Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft

While Illysanna and Kor'vas fought off the other demon hunters, Vashj phased through the door and saw a stairwell that leads to the lower level. She can sense her venom right below her. The naga made her way down the stairs and found a single large room. She could only assume that this chamber was underground since at the opposite end of the room was Illidan. His hands were tied and he was being suspended above the massive abyss on Argus. From what she saw, it was clear that Illidan had been tortured and he was unconscious

"Illidan..." Vashj muttered as she saw one of his horns cut in half while his wings looked torn. There were multiple cuts all over his body as well. She drew her bow and took aim at one of the chains suspending him. A bolt of energy was shot at her from behind while she was doing so but her snake like magical shield absorbed the attack, protecting her. Vashj turned around but couldn't find who or where her attacker was so she decided to release that energy in all directions. It was enough to force her attacker, who has hidden himself in the shadows, to reveal himself. Upon getting a good look, Vashj had heard about him. "Tichondrius, the Lord of the Nathrezim, am I right?"

Tichondrius was surprised how this strange looking elf knows of him. "Came to rescue your precious Illidan Stormrage, have you, elf?"

Vashj felt an irk of irritation at the dreadlord's words. "I heard that ten thousand years ago, you lost to a mere elf and in your last invasion, you couldn't even defeat Illidan. How truly pathetic for the Lord of the Nathrezim."

"Enough of this." Tichondrius said and tried to sap away Vashj's energies but she dodged to the side and shot an arrow at him. It barely grazed him but he could feel it was no ordinary arrow. Aside from it possessing a cold touch to it, it also cut off a small part of Tichondrius' own magical energy. 'Who is this girl? And since when do elves have scales?' the dreadlord wondered to himself as he sent a swam of carrion at her. Vashj performed a short distance teleportation spell similar to the one Maiev uses and appeared behind him before shooting high pressure water at her and froze it almost immediately. After that attack, Tichondrius disappeared into the shadows. 'There can be no mistaking it. She is one of those snake creatures that Mephistroth had reported that allied with Azeroth's forces. The Highborne must have survived the Sundering and transformed into whatever these creatures are. I guess they have the ability to shapeshift.' he thought as he shot multiple beams of shadows at her

The naga was not at all impressed by this. She had seen that magic all too well from her time of forced servitude to the Old Gods. While she never wielded it herself, she was far too familiar with it but was surprised that demons could wield it. 'Creatures that aren't Old Gods can wield this power?' she asked herself while dodging the shadow energies. Vashj was aware that trying to hit where the energies were coming from was pointless. While in this state of hidden in shadows, the dreadlords can't directly interact with anything but can freely move around as they please. Instead, the naga simply faked trying to dodge so that Tichondrius would not notice that she was attempting to create another one of her snake shields. It worked as Tichondrius did not stop shooting the shadow beams at her. Vashj continued to dodge most of them as to not reveal her hand but let a few hit her shield, which had a larger radius than the one she made earlier. 'Let's see how you like this, dreadlord.' she thought and when she saw a large beam, she let shield absorb it and release it back

'What?! How did she...' Tichondrius thought in surprise as he was completely forced out of the shadows and slammed into a wall. The dreadlord was soon shot by multiple frozen arrows and one came dangerously close to his head, grazing his horn. Furious, he created strange marking on the floor which soon erupted in fel fire in random areas. Vashj was hit by a couple of these and suffered burns. She was able to erect another shield but it wasn't enough given that she didn't have enough time to properly prepare one. "Impressive, night elf. For you to be able to force me out like that."

Vashj sneered at this as she tried to recover herself. "What makes you think I'm still a night elf, dreadlord?" she pointed out and released a large bolt of lightning at him. Tichondrius disintegrated himself into bats to dodge and reappeared behind her. Caught off guard, Vashj wasn't able to defend herself when he attacker her with his large talons, inflicting a deep wound and forced her back. The dreadlord didn't let up as he once more made markings appear and erupted the floor in more fel fire. As Vashj was sent up, Tichondrius quickly released another carrion swarm which slammed her into the floor. The naga coughed up some blood from the recent attack

Before Vashj could get up, Tichondrius walked towards her and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up. The naga struggled to break free. "You really aren't an ordinary night elf otherwise that would have killed you. Perhaps you are a high ranking among the Kaldorei ranks but I have never seen one with this kind of skin. It's almost as if they're scales." the dreadlord commented. "But, you shall die before you can rescue the Betrayer." he said and raised a claw

