Make Quick Werk of Him.
They had a brief window to jump from Onyxia's back, on to the floating citadel of Naxxramas; but the moment they touched the surface of the Lich's stronghold, they were divided up and teleported inside. Most had battled through a quarter of the citadel devoted to the plague, the very thing that had started the whole fight against the Lich, and compared to their recent assault on Ulduar, this first challenge by the Lich was pitiful.
"Foolish heroes, you think yourselves mighty because you clear away what I no longer had use for?" The Lich's voice laughed as they were teleported to a central chamber, where they saw entrances to three other quarters standing before them.
Moments later Sylvanas, Jaina, Arthas, Thrall and Hamuul were rejoined by their fellow heroes, and again the Lich mocked them.
"The Nerubians were only ever a means to an end." It's cold voice echoed. "You have seen nothing! The true horrors of Naxxramas await you."
"What madness did you face in there?" Alleria asked as they gathered together.
"Masters of the Plague," Jaina shuddered. "Let us hope that is the last of the plague we ever have to face."
"What about you?" Vereesa asked, wiping the plague off the hem of her robe.
"Like the Lich said, spiders and lots of them!" Gromm chuckled, looking at the Nerubian blood that coated Gorehowl.
"Should we split up again or stick together?" Thrall asked, as portcullises closed off two of the wings, leaving two still open.
"Stick together, if we split up it will be easier for the Lich to toy with us," Arthas stated. "Question before us now is; which wing do we brave first?"
"Who cares? Less talk, more killing!" Gromm yelled, charging toward the darker of the two entrances, and as they followed, Sylvanas recognised the crest of the Twilight's Hammer.
"Ah, the Twilight Wing, here you will face relics of your past," The Lich's voice chuckled. "Think on your sins."
"What do you think that means?" Arthas asked.
They turned the corner and learnt why it was called the Twilight Wing, and why the Lich mocked them for their sins. Groups of Twilight cultists were huddled around small campfires, and there were more Twilights Hammer banners hanging beside banners of the Nerubians and the Cult of the Damned.
"Didn't we kill these guys?" Falstad cursed as the cultists charged towards them.
"I guess you let some live!" Gromm chuckled. "More fools to slaughter now!"
"Gromm! Please remember the Lich can raise the dead," Thrall cautioned his friend.
"Then we'll kill them again!" Gromm cackled.
"Why are the walls scorched?" Vereesa asked, as they descended a ramp and found Twilight cultists and fire elementals. "Why are there so many..." But the Lich's echoing chuckle cut her off.
"When you failed to exterminate the Twilight's Hammer, the survivors came scurrying to me," The Lich chuckled. "As did the minions of Ragnaros."
They fought through the cultists and elementals, before reaching an impasse. A large circular pit lay before them, filled with lava, though the charred remains of training dummies showed it had once been a sparring ring.
"Rise Baron Geddon, and avenge your master!" The Lich commanded, a cold breeze beginning to cool the lava.
A large fire elemental rose from the lava, its dark eyes focusing on the heroes and ignoring the solidified magma beneath it.
"Attack!" Sylvanas yelled, before leading the charge against the elemental Baron.
The Baron hurled fire at them, but Falstad and Thrall deflected it with their combined mastery of the elements. As Sylvanas, Arthas, Muradin and Alleria slashed at the fiery lord, the Baron targeted the casters, hurling fire at them, and managing to hit Vereesa with a near-invisible fire.
"I'm burning!" she panicked. "I feel like I'm rapidly heating up!"
"Move back!" Jaina said quickly, and Vereesa complied.
Suddenly Vereesa was launched into the air, and Jaina cast a quick spell to slow her fall.
"Freeze him! We can't waste any time!" Alleria snarled, quickly becoming enraged that none of her attacks were hitting anything physical or seeming to hurt the Baron.
Vereesa recovered, and together with Jaina, Falstad, Thrall and Hamuul, hurled everything they could to slow and weaken the fiery lord. As Geddon finally began to slow in its attacks, Jaina and Vereesa summoned as much arcane power as they could, and in one combined move, froze Geddon completely.
"This is a much easier target!" Alleria cheered, kicking the frozen Geddon, causing it to shatter into countless pieces.
"You think it so easy?" The Lich laughed.
They heard movement behind them, and saw the cultists they had just killed rising again to fight them.
"Move!" Jaina yelled.
When they cleared the circular ring, Thrall and Jaina reheated the lava, and as the undead cultists hurried to kill them, the lava caused them to burn before they could reach them.
They were surprised to find the next open area empty, and were able to jog forward and save time, but they came screeching to a halt in a large chamber with piles of bones dotted around the edge, a balcony running around the edge of the room, and a large, decomposing ruby dragon corpse in the center.
"Gaze your eyes upon your next sin 'righteous' heroes" The Lich mocked, appearing on the balcony in the far corner. "Behold what remains of the noble Keristrasza, the dragon that was saved from the Spellweaver, then sacrificed herself to defeat Sintharia, and yet she was forgotten."
"We had a greater task at hand," Sylvanas yelled, while Alleria nocked an arrow and fired at the Lich, but it was deflected by an unseen force.
