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// Interlude: Repelling the Demons 
// Story: World of Warcraft: Burning Skies 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Once Spitfire had determined that the leaders of the Alliance and Horde were safe from danger, and that all of the Illidari had done a wonderful job in making sure the factions knew they weren't on the Legion's side, even if there were a few that didn't trust them, she spent the rest of the day going over everything that Jace had and what he might need, along with everything else the Illidari might need for their operations. It gave her another look into the world that Lord Illidan dealt with whenever he talked with them, even though she had a good idea of what to expect, and luck was on their side as a few of the captured Wyrmtongue offered them the Legion supplies they were carting, which seemed to have all the stuff Jace and most of the others were asking for, so Spitfire didn't have to figure out how to acquire the items, especially since the demons that attacked Orgrimmar didn't leave anything behind. There was one thing she knew her forces needed and those were weapons that would allow them to deal some rather impressive damage to the Legion, warglaives that would cut through their enemies, but to the best of her knowledge only one part of weapons like that even existed and those were the Twin Blades of Azzinoth, which none of them had seen since the last time they saw their Lord use them in battle. Kayn told her that he would look into any leads that might allow them to find some weapons of power that she and the others could use against the Legion, though he promised nothing since he was sure it would take some time to follow each lead and there was no guarantee that he would find something, to which she wished him luck and went back to figuring out all of the other things she needed to know.

It was during the rest of that afternoon that the blood elf mage she had encountered earlier approached her and talked with her for a time, introducing himself as Vytheril Truthseeker, where he seemed to have rather striking features, golden blonde hair, and a rather slim build for someone like him, though she had to assume that it was due to being a mage and the fact that he didn't use swords or wear heavy armor like the warriors did. Vytheril informed her that it had been about six or seven years since the assault on the Black Temple and that the world had been through some tough times since their Lord's defeat at the hands of the heroes and Maiev, confirming Spitfire's thoughts on the fact that the Head Warden had been involved in the battle that toppled the individual that had built the Illidari. He didn't bore her with all of the deeds that he and the other heroes did over the years, even though he made sure to specify that he meant the heroes of the Alliance and Horde as a whole, working together while their leaders tried to tear each other apart, which did give her hope for the future of Azeroth if the heroes were willing to do such a thing, if Sylvanas didn't rip them apart and destroy what little unity this world had left. What was interesting was that Vytheril didn't trust the Banshee Queen, just like Allari and the other blood elves that were near them, and there were a number of others, spread out throughout the rest of the Horde, that didn't trust her, but since she had declared herself as the Warchief there was nothing they could do but follow her orders and follow the path she would set for them.

Spitfire would have said something about that, given what happened earlier, before one of Jace's devices went off and the Illidari approached it, where Spitfire informed their new friend that it was supposed to help them detect areas that the Legion were attacking, though it was easy to see that two places were under attack at the moment, the first being the area known as Northern Barrens and the other being Westfall, though it was only a few seconds later when she heard Rainbow saying that she and the night elf demon hunters would deal with the one near Stormwind.

"She seems very sure of herself and her forces," Vytheril commented, though even as he said that Spitfire was in the middle of making sure Allari and the others knew about the incoming demon threat to the Northern Barrens and that all of the heroes of the Horde knew it as well, especially since she made sure they also revealed the attack on Westfall as well, to make sure both fronts were taken care of.

"Well, we did assault a demon world and overran it, about seven years ago, while the forces of the Alliance and Horde laid siege to the Black Temple and killed Lord Illidan," Spitfire replied, though even as she said that she opened her wings and stretched them for a moment as she looked at a map that revealed the location of the nearest invasion point, which seemed to be a province or two away from where Orgrimmar rested, which would likely be thirty minutes to an hour if she were to run to that area, "Maybe I'll tell you about it later, when we're not dealing with an immediate invasion, but for now we need to get to the Northern Barrens and repel the demons that are getting ready to attack the province."

