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"You sure took your time, eh, Al!"
Rhonin grinned as Alastor walked up to them, visibly relieved to see that both he and Jaina were mostly fine aside from some damage to their clothes from the prolonged fighting.
Before Alastor could say anything, he suddenly felt a warm and shapely body crash into him.
Jaina wrapped her arms around his neck — despite him being in his Primarch-sized form — and Alastor instinctively caught her and lifted her up.
"Missed you," she said as she snuggled beneath his chin.
A warm smile spread across Alastor's face as he gently nuzzled his face into her blonde hair.
"Missed you too."
"Wow, really? Doing this in front of the single guy?" Rhonin complained loudly as he watched the intimate display between his two friends.
"You know what? Fine!"
Despite his mock irritation, the twitching smile on his face betrayed him. He was genuinely happy for the two people who had long been more like family to him than his actual relatives.
"You could have found yourself a fine woman if you weren't busy trying your luck with every pretty face in sight."
Alastor laughed as he and Jaina separated.
By the Light, he had missed this banter with Rhonin.
"Where's Master?" Alastor asked.
"He's inside the city," Jaina replied. "He, Ansirem, and Sathera are the ones currently maintaining the barrier."
Alastor glanced at the barrier surrounding Dalaran, impressed.
His mentor had managed to restructure the city's protective shield to incorporate anti-Death properties, making it extremely effective against users of Death magic and necromancy.
And he had done all that despite having very little time after the city crash-landed.
However, it didn't appear to have much specialized defense against Chaos sorcery — the kind used by the Black Mages and Daemons — aside from the standard protections expected from such a large-scale magical barrier.
Especially considering how those same Black Mages and Tzeentchian daemons — creatures like Horrors and Heralds — were currently maintaining the two breaches from outside the barrier.
"Wait… how did you get inside the barrier behind us?"
Jaina asked, confused as she glanced back at the magical dome covering Dalaran, All in all it was obvious it would have stopped anything from getting and if something did get in, it would have been very obvious considering the power needed.
Alastor paused.
…Frak.
-Flashback-
White Glint and the dozens of AC units accompanying it burst out from the forest as they came upon the battlefield surrounding Dalaran and the vast Scourge army attacking it.
Alastor quickly became serious, stopping his mental recitation of Pi despite the fact that Alleria and Tyrande were still sitting on his either sides of his lap.
His AC's sensors rapidly relayed the battlefield situation.
He opened the mech's commlink and began issuing orders.
"Charlie, Storm, Gamma, and Bravo teams proceed to the first breach. Alpha and Omega teams move to the second breach."
"Priority is large-scale destruction and enemy fragmentation. Permission granted for the use of incendiary and EOD weapon systems."
Almost immediately, confirmations came back.
"Orders received and acknowledged."
"Roger that."
But then one of the AC pilots spoke urgently.
"Commander, we just got a high-priority visual!"
"Identification and status!"
"Yes, sir!"
A holographic display appeared in front of Alastor within the cockpit, showing a distant image of Arthas himself.
Alastor's eyes widened.
"Target confirmed to be the Lich King, Arthas. Target is moving directly toward the second breach, where the defense is currently being led by two high-ranking allied mages."
"Identification cannot be fully confirmed at this distance and under current battlefield conditions, but there is a high probability they are Dalaran's leading battle mages: Lord Rhonin and Princess Jaina Proudmoore."
Alastor froze for only a moment before making a quick decision.
He suddenly pulled White Glint backward from where they came from at high speeds.
Alleria and Tyrande, still seated on his lap, looked confused. Aegwynn, sitting in the rear seat, also raised an eyebrow.
"Alastor, what are you doing?" Alleria asked quickly.
"Something stupid."
Once White Glint had created enough distance, the mech turned around and burst forward again at even greater speed.
Alleria's eyes widened as she saw the cliff rapidly approaching from within the cockpit's display and immediately realized what he intended to do.
