Ok all, Enjoy.
Kal's hands were a whirlwind of movement, they were almost a blur to mortal eyes. Mograine watched as Kal led them forward around the left of the upper spire of the Citadel, the central Spire of eyes that sat at the heart of the Citadel going from ground level to the very top of it all, at its very peak sat the frozen throne itself were the Lich King was waiting for them. oh, how he would love to march up there right now and end this evil but they couldn't. Kal was right, the Lich wasn't going anywhere, and they had a chance to end all of his captains and lieutenants before they could escape their justice.
They wouldn't dare flee while the Lich king still lives, but if they killed him right now. The first thing they would do is run, they may be able to catch some of them, but unlikely they could stop them all before they left and cause pain and suffering to more innocents before they could be stopped again. Mograine wanted vengeance, but he knew they needed to do this first.
So here they are. Both Kal and Mograine started to march around the left of the indoor balcony towards their first target, Professor Putricide. Of course, they wouldn't be allowed to just march forward towards their target. The two were forced to fight every step of the way.
Kal used his trident to bat aside a handful of armoured undead before moving high into the air and beheading two abominations with a single stroke. While he did that a flicker of movement caught to corner of Mograines eye, and he acted quickly. Jumping up into the air, moving his blade at the same time. With his armour boosting him even more than his undead state, he leapt high and he found his target mid-turn. The winged Val'kyr was mid-dive towards him, while he didn't doubt that before he would have had trouble dealing with this enemy, now it was easy. His armour deflected the strike from the flying servant, not even causing his movement to a halter while mid-air. His great sword was plunged into the woman's chest and pushed her to the ground, pinning her in place.
He quickly looked up from her body and saw a small swarm of undead run towards him, quickly brought his sword out of the large, winged woman's body and took a defensive stance. Kal was still marching forward and he would need to watch their flank, taking a handful of steps back. He deflected a blow from a sword and then blocked an overhead swing from a mace. He was locked in place for a moment before he saw the third come in from the left, he disengaged from the weapon lock but instead of stepping back. He reached forward and grabbed the skeletal arm of the undead and pulled him forward while turning his own body.
He turned himself around and swung, his blade cut clean through the body of the undead while the one he just pulled towards him found herself impaled by the third who tried to strike him. Instead of turning and striking them both in one go, instead, Mograine turned and kicked out with his left foot, sending both of them off the edge and down to the ground floor below.
Seeing that their flank was now clear, Mograine turned and looked forward again, seeing that Kal was now facing the door that would lead them to their first target. He jogged the last couple of feet in order to catch up to him, most of the undead on the balcony were now dead and not coming back. His boots crunched the left-over bone and guts as he stepped over them, standing next to Kal in front of the door. He was quick to notice the squad of undead that were crawling on all fours right towards them, he readied his blade for the attack but there was a flash of red from Kal and they were nothing but ash.
Mograine regarded the bodies for a moment before lowering his guarded stance "That's handy" he said more to himself than Kal.
Though the alien did answer "You have no idea" he said back to him as the two started to jog into the chamber, keeping their weapons ready "What can you tell me about this professor?" he asked as they moved up the stairs and into another large corridor that split into three different directions. One on the left, one on the right and another going straight forward with an elevated ramp that would take them upwards, though blocked by a large gate.
"You probably know already due to the title but he's the smart one of the Lich's inner circle, not with tactics and war but with science and biology" he told the leader of their forces "Most of the weapons that the Scourge use come from him, this monster has made all manner of bombs and device to spread the taint of undeath. He'll be through there" he added pointing forward with his blade.
"Alright then" Kal said as he started to walk forward towards the gate, doubting he would have any trouble ripping it free and moving on. The two only made it halfway across the corridor towards the gate before they both stopped, and a large growl echoed around them.
Slowly, the two turned only to see a very large…. Mograine wanted to say dog but that thing was anything but. It was massive in size, towering over the both of them by a lot. Like everything else in this Light forsaken place, it was missing most of its body, half of its face was gone, replaced with what looked like metal plates. A glowing red disk in place of one of his eyes. Both Mograine and Kal could see a sickly green liquid start to leak from the large gaps in its body "Science and biology, right?" Kal asked him as he looked over towards the undead.
