Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

Note: In this chapter, there will be a flashback part. In the flashback, any bold conversational text will be Kil'jaeden speaking. Everyone else in the room will use regular texts. As usual, the location and date, flashback or not, will also be in bold texts

"So, you finally revealed yourself, Stormrage." Archimonde said, summoning his own sword to his hands. "At least you are not your brother who lets mortal girls do his dirty work for him."

This caused Illidan to smirk. "And here I thought you would sit this one out considering how badly you were beaten the last time you were here."

Furious, Archimonde quickly charged at the demon hunter. He towered over him in size which allowed Illidan to easily dodge. Illidan drew first blood when he slashed the demon lord on his wrist. Archimonde moved back before his opponent could inflict more injuries. Illidan noticed this and pressed his attack by firing an eye beam, forcing the demon lord further back. In response, Archimonde released a pulse of magic that forced back the demon hunter

"Impressive, Stormrage. Your power has grown since we last met." Archimonde complimented, genuinely impressed

Illidan didn't bother to respond and merely took to the skies. Archimonde knew that his opponent would have a very easy time killing him because demon hunters mainly rely on speed and precise strikes. To avoid dying to the next attack, the Defiler decided to reduce his own size so that he was equal to Illidan, who saw this and quickly locked swords with demon lord pushed him back and used his left arm to release a stream of fel fire. Illidan blocked this with his wing before he used the exact same attack on his opponent who just sliced it to the sides with his blade. In an attempt to slow down his opponent's movements, Archimonde transformed parts of the ground in pools of fel fire

The demon hunter was caught in one of these pools but before the demon lord could land a hit, he took to the skies again. Illidan then quickly fired an eye beam which Archimonde simply pointed his sword at and blocked the attack. Unfazed, Illidan flew down and delivered a powerful kick onto Archimonde's face, sending him reeling. Before he could recover, Illidan shot another eye beam, sending the Defiler flying. Thinking he might not get a better opportunity than now, Illidan decided to unleash his demon form

More demons then went to attack Illidan and aid their master. 'Some people never learn.' Illidan thought and created illusions of himself to distract them. While the other demons were distracted, the demon hunter killed them one by one. While he was killing them, Illidan was sent back by a bolt of fel and his illusions was soon dispelled. Out of pure instinct, he raised his sword, which blocked Archimonde's own sword slash. 'Gotta hand it to Azshara for teaching me to be prepared.' he thought while he was in another sword lock with the Defiler. "You know, Archimonde, for someone who despises my brother for letting mortals do the fighting, you certainly let your own pets do it for you."

Archimonde growled at the insult. "They attacked out of their own free will. They deserved their fate." and this time, he kicked the demon hunter with his knee before grabbing him by his horns and threw him into the ground using only his left arm. The demon lord then quickly tried to thrust his sword right into Illidan's chest but the demon hunter was fast as well and Archimonde only managed to graze his wing. Using his uninjured wing, Illidan slammed it right into Archimonde's face and quickly tried to slice him down. To Illidan's surprise, Archimonde caught his sword with nothing but his bare hand and to add even more surprise, it was his left arm, the very one that was still injured from the last invasion. "Surprised, Stormrage? You would do well to remember that you are not on my level."

"Perhaps but it's not about levels." Illidan countered and decided to surprise the Defiler. Rather than struggle in trying to get back his sword, he instead pushed him away. He then kicked Archimonde's right arm, which was his sword arm, and caused him to loosen his grip on his own sword. Illidan quickly grabbed it and used it to slash the demon lord on his right shoulder. Archimonde hissed in pain but Illidan kicked him on his face before spinning around and delivered another stronger kick which pushed back the demon lord. The last attack also caused Archimonde to lose his grip on Dusksoul. Illidan rushed to take back his sword

Annoyed, Archimonde surrounded himself with fel fire and disappeared. Even with his speed, Illidan wasn't able to defend himself and the Defiler appeared behind him instantly and slashed him using his bone arm. Illidan reeled back while Archimonde blasted him with fel fire at point blank range which would have sent the demon hunter flying away but the demon lord grabbed his leg and slammed him into the ground. Retrieving and raising his sword, Archimonde was about to kill Illidan only for the demon hunter to fire an eye beam straight to his face

