Speech = ``…..´´

Thoughts = …. ….

Inner thoughts = "….."

ºº

ºº

Vereesa point of view:

Her heart beat was beating loud enough to make her wonder if it had switched places from her chest to the side of her head without her knowledge. Her chest, heaving and writhing painfully as her lungs were set to overwork, blood pumping through every vessel of her body.

Everything was a mad scramble now as she dashed from one end of the room to the other. Trying to wrap things to the new change of plans…, passing by a series of red, cylindrical rods who possessed a series of thick wicks at their top.

The charges of dynamite had been neatly placed and glued to the columns and key locations to maximize damage and bring everything down, she had already counted each and every of their locations and in which side they were oriented

And as far as she knew there was no way she could cut a few ropes and then tied them together to link them all in a weird kind of spider web so that every last one of them would lit up at the same time…

A realization that she had known to be true even before coming up to take a look at the objects in question when the Ranger Lord came out with that choice, one that she had hoped to not be true, as unlikely that would be for one small reason...

Because even if he was a petty, insane bastard among bastards….a liar he was not. He could twist things around yes, but he was the type to just smack you rather than wasting his time to play the long game.

Which meant that the only way to pull the trick off was for one to manually light one up, then hoping the following massive explosive blast would after vaporised the unlucky one to reach out the closest charge and set if off in the spot, creating a chain reaction that would topple down the entire thing in a few seconds.

Sadly, the fact that several floors separated them from the top meant that with certainty there would not be enough time to reach the zip-line and escape alive through the means the rest would...

Alas, why one had to perish for the sake of the rest….

….

She bit her lip, drawing blood when her fangs dig a bit too deep. She disliked the idea…, no.., she loathed it. But there was nothing she could do, no matter how she spun it.

It was just a simple equation that needed no more than just one answer.., nor it would accept another in kind.

She dragged a long piece of rope around, hang it from one of the exposed pillars sustaining in a horizontal manner the ceiling above her before she started to attach it in a rather cumbersome way

The shaking of her hands not helping at all..

Some would call it honour, glorious or valiant even...but she knew better to delude herself with such colourful cognations in the line of duty., they made things look brighter and significant, like a tale of chivalry that her father used to share with her when she was little.

But in the end it would be just a matter of an arrow…

Just one arrow to be fired from a bow that was all that one life would mean at the end.…, just like her sister liked to speak about her own troops. She sighed.

That was not something that she wished for anyone to endure for her own sake. Even if logic would speak otherwise, she just could not commit to it…, not when it had been her mistake that had led them on here.

She lacked the shrewdness of her sister…, perhaps that was why she was just a captain and had never made it above her current station, or that everyone here had put their faith in her and her sister and leaving them for death was nothing but the cruellest of betrayals in her heart.

So she had decided that she did not wish to find out…

A leader had a duty to his charges, it had to be her...

Only her...

She even had tried to rationalize inside her head.

To underline that lack of innate cleverness and mind for tactics as-well as the disparity of hers with Lady Moon or that inner strength and the steadfast nature of Alleria when presented with adversity only served to add more weight to her previous, if flawed assumption.

She was just what was left of the batch…

It would not be a terrible loss…

"Of course it will not…, what were yo expecting? You the third and talentless child of this bloodline?"

"What of her? Doesn't she have a say on this as-well? Are you gonna leave her like Alleria left you? Without a word and warning?"

She had to halt for a moment, her thoughts starting to lead away from her and towards the sharp features of her sister who was

Sylvanas would grief.., she knew about that...but in time.., in time those scars would heal. She had done far better than she had from the debacle that took place during the second war anyway.

Always so proud, so tall and mighty….while she cowed under the shadow of her splendour.

A weak link…

Her eyes narrowed to a half lid, even here those words had followed.

Still, who knew? Perhaps she would have something for others to be truly proud of her other than the fact that she had to take care of the first son of her much better and greater eldest sister in her absence.

Gone in a flash of glory….

She could not help but smirk bitterly at that. Unknown whether to be proud of having found something to make light off from something so morbid, or distressed Kaliras own humour was starting to rub on her.

But all of that came undone when Lias stubbornness came into play. ...

Her jaw clenched, her knuckles turned a deadly shade of white. She sighed. She should have known that she would not allow that, that she could not allow it.

``…´´

Moral or not…, that bleeding heart, she truly was a pain. Even though, no small part of her was grateful for it.

She had of course yet to smack her eldest sister as hard as she could ever do if she ever had the chance to meet her again since her departure through the portal, and dying would make that quite difficult

So instead of doing what she knew would be the most logical thing, she decided to hope…., to trust her heart rather than cold calculation. Ironically.., giving away her selfish desire for self sacrifice only to be replaced by her friends….

That did not stop the fact that she still had to blow the damn thing, only with the added bonus being forced to do the impossible.

Get their arses out alive….

So her brain had been burning for a good five minutes racking itself over and over how to, and she believed she had found one..albeit unorthodox way to do so.

Her breath had hitched when the sound of the barrier falling had reached her ears, how the sound of the enemy ruptured through the air like a whirling as if there had been a bell of silence tethered to the barrier itself.

A tide of dead men walking drag themselves in…, too many to count.

She would have wished to be there down below to support her…, but she could not, not yet.

She would have to make a leap of faith now…

She grimaced, a bitter chuckled leaving through her lips. How convenient that they were already in a church for that..

She heard them speak, to taunt and threaten...and soon after the fighting commenced. Pressing her even further to speed things up...pulling the rope to make sure it was well attached to and it would not come loose, seeing how it led to a set of dynamite.

