Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

After making their way through Argus' terrain, Vashj, Illysanna and Kor'vas found themselves on a hill overlooking another building which was just off the part of the planet that appears to have been slashed out

"This is the direction I felt the venom I injected into Illidan. That building is most likely the place where he is held." Vashj said, pointing to the destination

"Are you sure about this, Vashj?" Kor'vas asked worriedly. "How do you know that it isn't a fake?"

"The kind of venom I used is one that I gained after I was transformed by N'zoth. It is bound to his very life force so if he was killed, I wouldn't be able to sense it at all. However, it is very faint which means that he's probably barely alive by now." Vashj explained

"How did you even inject it into him anyway? I never saw you near the equipment for that purpose, if we even had any." Kor'vas asked curiously

To the demon hunter's surprise, Vashj grinned. "Do you really want to know?"

Kor'vas immediately got the message. "I'll pass. I don't think I wanna know anymore."

"But still, it doesn't make sense that they would keep Illidan, of all people, alive." Illysanna pointed out

"Not unless they were planning to torture him until he breaks and agree to serve them." Vashj reasoned and there was a slight hint of fear in her voice

"Or it could be something else. I wouldn't put it past Kil'jaeden to have something else planned for Illidan." Kor'vas said and turned to her two companions. "So, how do we do this?"

"We sneak in." Vashj said before Illysanna could while bringing out a rock similar to the one Illidan gave the two demon hunters after securing Lordaeron from the Legion. "Once we find him, we can use this to teleport right behind the Vindicaar."

"Then let's do this." Illysanna said and released her wings. She then carried Vashj while Kor'vas kept them hidden although none of them were particularly certain if they would be hidden

Vindicaar

Back at where the rest of them were, they still continued their discussions until Tyrande noticed the absence of certain individuals who should be here

"Hey, where are Illysanna and Kor'vas?" Tyrande asked

Nearly everyone dropped whatever they were saying and looked around. The priestess were right. The two highest ranking demon hunters were not present

"You're right, Tyrande. Has anyone seen them?" Thrall asked out loud

"They went to rescue Lord Illidan." Kel'thuzad answered, surprising everyone. He had been told about what they intended to do but was given no specific instructions to keep it to himself. "I am not certain of the details but Lady Vashj has done something that would let her know of Lord Illidan's condition. She had felt its presence here on Argus."

"Wait just one moment." Malfurion said, preventing any further commentaries. "Lady Vashj? As in Azshara's handmaiden?"

"Does that mean...?" Tyrande trailed off, recalling that those two used to hang out in Zin'Azshari

"Indeed." Kel'thuzad replied but made no further comments, knowing this was not the time or place for those kinds of discussions

"But how? If Lady Vashj was a handmaiden, then how come she isn't a naga?" Jaina asked curiously

"She is a naga." Malygos answered. "However, the naga have gained the ability to transform into hybrids of an elf and naga after N'zoth's hold on them was broken." he said and as if on cue, some of the naga transformed into elves that have snake like characteristics

"Back on point." Velen brought them out of their fascination. "We should help them. No matter how we may feel, the fact remains that we will need Illidan's help especially against Kil'jaeden."

"But wait, something is off about this." Sylvanas said before anyone can volunteer. "Why did Kil'jaeden leave Illidan alive? It would make more sense to just kill someone who's that big of a threat and more importantly, we have to take in the possibility that the Legion have something in store in wherever Illidan is held."

"It is also entirely possible that the reason Kil'jaeden kept Illidan alive for this very reason." Vereesa added. "He may have intended for us to rescue Illidan and ambush us while we do so."

"I would assume that is what Kil'jaeden has intended. He is a master of misdirection and one can never be too certain of what he has planned." Velen commented and turned to the archlich. "If only the three of them went to rescue Illidan, then is it safe to assume that they are planning to do it as stealthily as they can?" he asked and Kel'thuzad nodded. "Very well then, can you asked them to make some sort of indication of their current location?"

