Chapter 13–There's a battle outside and it's raging
AN: This chapter is to give a wider view on the conflict, displaying certain key battles which happen as Gondar, Lyralei, Yumero and Ish'Kafel work their way to the Radiant Fountain.
"You are the informant?" demanded Lucifer, staring at the pathetic creature before him, "Why have you come here and betrayed your own army?"
Doom was glad to have the information this weakling had given him, but he needed to verify it. Plus he liked watching the little guy squirm.
The purple goblin looked up, unable to meet the Doombringer in the eye despite his armour, and stammered out "Well– well– well– I j–just didn't– I mean, partly because I wanted to be on the– w–winning side."
This amused Doom. The Dire were only the winning side because the intelligence he'd just given them. Then again, now they were the winning side, so the goblin would get what he wanted.
"But– m–mostly, it was because I… I looked around and I saw trees. Everywhere. The Radiant has treants, r–really big treants mind you! And then there's the t–t–treeman who turns out to be a…" he paused, his little darting eyes growing wide at the mere mention of it, "tree g–g–g–god! So I thought hey, nothing in the D–D–Dire could be as bad as that, right? So I made you this deal. K–Kill N–Nature's Prophet, and I'll give you this Intel. Y–Y–You have it, now… do your part."
Lucifer laughed a laugh which resounded through the jungle with a sound like a guttering bonfire, then said "Of course, tiny one. Our forces are already en route. Now run along while we win this war."
As Timbersaw left, Lucifer turned back to his forces, raising the Abyssal Blade above his head and roaring "Now is the hour! The Radiant Army thinks that they have won by out-pushing our towers and winning a few skirmishes! Now though, with our risen ally and our new weapons, let us spring a trap they cannot escape! Let us steal their victory at the moment of their triumph! BURN! MAIM! KILL! LAY WASTE TO THEM!"
The Dire Army surged forth, crossing the river and fanning out into the Radiant jungle, ready to engage the Radiant Army on all fronts as their foe fled the bottom lane to defend themselves. There would be no disciplined march, no battle of subtle maneuvers, just a series of disjointed battles with no rhyme or reason between them. And in this chaotic bloodbath, Lucifer knew, the Dire Heroes would have every advantage.
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Kunkka had been separated from the rest of his forces. He had been flabbergasted when the Dire army attacked now, right when the Radiant Army was most overextended, most vulnerable. When he heard that his middle outpost had fallen while their bottom and top ones were under attack, Kunkka gave the order to get back and defend. Then the real confusion started as they found themselves falling prey to Dazzle's dazzling shadow magic, Tidehunter's tentacles and Clinkz' hit-and-run attacks. Now they were in complete disarray, each hero going his own way.
He supposed he could rally them back together, but if he did that they'd lose too much time and the Dire could get to their middle barracks. Nobody wanted that.
Besides, his time was somewhat occupied by the massive anchor-wielding revenge-seeking Leviathan bearing down upon him.
"So Tidehunter," Kunkka , "decided to come see if you could sink me again?"
"I don't know how you survived, Kunkka," said Tidehunter, "but no mistakes this time. Prepare to die!"
Tidehunter sent a jet of water surging forth, blasting Kunkka against a tree. Kunkka shook it off, looking up to see a raging Tidehunter barrelling towards him, raising his anchor for a swing. Kunkka ducked in, avoiding the swing, and slashed at Tidehunter's hand, then slid between his legs and slashed him again.
The blade skidded against the Kraken Shell, and Tidehunter roared in frustration. He spun around, swung his anchor and, though Kunkka parried, sent him flying.
Kunkka skidded to a halt against the ground. He saw Tidehunter grin as he readied the killing blow, and flung his hand out towards him in a feeble gesture of resistance.
As Tidehunter raised his anchor, Kunkka leapt to his feet, not so wounded as Tidehunter had believed. Then, Tidehunter was swept back by some invisible force, placed where he was a few short seconds ago, where a vast torrent of water now blasted him up. Tidehunter fell hard onto the ground, momentarily stunned but not terribly injured.
"You couldn't do that before," Tidehunter said, looking up.
He saw a ship, nigh-transparent, sailing towards him at ramming speed. Atop the ram stood Kunkka, balanced on a beam and calling down at him "I couldn't do this before, either!" as the ship came at him. It was all too much for Tidehunter: how had his nemesis grown so much stronger?!
The ram pierced through Tidehunter's chest, impaling him along its length and sweeping him forward. His anchor dropped to the ground. Then the ship began to break apart, just as it had done under Maelwrawn's tentacles, and Kunkka jumped down towards Tidehunter.
In the Great Western Ocean, there was no blade as feared than that of High Admiral Kunkka. Wavecleaver had cleared decks, beheaded pirate kings and chopped through ships masts: it had no equal. Now this fabled blade flashed down, the force of a tidal wave behind it as it crashed through the leviathan's neck, biting deep into Tidehunter's throat.