She had chosen this charge because it was the closest to the next pile, less probably to leave things to chance...

Still, she could not cast flare on it, even if the flame would have to consume the entire rope first it would still not give enough time for either her or the rest. It was a no go….

She needed something else.., something to act as conduct, that would ignite the flames but at a more controlled pace. But what? What could possibly be?

Nothing had come to mind, not close enough kindle those flames...

Until she remembered that it did not have to directly create a flame. Her eyes widening with that startling idea.

Could it be..?

As if reality was awaiting for her to come to that conclusion the building shook again, shards of rock and wood flying through the air, followed by a thick cloud of smoke. Her ears hurting a bit by the shock wave.

Fumbling over the packs attached to her hips..., she had searched wildly for a certain object, dropping and discarding what her hands could find yet did not correspond with the image in her head. It was until her armoured talons scratched the bottom that they fished out a small looking rock that barely filled a quarter of her palm.

The same device she had activated back when they had decided to venture inside the city. The recorder that her sister had given it so that she could record everything with her own eyes instead of making a lengthy report.

She hummed with renew appreciation at the little thing…

So small and frail, and yet the answer to everything.

It was not a portable and long distance activation tool for the bombs…, but it may have well being the very best next thing. Most races could create rudimentary tools with magic, only her kin had made refined products by creating stabilizing marks instead of a convoluted mechanism that blew up most of the time like the gnomes or in fewer cases the dwarves.

Allowing the mana to cross through the object through an inner circuit that was embedded deeply into it. But if one were to tamper with them…, or just damaged them a little a spark would be the least that would come out.

Her ears perked at the sound of fighting down below…, the way it increased. How the loud echoes of clashing steel had given way to a light show illuminating the entire room below in blue and white. The air becoming drench with magic.

She carved a deep cut through the rock just over where two lines of connection met, its cool surface easily grinding down against the elven steel.

She halted her breath, watching avidly its flickering light when the circuits were severed. Turning from red to a sky blue and then red time and time again..

Please…

Please..

The flickering stopped, with only a bright scarlet glow to emanate from the remaining marks. She could barely contain her relief.

It would be enough…, once the spark came out the entire rope would burn faster than one would blink their eyes.

Now it was time to move.

Hurling around she started to wrap what little rope was left at the furthest place from the charge around to the recorder.

She did not know when exactly it would implode…, but things like this usually took place between five minutes give or take of overcharge. They would need at least half a minute to reach the top if there were no complications…

She dashed to the balcony, searching for her friends whereabouts as she leaned over.

She was horrified to find her being electrified why a massive torrent of lightning. The Lich standing tall as it poured everything it had over her friend who could barely defend herself from it. The knights body appeared inert, though there was a dark green miasma surrounding it.

``Only in death…...does….duty...end´´

``Nooo, it wiiill not. Reeest nooow, and waaaake up as oooone of usss….so diiiie alreaaady!´´

300….

She immediately picked up her bow, a shaft already dangling between her fingers as she aimed at the fleshless son of a bitch.

She knew that a simple arrow would not cut it…

So she went all out, discharging every ounce of energy she could call upon in such short notice over the tip of her arrow. Unblinking at the way the brightness threatened to scar her sight or how her fingers were hurting from holding onto the ever building streams of energy.

A small star flying almost at the speed of sound down at the Lich, piercing his bones like butter before getting stuck in his arm.

She immediately took cover, shielding her ears and opening her mouth before the world turned white in a violent flash.

The explosion rock the entire building making some of the supporting beams around her to fall flat on the ground. Making her cough as dust got stuck in her windpipe…

The dust had yet to settle, but she did not let that stop her though. Leaping over the balcony onto the floor below. Her armour whirring and her body aching even louder this time as she made contact with the floor, this time having to take a moment to pat her pained leg before retaking her path.

``I have to stop making this superhero landings…., they are such a bitch for the knees…´´

She muttered to herself before she wandered and stumbled forward through the still lingering cloud of dust. Pssing by the Lich whose body had mostly turned to dust, leaving only part of its head and one arm. His skeletal fingers holding tightly onto the body of the knight.

290

There was magic coursing through his hands into the now much larger body of the Knight…

But he was dead. This time for good.

There were no sign of blue flames any more in his skull that would speak otherwise and she doubted that those things could disappear if they closed their eyes.

Given that they had not eyes to speak off at all...

She found her friend a bit further away from where she had saw her, clearly blown away by the shock-wave. But the scorched remains of a golden set of armour and that mop of red hair were a give away….

She bit her lip.

She was in a sorry state, blood now dried covering down below her eyes and mouth. The right side of her head was drenched as-well, gluing her scarlet hair with an even brighter shade, a large gash on her scalp being the culprit behind it.

Kneeling down right next to her, she pulled her softly towards her..., careful, even fearful to damage her even further…, but not too slow to look like she was dragging her. She immediately searched for a potion in her satchel, only to find that most had broken apart..probably when she had been sent flying when the door blew up.

Only one small thing remained. She grudgingly cursed her luck, popping out the bottle cap with her thumb before pressing it over her friends lips. Spilling the blue like contents inside, making sure that nothing was wasted.

A hand gracing Liadrins throat, mimicking the movement of swallowing so that she would not cough it out by reflex like many others had before when they were bleeding on the ground and someone tried to slow down the dehydration from blood-loss...

Once that was done she discarded the empty bottle and stuck her head in her friends neck, not caring in the slightest of getting dirty with the blood still fresh, knowing that she could not look for a pulse with her steel covered fingers and with all the explosions that had rocked her ears through this little adventure turn nightmare she was a but suspicious her ears would not enough to hear from the distance something that could be so small.

