Imperius still stood but barely, leaning heavily on Solarion. Motes of angelic essence drifted out of his armour like blood, gathering on the sand in front of him.
"Yield, Imperius. We do not wish to fight you." Tyrael shouted. Valla gave him a look that indicated she felt differently but she did not voice it.
"I do not yield." Imperius roared and rose to his feet. Valla readied her crossbows again but Imperius made no advance towards them and simply extended his left hand and unmade his fist, one gauntleted finger at a time.
Rising out of his hand was a jagged crystal, red like fresh blood. The crystal was slowly spinning under some invisible force.
"What is that?" Tyrael asked. In truth he had some inkling as to what it might be, but he wished dearly that he was wrong.
"You should know even better than I, Tyrael." Imperius responded in a mocking tone before raising it aloft.
Valla's gaze was drawn to it before she stumbled as if drunk, raising her hands to her head and her crossbows tumbling out of her hands. "What, what is happening?" She said in a weak voice. Her eyes were shut tight and her mouth was a grimace of agony.
Tyrael's suspicions were dreadfully true. "The Worldstone. You tampered with the sundered Worldstone!" Tyrael shouted at Imperius, unable to believe that his own brother would stoop to such methods.
The Archangel of Valour did not respond but began striding towards Valla, who was by now on her knees fighting to even breathe.
Tyrael staggered forwards, one hand clutching the wound Solarion had put in his side and moved to stand between Imperius and the Nephalem. "Stop this madness, Imperius. It must be Baal's lingering presence in the Stone that corrupts you so!" He looked into Imperius' eyes, searching for any sign that his words were being heard. "Please!"
Imperius stopped before Tyrael, Solarion in one hand and the Worldstone-fragment slowly spinning in the other. "Step aside, brother."
"I will not." Tyrael raised his sword as high as he could.
Imperius sighed and bull-rushed Tyrael, knocking his sword aside with Solarion while the larger angel battered his weakened mortal form to the ground. Tyrael gasped in pain and his sword flew a few meters away to stick into the sand.
Valla was desperately trying to rise to her feet when Imperius slammed his knee into her face and lifted her bodily into the air. She struggled for a moment until Imperius' put his spear-point at her chest. He could kill her before she could even take a single breath, let alone defend herself. The woman could barely breathe, let alone shift a single finger of Imperius' hand.
"Nephalem," The Archangel of Valour said, "It is true that you are a champion of the Realms and that without your aid The Silver City would have fallen."
He drew her close to his helmet, the blade of Solarion still resting against her chest. "But you are mortal, with a mortal heart. Your power is too great, too unchecked. You are susceptible to corruption, to the influences of daemons.
"I will make sure that you never fall to them." Imperius said with finality. Before Tyrael could even rise to his feet, the Archangel of Valour plunged his spear through Valla's chest, the blade of the holy spear exploding out through her cloak in a fountain of blood.
"Nephalem!" Tyrael screamed and surged to his feet, El'druin instinctively flying to his hand. Valla coughed, a gout of crimson splashing onto Imperius' gloved hand. "Im- Imperius, why?" She muttered weakly.
"I already told you, mortal. If your ears caught the lies of the daemons, the High Heavens would be in peril. That I cannot allow."
Tyrael charged the larger angel's flank, but Imperius' wing-tendrils slashed at his face, and when Tyrael moved to counterattack, they wrapped around his legs and pulled, off-balancing the former angel. Now on his back, Tyrael got up just in time to see Imperius stab Valla through the stomach with Solarion. He grimaced and tried to rise, but Imperius roared and tossed the mortally-injured Nephalem at him, covering him in Valla's blood and pushing him back a foot through the sand.
"Imperius!" Tyrael screamed and tried again to rise, but Valla coughed weakly and tried to speak, stopping him in his tracks. He could not hear what she was saying.
Imperius swung his spear at the sand, droplets of blood scattering from its blade. He looked as arrogant and self-righteous# as ever. The Worldstone-fragment crimson glow. "My work here is finished. The High Heavens are safe."
"They were safe! Saved by the Nephalem! Without her, the Crystal Arch would be under Diablo's sway! What have you done, Imperius!?" Tyrael shouted, cradling Valla in his arms.
"All is to protect the High Heavens. You would see that, Tyrael, were you not blinded by your misplaced affection for humanity."
With a gesture from his glove, a shining portal appeared behind Imperius. A portal to the High Heavens. "I am going to return to the Diamond Gates. Come with me, Tyrael. We must begin preparing for when the daemons return again."
Tyrael would not meet Imperius' gaze. "Leave me. I have nothing to say to you."
"Tyrael, you are the Aspect of Wisdom. You belong on the Angiris Council. We are brothers." Imperius said.
"Leave me." Was all Tyrael said.
The portal snapped shut with a crackle like thunder, leaving Tyrael and Valla alone in the Aranoch Desert.
Valla coughed again, covering the front of her tunic on blood.
"Do not speak, Nephalem. I will get you to a physician, you will survive this." Tyrael got on his knees beside her and began to lift her before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
Valla's face was at peace, contrasted by her own blood covering most of her features. "It's too late for me, Tyrael, and you know that." She whispered, only audible because of the utter silence in the vast desert.
"Don't give in, Nephalem, I will make sure-"
"Tyrael." Valla said with remarkable force given her condition. "There is nothing you can do." To drive home her point, Valla held a hand to the gaping wound in her chest. It was only because of the intense discipline of a daemon huntress that she was even able to speak. Tyrael collapsed back into the sand, finally realising the truth for himself.
"Tyrael…" The Nephalem said, her voice dissolving into another bloody cough.
"Don't speak Valla, you're only hurting yourself further." Tyrael said, trying to hold her in his arms, trying not to think of the hard armour-plates covering his own form.
Valla smiled. "See, I knew you remembered my name." Valla paused. "Tyrael, please protect my home. I can't," She stopped to suck down air, and when she continued, her voice was weak to the point of non-existence, "I can't do it anymore. Please."
Her eyes closed and the hand she had pressed to his chest slipped and fell. Valla, the Nephalem daemon huntress, passed away in his arms.