Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
With the western side of the Broken isles now completely under the control of Legionfall, the Legion was forced to pull back all their troops stationed on the eastern coasts and have them engage on the other side. A large number of the Legion's forces were still at the Eastern Kingdoms or Pandaria. Upon launching the attack on the Broken Isles, the Scourge also revealed themselves from their hiding places which meant that the demons had to take care of them first otherwise they would get flanked before they even tried to return to the Broken isles. The Legion's victories meant nothing as their most crucial targets escaped their grasp
When Legionfall's forces moved to attack the Tomb of Sargeras, they encountered fierce resistance from the Legion even before they reached the entrance itself. Multiple dreadlords, pit lords and other high ranking demons joined in the battle but it became clear that the Legion was at a severe disadvantage from their very own creation itself. Targetting the necromancers wasn't enough since the val'kyrs and liches were able to raise the fallen at a much faster rate than a necromancer can and they were much more difficult targets to kill
The presence of powerful warriors such as Velen, Thrall and Malfurion didn't make it easy on the Legion either. At the same time, the eredar warlocks and dreadlords knew necromancy themselves but not as skilled as the Scourge's. This in turn made the battle into a race against time on which side would be able to raise as many fallen as they could. The felstorm as continued to rain down more of their constructs while the aerial forces on both sides continued to fight for air dominance
To the surprise of both sides, the earth itself began to move once more, revealing Therazane, who wanted to do her part in saving Azeroth. The earth elementals transformed the ground and made it possible for the constant rain of constructs not to immediately defeat the Kalimdor's forces
Therazane herself stood at the very forefront of the battle, putting herself in between the Kalimdor's forces and the Legion's. "Stay out of this world, demons! You shall do no further damage!" she declared boldly as she slaughtered many of the lesser demons. This in turn got the attention of two pit lords who quickly downed seven elementals in just a few slashes
The rest of the Kalimdor's forces moved to assist their newly arrived allies. More came when from the skies, three dragons came to the ground. These weren't of the flights from Kalimdor. They were the three black dragons from Pandaria. The pandaren with them quickly jumped off and joined in the battle. Wrathion and the other black dragons then took to the skies once more and focused on achieving aerial dominance and providing cover from any aerial troop that would attack the ground forces
Argus
In Kil'jaeden's fortress, the Deceiver observed the battle going on. Mephistroth had informed the demon lord about the situation but was hardly surprised. Kil'jaeden had simply ordered them to defend their portal. When the push to the Tomb's entrance finally began, the Deceiver had created a fel image so he can observe. While he was observing, Tichondrius entered the room, not bothering to greet the other two inside
"What is it, Tichondrius?" Kil'jaeden asked, not taking his eyes off the battle
"I've just received word from Varimathras. We have lost all contact with Tyranna." Tichondrius responded and that finally got the Deceiver's attention. "That can only mean one thing."
"The demon hunters." Kil'jaeden said in realization. "Illidan got us. He took the opportunity to sneak into our own territory and used the invasion as a diversion. I guess they really had the means to create portals that isn't of similar nature to our own."
"My lord, why don't we just kill Illidan?" Tichondrius asked. He wanted revenge on the demon hunter for his defeat in Felwood but Kil'jaeden gave him strict orders to only break his spirit and not kill him
"Because it would be a waste. If Illidan breaks, he will be the strongest asset of the Burning Legion." Kil'jaeden reminded him. "Even if he doesn't break, then rather than simply dispose of him, we will use him to trap our enemies."
"That is assuming they would dare invade Argus." Tichondrius pointed out. "What if they don't invade here?"
"Then we will have all the time to break him." Kil'jaeden responded simply. In truth, he had other intentions for the demon hunter. "Continue to guard him. Once we break his spirit, he will serve under you." he said and made the dreadlord grin. That was a much sweeter revenge than simply killing him and left
"Lord Kil'jaeden, do you truly wish us to sit out this battle?" Varedis asked when the dreadlord left
"Yeah, shouldn't we join? We could inflict serious damage on them." Caria agreed
"No. If you do, it will be a fatal mistake." Kil'jaeden answered them. "While it is without a doubt you would inflict great casualties, we still have no clue about the dragon aspects. Detheroc was not able to gather any information concerning them so until we have determined where the most critical targets are, you will stay put."
