Dreams of Dawn

by Twilight Incubus

What if Malekith's journey to the realms of chaos went a bit differently after Finuval Plain? Before dying to the flames of Asuryan, he is granted a vision and an ultimatum by Asuryan himself. The god tells him that if he can pass through the six circles of seduction in Slaanesh's realm, then Malekith will be his champion. AU end times fic, Anti-hero Malekith. Full summary inside.

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Avatar

Malekith knew that this situation was beyond dire and that called for something horrific. He glowed with iridescence as his magic began to channel far greater than he had ever risked doing before. He could feel his Circlet of Iron getting hotter even through his own helmet as the horns began to glow almost silver. The storm overhead continued to grow violent and wild at Malekith's long incantation. Pockets of lightning converged in the clouds and lit up the rainy sky with an unholy tempest of pure dhar.

Seeing him do this caused obvious distress to the Cathayans. To many of the simple humans on the wall, this must have looked deific and terrifying to see their commander calling upon dark power in such a way. The Dhar storm overhead quickly took the shape of a snake as Malekith kept going with his incantation, "Suluuatio Intdo Vasaeuisum Lupar Epercule Nimayaarum Ateniuairum HYDRAXIA!"

"What kind of magic is that?!" Jin Tao asked with disbelief as the magic overhead began to let out a shrieking hiss as if its snake form was alive.

Malekith didn't answer him as he tried his best to stay focused. Miscasting something like this would probably kill him.

The chaos horde was clearly concerned about it, but Ashenwing swiftly held up his staff as he tried to counter the cataclysmic spell forming in the skies. Nearby chaos sorcerers aided the daemon as they shot off counter spells into the eye of the tempest above. Their efforts created a massive barrier over the horde right as Malekith finished his incantation, "Tempestus Arnzipal Xavguish Eperuoalkus Phantoaodio Hekarti!"

The enemies' barrer came up just in time as the ground began to get pelted by endless streaks of lightning. Then something happened that nobody except for Malekith and Ashenwing had probably anticipated. The magical and tempestuous serpent overhead let out a deafening hiss before condensing into a single colossal doombolt. It shot through the enemy barrier with such power and velocity that it shattered like magical crystals. As the bolt struck the ground, a deafening boom of thunder followed. Countless northmen were sent flying from the kinetic force of the spell and a good hundred or so in its strike area were immediately vaporized.

After striking the ground like the fist of a god, the magical energy dispersed all throughout the front of the horde. Then, a tear in the fabric of reality opened up as many warriors were swallowed by shadows and tendrils of darkness. In the following moments, it actually caused strange rippling flashes to phase in an out of reality as a black mist seeped out swept through the tear. Tendrils of shadow ripped people out of the physical world in pieces sending many to the aethyr or separating their souls from their bodies. Those lucky enough to survive this were feeling the crippling wave of dhar and shadow obscuring their vision.

Malekith then waved his hand slowly causing the miasma to ignite into a sea of purple fire. As his hand moved from side to side, the flames followed its pattern and spread out into a massive flame wall directly in the frontline of the marauders and igniting a huge chunk of the enemy army behind them.

"Rocket batteries, open fire!" Sung Lian shouted from atop her longma as she clearly recognized this as the signal.

"Fire!" many other humans chorused as a storm of explosive rockets began to launch into the air. They lit up the night sky with burning flashes as far as the eye could see delivering ridiculous amounts of ordinance into the already disoriented chaos horde.

"Archers, nock!" Malekith commanded.

In synchronized unison, all of the peasant archers drew their bows and repeated the command, "NOCK!"

"Archers, draw!" the elf followed.

"DRAW!" they chorused.

"Loose!" he shouted as hundreds of arrows left their bows and began to rain down on the charging chaos army. From their position further back, Malekith saw the skyfleet and the cannons starting to fire out into the enemy horde as well.

Hundreds probably died in seconds as the artillery and arrows mowed down the front of the enemy horde blowing them to pieces or impaling them to the ground. Many of the frontline marauders seemed to be panicking from the rockets and Malekith's magical attack from earlier as purple flames and sea of shadowy tendrils violently continued to spread in a magical wildfire. The enemy horde answered this barrage threefold however as massive arcing flares began to launch into the garrison.

Further back, Malekith could see mortars lighting up as they began to unload their ordinance in retaliation. Their artillery shots came down with twice the explosive power of the Cathayan rockets as they began to erupt across the top of the outer wall and against it.

Stone and shrapnel exploded everywhere as endless volleys delivered ruthless destruction. Buildings further back would collapse from the shots and peasants unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were starting to get blown off the walls in pieces.

"KEEP FIRING!" Sung Lian commanded from atop her longma as she swooped down and managed to catch someone who fell off the top of the wall and take them to the ground.

"Archers nock!" Malekith commanded as the nearby humans began to look around panicked at the sight of people being blown apart or set on fire.

He kept his bearing and watched as the next volley of mortars began to arc down. With his keen elven eyesight and magical prowess, he began to shoot the mortars midair with well-timed magic spells causing them to explode in the skies. It didn't stop the rain of shrapnel but was doing enough to keep most of the shots from doing more damage.

Jin Tao quickly mimicked Malekith's use of spells to shoot artillery shots. He missed more than he hit, but the man's initiative and help had saved more than a few dozen people already.

Shen Zoo also aided in this as bolts of light began to intercept countless artillery shots midair as well. This caused the skies to actually start raining fire and metal along with the heavy downpour of rain itself. The peasant archers kept on shooting, but their disciplined martial synchronization was quickly starting to deteriorate. Some were even jumping down to cover their heads anytime an artillery shot came near them. The spearmen were even more fearful as they could only wait and watch as the horde got closer to the wall.

For several minutes the exchange of artillery and missiles continued as the defenders on the wall and Malekith's magic had been keeping them suppressed. Finally, the magical purple wildfire was beginning to sputter out. The chaos sorcerers aided in its dispersion as they managed to undo the shadowy miasma around their main army as well.

As the smoke, fire, and shadows cleared, Malekith could see that the horde was wasting no time moving in at full speed now. It didn't matter how many of them had already died or who was getting shot to death. They kept coming with an unholy rage that could only be described as pure madness.

"Sir, look!" a nearby spearman pointed to Malekith as they saw a long row of iron-wheeled machines with automatic saws rolling in behind the marauder line.

Ashenwing was flying near the front of them overhead and spoke menacingly, "Forward mortals…the gods of chaos are watching you right now! This wall will fall!"

"By the emperor…look at that thing!" one peasant cried out in horror as Ashenwing flew closer to the wall and magically redirected every arrow or gunshot that came his way.

The Lord of Change then cawed daemonically as he soared higher into the air and launched a wave of blue firebolts over the top of the wall in Malekith's direction. He countered the blue fire with a gloomburst causing blue and purple fire to clash in a colorful but deadly magical match. The collision of the two magical spells caused fireballs and doombolts to rain around the battlefield.

Ashenwing's magical power was truly something else as Malekith could feel the daemon's spell overpowering his after a few seconds. Fortunately, Shen Zoo was nearby and fired off countless bolts of light into the daemon's flank and shattering his barrier.

The daemon was forced to relent and fall back shortly afterward as cannons and sky-junk opened fire on him from further away pelting the creature with missiles. Moments later, dozens of chaos warriors on disc mounts came flying in to reinforce their daemon master as they moved in to attack the skyfleet.

Fortunately, most were intercepted by longma riders midair, but an ensuing aerial battle quickly broke out in the skies. The longma riders had the advantage initially until manticores began to fly in to support them. Some of the manticores had chaos warriors riding them including sorcerers.

Luckily since the skyfleet was further back but still within shooting range, they were able to keep many of these flying attackers from getting further into the city. Men began to rain from the skies as doom knights and longma riders alike were blasted off their mounts.

Several chaos sorcerers began to start firing spells into the skyfleet as they managed to take out a few sky lanterns in their advance. They were quickly stopped as Shen Zoo flew by in dragon form decimating foes with spell and claws.

Malekith couldn't marvel at her for long though as many doom knights flew in to try and attack him. Unfortunately for the chaos warriors, they were intercepted midair as Malekith's manticore flew by and landed on the wall next to him. The beast fought off scores of them for about a minute until flying off to attack another manticore further away.

Behind the iron warmachines which were now mounting against the walls, Malekith saw rows upon rows of ladders being raised. Further back was something even more troubling. An entire row of twenty Hellcannons were lined up and starting to fire. They aimed directly for the walls and the gates and were starting to blast entire chunks of stone from them.

"Ladders! Spearmen get ready!" Jin Tao shouted as ladders were mechanically raised with berserking marauders riding them up. As the ladders reached the top, they would lock in with metal clamps.

Within seconds, hundreds of marauders were flooding onto the top of the outer wall. The dreadquake mortars kept firing on the walls though in areas where ladders weren't docked. The peasant spearmen began to battle the wild northmen as best they could while archers continued to fire.

From further away, Malekith could see Ashenwing channeling a powerful spell. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it wasn't good.

The first wave of chaos marauders that managed to dock onto the wall in front of Malekith were swiftly blown off the walls by his magic. More continued to climb, and to Malekith's annoyance, the ladders couldn't be kicked away due to their metal clamps.

The witch king sent a wave of dark flames down several ladders before swiftly beheading an overzealous doom knight that came into his blindside. With a strange mixture of martial arts and spellcasting, Jin Tao battled off waves of marauders as he sent flaming spells into their ranks and supported the peasants wherever they were struggling. He was wielding a unique looking weapon that was apparently called a swordstaff. It doubled as a two-handed swordspear and magical staff.

Artillery volleys continued to rain into the city and over the wall as the defenders and attackers battled on with all the desperation they could muster. Malekith could see horsemen further back in the horde eagerly awaiting a breach as the hellcannons endlessly fired into the outer wall.

That wasn't all he saw though…a winged flaming bull was coming straight his way. Riding atop the bizarre taurus creature was what looked to be the chaos dwarf lord that Malekith saw previously. The chaos dwarf didn't take long to get there as his bale taurus landed on top of the wall next to Malekith and sent a row of humans flying off. The taurus roared as it kicked back its hooves and began to charge in his direction.

The creature didn't get far before it was intercepted by Malekith's manticore. It pounced on the bale taurus so violently that Malekith could only describe it as a lion mauling a cow. The manticore's overzealous defense of him wasn't entirely successful though as the chaos dwarf held out a gun and shot the manticore in the head causing it to let go of his mount.

The dwarf then glared at Malekith hatefully as he grimaced his tusked fangs and shouted in Zharrilid, "We should have known better than to trust a treacherous Elgi! I'll be the one to take you down, Witch King!"

"You can certainly try you pitiful excuse for a dawi," Malekith countered.

Waving his hands in a strange way, the chaos dwarf then caused a storm of ash to erupt in all directions over the top of the wall causing many of the peasants to start choking. Malekith could see through it thanks to his circlet of iron and could also see a fell hammer spell being cast as well.

The magical hammer grew larger and reared back before slamming over the top of the wall where Malekith, Jin Tao, and many defenders were. It released dark flames and kinetic force that would have killed many people. Fortunately for them, Malekith managed to block the spell as he summoned forth a wall of ice.

Shards of ice erupted everywhere and melted almost immediately, but it was enough to negate the worst of the dwarf's spell. The dawi zhar sorcerer then fired another wave of fire spells. Within the ashes he had summoned earlier, the spells were amplified in power as they nearly set everyone ablaze.

Once again, Malekith blocked the enemy mage with his own magic. This time he used a barrier of Qhaysh as he ran over to hold back the dwarf's daemonic fire spells.

The peasants directly next to him could only look up in awe and relief as Malekith saved their lives again.

"Everyone move back! I'll handle him! Jin Tao, command them!" Malekith ordered as he saw countless humans moving away.

"You got it, your highness!" the fire monk bellowed before taking over, "archers form up in the rear! Spearmen maniple formation now! Nock!"

For whatever reason, the humans seemed to be settling their nerves a bit as they followed Jin Tao's orders and kept fighting off the horde scaling the outer wall.

Meanwhile, Malekith had been deadlocked in a magical duel with the chaos dwarf. Part of him was almost baffled by how uncanny it was to see a dwarf using magic, but this particular dwarf was certainly a skilled sorcerer because he hadn't missed a beat even despite Malekith countering his every attack.

Distracted by his fight with Malekith, the chaos dwarf never saw Malekith's manticore come back as the winged beast ripped him directly off his bale taurus and flung him on the top of the wall. The dwarf had no time to react as he raised his gun to shoot.

Malekith immediately cut the gun in half before the chaos dwarf could even raise it and was now swinging Destroyer at the corrupted being with merciless intensity.

To his utter bewilderment, the chaos dwarf then ran away as he jumped off the wall and onto the back of his fleeing Bale Taurus. Malekith's manticore was about to pursue until the elf called it back. He almost felt proud a moment later when he saw a barrage of crane gunner shots and cannons blast the bale taurus out of the sky and sending it to the ground outside the wall. The dwarf was probably still alive, but at least now he would be grounded.

Returning to the endless battle with the marauders now, Malekith moved back and forth over the wall as he assisted struggling peasants in holding back the tide. For what felt like hours, and might have been for all he knew, they held the wall.

Malekith was honestly astonished that the artillery hadn't destroyed the outer wall yet, but it quickly became clear that Shen Zoo was responsible for that as the dragon had been continuing to shield the wall from artillery fire with her incredible hysh and yang spells.

She certainly wouldn't be able to maintain this forever though and Malekith had no idea how much ammo this enemy horde had. Considering that they were attempting to siege the great bastion, it was likely enough to shoot for a day straight.