"What would that be for?" Kel'thuzad asked

Velen then turned to the male archmage. "Khadgar, can you teleport a small group there and aid them?" he said and said person nodded

"While you are rescuing Illidan, the rest of us will try to divert their attention." Thrall added and turned to the dragon aspect. "And Malygos, can you try to determine what kind of magical defenses does the fortress have?"

Just about everyone was irritated that those three didn't bother to wait for any backup. However, thanks to Velen, they didn't dwell on it and instead focused on the task at hand

Krokuun

Contrary to what they expected, Vashj and the two demon hunters were able to gain entry fairly easily. All they had to do was kill the two fel guards which guarded a door on an upper level. They made sure that their victims wouldn't be able to make any noise before hiding the bodies behind a pillar while Vashj used her magics to sense if anyone was behind the door

"We're clear. Nobody's on the other side." Vashj said. Just to be safe, rather than open the door, she created a hole that was barely large enough for them to pass through one by one

"Vashj, which way?" Kor'vas whispered

Closing her eyes, Vashj began to see if she can locate Illidan. It took her a few seconds but she can still sense a piece of herself, the venom he injected into him. "It's below us but the problem we have now is making our way towards it through this damn fortress." she said and saw one of her companions doing something to the door. "What are you doing, Illysanna?"

"Leaving some kind of mark that Khadgar can identify. Velen is actually willing to send help." Illysanna replied as she finished up but Vashj remained unconvinced and simply raised an eyebrow

The three of them continued to sneak their way through the fortress, killing small patrols on the way. They all had a very odd feeling because there weren't that many troops stationed here. Maiev had gotten the information why from Kael'thas but if Illidan was here, there should have been more guards especially since Argus is under attack. When they made their way to a window, they saw that even outside, there were only four fel guards at what they assumed was the main door. After more sneaking around and more picking off of demons, the reason was revealed why when they reached a large room

'So, that's why there are only a few demons here. Most must be stationed at Kil'jaeden's fortress while this place would be used as a trap to lure in our forces and ambush them by summoning more demons.' Illysanna said mentally as inside the room they were looking at was a gateway

'Perhaps but this doesn't seem to be an ordinary gateway. Look.' Kor'vas said and pointed to the walls. Unlike other demons gates, this one had two generators powering it up. 'If we destroy those things, it should close this one.'

'Perhaps, but now's not really the time to do so.' Illysanna said and turned to the naga. 'Vashj, can you make a spell that would destroy it when you want it to.'

'Given the time, no, I can't. The best I can do is a spell that would only take effect in a few minutes. An hour at most.' Vashj said

'We'll just have to find Illidan before then. Vashj, take them out.' Illysanna ordered

Vashj nodded and pulled on her bow. Using her magic, she made five frost arrows appear and took aim. When she released them, she had them multiply and hit all of the demons guarding. Vashj took great care that all of her shots would hit at the neck area. Most were killed immediately while those that survived were picked off by Illysanna and Kor'vas before they could do anything. The naga then quickly went to work while Illysanna guarded the entrance

Kor'vas, on the other hand, accessed a nearby console to see just what this place was. It was similar to how the controls on a gunship worked so it wasn't too difficult for her to figure things out. She then found something useful. 'Hey, Vashj. You might not need to make that spell wait for an hour.'

'Why's that?' Vashj asked, not bothering to stop what she was doing

'I found Illidan. He's a level below us and on the edge of the abyss.' Kor'vas said as she began to find the shortest way there. 'Finish it up so we can finish this.' she said and soon enough, the naga finished her task. 'Follow me.'

When they finally found the door that would lead to where Illidan was, it was still unguarded

'Why is this place so deserted?' Illysanna asked but motioned for them to just press on since there weren't any traps

"This is a surprise." a voice called out, stopping the three in their tracks. "I would have thought that there would be more who would come to rescue him."