In the distance above the fortress was Archimonde's flagship. It has taken damage but was still airborne. Aboard it was Kil'jaeden, who was standing on the top deck and at the very front tip of the ship. He had been onboard ever since the assault on Silvermoon began but he didn't interfere since this was Archimonde's territory, which was managing invasions. When Archimonde went down to the battle, the Deceiver chose to stay behind and watch so he casted a spell that would allow him to witness the battle between the Defiler and the one that was once called the Betrayer

'Archimonde is underestimating Illidan's capabilities.' Kil'jaeden thought when he witnessed Illidan disarm his brother. 'Sargeras, you idiot. Why would you send the both of us to ensure that the Scourge's main stronghold is destroyed?' he continued to observe and decided to extend the spell he had cast to instead of simply seeing the battle between Illidan and Archimonde, to allow him to observe the entire fortress. 'Strange. In Lordaeron, the other demon hunters were defending it. Where are they now?' he wondered when he scanned the entire fortress. 'The Sunwell is destroyed but Detheroc had mentioned that its energies were used to destroy Northrend. The continent reeked with its powers and of the Eye. It would have been impossible for Illidan to open a portal somewhere else without another object fueling the Sunwell. Could he have found something else to use?'

Before the Deceiver could continue pondering, fel flames appeared behind him. "Status report."

Kil'jaeden turned to look at it with an irritated expression on his face. "This battle could go either way. Archimonde is being far too reckless and is greatly underestimating Illidan's capabilities." he said and showed Sargeras the battle. "We have another problem."

"And that would be?"

"The demon hunters are missing." Kil'jaeden pointed out

"Then scour this world and find them." Sargeras answered almost immediately, causing the Deceiver to raise an eyebrow. "If they are not here then that makes this easier for us." he said and vanished

Kil'jaeden only grew confused by Sargeras' words. "You are getting desperate, Sargeras. This is too much even for someone like you." he muttered and thought about the situation as to why his master was acting like this. He then remembered a key detail upon Outland's destruction. 'Assuming that Illidan knows about Argus, it would have been only a matter of time before he would make his move against us. If that is the case, then the only explanation is that Sargeras is concerned if Illidan gets his claws on the Pantheon. But that still leaves the question, could Illidan have sent his demon hunters into our territory? They shouldn't have the ability to do so and even if they did, where would they even go? If they were on Argus, they would have been spotted by now and Illidan has the dragon aspect of magic under his command which would only make this a lot more complicated.'

Back on the ground, Archimonde was blasted into the sky from the point blank eye beam. Using the momentum from the attack, the demon lord made a graceful landing only to nearly have his head cleaved in two by Illidan. He was fortunate the he was able to see the attack otherwise this battle would have been over by now. Even though he was able to dodge that fatal blow, Archimonde was not able to defend himself when Illidan slammed his wing right into him. It wasn't an ordinary attack as the demon hunter casted some of his frost magics on his wing which inflicted a few wounds on his opponent. Furious, Archimonde then decided to summon a few of what appeared to be spirits made out of pure fel

Caught off guard, Illidan was forced back by one of the spirits while another tried to kill him. Knowing that he would be left open if he fought these himself, Illidan decided to have multple skeleton warriors claw their way out of the ground and engage the spirits. This gave him enough time to use Dusksoul to create a shield around him right as Archimonde shot a powerful bolt of lightning at him

Archimonde had expected just that and the moment the shield dropped, he laid a curse on his opponent that greatly reduced Illidan's speed. With the demon hunter moving significantly slower, Archimonde used the trick from earlier to appear right in front of Illidan and slash him across his torso. As Illidan was trying to recover from the attack, the curse suddenly took hold and exploded, sending him flying back. Satisfied, Archimonde once again teleported to where the demon hunter was thrown and stepped on his chest. "As I said earlier, Stormrage, you're not at my level but I will admit, you put up a good fight."

