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Argus
"Kael"thas." a voice rang out. "Kael"thas." it rang again. "KAEL'THAS!" it rang again, much louder than the previous two times
The former prince of the high elves opened his eyes and found himself in a place he had never seen before. In panic, he quickly looked around. "What is this? Where am I? How did I get here?" Kael asked out loud, remembering how Kel'thuzad killed him in the Tomb of Sargeras. He tried to run but found himself unable to touch anything. As he was further panicking, he heard footsteps and looked to where it came from. "Kil'jaeden? What is this? What happened?" he demanded to know
"This is Argus, the Heart of the Burning Legion. You've been here before." Kil'jaeden answered
Kael immediately knew what the Deceiver was talking about. "When Sargeras told me to receive my reward."
"When Sargeras told you to pass through the portal, you were brought to Mac'Aree, the once capital of the Eredar race. The reward he gave you warped your soul. It is now similar to us demons." Kil'jaeden explained and the prince was confused at what he meant. "We demons are not as easy to kill. You do not run one through and think that's the end of that. Whenever a demon is killed, its soul return to the Twisting Nether and the body begins to reconstitute itself."
"So, right now, only my soul remains." Kael said in realization. "How long before my body finishes restoring itself?"
"If I am to translate that time to the one you are used to, then it would be well over a year before your body restores itself to full health." Kil'jaeden answered
"You said 'full health', then that means even before then, my body would become usable?" Kael asked and the Deceiver merely nodded. "What did you mean when you said 'you are used to'?"
"Time does not exist for us demons. Unlike you elves, we do not simply live for thousand of years. We are truly unaffected by the ravages of time." Kil'jaeden explained, surprising the elf. "Time on various worlds travels in different speed, depending on where you are. Once before on Argus, one day would have eighteen hours for daylight and twenty for nighttime, resulting in thirty eight hours."
"I see. Now what?" Kael asked after a while
"Do you want revenge on that lich?" Kil'jaeden asked
Kael's eyes perked upon hearing that. "What? Are you saying that you can somehow accelerate my regeneration?" he asked in surprise. "Do it."
Kil'jaeden needed no further invitation and began casting a spell, one which caused the former prince to begin yelling in agony
After bringing Kael'thas back to life, Kil'jaeden made his way back to the throne room of his fortress. Despite the defeat, he wasn't too bothered by it. The Deceiver had already considered things would turn out like this. He had expected this to be the battle that would have the fate of both Azeroth and the Legion in the balance but for some reason, he wasn't too certain if their enemies would even set foot on Argus. As he was in deep thought, fel flames appeared in the middle of the throne room
"Kil'jaeden, what is the meaning of this? Why did you not order more of our forces to reinforce our hold?" Sargeras demanded to know
"And just what the hell do you expect to happen? In case you haven't noticed, the Scourge would simply raise those who have fallen. Their necromancers are far too protected for our forces to take them out." Kil'jaeden said angrily. "I told you we were not yet prepared for such an invasion. We haven't been able to gather any significant information on our enemies."
"We have far more resources than the entirety of Azeroth. They cannot hope to stop us for eternity. We-" Sargeras pointed out
"And so can the Scourge." Kil'jaeden shut him up. "I warned you that the next invasion will risk the fate of everything."
"What the hell do you intend to do now?" Sargeras asked
"To crush our enemies. We may have lost but we still have our greatest advantage, time. If they sit around, they won't be ready for the next time we attack. If they come here to Argus, then the final battle begins." Kil'jaeden answered but didn't bother to await for his master's response. "Now, stay out of this. Your impatience has already cost us too much. This time, we do this my way. Enough of your failures." he said and made the flames vanish. 'Assuming we even win this with you being unable to participate in the battle. You're only worth cleaving entire worlds in two.'