The trio then looked up as the voice came from the rafters. There were two individuals sitting around and one of them was familiar to them. It was Varedis and they assumed the other was Caria as they recalled him talking about a sister that he never had the best relationship with. Both of them were already in their demon forms

"And just where do you think you're going?" Caria asked mockingly

'This place wasn't as deserted as I thought. If the others came here, these two would have slaughtered them but I guess they want to fight us fair and square.' Illysanna thought she turned to the naga. "Vashj, go on ahead. Leave these two to us."

Vashj didn't even bother to object and made a run for the door. She didn't bother to destroy the door and just used magic to allow her to phase through it. Caria and Varedis tried to attack her but they were stopped by the other two demon hunters

"If you really want to get to her..." Illysanna said

"Then you'll have to go through us." Kor'vas finished

"That seems simple enough." Varedis said as he pushed Kor'vas back. "We'll simply kill you and your master afterwards." he declared and in response, the other two demon hunters released their demon forms at the same time

While Illysanna was dueling Caria, Kor'vas ended up against Varedis. The traitor hunter thought that since the Legion had given him more power, he would have an easy time against Kor'vas but he was dead wrong. Kor'vas was a far better fighter than he was and Varedis was immediately on the defensive. As the two clashed blades, Kor'vas reacted quicker and kicked him right in the thigh. She was aiming at his groin but missed. Varedis was forced to move back which gave Kor'vas the opening she needed to spin around and kick him in the face

Varedis shrugged this off and quickly released an eye beam. Kor'vas wasn't able to dodge so she had to use her wings to block. He then quickly rushed towards her but she released her own eye beam at him when he got in point blank range. Once more, Varedis was on the defensive as Kor'vas slashed him across his torso. He reeled back and was forced to try and block her attacks. She was able to wound him again with her faster movements right beside the first wound. Furious, Varedis released the power of his blades right as an explosion rocked the building. It was the spell Vashj had used to destroy the gateway they found earlier

Thus far, Varedis' blades only looked similar in shape to the Twin Blades of Azzinoth with only a silver color. Upon releasing its powers, the blades transformed. The tips of the blade formed into spikes and its color changed to a pale brown while the grip turned into a skull. Kor'vas saw the change in power but was otherwise unfazed. She simply released her own power and red energies surrounded her blades, which looked like a straight double edged sword with a sharp point at the ends

The two demon hunters charged at each other and locked swords, all four blades. Varedis charged an eye beam but missed as Kor'vas forcefully performed a backflip, kicking him in the face and causing him to discharge it towards the ceiling. Knowing that he would get slashed again, Varedis threw multiple fel chains from his blades and a few of them wrapped around his enemy. Kor'vas wasn't bound for too long as she quickly ignited her body on fire and burned through the chains. This did give Varedis the time to recover himself and go on the offensive. Kor'vas was forced to block his attack but he quickly kicked her right in the abdomen before rushing behind her and inflicing a large wound to where her right wing was connected to her body

Varedis grinned and he threw his blades to the ground before grabbing Kor'vas' wings and threw her into the ceiling. He didn't give her time to recover and quickly shot an eye beam at her. The attack forced her into the level above. The traitor hunter then looked to the other two dueling down the hallway but chose not to interfere so he decided to finish off Kor'vas. If his sister still hasn't finished her enemy off by the time he was finished with Kor'vas, only then will he go help. Flying into the upper level, he found Kor'vas bleeding and trying to get up

"Just stay down and die already." Varedis said as he tried to cleave her but she was able to roll out of the way. When she dodged, he quickly released a pulse of fel from one of his blades which allowed him to rush toward her and grab her by the throat. "Surprised? You should know that my blades, the Deathwalker, is more powerful than even Illidan's own and it is most certainly more powerful than your Darkenblade." he said but Kor'vas didn't reply immediately and she simply grabbed hold of his wrist. "Try as you might. You can't break free, Bloodthorn. I am more powerful than you ever were."

