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Mardum

A few hours has passed since the demon hunters' arrival on Mardum. During that time, they had scouted the entire area completely undetected thanks to Malygos' spell. None of them engaged any of the demons and focused on locating the places which Legion reinforcements can come through. To their surprise, the demons stationed here were very nonchalant. It was clear that after thousands of years of being unstoppable, a lot of the Legion had become complacent and that only made their jobs easier. Soon enough, they finally regrouped

"So, what did you find?" Illysanna asked

Asha was the first to answer. "This may be a surprise but this place isn't really a world." she said, surprising the rest. "While Kayn and I were scouring this place, we reached the edge of it. This place, Mardum, is almost as if it's nothing more than a large rock floating in space."

"Aren't all planets like that?" Jace asked teasingly

"You know what I mean, Jace." Asha said with a facepalm. She couldn't roll her eyes because she didn't have them anymore

"Alright, that's enough of that." Maiev reprimanded them. "If what you're saying is true, then that only makes this a lot easier. We wouldn't have a lot of ground to cover and we might not need to raise the demons we slay."

"Let's not forget that any demon we slay here is dead for good. That applies to us as well so be careful." Kor'vas reminded them

"That aside, have you found the locations of the Legion's portals?" Vashj asked the important question

"Allari and I have." Jace answered. "The area itself doesn't have any guards at all."

"That's an understatement." Allari added. "It wasn't just unguarded, the gateway isn't ever there. It's location was in some sort of valley that had energies that is invisible to the naked eyes. We have marked its location."

"You too? The same went for us as well." Kayn added. "Asha and I did the same thing as well."

"Same goes for us. We met up with Malygos and Maiev and they studied the energies." Kor'vas added before looking at her best friend. "Illysanna, what about you?"

Instead of answering, Illysanna motioned for Malygos to explain what he found out, which he obliged. "I can close it. It will take some time and when I do, everyone on this world will be alerted so we will have to do it when we have found what we're looking for." Malygos said

"Then things have been going smoothly, far too smoothly." Illysanna said. "Vashj and I have found what appeared to be a stronghold. It was hidden among the rocks but there was something odd about it."

"So, I take it we attack as soon as possible?" Kor'vas asked

"We could but we're still horribly outnumbered on this world." Vashj reminded her

"True but that doesn't mean we can't tilt the scales in our favor." Illysanna said, starting to smirk. "Malygos, find a suitable location to cast the spell and cut the Legion off. Take whoever you need to assist you. Everyone else, we will head to the fortress and if we can, let's try to setup traps on the landscape."

"If we do, I think I can use a few souls to setup some sort of bombs for this." Allari offered

"I guess we'll have to go kill some lone demons then." Vandel muttered

"Not necessarily." Maiev said and raised Frostmourne, reminding the others of the runeblade's signature ability

"That could work." Allari said

Before they could leave, Vashj told them to stop. "By the way, Illysanna, I wanted to ask. Earlier, something was bothering you. Mind sharing what it is?"

Illysanna shook their head. "It isn't too relevant in our mission anyway." she said but the others were unconvinced. "Drak'thul contacted me and Kel'thuzad earlier. Apparently, Alleria's husband, Turalyon, was possessed by a dreadlord. Ever since the last time the Legion invaded, they had been busy crafting a spell for the sole purpose of hiding from our spectral sights, including Illidan's." she continued, surprising everyone else. "One of the fel orcs was manipulated by the Legion to be the victim of that spell. Somehow, Kil'jaeden knew that Illidan would find out about the Old Gods and that we would not be able to risk the Legion interfering. He orchestrated the story of the draenei that appeared in Dalaran to lure us into Outland, kill all their forces and raise them into undeath. At that point, the fel orc that had been chosen was already aflicted with the spell weeks before we invaded Outland and its effects was for its body to become a gateway for one of the dreadlords upon his death but only if he was in a state of undeath, which meant that if that orc was never killed, the spell would be worthless. Although the fel orc whose body they used as a portal was never revealed but it doesn't matter."

"That explains things. Not even Illidan could have predicted something like that and I wasn't even aware something like that is actually possible." Malygos said thoughtfully

"Wasn't Kil'jaeden's title 'The Deceiver'?" Kor'vas asked with a sigh, causing everyone to look at her. "I guess that fits."

"Still, to go that far..." Asha commented, a bit disgusted by what she heard

"Probably but then again, even we did the same as well." Vandel reminded her, causing Asha to look at him questioningly. "I've been around longer but for us, we are mostly just relegated to specific combat tasks. Our other subordinates had their own duties and the apothecaries were the ones in charge of creating more abominations."