Kunkka landed, blood marring his already dirtied coat. He turned, saw Tidehunter teeter back, then forth, then back, and finally fall face first into the ground, dead. Kunkka took off his hat in silent salute to his greatest foe.
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Huskar sat amidst the corpses of his allies. Shadow Shaman, Luna and Enchantress. People he'd sworn to protect. They now lay dead by his hand. He turned to the monster who had made him do it. He wished he could have speared Dazzle before he had the chance to control him, or die fighting rather than be made to do this. But Dazzle would not let him die.
Huskar never knew that, when he brought him back from the dead, Dazzle had also made Huskar his puppet. Now here he was: nigh-unkillable (especially now that he had Satanic), damned and still not done destroying everything he believed in. He couldn't even kill himself, for his body's movements were not his own.
And so he pressed on, his only hope and prayer being that somehow he would get the chance to avenge himself and those he'd been made to kill upon that smiling, purple bastard.
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Rubick faced down his foe. All others had cleared away: they did not want to get caught between these two.
The Invoker smiled, his orbs spinning wildly around him, two red and one blue.
He conjured up his might, summoning a pair of vicious forge spirits which Rubick effortlessly destroyed with his Fade Bolt. He then stepped forward, evading the Sun Strike he knew was coming, then hurled a shockwave at Invoker right as Invoker did the same.
Their spells clashed, interfered, and finally nullified.
"Witness the power of true arcanary!" Shouted Invoker, his orbs going triple blue. At that moment, Rubick lifted him up like a ragdoll, suspending him in a matrix of green energy, and then smashed his foe down onto the ground. He used Invoker as a club, smashing through creep waves, trees and rocks with him, breaking the Arsenal Magus with brute force.
His spell ended and Invoker dropped like a marionette with it's strings cut off. Then, laughing, he got up. "You cannot kill me!" He declared, "I am the eternal, the wise, the mighty, the immortal Invoker! Now feel the wrath of the first archmage!"
He threw up his hands, channeling obscene amounts of mana into the air as his orbs went red, red and white. Rubick found himself momentarily frozen in place, helpless before his foe's ultimate attack. Rubick saw a blindingly bright red shape descending from the sky as Invoker cried out "Exort! Wex! Exort! Chaos Meteor!"
Rubick muttered "Such fascinating energies."
For a moment, the meteor struck, and the whole lane was drowned in dust. The explosion made a huge trail of fire upon the ground, burning away grass and topsoil. The meteor then rolled, crushing and scorching everything in it's path. No-one could have survived such an impact.
Invoker laughed, his foe defeated. Then he strode forward two steps before noticing Rubick standing in front of him, beat up and singed, but alive. "What?!" shouted Invoker, "How did you–"
"You escaped?" Invoker exclaimed, "How?!"
The Grand Magus pointed his staff at Invoker, and Invoker recognized it.
"A Force Staff," he snarled. "Why yes," said Rubick, "of course."
"However, I see you don't have one. Such a shame."
At that moment, a second Chaos Meteor the Invoker could not die and would eventually recover, the Magus counted it as a victory, for when the dust settled he stood on his feet and Invoker lay on his back.
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Timbersaw was with the Treant Protector. He'd already gotten that tree god crossed off if Doom could be believed, now he had to cut down this big bastard himself. It still terrified him, but it was a fear he could work with. Taking a moment to steady himself, he made his move.
He fired his claw, latching onto the lumbering Treant, and activated his spinning blade.
The pinned treant had only a moment to recoognize he was under attack before the blades sheared one of his arms off. The chainsaw bit into his torso and he smashed at the lumberjack suit, but to no avail. Though he dented the armour, he was too late. He could just barely hear "I'll cut 'em all down" before he was sawed in half.
What Timbersaw did not kknow was that Clockwerk had seen this and, not five seconds after he'd finished off the treant, had gotten in range and fired his hookshot, latching on and zipping towards Timbersaw far faster than Timbersaw's hook.
Tiny guns fired out of Clockwerk's armour as he slammed into Timbersaw, swinging his mace to and fro while deploying the gears which trapped the terrified goblin. The first swing smashed his leg. The second broke his claw. "Traitor!" he growled as he swung a third time, fragmenting Timbersaw's reactive armour.
In response, Timbersaw swung his chainsaw but missed: he was so scared and confused he'd halfway forgotten how to use the suit.
The suit was crippled the pilot leapt free. However, he hadn't accounted for the electrocuting power of the gears which surrounded him. Timbersaw convulsed, cried out, and then his heart stopped.
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Lina and Rylai surveyed the foes advancing on them: Lich, Viper, Broodmother and Lifestealer. Retreating slowly, they met up with Silencer as he advanced up the lane, a look of resolute determination on his partially-obscured face.
Silence fell over this section of the battlefield, and a curious stillness as well. No one moved, nor spoke. It was like they were frozen in time, though Faceless Void was nowhere near.
"Lich. I have come for my vengeance," Silencer whispered, breaking the silence.