Kor'vas kept her silence but she extended her claws right into Varedis' wrist. As she expected, he didn't even flinch. It only made him chuckle which played directly into her hands as Kor'vas grabbed a dagger from her belt and quickly stabbed it into one of his eye sockets, causing him to hiss in pain and drop her. She then quickly kicked his off hand to disarm him before jumping behind and using another dagger, she sliced off his right wing. "True enough that you may be more powerful than me but it's not a matter of power. It's how you use it." she said as she grabbed one of her blades and thrust it through his abdomen. "A creature no matter powerful is pointless if one does not know how to use it effectively."

Knowing that he would be killed if she strikes again, Varedis used his other wing to slam her back before ripping out the sword. It was difficult since he had to do it from behind but he managed to do so quickly. "Then I'll show you that I can use it better than you can!" he hissed and shot an eye beam right at her. This also burned the dagger still lodged in his eye Kor'vas countered this with her own and thanks to Varedis being more injured than she was and one of his eye sockets being badly damaged, her eye beam was of equal strength despite her being the less powerful of the two

The two eye beams fought for dominance but Varedis firing one was painful and because of that, Kor'vas' began to overpower his and eventually hit him, sending him reeling back. She then grabbed her other blade and rushed towards him. Varedis was barely able to block with a fel shield which also forced her back. The shield didn't last too long and Kor'vas released more fel into her blade before striking. Her attack cleanly sliced off his right arm and a small part of the right side of his upper body. Wanting to end this once and for all, Kor'vas attempted to shoot a point blank eye beam at him but he somehow forced himself to dodge and her eye beam instead create a large hole on a wall

Varedis then summoned an energy sword made out of pure fel from his remaining hand and slashed her. Because of all his injuries, he wasn't able to properly aim so all he managed to do was cut her from right cheek to her left forehead, barely missing both of her eyes

'He can still do that even with those injuries?' Kor'vas wondered in surprise and drew her last dagger before throwing it right at his left shoulder, forcing him to dispel his sword. She then kicked him right in the torso and ripped off one of his horns with nothing but her own strength. Varedis hissed in pain but Kor'vas continued to attack him and finally kicked him in the groin, bringing him to his knees and she quickly stepped on his left arm harshly, rendering it all but unusable. She then walked away to grab both her blades before putting one of them right at his neck

"Kor'vas, please..." Varedis said desperately, admitting defeat. "Detheroc he manipulated me."

Kor'vas stared at him curiously. There was a slight trace of truthfulness in his words but something truly bothered her. "And why should I take your word for it? If you truly had any loyalty to us, you would have fled that battle immediately or pretended to serve them. The moment the opportunity arises, you should have abandoned them or better yet, you should have come to Lordaeron on their gunships and rendezvoused with us." she said reprimandingly. "I have always been wary of you. Your hunger for magic was worse than anyone else's and becoming one of us only made you crave for more. Based on how you fought, I don't think I can take your word for it." she said and quickly killed him. Since he was a demon, his death now was permanent. Kor'vas then dropped her demon form and put her blades on her back and taking a few moments to catch her breath. She then fell to her knees as Varedis inflicted a great amount of injuries on her. 'Something's not right. All this fighting should have caused more demons to come. Why is there still no demons here?' she wondered and walked to the hole on the floor where she was blasted through. When she got up, she decided to take Varedis' Deathwalkers if for no other reason than to make sure the Legion won't get it back

Back on the lower level, Illysanna and Caria were having their own fight. Immediately after first crossing swords, Illysanna gained the upper hand. Unlike her, Caria hasn't been in many intense battles while her enemy had faced off against Xavius and survived with some help. The fact that Illidan trained her also put her on a much higher level as a fighter when compared to Caria

While they were crossing swords, Illysanna took note of how her enemy was fighting. 'Her reaction is too slow.' she thought after nearly slicing Caria's head off and only managing to cut her neck. Caria then threw a stream of fel fire at her which Illysanna dodged effortlessly. 'She panics quickly. It seems that Varedis' sister is inexperienced with using this kind of power.' she took note since her attack was far too clumsy. Illysanna then rushed behind her enemy and inflicted a large wound, almost cleaving her in two then and there