"…...Yeah" he said back calmly as he gripped his sword with both hands, knowing that he would need a strong grip to rend the flesh from that large and no doubt tough body. Letting out another growl the large beast started to sprint towards them, his heavy metal jaw dropping up and down with each stride it took. Mograine started to edge forward before Kal placed a hand on his shoulder, despite the danger and how foolish it was, the former Palidan turned away from the approaching threat and looked at his commander. He turned to see his eyes once again glowing red, much like he had seen before, two thin but powerful beams of red light shot out and landed in between the beast's legs. He moved his head upwards and the beams went with it, the broken, decayed, and patched-together flesh was no match for such heat. The former animal was split in two and one half of the flesh landed on either side of him and Kal.
However that had the unexpected side effect of leaking guts and plague rot onto the ground near them. Despite not needing to, they both took a step back. Uneasy about the idea of this plague touching them, the armour that Mograine wore has been used throughout the entire Darkseid war and Kal knew full well that it was completely sealed up against hazardous materials. Didn't mean either of them wanted to tempt faith however "Come on" Kal said as he moved around his half of the body and towards the closed gate.
Mograine was quick to follow, not wanting to stay any longer than he had to. The two moved forward and when Kal reached it, he placed his hands on the square bars that made up the gate, keeping it secure but allowing others to see through it. The metal, like many other things he has seen, was unable to hold up to Kal's strength and he ripped them away, creating a hole large enough for the two of them to fit through.
Though he would admit that so far this seemed to be easier than he had expected, he didn't want to let his guard down just yet, he wasn't going to that until that Bastard was dealt with. They started to slowly ascend towards the lab of the professor but as they made it to the halfway point, something happened. The entrance to the large chamber that led to the professor was blocked off as a large gate slammed into the ground.
Similar to what happened before, Kal stopped moving first and his head angled upwards, an action that Mograine found himself copying. That was when he heard it as well, he couldn't make it out at first. Many little, tiny clinks against metal, his heads-up display highlighted many open holes in the ceiling. His eyes widened for a single moment as he remembered why the noise was so familiar, he swung his blade just in time for the insect the fall from one of the holes.
His sword severed the small multi-legged creature in two and it fell to the ground. Despite knowing that he shouldn't, he looked down at the dead creature. As he expected, it was like no creature he had ever seen or heard of before. Its body remained him a centipede, but its head was far closer to a spider than anything else "Another patchwork" he said to himself as he looked up back to Kal, he was still looking up towards the ceiling.
It was then that he noticed the sound didn't stop, if anything it just got louder. Soon enough, his vision was flooded with insects falling from the ceiling. Dozens of them every few seconds, he didn't know whether or not they were actively going to attack them but then he realized how stupid of a thought that was, they were made by the professor with Icecrown. Of course, they were a horrific carnivorous species that would crawl over both of them and devour them at the first chance they got.
He didn't even check on Kal before he started to swing his blade, not necessarily at the insects individually but instead in wide arcs that would kill many at a time, he even made to move away from Kal. He was sure to put extra strength into his steps so he could crunch as many of the bugs into dust as he could, while he wasn't looking down, he could feel through his feet that he was getting a good few of them. He noted that his blade was leaving behind scorch marks on the ground as the heated plasma sliced through it, the melted metal and stone ground killing even more bugs in the process.
He wasn't sure how long this went on but soon the entire ground was covered in the ripped-apart bodies of the insects. As the bugs stopped pouring into this small chamber, he heard the sound of the large gate that led to the professor opening. He saw Kal standing in the same spot he was before, only two things being different, the first was a large amount of small bodies all around him, and the second was the orange and green stains that littered his clothing. As he walked back to his commander, he looked down and saw that his own black armour was now also similarly stained. Something to deal with later.
"Come on" Kal said as the two continued to walk up the elevated ramp upwards towards the professor's lab.
While Mograine has indeed heard of the Professor, he has never met the man before. What he saw on the other hand was exactly what he expected. A large open area filled with nothing but tables and glass beakers, he could see most of them contained a coloured liquid that despite not knowing what any of them were, knew without doubt that they wouldn't be good.