It was in that moment that Vytheril and some of the other heroes that had come up to this area surprised her with how they were going to get to the area she had mentioned, as all of them just so happened to have what they referred to as 'flying mounts', creatures that allowed them to take to the skies and fly over areas, to make traveling that much easier since they wouldn't have to worry about enemies attacking them. There was an orc death knight, a term she hadn't heard before, who had what appeared to be an undead dragon whose full height was at least one and a half of Spitfire's height, though it looked like it had been reanimated by some powerful magic, where she learned that it was a frostwyrm, but that wasn't the only thing she saw, as a few of the blood elves had netherdrakes, dragons that had been part of the Illidari due to their riders siding with Lord Illidan, so they likely tamed them in some manner. This was Vytheril's answer to how they were going to get to the Northern Barrens, some of the Horde's heroes were going to fly to the province and join her in defending the area, and, despite the general mistrust of the Illidari, the heroes that were joining them were more than willing to allow Allari and the others to climb into the backs of their mounts so they could carry their allies into battle, as they knew that the Illidari were part of the solution to bring the Legion down. Some of the heroes would be heading to the area that the Horde's mages happened to be resting in, where they would get as close as they could to Westfall and join the heroes of the Alliance in defending that province as well, even though a few of the Alliance heroes would be doing the same to reach the Northern Barrens.

As such Spitfire nodded her head and took off, heading in the direction of the province that she was going to assist for as long as the Legion was attacking it, though it wasn't long before Vytheril and the others departed from Orgrimmar and followed her through the air, where she fell back a little and let them take the lead, since they knew their way around the land and she only had a map of the area. Even with her limited knowledge of the lands she realized that it didn't matter if she let someone else take the lead for once, as it was easy to see a Legion ship off in the distance, no doubt resting above Northern Barrens as the demons prepared for their assault on the area, so that was the direction they headed in as all of the heroes noticed the vessel their foes were using, no doubt something that was new to them. According to Vytheril the ship was resting above the Crossroads, the Horde settlement that happened to rest in the middle of the province, so that was where they headed, leading to Spitfire and the heroes landing in the middle of the settlement, though that was when she saw that each hero had a whistle of some kind that allowed them to summon their mounts and seemed to be how they dismissed them as well, though she decided not to comment on it. Based on what she was seeing the Legion wasn't actually ready for their assault, or if they were they were waiting for more heroes to arrive so they could kill more of them, but as they waited Spitfire noticed all of the weapons and armor that her allies were using, especially the orc death knight, Zuleth Stormaxe based on what she was told, who had a rather powerful looking axe that might be useful in dealing with the demons that would be attacking them in due time.

It also didn't take the heroes of the Alliance, made up of humans, gnomes, dwarves, night elves, draenei, worgen, and a number of pandaren, revealing the last race was split between the two factions, all that long to open some portals to this province so they could join the heroes of the Horde, though the two groups nodded to each other as they gathered in the center of the town, showing Spitfire that there was definitely some unity between the factions, before all of them focused on the Legion ship and the demons it would send against them.

Fortunately it didn't take the demonic commander long to start the invasion, as a few minutes after the heroes of the Alliance joined them the demons started to teleport down into the area immediately surrounding the town, where four groups of Felguards rushed into the area that the group was defending, while at the same time Infernals rained down on the settlement so they could assist their allies. A few of the Horde's heroes moved out as the fighting began, making sure any civilians that hadn't been moved to the safety of the inn, the main structure of the settlement, were moved before the heroes truly fought the demons that were trying to take their world, and it wasn't long before the Eredar joined the battle that was unfolding all over the Crossroads, engaging in magical duels with the magic users and lashing out with blades as they sought out the warriors and other melee fighters. The Legion also sent down a force of Felstalkers to tear them apart, but that was around the time that Saurfang and a force from Orgrimmar charged into the battle and hacked into their enemies, where Spitfire nodded her head and used her warglaives to cut through the demons that were in front of her, as she dropped a pair of Felguards in a matter of seconds, before moving onto her next target, all while Saurfang encouraged the heroes of Azeroth to tear down the demons and make them regret trying to take their world. Spitfire knew that the Legion was foolish for allowing them the time to gather their forces, as that was now biting the demons as the heroes tore their foes apart, but she also knew that the demons of the Legion were arrogant after so many years of burning away each planet they found, which was why they kept making mistakes when it came to dealing with Azeroth.