So she waited.

And waited

Hoping to catch for even the smallest of tremors under the skin.…, the dread eating her whole as nothing but emptiness answered.

"You should know to desist from a fools errand…, she is gone…, now leave before you join her"

She clenched her teeth. Blood slipping out through the cracks and into her tongue, bathing her mouth with its copper taste while her fangs started to protrude from her lips into the open.

No..

Don't do this to me..

"This was her wish, was it not? You should be feeling sad about it…."

``Come on, come one Lia..wake up´´

``...´´

``Wake up...´´

``...´´

275

Fright started to deepen into her words, constraining her like a snake wrapped around her throat which was squeezing harder and harder with each useless command.

She stopped holding her softly as more volatile emotions coursed through her veins, rocking the red heads body back and forth like a puppet, her grip over her shoulders growing tighter and tighter by the second, with tears sliding down the corners of her eyes, falling down into her bloodstained friends.

She should have denied her request...

She should have been faster…

This, this was her fault…

"Everyone leaves you in the end..."

``Didn't you say that we were together on this? Now and always..?´´

``….´´

``Why couldn't you just listen….´´

``….´´

``I said wake up...!!´´

She snapped, one of her hands moving through the air and striking the red heads face once, then twice.…, thrice..

The sting of her hand becoming apparent over pale skin, though most of it was still covered with filth..

But nothing happened.

Why..?

A strange sound started to echo through the room, it was raspy and guttural.…, bitter and hollow.

It took her a while to realize that it was her who was making that peculiar sound.

She was laughing.

``…..´´

Perhaps that was the only thing she could do now…

It all certainly felt like a joke.

``In what school of….medicine you learned to hit..-...´´

A weary, tired voice spoke…

It was so soft that one could have mistaken it by an afterthought, by the whispers from the wind howling outside brushing against the stone, or the serene murmur of the rain water.

``-..Your own... argh.., patients…?´´

It finished, a hand tapping her shoulder, drawing her attention down.

She could only stare dumbfounded at her friend, those eyes that had been closed until then now open sluggishly, the bright glow of those eyes now dimmed, almost dull..but filled with more life than a corpse would.

The red head tried to smile, but she barely could wrap her lips around to do it...

255...

She shook her head, barely able to contain both the grief and happiness swirling inside.

``For Beloores sake, you stubborn mule….what did I say about sacrificing yourself?´´

``Well…, I hold them off….didn't I ?´´

She wanted to scoff, to scream, not cry. Of course, of all the things she had to say she came up with that….

Truly, she would never cease to amaze her..

She caressed her face, rubbing away some of the blood from her friends face with her thumb before she smiled at her.

``Don't speak, try to regain your strength…, we have to leave now. Can you stand?´´

The red head tried to stand up in her own, still holding much to her chagrin her sword and even grasping that massive shield...but soon appeared that effort would not be successful as she fell back down. Only her intervention stopping her body from falling flat on the ground..

``I take that as a no…, can you drop those things? It will make things easier..´´

The red head shook her head, even though it was more of an unchecked trembling than anything else...

She sighed in resignation…

Slowly, she pulled her up..making her lean on her before they started moving away from this mess. Sadly, with her wounds their pace was more akin to a crawl, multiplied for ten as they struggled to climb up the stairs.

Cold, small little things now appeared as a steep climb to the top...

They had barely made it over the third floor before they had to stop for Liadrin to regain her breath as she leaned on the balcony.

``I never would have thought….that climbing stairs….would be the hardest thing...I would ever do...´´

Muttered the red head, each word a struggle to speak, wheezing them out like feverish air.. She could only imagine what she was going through.

``Yeah, me too….guess that there is a first time for everything, eh?´´

The red head grunted as a response as she leaned over the edge of the balcony, her legs still wobbly, but regaining more of her strength by the moment.

For a priest she was built like a tank…, but her heart beat was still too weak.

200...

``The knight,..´´

``What? What is it Lia…?´´

``The knight...he is gone…´´

At first she thought that her friend was acknowledging that he was deader than a nail, but when looked down to check she realized that she was not speaking about any of that.

It…

The spot where the black, armoured thing had been before was now empty.

How could that be?

Wasn't he dead...? He most certainly was when she walked right past him not even a minute ago.

But apparently not by the looks of it, and more when the sound of heavy footsteps approached her from behind, warning her of the incoming danger. She immediately spun around, faster than it should have been humanly possible, ready to meet this incoming threat.

But it was too late.

``Shit-...´´

Was all she could say before a massive hand shoved her friend away and another gripped her by the neck with an iron grip, almost snapping it by accident.

It was the that sorry excuse of a human knight, his armour mostly melted like ice-cream under the steaming sun of the summer and alongside it most of his now exposed flesh. His face was mostly hidden from view by a thick aura of energy, but his eyes glowed brighter than candles.

It seemed the Lich had given her a parting gift….

``I did not thought there would be another one skulking in the shadows. Going...somewhere?´´

She did not answer, she could even if she wanted to…., so he pushed her out of the balcony, but before gravity could do its job one of her arms wrapped itself around his hand, pulling him down alongside her..

She tried to grab onto anything she could, even as going as far as stabbing one of the columns in her fall, but the angle was too steep to get a good hold so albeit slower she continued to plummet down.

She was saved from crashing directly into the stone below by landing first over the broken remains of the booth the Lich and Lia had torn through in their fight not long ago before reaching the ground. What little remained now annihilated when an elf came crushing down, back first into its already weakened surface.