For Kal himself, only one word really came to mind and that was 'chaotic' The scientist in him was appalled by the state of this lab, how could anyone do work here "What a mess" he said aloud as the two started to move forwards, making it to about the halfway point between the entrance and the back wall.
The two soon saw the one they were here for, the so-called Professor Putricide had his back to them as he seemed too distracted with whatever work he was doing to notice them. Kal took a moment to look at what this….. man? Was like. The first thing was that he was tall, Kal could see that he was easily over seven feet, undead like he was expecting. Much of his skin had lost its colour, clearly in the very late stages of decay and was rotting off of him. What little hair he had left was only showing around the sides of his head, leaving a large bald spot on top of his head. Weirdly also purple in colour, he noticed. It was also easy to notice his clothing remained Kal of a standard lab coat though it was really really dirty, ripped and had no business being anywhere near a lab.
"Excuse you!" he said with a scandalous voice and a look of shock on his face as he turned around to look at them, though his sunken eyes did narrow at Kal more than Mograine "I'll you know that my lab is in pristine condition for the work that is required of me" he said with as he straightened his hunched back and held a more prideful stance.
Kal opened his mouth to retort but there was a small crash sound from the left and all three heads turned to see a selection of beakers steam and boil before the glass cracked and broke apart. He couldn't help himself, Kal turned back to the man and raised an eyebrow questioning "Even the most horrific of doctors had better labs where I came from" The sad thing was, it was true. Even the labs within Apocalypse itself were cleaner and better organized.
"Oh yes" the professor smiled as he clasped his hands together, the look of annoyance he gave Kal before now turned into a bright almost toothless smile "I have heard a great deal about you, I have wanted to discuss some work with a man of intelligence such as yourself. It's been so long since I was able to converse with another man of science" Putricide smiled and raised a finger "We can begin now in fact" he started as he turned and grabbed one of his beakers "I believe I have made a perfect version of the plague of undeath. I truly believe that it will be capable of ending all life on Azeroth"
He held the beaker up high and the orange liquid swirled around as he shook it with a smile. As he spoke, Kal turned his head ever so slightly and looked to Mograine who was quick to understand the danger. That beaker was sealed so the plague within it was contained but if it ever got out then they would both be exposed to it and from them it would spread. They couldn't let that get out. While he truly wanted to kill this one with his own hands, the safety of all others came first.
"Well you're doing it wrong" Kal said as he started to turn to the right and step forward edging away from Mograine and the eyes of the professor followed him, interest clear to see in his eyes "If you wish to destroy the world then a plague of any kind is not the way to go about it, there will always be those he hide themselves away to protect them and there's from harm" now on the other side of the room, Kal stood with his hands behind his back in a none threatening manner.
This was a difficult situation, while he was sure that he would have been able to flash over to the professor and take the beaker before it could be broken. But he couldn't risk it, the amount of pure magical energy was taking its toll on him and he could feel himself being weaker in this Citadel than he was before he entered, he also didn't want to take the chance that this professor had some tricks up his sleeves that would stop him before he could get the beaker back.
Normally he would just risk it but here he couldn't, despite his actions, his eyes never left the beaker since he was shown it. Kal was looking at its chemical makeup, its molecular structure. He knew that if that beaker broke, an airborne contagion would be released and that would spread faster than Kal could stop it. They needed to be careful "What?" Putricide asked scandalously, taking a couple "But without the use of a plague then the undeath wouldn't be spread" he complained.
"True, true" Kal nodded with a thoughtful look, though he looked over the professor's shoulder and saw Mograine take a couple of steps to the left and reach for his rifle. Placing the sword on his back instead, as he stood on the other side of the lab and directly behind Putricide "But you never said it had to spread undeath. What is with the obsession with undead anyway?" Kal asked with a questioning look, noting how Mograine got on one knee and powered up his rifle to a higher setting.
"What kind of question is that?!" the man complained as he waved his arms around exasperated by Kal's attitude "The plague of undeath is a masterwork of the gods themselves, a way to show their love for all" the man raised his hands as if about to enter prayer "and the Lich King is the leader to guide us allAAAAHHHHHH….." the man screamed as a blast of blue plasma flew past him.