Illidan was bleeding from multiple areas of his body both from the slash and the curse. Up until now, Archimonde is the strongest enemy he has ever faced. The Defiler was beyond both Azshara and Y'Shaarj but he wasn't about to go down without taking the demon lord with him. "I never said I was at your level." he replied but grunted when Archimonde stepped harder. Silently using his magics, Illidan created a slim icicle from the ground that pierced the demon lord right at his sword arm. Taking advantage of the distraction, Illidan tripped the demon lord before creating a sword made out of pure fel and slashed him across his torso from behind. "But if you think I'm a pushover like Mannoroth or Tichondrius, you're sadly mistaken."

Growling from the attack, Archmonde used his own brute strength to shatter the icicle. "Why you-" he hissed. As soon as he turned to face the demon hunter, he was surprised when fel energies swirling around him. The energies then took the shape of lassos and wrapped around the Defiler's left leg, right wrist, torso, and neck. Before he could break free from the grip, he felt Illidan absorbing his strength for himself. Archimonde's injuries was not as severe as Illidan's and yet, the demon hunter was turning even that against him. As his energies was being drained, Archimonde saw that Illidan's own injuries were starting to heal. His eyes widened in surprise and knew that if things kept up like this, he would be left powerless and be unable to do anything, Archimonde created two more of the fel spirits, one of which cut most of the lassos. He then fell to his knees for a bit

The other one however, tried to attack Illidan directly so he was forced to dispell the last lasso himself and destroy the spirit. The first one then tried to attack him but the demon hunter easily got rid of it. Not knowing if Archimonde has finally recovered from having is energies drained, Illidan didn't care one bit and just shot an eye beam at the demon lord's location. Archimonde was still trying to get up and was blasted away by the eye beam. Illidan then quickly rushed to where the demon lord was thrown

Archimonde saw this and quickly thrust his sword into the ground, releasing a spire of fel corruption. The attack caused Illidan to stop in his tracks as he was forced back. With a wave of his hand, the Defiler caused the ground directly beneath the demon hunter to explode. Despite that, Archimonde knew that it wouldn't have that much of an effect so while Illidan was thrown into the sky, he gathered magics around him but it wasn't just pure fel magics. It was also mixed with some kind of shadow magics and shot a stream of energy that was made out of both fel and shadow right at Illidan, creating a powerful explosion

Thanks to the energies he siphoned from the demon lord, the effects of the magic wasn't as severe as it normally would be. Even though he was forced down to the ground, Illidan managed to get a good look at the attack. He didn't see the difference in color but he was able to tell it wasn't an ordinary fel empowered spell. He was slightly concerned since Illidan saw that Archimonde had infused that attack with the magics of the Old Gods. 'Archimonde can use their magic? How?' he thought but Illidan wasn't able to dwell on it further as Archimonde once more teleported in front of him

Because of his drained energies, Archimonde wasn't able to teleport as fast as he did earlier and the demon hunter was able to see the magics at work and blocked the incoming attack. The Defiler was furious and wasn't about to let Illidan get the better of him. Archimonde caused the ground beneath them to erupt in fel energies . Even though at this point, the demon lord was more weakened than the demon hunter, he was able to withstand his own attack thanks to his greater affinity to the fel. Both of them were thrown up and Archimonde quickly grabbed his opponent by the legs, intent on running him through. However, Illidan saw right through this and shot another eye beam

Archimonde was forced to let go and was quickly kicked back. Only after the most recent eye beam did he finally notice something. 'Can he control the strength of those eye beams?' he wondered, recalling the amount of damage it could deal from the reports when the Scourge rebelled with Illidan's aid. He shrugged it off mostly due to him being on a higher level than Illidan but he could swear that it should have done more damage. 'It doesn't matter.' he thought and gathered more of his shadow magics. The shadow energies surrounded him and he unleashed it in various directions

Illidan's eyes widened in surprise as the shadow magics was flung everywhere. He created a shield of frost around him. It blocked the attack but it did gave Archimonde the time he needed to shoot another blast of shadow energies at the demon hunter. This attack was much more powerful than nearly everything Archimonde had used thus far and Illidan doubted his own eye beams could power through it. 'That is nearly the exact same magic Arthas used when he was possessed. Is the powers of the Old Gods just similar to fel where one can master it?' he wondered as he used his sword to block it

