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(A/N: Sorry for the late update as an apology chapter 69 is 4000+ words. Ciao!)
If someone had told Rhonin that shortly after his best friend went south back to his homeland the world would go to shit, he would have laughed in their face before pointing them toward the nearest priest to get their mind checked.
But apparently Murphy's Law had decided to follow through.
No matter the FRAKKING ERA!
Lordaeron's capital fell by Arthas' own hand. Practically every kingdom had taken up arms for a continent spanning war. The bulk of the Northern Alliance forces now fought daily against the Scourge, Daemons, Beastkin, and Black Mages.
Meanwhile, in the south, his best friend — someone he saw as a literal brother — fought an entirely different war against the most dangerous Ork warlord in Azeroth's history, while his kingdom was also besieged by mutants and daemons.
And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that their world was currently surrounded by Warp storms!
(A/N: Azerothians call the Warp the Aether. But for simplicity's sake I'm going to refer to Warp storms as just that instead of Aether storms.)
He had heard from Jaina — who had learned from Antonidas — that the reason the Warp storms had not yet submerged Azeroth was due to their world's unique "nature," as well as the World Ring's shield, which also seemed to have adopted similar traits due Azeroth's unique characteristics after multiple Millennia.
Aside from that, the four Dragon Aspects and their dragonflights were also blocking much of the daemons and warp predators that wished to manifest in Azeroth.
Yet despite all that, the enemy forces were still not only formidable but numerous due to the immense despair and countless souls gained from the fall of Lordaeron, the sacrifice of the vast majority of Alterac's population, and all the deaths caused by the followers of Chaos.
Thankfully, Azeroth's mortal races also possessed numerous ways to fight back. Not to mention they were a stubborn lot who even when confronted by cosmic monstrosities refused to let them lay any claim to their world.
Even if they were to ultimately fail, they would at the very least make sure any victory gained by Chaos or the Scourge would be not only costly — but also a very Pyrrhic — one.
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Rhonin dodged a Chaos Bolt before countering with a lance of lightning aimed straight at the Chaos sorcerer who had attacked him, while simultaneously cutting through a group of zombies and ghouls with his sword.
"Jaina! On your left!"
Jaina, who was fighting beside him, quickly turned and hurled a hail of razor-sharp shards at the attacking abominations, shredding them to pieces.
"Thanks, Rhonin!"
"No problem!"
Rhonin cursed under his breath as he continued hurling different blasts of magic at the seemingly never-ending tide of undead.
Aether-damn Kel'Thuzad! That bloody traitorous arse!
Since the war against the Scourge and Chaos had begun in the north, Dalaran had continued to supply magical support and mage reinforcements to the frontlines.
Not to mention the City of Magic both acted as a FOB (forward operating base) and a bulwark along the northwestern segment of the Northern warzone.
Combined with the Greymane Wall and naval support from Kul Tiras, they prevented enemy forces from accessing the sea routes or potentially flanking the Northern Alliance armies, while the main bulk of the Alliance handled the majority of the Scourge forces and Chaos-aligned armies.
Unfortunately, Dalaran had been betrayed by someone many of its inhabitants never would have suspected.
Kel'Thuzad.
One of Dalaran's foremost archmages — albeit not a popular one due to his fascination with fields of research dangerously close to forbidden arts — had betrayed them.
Worse still, despite his shady reputation, the man had also been a member of the Council of Six, the secretive rulers of Dalaran.
The bastard had taken his followers to the deepest underground chambers of the Violet Tower and begun sabotaging Dalaran's core magic arrays.
Thankfully, he had been discovered by Lord Antonidas, which led to an intense battle in the underground core of the Violet Tower that housed the city's central arrays. Ansirem — another member of the Council of Six — assisted, ensuring none of the traitors could escape.
Antonidas proved exactly why he was the strongest mage in Dalaran and the Head of the Kirin Tor. He killed all of Kel'Thuzad's followers and severely wounded the traitorous archmage.
