends in reinforcements."

Throughout the whole battle, the Legion's gunships did not stray closer into Kalimdor since there was no need to do so thanks to Mal'ganis' portals. They only travelled on the maximum distance their weaponries can reach. The dreadlord's portals have allowed them to deploy all their forces without having to endanger themselves even further to the draenei's artillery. When their weapons needed recharging, they pulled back to the Broken Isles. Mal'ganis' portals have already close on their end even though it was still open in Theramore up until his death

Lordaeron

Contrary to what happened in Kalimdor, the Legion's assault has been continuous in Lordaeron. Even after Anetheron was killed just a few hours after the fel storm appeared, the assault did not stop. The Legion has suffered numerous losses and Illidan's forces only gained more and more soldiers. The demons targetted the Scourge's defensive positions while more demons still continued to attack

Illidan was flying in the skies and engaged the Legion's flyers. 'It has been hours since they attack and they should be aware that they are only giving us more bodies.' he thought. Looking for any clues as to the reason why, he began sifting through the eyes of the shades they had left in Kalimdor. After a few minutes, he finally realized why when Mannoroth suddenly burst into the scene in the Horde's home. "I guess he wants to settle old scores." he noted before flying down and slaughtered a group of demons. 'Kel'thuzad, where are you?'

'I am in the second highest level, my king. On the balcony.' Kel'thuzad responded before the link was cut off. Just minutes later, Illidan came flying in, shooting down a few demons along the way. The lich turned to his master. "My king?"

"Kel'thuzad, listen. The Legion is up to something and I have a pretty good grasp what it is." Illidan said and began giving him instructions. "Do you think you can do that?"

"I can, my king. But why?" Kel'thuzad asked curiously

"I'd rather not talk about it until I'm sure but I want to be prepared just in case. There is no way the Legion would just recklessly attack us." Illidan answered. 'While targetting our artillery batteries.' he thought to himself. "Also, lich..." he trailed off. "Once you have done what I've said, I want you to do something else after that."

Kel'thuzad stared at his master for a few moments, completely curious as to what exactly was going on and he too was growing concerned at why the Legion was just giving them more corpses to raise. "I understand, my king."

"Good." Illidan said before creating another mental link. 'Vashj, Malygos, Maiev, Illysanna and all demon hunters. Come to the second highest level on the fortress, now.'

A few minutes later, all of the Scourge high command and mentioned individuals that were in Lordaeron finally arrived

"Illidan? What is it?" Illysanna asked, being the last to arrive

"All of you, return to Silvermoon, now." Illidan responded and completely surprised them all

"What? Why? Illidan, what's going on?" Vashj demanded to know

Rather than give a response, Illidan merely pointed at the battlefield below. "Take a good look. Our numbers are continuing to grow yet the Legion is coming at us like it doesn't matter."

"So?" Kor'vas asked

"The Legion is trying to mislead us." Illidan said, looking right at her. "Sargeras isn't the only one who can play that game." he said and merely confused them further. The Lich King then created a portal. Since the Legion were using their magics to disrupt the Scourge's portal network, Illidan had to do it himself. "Kel'thuzad will explain what I think when you arrive. Don't worry too much. If my suspicions are true, then I'll retreat as well. If I am wrong, then we simply make our stand in Silvermoon. Now, go. Link up with Drak'thul and Agatha." he ordered and begrudgingly, they all obeyed. Vashj took one last glance at him and hoped that he knew what he was doing. When the portal closed, he decided to create another rock which would contain the information that his subordinates would need

Nearly an hour after the rest of the Scourge high command have left back to their main stronghold, a huge explosion occured in the middle of the battle. Whatever caused it has killed both demons and undead

Illidan was inside the fortress when the commotion outside got his attention. 'I was right. The Legion wanted us to think this would be the decisive battle.' he thought before cutting himself and dropping his blood into a ritual circle that would activity an intricate spellwork, one that was designed to destroy the fortress itself should it fall into enemy hands. The spell can only be activated by the blood of any of the Scourge high command and no one else. It would take a few minutes before the spell would fully activate so Illidan made his way outside and found a sight that he somewhat expected, the source of the explosion

"Stormrage! Show yourself!" the cause said, which was none other than Archimonde the Defiler. Unlike the last time he was here, his body wasn't fully regenerated and the scars were still obvious. His left arm was nothing but bones with flowing fel enegy while the left side of his face was completely burned by fel fire. Most of the right side of his body was flesh but horribly scarred. "Unless you are a coward like Malfurion!"