In his grip, Vashj could barely breathe. The dreadlord's physical strength was far greater than her own and when she saw him raise his other claw, she quickly summoned one of the blades she had found on the Fel Hammer. Vashj quickly sliced off the arm gripping her and caused Tichondrius to hiss in pain. The naga dropped to the floor and tried to catch her breath. She was grateful that Illidan showed her how to bind a weapon directly to her soul. While Vashj was catching her breath, Tichondrius delivered a harsh kick to har abdomen

"You little wretch!" Tichondrius yelled out after sending her flying. "I'll rip your soul to pieces for that!" he said and threw a large fireball at her

This time, Vashj was able to create another one of her snake shields which was sufficient to absorb it completely. Thanks to his sliced arm, Tichondrius' attack wasn't as powerful as it could. Vashj quickly released all that energy back at him and the dreadlord suffered burns from his own attack. Now, both of them were trying to catch their breath and Tichondrius desperately tried to heal his arm but to no avail

All that energy released also caused Illidan's body to rock and slowly awaken him. The demon hunter's body was still in so much pain thanks to all the torture the Legion had inflicted upon him but when he saw what was happening, he was genuinely surprised and concerned that was Vashj fighting Tichondrius. Illidan wanted to take over this battle and rip the dreadlord in half but he was too weak to do anything and slowly lost consciousness once more

At this point, Vashj has gained the upper hand in their battle as Tichondrius had a more difficult time in casting his magic than compared to before. The naga exploited this by releasing bolts of energy, all of which hit as Tichondrius could barely raise any defense against all of them. Instead of trying to defend himself, the dreadlord instead caused the ground to erupt in fel fire once more and released carrion swarms to where Vashj was. The naga dodged an eruption but was hit by one of the swarms. She was sent right into the abyss that Illidan hung from but managed to get a grip on the floor before she could fall

Tichondrius grinned as he the tables had turned to his advantage. He walked over to the edge and his grin grew wider when he saw her about to fall. "Not bad, elf, I must say." he complimented and turned his sights to the hanging demon hunter. "Seeing as you came to claim him, it is only fair that you die along with him." he mocked and moved to grab the chains holding Illidan

Vashj panicked upon seeing this and transformed into her naga form. This allowed her an extra pair of hands. While her two main hands were used to prevent her from falling, she used another one of the new pair to shoot a blast of arcane energies at Tichondrius. The dreadlord was caught off guard and the attack hit him right in the head, sending him reeling back. This gave Vashj the chance she needed to use her other hand to create an arcane chain aimed at the ceiling and pull herself up

"You really are one of the snake creatures, aren't you." Tichondrius said in amusement

"Does it matter?" Vashj said and shot another arrow, this one much more denser than her previous ones and it was aimed at his foot which pinned the dreadlord to the ground. She then grabbed the blade she dropped when she was sent flying back and summoned its pair before releasing its power

When Tichondrius saw the blades transform, he was completely surprised. It went from an ordinary silver colored double edge sword to having orange flames engulf the blades. "The Flamereaper?!" he said in shock. He knew these were the most powerful weapons that the Legion had created. 'It uses the energies of its user as a source and would allow him or her to concentrate their power with much greater precision. The more powerful the user, the more powerful the blades would become and the color of its flames varies from individual to individual.' he thought, recalling how the blades worked but can't exactly remember what causes the variance in colors. "You insolent mortal. Have you any idea what the blades are that you are holding?"

"You mean these? I know it's the Flamereaper and I know that you chose not to use it after a race called the Aldrachi nearly got their hands on it for good." Vashj answered and quickly slithered her way towards him. Tichondrius tried to shoot fel bolts at her but the way she moved was completely different from how she did when she was in her hybrid form. Channeling her magics, Vashj released orange colored chains from her blades. They pierced the dreadlord and bound him to the ground. Given how powerful Flamereaper was, Tichondrius wasn't able to easily break free. This gave the Vashj the opening she needed to finally kill him once and for all. Not taking the chance, the naga grabbed his body and threw it into the abyss. "I should have just engaged him like this from the beginning." she said and even she had no idea why she didn't

Vashj then turned to her hanged lover and worked to break him free, ignoring all her injuries. She made her blades vanish and created lassos. One of them wrapped around Illidan's torso and the other bound to the ceiling. She then conected the two lassos and made them shorter. When she breaks the chains that were hanging him, her lassos would force him into the inside of the room