They needed to get rid of that artillery, but it was too well guarded right now. This wall would eventually fall. The longer it could hold out the better. He knew that Shen Zoo was trying to delay the battle as long as possible since she was convinced help would show up if they outlasted the enemy.

While he did agree with her actions, he knew that they would not win a battle of attrition unless they got rid of the enemy's most valuable units and leaders. In the midst of all this chaos, Malekith failed to notice that the gate directly beneath him was being swarmed with marauders who were carrying a payload of chaos dwarf explosives.

"Sir, what's that thing doing?!" Jin Tao asked Malekith during a brief reprieve as he pointed in the skies. Looking over, Malekith stole a glance out towards Ashenwing, who had been spending all this time casting strange spells in the skies.

"He's opening portals!" Malekith announced with dread as he was very familiar with what Ashenwing was doing now. Upon its completion, magical gateways began to tear open into reality all over the horizon.

Within seconds, Malekith saw hundreds of chaos furies erupting from the portals followed by a swarm of tzeentchian daemons. The blue and pink horrors let out eldritch cries of excitement as they began to flood in behind the marauders.

The addition of chaos furies swarming across the entire outer gate quickly started to overwhelm the defenders as many peasants began to flee and fall back.

Jin Tao quickly looked at Malekith anxiously, "Everyone's falling back! What do we do?!"

"Cover their retreat! We can't hold the wall anymore!" Malekith commanded before turning to battle an enemy manticore on top of the wall. His own manticore quickly came in to protect him from it.

"Fall back! FALL BACK!" Jin Tao announced. His announcement was mimicked by people in either direction as peasants started battling their way off the outer wall. It wasn't long before most of them were flooding off the wall and falling back into the city.

Right around the time, Malekith managed to kill the feral manticore that was attacking him, and he felt a rumble beneath his feet. Thinking fast, Malekith jumped onto his manticore and gestured for it to fly off the wall. His instinctual reaction proved lifesaving as the entire gate beneath him, including a huge chunk of the wall was blown up by a massive explosion a second later.

As he dodged falling debris and looked around at the panicked peasants running away from the wall, Malekith could see more chunks of the wall being blown apart. The outer wall's rocket towers were completely overwhelmed now including anyone left on the wall as the other two gates into the garrison were also blown open with similar explosions.

Malekith had no idea where Jin Tao was and watched grimly as the peasants were fleeing further back than he wanted them to. He had to cover the breach now. Flying his manticore back to the central plaza further away, he landed in front of the Ironhail gunner company who looked absolutely terrified by how the battle was going.

The elf looked over them briefly and spoke calmly, "Turtle formation…go tiger if horsemen get past me. I'm leaving my manticore here to protect you if anything gets close. Don't shoot it."

"Yes sir!" Lieutenant Yeung Lan announced. To her flank was the instructor and all of the other ironhail gunners. They were extremely anxious, but seemed relieved that Malekith was still alive.

Malekith then jumped off his manticore and looked at it, "Protect these humans. I'll call you if I need help. I probably will when the winged daemon shows up again."

The manticore hissed before nodding its head. The elf then quickly made his way back towards the freshly blown-up gate. He could see countless wounded lying around the battlefield and many peasants running or limping away from the wall as he calmly strode forward.

"Whoever's left that can fight, cover the two roads to the second level of the city. Watch the flanks of the Ironhail gunners!" Malekith ordered the crowd of panicking humans.

Seeing Malekith completely calm and walking to the breach seemed to alleviate the panic of many people as they settled their nerves and obeyed him. He found it somewhat strange as nearly a hundred surviving peasant archers had also formed up near the Ironhail gunner company. He honestly expected most would rather go guard the roads instead of remain here, but many of the archers stayed.

Before the smoke could even clear from the freshly destroyed gate, Malekith saw dozens of marauders spilling through as they charged at him with eager rage. He maintained his poise as he walked slowly towards them and started channeling magic in his hand.

With his magically charged hand, he drew his spellsword Avanuir causing it to light up with a magical glow. He calmly swung it horizontally causing a wave of black fire to erupt out in a deafening arc. It set many of them on fire causing the humans to panic and scream in terror.

Brandishing both swords now, Malekith then continued to walk forward as more and more of the enemy horde's men flooded through the breach. Words could scarcely describe the slaughter he unleashed with spell and blades as he charged into the enemies.

Malekith could even see fear in the eyes of the northmen that someone would be crazy and fearless enough to fight this many people by himself. Every swing of his blades delivered waves of fire as he cut through the enemy marauders like nothing.

They continued to come in waves, but the endless volleys of gunshots and arrows as well as rockets were now beginning to bombard the area all around them. Malekith was grateful that his armour was so strong and that he could dampen his hearing with his helmet, because the constant shrapnel and explosions were causing the enemy horde to panic as Malekith fought them like an unfazed lunatic in the middle of it all.

Many were starting to realize that trying to kill Malekith was next to impossible and began to run past him as they charged for the missile troops pelting them with bullets and arrows. Anyone on foot stood no chance as they were being mowed down in controlled volleys.

This continued on for a while, but the enemy horde did not give up. They were determined to throw as many bodies at their enemy as they could to win and eventually, there was a sea of gore all around Malekith from his own carnage and that of the missiles. Even the rain itself could not wash away the blood that was now staining the entire plaza. The marauders then began to use their own dead as shields as they managed to press further into the breach. By this time, many chaos furies were also starting to get past the skyfleet as they swooped in to try and take down the artillery shooting at the breaches.

To Malekith's disappointment, the furies managed to get to many of them and were beginning to tear apart the artillery crews that had been giving him so much support. Some tried to go after the gunners and peasants further back but did not fare well against the crane gunners on the plaza above.

"Dragon!" Malekith called out to the Ironhail gunners as the ceasing of rockets and cannons was allowing the horde to swarm into the breach in much denser numbers.

Malekith killed anyone he could with sword or magic, but even he had limits, and his overuse of magic already was starting to wear on him mentally and physically. The gunners obeyed his command as they all started to fire at the same time, including a wave of grenades.

Even despite this, it wasn't enough to suppress the marauders from advancing. Many of the northmen seemed deranged by this point after so many of their kin had been slaughtered.

It didn't take long for them to start gaining ground as they surrounded Malekith, but their success was short lived as the elf swung Avanuir down to the ground causing an eruption of dark ice to launch in all directions sending jagged projectiles into the lightly armoured humans or freezing them in place.

He then clenched Avanuir tightly as he swirled it overhead causing a bladewind spell to tear through the entire front of the breach sawing people into mincemeat. This continued on for what felt like an hour as Malekith delivered spell after spell after spell into the tightly clumped humans.

All the while, he felt himself getting weaker and more exhausted as it was becoming difficult to use magic nonstop. By this point, Malekith was drenched in blood and kept on killing as gore rained around him. During the mayhem, more and more chunks of the outer wall were being blown apart, and many marauder horsemen were starting to make their way into the city.

He couldn't do much about them though as the very first wave of chaos warriors had finally entered the breach. They didn't even bother going after anyone else as they charged at Malekith with all the fury their dark gods could give them.

"Tiger!" Malekith heard Yeung Lan call out as the Ironhail gunners went wide and started shooting marauder horsemen coming their way.

Some got incredibly close, but Malekith's manticore had been doing wonders to keep this position secured from fast moving targets.

He didn't have time to observe them as he began to battle chaos warriors now. By this point, marauders were no longer coming through this breach as Malekith had to face down chaos warriors. The massive humans were far more difficult to kill than the chaff as their armour was incredibly thick and they had some innate magical resistance. Gunshots and simple magical attacks weren't enough to kill them outright as it took focused effort to even kill one.

The first wave of them were mostly dead before Malekith felt himself being blindsided by shards of metal followed up by a kinetic wave which sent him off his feet. He landed further away on the ground and grimaced briefly before standing up and seeing several chaos sorcerers were also there as more chaos warriors marched into the city. Behind them he could even see chosen and chaos dwarves with guns. They were serious about killing him now.

The gunners opened fire as well as the archers into the chaos sorcerers, but all of their bullets were stopped by the main chaos sorcerer held up his hand and stopped them midair. They then fell harmlessly to the ground all around the chaos warriors as Malekith rose to his feet.

The metal mage who just stopped all the bullets looked like a Tzeentch Sorcerer from what Malekith could see and he was clearly a master of chamon.

"Is that it? Is that all the Witch King of Naggaroth can do?" the sorcerer taunted Malekith as his entourage strode forward with brazen disrespect.

Malekith cracked a fist as he looked back briefly at the two inactive terracotta sentinels. With the spell command Sung Lian had given him earlier that day, he activated the two massive golems finally.

A strange metallic sound followed as a golden light filled the statues causing them to step forward and move to Malekith's flank. It caused the majority of the chaos warriors to step back slightly and seemed to awe the Cathayan troops further back.

"Those constructs are no match for my magic," the main chaos sorcerer boasted emotionlessly.

The elf then channeled forth the Flames of Asuryan and shot a stream of it towards the sorcerer. The man tried to counter it with fire and was briefly successful, but he wasn't expecting Malekith to charge in while doing this.

He attempted to stop Malekith by magically crushing his armour, but the tzeentch sorcerer's magic was countered by the Armour of Midnight's own defensive runes. Before he even realized it, Malekith cut through the sorcerer's fire and magical barrier with Destroyer. This also caused the Flames of Asuryan to engulf the enemy mage.

The sorcerer screamed in pain from the sacred flames as they began to melt his armour. By this time, the two terracotta sentinels had joined Malekith's charge as they ran in and began to crush the chaos warriors with their massive halberds.

Looking up briefly, Malekith could see countless longmas flying overhead as several sky-junks and sky lanterns moved in to support them.

'They're going for the artillery now…good,' Malekith thought as he turned his attention back to the action.

"Sir! I brought back up!" Malekith heard Jin Tao call out from further away.

Malekith had almost forgotten about the man during all the mayhem and briefly looked at him as he battled chaos warriors alongside the terracotta sentinels.

True to his claim, Jin Tao had hundreds of jade warriors and peasant spearmen with him. All of the humans ran in to charge as volleys of gunshots from the chaos dwarves blasted their way.

"For the Emperor! For Cathay!" Jin Tao cried out.

"FOR CATHAY!" all of the humans chorused as they ran in to meatgrinder.

The following clash was bloody and desperate as the mortal humans fought with all their might against the superhuman monsters known as chaos warriors. Sadly, for them, they didn't have much killing power, but their arrival had been essential in holding back the enemy as Malekith could see more missile troops forming up including the two dragon crossbow regiments Captain Zhu promised him.

They fought on for a good while and with the added backup, Malekith's side was finally starting to push the chaos warriors and dwarves back.

"Give them no quarter! Hold the line!" Jin Tao shouted before launching a fireball into an iridescent horror flying by on a disc.

His spell managed to knock the daemon off its disc which he followed up with a killing blow from his unique sword-spear staff. The human flourished the weapon stylishly before resting it on his back and looking over at Malekith as the elf killed his eighth chaos sorcerer today.

"You're one scary fighter, King Malekith…I can't believe you held them back that long before we got here," Jin Tao exclaimed in their brief reprieve as the enemy forces fell back and ran out the breach.

"Why did you bring so many people to this breach? How are the other ones holding up?" Malekith asked concerned.

Jin Tao shook his head, "They're completely fine. I asked one of the longma riders what was happening on my way over here and he said the bulk of the enemy army is trying to come through the center gate's breach. It's exactly what you said would happen."

"Yes…exactly as planned. Though this is a very long game, and we are far from finished playing with you all," Ashenwing's voice sounded as he flew overhead and looked down at Malekith.

"Why don't we just end this right now, daemon! You and me!" Malekith growled.

Ashenwing chuckled at him, "Do I like a bloodthirster? I have no interest in dueling you…but I will win this game."

"Gunners open fire on that thing!" Yeung Lan commanded.

Various other firing commands went off as the crane gunners and crossbowmen also began to shoot missiles at the lord of change. Ashenwing deflected them all before landing on the ground in an arcane boom. Waves of humans flew off their feet, but Jin Tao and Malekith stayed standing as the daemon strutted towards them.

"We don't care about the other breaches because we will win this siege all in a matter of time. Our real objective right now is to kill you!" Ashenwing stated menacingly.

Without saying a word, Malekith threw Destroyer at the daemon as hard as he could. Before the blade could get there, Ashenwing magically held up a fleeing chaos warrior to shield him. The lord of change then magically tossed the warrior aside as if he were trash and laughed as Destroyer magically returned to Malekith's hand.

"Alright, Malekith…you want a duel? I'll fight you." Ashenwing laughed as he held up his staff causing a wave of pink fire to erupt in all directions. He then took to the skies, "Though it's only fitting that we battle in the skies for Tzeentch to see!"

The elf knew the daemon was trying to lure him away and chose not to pursue, but the sight of Shen Zoo flying after Ashenwing overhead caused him concern. Her draconic voice rang throughout the battlefield, "I'll deal with him!"

"Princess, wait!" Malekith shouted as the light dragon pursued the lord of change. Overhead, he could see the dragon and daemon having a magic duel in the skies. In some ways it rivaled his own magic duel with Teclis at Finuval Plain.

"She'll be fine, sir, the enemy is coming back!" Jin Tao drew Malekith's attention back to the ground.

A strange metallic and burning sound began to deafen them as stomping followed. Through the breach, Malekith saw the chaos dwarf lord coming in again.