"Not just that but also making them easier to reanimate again should they be killed, as long as the body is intact anyway." Kayn added. "And by the way, how did Turalyon even get possessed by a dreadlord? Aren't paladins supposed to be holy or something?"

"His sword was swapped. The Legion created a sword that was identical to his own and similar to Frostmourne, from what I heard anyway. It slowly consumed his soul and replaced it with a dreadlord's. When he joined the battles in Pandaria, its influence peaked and he was completely under their control and pretended to still be himself." Illysanna explained as briefly as she could. "Apparently he was to serve as their backup plan in the event the fel orc didn't end up dying."

"So that's how they did it." Vashj said, finally grasping the whole story. "At any rate, I think we should continue on and get this over with." she said with a very faint of hatred in her voice

Illysanna nodded at her statement but paid close attention to the way she said it. She then gave the order for them to move out

Much later

"Everything is ready, Illyanna." Malygos said as they gathered on a small plateau that overlooked the stronghold. "What's our plan?"

Illidan's second in command pondered on this for a bit. Malygos' spell still hasn't worn off so that was something to work with but she knew it would wear off if they attacked. "Malygos, unless it is absolutely necessary, do not assume your dragon form. We do not want them to realize that we have someone as powerful as you are among us."

"Wait, won't that ruin the point of our attack?" Jace asked

"Not really, in fact, it's actually to our benefit." Kor'vas answered for her friend, having completely understood her reasoning. "If the Legion realizes that it isn't just us demon hunters on their own turf, they might make us a higher priority than even Azeroth."

"Exactly. Once inside, I want Vashj, Maiev and Malygos to hang back. Only us demon hunters would make contact." Illysanna ordered

"You want us to stay out of this?" Maiev asked in objection

"I want you to watch our backs. We don't know what's inside that stronghold and we cannot afford to fight blindly." Illysanna clarified

"Better yet, while we're engaging the enemy, you might as well look for other portals that we have missed and activate our traps if the Legion's other forces attack us." Vandel suggested

"That's good enough for me. While you go find the Keystone, I'll scout that fortress for anything of use." Vashj pointed out and the others agreed

"Very well, let's do this." Malygos said and Illysanna agreed before telling the dragon to recast the invisibility spell

While Maiev and Malygos got into a position where they can get a better view on all areas surrounding the stronghold, the demon hunters began their infiltration. They made sure to only attack targets that would die very easily. The only times they killed a demon that would take a while to kill was when they had no choice. Outside, Malygos had already prepared the spell and awaited for the signal. At the same time, Vashj infiltrated the inside of the fortress and went in a different direction. Like with Malygos, she waited for the signal, which was the demon hunters attacking, so that they would create trouble and attract the attention of the Legion's and give her the opportunity she needs to find whatever secrets of the stronghold

Allari pushed a doom guard into an empty hallway and used the scythe on him. The other demon hunters watched her back and killing any guards that strayed near

"How much longer, Allari?" Kayn asked

The scythe wielding demon hunter didn't respond and merely focused on torturing the demon until eventually, it muttered something. "I got it." she said and sliced the demon's head off. "The Keystone is here and it is protected by someone named Tyranna, an aranasi demon, whatever that is."

"Where is she?" Vandel asked

"In the fortress' main hall. Apparently Tyranna also has a consort." Allari answered

Kor'vas released a small laugh. "I wonder what they're doing."

"Guess we'll find out." Illysanna said with a smirk. "Which way?"

"Follow me." Allari said and led the way

A few minutes later, they came across a large room where there was a demon that looked like a succubus

'Malygos, we're in position. Vashj?' Illysanna said mentally

'I'm already in the fortress. Ready when you are.' Vashj said

'Deactivating their portals in three... two... one.' Malygos said as he activated the spell he had made

As expected, it did not go unnoticed to everyone inside the fortress

"Brood Queen Tyranna, all of our portals have been deactivated." a doom guard said

"Incompetent fool!" Tyranna raged. "Go see what the problem is and fix it, immediately!"

"What do you think is going on, my love?" another aranasi asked. This one was different looking and looked more like a spider, unlike Tyranna who appeared to be a humanoid creature with arachnid characteristics

"I'm really starting to regret wondering what they're doing." Kor'vas whispered as they all observed Tyranna walk over to a wall which was revealed to be some sort of storage place

"It's probably those demon hunters or whatever they're called. If anyone was to attack Mardum of all places, then they can only be after this." Tyranna said as she held the Keystone in her hands. "Sargeras entrusted the Keystone to me. They shall not have it."