Unfortunately, before Antonidas could finish him off, Kel'Thuzad was rescued by none other than Deathwing — the Black Scourge and Aspect of Death — who attacked the city and tore his way into the underground chamber and snatched Kel'Thuzad away before flying off with him.
Antonidas and Ansirem wanted to pursue but not only was Deathwing one of the Dragon aspects albeit a traitor one and thus exceedingly powerful but they were worried if they forced him to fight the Black dragon would go on a rampage in the city while fighting them.
Not to mention they had other worries that needed their attention.
Due to the earlier sabotage by Kel'Thuzad, combined with the destruction caused by Deathwing forcibly tearing his way into the chamber to rescue him, the city's flight arrays were severely damaged.
This resulted in the magical city crash-landing in its current location. The impact also damaged several other magical systems around Dalaran, including the city's shields, defensive arrays, and the mana transfer network.
Rhonin could say without a shadow of a doubt that falling from the sky was not a pleasant experience.
Thankfully, before the impact, the city's shields had absorbed most of the force, keeping structural damage to a minimum.
As for magical damage?
Yeah… not so much.
And as if the situation couldn't get any worse, shortly after the crash — when the remaining members of the Council of Six had finally restored some order — they discovered through scrying spells that a massive host of the Scourge was heading straight for them.
Thankfully, through the efforts of Antonidas and the other archmagi, Dalaran's shields and a significant portion of its magical defences were restored to working order.
Sadly, the flight arrays were still non-functional.
Because of this, they had no choice but to prepare their defences while grounded.
But beggars couldn't be choosers.
They had already sent out calls for aid.
Now all they could do was either hope they were strong enough to defeat this army alone…
Or that one of their allies would arrive in time to help them.
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Before the arrival of the Scourge army, Antonidas had done one final thing to give his people an edge in their defence.
He had tweaked and restructured the city's core shield formation, successfully making it highly effective not only at protecting the city but also at keeping out those who utilized the Scourge's Death/Necromantic magic.
However, there were two caveats.
First, Antonidas had not had enough time to determine how effective the barrier would be against the powers of Chaos, aside from the normal protection provided by such a shield.
Second, to maintain the special barrier, three Archmagi needed to remain present within its three primary nodes at different points of Dalaran.
With Krasus absent, Kel'Thuzad's betrayal, Kael'thas being recalled to Silvermoon City by his father before the war began, and Modera leading Dalaran's forces alongside the Northern Alliance, the Council of Six had been reduced to only two members: Antonidas and Ansirem.
Thankfully, Dalaran still had several other Archmages available, including:
Sathera, one of the very rare cases of a High Elven Archmage not affiliated with the Silvermoon Council of Quel'Thalas — and a "close" friend of Antonidas.
(A/N: I think I'm starting to see one of the reasons Alastor developed such an appreciation for elves.)
Drendan, a powerful Archmage who specialized in the pure manipulation of the Aether and spatial magic.
Jaina Proudmoore, the Princess of Kul Tiras and a recognized genius in the arcane arts who had studied under Antonidas alongside Alastor. Aside from her magical prowess, she was also a skilled tactician and capable leader.
And finally, Rhonin, one of the strongest mages trained by Dalaran in recent years and a battle mage of great renown, second only to Alastor himself.
Not only was Rhonin a powerful young mage, he was also a skilled swordsman and a natural leader and tactician — traits that had been sharpened and refined through his close friendship with the legendary Alastor Wrynn.
While Jaina and Rhonin were not officially Archmages yet, their abilities and skill firmly placed them at that level. Given the current situation, they had effectively been granted the rank.
It was ultimately decided that Antonidas, Ansirem, and Sathera would remain within the barrier's three primary nodes to maintain it over the city, which unfortunately meant they would not be able to participate in the battle.
Meanwhile, Drendan, Rhonin, and Jaina would command Dalaran's forces and defences while also fighting directly against the invading army.
After all, Archmages were immensely powerful combatants, and even a single one could often turn the tide of an entire battle.
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Days later, Arthas and his army arrived at Dalaran and began their assault on the fallen city.