Since they met earlier, Archimonde had been curious as to why Illidan was only wielding one sword. He was aware that the demon hunter used the weapons Azzinoth once used but for some reason, he wasn't and the Defiler only grew more confused the longer they fought. 'What is that sword? Is he simply disregarding Azzinoth's weapon just because he has another one? Still, what in the hell is that sword made of?' he wondered, amazed as the sword blocked that attack very easily especially since it was a large concentration of shadow magics

After blocking the attack, Illidan knew that Archimonde had to be reaching his limit. The wounds inflicted combined with his energies drained should have taken its toll. He decided to create a distraction and made a thick fog using his frost magics

Archimonde was surprised at this move as he did not expect this. "So, you really are a coward like your brother, aren't you-" he mocked but was cut off when he felt something grab his left arm. Since he was in the middle of mocking, he wasn't able to react fast enough as his arm was sliced off. The Defiler hissed in pain and slashed his sword in the direction it came from with as much force as he could muster. His pride felt better when he heard someone grunt in pain. To his surprise, it also dispelled the fog, revealing that he had inflicted a serious injury as he cut off part of Illidan's right horn. Grinning, Archimonde, despite being only single armed, raised his sword arm. "This is your end, Stormrage. I will make sure you suffer."

Now growing frustrated, Illidan forced himself to ignore the wound and parried to blow. To the surprise of both Illidan and Archimonde, the Defiler's sword was shattered by Dusksoul. The Defiler was left completely stunned by what had happened. Illidan gladly took advantage of this and quickly sliced off Archimonde's other arm before kicking him away. Grabbing the demon lord's broken blade, Illidan run the Defiler with it. Completely defenseles, Archimonde was helpless when Illidan stab him right in the chest before cleaving the demon lord's body in two. Just like with before, Archimonde's death released a large amount of energy and was about to cause a huge explosion. Illidan quickly used his sword to create a shield around him which was powerful enough to completely protect him

While he was victorious, Illidan was brought to his knees. Part of his horn was cut off while he was badly bleeding from multiple parts of his body. 'Even Y'Shaarj was a far easier opponent than Archimonde.' he thought as he used his sword to prevent himself from falling flat on his face. Illidan was barely able to keep himself from losing consciousness

Aboard the flagship, Kil'jaeden continued to observe after Sargeras left. He could ponder his master's motive another time as the battle between his brother and the demon hunter was far too intruiging. He was amused that a mirror of the War of the Ancients happened only instead of Malorne, Archimonde was fighting Illidan

Just like with both combatants, the Deceiver was completely surprised when Illidan's sword shattered Archimonde's. "What?!" he said in complete shock. "Just what in the hell of hells is that sword made of?!" and he continued to observe as Archimonde was killed, again. Kil'jaeden merely released a sigh at witnessing it. "You underestimated him, Archimonde, just like you underestimated the mortals. Illidan is far beyond them. Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance." he thought before teleporting right in front of Illidan

Illidan saw someone appear right in front of him. From the looks of things, he had never met the individual before but from Gul'dan's memories, he knew him all too well. "Kil'jaeden..." he muttered, barely getting up

Kil'jaeden knew that he should kill the demon hunter but figured there would be better use. Casting more of his magics, he knocked out Illidan and bound him in chains before teleporting them both out of there

Theramore Isle

Ever since the battle in Theramore has ended, Mal'ganis has been kept prisoner. Alleria would have ended the dreadlord then and there but knowing that he would just reconstitute in the Twisting Nether, she chose not to. Keeping him prisoner in the home of his enemies would humiliate him and make him suffer, something which Alleria wanted more than anything

Hours after the battle, Mal'ganis was brought before the entire leadership of Kalimdor, which included the night elves, dragon aspects and the Horde. The Scourge members on Kalimdor chose not to join so that Mal'ganis can't alert the rest of the Legion about their presence here. Falric and Marwyn were the ones to escort him to the interrogation site and the harshly forced him down

"You know why you're brought here, demon." Falric said while Marwyn was securing the chains. "Tell us what we want to now."

