Arthas barely managed to raise his sword, before Sylvanas slammed with her feet into him. Her feet were now claws, which tried to grab the accursed rune-blade. However, the protective aura made the steel feel so cold, Sylvanas had to fly back into the sky and let go of the blade. Arthas didn't have the time to think, as the General came charging back down. The Death Knight tried to block the strike again, but Sylvanas carefully aimed her claws against the shoulders of the fallen paladin, perfectly knocking him off his horse. The air was forcefully pressed out of the lungs of the human, as he desperately gasped for air. Sylvanas didn't plan on giving him the time to do so. She landed right on his shoulders, pinning him to the ground and started scratching his face with her claws. In retaliation Arthas summoned his unholy magic and blasted the mutated queen away. Said queen caught herself in mid-air and landed on the ground, only a few feet away. Arthas, finally having a chance to catch his breath was ready to mock the former elf, but had no chance to do so. Sylvanas didn't appear to be in the mood for talking, as she charged forward once again, claws outstretched. Her opponent managed to parry the attack and counterattack directly after. The Zerg Queen got a nasty cut on her left arm, which caused her to jump back.
This time it was Arthas who charged at the former ranger, but the woman still had a few surprises left for the prince. She began charging her psi energy into her right claw, a small ball of energy formed into her palm. Arthas saw this, but scoffed. After all, what damage could a small ball of energy possibly do to him?
Sylvanas threw the ball at her opponent. Upon contact, the small psi-ball exploded throwing a screaming Arthas away. The death knight hit the wheel on the wagon, but else was okay. His armor absorbed most of the damage, but Sylvanas knew that even the best crafted armor could only take so many hits, before it breaks apart. The boot missing leg was proof enough for this. Arthas barely managed to dodge another attack of that kind, by rolling to the side. The blast completely obliterated the meat wagon, destroying it into thousands of tiny pieces. Ignoring the splinters on his face, Arthas shot barrages of ice from his gloved hand, before charging at his opponent again. The Zerg woman simply jumped into the air, dodging the projectiles and charged down in a vertical angle. Sword and claws clashed together, blue sparks flying out of the unholy weapon. Sylvanas followed up her attack by unleashing a series of attacks from her feet. Arthas would have found it laughable, if not for the face, that he had a hard time defending himself against those. He didn't get a chance to counterattack whatsoever and it looked like the woman was never going to run out of breath.
Fortunately for him, one of his Nerubians noticed the situation he was in and helped him out by throwing one of the sticky nets to Sylvanas. The Zerg-Queen shrieked in surprise, hitting the ground rather hard. She desperately flapped with her wings, trying to get the net off her body. Arthas chuckled at her desperate attempts, approaching the woman. He figured he might as well kill her fast. Her soul being trapped inside Frostmourne for all eternity should be punishment enough.
UNFORTUNATELY for him, Sylvanas had yet to run out of tricks. She let out a burst of psi-energy, which not only caused the net to be ripped apart, but also threw everything in close proximity, including a certain death knight, a few feet away. Arthas growled, getting back up to his feet, only to be blasted away by one of Sylvanas' psi-bombs. The former elf didn't stop there. She immediately charged at Arthas yet again, who in return rolled out of her way, before getting up and counterattacking with a green blast. Sylvanas was hit straight into the chest, she cringed a little but didn't slow down. In fact she even flew faster, as the attack seemed to only have made her angrier than before.
W-A-R
While Sylvanas, Arthas and their respective armies were fighting it out, Anasterian and his loyals watched the fight going on from afar with Kaonia, who was bound with magical blue glowing shackles.
"And I thought my wife was scary, when she gets angry." the captain of the guard muttered to himself, but his King heard him none the less. The over 3000 year old elf couldn't help but smile for a split second, before said smile was once again replaced by a serious frown. Sylvanas and her troops looked truly terrifying, some even absurd. They gave the invading army a hard time, especially with these insect like creatures, these...Zerg. It took multiple undead in order to take out even one of them. Though from the looks of things, this strategy didn't appear to be a problem for the unholy army, as the masses of rotten flesh just kept coming and coming with no end in sight.
A dragonhawk rider flew from the woods back to the city and landed only a couple of steps away on the wall. The rider quickly jumped off his mount, giving it a quick pet, before stepping in front of the old high elf.
"My King, I'm afraid the undead army is at least thrice the size of what we originally believed. They set up a base in the mountains, which is only lightly fortified."
"They weren't expecting a counterattack, I assume." the king mused.
"I have even more dire news. Everywhere the undead went, the land is dead. The earth is black, as if there had been a fire. Trees a practically non existent in a straight line, the Elrendar has been poisoned, nod doubt when the walking dead went through it...it is a disaster, my King."