It still hurt…

A lot...

She could feel her body cried in protest when it was forced to decelerate so quickly, bones creaked and cracked like twigs while muscles almost popped out of their sockets, but it would not be fatal like smashing her head open into the ground.

Unlike her, the knight had made a crater where he had landed..., though since he was already dead to begin with the damage he had received did not show it as he started to stand up. Albeit slowly...

She threw up blood into the ground, staining her jaw and chest with her own arterial fluids.

Something had broke inside.

She grimaced at the taste rather than the pain. That was not good…

185….

She slowly rose from the ground, her chest heaving, haggard breaths escaping through her lips. Eyes narrowing to a half lid as she spit a gobbled to the ground a few feet away from her.

``Alright bastard….lets get this party...one last chance….´´

``Do you really think.. that you stand a chance? ´´ He asked out loud.

She felt a cold, creeping dread slither into her guts and spine, feeling the extra guns at her waist grow unexpectedly heavy. She knew that was not an empty boast, whatever fuelled this monster had obviously tore through the kingdoms elite and common folk like a virus, leaving little behind.

As in cruel response to her thoughts, the black clad warrior of death began to glow. Power billowed into the room through, like a closed door into a tranquil home being suddenly thrown open by hurricane winds. An aura of ice blue starting to wrap around his body and the air in his vicinity. A halo of burning, writhing dark magic crowning his obscured face in false moonlight.

Like a devil of some sort of cult, or perhaps its god…

Indeed, the warrior seemed to to swell in size as-well. Armour and all, what little remained not only appearing to grow thicker, and bulkier but sharper. Becoming not just more terrifying, but enormous too.

His exposed, charred flesh grew like puss in a wound.., the bones in his body tore through the old flesh that were keeping them from view and protruded into the open. Some wrapping around his body or limbs, like a carapace made out of bone and muscle. His left hand which had been damaged the most had dissipated completely, in its place a massive clawed thing remained, ending in three long digits as long as her arm and probably more sharper than she would like..

Steaming rays of blue and sickly green which pained the eye and would probably burn the skin erupted from the Death Knight and the room was lit more brightly than any light spell could ever hope to bring in this desolate night of fate.

She recoiled, flinched, but standing her ground. No attack came, the monster merely standing where he was.

``Your fates are written in the stars…, foolish elves...´´

It said, aiming his sword at the dome above them, further illuminati the hollow halls and the rest of the monsters that lurked around them, product of the Scourge grisly handy-work..

175...

``Now you two shall witness the glory and might of the Lich King-…. ´´

``Fuck off!´´

She exclaimed, tired, bitter and hastened by the countdown. Throwing herself forward, ready to meet him head on. Uncaring or unheeding of the small voice in her head that was warning her off the madness of such impetuous charge

Another one, more primal relishing in the act of the hunt...

``Through me..´´

The former human finished, raising his blade into the air a bit higher and creating another blinding wave of corruption surge through the air, congregating in one small point at the tip of his bladed before it was sent spiralling towards them with one swell swing.

A semi arc of energy as wide as a door cutting through the air with ease, freezing it to the point it would chill her soul.

She dodged it in mid air with ease, her skin shuddering at its passing and her ears hurting more by the strange static that the unstable magic released into the air than whatever laid behind her crumbled into dust when the spike of energy slammed against it.

Two more followed.., but he could have done a thousand more strikes like that and he would have been never closer to actually hit her. Her grip over her blades tightened, knuckles taking a ghostly shade.

``Come at me wom-´..´´

The thing taunted, ready to meet her head on, taking one step forward as he grabbed the sword like a club…. only for him to bit his tongue when she threw her blades over her head to the empty ceiling.

His eyes unable to not follow them for one second before looking back at her.

And the pair of handguns that had found their way into her grasp from two of the four holsters she carried with her, all whole she still dashed at him.

Panic flared over those dead eyes, lines forming around its already disfigured bald head while sharp teeth clenched.

``Curse y-…!´´

She open fire…, silencing his cries out-rage with the burnt out taste of gunpowder and the purity of a pair of good guns...

Two, four, six times. The loud detonations torn through the air like thunder with each time she pulled the trigger, unloading as many times as she could on him. Some missed a few vital organs, but the rest hit on dead centre by the sound of flesh being chipped away and blood being splattered.

The left side of his face being blow off almost completely, his jaw hanging loose form its hinges, its left eye gone, not even a blue flame remaining in its place. Dark, oozing blood slipping down into the ground from wherever the bullets had punctured through. Chest, lungs, heart and neck among many others. Making his body to start staggering backwards..

150..

But not fall…

It was not enough

She bit her lip, realizing that he was still alive as he tried to look away. Raising his more armoured arm to block the seventh and eight shots., before deflecting the ninth into a wall, before cutting in half the tenth with the very blade he carried.

She dropped the guns from her hands, knowing that there was not enough time and distance to safely put them back into their holsters or reload. So she doesn't waste time even thinking about them, disregarding them as empty space in her head and hands.

Leaping into the air instead, her body arched and bent like a dancer just as the massive slot piece of metal started to come down on her. And what should have been impossible to evade became nothing but a harmless gesture as it cut through the air, far away from its intended, fleshy target.

Her feet landing on the flat end of his own weapon a second later, much to his surprise. The mad spin that his body was still subjected from his swing stopping him to react in time as she did not miss a beat, landing an upper kicked to the side of his head, caving in a bit the wrong side before she leapt again, stretching her hands forward and graving her own blades in mid air.

