Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
Broken Isles, The Next Day
At the seas between the Broken isles and Kalimdor, Legionfall's forces already gathered. As planned, the draenei ships took point and stayed out of reach of the Legion's gunships. The naga were already underwater swimming deep enough to where they can remain undetected
"Take them out." Sylvanas gave the order aboard one of the ships. Upon her cue, all of the Legion's gunships that were patrolling the seas were under fire and quickly shot down. The general then turned to face the orc warlock. "Drak'thul, tell the naga to attack, now." she said. The Scourge had already included them in their ability to communicate from anywhere but Sylvanas was still not used to it
'Kalithresh, you are in the clear. Attack inland, now.' Drak'thul said mentally
On the ground, the naga caused a huge wave of water to suddenly rise from the sea. The demons were curious but made no sudden moves. They did not have a single intelligence which said that there were creatures who lived at the bottom of the ocean. Detheroc was never able to gather this information because if he strayed anywhere near the waters above Nazjatar, the Scourge would spot him. As such, the demons observed the wave and to their surprise, it was strong enough to instantly drown the lesser demons
"We're under attack!" the eredar commander yelled. The Legion still had no idea where their attackers were but the answer revealed itself when another wave came towards them. All the eredars in the area quickly combined their magic to shield them but they were all attacked by powerful energy blasts
Their attackers finally showed themselves when on the second wave, multiple naga warriors were riding on it. They quickly engaged the demons who were still reeling from the waves they had created
'Drak'thul, we have engaged the demons. However, the gunships are about to turn their sights to us.' Kalithresh said mentally
'Understood.' Drak'thul said. "Romuul, we need to push forward before the gunships target the naga."
"Very well. Push forward." Sylvanas agreed before moving towards the ship's entrance, their soldiers following her. "Drak'thul, tell the necropolises to hold their fire unless absolutely necessary." she said while they were walking. The orc warlock nodded in understanding
It didn't take too long for them to make their way down to the ground. The naga had been successful in holding off the demons and soon enough, the first few waves of their forces dropped from the draenei's ships. Up in the skies, the gunships were continuously being shot down from great distances thanks to the necropolises and other draenei ships. Since this area was the one that was least defended, the beachhead was secured in less than half an hour. The magics of the naga proved to be invaluable by creating powerful waves of waters that would threaten to straight up drown the demons. The destruction of the gunships from great distances created enough of a diversion for them to secure their foothold
"Sylvanas. We've secured the beachhead." Kalithresh said, after completing their objective
"Good." Sylvanas replied before turning to her younger sister. "Vereesa, begin construction of our foothold immediately." she ordered and Vereesa nodded. "Anya, Kalithresh, Thrall, Khadgar, with me. We need to put pressure on the nearest outpost." she said before turning to the orc warlock. "Drak'thul, bring in the necromancers. Have them raise all those who have fallen."
"We're willing to break our cover this soon?" Drak'thul asked in surprise
"Things aren't going well for us." Sylvanas began to explain. "They're reacting faster to our presence and our only advantage is the artillery. We need to secure a larger foothold before we can even begin to invade deeper. Time is of the essence. I imagine the necromancers can't reanimate the fallen instantly. However, only send for the necromancers. Do not send in the rest of the undead. As for you, you and Jaina focus on finding out if the Legion has something prepared for the dragons."
"Understood." Drak'thul said and began creating a portal
Sylvanas then went in to the rest of the combat, finding an elevation of which she could have a clear shot. Thrall and the others have already begun their assault on the outpost and they encountered significant resistance. Their intel was accurate in that this was the least defended but the Legion was not willing to give it up without a fight. She observed the battle and surprisingly, their training since the death of N'zoth was paying off. Everyone was fighting more effectively. Deciding to join in the battle, Sylvanas located the eredar warlock that was the most open to attack and fired an arrow right at the neck. Due to all the distraction, her target died instantly
The Legion's defenses were proving to be far more formidable. Only the Scourge had any experience concerning the defenses but they were out of the fight. When the defensive structures proved to be inflicting huge amounts of casualties, the Horde Warchief took command since Sylvanas wasn't around in the immediate area
"Pull back. Do not let them reach the beachhead but stay as far as possible from the structures." Thrall ordered. "Khadgar, tell our catapults to bombard the defensive towers as quickly as possible."