"And I shall be by your side. They will have it over our-" the other aranasi declared only for his head to be sliced cleanly off

"What?!" Tyranna said before someone kicked her. Unlike most demons however, she was a good fighter and quickly turned around to parry the next attack. "Guards!" she called out, knowing that even she could not fend off her attackers on her own if they were able to kill Voras that effortlessly

As soon as the demon hunters began their attack, Vashj quickly strolled through the other areas of the fortress. The demons stationed inside were heading elsewhere and since they were distracted, Vashj summoned her bow and attacked a small group

"Intruder!" a fel guard yelled. The rest of his group quickly rushed over to Vashj but the naga merely raised her hand. A powerful bolt of arcane energies was shot from her and it instantly killed most of the demons. Those who weren't killed were gravely injured so Vashj had no trouble just firing arrows at them. It was made more convenient since her bow used her own energies to make arrows made of ice, which meant that she didn't need a quiver

Vashj continued to explore the other parts of the stronghold, easily dispatching any demons in her way. Ever since her reunion with Illidan, he had been training her to fight up close in personal. Even though the two of them were lovers, he didn't go easy on her, something she was grateful for as now, all that training was paying off. 'I should have just kept my head down.' she sighed as more demons came her way. Like with the others, these demons were no match for her. Most were just fel hounds, which she killed with a single lightning bolt each, while the few fel guards or succubi died when she shot frozen arrows at them

After a while, Vashj found a room which was guarded by three doom guards. 'If they're here while the fortress is under attack, then whatever they're protecting must be important but at the same time, it's not a portal otherwise there would be more demons.' she reasoned. She tried to shoot a frozen arrow at one of the doom guards. Vashj was successful in landing the hit but the doom guard shrugged it off

"There she is! Kill her!" one of the doom guards yelled. One of the other doom guards casted a spell on her which greatly reduced her movements while the other began throwing fireballs at her

Vashj tried to dodge but felt herself move very slow. She knew why as she was familiar with this spell. The naga saw the doom guard that gave the order charging at her, intent on cleaving her in two. 'Not today.' she thought and casted a shield around herself. Unlike other shields, this one used her own energy and immediately forced off the slow spell. While the doom guard was charging at her, Vashj did the same, causing the demon to grin. When they got close, Vashj jumped back and transformed into her snake form and wrapped her tail around its head. Using her bow, she shot an arrow that sliced off his sword arm, causing him to yell in pain

Seeing their comrade fall and that their slow spell shrugged off, the other two doom guards charged at her. Vashj responded by pulling her bow string, creating seven frozen arrows. She fired them all and struck both. They didn't die but they were injured from the attack as this time, the doom guards were the ones being slowed down. However, Vashj was soon pried off by the doom guard she had wrapped herself around but she landed near his sword arm. Using her tail, she sliced off his head with his own sword

Deciding to finish this, Vashj then quickly transformed back into her hybrid form, throwing the sword into her hands. Her arrows' effects also wore off

"You'll pay for that, you bitch!"

"I'd like to see your try." Vashj said before creating snakes made out of energies around her. She then threw them at the two doom guards. The snakes then extended themselves and wrapped around the demons before binding them to the ground. As they struggled to free themselves, Vashj threw the sword at one of them, slicing his head, while decapitating the other with a powerful and concentrated arcane bolt, killing him. "Now, let's see what you're hiding here." she said and destroyed the door using another doom guard's sword. Upon seeing the room, she raised an eyebrow. "This should come in handy."

Outside, Maiev and Malygos maintained watch as instructed. As soon as the portals were cutoff, many of the Legion's forces didn't immediately realize. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed before they began to investigate what was going on

"They seem to be far too lax despite this world cutoff from the rest." Maiev commented

"I would be surprised if they are unaware that we have been missing from Azeroth ever since the battle at Lordaeron." Malygos agreed

"How long would the portals remain disabled?" Maiev asked, worried

"Give or take, four hours." Malygos responded and she looked at him with a completely surprised face. "What? Illidan isn't the only one who knows how the portals work. I have been studying them myself too." he explained before noticing something in the ridge below. "Maiev, look." he said, pointing down. "It would seem that the demons are aware that they are under attack."

"Then that means we are free to engage them, right?" Maiev asked, growing a smirk. Malygos simply nodded. "You'll be able to fend of anyone who might attack you, right?"

"You do realize that my own understanding of magic is even better than Illidan's right?" Malygos replied with a raised eyebrow. "Go."