Caria reeled forward and before Illysanna could attack her again, the Legion hunter grabbed her enemy by her shoulders and shoving her into the hallway they came from but it barely did anything. Caria then decided to release the power of her blades. At first, it looked like a double edge scythe with a very short of handle with various traces of orange energies but after releasing its powers, the blades grew slightly longer and turned from orange into gray. Small flames in the color of fel then began to emanate from it right as an explosion rocked the building, courtesy of the demon gate's generators being destroyed

Illysanna was thrown into the hallway but she shrugged it off. When she turned, she saw Caria charging at her with her blades transformed and more powerful. She dodged the first attack but Caria quickly released a large blast of fel, scoring a direct hit. Illysanna forced this off and knew that even though she was the better fighter, she wasn't aware of how powerful Caria was so she released her sword's power which caused light blue energies to appear and take the shape of flames, similar to Caria's. It didn't change shape and it looked very similar to the Twin Blades of Azzinoth but had more rougher edges and a larger handle

The two demon hunters the charged at each other but again, Illysanna quickly gained the upper hand. After breaking the sword lock, Illysanna quickly kicked her enemy away but Caria quickly recovered and tried to slash her. This caught Illysanna off guard who was forced to move back and gave Caria the opening to kick her right in the head

"Surprised? I'll have you know that I was once Farstrider. I know how to fight in close quarters." Caria declared and shot an eye beam at her

Illysanna dodged this by flying before throwing one of her swords at Caria, who was forced to duck. She took this chance to rush behind Caria. "Perhaps but Farstriders are not trained for this kind of power." she pointed out and swung her sword. Caria was able to dodge this and quickly tried to attack with her own slash. Illysanna simply spun around to avoid a hit before using free hand to grab Caria's wrist and pull her closer to her. She then kicked the Legion hunter right in the abdomen harshly

Furious, Caria released a large amount of energy which extended the blade of her swords to nearly double its original length. Illysanna was forced to let go and got slashed at her torso. However, Caria revealed that she simply isn't that great of a fighter compared as her blade ended up getting stuck in the walls. "Damn it all." she cursed and restored it to normal size only to get hit by an eye beam and got slammed into a wall. Caria forced herself to shrug this off and quickly used rushed out of the crack in the wall seconds before Illysanna shot another eye beam

"I guess you never bothered to train with your new powers, have you, Caria, was it?" Illysanna asked as they crossed swords again

"Like hell you'd know." Caria hissed and tried to use her other sword to slice her enemy. Illysanna dodged this rather easily and Caria was at the defensive once more. Since she was outmatched in close quarters combat, Caria surrounded herself with fel energies before causing it to combust, forcing Illysanna back. The Legion hunter then saw that her enemy was charging up another eye beam so she quickly used her blades to create strange markings which levitated in the air. To Caria's surprise, it worked as it forcefully shut the eye beam

'What?!' Illysanna thought in surprise. 'No matter.' she then used her blades to create a shield and block an eye beam that Caria fired at her. Her shield enhanced by her blades didn't just block it, it absorbed the energies and Illysanna used this chance to rush towards her. She then slashed Caria but missed and hit the ground instead. Thanks to the absorbed eye beam whose energies were now on the blades, it created a small explosion that sent Caria back

"Now that I get a closer look, the swords you're wielding is the Felborne Hand." Caria noted, remembering Kil'jaeden telling her about them. "Where did you find them?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Illysanna said dryly and noticed that the effects of the markings Caria had made wore off so she quickly shot an eye beam. In her curiosity, Caria was caught off guard and was sent flying back. Illysanna then quickly charged at her

Caria was barely able to block Illysanna's attack and shot her own eye beam at point blank range, sending her enemy back. Before Illysanna could recover herself, Caria took advantage of the slight disorientment and inflicted another wound right below where her first attack hit and surrounded herself with fel energies again, creating another explosion. Caria then threw one of her blades at her enemy and hit her right at the left shoulder. Knowing that she might get killed, Illysanna has had enough and when Caria charged at her, she shot an eye beam at the ground. The explosion caused the Legion hunter to stop and gave Illysanna the opening she needed to pull out her enemy's sword