"On it Thrall." Khadgar replied and sent out a familiar
The rest of their forces pulled back right as the demons began to push forward. However, rather than a full retreat like the demons expected, their enemies simply held their ground, slaughtering them as they come. The fighting continued on and any of the Kalimdor inhabitants who would venture too close would be left at the mercy of the towers
"Warchief, they're overwhelming us." Anya said after a while of fighting
"Keep them occupied." Thrall responded as he began channeling his shamanistic powers. As their forces was starting to get overwhelmed, he completed his spell. A large tornado appeared at the outpost's entrance and quickly killed a large number of demons while inflicting some damage to the structures
Despite the tornado, the Legion was quick to respond. It did not last more than five minutes thanks to the warlocks and their own siege weaponry began raining fire. Their enemes were forced scatter otherwise they would get burned. These weaponries had greater range than the towers and the Kalimdor inhabitants were forced to push back. Thrall couldn't even use his powers since the Legion would be able to counter act that immediately. At the same time, the outpost was being bombarded by the Legionfall's catapults and mortars, which began slowly but surely damaging the towers. This also caused the Legion's weaponries to change their targets and allow the Kalimdor inhabitants to regroup
Sylvanas was still on the elevation she was in when she noticed that the Legion's aerial forces are finally making their way. Quickly, she made her way towards where the rest were. "Anya." she called out. "Tell the rest of the Scourge to begin attacking now."
"But Sylvanas, doing that would alert the Legion that the Scourge is here." Anya pointed out
"It hardly maters now. If we don't sieze control of this outpost and hold it, the Legion will just drive us out." Sylvanas responded, pointing to the skies
Anya looked to where she was pointing and saw the Legion's flyers coming in. 'Araj, send the rest of our forces, now. We suffered a major setback and make sure we can control the skies. And have a couple of our necropolis to change targets and attack the outpost.'
'As you wish.' Araj responded from one of the necropolis
A few seconds later, the outpost was hit by powerful artillery rounds, destroying some of the structures in it. Those same rounds also destroyed some of the siege weaponry. The gunships were no longer a problem because of the draenei ships were able to shoot them down before they could get close. In the skies, explosions of arcane energies were occuring every now and then, completely throwing the Legion's flyers into disarray
Curious at what had happened, Sylvanas turned to her undead friend. Anya's face said it all. Rather than just the undead being deployed, artillery were also struck in the outpost. She did it on her own free will. The general wasn't the slightest bit bothered by it
"Push forward. The outpost has sustained damage." Kalithresh said upon seeing the small rain of destruction
Before she went in, Anya grabbed the general's arm. "Sylvanas, Drak'thul has determined that there is nothing prepared for the dragons."
"Then send them in. We need their support." Sylvanas ordered and the dark ranger nodded
While the battle on the ground was still underway, more of the Legion's reinforcements have arrived. The felstorm above then released energies which were felt everywhere and more of the Legion's constructs began raining down straight into the battle. The impact threw both the Kalimdor and the Legion's forces into complete disarray. However, this wasn't enough to turn the tides as the Scourge has finally reanimated the ones who have died in the beachhead. The sight of a large number of undead warriors caught the Legion off guard. Knowing that this being their weakest outpost, there was no point in holding onto it. The dreadlord commanding the outpost gave the order to retreat
"Sylvanas, we've secured the outpost." Thrall said after the demons retreated
"For now anyway." Sylvanas replied. "Begin constructing defensive structures and we need to hold it off. Once we are secure, we'll send for Kel'thuzad."
While those who joined the first assault took up defensive positions, their own reinforcements arrived and began construction. Velen, Tyrande, Arthas, Vol'jin and the dragon aspects soon joined them. The aspects remained in their disguised form to avoid giving away just exactly how strong their attacking force truly was
Inside the Tomb, Jaraxxus, Detheroc, Mephistroth, and a reconstituted Balnazzar observed from the upper levels. To say that the highest ranking dreadlord was furious would be an understatement
"Detheroc, what is the meaning of this? I thought you said that the mortals do not have the means to leave Kalimdor in large numbers?" Mephistroth demanded to know
"I couldn't exactly spy that close, Mephistroth." Detheroc defended himself. "The Scourge had their shades within the mortals' cities."