Thanks to the skill and determination of the assembled army it didn't take them long to route the demons that were sent down to attack the Crossroads, leading the commander of this invasion force to send down two of their lieutenants, in the form of a large Mo'arg and a powerful Fel Lord, before one of the more powerful demons, a Pit Lord that rivaled the size of Magtheridon, and no doubt rivaled the demon in question's power, was beamed down outside the settlement and was the one that Spitfire assaulted. The reason she went up against the Pit Lord wasn't because she was seeking glory or anything, since she was sure some of the orc guards might think she was after the glory of the kill, rather it was due to the fact that she happened to be the only one with enough power to push the demon backwards and force it away from the settlement they were fighting over, because once a Pit Lord was slain their final act was to detonate themselves to kill all that were around it, before their soul escaped to the Twisting Nether for the body to be remade, if the soul wasn't taken by a demon hunter anyway. Saurfang, on the other had, seemed to know what she was doing and made sure that the rest of the heroes focused on the two lieutenant demons that were trying to take down the Crossroads, and since Allari and the other Illidari were present they could increase their own powers by a small degree when they killed their targets, though Spitfire turned her attention back to the Pit Lord, who went by the name Vorgroth and carried the common title of 'Fel Commander', and the only reason she knew that was due to the demon's boasting nature and the fact that he told her his name so she would know who killed her.

Battling a Pit Lord was the best way to test the warglaives that Maiev had given her and Rainbow, as she was sure that Rainbow would be fighting a hard opponent as well, as they allowed her to stall the glaive that her foe was using and were able to withstand the pressure of the demon's attacks, before Spitfire drove them into Vorgroth's head and slew him, to which she pulled her weapons back and retreated as the demon exploded some distance from the settlement, though she made sure to grab the soul and absorb it before returning to the others.

"It seems I might have been wrong about you," Saurfang commented, though as he said that he pulled his axe out of the Fel Lord's head as Allari claimed the demon's soul, preventing another one from returning as one of the others made sure to do the same with the Mo'arg's soul, before he faced Spitfire for a moment, his expression showing that most of his attention was on the invasion that was taking place at the moment, "Tell me, Spitfire, what is the Legion going to do next, now that we've defeated three of their stronger demons?"

"There are still more aboard it that will be troublesome, so once they're teleported down here we need to attack those ones and make sure each group has an Illidari with them," Spitfire replied, where Allari and the others nodded as all of the heroes started to form groups, even making sure to have one of the demon hunters with them, before she glanced out at the rest of the area that the Northern Barrens consisted of, even if it was a mostly barren landscape like the name seemed to imply, "and they're likely going to send down their siege structures, to try and corrupt the land, so if you see any floating Fel crystals that are resting near a structure be sure to break them, as that will send the structures back to where they came from... though once we do all that we need to be ready for when the commander of the ship comes down, since the Legion won't like the fact that we were able to repel them that much."

Saurfang nodded and gave the command, to which the heroes and their new allies dispersed from the settlement they had been protecting and spread out around the province that was going to become a battlefield, where the structures Spitfire had mentioned started to phase into existence as their foundations were laid and more of the more powerful demons were sent down to lay waste to the defenders. Such a thing was met by the heroes that sought to protect Azeroth from the Legion, where the Illidari sought out the stronger demons and faced them with their allies, while the groups that didn't have a demon hunter with them focused on the structures, killing the Eredar and Felguards that guarded them as they sought out the crystals that powered them, allowing them to watch as the structures were destroyed when all of the Fel crystals were smashed. Spitfire wasn't surprised to see that the Legion was sending a few of every demonic race they had in their arsenal, save for some of the much more powerful ones, as she didn't see any that were like the Brood Queen that the Illidari had taken out during their assault on Mardum and she certainly didn't see any Dreadlords, but that didn't stop her from joining the fight as she sought out the demons and cut them down where they stood, all while making sure to keep an eye on the ship so they could fight whoever was in control of it in the near future. She did get to see several of the heroes in action, watching Vytheril blast some of the demons with the arcane power that he commanded, a troll she didn't know the name of blasting her targets with lighting, and Zuleth using an interesting power to forcefully grab one of the demons and yank it over to where he was standing, where he cleaved the unlucky Eredar in half with a single swing of his mighty axe, proving just how strong and deadly he really was.