Deciding to end this, Illysanna gathered energies in her swords and released them. When one hit Caria, it knocked her into the walls and pinned her there. Even with her power, Caria wasn't able to break free instantly and Illysanna took advantage of this by throwing one of her blades, hitting the Legion hunter right in the neck, killing her instantly. Illysanna didn't want to take the risk that Caria barely survived and destroyed her body with a huge blast of fel

"That's finally over." Illysanna muttered and took Caria's blades before making her way back. When she reached the fork which would lead to where Illidan was held, she found Khadgar, Sylvanas, Kayn, Vereesa and Nathanos coming from the other end. "Khadgar? Sylvanas? What are you doing here?" she asked before noticing the others and she was completely surprised when she finally got a good look at the other three who were with them. "Wait, Altruis? Is that you? And is that Sevis and Candrael?"

"We met them on the way to Illidan's prison." Sylvanas explained

"You really shouldn't have gone without any help, Illysanna." Kayn said

"It couldn't be helped. Vashj wasn't confident that you would even consider rescuing Illidan and frankly, neither was I and we didn't really want to cause that much of a ruckus." Illysanna said but there was a tone of regret in her voice

"We should catch up later." Altruis said

"You're right, Altruis." Illysanna said and led the way. "There. Illidan was supposed to be behind that door."

As the group approached the door, some debris fell from the ceiling and they saw Kor'vas jump down from above. She was badly injured. "I see they really sent some help." she commented

"Kor'vas! Are you alright?" Illysanna asked her worriedly as she helped her friend stand up right

"I'm fine. That damn Varedis." Kor'vas cursed. "Don't worry about me. Let's just rescue Illidan."

"Very well then." Khadgar spoke and charged up arcane energies. "Stand back, everyone." he said and blew open the doors, which revealed a stairwell that was heading downwards

Just like with Maiev, I thought it was long overdue that Illysanna and Kor'vas get their own battles and what better way to do it than against one of their own. It was the whole reason why I added Caria in the story. In the canon, I believe she was just added to wield one of the DH artifacts and I can't remember her being in TBC. I just copied that but for a different purpose which is what you read here and I just added that she was once a member of the Farstriders. Like with many battles thus far, experience is a large factor on who wins a fight. This time, despite being less powerful, both Illysanna and Kor'vas won because they are far more experienced in using their powers. The spell that Caria used to stop the eye beam is also the Sigil of Silence. I just wanted to add one other ability and that seemed a perfect fit since it wasn't one where it would deal a set amount of damage

As for the weapons they were using, they were the different forms of the DH artifacts. Kor'vas has the Darkenblade, Illysanna has the Hand of the Illidari albeit renamed, and Varedis has the Deathwalker, all of which are variations of the Twin Blades of the Deceiver. Varedis is different as while the other two already look the way they did just without the colorful aura, his was the default blade and when releasing its power, it transformed into the Deathwalker. Caria is the only one with the Aldrachi Warblades with the default one being its regular form and when released, hers took the form of the Illidari Crest. The colors mentioned will indicate which model is used. However, they're not artifacts in this story. They're just very powerful blades and when their powers are released, their lethality and strike force increase by several levels

If you're thinking that this is irresponsible for Vashj, Illysanna and Kor'vas to do this on their own, it really was. The reasoning being their insecure if their allies would help even though it should be obvious they would. This is just to show that even though they are capable on their own, they are still very prone to making errors of judgment, one which could have dire consequences

The stronghold that held Illidan is also held in Krokuun. In the canon, that is where the Vindicaar landed and that also is true here. The only difference is that the area which the stronghold is located in a much further area from the landing site

Lastly, I did bring back Altruis and the other DH who have died in the war against the Old Gods. Whether they'll stick around to the very end remains to be seen. The explanation for this should be obvious since it was mentioned in a previous chapter, specifically the one before the battle in Nazjatar