Tomb of Sargeras
An hour after the battle, the surviving members of Legionfall went outside to heal themselves. Thanks to Malfurion, Ysera and Alexstrasza, it didn't take too long before they were all back to full strength. While preparing for what could possibly be their final journey, the Scourge was busy raising the corpses of those who have died outside of the Tomb. Thanks to the Avatar collapsing the floor, most of the undead were in the large pool of fel energy and died. Fortunately for them, there were still a good amount of corpses outside the Tomb as they weren't able to raise them all before they sieged the Tomb itself
The forces of Kalimdor were still slightly disgusted at seeing those who were once among them being raised into undeath but given how powerful the Burning Legion is, they had little choice in the matter. They weren't confident that if they chose to wait for the next invasion, they would be able to take the demons on. There was also the situation on how the Legion would even invade again but with all the damage done, it was entirely possible that they would easily manipulate someone to do it
Aboard the Vindicaar, the last of the draenei's ship, the leaders wanted to make battle plans but they literally had no information to go on. Kel'thuzad had asked the demon hunters if they got any information on Mardum but the only ones who knows what awaits on Argus are the ones who are stationed on Argus. Anyone who isn't stationed on that world knows next to nothing about it, aside from the highest ranking demons
"Are we just going to invade the Legion's homeworld with little to no information about them?" Arthas asked
"We don't have much choice, Prince Arthas." Kel'thuzad spoke up. "Lady Illysanna is not certain that they will be able to sneak into Argus and interrogate a demon undetected. It is, after all, the Heart of the Legion. Even if they stood undefeated for time much longer than we have been alive, I do not believe that Kil'jaeden would just leave it open to attack especially not after a war like this."
"Then that means there is the possibility of us getting instantly slaughtered if we set foot on Argus." Thrall said thoughtfully. "Do we have any other alternatives?"
"It's either we take this chance now or we give the Legion time to prepare for the next invasion." Valeera said
"What about the corpses of the demons you have raised, Kel'thuzad? Can't you gather information from them?" Jaina asked curiously
"No. All we have gathered is that Kil'jaeden has set things up that only the demons stationed on Argus would have the knowledge about the world. None of the demons we have slain is from Argus. In fact, I believe they only used their homeworld as a bridge to connect their forces from other worlds." Kel'thuzad answered
"I don't think it particularly matters if we have information on Argus or not." Agatha spoke up. "Kil'jaeden doesn't seem to be the type of individual to leave things the way they are. If he suspects that we are preparing to invade his very home, I wouldn't put it past him to mix things up. He is known as the 'Deceiver' after all."
"As possible as it may be, we will not die immediately after arriving on Argus." Velen finally joined the conversation. "The Vindicaar's magical shields has been constructed specifically to withstand attacks even from someone as powerful as Kil'jaeden."
"You prepared for something like that, Velen?" Thrall asked in surprise
"For centuries now, the draenei have long been planning to return to Argus and face Kil'jaeden but unfortunately, we never got the chance, until now." Velen responded
"Even if the Vindicaar is prepared for someone like Kil'jaeden, we cannot rely on it alone. Once we make landfall in Argus, we will need to scout the area and eliminate anything that would threaten the ship." Anya added
"Aside from this rather insane plan to invade the Legion's homeworld, we have another problem." Alexstrasaza said, getting everyone's attention. "They still have their forces here, don't they or have you already defeated them all?"
Kel'thuzad and Agatha looked at each other knowingly
"Unfortunately, you are right. Only their forces here in the Broken Isles were defeated. The rest of the Scourge tried to keep them busy but unfortunately, their gunships were too much of a problem. At the very least, we made sure that they wouldn't be able to use it so that means that they're stranded in Pandaria or the Eastern Kingdoms." Agatha replied
"So, you're plan was to isolate the Legion's forces here and defeat them? That's impressive." Wrathion commented
"If that is the case, then Alexstrasza, can you and the dragons stay here?" Thrall asked
"Stay here? Why would you not want us to fight with you?" Alexstrasza asked in surprise
"Because the Legion might target you first. We had a huge advantage in this battle when you kept yourself hidden but I don't think it will work a second time, especially not in their homeworld." Thrall explained. "Until we know what we are facing, I think it is best that you remain here."
"I suppose that makes sense. In the meantime, we might as well try to hunt down the Legion's forces that are stranded and make sure they can't make another gateway. I mean, if Illidan used this war as a distraction to send his demon hunters into the Legion's territory, then I can't imagine they won't try the same." Ysera offered
"I will say this, if we are to stop the Legion for good, then Kil'jaeden cannot be our only goal." Kel'thuzad said. "We must also destroy Sargeras once and for all otherwise he will just return again."