The dawi Zhar cast another ashstorm spell causing all of the humans to cough and lose visibility as more chaos dwarfs and warriors made another push through the breach.

"Ahehehe! Let's see how you handle this you smug, knife-eared elgi bastard!" the dwarf shouted in Zharrilid as a massive figure came stomping in behind the newest wave of enemies.

Within seconds Malekith saw what could only be the K'daii Destroyer stomping through the breach. It made otherworldly sounds like a daemon horn as it charged through the ash directly for him.

Fortunately, the terracotta sentinels were both there to intercept the monstrous construct, but even both of them together struggled to do any real damage to this thing. Guns and cannons pelted its metal plates and did practically nothing to it as the K'daii destroyer discharged a wave of fire and continued to battle the sentinels.

The rest of the human defenders didn't have time to marvel at the battle of the titans as they were forced into combat with chaos warriors and dwarves once again. Many humans died to the dwarven gunfire as their sinister weapons pierced armour like it was nothing.

'Where the hell is that Sky-junk at?!' Malekith thought anxiously before moving in to battle the dwarf sorcerer. They battled for about a minute, but Malekith was furious now and he wanted this obnoxious chaos dwarf dead.

After feinting a spellcast, Malekith quickly managed to fake out the dwarf and get close enough to impale him with both blades. The dwarf seemed shocked by Malekith's speed and unusual maneuver as the witch king lifted him off the ground with both swords embedded through his torso.

"I'll show you real fire!" Malekith howled as the flames of asuryan erupted from Avanuir and incinerated the dwarf.

His death scream was extremely satisfying to Malekith, but not nearly as much as Lothar's would be.

After finishing off the dwarf sorcerer, Malekith looked over to see how the terracotta sentinels were faring against the K'daii Destroyer. One was missing an arm and the other looked heavily damaged. The one armed one was currently bashing the dwarven abomination's joints trying to immobilize the machine.

To Malekith's relief though, he saw a formation of sky-junks moving in overhead. Shen Zoo not escorting them was an issue however since she was still battling Ashenwing.

'They have no cover…' Malekith thought grimly.

He then looked at Jin Tao, "Keep holding the breach! I need to escort the payload!"

"Wasn't the princess supposed to protect them?" Jin Tao asked.

"She's fighting Ashenwing…I think he meant to draw her away. Hold this position until I get back!" Malekith commanded before running for his manticore.

Within moments he mounted the beast and took to the skies. His timing seemed impeccable as he saw doom knights, horrors on discs, furies, and manticores coming for the sky-junks. As he ascended into the air, Malekith shot the most dangerous enemies down with magic and flew in closer to the airships.

After spotting Ren Chan piloting the center one, he called out, "Stay on course, I'll cover you! Do you see the target?!"

"I see it sir!" Ren Chan shouted back in confirmation.

"You're still alive?!" he heard one of the other pilots ask disbelievingly.

Malekith didn't have the chance to answer as he flew forward and intercepted an enemy manticore in the air. The gunners on the sky-junks aided him in shooting down the aerial waves of enemies.

For the next minute or so, they all fought off everything they could, but several of the sky-junks took some damage in the bombing run.

"I'm losing altitude!" one of the pilots called out urgently.

"Sir, we have a puncture here!" one of the male pilot's crew members announced to him.

"Keep her going! I'm going to try to land in the plaza!" he shouted.

As they advanced, the five sky-junks were soon whittled down to just the main one itself. Most of their crews seemed to have survived since they had parachutes to jump out with.

"Target is directly below us ma'am!" a spotter announced to Ren Chan.

"Drop the bomb, now!" she commanded.

As he mopped up some remaining chaos furies, Malekith could only turn in time to see a two headed chaos dragon fly by and body slam the sky-junk midair before puncturing its top balloon right before it could drop the bomb.

The ship spiraled out of control for a moment, but it was quickly stabilized as Ren Chan spun the wheel as hard as possible causing it to spin towards the ground as it lost altitude.

"Everyone, abandon ship!" Ren Chan ordered her crew causing many to leap out with their parachutes. The last one to jump off seemed to understand that she was going to crash it into the K'daii Destroyer.

"It's been an honor ma'am…" she said before jumping off.

Malekith swooped in with his manticore as the sky-junk went flying down on a direct course for the K'daii Destroyer. Many of the humans fighting in the plaza below had already fallen back to avoid the bomb leaving the two half destroyed terracotta sentinels to fight the seemingly invulnerable K'daii Destroyer.

Right before the sky junk could crash, Malekith's manticore flew by the descending ship and he ripped Ren Chan out of it before pulling up and narrowly missing a giant green explosion.

The pilot didn't seem to have any idea what just happened as Malekith lightly dropped her on top of the plaza near the crane gunners.

Upon realizing that Malekith just saved her, the pilot went wide-eyed with disbelief as several crane gunners ran over to help her up.

"Good work. Regroup the other survivors and form up on this plaza. The battle is far from over," Malekith ordered before flying away.

Ren Chan didn't say a word, but the look in her eyes was one of pure disbelief at the strange series of events that just happened. Malekith wasn't sure why he decided to save this woman, but respected her willingness to crash the ship and was in a position to extract her…which he did.

After the warpbomb had subsided, the elf anxiously looked down to see that the K'daii Destroyer was damaged beyond repair. The two terracotta sentinels were also completely destroyed as they lay broken into pieces next to the destroyer. The entire front of the plaza was smoldering with green fire and the explosion had also taken out quite a few chaos warriors as well leaving half melted corpses all around the blast site.

The K'daii Destroyer let out a mechanical death shriek as it collapsed to the ground and ceased function. Even the fire inside of it began to wither out into embers. Countless humans below were cheering in relief at the monstrosity being destroyed from the successful bombing run, but their morale quickly plummeted again as the chaos dragon swooped down to the ground and ignited the entire plaza in dragon fire killing dozens.

On its back, Malekith saw Lothar. Before the chaos lord could kill more people, Malekith landed in front of the fleeing humans on the back of his manticore and faced the man down.

"Malekith the savior…did you seriously rescue that human from the airship? Hahahahaha!" Lothar laughed at him.

"What's so funny?" Malekith asked dryly.

Lothar shook his horned head and grinned malevolently, "At first, I thought you were just using them as a shield to weaken us…but this is even more pathetic. You're trying to save these worthless mortals? Hahaha! Why? Has the light dragon convinced you to change your evil ways? If these people really knew who you are and what you've done, they wouldn't be so grateful would they? You're far crueler than I am and that's saying something."

"We know who he is and we're glad to fight beside him!" Jin Tao announced with brave resolve as the human defenders formed up again.

Lothar narrowed his gaze with a cruel smirk, "Do you know why we didn't kill him when Malekith showed up at our camp? It's because he was an ally of chaos. Were you aware that Malekith can summon daemons? He and his mother would bind them and use them against the high elves. They united with the Hung and Kurgan tribes during his last attack on Ulthuan two hundred years ago. Is that the type of person you trust to help you fight the champions of chaos? He freed Ashenwing and the bloodthirster Ka'bandha from their prisons in the Realms of Chaos. What a hero, right? Though I suppose that was worth freeing the weakest of the Cathayan dragons wasn't it, Malekith? Tell me the pretty words she used to convince you to protect these worthless people. I truly want to know."

"I won't believe your lies, monster! None of us will!" Jin Tao shouted back.

'So that bloodthirster's name is Ka'bandha?' Malekith thought curiously.

"She didn't need to convince me to kill you. I despise chaos and everything it stands for. I've ignored your kind for far too long in my pursuit for the Phoenix Throne, but the Asur are no longer my priority. My purpose is the same as my father's…to destroy daemons and those who worship them," Malekith countered.

"You are as weak and pitiful as your father was! The gods laughed at his 'valiant' defiance of their champions, and he died just as you will…broken and pointlessly in the defense of people who don't even like him. You will die just as all of these people will die tonight. Do you think your feeble efforts have even made a dent against the might of my horde?! You can delay all you want, but the storm dragon herself cannot face the might of my army and she will weep in despair as we tear down her pathetic wall! All of these people will be long dead before she arrives! The foolish bitch is probably seething with rage at Snake Gate right now. I eagerly look forward to seeing the shame in her eyes when she realizes her failure! I want to see all of these arrogant dragons broken as I ravage their pitiful kingdom into a wasteland of blood and ash!" Lothar bellowed.

"You're awfully confident about winning this battle, but as long as I'm alive, you haven't won. I've heard enough of your endless drab! You came here for me, so why don't we settle this here and now!" Malekith challenged the chaos lord.

Lothar smirked at him, "That's precisely why I'm here…the moment you and Shen Zoo die, the rest of your pitiful defenders will flee in terror. I could wait it out and drown you in a sea of corpses, but what kind of a champion of chaos would I be if I didn't personally deal with a mortal who had the audacity to challenge me so brazenly!?"

"If you truly felt that way, you would have attacked me at the start. You're just a coward who wanted to wear me down before you endangered your own life. It's what all you chaos lords do. Imagine what your blood god thinks of a such a cowardly commander. If Ashenwing wasn't here to carry the battle for you, we'd have already broken your horde against the walls," Malekith taunted the chaos lord.

His words seemed to enrage Lothar tremendously just as Malekith wanted. The Chaos Lord began to breathe heavily with barely contained fury, "Even now you have the gall to look down on me?!"

"You speak of my father as if you had some idea of how powerful he was. You are nothing compared to him or to me or even to the likes of Sigmar. I've killed countless humans like you. All of you were the same. If you were truly as special as seem to think you are, then you'd be Everchosen. It's quite clear to me that Ashenwing is the real leader of this horde and you're nothing but a delusional Kurgan puppet who thinks his meager existence means anything to the gods or even to me.," Malekith added more fuel to the fire.

The chaos lord glared at him, "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! I will earn my ascension by destroying you!"

"You won't have eyes tonight…you won't have ears or a tongue. Your shattered soul will wander the aethyr blind, deaf, and dumb…and all within it will know this is Lothar…the fool who thought he could defeat Malekith!" the elf said with spiteful condescension.

"ENOUGH!" Lothar howled as he bid his dragon to charge at Malekith on his manticore. The smaller beast nimbly dodged the two-headed dragon as it took to the air.

The chaos lord pursued Malekith with feverish hatred as his colossal mutant dragon roared with bloodlust. Malekith chose to distance himself from the defending humans since he didn't want them getting caught in the crossfire of his battle with Lothar.

His apparent fleeing only seemed to enrage the chaos lord more as his dragon picked up speed and chased after Malekith's manticore which flew over the outer walls and above the bulk of the enemy horde. From his vantage point Malekith could see them all looking up to watch as Lothar pursued him.

He wanted this to happen. He wanted these northmen to see their leader die and Malekith had no need to restrain his use of magic now that he was away from his allies. The Witch King was confident, but he wasn't delusional. He knew this battle would be extremely difficult and that Lothar would not die easily.

Before the chaos dragon could catch up to him, Malekith stole a brief glance over at the enemy artillery. The longma riders did not fare very well at destroying them and he could see many flying crazily to avoid gunshots, magical missiles from the horrors, and various other flying creatures.

The artillery itself was well protected by many of the Tzeentchian daemons and the bulk of the chaos dwarves themselves. His eyes briefly spotted Sung Lian and a large escort with her managing to take down a few dreadquake mortars, but they did not have the manpower to go after the rest since the enemy was falling back to protect the mortars and hellcannons as if their lives depended on it…which they probably did. If it weren't for Sung Lian's own yang magic out on the battlefield, these longma riders would have been doomed.

She protected many with a jade shield spell as they flew through a storm of projectiles and tried to stop more artillery. Malekith couldn't watch them for long as Lothar had finally caught up to him in the skies atop his feral chaos dragon.

Daemonic dragonfire ignited the air as Malekith took a sharp turn with his manticore dodging the stream and doubling back to close in on Lothar. The chaos lord wasn't a sorcerer, but that didn't seem to matter much as he flew his dragon with elven prowess to maneuver against Malekith.

The manticore seemed a bit fearful of getting close to the dragon and hesitated at a few of Malekith's commands as it would occasionally go the opposite direction he wanted to dodge one of the two dragon heads from biting it.

Malekith tolerated this annoyance as best he could while launching spells against Lothar. Streams of fire, bolts of lightning, and even a flurry of doombolts seemed to do next to nothing against Lothar as the man would block shots with his shield or just blatantly tank the attacks to get closer.

The elf attempted to ignite the Flames of Asuryan against the chaos dragon several times, but Lothar's expert flying had caused all of the streams to miss. Meanwhile the chaos lord himself seemed deranged beyond explanation as he actually frothed at the mouth and howled at his dragon to catch Malekith.

This aerial dance continued for a few minutes, but ultimately his manticore would end up making the first mistake as it fearfully dove too low and got blasted by a barrage of fireglaive shots from infernal ironsworn dwarves down below.

The creature bucked and hissed in agony as it twisted in the air and accidentally threw Malekith off its back high up in the air. Thinking fast, the elf cast witchflight to slow his fall just in time before reaching the ground.

He could see his manticore flying back towards the wall heavily wounded now and doubted it was coming back. He was now smack dab in the middle of the enemy army outside of the walls. Before he could even get his bearings, gunshots fired at him causing a stream of red bullets to pelt his armour.

Some ricocheted off or dented his armour, but a few actually managed to pierce it completely as Malekith felt gunshot wounds appearing on his body. Despite sustaining the injuries, he quickly ran for cover next to a nearby mammoth and healed himself as he fought off random enemies who were now moving in for the kill.