To everyone's surprise, Mal'ganis didn't really struggle with it. "I will gladly tell you what you want to know if only because it will not change one thing."

Argus

Illidan had been unconscious ever since he defeated Archimonde and he wasn't aware how long it has been since that time. All he knows is that he found himself hanging above an abyss with demonic magics suppressing his powers. His injuries were still there but they didn't hurt as much as they did anymore

'Was it really Kil'jaeden that brought me here? Why would he let me live?' Illidan wondered to himself. While he was thinking, he suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him. He turned to where it came from and saw the demon he saw before he lost consciousness. "Kil'jaeden, I presume?"

"Illidan Stormrage." Kil'jaeden said. "We finally meet, at long last." he said and both demons just stared at each other for a while until the Deceiver broke it. "I suppose you're wondering how we managed to sneak into Azeroth under your nose."

"As if you would tell me." Illidan retorted and to his surprise, Kil'jaeden smirked

Flashback

Argus, After the Battle for Silvermoon

In Antorus, the dreadlords who weren't killed in battle, Mephistroth, Detheroc, Varimathras and Mal'ganis, all regrouped in Kil'jaeden's fortress

"Lord Kil'jaeden, may I ask why you chose to withdraw all our forces? Who is the demon that betrayed us?"

"That demon is no traitor. That is none other than Illidan Stormrage, a night elf."

"Illidan? Wasn't he one of the highborne? How did he become a demon?"

"He absorbed the energies of the Skull of Gul'dan and there is no doubt he has learned a great deal about our machinations on Draenor. It was the undead that tipped him off about it."

"And he willingly absorbed its energies? Has he no fear on how it would affect him?"

"Apparently not and it worked it his favor. He gained enough power to take on Tichondrius on his own."

"Back to the more important question, why did you have us retreat instead of hunting him down, my lord?"

"Because it would have just been a waste of resources. Yes, the breach that the summoner made to bring Archimonde in is open but its energies have waned to the point where we wouldn't be able to send more than four gunships at most. The option was there to feed it more energy but you would not have had time to reinforce Quel'thalas. By withdrawing, this made Illidan actually consider on becoming the Lich King as when compared to us holding our ground, he would have abandoned the Scourge and went straight to Northrend."

"What difference would that have made?"

"If Illidan had become the Lich King then and there, then he would be far more powerful than any of you. As you should be aware, Illidan was gifted by Sargeras to be able to see magic, which means that any trap that you could make will be discovered by him. It is possible to bypass that but you would not have been able to conjure such a spell before he drives us out. If he did become the Lich King, he would have simply raised all those who have fallen and even our own troops that he would kill which would eventually lead to him gaining more troops than the Scourge already has."

"I see. So by withdrawing, you had expected Illidan not to take control the Scourge."

"Not necessarily. It wasn't a matter of whether or not Illidan would become the Lich King. It was a matter of not letting have even more troops by the time he takese control of the Scourge."

"But he still took control of them and that means any chance we have of invading Azeroth again is next to none."

"The Scourge was created to serve the Legion's purposes and it shall."

"In case you have forgotten, our real goal was never to destroy the night elves nor wipe out the mortal races. It was and always has been to purge Azeroth of the Old Gods."

"Once Illidan finds out about the Old Gods, he will no doubt prioritize them over us which will give us the opening we need to invade once more."

"So, you plan to let Illidan do our work for us? How do you know he won't destroy Azeroth in the process?"

"Because of Azeroth's strategic importance. If he damages the world too much, then he would have opened the gateway for us to freely enter whenever we please. As such, he will take precations to ensure that whatever damage he does to Azeroth will never be enough for us to enter."

"That makes sense. So, how do we do this?"

"By using the only resource we have that is linked to Azeroth, Outland."