"...I figured such a thing would happen, but hoped against it despite all odds."
"Finally, I believe I have found the nest of the insects...I mean the Zerg."
"You did?"
"Yes, they're exactly where she has told us." the rider pointed at the former elf. "But it is strange my king."
"Strange? What exactly do you mean?"
"Well, for starters the nest...it appears to be alive. There are buildings, made of flesh, which appeared to be breathing! And then there is the land around the structures. It is covered by some kind of violette, grey, fleshy substance. I think I saw one of those dog like creatures eating from it. Speaking of the creatures, there are only a few of them left at their nest, along with some...changed elves." the rider finished his report.
"Hmmm…" Anasterian focused on the armies once again. Sylvanas and Arthas were still fighting it out. From the looks of things, Sylvanas had the upper hand, but Arthas didn't appear like he was planning on giving up anytime soon. The Zerg were holding the undead back, but didn't win any ground whatsoever. There were just too many enemies for the insects to fight. And if what the dragonhawk rider said was true, then they would be defeated eventually. However, if the elves were to help the Zerg with their magic…
Anasterian looked over to their current prisoner, who looked back at him with a neutral expression.
W-A-R
"Damn it, woman! When I'm done with you, you'll be lying on my feet begging for me to end your life." Arthas pointed his sword at the Zerg Queen, who could only laugh, her voice somehow echoing.
"Oh really?" the queen retorted, flaring her wings. "I wonder...from what I have seen, unlike your minions, YOU still feel pain and experience exhaustion. Face it, slaughterer, your time ends now!"
"No, my time is just beginning!" With those words the two clashed for the thousandth time for the day. Despite everything none of the two combatants seemed to be able to gain the upper hand for too long. For the most part it appeared that Sylvanas was dictating the battle, but Arthas was holding his ground fairly well, all things considered. As for their respective armies, it looked a little a different. Slowly but surely the Zerg were being pushed back by the undead, as their reinforcements didn't come in as fast as that of the undead, not to mention the lack of resources resulting in their reinforcements being very small in numbers. Sylvanas and Arthas both were oblivious to that fact, but not their direct underlings. Sylvanas Ranger's tried their best to position their forces in a way they did the most damage, while sustaining the least amount themselves. The necromancers in the meantime just went all out, sending their undead forces right into the enemy army, not caring how many fell. They had enough reserves to build a ladder on the walls of the elven city, all around, reaching to the top and still have enough to overwhelm the elves inside the city.
What no one was expecting, was for the elves to come out themselves! Literally out of nowhere, huge glaives were shot into the lines of the undead. Both Zerg and Undead, even Sylvanas and Arthas stopped dead in their tracks and watched as more and more Glaives were shot into the Undead lines. A stray shot hit a group of Zerglings, perfectly eliminating them. Sylvanas forgot Arthas for a moment and focused her will onto her servants, ordering them to scatter, so the friendly fire wouldn't be so severe. Just in time too, as the elves followed up their initial attack with heavy magic attacks, mainly by manipulating the weather and letting both lightning and ice rain down on the undead army. Some Zerg didn't make it out in time and got either fried or impaled by ice spikes. Sylvanas cursed, as she herself need to take cover from the heavy magic fire. The same went for Arthas, who quickly mounted his undead horse, before charging in the opposite direction. As soon as he was out of immediate danger, he turned around and observed the battlefield. His troops had regrouped on the nearby hills and were now waiting for him to give the order to attack again. However he hesitated and with good reason.
The elves had come out of their city and didn't hold back. Numbers are one thing, but if Sylvanas had proven anything, than that the elves should never be underestimated.
"I hope this is worth the trouble." Arthas muttered to the ghostly form of Kel'Thuzad.
"This is rather troublesome. With the strength of those monsters, the elves might be able to hold us off long enough to activate their shield." the ghost stated. "Right now, time is not on our side."
"I was getting sick of these woods anyway. It looks like strategy is completely out of the window for now. Attack them. Attack until none of them is left standing, be it insect or elf. For the Lich King!" the death knight shouted and charged in front of his army. His remaining siege weaponry opened fire at the insects, forcing them to open up their formation. Of course the elves and insects saw an opportunity to open fire while his army charged down the hill and many undead fell to arrows, magic and the poisonous spines, but Arthas didn't care anymore. Originally he wanted to win this battle as efficient as possible, proving his tactical genius to the demons. But certain circumstances forced him to use the most common tactic of the undead, namely shoving dead meat down the enemy's throat.
With her Zerg, Sylvanas grit her teeth, seeing the masses of undead walking through her home, as if it belonged to them. She knew that nothing short of a Terran Battlecruiser would be able to stop this army, before it reached the city borders. Her understanding of magic was far from the best, but even she knew that it took time to activate the barriers and by then the city might be already flooded. Evacuation was out of the question, there was just no time for this.