"But, my lord, what if we lose this battle?" Varedis pointed out
Kil'jaeden turned to face them. "Then it doesn't really matter. I am well aware of what they will do next. If they win this battle, they will invade Argus if they have the means. That will be the battle that decides the fate of both the Burning Legion and Azeroth. We have put a huge amount of resources in this invasion and we still have more to spare. The only problem that remains now is the rest of your kind. If they gained control of Mardum, they may already be aware of Argus' location and you will lead our armies in fighting them."
"Wait, we're not going to hunt the other demon hunters?" Caria asked
"We will not. If they have the Keystone, then they will use that to get to here so retaking Mardum is out of the question." Kil'jaeden replied. "Plus, we still have their master. We can use that as a hostage, if they even care about him anyway but that's besides the point. Both of you, head outside and prepare Argus' defenses."
"Yes, Lord Kil'jaeden." the duo said and left
'Sargeras you idiot. I told you this would happen.' Kil'jaeden thought in irritation before leaving. With the intel they have on their enemies, the Deceiver knew he had to come up with something so that the scales wouldn't slowly turn against the Legion if the war ever reaches Argus. Fortunately for him, that something was one that he could do very easily but first, there was something he had to prepare
Broken Isles
Therazane was able to defend herself from the two pit lords. Her greater brute strength allowed her to fight both simultaneously without being overwhelmed. One of the pit lords tried to run her through with his spear but she was able to block it with her bare hand. She then grabbed the pit lord and threw him at the other one, who was charging at her. However, a doom guard landed on her back and stabbed her. Therazane hissed in pain but created rocks to throw away her attacker
The pit lords finally recovered from being slammed into each other. One of them fired fel bolts to distract her and the other was able to wound her a few times. Furious, Therazane shrugged off the attack and brutally ripped off the pit lord's wings before slamming him into the ground. While she temporarily got rid of one, the other pit lord charged at her and threw his spear right in her chest
Watching the battle, Mephistroth slaughtered a group of his enemies before burning their bodies completely. The dreadlord looked at the battlefield and saw that the elemental lord was taking on two pit lords without immediately dying. 'What is that thing?' he wondered, having never seen one before. In spite of that, he knew that Therazane had to take top priority so while the other pit lord was engaging him, Mephistroth teleported to the elemental lord and inflicted a deep wound on her torso. "And just who might you be?"
Therazane staggered from the wound but made no reply. Instead, she attacked the dreadlord and to her surprise, he didn't dodge. Not giving him the chance to recover, she created spikes from the ground to pierce him through. "Your invasion ends today, demon!" she said and creating a massive rock, she crushed the dreadlord completely, killing him. However, the wound that Mephistroth inflicted on her took a toll especially when combined with the ones from the pit lords. It was made worse as Mephistroth had used a spell that greatly hindered her movements. As Therazane was about to move forward, she suddenly felt someone land on her back. Her eyes widened in surprise as her head was cleaved by huge talons
The one responsible was none other than Mephistroth. "How easy it was to trick you with a mere illusion." he mocked as one of his talons was extended further with fel energies, which he cleaved the elemental's head with. Not taking a chance, he gathered fel energies on his other hand and forced it onto the elemental's body, overloading it. Motioning for the lesser demons, a group of fel guards walked over and threw the killed elemental lord's body at their enemies right before it created a violent explosion. "Now then..." Mephistroth said but loud sounds got his attention. He turned his sights to where it came from and saw three smokescreens from the Tomb. "What! How come their ships are still airborne!" he hissed and turned to a nearby doom guard. "Take to the skies and destroy them!"
With the opening now created, a large group of dragons, mainly blue, took to the skies from the outpost and headed straight for the Tomb. The two dragon aspects specifically maintained their disguised form and rode on their kin. Gargoyles and frost wyrms scattered to cover them from any potential attack
Alexstrasza's group landed first and were quickly engaged the demons. "Quickly, we must push forward and place the pillar. Tyrygosa, protect the Pillar. Leave the rest to us."