Mograine's aim proved to be well-honed as the larger beam shot through the professor's arm just above his elbow. Kal moved quickly, the beaker holding the plague started to fall to the ground but before it could fall even an inch to the ground, his hand wrapped around the bottom of the sphere base of the beaker. Before Putricide could even recover from the attack, which was likely due to the very little pain he would feel as an undead. Kal backhanded him with his free hand, the strike held more strength than he normally would have given out but they were going to kill this one regardless so what did it matter?
The undead sailed through the air and crashed against the table he was working on at the start when they entered, breaking everything that was on it. Kal didn't need his advanced sight to see the former mans spine snap in two, as he bent against the table with his head nearly touching the ground.
Mograine stood up and slowly started to walk towards Putricide. The professor started to slide to the ground and even despite all the magic and supernatural aspects about him, he still needed his spine in order to move "No! My plague!" the man yelled as his head rotated towards Kal, despite being a lifeless heap of bones and skin, his head could still move and Kal could hear the bones break as he forced his head to look at him "oh good, you saved it" the man smiled. He didn't seem to notice some of the beakers on the table starting to leak off its surface and onto his back.
Kal tilted his head and watched with admitted fascination as two tentacle-like appendages broke off from his back and started to move around seemingly without his input, based on the confused look that came onto his face "Odd, that wasn't supposed to happen" he said as he looked at the tentacles.
As he was doing that, he made eye contact with Mograine who was now standing over him, his undead eyes looking into the silver armoured face plate "Bad news everyone" he started to say as he must have realized what was about to happen "I don't think I'm going to make it" the last words he said before Mograine brought his foot up and slammed it down against his skull, smashing it and the brain within it to mush.
Kal looked away from the body and towards the beaker for a few extra moments, and then he pressed his finger against his wrist in just the right place. Soon a small Boomtube opened next to him a sentinel slowly came up before looking at him expectingly. He held up the beaker to its ocular unit "Take this to the lab, full containment" he ordered.
It didn't say anything back to him, the sentinels don't really have any means of communication. It made a small hum noise came before his eye lit up brightly and a small ray left it, covering the beaker completely before it left Kal's hand and hovered in the air in front of the machine.
It quickly left through the same Boomtube leaving the two of them alone "What about those things?" Mograine asked as he moved past Kal towards a chain link fence that stood in place of a wall.
Curious, Kal followed him and looked through the fence, it led to a chamber that was stationed under the lab. He couldn't help but grimace as he stared at the creature. It was clearly a type of abomination but this one was massive, easily fifteen meters tall and looked so bloated that if Kal so much as poked it, it would blow up "There's more than one?" he asked back.
Mograine turned and looked to the other side of the room, following his gaze Kal saw another chain link fence and he didn't need to look through the walls to know what was on the other side. There were two "Leave them" he said as he turned and started to move towards the exit "We don't have time to deal with every problem. Besides, they won't survive what I'm going to do to this place when the Lich King is dealt with" he explained.
"Fair enough" was all Mograine said as the two started to walk and leave the lab behind.
"So, who's next?" kal asked him while knowing a great deal about the Scourge Lieutenants, he wanted Mograine to take the lead on this one, at least until they came up against the leader themselves.
Once the two entered the inner spire once again, they could see that the two other chambers were open to them, one directly across from them and another on their left. Both of which were fully guarded by more enemies but Kal couldn't help but note that they were very different in…... everything. Different armour, attitudes, looks everything.
"Left" Mograine said as the two started to move "It's called the Crimson Hall. The Blood Queen Lana'thel makes her home there. A truly evil woman who takes a great deal of pleasure in the suffering of the innocent while she gorges herself in their blood" The two slowed down as they both heard the sounds of fighting, looking over the edge of the Balcony and down to the ground floor. They could both clearly see rounds of plasma being fired at some large skeleton that glowed with a great deal of blue necrotic energy, it was spinning rapidly with a large great axe in hand "Should we help?" he asked him.
Kal was quick to shake his head "No, they have their job, we have ours" he added as the two nearly neared the door to the crimson hall when they saw a squad of fighters leave it and started to look around the area. The main thing Kal noted was the red colour of their armours and robes, then of course there was the final member of their group.