After stabilizing his wounds, Malekith swiftly climbed the mammoth and began to kill everyone riding on the canopied saddle before grabbing ahold of its reins and forcing it to charge into the chaos dwarves that shot him.

The mammoth resisted at first, but a quick agony hex caused the beast to go crazy as it started running over northmen and dwarves alike as it charged through the dense enemy lines being pelted with javelins, bullets, and all sorts of other weapons.

As it charged, Malekith tried to cast more vortex spells to clear out the infantry, but he felt the overuse of magic starting to actually hurt his own body and his reserves beginning to empty. His attempt to cast another bladewind was a miscast as it exploded in his face and caused his entire body to glow violently with toxic dhar magic.

He grimaced in pain from the miscast but knew he had to keep casting or he was dead. While he would normally not resort to using dhar recklessly, Malekith had no choice. He needed more magic and he needed to kill these enemies.

As his mammoth kept charging through enemy infantry, Malekith took a deep breath before channeling the power of darkness on himself and using his circlet of iron to draw all of the nearby winds of magic to him. This caused a visible swirl of magical wind to start spiraling its way towards his crown.

Malekith felt pure agony as his body started to channel the winds with reckless abandon. When he felt he had enough, the elf chanted the incantation for a pit of shades and immediately followed up with a bladewind.

The pit of shades erupted as a tear into a dense group of chaos dwarves while the bladewind tore through marauder horsemen who were chasing his mammoth and pelting it with javelins. The mammoth was surprisingly tough as it was still not going down, but its luck ran out a moment later as Lothar's dragon swooped down and stuck it with its talons.

The mammoth went flying to its side and quickly let out a death cry as the wounds from the chaos dragon were clearly fatal. Malekith managed to jump off the mammoth before the attack could catch him in its wake, but he was now on the ground once again.

Another row of infernal ironsworn shot him with their fireglaives without any care about the surrounding northmen caught in the crossfire.

Malekith used one as a shield as he charged his way towards the dwarves leaving a streak of purple fire behind him. By the time he reached them his human bodyshield was in pieces, but the dwarves were now stuck in melee range with him.

Waving Avanuir with hateful fury, Malekith sent a colossal wave of ice through scores of them. The jagged dark frost impaled and froze many in place as the rabid elf flurried his blades through their ranks like a khornate berserker.

Without any care for his own safety or health anymore, Malekith channeled as much magic as he could and ceaselessly began to cast spells. His sanity and composure rapidly deteriorated as he drew in more and more dhar to recklessly cast an endless stream of chillwinds and bladestorms.

He could feel his vision reddening once again just like the time he fought against Shalaxi as he began to lose control of his own actions. His entire body became engulfed in darkness as the circlet of iron kept a steady stream of magic pouring into his crown.

Malekith couldn't feel anything anymore except crippling pain. It wasn't too dissimilar from the feeling of burning in the Flames of Asuryan and he carelessly slaughtered enemy after enemy after enemy. During his frenzy he got shot many more times and even received the random hit from a chaos warrior, but it didn't seem to do anything except enrage him more.

His killing spree was finally brought to an end as Lothar's dragon swooped down and batted Malekith off his feet and sent him flying. Before he could get up, the dragon pinned him down with one of its taloned feet.

Malekith could barely see anything through his reddened vision except for Lothar dismounting the dragon and laughing at him, "It doesn't matter how many you kill…the armies of chaos are endless, and you are already broken."

His clarity slightly returned as Malekith felt the weight of the situation and the dragon's foot weighing down on him. Lothar walked over to him smugly as he looked down at the pinned Witch King, "You underestimated me, elf…a mistake none make twice."

"I was right," Malekith grimaced in pain as he spoke up, "you are a coward…you won't even fight me yourself!"

"I am NO COWARD! Though I am also no fool! It doesn't matter how you die…only that you do! I look forward to mounting your head on my pauldron as I slaughter the rest of these worthless Cathayans!" Lothar shouted.

Malekith struggled in vain to break free of the chaos dragon's foot and only managed to get an arm loose as Lothar walked towards him.

"You should see yourself right now…you look so pathetic writhing in futility to escape your long overdue doom! Gods of Chaos witness me for I LOTHAR have bested Malekith!" Lothar cried out to the skies.

"A little early for celebrations don't you think?! I'm still alive!" Malekith laughed at the chaos lord's shouting causing him to glare down at the elf hatefully.

"What's so funny, elf?! You're done for…has your madness finally claimed you?" Lothar asked hatefully.

The elf said nothing as he dug his gauntlet into the scales of the chaos dragon. Moments later bluish white fire erupted from him as his entire body became engulfed in the flames of Asuryan. The flames rapidly shot up the chaos dragon's body igniting it in the godly flames.

It immediately let go of Malekith and began to writhe in hysterical agony as the flames ate away at its scales. Malekith quickly got to his feet and summoned a powerful incantation of Qhaysh causing arcane energy to converge around the dragon and condense the flames over its entire body.

In mere seconds the beast was wildly flailing through ranks of the enemy army who were gathered around watching. Even with the godly flames searing its own scales, Malekith knew it wouldn't be enough to kill a dragon.

Charging Avanuir up with Qhaysh, he then channeled a fiery convocation overhead which took the form of a phoenix. It let out a phoenix caw as if it were Asuryan himself and flew as hard as possible at the dragon.

The tainted creature could do nothing to avoid the attack as a stream of holy fire incinerated everything in its path and the fiery phoenix collided with the dragon. Upon hitting it, a magical explosion erupted all across the battlefield causing the nearby skies to rain blue-white fire. It was oddly beautiful as the holy fire mixed with the heavy downpour of rain though extremely lethal.

The raining flames set hundreds of enemies on fire and seemed to greatly demoralize the enemy army as anyone who wasn't a chaos warrior quickly distanced themselves from Malekith out of sheer terror.

The elf then turned towards Lothar menacingly. He said nothing to the chaos lord and didn't really need to as his hatred and fury were clearly palpable. Lothar could feel a killing intent in the air the likes of which rivaled a bloodthirster's as Malekith walked towards him seething with wrath through the heavy rain of water and fire.

The elf himself was still on fire, and each step he took caused the ground beneath him to light up a trail of flames in his wake.

Lothar clutched his sword and shield tightly as Malekith kept advancing and howled at him, "Why WON'T YOU DIE!?"

Malekith felt time slow down again as the burning inside his soul began to amplify even more. In that moment, he lost all sense of reality as a dark voice filled his mind, "Unleash the wailing doom…young king."

His berserking trance immediately took hold again as Malekith charged in and began to duel Lothar in melee combat. Despite all of his efforts to avoid directly fighting Malekith prior, the chaos lord was by no means a pushover in combat.

He moved with daemonic speed despite his colossal size and matched Malekith's magically enhanced sword swings blow for blow as they dueled in the heart of the enemy horde.

His raining fire had finally subsided during the clash allowing many within the enemy army to get closer. Upon seeing this, some came to help their lord.

Lothar quickly yelled at them, "Stay back! He's mine to kill!"

Obeying their lord's command, the surrounding chaos warriors and dwarves simply just watched as Lothar and Malekith traded steel in the most intense melee exchange most had probably ever seen. The elf moved with endless flurries not too dissimilar from Shalaxi as he no longer felt weariness.

Every single part of his body and soul was in pain, but for whatever reason, it fueled Malekith even further. He could feel the madness of Khaine taking over him and chose to embrace it fully.

Every slight ever done to him big or small filled his mind as he could feel the rage of millennia condensed into this moment. Against his skillful insanity, Lothar struggled greatly and not even a minute into their duel, Malekith had already broken his shield putting the chaos lord purely on the defensive.

It became increasingly clear to everyone watching that Lothar stood no chance at winning this duel as the witch king hatefully and ceaselessly battered him. The battle came to a head finally as Malekith managed to get a few magically imbued slashes against the colossal man tearing open his armour and causing pus to seep out of it.

Lothar gasped in pain and barely managed to redirect a two-pronged killing blow from the elf. Unfortunately for him, the elf used this opportunity to kick him off his feet and onto his back.

The chaos lord narrowly rolled over to dodge the following kill blows as he tried to distance himself from Malekith.

Upon seeing their lord run away from him, many of the chaos warriors began to boo as if he was weak and disgraceful.

"What are you all waiting for?! Kill him!" Lothar commanded.

None of them moved as Lothar continued to gain distance. He then stopped and looked around at his warriors, "KILL HIM! WARRIORS ATTACK!"

Several traded looks with each other as if they were disappointed in their leader's weakness, but they finally obeyed him and moved in to attack Malekith.

As if moving with pure instinct and divine guidance, Malekith weaved his way through the chaos warriors killing them all in his advance. It didn't take him long to reach Lothar who had somehow regained his backbone and moved in to charge at him.

Lothar's last moment of valor was completely in vain as Malekith managed to impale him with Avanuir while simultaneously parrying with Destroyer.

The chaos lord choked up blood and started to ooze pus out of his body as he slumped over. Malekith didn't have much time to revel in the victory nor was he in the proper state of mind to enjoy it as he immediately tore Avanuir free and went about killing anyone else that was nearby. After slaughtering a score of them, the warriors backed off again clearly afraid and could only watch as Malekith turned to look down at the dying chaos lord.

"You are nothing and nobody…and tomorrow I won't even remember your name," the elf spoke with distant hatred as if he wasn't even there mentally.

Lothar could say or do nothing as Malekith swiftly impaled both of his eyes, cut out his tongue, and ripped off his ears. The elf then cut off his head to finish him off. Briefly sheathing Destroyer, the elf picked up Lothar's mutilated and decapitated head and held it high.

His voice magically and echoically resonated throughout the battlefield as he unleashed a blood curdling howl, "Witness this Khorne!"

Anyone who wasn't aware that he was fighting Lothar in the middle of the enemy army soon realized what was going on as Malekith's howl deafened the battlefield.

"Kill…kill them all! KILL THEM FOR KHAINE!" the dark voice spoke in his head again.

Malekith then turned towards the enemy chaos warriors who were still nearby and threw the head to the ground as disrespectfully as possible. The elf was completely lost to the madness of Khaine now as he fearlessly began to walk towards the enemy chaos warriors and dwarves who were still within range of him.

"Ahahaha," Malekith laughed almost evilly as he drew Destroyer again and charged up his blades with magic.

His circlet of iron began to channel the winds again as he charged. The sight of him recklessly charging caused many to run away, but a line of dwarf gunners quickly began to open fire as Malekith ran for them. He blocked most of the shots with magical barriers, but the sheer firepower coming his way was too much for even that to completely stop.

He couldn't even feel the bullets penetrating his armour as he kept charging forward. Malekith probably would have died trying to charge an entrenched enemy line like this, but before he realized what had happened, a white flash came out of nowhere and he felt himself being lifted off the ground.

"Malekith! Are you alright?!" Shen Zoo's voice sounded.

He slowly regained his senses at hearing her voice and saw that the dragon was tanking an absurd amount of gunfire and magical missiles as she carried him back towards the outer wall. As his sanity returned to him, Malekith could feel crippling pain from his reckless overuse of magic.

He started to wheeze and gasp in agony as the adrenaline of his bloodthirsty madness had worn off leaving him with full awareness of just how injured he was. Shen Zoo didn't take long to get him back to the central plaza. As they flew past the warriors guarding it, she quickly landed and set him on the ground before transforming back to her human form.

Countless people including Jin Tao, Captain Zhu, and Yeung Lan were all there holding the center breach, but they came running over when they saw Shen Zoo and Malekith were both injured.

The elf could feel himself on the verge of hyperventilating as he could no longer breathe. He painfully forced himself to use magic once again as he healed his gunshot wounds and tried to stabilize his body's pain. The armour of midnight's runes quickly lit up and stabilized him, allowing Malekith a respite as he sat up.

Shen Zoo was knelt next to him and was also trying to heal him with her own magic despite how heavily injured she was. Malekith could see her covered in burns and gunshot wounds, but for whatever reason she seemed more concerned about him, "Malekith, slow your breathing! You're going to be fine."

He quickly saw many of the Cathayans watching this instead of focusing on their jobs and felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. He had to get up or these people would see him as weak. If he showed any more weakness, they wouldn't rally.

Malekith callously pushed Shen Zoo's hand away and spoke grimly, "Heal yourself, princess…I'm fine."

She frowned at his stubborn pride, but used magic to heal her injuries as best she could. Malekith then stood up enduring all the pain that came with it. With his iron willpower, he ignored his pain and looked at Shen Zoo intensely, "Where is Ashenwing at?"

"He fell back when he saw the longma riders taking out the artillery. I had no idea you were out there, or I would have come sooner!" Shen Zoo said apologetically.

"What happened to that chaos lord and his two headed dragon?" Jin Tao chimed in anxiously.

"I killed him and that twisted creature in front of his entire army. He's not the real leader of this horde though…Ashenwing is. We can't win this battle unless that daemon dies!" Malekith said darkly as he looked down at his shaking hands.

"You should take a break, Malekith…we're doing fine holding the breaches and the enemy artillery has been cut in half," Shen Zoo tried to persuade Malekith to recover.

The elf then looked over at Captain Zhu, "I need an update, captain!"

"Yes sir…the breaches are holding, and I see that you did successfully take down the K'daii destroyer. The enemy has been making more breaches in the outer wall, but the bulk of our forces are up near the front now and other than these two damaged terracotta sentinels, the other six are still functioning," Captain Zhu answered.

"Where's Sung Lian?" Malekith asked the man.

The captain seemed a bit surprised that Malekith would ask him that but answered quickly, "Her longma riders are still out there taking out the artillery."