Using her own weight and the motion of her following fall to stab him even more deeply into the empty space between his pauldrons and neck while her body slammed his back. Steel carving muscle and bone alike, the sound of its cold teeth digging into the dead flesh becoming music to her ears, added with the appearance of a chorus in the wake of his shrieks.

Closing her long legs around his waist to get a better hold of him, she was basically piggy bagging her foe, roaring and grunting as her grip over her blades did not lessen in the slightest. Pulling in and out...his blood smeared over her, tainting her face and lips.

His large body now playing against him as he was unable to get a good grip over her, the lack of cape over her shoulders now freeing her from such a good hand holder for such massive digits that remained useless as long as he could not reach her nor they were useful to get a hold of things.

That was the end of the good news...

Grunting, and possessed by an animalist desire for self preservation he dug his heels into the ground, before slamming his back against the walls the closest wall. Her back really did not need any more workouts like that as the bruises from the fall lit up like candles in a dark room.

She tried to hold tightly, but then there was the fact that short or long blades were not as good to grab in reverse grip and use for stabbing than actual knifes. Which made the act of digging in more of a hassle than it should have in carving out his filthy organs...

And even then it was hard to do so, the magic having improve the sturdiness of his body making the blades cut deep, but not able to bury itself until she could the handles touch their flesh. No matter how many times she rose her blade and lunged it down at him.

She was chipping more bone or melted metal than flesh…

But among disappointments that did not stop her from reaping away a human size fist of flesh from his neck, black blood splattering all over...

A clawed hand gripping by the leg foreshadowed a lot of back pain as its grip grew tightly and rip her away from him rather forcefully. But instead of gutting her right there and there he started spinning around.

She would have prefer he had done the prior for now the world became a blurry mess of shadows and flames until he threw her into the broken remains of the barricade.

Her body wincing in pain as she tore through the damaged furniture like a supernova before she landed on the set of tables, splinters digging onto her scalp. Tainting the silver shade of her mane with small spots of crimson, but nothing compared with the pang and heat that was brewing inside her chest...

What would she do to have a far more resilient bone structure...

``Enough! Enough of your tricks you damn monkey..!´´

115...

With four long strides he reached her with a speed a thing of his size should not have been able to produce. Had she not worm her way out from the debris and broken, sharp edges of furniture that had pounded her back mercilessly she would have met her end right then and there.

Not that it made mattered when she di as he refused to relent on the slightest on his assault, forcing on the back foot. Always a breath away from the edge of the blade, its azure colour glowing painfully with each stroke…

Her fists landed on his chest and jaw like blurs of blue.., she crouched to the floor, avoiding a left hook from those blasted claws, then kicking his right leg and elbowing his head with a sick thud as the two connected before having to jump backwards to avoid falling for a faint from him.

She cocked her head to the side as the entire length of the blade passed by, missing by an inch even though its electrifying essence scorched the edges of her cheeks, her legs pulling her forward, first to the right, then to the left before she tackled him into the ground. Using her own body weight and his still reeling leg to throw him off into the ground. Loosing his blade in the process.

Her fingers pulled out one of the knifes attached to her right arm and taking two, three quick stabs on his exposed abdomen, greeting her teeth as the flesh and bone fight her off every step of the way as she tried to open him up like a northern fish. A black fist struck her in the jaw, before he threw her over.

She landed on her feet, still the taste of copper in her mouth as she threw the blade at his throat…, the knife souring through the air, its silver shaded edge glinting under the moonlight yet he wailed his armoured arm into position, blocking it and leaving it stuck between the dark plates.

She pulled her bow, taking shots at him as he stood up and picked up his blade. The shafts penetrating the armour and bone, especially over the joints... but not too deep she was afraid.

He marched forward, uncaring of the new feathery additions to his form...

She barely had the chance to fire her seventh shot before he slammed the bow from her hands. Her dual blades once again finding their way into her hands before it could even hit the ground.

Vereesa was regretting her snap decision more and more as she was made to shuffled and manoeuvrer within the enclosed space.

Dark at the best of times, for the only light now coursing through the halls being the one from the clashing of their weapons as well as the bright azure glow of her enemy if one were to ignore the pale crown of light shining through the squat, broken windows which circled the entirety of the rectangular room...

The fire that had light up the lower levels of the church now mostly spent as the corpses that had become its fuel now were little more than spent ashes.

She still could see just fine...

With the breaking of thunder and the scream of lighting, energy sparked wildly from his blade with each clash. Though more of the blue and white variety and brief in their touch than the loud light shows when her friends blade had ended up bringing forth cascades of light with each swing against the massive slot of metal that the foe wielded like a toothpick.

He had the range, when it was not the sword it was his other less armoured yet no less dangerous hand that kept her almost at bay from her own thrusts and counter attacks. Talons of bone scratching her plate-mail. Peeling of the paint at the best of times, while in others they dented it rather visibly.

She remained patient, forcing her emotions way from the stream of thoughts coursing her mind time and time again. Thoughts, that were growing more erratic as her attacks that were brutally aching for the weak-spots and exposed joints were his defences were the thinnest were denied after each attempt.

No, not denied…., wasted was the right word.

Her blades were cutting off his flesh, but most were superficial wounds, with only a few going further than nine centimetres inside him. She feared that if she were to spear him through he would just walk it off and rip the blade from her hands.

He was better, far better than before…, and faster to boot.

Retreat had crossed her mind, a bitter pill to swallow, but every moment she was forced to deal with this maniac was one more second closer to the detonations. For she knew that which each second that she spent fighting against this empowered beast, she grew more and more certain of how hopeless her fight was...