"Yes, dragonqueen." Tyrygosa replied with four other dragons protecting her
Arthas, Alleria, and Anya were the first ones to engage their enemies. Given that they bypassed the Legion's forces, there weren't that many who attacked them and they were completely outnumbered. They committed all of their living dragons and around half of the val'kyr to fly them here since there wasn't that many dragons left after the war with the Old Gods. They were the only ones best suited to make a beeline for the objectives and as such, there were only a few non draconic forces
Jaina and Rokhan provided cover for the rest of their group with their spells. Despite being completely outnumbered, they were holding strong. Sylvanas and the rest were doing a good job of keeping their enemies distracted. Thanks to the val'kyr with them, their numbers were slowly growing but it wasn't enough as the demons would just kill their reanimated brethren quickly
"Rokhan, can you shield our allies?" Jaina asked
"Why do ya ask?" Rokhan asked
"Do it." Jaina ordered and without hesitation, the troll casted his magics to create a shield on her signal
The female archmage began charging up a large pyroblast while the rest of the group distracted their enemies. "Now, Rokhan!" she urged when she was ready and the troll quickly did as told. Jaina released the pyroblast and created a huge explosion, killing or leaving all of the demons caught up near dead
"Let's move." Alleria said and led the push directly onto the chambers
More demons got in their way and tried to slow them down but with most of their forces in the lower levels, they didn't last very long. Eventually, the group finally found the location in which to place the Pillar only to be met by a massive swarm of bats
"What the..." Arthas muttered and the answer revealed itself to be another dreadlord
"That is as far as you'll go, mortals." Balnazzar said as he created small portals, allowing some of their forces from below to aid
"We'll have to close those portals or they will overwhelm us." Alleria muttered as she shot the first arrow
Alexstrasza knew that the ranger was right so she decided to finally reveal herself. "Alleria, you and the others focus on the Pillar."
"What?" Alleria asked
The dragonqueen did not give a vocal response and simply transformed into her dragon form. Thanks to the attacks from earlier, most of the surrounding area has either been destroyed or completely weakened, to the point where her larger size just collapsed the walls. Alleria saw this and motioned for Tyrygosa to stick close
Balnazzar's eyes widened in surprise as he knew that they were completely outmatched. He was helpless to stop the dragonqueen when she crushed a portal underfoot before going straight for the dreadlord. Balnazzar was able to dodge the first attack and was able to slash her with his talons right on the face. "So, you have been hiding yourself, dragon aspect? That is a new low especially for your kind." he insulted before mentally informing the rest of the Legion about the potential locations of the dragon aspects
"As is taking the life of an honorable paladin, dreadlord." Alexstrasza fired back, shrugging off the slash and tried to crush him underfoot. Her target was barely able to dodge and motioned for more demons to aid him. The dragonqueen paid no heed to them and instead crushed another portal shut before using her tail to swat them away like they were nothing
Balnazzar then took this opportunity to shoot a powerful bolt of fel energy right at the dragonqueen. Despite being outmatched, the fel bolt was strong enough to slam the dragonqueen into a wall. "Oh how sweet it would be to capture you alive, dragon aspect, but unfortunately, I don't have the means." he said while flying up only to be shot but multiple arrows on his back, specifically where his wings was connected to the rest of his body, causing him to fall to the ground. The dreadlord turn to the one responsible and saw a furious Alleria charging at him. "You insolent elf. Allow me to reunite you with your beloved paladin." he hissed before firing another bolt of fel energy, hitting the ranger right at the torso and sending her flying
"Alleria!" Alexstrasza yelled but instead of going to the ranger, she instead bit half of the dreadlord's body. While she could devour him, even she had to take a cue from the rest of her allies and not take any chance. After biting the dreadlord, she released a huge breath of fire and aimed it at the rest of the demons. Her breath instantly killed Balnazzar and burned the group she shot it while closing the last portal he had created
At the same time, Tyrygosa and Arthas made their way to where the Pillar was supposed to be placed. Thanks to Alexstrasza having a much larger profile, they were able to reach their objective easily
"Tyrygosa, quick, while Alexstrasza keeps them busy." Arthas urged and the blue dragon followed his lead. Anya was behind, providing cover for them
It did not take long for Tyrygosa to place the Pillar in its place and parts of the walls and floor glowed with arcane energies
'This is Tyrygosa, the Tears is secured.'