"Ashenwing went out there…we need to call her back immediately," Malekith stated grimly.

"I'll go and bring her back," Shen Zoo stated as she finally stood up. It caused her obvious pain to do so as she seemed about as injured as Malekith was. Between dueling Ashenwing and tanking a storm of gunfire, Malekith had no doubts that she was not in any condition to make another run.

"Next wave incoming!" Jin Tao announced before running back to the front along with many others.

"Stay here until I get back Malekith. Once we gather up, we need to come up with a plan to take down that lord of change," Shen Zoo commanded.

Malekith looked at her briefly as she limped away and began to cast her transformation. Right before she could, the dragon slumped down in pain as chaos magic started to seep over her body. Whatever it was, Ashenwing had definitely cast a powerful curse on her.

She quickly stood up again to try and transform, but Malekith stopped her this time, "No, princess…you're in worse condition than I am. Plus you're a much larger target out there. It would be best if you waited back for now. Your life is far more valuable to Cathay than mine. I'll get Sung Lian."

She shook her head, "Malekith, you can't, you almost died earlier!"

"So what?! Maybe I want to die! Don't injure yourself again for my sake or Sung Lian's! If we both die, nobody here can stop Ashenwing! I'll be damned if I have to explain to your sister why you died I didn't! If one of us has to take the risk, then it's going to be me! The only reason I'm here is to keep you alive! Stay here! That's an order!" he shouted at her furiously causing everyone nearby to turn and look at him with fearful uncertainty.

She shrunk beneath his tone and frowned, "You're going to use that thing, aren't you? It's going to kill you!"

His anger quickly dissipated upon seeing Shen Zoo's crestfallen face. He had no idea what to say as a calm acceptance washed over him and simply chose to walk away instead.

"Are there any longma riders left around here?!" Malekith asked Captain Zhu who was still nearby.

The man nodded, "Most of the riders are out beyond the wall. There's several longmas on the high plaza. They've been relegated there after their riders died."

Malekith nodded as he painfully turned to walk towards the lift that would take him to the plaza above. As he walked towards it, he passed by the Ironhail gunners whose heads seemed to turn like a wave. No doubt they had just overheard everything he and Shen Zoo said to one another.

None of them said a word, but they had various expressions of confusion and disbelief as Malekith got on the lift and prepared it to rise. As he was doing so, he saw one of the gunners run over to him, "Sir...you're going back out there?!"

He quickly realized it was the girl he scared half to death the other day...Kai Shu. Her friend Dai Lin was also with her.

"What are you doing leaving your formation?" He asked them sternly.

"We're on ammo duty. We need to go get more up top. May we go up with you, sir?" Kai Shu asked slowly.

The elf shrugged, "Fine..."

As the two gunners got on the lift with him and they ascended to the upper plaza, Kai Shu spoke solemnly, "Are we winning the battle, sir?"

"We will...just stay focused. Princess Shen Zoo is staying back. I'm going to go deal with Ashenwing and recover the shugengan," he replied blankly.

Dai Lin then spoke up, "There's so many of them out there...how are we going to win this battle? It would take the Emperor himself to defeat that army. You killed their leader, but there's no end to them. They just keep coming..."

"You've done well so far...just keep doing your jobs. I'm going to do mine. Shen Zoo will keep you alive," Malekith said with uncharacteristic reassurance.

The two gunners seemed surprised by his words and traded confused looks with one another as the lift took them all the way to the top. As he stepped off the lift carriage and onto the upper plaza. Dai Lin then called out to him as her voice cracked drawing the attention of all the crane gunners atop the wall, "Sir...you're not coming back, are you?"

"Probably not. Get your ammo and return to the company as soon as you can," was all he said in response.

As he walked over the upper level's plaza, he saw the crane gunners formed up on it as well as the magistrate and a number of surviving pilots and various longmas. Several dragon guard crossbowmen were also on the upper plaza.

Most seemed to be stunned by the elf's presence as he walked up to a longma ignoring everyone around him. The dragon horse creature seemed skittish and fearful of Malekith as he approached it, but he managed to grab its reins before it could run or fly away. It wasn't too different from a pegasus and he had decent experience with riding and taming those.

The longma neighed in brief defiance, but calmed down as Malekith placed his hand over the creature and healed a large slash on its flank. He spoke to the creature in Cathan as he did so, "I need you to fly me."

The sight of him trying to tame a longma who had lost its rider was fascinating to the nearby Cathayans, but they all seemed more or less too focused on the battle to really interfere. Many were staring at him confused though.

A gasp of disbelief came out of someone as Malekith finally calmed the longma enough to mount it. He then heard a voice speak to him, "Sir…"

Turning his gaze to the speaker, he spotted Ren Chan who was still up here with the crane gunners. Some of her crew was also there. She looked at him solemnly as Malekith stared back, "What is it?"

"T-thank you for saving me…" she said slowly, "I can't believe you actually did. I was committed to my death. Why did you do it?"

"Hmph," the elf didn't reciprocate her gratitude as he motioned for his longma to advance to the ledge.

"Where are you going?!" she asked concerned.

Malekith briefly glanced back at all of the humans on the plaza who were staring at him confused. Even Dai Lin and Kai Shu were both still there watching this exchange. He ignored them all as he looked at the pilot, "You're a good soldier, Ren Chan. Protect the princess…that's my final order."

"F-final order?!" the pilot bellowed.

Everyone quickly realized that Malekith wasn't expecting to come back from this final flight after hearing his words and watching his longma take to the air.

Every muscle in his body ached. Every part of his skin felt like it was being punctured with molten needles. Yet despite it all, Malekith felt a strange serenity as he flew the longma over the outer wall and rode towards his doom.

'Is this how you felt, father? Right before the end? I can't believe I'm dying for a bunch of humans, but at least I get to die a true warrior like you did. I can only hope the gods show me mercy in the next life,' Malekith made peace with his death.

With stoic focus, he weaved and flew his longma out into the skies over the enemy horde once more. It was far more agile than his manticore and he found it much easier to maneuver in the air as he killed daemon and monster alike in the skies while dodging endless gunfire and spells.

He scanned the horizon for any sign of surviving longma riders and quickly spotted a group of them trying to escape from Ashenwing as the lord of change lit up the night sky with torrents of homing blue flames. The blue fire weaved through the air and killed many of the riders as they desperately tried to escape the ravenous daemon sorcerer. Among their number was actually Sung Lian herself whose yang and fire magic had proven to be the only thing that had any success at stopping the daemon from outright killing them.

Despite his high-speed interception, Malekith could not get there in time as the longma riders were blindsided by newly arrived iridescent horrors on flying discs and doom knights. Most of them were shot down by spells or knocked off their longmas as they went plummeting to their deaths.

Sung Lian was the only one still flying and she was in deep trouble as Ashenwing's blue fire broke her magical jade barrier causing her to fly off her longma. It must have been an act of the gods in the following seconds as Malekith's longma moved in and he actually managed to catch her midair.

The shugengan practically yelped in disbelief when she saw Malekith there on a longma and spoke to him urgently, "King Malekith?! You're out here?!"

"Fly this damn horse while I cover us," Malekith ordered her as he moved her in front of himself on the longma's saddle. The added weight slowed the longma down a bit and it left the two of them heavily pressed together.

Neither one could complain about the uncomfortable proximity as Malekith countered Ashenwing's blue fire with black lightning.

The lord of change pursued them with eager malice as he cawed out daemonically, "I see you managed to kill Lothar…he was a useful pawn, but mortals are easily replaceable! Your true opponent in this game is me!"

Their deadlock of magic quickly erupted in an explosion as Sung Lian flew the longma higher into the air to avoid missile fire from the army below. Ashenwing pursued them high into the skies and started weaving his staff aggressively as the very clouds began to swirl and the winds of magic themselves took shape.

Moments later a storm of metal shards rained from the skies followed up by rapid fire barrage of pink fireballs. Sung Lian and Malekith both channeled their own defensive magic wards to negate the attacks, but it seemed ultimately futile as Malekith was far too injured to hold a barrier for long.

Fortunately, his armour had given Sung Lian enough cover from the pink flames, but it could do nothing to save the poor longma as the horse began to burn and went crashing to the ground in pink cinders.

Once again, Malekith was grounded in the center of the enemy army, and he mentally berated himself for his weakness since Sung Lian's barrier didn't fail…his did.

She seemed in better condition than he was as she managed to get up first. She looked around with desperate concern as chaos warriors and tzeentchian horrors started to surround them. Ashenwing then landed in a beautiful arcane mirth and looked down at them as Malekith finally got to his feet.

The elf panted heavily as the pain he was experiencing somehow got even worse. A normal druchii sorceress using dhar this recklessly would have easily killed herself by now and he would undoubtedly have died already were it not for his armour's life support and his circlet funneling the magic.

He and Sung Lian said nothing as they both attempted to cast spells at the lord of change, but in their condition, it proved rather impotent as Ashenwing easily blasted the shugengan off her feet and bound her to the ground on her knees in nets of magical light.

"Sit right there, Sung Lian…I think it only fitting that you watch your savior die before I kill you," Ashenwing cackled.

Malekith glared at the daemon as he drew his swords and ran in to attack. Even his heightened berserker rage could do nothing to close the distance as the daemon magically bound him in place.

The elf writhed in the magical hold as his body began to shake, but he could not break free. Under normal circumstances he could probably overpower it, but he was too exhausted now. The lord of change briskly walked towards him as Malekith struggled in vain to move.

"Did I not tell you this would happen? Fateweaver spoke of your doom for aiding Shen Zoo. He told me that you would die by my hand. It does not surprise me that you killed Lothar. His death was foretold, and he played his part quite well did he not? I find it amusing how you've exhausted yourself endlessly overcasting spells just to kill my minions. You are no match for me in your weakened state…if ever you even were. Perhaps you should have taken your own tactics into consideration and saved your full strength to battle me instead of getting worn down by the chaff. Your efforts were valiant, but it would seem the game is finally over. What is that amusing chess term mortals use? Ah yes, checkmate," Ashenwing chuckled as his staff began to light up with flames.

Before he could cast the spell to kill Malekith, something unexpected happened. A longma rider came in to suicidally blindside the lord of change. Its rider actually managed to pierce the daemon with his lance as he cried out with valorous resolve, "FOR CATHAY!"

The rider's lucky cheap shot, while successful, proved very ineffective at doing any significant damage to the daemon. The longma was swiftly killed by magical missiles from nearby horrors causing its rider to go plummeting to the ground next to Malekith and Sung Lian.

The elf could barely believe his eyes when he saw who it was…Lieutenant Kongyu. His attack had managed to break Malekith free of the daemon's hold and the elf quickly fortified his magical defenses to prevent it from happening again even despite the pain it brought.

He looked down at Kongyu disbelievingly as the man got to his feet and charged the daemon with the courage of Aenarion himself. The human's efforts were completely futile though as Ashenwing batted him away with one swipe of his taloned claws tearing a huge gash through his armour and sending him flying.

Malekith quickly looked at the man who was now supine and staring up into the skies. He was in no position to help him as Ashenwing readied another spell.

This time Malekith blocked it with a barrier of Qhaysh and struggled painfully to repel more pink flames as they forced him to his knees.

Fortunately, his barrier didn't break this time and he painfully got up after the daemon's spell subsided.

Ashenwing shook his avian head at his efforts, "Why…why get up? Why keep fighting? Right now, you're about as dangerous as that worthless longma rider who just committed suicide."

"He's not worthless…and nothing's over while I'm still breathing!" Malekith hissed with hatred.

"Ahahaha, is that so? How do you intend to defy your fate?" the daemon mused.

Malekith then sheathed Destroyer and grabbed the puzzle box of Xholankha which was still strapped to his waist. He held it up in front of himself and stared into Ashenwing's eyes as he spoke grimly, "I swore that I would kill you all even if I had to take you down with me…let's see you stop this you eldritch abomination!"

Sung Lian seemed to have no idea what Malekith was doing, but Ashenwing's lax attitude quickly turned into disbelief as he saw Malekith hold up the puzzle box and pour Qhaysh magic into it.

"What are you doing?! You can't use that thing! Fateweaver said it only works with the keys!" Ashenwing cawed.

"He lied to you!" the elf shouted back.

As Malekith's magic poured into the puzzle box its hieroglyphic markings lit up with alien light causing a huge flux of magic to erupt from it. The magical energy shot skyward as high as the eye could see and after a few moments it hit what looked to be some kind of firmament in the atmosphere.

"You're tapping into the geomantic web?!" Ashenwing instantly realized what was happening as he backed away and tried to cast magical spells at the elf.

All of the daemon's spells fizzled out as they got close and were simply sucked overhead into the channeling beam of magic in the skies. Malekith then began to levitate off the ground as he looked skyward.

The elf could barely describe what it felt like as he basked in the power of the geomantic web and began to funnel it to the battlefield directly overhead. This was about twenty times more powerful than what he did to start off the battle and as he ascended higher, Malekith could see Ashenwing and countless other enemies backing away with horror at this sight.

After a few seconds, the elf's body could not take the strain of the magic and he could feel it beginning to overwhelm him. Everyone around could only watch in suspense as the elf struggled with all his might to channel this absurd amount of power. This overwhelming concentration of magic had other strange effects as well as it began to tear open the fabric of reality in contrast to the portals Ashenwing had opened.

Malekith's body then ignited once more in the Flames of Asuryan…only this time at a far grander scale. He shined like a star as he ascended higher in the air. He knew he was about to die, but this would be his final reckoning and that thought kept him just conscious enough as the geomantic nexus overhead began to swirl out of the atmosphere and condense down to him as if he were forming another great vortex.