"That's should not even be our primary concern right now." Jaraxxus stopped the quarreling. When the three dreadlords looked at the battlefield, they could barely make out the forms of undead among their enemies
"What? Are those undead? How? I thought we were disrupting all magical portals between here and Kalimdor?" Balnazzar asked in surprise
"It hardly matters now." Mephistroth focused himself. "The obvious answer is that the Scourge have means to create portals that are of different nature than the ones we disrupted. If that is the case, then that would explain why Detheroc had no knowledge of this. Sneaking into this world under Illidan's nose was already difficult enough."
"So, what do we do?" Detheroc asked
"For now, guard the seals. If they are attacking us now, that can only mean that they have a way to cut us off from this world. In which case, let them gain as much grounds as they can. It won't matter if they can't reach their goals." Mephistroth ordered. "I'll inform Kil'jaeden of recent events."
Pandaria
In Pandaria, Wrathion has led the surviving pandaren to the chambers where the Eye of Aman'thul once was kept. The pandaren were surprised to find a large underground chamber like this since no one knew about it. Since they arrived there, Wrathion left them alone and went back to the surface. The dragon told them to remain behind otherwise the Legion would find and kill them. It was only now that Wrathion finally returned along with the other uncorrupted black dragons, Sabellian and Seldarria
"Where have you been, Wrathion?" Chen asked suspiciously
"In the surface. The Legion is still building more outposts and the Scourge has some of their forces here but they haven't engaged the demons yet." Seldarria answered
"So, are we truly to stay here and sit this out?" a pandaren spoke up
"Well, we can't fight them right now. We'd get slaughtered." Wrathion reminded them
"Perhaps but..." Sabellian trailed off, gathering all attention to him. "I have made contact with the undead. They have mentioned that those on Kalimdor have already begun attacking the place where the Legion entered this world."
"Already? That was quick." Wrathion commented
"If that is the case, Wrathion, Sabellian, Seldarria, can you fly us to the main battle?" Chen asked
The three black dragons looked at each other. They did not expect that at all
"Wait, you want to join in the battle?" Seldarria asked in surprise. "This battle will be far more difficult that anything you have ever faced."
"Perhaps but it's either that or the Legion will conquer this world. The Kalimdor forces will need all the help they can get." another pandaren pointed out
The black dragons were silent at this because they knew that getting to the battle was not the issue. The problem was if the other dragons would not attack them upon sight or not. Thanks to the Old Gods, the black dragonflight was hunted to near extinction and they couldn't really blame the other dragons for it
"Is something wrong?" the pandaren from earlier asked
"Making our way to the battle is the easy part. The question is if the other dragons would attack us or not." Wrathion replied. "Either way, our safest bet would be to make our way to where the Scourge is and tell them that we'll be making our way to the main battle."
"Aside from that, each of us will only be able to carry at most, six of you, if we are to reach the Broken Isles. If we carry any more, the we risk getting tired before reaching our destination." Seldarria said. "So, make your choice on who's coming with."
The group of pandaren then began discussing among themselves while the dragons simply kept their silence. This wasn't an easy decision but the pandaren did make a point. After a few minutes, they finally made a choice and they made their way to the coast in the southeastern end of the Jade Forest where the rest of the Scourge were. They were able to avoid any Legion troops since the demons were occupied in destroying the pandaren's home
A Scourge necromancer eventually spotted the group. "Pandaren? Survivors?" he said in surprise. "And humans?" he asked, recognizing that one was a black dragon but not familiar with the other two
"Take us to your leader, necromancer." Sabellian said. The necromancer complied since he has been made aware that the male black dragon had made contact with them earlier
"Sabellian? What are you doing here? And you found the pandaren survivors?" Skyja asked in surprise
"Listen, Skyja. I need a favor from you." Sabellian said and the val'kyr simply motioned for him to continue. "The rest of us here will be making our way to the Broken Isles. Can you inform the forces of Kalimdor, specifically the other dragons, about our arrival?"