While Vashj destroyed one of chains, Illidan slumped forward and was supported by her lassos. "Damn it all." she cursed when only one lassos would not be enough to support him so she created more and held it. As she destroyed the last one, she tugged the lasso in her hand and caused him to slam onto the floor. "Illidan!" she said and went over to him. "Come on. I'm getting you out of here." she said and went to the door to find Illysanna. When she arrived to the bottom of the stairwell, she ran into said person

"Vashj." Illysanna said as Khadgar and Nathanos aided the naga in carrying Illidan

"He's badly injured. I can only imagine how long he has been tortured." Nathanos commented when he got a good look at the injured half demon

"Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of here." Vereesa commented in worry right as the building began to collapse

"Damn it. It seems that Tichondrius was the only thing keeping this building standing. With him gone..." Vashj curesd. The naga then created a ritual circle that was large enough for all of them. "Stay within this circle. Anyone who is outside of it will be left behind." she said and they all gathered. "Hold on." she instructed as she grabbed the teleportation rock and crushed it. The circle then activated and they all teleported to a small elevation near the Vindicaar. With her injuries and her energies nearly depleted, Vashj slumped forward

Sylvanas was quick to assist the naga. "We need to get her to a healer. Illidan too." she said as Vashj slowly transformed back into her hybrid form

Up in the sky, they started notice a large orange cloud leaving Argus and making a beeline for the rift between Argus and Azeroth

Antorus

At his fortress, Kil'jaeden had observed the whole event unfold in Krokuun. He wasn't surprised at all when Varedis and Caria lost to their enemies. The Deceiver knew that raw power alone would not be enough to defeat Illidan's forces and their lack of experience came back to bite him. What really pissed Kil'jaeden off was Tichondrius, who lost to someone weaker than him due to arrogance. "Why do I have idiots as my own subordinates?" he growled out when the prison collapsed. "But still, that was pretty bold for such a small group to rescue Illidan. I can't blame that snake for trying something like this. When someone one cares about is in danger, you really can't be sure what one would do." he commented right when another explosion was heard outside. Since the death of Kael'thas, Antorus had come under attack but Azeroth's forces were barely able to scratch the fortress' barriers. With Illidan now back in their enemies' hands, it was only a matter of time before the final battle happens and Sargeras was nowhere to be seen

Vindicaar

Back at the Vindicaar, the group who rescued Illidan were tending to their wounds. Despite being nearly powerless against the demons, at least Thrall and Malfurion still had their healing powers. With the help of Vol'jin, they healed their injured allies. While the others' injuries were easy to heal, Illidan's were not. The demon hunters have made sure that it was really him but his wounds were too severe for ordinary magic to heal, even Tyrande's. They tried to use healing magics for an hour and still no results. Instead, Malygos returned to the ship and see what he can do

In the main room, all the demon hunters gathered and caught up with each other with some of the others who remained and guarded the ship joined them

"Hold on, even though you're only part demons, your souls are bound to the Twisting Nether like with the rest of them?" Valeera asked in surprise

"We weren't aware that our demonic powers have grown to such an extent in all honesty." Illysanna answered

"I wonder..." Jace trailed off. "Would that also include Asha and myself?"

"I'm not entirely sure. We've had this power for over a year and you only recently so there's a chance you wouldn't be bound to the Nether yet." Altruis answered

"Speaking of, how did you three even manage to make your way here?" Kor'vas asked curiously

Altruis was the first to answer. "In Pandaria, Arthas killed me and everything went black. I expected that to be the end but some time later, I don't know how long, I woke up and found myself in a world that was saturated with fel and demons patrolling every now and then. I remembered that when Illidan was training us, he mentioned there is a possibility that we would be immortal like the demons." he explained. "However, in that time, I could barely interact with the world I found myself in and Illidan didn't mention what to do when that would happen."

"That's a surprise to hear." Jaina commented. "I would have thought that someone like Illidan would tell you what to do."

"Perhaps but the fact remains that Illidan himself doesn't know so he would have no idea what to teach us and aside from our enemies' next move, he rarely ever theorizes just about anything." Illysanna pointed out

"That's what I thought so I had to figure it out on my own. I came up empty in the first few..." Altruis trailed off, trying to think of the right word. "Days, if you could even call it that, and eventually, I learned that if my body was to reconstitute itself, I would have to absorb the Twisting Nether's energies but I had to be careful otherwise I would lose control over my own demonic powers."