"More demons are coming dis way." Rokhan yelled out from the entrance of the chamber while the rest of the group finished off the rest of the demons
"Damn it. We'll have to hold them off or they'll undo our efforts." Jaina said in annoyance
"Alexstrasza!" Anya yelled out, holding Alleria's damaged and badly burned body. The dragonqueen did not even hesitate and rushed to aid her ally while transforming to her elven form. When Alexstrasza finally took over taking care of Alleria, the dark ranger turned to the rest of the dragons. "Someone watch our flank. The Legion might use the hole we created to attack from two sides."
Ysera's group had similar results. They ran into Detheroc. He did the same move as Balnazzar's tricks and created portals but unlike his brother's, these connected to the Twisting Nether which allowed them to bring forth even more troops. The Dreamer however chose not to reveal herself and continued to fight in her disguised form
"Give it up, mortals." Detheroc said as he saw that their enemies were slowly being overwhelmed. "You cannot win a war of attrition against the Legion."
"We're getting overrun here." Khadgar said
In the meantime, Drak'thul was the only one who realized that these portals were connected to the Twisting Nether and began using his magics to try and close the portals, or at the very least, bottleneck the incoming troops. Since he was vulnerable to direct attacks, Vereesa, Dranosh and other undead warriors covered him
Detheroc noticed this and was furious. Like the rest of the Legion, he too was furious about the Horde refusing to be the Legion's pawns. After dispatching a few of their enemies, he hid in the shadows. The chaos of the battlefield allowed him to make his move unnoticed. Reappearing at where Drak'thul was, he inflicted a deep slash on Vereesa's torso and quickly cleaved off Dranosh's head before turning his sights to the warlock. "You insolent orc." he growled out and released a swarm of bats. This forced Drak'thul to stop what he was doing. "You could have had everything you ever wanted."
"Not being a slave is the only thing I ever wanted." Drak'thul responded boldly before releasing a fel bolt
The dreadlord however, was quicker physically and vanished from sight. Detheroc then reappeared behind Drak'thul and run him through right in the chest with a sword. "Then you will die." he said
Drak'thul coughed up blood as that wound was very fatal. It barely missed his heart but the dreadlord twisted his sword and it finally hit it. Knowing that he wouldn't survive, Drak'thul instead used his last moments to gather his energies onto his own body. Surprisingly, Detheroc did not pay this too much heed and when it was too late, Drak'thul's body exploded, getting the attention of everyone and sending the dreadlord into a wall
"Drak'thul!" Ysera yelled. Furious, she finally revealed herself and transformed into her dragon form. "Khadgar, Dranosh, focus on the Pillar." she ordered before pouncing at the surprised dreadlord. Detheroc was helpless as the dragon aspect tore his entire left body off. Like with Balnazzar, Ysera was far too powerful for him and due to the pain, he was even more helpless as the Dreamer completely crushed his body which also closed the portals he had created. Turning her sights to the rest of the demons, Ysera used her powers to trap them all in some kind of dream, allowing the rest of the group to finally kill them
'This is Khadgar. We are in the clear. Kel'thuzad, teleport the Eye here, now.' he said
As instructed, Kel'thuzad used his magics to do just that and brought the Eye of Aman'thul. With Khadgar's help, the two mages placed it in its designated location and caused the floors and walls to glow with magical runes. In the meantime, Ysera took the time to heal Vereesa. Out of the rest of their group, she was the only one who was the most injured but it was nothing too fatal
'The Eye of Aman'thul is secured.' Kel'thuzad spoke mentally before noticing demons approach them from the hole created. "Assume defensive positions. The Legion might try to destroy the Pillar." he said and began raising all those who have fallen on both sides
At the highest floor on the Tomb, the final group made their way to where the Aegis of Aggramar was to be placed. Arygos and Soridormi lead this group and with the distance between the attack on the Tomb's entrance and the highest level, there wasn't that much resistance. There were still some demons guarding it of course and Jaraxxus was commanding them. This battle wasn't a total pushover because they didn't have someone as powerful as a dragon aspect with them