The demon hunter turned Lich King observed from another balcony. 'Some things never change.' he thought, recalling how Archimonde made that very same declaration in Mount Hyjal. The demon lord was clearly trying to taunt Illidan. He grinned. "We will face each other soon, Archimonde, very, very soon." he said to himself before creating a portal. 'Any surviving Scourge members, pull back to Silvermoon. Lordaeron is lost.' he gave the order and left

A few minutes later, the fortress exploded in various areas with fel energy

"What?! That damn demon hunter!" Archimonde cursed. The Legion tried to outplay Illidan and he was able to turn the tables. "Pull back! Get to a safe distance!" he ordered. He knew that even though they were still coming, they would soon run out of troops to throw at the Scourge since they still had to assume defensive positions in the Broken isles

Silvermoon

Illidan's portal soon created an exit at their fortress in Silvermoon, specifically at the Sunwell Isle, where the rest of the Scourge high command was waiting anxiously along with a few other high ranking members. "Kel'thuzad, is everything ready?"

"Indeed, my king." Kel'thuzad responded. "As instructed, it will create a gateway to any world provided we know where we are headed."

"Illidan, enough games." Vashj said angrily. "What in the hell is going on? Why are we creating portals?"

"Because the Legion was indeed misleading us. They were throwing everything they had into disabling all of our defensive artilleries, most of which are now destroyed." Illidan answered. The others merely waited for him to continue. "They wanted all of our stronger weapons disabled so that they can spring their trap, Archimonde." he finished and everyone was surprised. They were all aware of a demon's ability to regenerate but the demon lord being back was something completely unexpected given how short the amount of time has passed was since he was defeated

"How is Archimonde already back? It's only been over a year since the Battle at Mount Hyjal. How can someone of Archimonde's power have regenerated completely?" Kor'vas asked incredously

"It doesn't matter how." Illidan said as a matter of fact. "The Legion must have something that would speed up a demon's regeneration. I wouldn't put it past them given how long they've been around. However, Archimonde's body was not fully restored. It was still very scarred and only his bones was restored on his left arm."

"Regardless of that..." Allari spoke up. "Now what?"

"She's right. Are we to make our stand here?" Asha wondered

"No. Vashj, Malygos, Maiev, and the demon hunters." Illidan said while creating a fel image of another rock. "I need you to venture into Mardum, one of the Legion's territories, and retrieve the Sargerite Keystone."

"The what? And how do you know about this?" Illysanna asked curiously

"The Black Temple." Illidan answered. "When we were finishing off Magtheridon, I found learned about Mardum in the very same library I learned about Argus. It contained information about Mardum, the world that Sargeras once used to imprison the demons although it did not contain the full history of the Burning Legion. The Sargerite Keystone is a skeleton key to all of the worlds the Legion has ever conquered. The records that indicated that the Keystone is somewhere on Mardum, at least when it is not in use."

"And how do you know it wasn't fake, Illidan? You know the Legion is a master manipulator." Vashj pointed out

"I don't. That whole Mardum thing could very well be a trick but even so, it is a lead." Illidan answered

"I see. So you want us to investigate this lead. If it is false, then you want us to gather the information from the demons and locate it from there." Kor'vas said before realizing something. "This was something you were already planning on doing, isn't that right?"