A moment later Tyrande and Aegwynn came to the same realization.
"Alastor—!!"
"I might need you to take the controls for a minute!"
Alastor quickly said as he pushed White Glint's boosters to their absolute limits just as the mech reached the base of the cliff.
Using the cliff face as a makeshift ramp — combined with the massive thrust of the boosters — the white mech launched into the sky like a rocket.
"ALASTOR!!"
"Knew I could count on you, Ria! Okaygottagotakecareloveyou!"
Grabbing Dawn and a master-crafted spear, Alastor opened the cockpit's side hatch and leapt out the moment White Glint reached its highest point.
Using the mech as a springboard, Alastor hurled himself toward the second breach with all his strength, casting wind magic to help him glide through the air.
As for the barrier in his path?
That problem was easily solved.
Alastor was one of the few individuals keyed into the barrier's magical array, and his deep understanding of its structure allowed him to briefly open a small gap in it as he passed through unhindered.
Moments before landing, he saw Arthas preparing to strike Rhonin and Jaina.
Instantly he conjured a temporary wind platform beneath his feet to give himself a moment of leverage.
Then he hurled the spear in his hand at beyond the speed of sound, sending Arthas flying backward.
Only then did Alastor land behind Rhonin and Jaina.
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Back inside White Glint, Alleria had taken the main pilot seat and guided the mech down to the ground before heading toward the first breach the conventional way.
Thankfully the basic movement and weapon control systems were made very user friendly by Alastor when he was making White Glint.
"That was… certainly a unique way to take action," Tyrande commented a bit awkwardly from beside her.
Aegwynn, on the other hand, wore an amused smile.
"I must admit, that boy is something else — not just in ability, but in mindset."
Truth be told, she couldn't remember the last time she had been this entertained.
Alleria sighed in exasperation, though the fondness in her expression betrayed her true feelings.
"Despite his great intellect, he sometimes acts before thinking things through."
"In short… he's a bit of an idiot."
Only an idiot would attempt such reckless and headache-inducing stunts just to save the people he cared about.
Perhaps that was exactly why he'd become a great hero.
And such a beloved leader.
-End Flashback-
"...I took a shortcut."
Jaina and Rhonin, who had known Alastor for years and had a deep understanding of his personality, gave him completely blank looks.
"Alastor… again!?" Jaina asked.
"So how screwed are you, Al?" Rhonin added.
Alastor felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him and quickly changed the subject.
"We need to close this breach quickly and deal with all the Undead that have already entered through it. Most of my men have been dispatched to the first breach to help with the cleanup."
"The rest are moving to harass the enemy forces outside the barrier that are keeping the breach open."
"We'll need to focus on eliminating the Undead already inside the barrier while coordinating with both our internal forces and my AC units outside to eliminate the enemy sorcerers maintaining the breach."
Thankfully, the change in topic worked.
Jaina and Rhonin soon noticed humanoid, bipedal war machines darting across the battlefield. Some even took to the sky for short bursts of flight.
Their speed and maneuverability alone far surpassed anything even the finest dwarven or gnomish walkers could achieve.
It only took them a moment to realize these machines were almost certainly something Alastor had created.
"Well, that's going to be easy!" Rhonin grinned. "With the three of us here and Alastor's new toys of mass destruction running around, we might as well start placing bets on how fast we can wipe out these stinking ghouls and close the breach."
"And the best part? Al already took care of the perverted corpse king."
As if Fate wanted to mock Rhonin in particular, the shattered remains of the hill behind him where Arthas had been buried under suddenly exploded in a burst of blue light and frigid wind.
The surrounding ground also instantly froze over.
"...Me and my big mouth."
"YOU THINK!?" Jaina snapped, her eyebrow twitching as she glared at him.
Alastor narrowed his eyes while Jaina and Rhonin instinctively moved closer to him.
Arthas slowly emerged from the wreckage with a snarl, gripping the spear still lodged through his chest.