"The plan involves five phases built around how much of a threat the Old Gods are. The moment that Illidan discovers their existence, he will realize that these creatures are not to be taken lightly even with his newfound powers. By making him think that we can interfere in his war against the Old Gods, we can lure him into a trap and set the stage for our next invasion."

"So, the first phase is to take control over the entirety of Outland with the exception of Shattrath and capture as many Draenei as you can. This alone will take us months."

"The second phase is done concurrently with the first phase and I will personally involve myself in this phase and there will be three objectives. The first objective is bypassing Illidan's sight using a very intricate magic. This kind of spell will be far different from anything we can do and it will take some time. The second objective is another spell, one that we will use the Draenei prisoners we would capture. This spell's purpose is to completely destroy Outland and leave no trace of our plans. We will also use a spell on one of the Fel Orcs but it will be of different design. The third objective involves the breach the summoner created and with more of the prisoners by manipulating them into travelling to Azeroth."

"While the second phase is setting the stage, the third phase would involve a prison break. Depending on which region of Outland we conquer last, we will create a gateway linked to the breach the summoner created and a prison that would provide a clear view of said gateway. We will then use an incentive spell for our prisoners to conduct a jailbreak and use the gateway to avoid us and lead them into Azeroth."

"The fourth phase is the actual trap itself, when Illidan invades Outland. Without a doubt, he will raise all of our forces as his undead minions which would lead us into phase five."

"Which is the spell we would case on one of the Fel Orcs. This spell would be designed specifically to create a gateway that is just enough to allow one of you to sneak into Azeroth unnoticed."

"Wait, we won't use the spell to directly invade Azeroth?"

"No. These five phases are simply to setup our next invasion. Our entrypoint will be the Tomb of Sargeras."

"I see. Once one of us manages to sneak into Azeroth, we will reopen the gateway we tried to use ten thousand years go."

"Not exactly. Once the five phases are complete, we will not immediately attack. If we do that then we risk getting into another war against Illidan and one which is very likely for us to lose. Instead, our agent who will arrive on Azeroth would monitor the situation. When the time is right, we attack."

"So, we must be patient before that time comes. Attacking any sooner would not just risk another failed invasion but also the fate of the Burning Legion."

"Yes. This could take us years before the perfect opportunity comes and as such, we will need to be patient for when the circumstances are perfect to put Illidan at a grave disadvantage."

"If I could offer my own suggestions. With the High Elves and Humans in Shattrath, perhaps we could corrupt one of them to be a sleeper agent to sow chaos among the mortals instead of just the Scourge."

"That's a good suggestion. I will leave that to you. Creating the necessary spells to bypass Illidan's sight will not be easy."

"As you wish, my lord."

"Good. Now, go set up the trap in Outland while the last one shall be the one to infiltrate Azeroth."

"Just one question, my lord. What makes you so certain that Illidan will go after the Old Gods or that he's even aware of their existence?"

"After our failed invasion ten thousand years ago, I ordered everyone who has participated in the invasion to give a report down to the last detail no matter how miniscule it might be. When our recent invasion was launched, I went to Nathreza and checked all the records. One of them was something very particular. Archimonde had let it slip that we are simply the 'lesser evils'. He also theorized that Azshara was more than what she appeared to be. She seemed to be someone who was braindead over Sargeras but Archimonde thought something was not right about her but he was never able to figure it out. His theory also extended that if Azshara really was more than what she portrays herself, then she is the only one who would have been able to train Illidan to be a far better fighter than most, if not, all of the night elves in Zin Azshari. Given all this information and the fact that he willingly become a demon, he will no doubt investigate what could really be worse than us since Archimonde specifically stated that we are fighting someone far worse than us. The only question would be if he investigates the Old Gods or us first however, given that we attacked Azeroth and claimed to be lesser evils, he will first prioritize his own world knowing that we won't be able to invade without him knowing about it. That corrupted Dragon Aspect would also prove to be a clue. With what I know about Illidan's personality, I don't think he will leave it uninvestigated."

"I understand. So, even all our failures from before are now working to our advantage."

"Indeed."

"But what if Illidan wages war against us first?"

