Part VII: The Fall
"You're saying that 'thing' is made from a paladin of the Light?" Thordrity exclaimed, pointing at the abomination.
"It's the only conclusion I can come up with. Sorry, but it's true." Wuten gritted his teeth. "Damn, we could have really used him to get out of here. Looks like it backfired…" He unsheathed his swords, readying for combat. "Get ready, you guys; I think that thing has us next on its list for dinner."
"Ick, that thing is disgusting!" Sargerre groaned. "Do I really have to fight that thing?" He sighed deeply, staring at it. "Alright, if it means we can get out of this hellhole, let's do this." The four of them ran off in different directions, Sargerre and Wuten to one side, Thordrity and Kassaris to another. To their surprise, the abomination split down the middle, pouring out a series of organs and wailing out in pain. "Heh, looks like it did the job for us," Sargerre grinned, but then the mass began to move, splitting into two separate beings, one with two arms, the other with one; each with a single arm with a blade similar to a giant meat cleaver.
"…Or not." Sargerre sighed, conjuring up a shadow blast in his hand. "Take this!" he shouted, launching the blast towards the undead, but it moved away awkwardly, the other taking the hit from behind instead. "Damn things…" he groaned once more, but Wuten moved ahead of him, swinging his swords at the abomination, slicing it apart. Wuten grinned, and went for the second one, slicing it apart like the first.
"Too easy," Wuten smirked, sheathing his swords. He started walking back, but was stopped by a sound coming from behind him. A large gateway appeared, and out came a large man, clad from head to toe in runic armor, carrying a blade easily the size of a claymore in one hand. His eyes glowed blue with the essence of death itself.
It was Arthas, the Lich King; Wuten turned around to face him, almost paralyzed with fear. "You've meddled with my citadel for the last time, fool." He raised Frostmourne, the same blade that killed King Terenas II, above his head, and plunged it down, cracking the ground below it.
Wuten looked down and stared, wide eyed, into the skulled face on the blade protruding through his chest. He coughed up blood, and fell back to the ground as Arthas pulled out the sword, leaving a huge, gaping wound in Wuten's chest as he walked away, back into the gateway.
"No…" Kassaris stared, tears in her eyes. "No, it can't be…" She began running towards his still body. "Wuten!" She cried out, picking up his head to stare into the face of her former master one final time.
"Ka… sar… is…" Wuten's eyes slowly turned towards her. "Take… others… leave here…" He coughed up blood onto his chest, and smiled up at her. "Keep… surviving…" He looked toward the other two. "Take care… of… them…"
Kassaris nodded, tears still in her eyes. "We will, Master, don't worry about us," she gave him a smile; the first sincere one he had seen from her in years, and kissed him on his forehead. He closed his eyes, dying with a smile on his face.
Or so he thought; Arthas wasn't done with him yet.
"I still have use for you," a voice echoed in his head. "In death, you will become my instrument of destruction, and you will raze the land like none before you! Now rise and do my bidding, my new Death Knight!"
His eyes opened once again, wider this time, and he gritted his teeth as his wound began to put itself back together. "Gah!" He yelled out in pain. "Get out… He's controlling…" He tried to speak, but his will was slowly slipping from him.
He let out a roar, as his body began to reanimate, and his eyes slowly began to dissolve, being replaced by the same bluish glow that emanated from the Lich King's eyes. Kassaris' eyes widened in fear, and Sargerre grinned. "Perfect! Time to finish what I started all those years ago and end this damned conflict between us!" Wuten pulled himself up, his swords becoming covered in undead energy, turning into weapons of death.
Sargerre had a look of a madman upon him, conjuring a large mass of shadow energy and firing it at Wuten, but he was unmoved by it. He stood up, his body bulked up larger by the undead energy, and lunged at Sargerre, cleaving him with his swords. Sargerre's eyes widened and he coughed up blood, falling to the ground.
Kassaris couldn't believe what she was seeing, her former master would be the death of her, just like she said back when she first joined as his apprentice. She wanted to believe it was all just a bad dream; that she would wake up and everything would be normal, they would still be in their barracks at the Tournament Grounds. She ran up to Wuten, looking up at his transformed figure. "Wuten… This can't be you… Fight it! Fight his control!" She yelled, beating on his chest.
He glared down at her, knocking her to the ground. "I have become more than I could possibly imagine." He stared at his hands. "I now have more power than I could possibly have a use for." He looked at his blades, and then sheathed them to his sides. "These blades are like butter knives; if I'm going to use this power, I need something much more fitting to one such as myself." He turned on them, and began to walk away.
"Where are you going, Wuten?" Thordrity yelled, running up to Kassaris.
"You two aren't worth the trouble," he turned his head back to them, giving them a glare more intimidating than anything they had ever seen from him. "You would be a wasted effort on my part. I have more interesting opponents to deal with." And with that final remark, he snapped his fingers, summoning a gateway himself and walking through it.
"Kassaris… we should get out of here…" Thordrity looked to her.
She was still shaking, wide-eyed with fear. "That… can't be Wuten… I won't believe it… I won't leave him behind!" She stood up, running towards the gateway, but Thordrity cut her off, holding her back.
"It's too late, Kassaris! We don't know where that gateway leads!" He yelled, pulling her away from the gateway.
"No! I won't believe it! I want to follow him! I–" she cut herself off as the gateway dissipated. She collapsed to the ground, hands out in front of her. "I… loved him."
Thordrity placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's time to go, Kassaris," he weaved his hand around, opening a portal to the outside world. Given the scenery on the other side, it was Stormwind City. He helped her to her feet, and they both walked through, out of the citadel and leaving Sargerre's body behind.
As the portal closed, a rift opened up above Sargerre's body, and tendrils began to pour out of it. "Master… Will not let Master die…" a voice came from inside the rift as the tendrils wrapped around his corpse, pulling him inside the rift, closing it behind them.