By watching the other heroes as they hunted down and slew the demons they were fighting, while the demon hunters made sure to target the more powerful demons, Spitfire understood just how strong all of them actually were and had an idea as to how they might have been able to topple Lord Illidan, before she turned her attention away from her new allies and focused on the demons that were trying to take over this province. Another thing she discovered were a few gateways, much like the ones from Mardum, scattered around the land and the Illidari were already on it, making sure to smash the crystals that allowed the structures to bind themselves to the ground and, once all of the crystals for one of them were gone, the gateways were destroyed and sent back to whatever world they were coming from. That was when she found a large walking machine that seemed to be similar to the Fel Reavers that had been in Hellfire Peninsula, though this was more armored and had a darker Fel coloration to its body, where she flew through the air and dodged the attacks that were coming her way, allowing her to swing her warglaives into the arms of the improved Fel Reaver and cut into the metal that it was made of, only she noticed that she needed something stronger since her attack only went so deep. Fortunately driving her weapons into the head of the creation was enough to break it and topple it to the ground, showing her that not even the Legion seemed to be worried about such a weakness, but she huffed for a moment, since fighting that thing was more than she had thought it would be, before she returned to the battle that was currently unfolding around the rest of the Northern Barrens and cut down a few demons as she headed for one of the gateways.

When at last the majority of the invasion forces had been taken care of, and Spitfire was still amazed by just how good the heroes really were, she felt the disturbance in the air and ordered all available hands back to the Crossroads, meaning those that had finished off that area should return immediately while those that were wrapping up their targets should finish their battles before rushing to join the final fight... where a massive Eredar, about the same size as the inn, warped down to the Crossroads, declared that none of them stood a chance against him while revealing that his name was Zyrel and that he carried the title of 'Arch Magus', and then attacked the heroes.

Zyrel, as it turned out, used the large staff he was carrying to attack his foes with melee attacks and had some rather interesting spells that he could use against them, such as calling down large fireballs on areas that they were standing in and sending out waves of flames to hit those that were far away from him, though the heroes were more observant than what he seemed to assume and they dodged the attacks that there coming their way, before retaliating as they rained down blows on the Eredar's armor and body. Besides the fire spells he had some similar frost type spells, allowing him to call down several clusters of ice and even froze a few heroes to make sure they got hit, while also making sure to blast a few of them with the power of the arcane, but other than that he didn't seem to have much else in the ways of abilities and that let the heroes turn the tide on him, much to his displeasure. In fact he even tried to call down the rest of the Infernals that were aboard his ship, where Spitfire took to the sky for real and carved them up before they could even hit the ground, though the force of her attacks knocked each Infernal off course so they could perish just outside the area her new allies were fighting in, allowing the heroes to focus on killing Zyrel and bringing an end to this battle. What amused Spitfire was the fact that the big bad Eredar, as she knew they considered themselves to be something like that, in terms of their position among the Legion, was being overpowered by the heroes of the Alliance and Horde, so much so that he was unable to withstand the sheer power that was arrayed against him, even with Spitfire and the demon hunters taking a step back just to see this for themselves, since it happened to be a hard thing to witness, before all of them cut Zyrel down and let his body fall down just outside the Crossroads.

That brought a cheer from the heroes of Azeroth as the Legion ship teleported out of the area, signaling that this part of the invasion was over, though Spitfire made sure that her Illidari captured Zyrel's soul and divided it among themselves, both to empower them and to stop another foe from returning, while at the same time Saurfang walked over to the area that she was standing in.

"It would seem that we are in the Illidari's debt for discovering the attack so quickly and getting everyone to move to the area they were planning on attacking," Saurfang said, where he looked out at the demon bodies and knew that he, the heroes, and the residents of the Northern Barrens, at the very least, would have to clean up this mess before the Legion tried to attack one of the other provinces the Illidari knew they were going to attack.

"Don't worry about it, we're here to save Azeroth from the Legion." Spitfire replied, though at the same time she knew a little bit about how the orcs of the Horde operated and what they respected, so based on what Saurfang said it seemed like she might have won over one of the orcs and several of the heroes into warming up to the idea of the Illidari fighting beside them in their war against the Legion, before she glanced in the direction of Orgrimmar, "Though we should get back to the city and see how the others are doing in Westfall, since that's the other area the Legion is attacking right now, even if they're facing Rainbow and the other heroes."