But she could not, for it would meant that Lia would be left behind and there were no guaranties that this bastard would not be behind their arses. He would catch up to them before they could make it…

95...

No, retreat was not possible.

She had to kill him now or never…

One more swing from the knight and she was sent back a few feet by the sheer force of the strike, taking out the breath from her lungs and leaving her with one less blade as the muscles from her left arm almost burst by the strain they had been put to.

She bit her lip. Ducking to the side again.., sweat sliding down her face an into the floor, barely avoiding the azure shaded sword from cleaving her head from her shoulders, a fate that the column right behind her did not fare as lucky as she had. Reaping chunks of stone and spilling dust into the air like nothing.

Yet if there were an opening for her to find she would not have the time to search as a bone like fist lammed against her guts like a battering ram..

Or it would have...had she not sidestepped to the side just in time. More out of reflex than and action carried with actual thought behind, the adrenaline pumping inside her veins doing a better job of keeping her alive than her own decisions..

Vereesa discharged the third handgun she clutched in her now bladeless arm. She knew not to aim at the damn thing directly. The creature using its enhanced senses and abilities to just move out of the way or when worse came to be…. redirect the bolts away. Instead she fired just where the thing was about to be, to deny some of his advantages over her and cutting some of his avenues of attack as-well...

The bullets slowing him down and hurting him was just a bonus..

Suddenly, she felt her heart launch itself into her throat as the back of her heel caught on a thick unseen arm which lay across the cluttered ground. She bit down on the dread, trained to harness such things on the instant they occurred, shifting her weight to turn her backwards tumble into a full powered upward kick.

Landing soundly and true into the knights face, launching him back and breaking his attacks, but he did not lost his feet.

85...

She changed her grip over her blade, whipping her hand back, smacking the floor behind her and creating a small metallic thump, the recoil from the blow that chipped part of the ruined marble floor giving her the push she needed to remain upright as she lowered her leg from the kick.

Armour and bones hissing and whirring by the movement...

She would take the chance to take a deep breath, a luxury she would scarcely have any-more as the knight slowly started spinning his blade. Unnatural movements fuelled by whatever powers stirred within his carcass…sucking up the air from the structure the more and more he spanned those things.

Two more shots remained in her gun.

Her time was ticking down, and from the hateful look in the aberration the fact was no secret to either of them. Even though only one truly knew why…

She grit her teeth, controlling her fury as best she could

...Think…..!…. She ordered herself.

The pause that had settle between them would only last for so long. She needed something strong and robust to end this. Or something to buy her more time to find such tool.

Sneaking in and attacking from the back? Just the kind of shadowy, dishonourable cowards I would expected from an aberration such as yourself and your order of lunatics...´´ She spat.

The man stopped, aiming his sword at her chest while energy stell coursed through the its entire length. Charging another wave…

``Oh, but I do have honour...I could have just kill you up there before you realized it and have my way with your whore friend for what she did to me with her filthy magic´´

``You are mad, butcher...you and your friends are killing hundreds of thousands here. Innocent men, women and children. People who never did anything to you.., who were living their lives well enough without the threat of your order of murders bringing death and misery for the crime of not sharing your lunacy...´´

75….

Her eyes darted around the room, looking for something to overcome the obstacles around her. Yet she steeled her mind and reminded herself that with haste answers did not came forth.

She had to wait for the opening, quelling her desire to ram her blade into his skull as she started to go over her armaments in her mind. Knowing that she had more magazines for her discarded guns..but she doubted the thing would wait for her to reload, no matter how fast as he skewered her like a pig with his fancy sword.

``Yes..., elf. We have killed hundreds and we will kill millions more!´´

He bellowed, his voice echoing all around her with pride..his eye burning with glee and devotion to a cause that only knew death.

``There is nothing we will not sacrifice, no act we would not commit, no height we shall not reach if it means bringing the masters plan into fruition…! ´´

She also had a pair of knives attached to the side of her right thigh. One serrated while the other imbued with magic to the add a little more sharpness to its edge. Finding the right moment to snatch out either one for use in the fight would a tremendous challenge.

The first one would be suicide to use without hitting his skull, the other would do a better job at harming him. Perhaps even able to cut down his entire arm with the right angle and chance...

``And you and the rest of your incompetent race will soon follow under the masters designs…, rejoice woman…, for you and your friends who follow you here for being the first witnesses of the end...´´

But she doubted that he would allow such a chance to happen in the first place without much help, nor she believed she would be able to rely on it to finish the job.

65…..

Looking up she noticed a rather large candleholder hanging from a rope, it was just across the room, right above the remains of the undead Lich. And over it there was a sword…

Darting her eyes to the side she realized the battered, half battered eyes of her friend looking at her from the edge where she had left her in what felt an eternity. With one arm extended in the direction of the candelabrum.

Or perhaps she did not have to….

``But that is enough exposition for a day, you shall soon join our ranks…, but not before I rough you up a little. Legs first, I think….you will not be needing those after I am done with you´´

``Is that so…, how nice of you..´´

`` Don't worry elf, my blade is sharp...it will only hurt a littl-...`´

She laughed, the sound hoarse, a humourless thing. A sound of tragic hatred, of malice that she did not know burned so deep, and ignited so powerfully that it was all she could do to laugh and not lunge out in expression of he dire fury.

``You are so full of yourself that it embitters me to no ned….´´

``What did you just say…?´´

Whether he asked out of rage or shock she did not notice, she did not care either though...