The large pile of bones connected to each other through the use of the necromantic magics. Looking like a smaller version of a certain lich that was locked up within the fortress, so this was one of the Kel'thuzad's followers.
Both Kal and Mograine both started to jog forward towards the chamber the enemy just left and soon they were spotted "THERE THEY ARE!" an armoured man shouted as he pointed their sword at them, the others quickly started to run towards them, or hover in the lich's case.
One of the other fighters reached them first but Mograine was ready, bringing up his sword in an attempt to block the other head strike but instead, his blade cut right through the enemies and before he could recover. The former Death Knight reached out with his free hand and grabbed the crimson-coloured man by the next, using his armour-enhanced strength he threw him off the balcony and listened as he screamed, following to the ground below.
His long battle-hardened instincts screamed at him, and he learned a long time ago to listen to them, he ducked down in time to avoid a large shard of ice that would have struck him in the side of the head. While he doubted that it would have gone through his armour, that didn't mean it wouldn't heard and a head injury is not something anyone wants in a fight.
He turned around, ready to continue the fight though as soon as he turned he looked to see Kal swing his trident, taking the head from the woman. He jumped into the air before her body could hit the ground, he moved over towards the lich. Knowing that he couldn't just stand there, Mograine was quick to move towards the two remaining enemies that seemed to be gearing up to move against Kal before he could take the lich down. Not while he was there. He sprinted the small distance between them and moved to the mage first who looked like she was about to use a type of lightning attack against Kal, a smart move he could admit, as lightning is the fastest attack that a mage could use.
His great sword was pushed through the man's chest, stopping the spell before could leave his hands, the attack also drew the attention of the final warrior who quickly turned to look at him. Mograine was already pulling the blade free and was able to parry the strike that was aimed at his stomach and give a quick jab to the enemy's face stunning him long enough for him to twist in place and sever the head from his body.
He started to move forward as the body hit the ground, he looked to see Kal pinning the lich to the ground as the points of his trident were jammed into the monster's skull. As he walked, he could see the golden points shatter the stone under the lich, Kal gave the weapon a small twist before tugging it free. Breaking the skull into many different pieces as a result.
The two looked at each other before nodding and moving forward into the chamber. Before they even stepped into it they could see why this place was called the Crimson Hall. While made from the same metal and stone as the rest of the Citadel, it was all so different.
The first thing to notice was that all the walls seemed to have a blood-red hue to them that hugged them tightly, they housed large banners that while having different symbols and the like, were all the same colour. Morgaine had to admit, he was surprised to see that the Lana'thel was allowed to make so many changes to this chamber. He knew that she had value to the Scourge but she didn't think that the Lich King would give her so much leeway.
They walked for no more than a couple of minutes before they came upon the first main chamber and they saw the one they were here for. The Blood Queen was a very large figure, Kal would say that she must have been over nine feet in size with pale skin and blood-red eyes, she was clearly an undead like everyone else in this place. She was wearing a type of dress red of colour but it was also littered with green gems that shined brightly in the light of the chamber. Worth noting that she was hovering in the air with the use of two large bat wings that flapped peacefully.
Despite the fear that anyone else would feel should they find themselves in this situation, the two continued to walk forward without pause or hesitation. They entered the chamber proper and they noted two more squads of fighters on either side of them as they moved in.
It was hard not to note what was on the back wall as they entered, Kal looked at three large mirrors that went from the floor all the way to the ceiling but they acted like windows to other places, the left showed a desert, the right showed a type of room painted with gold and blue while the middle showed a type of dark cave. As they two reached the middle of the room they stopped moving and the Blood Queen herself addressed them "So" she announced, raising his arms into the air "the valiant heroes take their chance to stop the evil undead" She had a sadistic smile on her face as she looked at Kal in particular "Was this really your plan? The two of you storm this entire fortress and kill us all yourself while that punny army attempts to stop an unstoppable force outside?" she asked.
Neither of them had any idea what she was talking about 'There was an army outside?' Mograine thought to himself as he glanced at Kal who kept on looking forward. Something he was grateful for, not liking the idea of giving the enemy any idea of what they were capable of. He made a handful of mental commands and his suit obeyed, muting his voice to the outside world "Kelex, you there?" he asked.