While many heroes would think she was worried about Rainbow, even if they hadn't met her yet, Spitfire knew that Rainbow would be able to handle herself and that whoever she faced would be taken down in no time at all, meaning they and their new allies would be able to push back the Legion and give Khadgar the time he needed to figure out how in the world they were going to stop the Legion.





Rainbow stretched for a moment as she stood on top of a downed Felguard that was attacking Sentinel Hill, which seemed to be the center of Westfall, while the heroes of the Alliance and Horde dealt with the demons that were attacking the area at the moment, though the reason she had stopped for a few seconds was because it was nice to be on the hunt again and she felt the need to make sure her body was ready for the fight ahead of her. All around her the various types of demons fell to the might of the heroes, especially the couple of monks that were lead by a pandaren that went by the name of Xinyue Windstep, something that interested her since this was the first time she had seen such a race and was amazed by how well they fought, which she was sure Spitfire had seen at some point during her encounters with the Horde. The other part about this that was so interesting was that the heroes of the two factions were working together quite well, as if they were ignoring the fact that their leaders were stubborn and didn't want to wage total war with each other over a world that was constantly in danger, so it was nice to work with them as they cut down the Felguards, Infernals, Eredar, and all of the other demons that Spitfire was likely dealing with as well. Even the commander of the forces that usually watched over this province, a human named Gryan Stoutmantle, was amazed by what he was seeing at the moment as he and the rest of the usual defenders flocked to save the province from the terrifying might of the Legion, even though the defenders forced their foe to send down the bigger demons. By that Rainbow counted three lieutenant level demons, a Doomlord like Kazzak, a tall Eredar, and a Fel Lord, that rose to face her and the others, which was fine with her since that meant the rest of the Illidari could take down more souls and deprive the Legion of more of its stronger forces, hence the reason she let Jace and the others deal the finishing blow to their foes, so they could gain more power for the future.

Of course the commanding Pit Lord, Urgoz, demanded her attention and she gave it to him, pushing the demon out of the area that her new allies were in and made sure it was far enough away from Sentinel Hill when she drove her blades into its head and then pulled back as it exploded, because killing a Pit Lord was easy once you knew the trick and she didn't have time to waste on them, though she did take the demon's soul for herself so it didn't fly away and return in the near future, which was the last thing they needed. From there the Legion spread out their forces and attacked every spot that rested around Westfall, trying to corrupt the land and kill whoever stood in their way, so Rainbow issued the order she felt that Spitfire would use in this situation, destroy the structures, break the gateways, and make sure there was a demon hunter in each group as they engaged the stronger demons, like the Dreadlords and whatnot. While they spread out to take down their enemies and targets, however, Rainbow heard the commander of the ship, Darkmagus Drazzok, state that all of them were going to die and that there was nothing they could do to stop him, though that only prompted everyone to lash out at the demons and focus on their objectives, all so it would force the demon to come down and face them for himself, which would allow them to kill him. She and several of the other demon hunters had to admit that it was refreshing for them to be doing this, taking the fight to the Legion and not hiding while their enemies sought them out in their homes, reminding her of what she knew about each of their pasts, though none of them talked about that as they cut down the demons that were attacking this province, broke the structures the Legion summoned to the area, and annoyed the commander of the ship.

Once they had cleared out everything, and Rainbow felt the change in the air, they returned to Sentinel Hill as Drazzok teleported down to fight them himself, where they discovered he was an Eredar and that his powers weren't as grand as the Brood Queen from Mardum, as he sent out waves of darkness and then tried to blast them with a burst of it, before all of that did nothing as he was quickly brought low by the group of heroes.

"Honestly, I was hoping for something better than that... oh well, this means there's a lower number of enemies for us to worry about in the future," Rainbow remarked, her tone revealing that she had been hoping for a better fight and that this wasn't what she was expecting, but at the same time she made sure to take the demon's soul and share the fragments with the rest of the Illidari, to strengthen them for the future, before she turned to leave, "Come on, let's get back to our camp in Stormwind and give Spitfire the good news, before we strike out at the other areas the Legion are thinking of sending another invasion force to."

Even as she said that, however, she hoped that Khadgar was able to find the information he needed quickly so all of them could begin the true counter attack against the Legion, since that was what they needed to do after everything they had done so far, but for now she had to focus on defending the provinces and taking out any demon that tried to topple their forces, before worrying about the Archmage and what he was looking for.