`` You killed yourself, betraying everything you stood for...for power? And only to sell your soul to a more powerful being who will treat you like a worthless pawn? By Beloore that are some concerning levels of stupid…!´´

``Forget your legs, I will have your head for this...´´

55….

She lifted her blade up into a proper, aggressive posture.

``Good, accept this bastard...this is the way things should be, the natural state. No more lies of your fake dreams, no more speeches of what meaningless scheme you have planned and no more empty threats made only to ingratiate yourself to your own ears.

Her was bitter, empowered with the anger and rage one could only muster at the thought of a friends life being in peril by another ones action.

``This is a matter of pure flesh and rotten flesh fighting for our place in this world, a place that can not be shared...´´ She said falling into a light crouch.

He took another stance as-well.

``You can not win...´´

Her eyes narrowed, the smell of blood and acrid steel grew even more sour by the hour...hiding away from her sight the tremors in her fingers.

Not out of fear…, but rather entertainment.

Amused even.

``What..? Because you have a few tricks here and there from your unholy masters? Because you were granted borrow-power to top down your foes in this mad quest? No, you and your friends will never be enough to bend my people against their will…´´

45….

She twirled the blade around her fingers, spatting at the ground before her.

``Your vision is flawed...´´

``Your lack of faith disturbs me…., but enough words, let our acts speaks the truth of who is right´´

She could not have agree more. The blistering fire of the round projectile fired from her gun sailing past the monsters face was her response.

She was right behind the shot.., rearing her blade in what would have been a suicidal direct attack as she pitched her pistol forward, the weapon now empty or it appeared…for a last round was still in the chamber.

The knight speared towards her heart, intending to drive through the distraction and lace her through her chest. The azure blade pierced the thrown handgun, already angling to make the decisive strike to end her desperate bid.

She however did not flinch for what was about to happen.

She instead smiled…

Something that stirred up a troubled glare from her foe, but he was too committed to the attack to back off. His very own strength now pushing him forward before he could even reel back into position.

His blade collided with the gun, the necrotic energy coursing through enveloping it whole in a second, and then blowing up in the air in the next. Scattering shrapnel and fire in all directions, but mostly into the knight himself as it ripped a part of its already damaged skull in the process. Clearing a view of its own pestilent brain with seemed to throb like a heart of its own.

She was not left unscathed either though, half blinded and deafened and thrown from her balance, her position was not any better than her foes. But it was a small price to pay for what she was about to do next.

Swaying her body to the left and then the right, moving like a stumbling flickering flame just in time to meet the knight charging through the smoke and fire still consuming him. He roared as she slunk back, swinging with his sword, the weapon humming as its power-field ruptured through the air, abusing it even as it sent waves upon waves of cursed energy everywhere like rain.

The mere sound made her ears feel like bursting as the weapon waved dangerously close to her own head, but with his senses mostly damaged his swings were too broad and wild, leaving too much space between her and him to duck, slip and strike like a snake.

Cutting and slicing, the fingers of his left and more humanoid hand flew through the air, severed from the hand they had so casually stood for all this time and dropping his sword into the ground.

He stumbled, holding the stump with his claws, but that was the moment she used to lanced through his chest, his two blades finally catching a good piece of meat and coming out from his back. Blood slipping out from his mouth as she twisted the blades to tear anything the steel could reach inside.

She grunted, sweat flying from her hair as she twisted and lashed out.

He stumbled forward. Her grasp over the handless vanishing, as her fingers picked up swiftly the two remaining knifes in her thigh. Using the mana infused one to lodged it deeply into the very same hand she had slice those fingers off, almost dividing the thing in two neat sections, while the other graced the knights neck, leaving a not small but not too deep cut in his throat.

35….

Pushing him slowly right towards the spot she wanted…, memorizing were was the chain she had to cut to bring it down.

One more step and he would be history, or history would be done with him..

She almost smiled at the sound of the monsters impotent rage, but grimace instead as sudden pain cascaded down her form. Now feeling the bits off the gun embedded within her. Blood slicked her combat pants into her boots...

She grimaced. It was some perverse cosmic irony that the shot blasted the same leg she had been stabbed before by that fanatic…

And as her attention had focused for one second too long away from her foe, did a claw finally found its target. A lapse of judgement that would prove poorly on her part as the three bone digits tore through the plate and buried themselves into her guts.

The wind was knocked out of her, alongside a spurt of blood. Its fresh, bright hue spilling out into the things chest, a stark contrast from the dark oozing substance that ran through his veins...

``It was about time...I repaid the favour´´

His voice was harsh and yet so weak….a result that realized was a result from most of the air slipping from the open wound on his throat.

``Fuck you…. too...´´

She spatted, a gobbled of blood staining his last remaining eye and dripping down.

``Wrong... answer...´´

25….

He growled. And with that he headbutted her, what little remained of his bald head crushing her nose, breaking it. The pain was excruciating, yet she only gasped in pain when the clawed fingers pulled out. Blood slipping down from the drenched digits into the ground, before he graved her by the hair…

Pulling her up into his eye level...

``You fought well, a clever last gambit even, but it is spent…!´´

She flashed him a nasty grim in response.

``Not gonna beg..?

``…´´

``I can... make do...´´

Her hand started to reach the final pistol that remained in its holster. Fingers caressing the handle while the other tried to act as if she was trying to pry her claws open from their grip.

``Perhaps….I did underestimate your greatness….´´

``Greatness…?´´

``Of the strength of your arm…, of your cause...´´

He sneered, a diabolical expression warping around his face...only worsened by the lack of half of it.

15...

The gun was already in her grip and coming out of its holster...