Then there was nothing. No more pain, no more light, no feeling whatsoever.

The witch king floated in an endless void not too dissimilar from the one Slaanesh put him in, and he closed his eyes as the sea of oblivion had finally claimed him.

A voice drew him from his infinite oblivion shortly after closing his eyes…one that he barely remembered but seemed so familiar to him.

"If only it didn't take you nearly seven thousand years to realize what Asuryan actually wanted from you. What a king you would have been…" the voice said distantly.

Malekith's eyes shot open, and he saw someone he was not expecting to see…Bel'Shanaar.

He blinked in disbelief at the sight of the second phoenix king whom he had killed long ago and looked around as he now found himself in the Shrine of Asuryan.

"Bel'Shanaar? Am I dead?" was all the druchii king could say as the Asur king approached him.

"We are dead, but you are not. This is the place between life and death. You've been here before…we've been watching you this entire time…ever since Asuryan gave you his blessing," Bel'Shanaar replied stoically.

"We?!" Malekith asked confused.

His question was answered almost instantly as he saw all of the previous phoenix kings stepping from the flames and approaching him. He saw them all…Bel'Shanaar, Caledor I the Conquerer, Caledor II the Warrior, Caradryel the Peacemaker, Tethlis the Slayer, Bel-Korhandis the Scholar, Aethis the Poet, Morvael the Impetuous, and Bel-Hathor the Sage. He did not see Aenarion himself or the current king Finubar among their number and could only watch with uncertainty as the various kings formed up in front of him.

He had no idea what to say to them as these were his mortal enemies and most hated foes for thousands of years. Malekith looked around and soaked in their various reactions.

All of them seemed calm and stoic and said nothing in a very long silence. They didn't have to say anything though. Their presence here was undeniable proof and validation of their own kingships and worth in the eyes of Asuryan. It was the ultimate act of humbling that would forever haunt him.

Malekith finally just looked down with defeated shame, "It would seem I was wrong…again."

"Not entirely," Bel'Shanaar spoke up immediately, "we are bound to the flames just as you are, but Asuryan has given you mastery of the flames. You are his avatar even if you aren't a phoenix king."

"What am I doing back here? Why bring me to this place? Last thing I remember...I was about to die." Malekith asked.

Bel-Korhandis spoke next, "You siphoned out the geomantic web and opened the aethyr directly over yourself. It allowed Asuryan to bring you here just as he did in the Realms of Chaos."

"If you all have anything you want to say to me, I'll hear it now…" Malekith sighed as the sight of the dead phoenix kings was haunting for him. He wasn't sure that he would ever mentally recover from this if he survived.

"What is there for us to say? It would seem you're the one who wishes to say something. We'll hear you instead, Malekith," Tethlis replied.

Malekith humbled himself despite all the feelings of resentment he felt for these supposedly false kings, "I don't expect your forgiveness, but I will admit my remorse to you all. My mad lust for the Phoenix throne was such a waste of so many elven lives and our once great empire. Your hatred of me is justified but despite it all…I'm sorry. More than anything in this world, I regret killing you Bel'Shanaar…I should have killed my mother. I should have just done what Allisara wanted and retired in the colonies. Other than Snorri, everyone I cared about died in the fires of my ambition. Alandrian, Allisara, and countless others. I don't even know my own child. Maybe it's what I deserve…after all I'm just Aenarion's bastard son. I'm unworthy to stand among the phoenix kings of Ulthuan…the only thing I deserve is to die in honor of my father's sacrifice."

"Humility from you is rather unexpected, but it does not fall on deaf ears, Malekith. You passed Asuryan's trial, and the Phoenix God deems you worthy to wield his power. We may have been mortal foes in life, but through his divine power we are now united as brothers," Bel'Hathor spoke up.

Caledor the Conqueror then followed, "Your dragon friend spoke truly…those who seek the light within the darkness deserve admiration. You are an unspeakably cruel tyrant, but you are not evil, and your recent actions have proven that you seek harmony and peace. They have proven that you are willing to sacrifice for others. Asuryan does not see the world in black in white. His teachings are not too dissimilar from the way of Feng Shui that these Cathayans practice. You are very much like Aenarion…you can see things the way Asur and Druchii cannot. That mindset will be required to change them both for the better."

"Asuryan understands just as we do that the Asur and Druchii are both doomed to die without drastic intervention. You are not the only one guilty of boundless pride…I'd argue that we all failed the elves in many ways. All that matters now is that we save what is still left and put an end to this pointless war for the sake of our people. The great enemy must be stopped," Morvael added.

"We are all dead, but you are still alive. The burden is yours to bear. It is a thankless path of sacrifice, but it must be undertaken. Your guilt is irrelevant in the face of greater doom. You must put an end to this war between the elves. Our feelings for you or yours for us are irrelevant now…all that matters is the greater good and you have shown that it is the path you seek," Caledor the Warrior spoke.

"Morathi once told you that altruism and humility are the paths to servitude and irrelevance…but she was wrong. It is the path of the phoenix. All of us are servants to the will of Asuryan, and it would seem he made the right choice in showing you penance. I can only hope that you succeed in your endeavors…for you alone have the power to unite the elves," Aethis followed up.

"So, what happens now? Why am I here? What about the battle?" Malekith asked uncertainly as he looked around at the dead phoenix kings.

Bel'Shanaar answered him after a long silence, "Step into the flames, Malekith…someone else wishes to speak to you."

"Who?!" Malekith bellowed as he turned his gaze to the flame of kings. Within it he saw another familiar figure. One with an iconic dragonhelm and armour.

Malekith stared into the flames in disbelief and could only watch as one by one, the various phoenix kings walked into the flames disappearing into its godly light. This left him alone with what was undoubtedly his father Aenarion.

"Father…" Malekith spoke slowly as he tried to get the attention of Aenarion.

The first phoenix king did not acknowledge him or even turn to look at him. Malekith sighed heavily but decided this would be his only opportunity to say something to Aenarion who was somehow here in this inner world between life and death.

"I failed you father. I failed our people. I never understood you when I was young, but I think I finally do now. You sacrificed everything and I disgraced your legacy with my own pathetic vanity. I always wanted to be phoenix king, but now I understand…it's not something you wished for. It was something you had to do for the sake of others. I will never be king, but I am grateful to have learned this truth before the end. I never asked to be born, and I know you probably regret my existence. I wish I could have done better to honor your sacrifice. I know it probably means nothing to you after all of this, but I am sorry…for everything," was all he could think to say as countless emotions overwhelmed his senses.

Aenarion did not respond to him once again which was only causing Malekith further distress. He couldn't even blame his father for reacting this way. After all, Malekith was probably his greatest shame. What right did he have to think his father would even speak to him after everything he did to the elves?

There was a long silence, and it did more to wound Malekith's pride than anything he had ever experienced in his crazy life. The despairing feelings it brought were almost enough to make him cry, but he simply fortified his emotions and stoically stared at Aenarion within the flames.

Aenarion finally spoke as he continued to look away, "If you understand me as you claim to, then you would know that I am not the infallible paragon you think I am. I'm the one who failed you…just as I failed Astarielle, Morelion, and Yvraine."

"Father! You didn't fail me! You saved the world!" Malekith called out as he walked into the flames to get closer to Aenarion.

The flames did not burn him as he stepped inside, but he could feel himself heating up from their godly power.

"Your faults as a son are my failure as a father. I regret cursing you and your siblings with the blood of Khaine. I regret leaving you alone in this world with Morathi to taint you. I didn't realize until it was too late how corrupted she was. All I can offer you now is my strength. It's the least I can do for you after freeing my soul from Slaanesh. Asuryan has given you my mantle to carry…I'm sorry you have to walk this path," Aenarion replied with deep melancholic regret.

His father then turned towards him and looked him the eyes finally, "I did not want this for you…or any of my heirs. I wished for nothing more than to see my three children living in peace…for you to live and enjoy your lives. The other kings speak truly…you must save the elves from themselves. Asuryan is not the only god who will aid you. The Curse of Khaine is also beneficial in matters of war and he will answer your call, my son…"

One by one the various phoenix kings reappeared around him in a circle and each one placed an ethereal hand on Malekith causing an agonizing feeling of power to surge through him. Aenarion placed his hand on Malekith's shoulder last. As they touched Malekith, each one turned into flaming spectres and flew into him. As they joined together as one in the godly pyre, the flames erupted throughout the temple.

Not even a second letter Malekith returned to the battlefield and found himself floating high into the air with the Flames of Asuryan surrounding him in the aura of an actual phoenix. He looked around in disbelief as he saw the flaming wings on his back. It seemed like mere seconds had passed in the real world.

His pain was even worse than before, and he had barely any cognitive awareness as he felt Khaine's bloodthirst returning to him. The magical stream he was siphoning from the geomantic nexus was growing even more erratic from Malekith's pain as his vision reddened and he descended back to the ground in a deific fashion.

Upon landing back on the ground, an eruption of flames shot out in front of him unleashing a sea of fire into the enemy army. Still channeling the magic with the Puzzle Box of Xholankha, Malekith held it tightly as he screamed to the skies, "ARGGHHHHH! KHAINE! ASURYAN!"

He wasn't feeling just his own pain anymore. He could feel the memories, desperation and pain of all the other phoenix kings as well. Visions of Aenarion battling against daemons filled his mind as well as visions of the Widowmaker.

The magic he was siphoning then took shape from Malekith's fury and pain as the blood, flesh, and steel of every dead foe in the vicinity began to swirl around him. Blood then erupted from his own body in a fatal quantity as the magic converged with the steel, flesh, and blood.

Despite his rapid regeneration, Malekith's blood continued to pour out of him into the amalgamation of his magic as it seemed to take a will of its own. He couldn't even see what it was doing as he screamed in pain and fell down to the ground.

The Puzzle Box of Xholankha then began to spin and twist as various glyphs lit up. It shot the entirety of its siphoned magic directly towards the amalgamation it was creating before unleashing a devastating shockwave throughout the skies which would obviously resonate across the entire geomantic web.

A godly voice then sounded, "I have answered your call, young king."

Har Ganeth, Hellebron's Palace

Tullaris Dreadbringer was currently standing next to Hellebron and her closest witch elves as his mistress bathed in a blood cauldron. He was deathly silent and had no reaction to the withered crone rejuvenating her aged body in the cauldron. The blood queen's bodyguard vigilantly stared at the witch elves for any sign of treachery or judgment. Normally, the executioners weren't allowed to be present for something like this, but Hellebron seemed to trust him more than her own witch elves as she insisted on his presence. As captain of her executioners, he did not hesitate to obey, but it was somewhat uncomfortable for him to be the only male in the room.

His attention was drawn from his vigilance a moment later when he heard one of the death hags in the chamber shriek, "The cauldron! Its eyes are lighting up!"

"What's happening?!" another demanded as the statue of Khaine atop the blood cauldron began to heat up and glow.

Tullaris stole a glance up at his nude mistress Hellebron whose youth had returned, but she seemed deathly confused as she flailed about in the blood cauldron.

"The blood, it's disappearing!" Hellebron shouted as she stepped out of the cauldron and watched as all of the blood seemed to vanish out of thin air.

One of the death hags quickly voiced her confusion, "What's going on mistress?! Is it a sign from Khaine?!"

"I have answered your call…young king," Tullaris heard Khaine's voice echoing in his head. It quickly broke his poise as he reached for his head and looked around frantically.

Hellebron then turned her gaze towards Tullaris and spoke to him, "Did you hear something, Tullaris?"

"Khaine spoke…" the executioner stated simply.

"He speaks of a young king. Does that mean…Malekith?!" Hellebron wondered with widened eyes.

"I didn't hear anything, mistress! What about the blood in the cauldron?! Did this happen to all of them?!" a concerned death hag asked.

"Go find out…now!" Hellebron ordered as she nudely stepped off the cauldron and was handed a robe by one of her witch elves. She then looked at Tullaris, "We need to find out what this means before Morathi does."

"Yes, mistress…" he nodded.

Ghrond, Morathi's Tower

Morathi sat high in her tower as she channeled the winds of magic to peer out into the vast chaotic landscape north of Ghrond. She had been tirelessly searching for any sign of Malekith's reemergence and starting to become frustrated about it.

There had been no sign of his return for two hundred years. Countless druchii believed Malekith was dead, but she and Malekith's own black guard were not among their numbers.

The hag sorceress hissed with fury as gave up on her daily search and hatefully shot dhar into the skies at her regular failure to pick up any sign of her son. She angrily bashed her fist against the wall as she strutted to the balcony and stared into the skies.

'I know you're still alive…where are you, Malekith?!' she thought bitterly.

Though it pained her to admit it, she could not rule Naggaroth without him. No doubt it was Malekith's own design to keep her permanently sidelined as the druchii were infighting on a level never before seen in their five and a half thousand-year history.

Were it not for Kouran Darkhand and Malekith's own black guard, things would have been even worse, but she was fortunate that Malekith's personal underlings believed he was still alive as well. If things continued like this for another century or two, Naggaroth would completely collapse. Naturally, without the Witch King around, Clar Karond and Karond Kar were both at war with each other. Hag Graef had stopped paying its tithes to Naggarond and the Har Ganeth had become even more belligerent than normal.

The highborn had been scheming and assassinating each other to ridiculous degrees and the black council refused to meet up anymore since they had no unifying leader to make them agree on anything. The natural result of this was every great city in Naggaroth had turned into its own city-state and began to follow its own laws. Nobody had dared to try and take Malekith's throne however thanks to Ghrond and Naggarond still being allies and Kouran Darkhand taking over as regent in the king's absence.