The moment his hand touched the spear's shaft, it instantly froze over. With a slight squeeze, the weapon shattered into icy fragments as the wound in his chest rapidly healed.
When Arthas raised his head, he first looked shocked to see Alastor.
Then his expression twisted into murderous rage.
Moments later, that rage shifted into something far worse — maddened glee.
"So even the Black Orc warlord wasn't enough to kill you."
"Sadly," Alastor replied calmly. "Maybe you should have come south as well. Then Azeroth might have been rid of a tumor as well."
However, Alastor's face darkened slightly as he observed Arthas' transformation for the first time — along with the immense wellspring of cold, corrupted Death energy radiating from him.
"Rhonin. Jaina. Change of plans."
"You two will need to deal with the remaining Undead inside this section of the barrier and coordinate with my AC units outside the breach to close it."
"I'll handle Arthas."
Jaina hesitated when she heard that.
Rhonin frowned but ultimately nodded.
"Got it."
"Oh, and Al — his energy has a powerful suppressive effect on magic and anything Aether-related. Magic becomes significantly weaker around him."
"Not to mention the same energy saturates his armor, so he's also highly resistant to spells or anything magic related that targeted him in particular as well."
In short aside from his obvious "upgrades" due to Frostmourne he also was living bane of magic since he could not only weaken it around him but was also highly resistant to it.
In short as long as it was a mage or someone that primarily used the power of the Warp than aside from keeping their distance facing Arthas was the same as facing a death sentence.
Alastor nodded without taking his eyes off Arthas.
"Good to know."
He slowly unsheathed Dawn and settled into a combat stance.
Across from him, Arthas raised Frostmourne.
"Jaina, let's go," Rhonin said.
Jaina turned with him, but her movements were reluctant.
Seeing this, Rhonin did what he always did in tense situations.
He used humor to lighten the atmosphere.
"If you're that worried about Al, you can always give him a good luck kiss to give him that extra bit of luck."
Jaina looked at him incredulously and was about to snap back at him.
But then she paused.
A thoughtful look crossed her face.
To Rhonin's complete surprise, she turned back toward Alastor.
Alastor himself barely had time to react before Jaina grabbed his face and pressed her lips firmly against his in a passionate kiss.
I meant that as a joke! Rhonin thought in disbelief.
Still, he mentally congratulated himself for being the greatest wingman in history.
At the same time, he kept an eye on Arthas to make sure the Lich King didn't try anything.
When he saw the utterly stunned look on Arthas' face, Rhonin couldn't help but cringe in slight sympathy.
If Rhonin was shocked but ultimately amused by Jaina's actions, Arthas felt nothing but shock and overwhelming fury.
The woman he loved was openly kissing the man he hated right in front of him.
Right before they were supposed to fight to the death.
Is this… cuckoldry?
I mean, Arthas and Jaina were never actually in that kind of relationship… so why do I feel like, in some cosmic way, Alastor just cucked Arthas?
(A/N: *Innocently whistles*)
Rhonin rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as if he were on the verge of discovering some profound universal truth.
Meanwhile, Jaina finally pulled away from the stunned demigod before grabbing Rhonin and dragging him away to do their part.
But not before shouting back over her shoulder:
"Kick his ass, honey!"
Alastor couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face as he turned his attention back to Arthas.
"Yes, dear."
That was the final straw for Arthas' composure.
"I'LL MOTHERFUCKING KILL YOU FOR THAT, ALASTOR!!!"
With a roar of pure rage, Arthas flooded Frostmourne with massive amounts of power before charging forward at incredible speed.
I literally did nothing wrong, a small part of Alastor thought wryly.
He took a step forward before charging in as well while raising Dawn.
The two blades clashed violently — Dawn against Frostmourne — for the first time since the war had begun.
And with that…
The first major clash between Stormwind and the Scourge in the North had officially begun.
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