"Wait, Sargeras? Isn't he a Titan? How do you even plan to take out a Titan?" Khadgar asked incredously
"With whatever we find on Argus." Agatha answered simply which did not give an answer that everyone else expected. "The fact of the matter is nobody knows how to truly destroy a Titan, at least for creatures such as us. As such our only chance would be to scour Argus or use the world itself to destroy him if it has enough energies to do so."
"This is just too risky." Arthas muttered
"As is every battle if your enemy is one who is far beyond your own capability." Seldarria responded. "Trust me, I know that based on experience." she continued, referring to the Old Gods and how the Scourge shattered an entire continent to destroy one and two of the Pillars to destroy another
Space Outside Argus
A few hours later, the Fel Hammer finally made its way to a distance where the Legion's homeworld was seen. By design, the gunships were created for interstellar travel at incredible speeds and compared to other gunships, the Fel Hammer was much faster and more armed than the others which allowed it to reach Argus in mere hours. Thanks to more of Malygos' magic, they were able to travel completely undetected
Atop the Fel Hammer's deck was Maiev, who had been on the lookout for anything that resembled Argus. A world with a large part having been cleaved out. The place that fit that description finally came into view and she ordered the ship to slow down
'Maiev, what is it? Why'd you have us slow down?' Allari asked from the Fel Hammer's bridge
'The world that the spider had mentioned, it's finally in view.' Maiev responded back as she made her way to the bridge. The others also made their way, having noticed the change of pace
"Are we there yet?" Vandel asked curiously
"Just about." Maiev answered and changed the screen to reveal what was in front of them. "So, any idea how we're gonna get our allies from Azeroth to this place?"
"With this." Illysanna said and brought out the Keystone. "Allari, go kill that spider." she ordered and said person nodded and left
"How does the Keystone work again?" Asha asked
"Simple, we release some of our energy into it while thinking of the world we want it to open a rift to then let it do the rest." Malygos answered. "However, that will only work if the one using it has already been to the world he or she wants it to lead to."
"All of you, prepare for battle. We don't know what awaits us out there." Illysanna said and made her way to the top deck. After a while, they were finally in a distance that was both not too far and not too near. 'Kel'thuzad, I'm going to open the rift. You ready?'
'We are awaiting your signal.' the archilich replied
'Very well then.' Illysanna said and concentrated on Azeroth. When the Keystone finally cackled, she knew it was ready so the demon hunter threw it into the sky. After reaching a good enough distance, the Keystone popped and began creating a giant portal and on the other side, Azeroth was visible. 'Kel'thuzad, it's open.' she said and a stream of yellow light flew straight towards Argus. 'Malygos, you saw that, right? Follow them.'
After the rift was opened, the Vindicaar made its way to Argus' surface. Contrary to what they expected, they weren't instantly under fire. A few minutes had passed and still nothing. This allowed the Fel Hammer to hover above them. The Scourge members aboard the gunship then made their way down right as the Legionfall forces began to exit their own ship
"Lady Illysanna, you all made it." Kel'thuzad greeted them
"Fortunately for us, the Legion was cocky. Mardum was far too easy to take. They made it easy for us to isolate and take the Keystone." Illysanna said
"How bad was it on your end?" Kor'vas asked
"Surprisingly, it wasn't half bad. Illidan knew that the Legion would prioritize you so by relocating you somewhere else, they were forced to search for you. It gave us the opening we needed to transport our forces to Kalimdor and mount a counter attack." Agatha explained
Before they could catch up, a large ball of fire was heading in their direction
"Watch out!" Malygos yelled and created a large shield of arcane energies, protecting them
"Damn it. The Legion already knows we're here. We'll have to scout this area." Vashj cursed under her breath
Azeroth's forces were confused at who she was as they weren't aware that the naga had the ability to transform into a hybrid form. Unlike the other members of the Scourge, Vashj appeared to be a hybrid of a naga and an elf so they had no idea what to make of her but in the end, she was right. The demon hunters took point with the surviving high elf rangers following suit. Velen had decided to focus on strengthening their hold in their landing place. There was no certainty as to what Kil'jaeden had in store for them
On top of a plateau some distance away, Kayn and Asha found the siege weapon responsible for shooting their position. It was contrary to anything they had expected. What they found was a cannon which was had two semi circles with one end connected to some kind of mass while in the middle of it were two more semi circles that were just short of touching each other. It was pointing at the direction of their landing site and submerged in a pool of fel
"Why would their siege weapon be this unguarded?" Kayn asked suspiciously
"I would think that this isn't a weapon at all but there's no mistaking of those energies. It's similar to a gunship's." Asha responded before looking to their landing site. "It's also pointing to our landing site so that can't be a coincidence. Nothing can be a coincidence when it comes to the Legion."