"That's really surprising to hear. When they told us that our souls would return to the Nether, I've been curious to how that would even work." Allari commented before turning to the other high elven hunters. "But what happened to you two?"

"We were killed in Nazjatar. When N'zoth's tentacles stormed the city, we were killed." Sevis answered

"From there, our story is mostly the same as Altruis'. However, after all this time, we haven't really returned back to full strength so we had to lay low. All of this is just for show. The energies we have absorbed only reconstituted our bodies. Moving it is still very difficult and requires us to exert a great deal of effort. Even making our way here took a lot out of us. Apparently, reconstituting is the easy part. Moving again is another and I'm not even too sure if that's how you're supposed to do it." Candrael added. "But some time later, we heard rumors that the Legion was invading Azeroth again."

"Indeed. The Legion was pulling their forces from other worlds and when their portals were unguarded, we took the chance to pass through. What was really surprising is that the portals weren't even guarded at all." Sevis continued

"True enough. I did the same and found each other along the way. However, we heard that Mardum was under attack and the only ones who would do that would be you." Altruis said, looking at Illysanna. "But the portals that would lead there were all shut so we had no choice but wait for more rumors on where you would attack next. That's when we found that a rift was created between Argus and Azeroth. The three of us found a portal and ended up in the building where Illidan was held and that's when we ran into them." he said, looking at Khadgar

"It's true. We found that room where the gateway was held and just a few minutes later, it exploded. Someone planted some sort of magical explosive device on the generators." Khadgar said, looking at the demon hunters

"Actually, that would be us. We weren't confident you would make it time or that we wouldn't be ambushed while we're rescuing Illidan. For all we knew, that was what Kil'jaeden had intended." Illysanna explained without a sense of apology

Before their conversation could go any further, the door to the room where Illidan was treated opened and out came Malygos followed by Illidan himself. Those gathered were surprised and only then did they realize that they've been chatting for a while now

"Illidan? What?" Tyrande said in surprise before turning to the aspect. "How did you manage to heal him so quickly, Malygos?"

"I didn't." Malygos replied, confusing her. "Demons possess the ability to absorb the ambient energies to heal their own wounds. All I had to do was give him enough magic for Illidan to do the rest." he explained, something that Tyrande forgot. "Unlike the other demon hunters, his body is much closer to a demon so it wasn't too difficult."

"Wait, then does that mean...?" Malfurion said, looking at his brother

Illidan shook his head. "No, Malfurion. I've only gathered enough strength to regain consciousness."

Vashj, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, got up and walked towards her lover. Malygos saw this and gave them both some space. "I'm glad you're alive, Illidan." she said in a tone that was oddly soothing. Even Illidan did not know what to make of it. Vashj didn't wait for his response and just summoned the Flamereaper blades. "I found something for you. Hope you like it."

The first demon hunter still did now know what to think and just accepted them. He observed them for a bit before smiling. "It's perfect. Thank you Vashj."

The naga returned the smile. "There is one other thing, Illidan." she said sweetly. He raised an eyebrow at her when she was silent and out of nowhere, Vashj kicked her lover right in the abdomen. The kick was harsh enough and it made Illidan stagger back before falling to his knees in pain. She had half a mind to kick him in his groin right where it would truly hurt but she didn't want to accidentally kill him. Vashj then walked towards him and grabbed him tightly by his face. "Next time you try to pull something like this off, I will rip those horns off your skull demon hunter!" she hissed out before pushing him back and headed straight for the door which would lead outside the room

Everyone watched but chose not to interfere including both Tyrande and Malfurion. Half of those who were seated got up when Vashj kicked Illidan but made no further actions. None of them ever expected this and they were all stunned. They didn't know what to do or how to react since they were all slightly pissed off at Illidan

Kor'vas, who was the one sitting on the floor closest to the room, quickly got up and helped Illidan to his feet

"I'm fine." Illidan said as Kor'vas helped him up. "Vashj, wait..." he said but she already left. He tried getting up but Kor'vas stopped him. He gave her a questioning look

"Stay here. I'll go talk to her." Kor'vas said and went after the naga

"You know, Illidan..." Illysanna trailed off. "You deserved that one." she said coldly and left the room herself