He strode forward, a palpable aura around him; as though whoever spoke would be punished. Lich raised his hand, ready to activate his Chain Frost, but finding he couldn't say the words. This was nothing like the last time he'd met Silencer: he'd been a stripling then, his aura a mild annoyance! How had it grown so oppressively, so crushingly, so nauseatingly powerful?
Lich raised his hand, but the spell didn't leave it. His power was trapped inside. He could only watch in helpless horror as the Silencer hurled his glowing glaive at him, slicing into him.
Lich began to flee, but then felt a buildup of magic around him. The air heated up, and he briefly felt a tingling in his rapidly-thawing dead flesh before impossibly bright light flashed in his eyes, burning his retina even as the impossible heat instantly vaporized the ice in his skin. Without his ice keeping him together, his skin sloughed off of him and caught fire as his skeleton collapsed, then crumbled to dust. Before he knew what had happened, he was nothing but ash and dust.
Broodmother set up a web, Lifestealer hid in her and Viper flew off. None of them wanted to contend with Silencer or Lina.
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Furion stood in front of the top outpost. Beforefront of him stood Sand King, Necrolyte, Clinkz and Venomancer. It looked like steep odds, but the Prophet did not truly stand alone. All of nature –every living thing in the world– stood backing him up.
The Dire heroes stopped for a moment, not knowing exactly what to do. They'd been told to push down the enemy's top outpost while the Radiant's forces got picked off, but the idea of fighting Nature's Prophet terrified them. Surely there'd been a mistake? Lucifer didn't want them to fight him? Only Clinkz advanced undeterred; the rest were gripped with indecision.
Furion took advantage of their hesitation, striding forward and encasing Venomancer in a shell of trees. Clinkz fired arrow after arrow at him, but he merely tapped his staff on the ground and roots and vines sprouted up to defend him. He flicked his staff and the trees on the side of the lane animated, grabbing Necrolyte and suspending him between them.
Sand King began to retreat, but Furion raised his staff, gathering the raw wrath of nature about him. It condensed on the tip of his staff and emitted a low growl, then he thrust it forward, ready to end these interlopers once and for all.
Furion noticed a small, elaborately engraved dagger land next to him, saw a flash of black feathers, and then was engulfed by arcane fire. He cried out as his bark skin split and leaf hair incinerated under the magical onslaught, writhed for a moment under the green flames, then felt something stab into him.
He looked into the pale green face of his attacker and smiled for a moment. Despite his injury, Furion was still among the strongest heroes in the Radiant army: this fool stood no chance. Then an empty feeling washed over him and he and looked down at the blade.
His eyes widened in horror as he recognized the hilt of the blade as it annihilated him from within. Looking back up at the leering face of his attacker, Furion wondered who he was and how he'd gotten his hands on such a weapon.
His foe shoved him off the Divine Rapier, his head swam, then he fell, his age-old consciousness spiraling down into oblivion.
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Ulfsaar faced down the Dire general in the top jungle. Fangs bared, he raised his head to the sky and bellowed in challenge, and the Doombringer met him. A strange blade was at the demon's side, but it didn't matter. Even if he fell, he would rise again by the power of Roshan's Aegis and rend his foe asunder. Then the Dire army would fall. He would hold the line, come hell or high water.
As he advanced, he saw a battle raging to his side: two dozen Phantom Lancers surrounding three huge demon marauders, stabbing them from all sides. Focusing back on the Doombringer, Ulfsaar roared in challenge and barreled towards him. Doom drew his sword: a huge grey concave blade rimmed in red.
A crackling corona of flames burst out around Doom, singing Ulfsaar's fur as he swung his claw at the demon prince. It bit into him and tore, but Doom ignored it entirely, instead slashing at Ulfsaar with all his might.
Ulfsaar came to on his back, with Doom looming over him. He didn't know what had happened, only that something had knocked him senseless. He scrambled to his feet, but then noticed the three massive slashes on himself, oozing out blood, and felt his strength begin to leave him. He looked back up at Doom, whose hand shot out and grabbed him by the neck.
Ulfsaar reached out and clawed, dragging his claws through Doom's helm and across his face; giving him a huge ugly wound. Doom, cursing, drew his blade up and swung down, burying it in Ulfsaar's head.
A deep-throated laugh echoed as golden light surrounded the fallen Ursa. The gashes healed. The bloodstains vanished. His skull re-knit itself. Within three seconds, Ursa was back up, strong as ever.
As Ursa raised his claws, Doom shook his head and whispered "No."
Ursa felt his strength desert him. He couldn't draw upon his ancestors, now that he needed them most. He couldn't even stomp on the ground to slow the demon down. He swiped at his foe, cutting across his chest, but the cut was shallow, weak. "What?"
"You're doomed."
And with that, Doom rammed his sword through Ulfsaar, then hoisted him over his head and slammed him into the ground. Resting his foot on his still-struggling foe, he withdrew his blade and, laughing, raised it over his head. Ulfsaar cried "Azwraith!" and looked to him, but saw his broken body lying limp in front of a victorious Terrorblade. He looked up, gave one last growl, and was beheaded.