"Then nothing changes for us. As it stands now, the Scourge are not ready to fight us yet and even they will need time to prepare. That alone will take months which in the meantime, I will craft the necessary magics that is designed specifically to avoid Illidan's spectral sight. If Illidan invades Outland before our plan can get into motion, then we simply delay him until the spell is ready in the event I am not finished. However, by the time the Scourge is ready, I would have completed the task by then. At that point, everything will still proceed as planned and we finish what we started ten thousand years ago."

Present Day, Argus

Illidan was left speechless at how the Deceiver had manipulated him to do the Legion's dirty work but something truly bothered him. "Did you wager all of this on the chance that I wouldn't attack you first? Why were you so sure I wouldn't invade Outland immediately?"

"Because you would have made it easier for us had you attacked us immediately. Whether you like it or not, the fact remains that Outland was your only lead and your only option to find out more information about us. Even if you did, I already took that into account." Kil'jaeden pointed out. "As you should be no doubt aware, we know how to manipulate portals. Had you attacked Outland immediately after taking Ner'zhul's power, it would have been a simple matter to send an agent into Azeroth since you will have to put your full focus on us. Even the Scourge, even you, cannot hope to win a two front war against the Burning Legion." he continued while the demon hunter growled in irritation. "Now, tell me, where are your demon hunters?"

Instead of answering, Illidan choice to avoid it completely. The Legion was not aware of where the demon hunters are. 'Is he aware that I have sent them into Legion territory?' he wondered. "So, tell me, why are you keeping me alive?"

This time, Kil'jaeden merely stared before giving an answer and he was irritated that his question was ignored but knew he couldn't afford to harm the demon hunter further or he might accidentally kill him. He then grabbed the bound demon hunter by his face. "Because you are far more useful with us than against us. Do not worry, you will serve us, eventually. Everything and everyone breaks and of course, that includes you." he said before letting him go and was about to leave when the prisoner spoke again

"Why did you tell me how you managed to manipulate me?" Illidan asked

Kil'jaeden stopped and looked at him. "Consider it an act of respect. Out of everyone that has ever stood against us, only you posed a legitimate threat that would have ended the Burning Legion for good." he answered. Neither his voice nor his face held any mockery. The way he said it was almost very truthful. The Deceiver then left the room

Illidan observed the demon lord leave. Something was off about how Kil'jaeden spoke to him. 'Just what are you really up to, Kil'jaeden?'

I know what you're thinking. 'Archimonde is stronger than Illidan he shouldn't have lost to him.' Well, a couple things about that. One, Archimonde really is more powerful than Illidan. The reasons he lost is one, he isn't back at full power yet. Remember, it has been specifically said in previous chapters that his body was still injured. That is part of the reason why he lost and if you reread this, you also would notice that Archimonde had multiple scenarios in which he could have won. Which leads to the next point, his arrogance. Just like in the Mount Hyjal Battle, Archimonde squandered his opportunity for victory by ignoring the wisps and here, he didn't kill Illidan when he had the chance

Also, if the part where the flashback is revealed is explained at the same time to everyone by Mal'ganis and Kil'jaeden respectively. That part may not be as detailed as you may expect since it is just a flashback so it will be clarified in two chapters from now. The rest of this would also tie in to the Outland arc of the story. The random oddities in the story is where everything comes into play and this invasion was simply a matter of preparation. The Legion prepared for this invasion long before it was staged. Now, it may be unlikely that something like that exists in the canon but the ability to just see magic itself is just too powerful in my opinion. That's why I nerfed it slightly where there is a way to bypass the spectral sight but only if properly prepared, which is exactly what Kil'jaeden did. Also, I just made the flashback part where only Kil'jaeden's texts would be distinguishable. I didn't want to make it too long by mentioning which Dreadlord spoke as the most important stuff was said by the Deceiver anyway. It really didn't matter to me which would asks the questions as all of them would be on the same page

Just to clarify things, it was referred that Archimonde was Kil'jaeden's brother and vice versa but no, they're not brothers. That word was just used to emphasize that those two are close. They're not as close as Velen and Kil'jaeden once were but close enough where to each other, they're basically brothers from another mother