The demon hunter turned Lich King just stared at the door. He didn't really know what to do and he knew that he deserved it for not being honest with them from the beginning. Illidan had his reasons such as not wanting to have an argument that would take a while to resolve. He knew that there was no way Vashj would agree with his plan but he didn't want to risk her getting killed against the main Legion attack force. The rest of the people in the room just remained silent as they didn't know what else to say nor did they want to get involved. As much as they hated it, they still needed Illidan's help so they had to settle their arguments later. Tyrande then took the chance to try and restore Altruis', as well as the others', strengths as much as she can. Even if she can't restore their power, at least they can still fight

Terrain of Argus

In the landscape outside Antorus, Kel'thuzad, Agatha, Velen and a few others were trying to study the fortress' defenses. Like with everywhere else on Argus, the main entrance, which they could see because it had a very distinguishable look, was empty. They were already used to it by now but they still had a very bad feeling. That feeling was justified when around half an hour after they began observations, the Legion's artillery began raining down fire on their position. They were forced to move back and head to an area that was out of range of the artillery

While the group was trying to study the fortress, Malygos was suddenly instructed to return to the Vindicaar. No one objected as they all knew there would only be one reason, Illidan has been successfully rescued

Some time later, Jaina, Malygos and Khadgar all teleported back to the rest of the group

"You're back already? How is Illidan?" Agatha asked

"His injuries were so severe that healing magics wouldn't work on him. Tyrande and Malfurion had tried to heal him but to no effect." Malygos answered and all present frowned. "However, demons possess the ability to absorb the ambient energies to heal their wounds so I just gave him some of my magic for him to begin recovering on his own. He has regained consciousness but all that is on the surface. Illidan's own power is still depleted and I'm not too sure about his ability to fight."

"How bad was it?" Velen asked worriedly

"Very bad. When we found him, his wings were torn, one of his horns was nearly cut in half and there were a lot of cuts in his body." Khadgar answered. "The Legion has been torturing him ever since he was captured in Silvermoon."

"Does that mean Illidan won't be-" Arthas asked but stopped when the fortress' main doors opened

"What is it, Arthas?" Jaina asked and followed his line of sight. "By the Light." she gasped when she saw a very large army of demons heading their way

"It would seem that Kil'jaeden wants to attack us first." Kel'thuzad commented. "Khadgar."

"I'll inform the rest." Khadgar said and teleported away

"Then I guess that means that the rest of us will draw a line here and try to slow them down." Arthas said as everyone prepared for the final battle

The demons soon engaged the small group in battle and even though they outnumbered Azeroth's forces, they suffered heavy casualties due to incredibly powerful individuals in the ones they were fighting however, the Legion were slowly pushing them back. These forces were also like the rest of those that attacked the Vindicaar with Kael'thas, they were immune to the Scourge's reanimation spell and when multiple eredars would combine their magics, it eventually gave them a lot of trouble

As Velen was on top of a small elevation which gave him a clear view of their enemies, a blast of fel was shot towards him from a higher area. He looked to where it came from and he saw someone he thought was long dead. "Rakeesh..."

"Hello father." Rakeesh greeted him with a glare. "It's been a while."

At long last, Illidan finally gets to take part in the final battle. Over the course of the story, Illidan has ended up at the center of the battle such as against Xavius and Y'Shaarj so when I was writing this arc, I wanted something different. That's why I had him fight Archimonde so that he would sit out most of the battle. I didn't want to have him sit out the entirety of this arc as I felt that would go against his character so I decided to have him join in much later instead of at the mid stages of the war like in canon Legion. Even though he has recovered, Illidan is still far from his usual power in this fanfic

This chapter also explains how the three killed DHs are alive. It's a pretty simple explanation since they have immortal demon souls

I also decided to give Vashj her own highlight and again, arrogance gave her the win. Throughout this story, she was mostly portrayed as some sort of damsel given what she went through and I wanted to change that in this arc. This time, it was her turn to save Illidan from their enemies. It also gave her a bit of character development from being a damsel to one who took matters into her own hands. Although the part where she hit Illidan was just for fun and is usually how one would react when someone they care about does something reckless

While on that, the stuff about Flamereaper is something I made up. In the canon, it was never mentioned why Illidan was using it instead of his Azzinoth Blades so here, I decided to give it an explanation. Azzinoth's Blades were destroyed and Flamereaper was a gift to him by Vashj. I made it that the color would change depending on its user and that's because I like all the colors of the Flamereaper. That's legit the only reason why I wrote it like that. Along with the other DH artifacts mentioned, they were all found on the Fel Hammer, which is another thing I just made up. Again, they're will not be referred to as artifacts and they're just powerful blades

About the end, well, just wait and see what happens