As the undead came close enough, Sylvanas own close combat units engaged the undead. She herself stood back, trying to come up with a solution. She wondered if the mages could possibly attempt to produce a temporary barrier of some sort, one with which they could hold back the undead for a small amount of time and use the time to prepare a counterattack of some sort. But Sylvanas dismissed the idea pretty quickly. There were just too many to contain them without a few good choke points. No, what they needed was a weapon of mass destruction to take as many as possible out at once. She wondered about her new psi-abilities. She had yet to use any, aside from her control over the hive. The Queen of Blades had quite a few of them after all, some of them very powerful. But even if Sylvanas had all of those they still wouldn't be enough. She clenched her fist. Was there really nothing she could do?
She had another idea: magic again, but this time her own. Every elf had a connection to the Sunwell, thus inheriting its magic. Of course not everyone could use it, herself included. At least not after her transformation. Maybe she could summon a blizzard that was huge enough to cover an area as big as the enemy army or at least close enough. But there was the thing, Sylvanas never learned any magical formula-
Her eyes widened. Her connection to the Sunwell! If she tapped into the seemingly unlimited power and activated her new psi-powers, who knew what would happen. There was a way to find out however.
Not wasting another second, Sylvanas extended her wings and jumped high into the air, until she had a good overview of the battlefield. Without even informing the other former rangers, Sylvanas shifted her focus away from her army and towards the Sunwell, which wasn't hard at all. With her now evolved brain, she probably could spot the sunwell in a 100 mile radius, because of the power it gave off. Her former heritage as a high elf made it even easier tapping into the energy.
It almost turned out to be her demise. The second her mind fully connected to the Sunwell, both her spirit and body were overwhelmed. Her wings went stiff, causing her to come closer and closer to the ground. Luckily Sylvanas was a very disciplined person and managed to regain control over her body and span her wings once more. With heavy flaps, the Azeroth Queen, managed to get back into the air, all the while she tried to keep her connection to the Sunwell. It already had consequences on the battlefield, as she lost control of singular Zerg units, which attacked anyone and anything nearby.
The power...is overwhelming! Is...is this how a god feels? It is like I could destroy the world with a snap of my fingers! Arthas...I hope you're watching.
Arthas was indeed watching. He had been wondering what was going on with Sylvanas, when she dropped out of the sky, only to fly up again. At first he thought she was surveilling the area, looking for a strategic advantage. But then all of the sudden, Sylvana's entire began to glow in a blue light.
"Magic? When does that witch ever run out surprises?" Arthas wondered aloud. "Spread out! It looks like she's trying to cast a blizzard spell!"
The undead army complied, taking on a loose formation. Unfortunately for them they might as well have been a gigantic, rotten, meatball at this stage. With a fearsome shriek, similar to one of a banshee, Sylvanas stretched out her arms and shot gigantic bolts of lightning out of her fingers. The air was immediately filled with the smell of burned meat and wood. Some of the trees caught fire, but the elves were too shocked and horrified to care at the moment. Some immediately recognized their former general, based on her facial features.
"W-what power…" one of the mages whispered.
"Is that...Sylvanas?"
"If so, then what happened to her?"
"No, no, no, no, NO! This can't be happening!" Arthas exclaimed as all around him, his troops were turned into nothing more but smoldering ash. The necromancers and cultists who could still think for themselves, were already retreating, while at the same time the brain dead Ghouls, Zombies and Abominations were burned one after another!
"Curse you, Sylvanas! Curse you and your damned insects!" he shouted, swinging his sword as if he was a little boy again.
"My Lord!" The disembodied voice of Kel'Thuzad shouted. "It is not safe here! You need to retreat!"
"Retreat?" Arthas echoed.
"Look around! Sylvanas has wiped out most of your army already and the rest will soon follow! We will need to rethink our strategy and resupply our troops."
"Ngh… you haven't seen the last of me, damn elves!"
Arthas turned his skeleton horse around and gallopped away, swearing under his breath the entire time.
W-A-R
As soon as Sylvana's claws touched the ground again, she almost collapsed. However, sensing his Queen's distress, a Zergling quickly ran up to her and allowed her to support herself on it. It didn't take too long for the rest of her troops to arrive, her mage advisor Veice being one of the first ones.
"My Queen, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Veice. A little exhausted, nothing to worry."
"Nothing to worry about?!" Veice shouted on top of her lungs. "Are you aware of what you have done?! No one, NO ONE has ever used the energies of the Sunwell in this matter! With all due respect, I'm surprised we are all still alive! Heck, I expected you to explode like a nuclear missile! It is a miracle that nothing bad happened! What were you thinking?! You have never received any proper training in handling the mana streams, know any magical formula or-"
"Be quiet." Sylvanas ordered and Veice had to comply, whether she wanted or not.