"Screw this demon." Arygos growled and quickly pounce on the eredar, completely ignoring the other demons in the area
"While the dragon keeps that eredar busy, let's push forward to the Pillar's place." Shandris ordered before looking at Valeera
"Pillar protection. Got it." Valeera understood as Agatha and Vol'jin protected her from the demons
Soridormi on the other hand, did not just leave Arygos alone. She knew that the blue dragon was more or less equals with the eredar and that one mistake from him would leave him at the eredar's mercy. With Jaraxxus having his hands full in preventing the blue dragon from taking a chunk out of him, Soridormi shot her lightning breath. Thanks to that opening, Arygos was able to take a bite out of the eredar. Jaraxxus responded by using his magic to become ethereal and created fel images of himself which got the blue dragon off him
"What are these things?" Arygos raged as one of the images released a blast of fel at him, forcing him back
The other images quickly attacked Soridormi as well and were able to wound her albeit slightly. While the bronze focused on fending off the images, Arygos used his own magic to try and locate the eredar commander among the images that kept appearing
"Valeera, you said that the Aegis creates shields right?" Shandris asked, observing the battle and knowing that Soridormi will not be able to completely prevent all the demons from attacking the blue dragon
"Yeah, why?" Valeera responded
"Go shield Arygos." Shandris ordered
"I will cover ya on da way ta him." Vol'jin offered when the high elf hesitated
"We both will." Agatha agreed and used her powers to raise all the corpses in the immediate vicinity
Valeera decided to trust her allies and rushed to the blue dragon. Vol'jin's magics would shield her from any incoming projectile and any lesser demons that got in her way would either die by her sword or by an undead raised by Agatha. Upon reaching her destination, she activated the Aegis' powers and created a shield around the blue dragon
Arygos grunted in acknowledgment and knew that he wouldn't have to worry about the demons attacking him. After a while, he finally completed. "There you are." he turned toward the entrance and shot a beam of arcane energy
"Valeera!" Shandris yelled, pointing to where the Aegis should be placed. The high elf then quickly dropped the shield and move back
Despite being hidden, Jaraxxus' location was revealed but the eredar did not sit around and observe. When he knew that Arygos had located him, he had quickly created a shield around him, blocking the attack and the dragon's vision. Jaraxxus knew this and quickly teleported above the blue dragon. With a massive amount of fel energy, he released it right at the back of the dragon's neck, inflicting fatal injuries. However, all this was just a distraction as Valeera was able to place the Pillar, causing the room to glow. "What?" Jaraxxus muttered and turned. "You!" he growled and shot a ball of fel energy at the high elf. To his surprise, it was blocked by a lightning breath, courtesy of Soridormi. The eredar then growled in pain as he was shot by arrows from behind before being slammed into the ground by Soridormi. Furious, the eredar shot a stream of fel from his hands before the dragon could inflict even more injuries
While Vol'jin went to see what he can do to help Arygos, Agatha used her magics to sap away Jaraxxus' energies while he was grounded thanks to Soridormi, Shandris providing cover for her. With the pillar in place, Valeera was finally free to use both her hands and began slaughtering any nearby demons. Her ability to fight were increased even further thanks to the demon hunter's near relentless training of her. Making her way to where Soridormi was dueling with Jaraxxus, Valeera used the distraction to slash the eredar across his back. Seizing the opening, Soridormi quickly crushed Jaraxxus' head under her foot, finally killing him
The remaining demons didn't last too long after that and Agatha was quick to raise them all back. 'Aegis secured.' she said mentally but got no response, which meant that they were the first to finish their objective
"Shall we head down to the lower levels and help the rest?" Valeera asked curiously
"No." Agatha answered. "Alexstrasza and Ysera are with the others and they are more than a match for anyone who isn't Archimonde or Kil'jaeden."