"You're right but this place still gives me a very bad feeling." Kayn said and readied his blades. "Let's destroy that either way."
Asha nodded and prepared her own blades. As the two demon hunters approached the weapon, she suddenly stopped. "Wait, why does this thing look like its alive?"
Kayn then took a closer at the base of the weapon. "Is this a living creature? What the he-" he asked but was cut off when the weapon itself growled
The siege weapon then got up and revealed itself to be a giant creature that neither hunters have seen before. It had a humanoid shaped body and the weapon was actually its head, its horns to be precise. At a distance, whatever the creature was almost looks like a death knight since it had armor except it was laced with fel. Revealing itself also caused the ground to erupt. The creature then tried to grab the two demon hunters, who were simply flying and avoiding its hands
"Well, I guess this is why this weapon gave us the heebie jeebies." Asha muttered nonchalantly, their small size only aiding them in dodging the creature's arms
"Keep it busy will you." Kayn said, flying behind the creature
"As you wish." Asha said and landed on the creature's right wrist. She then thrust her blade right into the creature, drawing blood. The creature growled in irritation and attempted to shoot her using its horns but this did not bother the demon hunter. Asha simply flew up and dodged, causing the creature to shoot its hand. "This is getting annoying, Kayn. Just kill it already."
"You are one impatient lady." Kayn teased and charged one of his blades with energy before cleaving the creature's head cleanly off, causing its body to fall flat. "There, happy?" he asked as he flew beside her
"Ecstatic." Asha replied sarcastically before noticing something far away. "Kayn, look."
The male demon hunter followed her line of sight and what he saw was unmistakeable. It was a fortress a great distance away from where they were. "That must be the Legion's main stronghold."
"Indeed, but still, something's not right." Asha replied. "If Argus is the Heart of the Legion, why is it so deserted? I would have thought the moment we arrived, we would be forced into a battle larger than anything we have ever participated in."
"Kil'jaeden is no doubt up to something. Since they have invaded Azeroth, there has been no sign of him." Kayn said and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go back to the others. They need to be aware of where our goal is."
Antorus
Inside Kil'jaeden's fortress, the Deceiver, along with the two demon hunters that the Legion had gotten their claws on, had been watching everything that transpired. He wasn't able to notice the Fel Hammer approach from the Twisting Nether but the moment the rift between Argus and Azeroth opened, he had kept his eyes on everything that has happened. He witnessed the Vindicaar's arrival to Argus as well as the Fel Hammer hovering above it. Kil'jaeden was the one who ordered the Antaen to attack his enemies and saw one of them being played around by the demon hunters, something he found oddly amusing
Kil'jaeden's homeworld was deserted, at least on the surface, as all of his forces were underground. He didn't bother to have them guard the surface since it would be too much trouble to face his enemies as soon as they arrived. After the information on Mardum, he knew that the Fel Hammer would just slaughter the whole lot of them. Even if he was to cripple the captured gunship, he wasn't aware of what kind of weaponry the Vindicaar possessed and didn't want to risk it
"Lord Kil'jaeden, what are we to do?" Caria asked curiously
"You two, head towards Tichondrius and prepare Illidan's body. We'll use it as a bomb to break their ranks." Kil'jaeden ordered
"What if they come to rescue him?" Varedis asked
"That's exactly the point." Kil'jaeden replied and surprised them both. "When we captured him in Silvermoon, it would have been next to impossible to break him before something like this happened. Instead, if they think that they can rescue Illidan, I can't imagine they won't take it considering how powerful and cunning he is so that's your cue. His own natural affinity for magic made it difficult to turn his own soul into an explosive and even now, I don't think we are a step closer." he said thoughtfully, being genuinely impressed about the original demon hunter. "Once the battle begins, you must defend his prison no matter what. I have already set his prison for an ambush. So, just keep anyone who attacks busy until the trap is sprung and make sure that whoever attacks the building knows exactly where Illidan is."