``Flattery will not prolong your life...elf´´

``And yet it bought me all the time I needed...´´

Whipping out the gun and slamming it down his throat, pulling the trigger a second before he squashed her head into a bloody pulp.

The gun tore loudly inside him, a blister of flesh and blood spilling out in each direction as it tore through his mouth, throat and the back of his head.., falling on his ass as his spine was severed on the spot.

Dropping her down into the ground where she rolled to the side, a hand grasping the chains that held the candleholder above them tightly, shooting down the chains below her arm to free it. With nothing else to hold the weight of the damn thing it plummeted into the ground while her body was dragged up into the air in the opposite direction.

With her barely reaching the third floor Lia and herself while the heavy object crashed and speared the thing into the ground like fish.

If that did not kill it, then the explosion would...

``I got...you Vere´´

Lia said as she pulled her up from the broken remnants of the balcony the two had fallen through.

``We do not have time to reach the top, the charges are gonna blow..´´

There was only one way out then...as her eyes met the round, and coloured glass of the rosette of the church.

5…

4...

3...

2...

1...

As the timer in her head was about to reach zero she felt Lias arm cling to her back, gripping her tightly before the two of them ran as fast as they could together and broke through the painted glass that made the rosette. The shield protecting them of the sharp edges of the now breaking glass…

But if they thought they would fall right over the undead tide or what remained of it outside the church walls they were for a surprise as a massive shock-wave rocked the entire building when the charges detonated almost simultaneously, propelling them like a flesh made missile into the air right into the building in front of them.

The church shook and shrieked like a wounded beast taking its last breaths, flames bursting out into the outside world, giving a taste of the hellfire unleashed within those holy walls before it slid outside, burning and smouldering anything in their path like lava stream.

Then the entire thing came down, the stone cracked and broke down, rendered useless with nothing to properly held its massive weight any more, the rooftop being the first to fall down before the rest followed suit like a house of cards.

That was the last thing she could see before the two slammed and broke through their way into stone wall of the adjacent building.

Landing in a crude, brutal fashion on the ground. The shield and their armour not enough to dull the collision and the damage it would incur in their already tired and damaged bodies, but clearly proving to be the line between life and death. Even if they were going to eat through a straw for a while….

She saw red…,

The pain was everywhere, she really did not know where her body started or ended at this point. A close second to that encounter with that black dragon.

She barely couldn't hear the sound of footsteps coming down and approaching them, by the time she rose her head a pair of blue and orange eyes looked down at her, kneeling right next to her.

``Someone quickly! Bring the first-aid kits, now!´´

``Don't worry captain, we will get you two patch up in a second, though I don't hope you wont mind to walk it out until proper medical care is given..´´

They…

They had made it?

A familiar face hung now above her, orange hued eyes looking down at her...

``Cutting it close there, eh? I give you a five for the landing, but a seven of commitment…´´

``Fuck...off..´´

He smirked before looking away..

``Don't bring for this one, she is fine...´´

She really was gonna have a word with her sister about choosing capable hands for a mision.

ºº

"At first I thought Lia would now sacrifice herself" / "She would die, but not today.." ….

Did I stutter? Nah, don't worry, I am just messing around...still, I have ton of things to make the poor girl suffer through the story. Why would I kill her off yet...? True, characters are going to die soon enough, we are going to lose some of our heroes... its just that she is not in that list for a while longer...yet. Like some nameless character said a few chapters ago, "life is filled with possibilities, while dead is rather final..."

I really wanted to make the combat doctrines of the two appear different. Lia is more strength induced way, while Vereesa is more nimble and quick. Using any trick she has at her disposal, not going there to take the hit, but rather give it and slip away before the retaliations reaches her...

To the question why Arthas head took so long to crush would be the same as why the Death knight could take some insane amount of brain damage before going down. The matter of empowering characters have always being there, though it was mostly attributed to Fel magic. Arthas has Froustmoure, his armour given by the Lich king himself and his dark blessing. He is reeking with power that is changing his very nature and body, making it more resilient..the knight was given a lesser version of that upgrade with what little was left of the Liches magic. This will be a recurrent fact that will continue along the story, but there are those who can take the new influx of energy, and those who do not.

The great and mighty Kevin is gone…., but don't worry, since his phylactery was not destroyed we will surely see him once again in a different volume. He is after all a rather promising source of Scourge humour. We can not let that go to waste.

.

A chapter about our dear pint size thief? I have to say that I had not thought about it, since she is going to have a more secondary protagonist role in the second volume and onwards I thought I could left her fate here unknown, but I will try to piece her part here too if you would like. I cant promise it will be the first one to pop though. There are way more characters waiting in line...

Speaking about volumes, there was something that I was wondering about the inclusion of more wow characters points of views, this part of the story is just one of two from the same volume that you could name as 1, the thing is…..the idea that I had for the story was to take a detour away from the main time line before returning to it.

What do I mean…? That the second part of this volume will start at the very end of the invasion, changing the location of events to a place outside the boundaries of Azeroth where..well, sorry to inform, ocs will be present. That doesn't mean the second volume will be all ocs and devoid of what wow is... forgetting about Azeroth. No, not at all...we are going back and doing the same thing as we have done already which is changing the story slowly here and there and then allowing the snowball to built itself on its own...

I mean, what would happen to the Garrosh invasion of Ashen-vale if the Night elves are no longer part of the Alliance? What if Onixia lived...? Now it may not seem possible, but anything can happen on the way.

I just thought that I should inform you of that. I hope you are not upset about it much…, your output about the chapters has been greatly appreciated.