Maiev then jumped down the ridge, using her runeblade to slow her descent. When she reached a lower elevation, she got a good look against the demons who were making their way to the fortress. One of them was a doom guard with a fancy armor which she assumed was a commander. 'Why are they moving so slowly? Are they so arrogant to think that their leader here can recklessly take on Illidan's demon hunters?' she wondered but didn't wait for the demons to change pace. Instead, she jumped down with a battle cry and upon landing, she harshly thrust Frostmourne into the ground, instantly killing most of the nearby demons

Back up top, Malygos observed the death knight instantly kill a large group of demons. "That runeblade is powerful. Even separated from the rest of the Scourge, it still has this much power." he commented

While Maiev was preparing the spell that would raise all the fallen demons all at once, she suddenly felt something coming towards her. She turned around and saw the doom guard commander lob a ball of fel fire at her. It was aimed for her head and it completely burned off her helmet and part of her hair

"You damn bastard. I will burn you for that!" the doom guard declared as he rushed towards her and pinned her down

Maiev was irritated and surprised that this doom guard managed to survive. "So, you must be at least half decent if you survived that." she said mockingly. She wasn't able to parry with her sword so she was forced to create ice around her arm. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Beliash, Queen Tyranna's commander." the doom guard answered. "I will admit that it was pretty bold of you to invade us here directly."

"And it was pretty bold of you not to die to my first attack." Maiev replied before manipulating the ice to make sure that Beliash cannot pull his sword back. Tightening her grip on her runeblade, she inflicted a large wound on the doom guard's torso

"You wretch!" Beliash reeled back

"Enough of this." Maiev said and cleaved him in two. "You really should have just died with the others. You barely survived it." she said before continuing her spell and raised all of the fallen demons under her control

Back in the main room of the fortress, Tyranna was kicked back after calling for the guards. She was forced to drop the Keystone. Illysanna was quick to pick it up only to be hit by a large swarm of spiders. "Give that to me!" Tyranna hissed

The Sargerite Keystone fell to the ground. Everyone in the room quickly made a run for it. Asha reached it first and was nearly cut in two by a doom guard but Vandel got her back. Tyranna forced back Vandel and got her claws on Asha, raising her into the air. The other demons hunters were distracted by the guards

"The Keystone is mine!" Tyranna said venomously

"Not anymore." Asha said as she released her demon form, forcing the aranasi to let her go. Before Tyranna could counter attack, she quickly fired an eye beam, blasting the demon back. More demons quickly ran towards Asha, intent on killing her and retrieve the Keystone. She was about to engage them with only one hand as the other was holding the Keystone but luckily, Jace, Vandel and Kor'vas protected her, all of them as well as the other demon hunters already in their demon forms

"Asha, focus on protecting the Keystone. Leave the demons to us." Kor'vas said after slaying a fel guard. Asha nodded in understanding

"And that is your first mistake. That Keystone will be back on my hand!" Tyranna hissed as she released another swarm of spiders, only this time, she infused it with fel energies. She grinned when she thought she scored a direct hit only to gape when another demon hunter protected Asha

"Allari..." Asha muttered as Allari destroyed the swarm with her scythe

Kayn then quickly flew down and nearly cut Tyranna's head off. The queen was able to move back, barely, and he only managed to inflict a deep wound right above her breasts. "And your last mistake is forgetting that she's..." he said, referring to Asha. "Your only problem." he finished before releasing fel energies into his sword and swinging it

Tyranna dodged the attack and tried to claw down the demon hunter. "You will pay for that!" she declared but he simply spun around and kicked her back. The queen wasn't able to get up as Illysanna stepped on her head. The demon hunter was about to kill her but Tyranna was able to summon a swarm of spiders that forced Illysanna off her. She was finally able to get up only to be hit by another eye beam, this time by Kayn. "Why you-" she hissed but was cut off when her right wing was sliced off. Tyranna turned around only for her sliced wing was slammed right into her by Illysanna and threw it away. Seizing the opportunity, Kayn rushed to catch the aranasi's wing and thrust it right into her torso, causing her to cough up some fel blood. "ENOUGH!" she yelled and released a huge amount of fel energy, quickly ending all of the fighting. "The Keystone was entrusted to me by Sargeras himself. You will not-" she hissed but was cut off when a large arrow made out of ice hit her in her torso

"Like it matters to us." Vashj said as she walked into the room from an upper level. The other demon hunters quickly finished off the remaining demons, minus the queen. "Now then, spider. Time to die." she said venomously as she nocked another arrow

"Vashj, don't!" Allari called out

"One good reason, fast." Vashj said

"We can use her to get more information on the Burning Legion." Allari responded quickly

Tyranna's eyes widened in surprise. She knew she was defeated but her enemies weren't going to kill her. She tried to kill herself by stabbing her chest with the talons on her arms only for it to be cut off when Vashj shot another arrow at it. Tyranna hissed in pain and before she could try with her other hand, the naga had released energy snakes at the aranasi which wrapped around her and bound her to the ground. In desperation, she tried to hide in the shadows but she was too weak to do anything and the snakes that bound her prevented her from using her magics

"Allari." Illysanna said, motioning for said hunter to begin her work. 'Malygos, Maiev, we're secure here. What's your situation?'