"As you command, my lord." Caria replied with a grin and the siblings left
"Now then." Kil'jaeden said when the demon hunters left. He transformed the fel image of the location of his enemies into the empty terrain between them and his fortress. The Deceiver then channeled his powers right into the ground itself
As the Deceiver was casting his powers, the very ground of his homeworld began to warp. The ground itself began to shake but it wasn't violent enough to gain attention, yet. Strange marking also appeared at the same time. When Kil'jaeden finally raised his hands while channeling, a very violent shockwave was released and the the terrain between Antorus and Azeroth's forcus cracked. A huge horde of demons soon appeared and they were led by none other than the former prince of the high elves, Kael'thas Sunstrider, who had been brought back to life mere hours ago, and Magtheridon, the only high ranking member who survived the battle in the Tomb
Terrain of Argus
At the landing site of Azeroth's forces, they have secured a perimeter. They weren't able to build any sort of base since they didn't bring that much supplies but they were able to secure the nearby areas so that if the Legion's forces ever came to attack, they would be able to see it. With the help of Malygos, the demons wouldn't be able to sneak up on them unless Kil'jaeden himself attacked
The scouting groups have returned. They didn't stay out for too long in the event of a demon ambush
"What did you find?" Velen asked once, the last of their scouts, Asha and Kayn, finally returned
"Just a large deserted terrain. We did find what shot at us though." Asha replied. "The Legion have some sort of living siege weapons. They're giants compared to us and their horns are able to shoot powerful blasts of fel energy."
"Why am I not surprised?" Sylvanas asked with a roll of her eyes but her voice was still filled with pain
"There is something else we discovered though." Kayn added, arousing everyone's curiosity. "In the distance, there was a very large fortress. I would imagine that place is Kil'jaeden's fortress."
"But this place is deserted. I'm not surprised that it is a barren wasteland but the lack of resistance is concerning." Khadgar added and turned to the demon hunters. "Are you sure we are in the right place?"
"Well, Argus is a world where a large part was destroyed. This one fits the bill." Maiev pointed out
While Azeroth's forces were making plans about how to attack the Kil'jaeden's fortress, a violent shockwave suddenly rocked them and mysterious lights reached high into the sky in the distance
Jaina, who was the one who took first turn in watching the distance, bore witness to what had happened. A large army of demons suddenly appeared from the ground and were heading straight towards them. Quickly, she teleported herself to where the others were gathered. "Everyone, the Legion is here!"
"What? But the terrain was deserted just seconds ago." Velen asked in surprise
"That's what I thought but after that shockwave, mysterious lights appeared and demons appeared. if I'm guessing correctly, they were all hidden underground." Jaina replied before shaking her head. "It doesn't matter where they were. We need to be ready for an attack."
As soon as the archmage had said that, a barrage of fel energies suddenly shot towards the direction of the Fel Hammer and Vindicaar. Fortunately for them, Velen and Malygos had already erected shields which protected them. The rest of them then quickly prepared for battle
Antorus
At the fortress, Kil'jaeden observed as the Legion's army began moving towards Azeroth's forces. Having learned his lesson from the Tomb of Sargeras, the Deceiver did not bother with bringing in more gunships in the event there was another dragon aspect among his invaders not to mention the gunships wouldn't have been able to hide anywhere and they were not at all designed for stealth. He then created a mental link to the rest of his forces
"Burn them to ash."
This chapter is mostly just to set up my version of the Argus campaign. I also added in another fun part and it was the revival of Kael'thas. I decided to bring him back just for the fun of it since Kil'jaeden did bring him back to life after all
I'm not too sure if that's how the Sargerite Keystone works. On wowpedia, it was never written in detail how it would create portals. I just made my own version and made it a requirement that the user know where the world they want to travel to is. That's the only reason I can think of why the Legion didn't just use it all this time. I guess they just forgot about it or something but regardless, that's how it works here
Aside from that, the first half of the chapter is mostly about the aftermath of the Tomb Battle. I made it that after the losses, just about everyone is ready to end the Legion for good
Well, that's all I'll explain for now
Lastly, there was a review asking if Nathanos died. I'm not gonna spoil it here since it will be mentioned in a future chapter