The barrier proved highly effective and kept the Scourge out of the city for the most part.
Any undead that managed to pass through the barrier either collapsed immediately — stripped of the Death magic sustaining them — or became extremely lethargic, making them easy targets for the defenders.
All the while, Dalaran's ranged magical defenses continuously bombarded the Scourge army whenever they came within range.
Arthas grew increasingly frustrated due to the lack of progress and the constant losses his forces were suffering.
Eventually, he turned to his newly appointed right-hand servant.
"I believe you can offer assistance for our current predicament."
"Not too difficult," the figure replied. "The barrier is strong — without a doubt Antonidas' work — but the cost to maintain it is also high."
"Hmm… three nodes. Which means three Archmages are required to maintain it."
The man — or rather, the former man — standing beside him was a tall skeletal figure wearing armor with a pharaoh-like aesthetic, his cold blue eyes glowing within a skull framed by jagged black armor.
Kel'Thuzad.
Once one of Dalaran's leaders, he was now something entirely different.
Due to his fascination with the darker aspects of magic, he had never been particularly well-liked in Dalaran.
Yet despite that, he had still risen to become an Archmage and a member of the Council of Six through his own efforts and brilliance.
But after witnessing the undead of the Scourge, his fascination had reached an entirely new level becoming his obsession.
Unlike most others, Kel'Thuzad had seen the Scourge not as a horror — but as a potential form of ascension for mortal beings.
Every suggestion he made regarding deeper research into the Scourge's Death magic and the powers of Chaos had been swiftly rejected by Antonidas and the other Archmagi.
For them such dark and evil magic at worst needed to be contained or at best destroyed at the very root.
So when he was secretly contacted by an agent of the followers of Chaos and eventually met Arthas, the Lich King himself, he had felt nothing but awe upon witnessing Arthas' ascended form.
Under promises of power and immortality, Kel'Thuzad had willingly agreed to betray the living and serve the Undead.
When he received confirmation that Arthas and his army were ready, he had gathered his like-minded followers within Dalaran and descended into the Violet Tower's lower chambers to sabotage the city's core arrays and render it defenseless.
Unfortunately for him, he had been discovered before he could complete his task.
His followers had been slaughtered, and he himself had barely survived.
Even after being rescued, the wounds he had sustained during his duel with Antonidas had left him on the brink of death.
But Arthas had decided to grant him the reward he had promised.
After impaling him with Frostmourne, the Lich King flooded Kel'Thuzad's body with vast amounts of Death magic, beginning his transformation into a Lich.
Because Kel'Thuzad had already been a powerful Archmage in life, his transformation elevated him into the strongest Lich within the Scourge.
Thus he was granted the title of Arch Lich.
"Take assistance from the Black Mages and the daemons of Tzeentch," Kel'Thuzad continued.
"Create breaches in the barrier near the nodes. Killing even one of the Archmages maintaining them would weaken the barrier."
"Kill all three, and it will collapse entirely."
"And as a bonus," he added coldly, "you will eliminate the enemy Archmagi… and perhaps even turn them into servants of the Scourge."
Arthas did not like the idea of asking for assistance from the forces of Chaos — even if they were technically their allies.
He used that word very loosely.
But knowing it was the best way to eventually slaughter the mages of Dalaran and add them to his ever-expanding army…
He reluctantly agreed.
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Kel'Thuzad's plan worked, and with the help of Chaos magic, two breaches were opened in the barrier that allowed his undead forces to surge through.
It became a tug-of-war situation.
The undead sought to pour through the breaches and overwhelm the mortal defenders, eventually locating and killing the nearest Archmage maintaining one of the barrier's nodes.
Meanwhile, the mages of Dalaran — supported by their golems and elementals — fought desperately to stem the tide of undead while eliminating the Black Mages and daemons maintaining it in order to close the breaches.
Drendan had gone to the first breach to help seal it.
That front was in a far more precarious situation, as the undead there had overwhelmed the initial mage forces and had already breached the city's wall, allowing them to begin entering the city itself.