"She's right. We may have secured the Aegis but I doubt that the Legion would just leave this be." Shandris agreed
"But something is not right." Vol'jin spoke while still trying to heal the fatally wounded blue dragon. "Why aren't da Legion doing anything about dis?"
In the central area of the Tomb before Legionfall created their openings, Kil'jaeden was walking towards a very familiar husk while the battles began to rage in other levels of the Tomb. Kael'thas was waiting for him
"Lord Kil'jaeden, the Tomb itself is under attack. Why did you order me not to interfere?" Kael asked
"Because we do not know where the dragon aspects are." Kil'jaeden responded
"They are most likely in this battle, remaining in their disguised form as to not reveal themselves." Kael said and the Deceiver turned to him with a blank expression
"Yes, I figured as much and something you explicitly failed to mention even to that paladin." Kil'jaeden reprimanded him
"But I thought Turalyon was already aware of it?" Kael tried to defend himself
"Perhaps but the spell we used to possess him does not grant us access to his memories. If we made it more complicated than it already was, then Illidan would notice something was off." he answered. 'I'm surrounded by idiots.' he thought at how careless Kael was, all his plans going down the drain but he wasn't just to let the Legion's enemies win without a fight. "This battle is most likely lost. We haven't made any preparations against the dragon aspects and clearly Illidan was prepared for this."
Kael looked down in shame, knowing full well that he had a part in the Legion's failures. "So, we just let them enter here?"
"No, we don't." Kil'jaeden said and turned to face Sargeras' Avatar, Kael mimicking his actions. "The husk before you was once a vessel for Sargeras but this Temple itself has always been our prize. The means by which we will reduce your world to cinders. But, this invasion was launched too soon." he explained while the fel high elf listened. The Deceiver then channeled fel energies into the avatar and it began to glow. "This battle may very well be lost but still, it really doesn't matter. The Legion will outlive everyone and we will return, again. For now, stick with the Avatar and fend off our attackers."
"And what about you?" Kael asked
"I will be heading back to Argus and prepare our defenses. With how well organized our enemies are, the Legion will need something to tilt the scales otherwise our own troops will just end up under the the Scourge's control." Kil'jaeden replied before teleporting away
More fighting continues. The part about the battle to place the Pillars are all concurrent and just finished at different times so don't read too much on how the last group were the ones to finish first. When I was writing this chapter, I was actually considering to put in the Cathedral of Eternal Night however, only that had a name. The place for where to place the other Pillars didn't have one and I am not too good at naming stuff myself, I decided to just cut it from the story and have the Aegis' place among the very upper levels. The rest of the Pillars are just placed somewhere on the middle levels. I didn't put much detail into it since it wouldn't really matter
Also, what Kil'jaeden and Kael'thas did happened before the battle for the Pillars occured. I just put them at the very end of the chapter because it seemed more fitting to place it there. I really didn't want it to be that early in the chapter anyway since it sets up another incoming battle
Yes, I did kill Drak'thul in this chapter. Given that this is the Legion, I knew that at least one of the Scourge High Command had to be killed otherwise that would significantly undermine just how much of a threat they truly are. The only problem was who. Out of all of them, I just chose Drak'thul because he's the only mortal among the High Command anyway. He was killed rather easily but then again, I don't think warlocks are particularly known for their close quarters combat prowess and even if they are, a strike to the heart should be enough to kill them, to kill anyone that isn't undead
I also killed Therazane in this chapter. Since the other three are pretty much dead, why not finish the job. I'm not too sure if Mephistroth is a match for her in a straight up fight but well, that's wasn't a fair fight. It was more of the Dreadlord tricks which resulted in her being killed. I don't know too much about the Elementals and I didn't really feel like writing that long of a battle
Lastly, I made it so that the Legion aren't aware that Dragons can shapeshift. Given the two previous invasion, I can't think of a scenario in which they would be aware of that. In the WotA, I think all the dragons were in their dragon forms already while not a single dragon was even present during the Third War. As such, they had no way of knowing that a Dragon can shapeshift aside from speculation