'Just raising the fallen demons. They're desperate to kill us and this is becoming child's play.' Maiev responded

'And I'm still keeping the portals closed.' Malygos added

'Good. Meet us back inside. We got what we came for.' Illysanna ordered

The group then rendezvoused back inside, leaving behind all their reanimated demons to stand watch outside

"So, this is the demon in charge?" Maiev asked with a raised eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, as she and Malygos entered

"Release me, you filth!" Tyranna hissed as she struggled against her binds

"Oh shut up." Vashj said before turning at the other two. "What was going on outside?"

"Just having the raised demons guard the area." Maiev shrugged

"The portals will only remain disabled for a few more hours at most. We will need to manually close them at their location to ensure they are sealed for good." Malygos said

"Get on it, Malygos." Illysanna said as she turned to their captive. "We might need some time to interrogate this one." she said

Malygos nodded in understanding. He turned to Maiev

"Watch your back, gotcha." Maiev said and left for the door. "Let's go then."

"Vashj, have you found anything?" Kor'vas asked when the death knight and dragon left

"Oh yeah, that. I did." Vashj replied, everyone turned to her. "Follow me. It's better if you see this for yourself." she said and led them down the hall. The demon hunters were curious but followed her nonetheless. Illysanna motioned for some of the raised demons to guard their prisoner. In the meantime, the naga has led them to her findings

"An armory?" Vandel asked in surprise. "They all look the similar to the Blades of Azzinoth."

"Not only that. They also seem to be more powerful than those." Kayn pointed out

"But not more powerful than the one Azshara made." Kor'vas added

"I think we should take these. You've just been using regular weapons all this time. Perhaps it's time you use both the Legion's powers and weapons against them." Vashj suggested

"We'll need some practice with this but I don't think we should leave them lying around either." Asha added

"We can practice right now." Kor'vas offered, being the only one wielding a pair of double edged swords. "Allari, you'll need some time to interrogate the spider, right?" she asked and Allari nodded

"In that case, take your pick." Illysanna said and to her surprise, Vashj went to grab the pair that appeared to be the most powerful in the armory. "Vashj?"

"If Illidan managed to survive, I think he would want one of these." Vashj answered

"Let's go back. We need to extract information from that spider as soon as we can." Allari said and they all went back to their prisoner

While the others were training in the main room, Illysanna explored more of the ship and to her surprise, she found a bridge which bore a striking resemblance to the one on the gunships they had captured from the Legion. 'Wait a minute.' she thought and began tinkering with the controls and realized that this fortress was actually a giant gunship called the Fel Hammer. Illysanna then quickly went back to the others

Vashj noticed her urgency and was curious as to what was going on. "What is it, Illysanna?" she asked as everyone turned to the demon hunter

"This fortress is not a fortress." Illysanna replied, confusing her allies. "It's actually a giant gunship."

"If that's the case then we can use this to travel to Argus and if luck is on our side, hide from the Legion." Kor'vas said in realization

"Indeed." Illysanna confirmed and turned to the one interrogating Tyranna. "Allari, do we have Argus' location?"

Allari turned to her with a grin on her face. "We do. I'm just trying to pry the spider's mind for whatever intel she still has."

Illysanna herself then grinned upon hearing the response. "Good. I'll tell Agatha to keep an eye on the battle. If things go badly on Azeroth, then we can use this gunship to aid them. If not, we head to Argus."

Here is the adventure in Mardum and as promised, the more detailed explanation. When Turalyon was isolated by a Varimathras possessed Jubei'thos, his sword was swapped with something similar to Frostmourne, which is what the unclear text were. You might think that the Legion shouldn't be capable of doing something like that but there will be a reason for that and it's actually very simple. I won't say it not because it is going to be written in a future chapter

This chapter is also just a more stealthy version of the canon invasion of Mardum. In the canon, the Illidari just brute forced their way to get the Keystone and I still don't understand why Tyranna didn't just transport it away but here, I considered that a possibility so stealth is the only option

Tyranna did get mostly dumpstered in this battle. I don't know how powerful she is compared to a Demon Hunter but I do know that she should't be able to win a battle if she was facing multiple Demon Hunters at once. She's also not that notable and was just someone who was trusted with the Keystone