Meanwhile, Rhonin and Jaina led the defense at the second breach. Thankfully, they had managed to drive the undead outside their section of the city's wall before it could be broken through.
However, halfway to the breach their progress stalled due to the seemingly endless tide of undead pouring in, even with the overwhelming power both of them wielded as Archmages.
One of the reasons for this was that most of the city's remaining functional magical artillery had been concentrated on the undead flooding through the first breach, since that front had already collapsed through the city's walls.
"Jaina, we might have to use one of our big spells if we want to break through this deadlock."
Rhonin spoke somewhat sarcastically as he cut down several ghouls with his sword while simultaneously launching powerful blasts of magic of various elements.
Each spell wiped out hundreds of undead, even killing powerful monstrosities such as Abominations, Flesh Titans, and Bone Giants in a single strike.
Not far from him, Jaina unleashed a massive frost spell that instantly froze more than a thousand undead into statues of ice before shattering them apart and launching their razor-sharp fragments at the undead ranks behind them.
"Normally I wouldn't want to use them considering how taxing they are," she replied, "but if we want to drive these creatures back then—"
"RHONIN, LOOK OUT!"
Jaina's eyes widened as she suddenly felt a massive surge of frigid energy racing toward them — more specifically toward Rhonin.
Her normally composed tone broke as she shouted the warning.
Rhonin was startled, but his trust in her was absolute. Instinctively he cast the short-range teleportation spell Blink, instantly appearing beside Jaina.
Only moments after he moved, the temperature around them plummeted even further than it already had due to Jaina's magic.
A massive sword slash tore through the breach, cutting through undead ranks and cleaving straight through Dalaran's wall along with every magical defense and enchantment protecting it — as though they had never existed.
As the attack travelled forward, towering structures of bitter cold ice erupted along its path, their chilling aura seeming to pierce through both body and soul.
Jaina and Rhonin stared at the devastation in shock.
The corrupted energy forming the ice felt identical to the twisted power sustaining the undead they had been fighting.
"And here I thought I had you, Rhonin."
A cold voice echoed across the battlefield.
Jaina and Rhonin turned toward the breach as a lone figure stepped through the opening, the undead ranks parting before him.
Jaina's eyes widened.
Rhonin merely glared.
"Finally showed your pale arse, did you, bastard?"
"How rude, Rhonin. Is that any way to greet a friend?"
Despite his words, Arthas' smile was mocking — as if he had not just attempted to kill Rhonin moments earlier.
"With fucking friends like you, I won't even need enemies!"
Rhonin raised his sword toward him while his other hand gathered swirling magical energy.
Behind him, Jaina tightened her grip on her staff.
"Jaina! Why so quiet?" Arthas continued. "I thought you of all people would be pleased to see how much I've changed."
"If you consider what you have become in any way good, then you have truly gone mad, Arthas!" Jaina spat, her complicated emotions momentarily overcome by anger.
"Still so stubborn… even when I'm doing all this for Azeroth and our people."
"What!?"
Jaina and Rhonin both stared at him in disbelief — shocked not only by his words, but by the sheer audacity of them.
"You gave yourself to dark powers!" Jaina shouted. "You attacked your own home! You murdered your own parents! And you're one of the main reasons the northern kingdoms are in such dire straits!"
Her anger burned brighter as she glared at the twisted remnant of her former friend.
"All of this… FOR WHAT!?"
Arthas gave her a long, terrible smile as he spread his arms as if to embrace the world itself.
"For us. For our people. For the world."
"My goal has never changed, Jaina."
"Only the way I'm going about it has."
After Arthas had accidentally killed his mother back in Lordaeron, the despair he felt caused what remained of his sanity to drown beneath the whispers of Chaos and the power of Frostmourne.
This only warped his already muddled thoughts even further, as he fell into the delusions offered by Chaos in order to escape the crushing despair — even if it meant giving away even more of himself.
"Once this war is over, Azeroth itself will ascend in such a way that there will never again be a need for struggle, death, decay, greed, or anything of the sort."
"All our enemies will be gone, and I will be the king of this new world — leading our enlightened people into a whole new dawn."