As she brooded in her annoyance, Morathi saw something peculiar happening in the skies above Ghrond. All of the winds of magic began to wildly fly in one direction. With her excellent vision and magical witchsight, Morathi could see that something was channeling a ridiculous amount of magic from a vast distance.

She could barely marvel at it for more than few seconds before several of her sorceress underlings came barging into her tower chambers.

One desperately announced her arrival, "Mistress, forgive the interruption, but you have to see this! The blood cauldrons are all lighting up and the blood inside them is evaporating!"

Morathi looked at the three sorceresses and crossed her arms, "What?!"

"What does it mean?!" the sorceress asked confused.

"It means Khaine's power is upon the earth. Someone might have drawn the Widowmaker," Morathi deduced.

"WHAT?! Did one of the Asur draw it?! That's not good…" another sorceress bellowed.

One of the other sorceresses also began to sense magic being drawn on a grand scale as she moved closer and looked out beyond the balcony, "What's going on out there?!"

"Something is channeling magic at a monumental scale. Normally it flows south to the vortex, but it's going in that direction right now. I assume it's probably related. Gather the others, we need a grand ritual to investigate the portents at once," Morathi ordered.

"Yes mistress!" the three sorceresses announced in near unison as they ran out of the room.

Morathi turned towards her balcony and stared into the skies once again, 'Could it be…Malekith? He doesn't possess this level of magical power though. Perhaps a Slann is tapping into the geomantic web. It appears to be coming from the other side of the world though.'

Shrine of the Widowmaker, Ulthuan

The ever-vigilant guards of the Shrine of Khaine on the blighted isle were doing their routine patrols as they normally did, but something strange was happening as the officer on duty saw an elf charging down the stairs towards him, "SIR! THE WIDOWMAKER!"

"Calm yourself, Soren…what's going on?" the Captain asked.

"You have to see the altar sir, the sword is moving on its own!" the horrified elf shouted.

Without wasting any time, the officer and every surrounding elf ran up to the altar at the heart of the Shrine of Khaine.

Upon seeing the ominous Widowmaker resting in its pedestal, they noticed it was shooting magical energy into the skies away from the vortex to the west.

The sword was moving and shuffling in its pedestal as it actually spoke aloud for all the surrounding elves to hear, "I have answered your call, young king."

To their horror, the sword then disappeared in a magical flash from their sight as all the statues of Khaine within the shrine began to start glowing molten.

"By the gods…what just happened!?" a horrified shadow warrior cried out.

"Inform the Shadow King at once…no send word to the Phoenix Court. This is bad…" the captain ordered his elves before staring with terror at the sight of the empty pedestal.

Shrine of Asuryan, Island of Flame, Ulthuan

The current Phoenix King Finubar was making a personal visit to Asuryan's shrine after receiving strange dreams and visions for many weeks prior.

His loyal white lion bodyguards flanked him as he walked into the pyramid chamber, and he was greeted with reverence by none other than Caradryan and his phoenix guards. They didn't speak of course, but they all bowed their head respectfully as the phoenix king entered.

Finubar nodded in reciprocation to the captain of the phoenix guard before looking at Korhil, his bodyguard, "I will go alone from here."

"Yes, your highness…" Korhil nodded before looking over at the phoenix guard as if he was silently asking them to make sure nothing happened to the king. Of course, every Asur in Ulthuan trusted the phoenix guard and the white lions waited around in the front as their king walked into the inner chamber to see the Flames of Kings.

As Finubar progressed inside, Caradryan walked at his flank. No doubt the captain of the phoenix guard was expecting him. For most elves it was unnerving to be around the phoenix guard since they weren't known for speaking.

Caradryan himself seemed to have otherworldly insight into the creator god's own will and the glowing rune of Asuryan on the captain's forehead all but affirmed that belief among many.

Finubar spoke to Caradryan even though he wasn't expecting the captain to explain anything to him, "I've been having dreams and visions for the past few weeks. I assume you know what's going on?"

Caradryan nodded as he led Finubar into the heart of the shrine and before the Flames of Kings themselves.

Upon seeing them once again, Finubar saw a vision of himself burning in the fire flash through his mind briefly. Caradryan walked up and knelt before the flames as he turned his attention to the king gesturing for him to do the same.

As the king and the captain knelt before the flames, Finubar felt something strange happening. He saw a vision of Malekith burning in the fire this time. He watched with confusion as the vision showed the witch king burning alive in the fire.

He didn't understand it at all, but for reasons beyond his understanding, he could feel Malekith's pain as the druchii king burned and began to scream in agony.

As his vision ended, he saw the flames violently reacting. None of it made any sense, but he slumped over in pain and screamed as if he was on fire.

Caradryan quickly braced his fall and held the phoenix king as he writhed in pain. Finubar's forehead then lit up with a magical rune similar to Caradryan's and he lost all sense of consciousness as he stared into the flames.

White Tower of Hoeth, Saphery

Prince Tyrion rode through the capital of Saphery on the back of his noble horse Malhandir. He was here to pay a routine visit to his brother as Teclis had requested his presence for whatever reason.

Tyrion sighed heavily as he strode up to the white tower and saw Teclis waiting outside almost knowingly for him. He hated it when Teclis acted so wise all-knowing.

The younger twin addressed his brother calmly, "You arrived quicker than I expected."

"You're not usually one to call on me for help…what's going on? What do you need of me?" Tyrion asked as he dismounted his horse.

To Tyrion's flank were a number of his own troops including his own squire Eldyra. The princess of Tiranoc dismounted her horse Maladhros as she walked at Tyrion's side up to the prince's great mage brother and high loremaster.

"You seem as grim as always, Princess Eldyra. Has my brother's permanent mood become yours as well?" Teclis asked the princess.

She stoically ignored his comment as she addressed him, "Well met, high loremaster."

"What do you want, Teclis? I'm rather busy right now…" Tyrion sighed.

"It's about the Witch King…" Teclis began slowly.

"He's dead…and thank the gods for that!" Tyrion interrupted him coldly.

Teclis frowned, "A foe like the Witch King is not so easily slain, brother…"

"You killed him though…I saw it with my own eyes. He burned alive in the flames of Asuryan. Why are you still prattling on about this after two hundred years? There's been no sign of his return. We should be more focused on reclaiming our territory and wiping out the rest of the druchii. Is this why you've been so inactive lately? I had thought that when you returned from the human empire that you would actually want to help us destroy Naggaroth." Tyrion shook his head.

"The witch king escaped to the Realms of Chaos…I don't think I actually killed him," Teclis corrected his brother.

"This again?! I didn't come all this way just to hear another one of your theories! Do not let that monster haunt your thoughts brother…he's gone. Even if he did survive Asuryan's divine judgment, he alone would stand no chance in the Realms of Chaos. He fled as he always did to die in shame like the pathetic fiend he was," Tyrion ranted.

"You're not listening to me, Tyrion…he isn't dead!" Teclis uncharacteristically raised his voice with stern aggression, "and I don't think it's a good idea for you to join Prince Eltharion in trying to invade Naggaroth right now."

Tyrion frowned at his brother, "Are you afraid, Teclis? Why? We defeated him and we'll do it again even if he does come back. What makes you so certain that he's not dead?"

"Lileath has granted me a vision. I have seen him emerging from the northern polar gate on the back of a dragon. We cannot treat this lightly, brother. Even with all my power, I lack your leadership and influence in this matter. You have to convince the courts to call off the invasion for now. If Naggaroth hears about their king returning, they'll stop fighting each other and wipe out our invasion force. We must be cautious!" Teclis explained.

"You overestimate my influence, brother. The courts don't really care what I have to say. I'm just their attack dog and I'm not suited for politics," Tyrion shook his head, "perhaps you should bring this matter before the phoenix king. If your vision is true though, then it is all the more reason to strike now before the druchii regain their power."

"Brother you mustn't-ARGHH!" Teclis fell to his knees as a sharp burning pain filled his blood.

"Teclis?! What's wrong?" Tyrion asked urgently as he ran up to see his brother grimacing in pain. Not even a moment later, a similar burning feeling filled his own body as Tyrion felt the lava in his veins.

He knew this feeling well…it was the curse of khaine and it would always bring deranged rage.

"Prince Tyrion!" Eldyra called out desperately as she braced her superior and looked between the brothers confused, "what's going on?"

"I have answered your call, young king," both of them heard Khaine's voice echo in their minds.

Tyrion quickly stabilized himself, but looked at his brother confused as he endured the pain, "Did you hear that?!"

"Yes…it was Khaine." Teclis grimaced.

"What's going on in the skies?! The vortex is slowing down! Look!" Eldyra pointed to the vortex on the horizon of inner Ulthuan. Many other high elves also saw this as the vortex's eternal spin started noticeably slowing down as the constant stream of magic that usually fed it was being ripped away across the horizon.

"Do you believe me now, brother?!" Teclis stated grimly.

Outside Turtle Gate

Once the magical shockwave was over, Malekith felt his body regenerating and he stood up to look around at what was going on. Every single member of the enemy horde was running away from him now and a quick glance at Sung Lian behind him showed that the Shugengan was petrified beyond belief.

Malekith strode forward as he put the puzzle box of Xholankha back on his waist and saw what it had done as a figure rose to its feet beside him. As it stood up, Malekith saw that it was even larger than a Terracotta Sentinel and was covered in blood and fire. He could barely believe his eyes…it looked like Khaine himself.

In the god's hand was the Widowmaker or a sword that looked just like it and Malekith watched as blood dripped from Khaine's hand.

The titanic figure then spoke in the voice he recognized, "I walk again…a god among mere mortals!"

"Khaine…" Malekith said disbelievingly.

The god then turned his burning gaze upon Malekith, "Asuryan, my brother…come join me."

Malekith's mind was no longer his own a moment later as he felt the collective consciousness of the other phoenix king's fusing with his own. He also felt the fury of Khaine infecting his every thought. All he could feel was rage and hatred.

Khaine strode forward and stomped towards the terrified enemy army as his voice bellowed across the skies, "I am Kaela Mensha Khaine! War is my master! I bring the Wailing Doom!"

With one swing of the Widowmaker, Khaine sent hundreds of northmen flying as he unleashed endless arcs of fire and blood across the battlefield. The very skies themselves began to rain with blood and fire over the enemy army as this avatar of Khaine relentlessly cleaved through their army with the power of a god.

Nothing the enemy horde sent his way did anything against this monstrosity as he cleaved a row of charging mammoths in half. Every step he took caused the ground to shake and fire to erupt like a volcano from the earth.

As the avatar of the blood god went about slaughtering everything in sight, Malekith locked on to Ashenwing who was now fleeing in terror and flying away from this grisly sight. It must have been scary indeed for it to cause a daemon to run away.

The elf pursued Ashenwing the air as his fiery phoenix wings bore him aloft and he chased down the lord of change with a fury to match that of Khaine's himself. The daemon could do nothing to repel Malekith as he ignited the skies with fire causing holy flames to rain over the battlefield and incinerate the army below.

Ashenwing quickly made his way for one of the portals he opened to escape the mortal realm, but the daemon never made it as Malekith swooped by and cut off one of his wings. As Ashenwing fell from the skies over his routing army, Malekith dove down onto him with his two blades piercing the daemon's chest. The lord of change probably felt disbelief in that moment as he uttered his last words before burning away, "Fateweaver…lied!"

Seeing their daemon master perish in the skies above them and the terrifying Avatar of Khaine slaughtering thousands in the span of a minute, the enemy army began to rout completely now as they ran away in absolute terror.

The battle was now won, but it wasn't enough…no Malekith couldn't let these vile chaos worshippers escape and regroup. They needed to know his hatred and wrath. He began to pant with hateful fury as he cast a fiery convocation over the entire landscape behind them causing the flames of Asuryan to erupt as a firewall and block their escape.

He then landed next to it trapping the fleeing army between himself and the avatar of Khaine.

"Sacrifice them all," the avatar ordered Malekith.

Obeying the words of the god, Malekith flew into melee combat alongside the avatar and together they slaughtered every last northman, chaos dwarf, or chaos warrior that didn't make it past the flame wall prior. Their screams of terror were drowned out by the sound of fire and carnage as thousands died.

All of the remaining daemons could no longer maintain their corporeal forms as they incinerated at the mere proximity of the godly fire. Malekith's mind was not his own as he obeyed Khaine and killed foe after foe in and endless stream of death. This massacre would send a message to the servants of the dark gods that they would not soon forget.

Once they were finally gone, Khaine held up the Widowmaker to the skies. All of the blood from every single person they had killed began to funnel into the godly blade as the avatar roared.

If the chaos gods were truly watching this insane battle, they were probably shocked to see the elven war god on the mortal plane. All of the chaotic portals began to seal shut as Khaine's power flooded the skies.

Before the last and largest one could close, Khaine spoke as if he was speaking to the chaos gods, "Blood for the true blood god."

After the portal closed, the avatar of Khaine then turned his fiery gaze to Malekith who was standing beside him, "The widowmaker awaits you, young king. Take it and you shall be the Avatar of Khaine and Asuryan."

Before Malekith could say anything to the godly being, the Widowmaker disappeared from the avatar's hand, and it began to disintegrate similar to a daemon being banished.

After burning away and disappearing, Malekith felt the aura of the Flames of Asuryan beginning to dampen around him. Before they could disappear entirely, he flew back to where he left Sung Lian and practically crashed to the ground near her and the supine Lieutenant Kongyu on burning and blood-soaked battlefield.