"What I did was risky, I know, but it was also necessary."
"Then why didn't you leave it to me?" the mage asked.
"Because, quite frankly, I am stronger than you." Sylvanas replied. "The energies of the Sunwell would have destroyed your very soul and by extension damaged the Hive Mind beyond repair."
Veice lowered her head. "I understand."
"Excuse me, my Queen." Zaath approached the two talking Zerg woman. "I hate to interrupt, but King Anasterian is on his way. It looks like he wants to talk to you. Oh and he looks really agitated."
Just as the words left his mouth, the sound of multiple horses galloping could be heard in the distance. Sylvanas let go of the Zergling and ordered it to stay behind her. The other two humanoid Zerg followed the Ling behind their leader, who folded her wings in order to look less menacing. Just in time, as Anasterian and twenty royal guardsmen and women, clad in their red shining armor.
The elf king's eyes widened upon seeing the newly transformed former ranger General in all her glory. Only the centuries of experienced helped the old king to keep his composure.
"Sylvanas Windrunner, as much as I would like to say that I am glad to see that you're still alive. However, given your recent changes...I am truly at a loss for words."
Sylvanas chuckled a little. "I understand High King. If I would be in your place, I would have already put an arrow between the eyes of whatever was standing in front of me."
"Hmm. Well the fact that you helped us in the battle, is the sole reason you're not in chains. One of your... associates already gave us a brief explanation as to what happened, but I'd like to hear of what happened from your mouth, before I decide on what to do with you."
"Very well. Then let me give you my last report as your General."
And so Sylvanas told the High King of what transpired these past days. From the beginning of the invasion, to Dar'Khan's betrayal and Arthas's cursed rune blade, which could bring back the dead. This turned out to be his damnation, as it brought back an otherworldly spirit, too strong for the death knight to control. Said spirit turned out to be the now dead leader of an insect race called the Zerg. Sylvanas left out the part of the Overmind being from another world and basically everything that's not on Azeroth right now, as it would sound probably a little too fantastic at this point in time. Not to mention the High King looked like he was ready to incinerate Sylvanas the instant she said something wrong.
After she was done with her explanation, the high elf and his guards for that matter had expressions on their faces that could only be described as a mixture of fear, disbelief and curiosity. Eventually the old elf shook his head, as if he was trying to clear his thoughts.
"Every time I think I have seen everything in life…" the elf said more to himself. "I...this…" The elf took in a deep breath. "Sylvanas...I am not sure whether to call your actions foolish or courageous. I am thankful for what you have done for our people. However…"
"You cannot let us stay here." the former Ranger finished for her former King. "We are too much of a threat. A new species, your general having trust an entity that you haven't even seen and might have dubious intentions at best?" Sylvanas let out a chuckle. "I knew exactly what I was getting into by accepting this offer."
The woman turned around, gazing at the beautiful capital, which stood strongly right at the end of a huge line of dead earth. It almost appeared like their lands had gotten away with a scar. "I can tell you how much I and everyone else, we all still love our home. Each of us will give away our lives without a second thought for every citizen in Silvermoon.
She turned around again, facing the King. "But that doesn't convince you, does it? And it especially won't convince the public."
"Sylvanas…" Anasterian shook his head. She had taken his words out of his mouth, so to speak. He sighed.
"I'm sorry." he said with closed eyes.
"Don't be." she smiled.
"Alright." The King straightened up once again, his face serious again. "Since you decided to sell your loyalty to an unknown creature and inevitably not only change you, but also those under your command, you force my hand. However, given today's actions, you and your people will be spared from the death penalty. Instead I shall exile you and your kin out of the elven lands. Take your army and never return."
Despite what the High King just said, Sylvanas couldn't help but smile. "You know the saying, Anasterian." she purposely said his first name without any title. "Never say never. I promise you, one of those days we will prove ourselves and be welcomed home once again. Until then, I bid you farewell." Spreading her wings, the Queen of the Zerg leaped into the air and flew away. The ground forces swiftly followed her as fast as possible and soon no Zerg could be seen around the capital. As for the base, it would either be burned down by the elves or stay there. However, it had long stopped spreading creep and producing larvae. Drones were loaded up to the Overlords and flew away. Nydusworms dug themselves back into the grounds, until they were needed again.
"Sooo, what now?" Zaath asked into the hive mind.
"Now? We hunt down every single undead and make sure they stop haunting the woods." Sylvanas answered.
"I am sorry my Queen, but with our current numbers we cannot take on Arthas' army." Veice stated.
"That I am aware of. I have already decided on our base of operation. Tell me, have any of you heard about the Undercity in Lordaeron?"