Skyja didn't need to be told twice as she was already aware of a black dragon not under the influence of the Old Gods, not to mention that she couldn't feel their influence on the dragons standing before her at all. "Alright, I will. Go. We will make our presence known to the Legion and distract them. That should give you the opening you need."
"Skyja..." Sabellian muttered
"GO!" Skyja urged them before creating a mental link
The dragons nodded and they transformed into their dragon forms. The pandaren quickly mounted them before they flew off
Broken Isles
Not long after securing the Legion's outpost, the demons launched a massive counter attack. Their gunships were unable to provide support thanks to the long range artillery but the Kalimdor forces were still functioning and they had theirs. With their help, the counter attacks were all repelled. The Scourge's acolytes were invaluable in rebuilding the defensive structures damaged during the battle while the other workers focused on creating barricades on their newfound base of operations. Two of the necropolises have landed in order to strengthen their hold. In the air, some of the necropolises and draenei ships have been destroyed when the felstorm would periodically rain down infernals or fel reavers
By this time, Kel'thuzad had already transported himself and Agatha to the Broken isles. Drak'thul had provided a greatly specific coordinates so that they would arrive at the beachhead. Despite the uneasiness, the Alliance forced themselves to tolerate the Scourge's presence lest they give the Legion the chance they need to wipe them all out
At the moment, another Legion counter attack was launched. In an impressive display of how much power he truly possessed, Kel'thuzad almost singlehandedly killed nearly all of their attackers with a single and very large blast of frost. Those that survived were killed by the rest of Legionfall
"Ke'thuzad, were you always capable of that kind of power?" Jaina asked in disbelief
"Not always." Kel'thuzad admitted. "Lord Illidan's understanding of magic was far beyond my own and most of the Scourge's. During the time after his ascension and before we waged war against the Old Gods, both Lord Illidan and Malygos has given me an even greater understanding of my powers." he explained before turning to the ranger general. "Sylvanas, what is our next move? We cannot hope to hold off the Legion forever."
"You're willing to take orders from me?" Sylvanas responded incredously
"My ability to make these kinds of decision was never as sharp as Lord Illidan or Lady Illysanna's. Drak'thul has also placed his trust in you and given what we face, I am willing to as well." Kel'thuzad responded
Sylvanas was surprised to hear the archlich of the Scourge, of all people, speak like that. It was still hard to believe that the Scourge never considered them as an enemy upon falling under Illidan's control. Turning around to the rest of their forces, she observed how much they had. With the Scourge raising those who have fallen, they had quite a large number. "Kel'thuzad, can you use the Pillars to create a huge hole in the Tomb?" she asked
"Create a hole? What for, Sylvanas?" Dranosh asked curiously
"Because she does not want to go through the Legion to place the Pillars in their place." Kel'thuzad answered for the general. "She wants us to place the Pillars and get out as quickly as possible."
"Indeed." Sylvanas said. "Can you do it, lich?"
"Agatha." Kel'thuzad said, looking behind the general
"It has been prepared since earlier, Ranger General." Agatha said, surprising Sylvanas. "Anya has asked that earlier in anticipation of your orders. However, we would not be able to the Pillars since that's not what they're designed for. Instead, we would be using the artillery mounted on the necropolises that haven't been shot out of the sky yet."
"Why am I not surprised." Sylvanas muttered
"Before you give any orders Sylvanas, there is something you, Arygos, Alexstrasza, Soridormi, and Ysera should know." Kel'thuzad said, getting their attention. "Our forces in Pandaria has made contact with the surviving pandaren. Apparently, there are three black dragons who have escaped the influence of the Old Gods. They are on their way here with a small group of pandarens."
"What? And you would trust them? Why weren't we made aware of this?" Arygos demanded to know
"Malygos was made aware although whether or not he has informed you is something I do not know and is his responsibility, not ours. Kor'vas has instructed us that finding the black dragons would be a futile effort and would take up time and resources, something that we didn't have much to spare given that it was during the time Arthas escaped." Kel'thuzad poined out. "Alexstrasza, Ysera, Soridormi?"