"I couldn't even mourn Rhonin until after Deathwing was defeated!" Vereesa added.
"How did you get her?" Sylvanas asked.
"The Twilight cultists were so eager to kneel and swear fealty to me, they brought so many subjects," The Lich stated, sounding rather gleeful. "They even dug up this fallen hero, who will now serve me!"
Black lightning arced from Frostmourne and hit the corpse of Keristrasza, and the heroes could only watch in horror as the deceased child of Alexstrasza opened her eyes, to reveal glowing blue orbs.
"Dispose of these heroes Keristrasza, prove your newfound loyalty to me!" The Lich commanded, before fading away in black smoke.
"For the glory of the Lich King!" Keristrasza roared, before breathing fire at the group.
"I'm going to kill him for this!" Vereesa cursed.
"No! Uther's in there somewhere!" Sylvanas pleaded, deflecting the corrupted red dragon's attacks.
"What proof is there?" Arthas asked.
"Listen to what the Lich is saying," Jaina pointed out, hitting the decaying scales with fire. "He speaks of sins, of redemption, and he's punishing us for past crimes."
"He's stalling!" Alleria snarled, firing arrows at Keristrasza's eyes.
"What do we do? I can't bring myself to kill a former ally, even if they've been turned!" Sylvanas admitted.
"Then let me!" Gromm roared.
It was only now they realised that while they had been talking, Gromm had climbed up one of the banners, and was standing on the balcony railing, Gorehowl in hand. "Lok Tar Ogar!"
Gromm leapt from the balcony, Gorehowl raised above his head, and in one swift motion, decapitated Keristrasza. The resurrected dragon let out a heart-wrenching roar as its head came loose, and the heroes scattered to avoid being crushed.
"May she find peace in the embrace of the Light," Slyvanas said softly, closing one of the dragon's open eyes.
"Let's keep moving!" Alleria insisted. "The Lich must be stopped!"
They skirted around Keristrasza's beheaded corpse and out the door on the other side of the room, before skidding to a halt again at what they found in the next area of the Twilight Quarter.
"Didn't we kill these guys?" Vereesa cursed, as they were faced with a large corridor filled with Faceless Ones.
When the Lich remained silent, they charged forward with Sylvanas at the head of the group, the Light gleaming from her armour and swords. They fought their way to a large, dim chamber, but it seemed small because of its sole inhabitant and the aura it permeated.
"Anyone else suddenly feel like we should leave that thing alone?" Jaina asked, shuddering slightly.
"We defeated its master a few days ago, this thing will be trivial by comparison," Alleria said hurriedly. "Attack!"
"I like this elf!" Gromm laughed, before charging the towering Faceless One.
The moment Gromm came within striking distance of the Faceless One, he vanished.
"Gul'kafh an'shel. Yoq'al shn ky ywaq nuul." A deep voice yelled, before they were sealed into the room.
"Gaze into the void. It is the perpetuity in which they dwell." A voice whispered in Sylvanas' ear, before her companions vanished in a thick haze, leaving just her and the Faceless One.
"We defeated Yogg Saron! You will not defeat us!" Sylvanas yelled, slowly approaching the minion of the Old God.
Suddenly a bolt of ice shot past her head, and when she wheeled around to confront her attacker, she saw her sister summoning another icicle. For a moment she was confused, but more of her companions emerged from the haze, all of them with twisted expressions of anger aimed at her.
"This isn't right," she muttered to herself, deflecting Gromm and Arthas' savage attacks.
She slowly backed towards the Faceless One, and when she was in range she blocked another of Gromm's savage whirlwind swings, before spinning to attack the abomination. She immediately understood the situation as Quel'Serrar passed clean through the Faceless One's torso, not affecting it in any way.
"Light, give me strength to dispel these illusions, and save my companions from the darkness that surrounds us," she prayed, before slamming both Elven swords against the floor, sending a blinding shockwave in all directions.
The flash of Light washed away the enveloping darkness, and disintegrated the illusions of her comrades. Sylvanas opened her eyes to see her companions looking around confused, with Gromm moving to attack Thrall until he realised the darkness had gone and no one was attacking him.
"Trickster!" Gromm roared, before charging the Faceless One again.
The Faceless One, clearly recovering from the blast of holy energy, swatted blindly at Gromm, managing somehow to dodge the Orc's axe swing. Sylvanas could feel the Light permeating her body, and as the Faceless One managed to recover and attack her friends, she acted without thinking. She straightened up and opened her arms wide, before focusing on expelling the Light to attack the Faceless One. She heard the Faceless One roar in pain, and concentrated on hurling more holy energy at the unholy foe.
"Lilth vwah, uhn'agth fhssh za!" it yelled, before collapsing dead before them, its skin horribly burned from the holy power Sylvanas had used to kill it.
"Where one falls, many shall take its place." The voice whispered.
"That was only a Herald of a greater evil you have yet to face," The Lich chuckled, as they were teleported back to the central chamber, with only one doorway open to them now. "You may have temporarily silenced the God of Death, but the Old Gods will rise from the ashes of this world!"
"So we've faced Nerubians, plague creatures and former Twilight cultists, what more can he throw at us?" Arthas said light-heartedly.