"Indeed. Once we had gotten rid of C'thun, the Legion was next. We know next to nothing about the Legion and this is our only lead so it's worth investigating." Illidan answered

"But how do you know that the Legion won't be waiting for us?" Maiev asked

"I don't but it seems hardly in Sargeras nor Archimonde's nature to account for something like this and they don't have any knowledge that we have the means to travel between worlds." Illidan said as he looked at the Eye of Aman'thul then to the hallway that leads directly to the Sunwell. "That is why Malygos will go with you. He should be able to analyze the Legion's magics and aid you in maintaining a low profile."

"How paramount is it that we recover the Keystone?" Valeera asked

"Very. There is no guarantee that the Legion will not overrun this place so it is your only way back here." Illidan answered

Illysanna stared at him, knowing that Illidan was lying about his real goal. She had a good feeling on what he really wanted to accomplish. 'Illidan, you know that everyone here would not take kindly to what you really intend to do. You should know that.' she thought but kept her silence

With a long sigh, Vashj finally relented. She was completely worried about him. "At least have the decency to admit that you want to test your powers against Archimonde."

Illidan smirked at his lover's statement. "Of course I do." he said. A silence then took over as he waited for any further questions or objections and received none. He then led the ones he would send to Mardum down the hallway which leads to the Sunwell, which Kel'thuzad had already prepared beforehand. Inside, he began casting a spell that allowed him to peer directly into Mardum. When he found that the area the portal would open was completely empty, he opened the portal. "Go!" he ordered and the group then began to pass through the portal with the exception of one. "Vashj..."

"I know, Illidan. Just be careful." Vashj said before giving him a kiss. "I'll see you soon." she said and finally went through, repeating the last words he had said to her when they last separated

With them finally on the other side, Illidan closed the portal and made his way back outside. "Kel'thuzad, do you remember that place in Ironforge where one of the Pillars was supposed to be located in Ironforge?"

"I do, my king."

"Good. I want you and Agatha to take the remaining Pillars there and try to see if you can harness its power to stop the felstorm from here. If not, then at the very least, ensure that it will not fall into the Legion's hands. Make sure you cover your tracks so they will not find the hallway that leads to the chamber." Illidan ordered

"But what about you, Illidan?" Agatha asked

"I will remain here and make a last stand. If not a single one of us is here then the Legion might grow suspicious." Illidan answered. "Now, go. The destruction of our fortress in Lordaeron will only buy us a short amount of time."

Under their master's orders, Kel'thuzad then began creating a portal using the Eye of Aman'thul. When it was done, he took Agatha and the other high ranking Scourge members with him

Before anything else, this is where the concurrent battles end. The Durotar battle from chapter fifty six to this chapter were all concurrent so the contents of the next chapters are after all these battles

With that out of the way, I did place emphasis of a couple things that Azshara taught to Illidan in chapter thirty one. One of them is about understanding. The Legion understands how their enemies operate and they used that to their advantage. In a sense, it also emphasizes the part about your greatest enemy is yourself as that is also what Kil'jaeden did when appeared as Ner'zhul's wife, I think, which led to him being manipulated by the Deceiver. The other thing is about the tunnel vision. Their goal is to end the Legion but Illidan isn't letting that limit his vision by standing their ground. This also somewhat mirrors how when the Black Temple was under attack in the canon, Illidan instead sent his Demon Hunters to retrieve the Keystone

If you're curious as to why Arthas used a sword in this chapter. His hammer was destroyed when he got possessed by Y'Shaarj and I didn't think it was significant enough that I had to specifically mention its destruction. I've also had Arthas lose to Mal'ganis. To be honest, I just don't think Paladin Arthas is even close to challenging a Dreadlord in a no holds barred fight especially since a Dreadlord's specialty is fighting dirty which is the exact opposite of how a Paladin fights. On the other hand, I would find it completely irresponsible if the Draenei learned nothing about the demons after being chased by them for thousands of years. That is the reasoning as to why Alleria had an arrow rigged with a poison. If the Draenei truly has nothing learned nothing about the demons, then well, they suck

This is also where the part in the Black Temple comes into play. Illidan was absent in fighting Magtheridon because he was busy doing whatever in the archive. It was already mentioned in a previous chapter but I thought I'd clarify it

And yes, you can probably figure out what would come in the next chapters