"I have my doubts on this one." Soridormi commented
"Perhaps you should give them a chance." Valeera said, approaching the group. "One of the demon hunters has said it himself that the black dragon he saw didn't have any of the Old Gods' influence. If they were their minions, I find it odd that they didn't reveal themselves when N'zoth was killed or when Arthas made fools out of us. Besides, don't you want to have a chance for all the dragonflights to stand on the same side once more?"
Alexstrasza released a sigh at this. "Very well then."
"Good. I've already sent gargoyles to scout for them." Valeera said before turning to her former surperior. "Sylvanas, what now?"
"For now, split into groups and hang back. There are only three Pillars so once we create openings in the Tomb. Make sure that they are supported by the dragons to minimize the time we need for access." Sylvanas instructed. "Tell Vereesa and Alleria of our new plan, Valeera." she ordered and said person nodded. "Thrall, you and I will attack directly into the Tomb's main entrance and create a diversion. Once they are focused on us, destroy the walls of the Tomb and make a beeline for where the Pillars are to be placed. Alexstrasza, Ysera, you will be in those groups. Reveal yourselves if it becomes necessary." she said before turning to the val'kyr's leader. "Agatha, make sure that the necropolis are ready to fire at a moment's notice."
"Look out!" Valeera suddenly yelled as another rain of the Legion's constructs came from the felstorm above
Everyone took cover and tried to avoid being completely crushed by the contructs' landings. Some even landed directly on the necropolises that have landed, damaging its structure. To their surprise, these constructs weren't just ordinary infernals or fel reavers. They were much larger and sturdier to the point where a few shots of the draenei's artillery wasn't enough to put one down immediately
"What are those things?" Sylvanas asked as her arrows bounced even more harmlesssly than it would on the regular constructs
"Abyssals." Kel'thuzad responded nonchalantly. "They are similar to the other constructs except, as you can see, much stronger. Its weakness in the neck." and knowing that there wasn't much he could do against the constructs who were highly resistant to magic, the archlich turned his sights to the outside of their base
"Where it is most difficult to target." Jaina said in irritation and watched in amazement as abominations and the night elves' ancients fighting off the constructs
In the middle of the battle, Alleria began to wonder something. "Why are these things the only ones attacking us? Shouldn't they be launching a counter attack as well?" she pointed out as one of the constructs finally fell
Thrall, who was the one who heard the eldest Windrunner, turned to the other entrance of the outpost. Even he was starting to grow puzzled as constructs would simply rain down but no other demons would attack. When he noticed some demons directly at the Tomb, he finally figured out why. "Because they're defending the Tomb. They must be anticipating that we would attack."
Alleria turned around and saw the demons preparing their defenses in the Tomb's main entrance. "This is just a distraction." she muttered before rushing to find her sister. "Sylvanas." she called out. When her sister turned, Alleria pointed to the Tomb
Sylvanas looked to where her sister was pointing and frowned. "Finish the constructs quickly!" she yelled out. 'There is no telling if they are anticipating that we would go straight towards our objectives but we'll need to finish this quickly.'
The battle against the constructs soon ended. They suffered a decent amount of casualties but the necromancers just raised them back, again. The necromancers and val'kyrs weren't targetted so the losses weren't that much
"Sylvanas, we are in the clear." Kalithresh said when the final construct fell
The ranger general nodded and quickly turned to the prophet. "Velen. We need to attack the Tomb as soon as we can."
"Understood." Velen said, knowing that the general wanted his presence on the attack on the Tomb's entrance
After a while, Sylvanas finally gave the order to rain down destruction from whatever airborne ships they still had left. A small volley of artillery soon crashed upon the Tomb's main entrance before the rest of Legionfall attacked, led by Sylvanas, Velen, Thrall, Tyrande, Kalithresh, Malfurion, Maraad, and Rhonin
The battle continues on. Nothing too much just the beginning of the battle
Again, don't read too much about the Black Dragonflight. I've already repeated this statement twice now so this'll be the last time. In all honesty though, I didn't bother writing too much about Pandaria because I didn't want to spend half a chapter with nothing but the Pandarens getting slaughtered as given how the gunships work in this story, that's exactly what's happening. So basically, they're still getting slaughtered only off panel