As his aura of flames completely dissipated, Malekith saw the magic overhead stabilize and the sea of fire he had conjured die down and burn out finally. Losing this godly aura had also caused him to regain his proper state of mind and to feel all of his injuries once again.

He could barely move now, but forced himself to a knee as he limped over to a stunned Sung Lian who was currently trying to heal Lieutenant Kongyu.

She looked at him with complete and utter shock. After an awkward moment of silence, Sung Lian spoke, "H-how did you do that?! What just happened?!"

"I don't know…it doesn't matter, we won the battle," Malekith wheezed painfully as he slumped over next to her and knelt beside the dying longma rider.

Lieutenant Kongyu looked up at him with distant and glazed eyes, "S-sir…is that you?"

"It's me, Lieutenant…we won the battle," Malekith answered him grimly as he tried to fight through his pain.

"I've been trying to keep him alive…but he's dying. He lost too much blood. Can you help him?!" Sung Lian asked desperately.

Malekith tried to heal the man with qhaysh even despite the crippling pain it brought, but it seemed to be in vain.

"I…I can see the spirit dragon," the man said with an almost relaxed voice.

"Stay with us, Lieutenant, don't die! We're going to save you!" the shugengan said emotionally as she actually began to shed tears.

The man then turned his gaze to Malekith, "You…already have. I'm sorry I failed you sir."

"You saved my life…we couldn't have won this battle without you," Malekith said sadly as he realized there was nothing he could do to save the man.

He then took off his helmet and looked the man in the eyes one last time, "Your sacrifice meant something, Lieutenant…I won't ever forget it. Few humans have ever earned my respect, but you can count yourself among them."

"It was an honor sir…can you give this to my father, shugengan? He's a merchant in Wei-Jin," Kongyu weakly pulled a gold and jade amulet off his neck and tried to hand it to Sung Lian.

His hands were shaking heavily. Malekith reached out and grasped the amulet in his hand and looked down at the man, "We'll make sure he gets it. It's the least we can do for you."

"Thank you…sir," the longma rider spoke his last words as his eyes went dead and his arm fell to the ground limp and lifelessly.

Sung Lian was crying heavily now, and she took off her helmet as well to wipe away her tears. For the first time in thousands of years, Malekith closed a dead person's eyes for them as he showed silent respect to the dead man.

The elf then strapped his helmet to his side and looked at the amulet in his hand a moment later, 'I've thought so little of humans for so long…but this man sacrificed his own life to save me. He was a true warrior.'

Sung Lian looked at Malekith after a long silence as she calmed her sobbing, "What happened, your highness? What was that thing you summoned and what was that power?"

"My gods came to my aid…but I wouldn't have been able to do that if he hadn't broken us free of Ashenwing's binding spell," Malekith answered humbly.

"That was truly amazing what you just did…terrifying, but amazing. The Moon Empress was right…you really are as powerful if not more so than the Nine," Sung Lian exclaimed.

"That wasn't my power…it was divine intervention. It doesn't matter…I'm just glad we won, and Shen Zoo is safe," Malekith said distantly as he tried to stand up.

Words could scarcely describe the pain it brought him, and he nearly fell to the ground as he stood up. To his disbelief, Sung Lian quickly jumped up and caught his fall.

She wrapped one of his long arms over her shoulder and braced him, "Let me help you!"

"Thanks…" was all the witch king could say. Normally he'd object to something so emasculating and weak, but he honestly could not walk on his own right now.

As they walked past the literal sea of corpses on their way back to the outer wall of Turtle Gate, Sung Lian looked at Malekith, "What was that trinket you used to draw all of that magical power?"

"Now's not the time for questions, Sung Lian…" he said wearily as he tried to focus on not falling over again.

"You just called me by my name…" she said randomly after a brief silence.

"Oh…I suppose I did. Sorry," he replied.

"No, I'm glad you did. Both of us surviving this makes us friends. You even came all the way out here to save me. I've never been more wrong about anyone in my entire life. Everything the princess said about you was true. I'll make sure everyone in the celestial court hears about your valor and heroism out here. I'll make sure the storm dragon herself rewards you for this. I share the lieutenant's sentiments…it's truly an honor to have fought beside you tonight. I can't believe a dark elf would go through all this effort just to save us…" she replied with emotional gratitude.

Malekith did not respond to her as he had no idea what to say. He was still mentally recovering from the strange possession he had just experienced, the endless use of magic, and the bloodthirst of Khaine. He could feel his mind numbing as the two of them walked back to the breach.

As they got closer, lookouts called out, "They're alive! Inform the princess immediately!"

Sung Lian then pointed to the skies, "Malekith look…reinforcements just arrived."

He painfully turned his head towards the high wall and saw a dragon flying at full speed down to the plaza as well as a massive host of longma riders and airships.

"Is that…the storm dragon?" Malekith asked disbelievingly, "how did she get here so fast?"

"Good question…we can ask her when we get inside. I can't even imagine how she's going to react when she finds out you just wiped out the entire enemy army."

"It wasn't me…" he said distantly without elaborating.

"What are you talking about? I just saw you and that thing you summoned slaughter the entire army and burn them alive," she stated.

Malekith was too exhausted and weak to argue with her and could only speculate on what type of rumors this battle was going to create throughout Cathay and the world beyond it. No doubt every chaos worshipper on the planet was going to hear about this. Malekith had just struck a blow against them and probably enraged their gods with his actions. Khaine himself had even declared he was the true blood god. That was going to enrage every Khorne worshipper on the planet.

As they finally passed through the breach of the destroyed center gate, Malekith could see all of the defenders in the garrison hugging each other in victory and at the sight of him and Sung Lian limping inside. People were beginning to cheer at their arrival as if they were heroes.

He looked briefly at the shugengan as they progressed past a parting crowd, "They're happy to see you."

"It's not me they're cheering for…" she replied with a proud smile.

Malekith could feel his vision starting to spin as he grew more and more unstable in his steps. He then saw a black eastern dragon land in front of him before transforming into a regal white-haired Cathayan woman.

She was beautiful, tall, and clearly Sung Lian's revered older sister, Miao Ying. Her expression was one pure confusion and disbelief at the sight of the turtle gate garrison cheering for Malekith. They were so enraptured by his entrance that they didn't even bow to her for a good few seconds. Their cheering quickly subsided when they saw her arrival as Captain Zhu ordered everyone nearby to bow to the Storm Dragon.

"Malekith! You're alive!" Shen Zoo called out as she ran directly past her sister and to the wounded elven king.

It was difficult to say who was more shocked, Malekith or Miao Ying, as Shen Zoo embraced him tightly and was actually crying, "I thought you were going to die out there! You saved the shugengan too?! What happened? The skyfleet and the lookouts said you wiped out the entire army!"

"Shen Zoo…so you really are here?!" Miao Ying's voice almost stuttered as she walked up to her sister.

It shocked her greatly to see her youngest sibling embracing Malekith as if he was her dearest friend in the world, and she could only watch in stunned silence as Malekith spoke to the light dragon, "I'm sorry…princess."

"Don't be...everything is going to be alright now. We won!" she said reassuringly.

His spinning vision and overwhelming exhaustion had finally reached his limit and he fell over to the ground landing on his back despite Sung Lian's best efforts to keep him up. Both the shugengan and Shen Zoo knelt over and spoke urgently as they started to heal him with magic.

Malekith's hearing became muffled and his vision foggy as he turned his gaze to his side. He could see the ethereal form of Aenarion standing there.

'Is this the end, father?' he thought desperately as he could no longer feel pain and realized he was about to die.

The ethereal form of Aenarion seemed invisible to everyone except for him, but the ghostly image of his father soon disappeared from sight as Miao Ying walked through it and knelt down next to him. The very last thing he saw was her whitish eyes as her hands lit up with Ghyran.

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Alright kiddos…that's a wrap for chapter 7. It was shorter than others at a measly 23 k words, but a lot of important stuff happened. As per usual, we'll go over the meat of the chapter and I'll explain some things in a detailed summary.

So, to start off, Malekith puts up a valiant defense along with the peasants on the wall. They hold it fairly well until Ashenwing starts summoning daemons to overwhelm the wall. As he expected, the enemy managed to breach it and he had to hold it more or less by himself for a while.

What he didn't expect was for so many people to come and help him as the battle progressed. Most of the action speaks for itself, but a highlight of the defense was Malekith deciding to save the pilot Ren Chan after she puts her sky-junk on a collision course with the K'daii Destroyer.

After Lothar shows up, Malekith ends up fighting him on his manticore and gets shot down in the middle of the enemy army. He has countless near-death moments in the battle and despite his own great power, he would have died had Shen Zoo not tanked a storm of bullets and spells to pull him out. We do learn from Lothar what the name of the bloodthirster Malekith freed was...Ka'Bandha. Better known as the huntmaster. Now if you know anything about this particular bloodthirster, he's somewhat ambitious and very strategically intelligent and cunning. He is somewhat similar to Ashenwing (Aetaos'Rau'Keres) in that other daemons and chaos warriors don't like him much since he's super ambitious and is known to do things outside of the standard template of his god's troops. Fun fact, he's also the same bloodthirster that Sanguinius fought in 40k. Expect to see him again.

Now I didn't mention all the minor little things going on in the battle as I didn't want to bore you guys by going in the weeds and describing everyone's POV during the fight. Needless to say, a lot of wild shit was going on in the background while Malekith did his thing. I mostly focused on his perspective for it, but you should have some idea of what everyone else was doing.

Anyways, further into the battle after being pulled out by Shen Zoo, Malekith makes the suicidal decision to go rescue Sung Lian from Ashenwing. This is where things get absolutely crazy as after he saved her, Ashenwing catches both of them in a binding spell and Malekith is too tired and injured to break free.

Lieutenant Kongyu makes an unexpected sacrifice to attack Ashenwing and save them. In the aftermath, Malekith pull out the Puzzle Box of Xholankha and uses it to tap into the geomantic web. He remembers Oxyotl mentioning that the Slann Pocaxalan did this several chapters back and knows it's a death sentence to attempt.

Nevertheless, he does this and starts to siphon magic directly from the geomantic web. This obviously causes a lot of wild shit to happen worldwide and as I said, Malekith is literally going to shake up the world in this battle. As he focuses the magic, he finds himself back in the chamber of Asuryan and there he sees something he does not expect…all of the dead phoenix kings.

Now this is a very interesting development for Malekith personally as he has always believed everyone except his father was a false phoenix king. This encounter will greatly reshape his mindset when dealing with the Asur in future chapters. He even sees Aenarion himself in there and we get confirmation that he did indeed free Aenarion's soul from Slaanesh.

Their attitudes towards him might seem a bit out of character, but they're one with Asuryan now and don't see the world the same way they did when they were alive. One by one, the kings grant Malekith a measure of their power and he sort of becomes possessed as he channels the power of Asuryan as his avatar. The only reason he was able to do this was because of the vast amount of magic he was pulling out of the geomantic web. I know it seems incredibly OP, but it's like Malekith himself said to Sung Lian at the end of the chapter…it was divine intervention. He couldn't normally do something so overpowered.

His actions also summoned Khaine directly to the mortal plane made out of an avatar of Malekith's own blood. This shit was completely wild as it causes worldwide effects in Naggaroth, Ulthuan, etc. I know it sort of interrupted the flow of the battle, but I briefly cut away to show that Malekith directly calling the power of his gods to the mortal plane had very noticeable effects on the elves. The Blood Cauldrons of Khaine all dried up as their statues lit up with molten fire. The Widowmaker disappeared from the shrine as it came to Khaine, and everyone with the curse of Khaine (Tyrion, Teclis, Malekith, etc) could feel the god's burning blood within them going rampant. The most interesting part was Finubar and Caradryan in the shrine of Asuryan. Finubar went unconscious from getting a painful vision, but Caradryan seemed to understand what was happening. Expect developments there.

Now I know I said Malekith would be getting an Eldar boon from the Puzzle Box, but the avatar of Khaine was not the thing I had in mind…even though it will show up again at some point.

Malekith's actions have caused rippling effects across the world. I mean…directly siphoning the geomantic web is something that can wake Slann up. It's something Archaon and Nagash are going to notice as well. The real burning question though is how is everyone going to react when news of this spreads worldwide?

Another interesting thing to note was Khaine kept calling Malekith "young king". He didn't do this because Malekith is a king who is younger than him. It's actually a reference to 40k. The young king is the exarch of the craftworld aeldari who sacrifices themself to summon the avatar of Khaine. It can be a male or a female. Just a fun little reference there. Obviously, you saw that some characters could hear Khaine and others couldn't. Tullaris and Hellebron did...Morathi might have as well, but Ghrond has a lot of magical interference, and they won't have any clue what's happening until they do their fancy ritual.

Anyways, the chapter tapers off as Malekith and Sung Lian have a moment with the dying Lieutenant Kongyu and Malekith promises to give the man's amulet to his father in Wei-Jin. We'll definitely be showcasing that when Malekith goes to the capital.

Miao Ying also shows up right after they win the battle. Better late than never…but you might find yourself wondering how she got there so soon. I'll explain it next chapter, but she was actually at dragon gate and not snake gate.

Expect tons of dialogue with her next chapter and some interesting dragon sibling dynamics. I'll go into full detail about all of the other Cathayans reactions in the next chapter as well, so stay tuned for that. Malekith is going to have a lot of explaining to do when he wakes up and the news of him defeating the bulk of the chaos army by himself will cause some interesting rumors in Cathay.