Good to know he has truly gone coo-coo crazy.
Rhonin felt his eyebrow twitch at Arthas' rambling as he secretly sent a telepathic order to their forces to retreat and focus their efforts on the attacking enemies.
He also gave strict instructions for them to stay away from Arthas and leave him to Jaina and himself.
"In fact, why are we even fighting?" Arthas continued. "Join me, the two of you. The things I can offer you now are prizes that others would wage wars to obtain."
"Rhonin, I can offer you immortality and knowledge. I can even grant you the domain of Stromgarde after the war. Wouldn't you like to rule over the people who once shunned you for your dreams?"
"Jaina! I offer you the chance to become my Queen. You always had a fondness for wisdom and magic. After we bring the living to heel, you and I can lead Azeroth together into a whole new Golden Age."
Jaina and Rhonin glared at him.
"I would sooner agree to become a gnome's test subject than even think about becoming some decayed corpse!"
"And I thought you had already fallen as low as you could," Rhonin added mockingly. "But lusting after a woman who is already betrothed to another? Literally my best friend's fiancée?"
"Yeah… I can already see what kind of king you'd be."
Despite Rhonin's mocking tone, the magic surging within him revealed just how deeply angered he truly was.
Meanwhile, Jaina stared at Arthas with a cold glare that could have frozen entire glaciers twice over.
"You have done nothing but prove to me that I made the right choice in choosing Alastor."
"As for becoming your Queen?" Jaina continued, her voice icy. "Let me make this very clear, Lich King."
She no longer referred to Arthas by name — only by the title of the monster he had become.
"There is only one man I will ever call my husband in my life."
"And you are NOT Alastor Wrynn!"
Faced with their rejection, Arthas glared at them with maddened fury as he drew Frostmourne.
"I show you courtesy, and this is how you respond to my mercy!?"
Once again the Runeblade — along with its wielder — unleashed an immense surge of corrupted energy. The air around them began to freeze as a powerful aura of death and domination spread across the battlefield.
Rhonin and Jaina's eyes widened as they felt the energy Arthas released.
Not only was it enormous, it also exerted a powerful suppressive force on magic itself. They could feel their spells weakening under its influence.
Jaina felt another jolt of realization as something suddenly clicked in her mind.
Wait… daemons are corporeal entities whose bodies are made of Aetheric energy.
None of the ones we've fought until now have produced an effect like this on magic or the Aether itself…
That runeblade… it isn't a daemon artifact!?
"No matter," Arthas growled. "When you die, your choice will no longer matter."
"You will become mine — one way or another!"
The freezing, corrupted energy began swirling around Arthas in a towering column as Rhonin and Jaina realized he was preparing to unleash another devastating attack.
"And as for Alastor!" Arthas sneered. "Don't worry, Jaina. After I turn you into my Eternal consort, you'll have a front-row seat as I slaughter his entire kingdom — and then tear him—"
Unfortunately (fortunately), he never finished the sentence.
A long spear — moving so fast it shattered the sound barrier several times over — shot between Rhonin and Jaina and slammed directly into the chest of a wide-eyed Arthas.
The force of the throw carried him backward as his figure blurred across the battlefield.
He carved a massive trench into the ground before being hurled into the side of a cliff. The impact and shockwave shattered most of the rock face as Arthas was buried beneath stone and rubble.
Rhonin and Jaina stared in shock at the sudden turn of events and the abrupt shift in the battle's momentum.
But they barely had time to gather their bearings before they sensed someone approaching from behind at incredible speed.
They quickly turned around.
A massive figure — over three meters tall — clad in light gray and black knightly armor slammed into the ground before them, creating spiderweb cracks across the earth and shaking the ground.
For a moment, both Rhonin and Jaina tensed.
But then they recognized the armor as their wariness gave way to pleasant surprise.
Rhonin broke into a grin, while Jaina smiled with both relief and affection as the figure's helmet collapsed downward, revealing the familiar face beneath.
Alastor Wrynn.
"Sorry I'm late."
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