"I am here" the A.I said back to him over the radio.
"What's the situation outside the Citadel?" he asked, turning to the left and readying his sword as he saw a handful of enemies move closer to them, clearly ready for a fight themselves.
"There appears to be a well-sized force of Forsaken, Night Elves and dragons in front of the black gate currently fighting the vastly more numerous Scourge army" the A.I told him, he knew that he didn't need to tell Kal, he could already hear them well enough.
"hmm, if only they decided to fight before we arrived" he mused to himself as he hung up the call and focused all his attention on the enemies around him.
"I must say" the Blood Queen continued "of all the enemies that could have marched in here, I am glad it was you" She pointed at him "Such a handsome thing you are, I can smell the blood in your body from here. Brimming with so much power, the feast you shall bring me will be unmatched" she started to fly higher into the air "I shall prepare myself for it. The San'Layn are the Lich King's immortal soldiers! They shall have little trouble bringing you to me on your knees. Raise now my subjects" she ordered before he flew up and away from them, moving up to a large Balcony that was above them, what she was doing he didn't know but he doubted it was to get a dinner table ready.
"Go get her" Morgaine said to him, Kal turned over his shoulder to look at him with a raised eyebrow "The longer we wait the stronger she'll get. I'll deal with the fodder here" he said as he took his sword in one hand and his rifle in the other.
"Are you sure?" Kal asked as the two were surrounded by at least twenty different members of this San'Layn guard.
Morgaine for the first time in a long while, let out a small chuckle "Trust me" he said.
Kal looked at him for a moment before nodding back with a grin. He turned back and flew into the air, set on following the Blood Queen. A Lich seeing him leave, brought a hand back, ready to fire a blast of magic to prevent him from leaving. One for a large round of plasma to land on its skull, wiping half of it away and killing the Lich who fell to the ground in a heap of bones.
Kal followed the same direction as the Blood Queen and landed on the ground of the large balcony only a few seconds after she did. Something she seemed surprised by when she turned to look at him "Oh, do I get you all to myself?" she asked with a timid voice as he bounced on her heels like she was a schoolgirl and placed a hand on her chest "I'll be sure to be gentle" she added.
"That makes one of us" Kal said back calmly with a face that was just as calm, though anyone who knew him, would be able to say that he was an inch, ready for any type of sneak attack.
"Oh?" she said, spreading her hands to the sides leaving them open and small balls of red magic appeared in each one, her smile turned from an attempt at being sweet to fully sinister "You like being rough?"
"How many people have you killed?" Kal asked as he turned to the right and started to walk.
It wasn't the question that caught her so off guard, she was expecting some holly Rederick about her monstrous actions and how she needed to be punished for all the evil she's done. But the calmness of which he spoke, as if the question was so mundane.
It unnerved her.
She was told of this Kal-El and like many others, she looked into him herself, she found very little. The spies and scrying magic gave her very little information and seeing him right in front of her, there was no denying the power he had. She could practically smell his blood already despite the distance. She turned and started to walk to the right.
The two circled each other, looking right into each other's eyes "I don't think I could tell you" She answered honestly, though not able to kick the smile from her face. Not wanting to show him any unease she may be feeling.
"That many huh?" he asked an almost disappointed tone in his voice.
"Oh come now" she pouted "A being such as yourself, who wields such power cannot possibly care so much for the pitiful little mortals?" she asked before she stopped moving, only now just noticing the red blob in his hand.
'What was that?' she asked herself as she looked closer. A heart? Where did that… there was a pain in her chest. She looked down and saw a large hole that she only now started to notice, what was left of her blood started to pour free from it.
She looked up at him only to freeze in place as he was suddenly in the air right in front of her, not even a couple of inches separating the two of them "Honestly? Those 'pitiful little mortals' are the only thing I care about" he added before he raised his hand made flat and sliced it sideways near her neck.
Then it was nothing but oblivion.
Ok, we shall leave it here, sorry for being late so far. It's been a busy day. Let me know what you all think in the reviews down below and I shall see you in the next chapter.
Next story update: A New Guardian