//------------------------------//
// Stormheim: Defending the Gates 
// Story: World of Warcraft: Burning Skies 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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It didn't take Spitfire and Rainbow all that long to return to where Valdisdall rested, where they flew down to where Havi and all of his allies were resting and dropped off both Scarlet and Vytheril near the main camp fire, though once that was done they landed near their friends and glanced around the camp for a moment, as they could see that all of Havi's allies seemed to be smiling at them, meaning they might have already heard of what had happened in Skold-Ashil, which would be hard to do since they just freed Eyir a few moments ago, not unless the one that was giving them this information was the ruler of the Halls of Valor, before Havi clapped once all four of them were in front of him.

"Very well done, heroes, you have saved Eyir from whatever fate Helya had in store for her," Havi stated, his tone showing that he was pleased with what they had just done, especially since it involved making sure the Alliance and Horde didn't go to war with each other while the Legion was invading their world, though as he did that it was easy to see that the rest of the vrykul that were in this area nodded their heads as well, revealing that they agreed with what the odd mystic had just said, before he raised his hand and gestured towards the bridge that would bring them to the Gates of Valor and the Halls of Valor, the resting place for the Aegis of Aggramar, "now then, its time for you to ride to Valhallas and seek what you have been searching for, all while taking the fight to your enemy and his tainted flock."

Since it appeared that Havi was dismissing them, after congratulating them on saving Eyir, the group nodded their heads for a moment and headed down the path that had taken them down to where the Runewood rested, but instead of heading to the left, and returning to where they had faced the corrupted Bonespeakers, all four of them headed to the right so they could walk over to the location of the main path that would allow them to approach the elegant bridge and walk over to where the Gates of Valor rested, which appeared to be in the middle of being assaulted by Skovald and his Fel-tainted allies, who needed to be taken down before they even considered entering the Halls of Valor. From what they could see it sure looked like Skovald had prepared his forces, as there just so happened to be a camp on this side of the large bridge, one that had a number of Felskorn warriors and mystics guarding the place as they readied themselves for the assault on the Gates of Valor, though that was when they discovered that Skovald had called in reinforcements, as it was easy to see that a Jailer demon was resting in the middle of the camp and that his power seemed to be connected to one of the Fel cages that they had seen back in the peak that the Thorignir called home. Just thinking about that caused Spitfire and Rainbow to glance out in the direction of the Gates for a moment as they activated their Spectral Sights, which revealed that there were a number of demonic presences on the other side of the bridge, such as a Doomguard, one of the massive Mo'arg, an Inquisitor, and one of the Nathrezim, at the very least, though they could tell that there were some portals scattered throughout the area as well, portals that needed to be taken care of as well, meaning it would be a hard fight for them and their allies. As they drew near the camp, however, that was when the group noticed that someone was resting inside the Fel cage, one of the storm drakes to be exact, and based on everything that they could see right now it sure looked like Vethir was resting inside it, being chained down by the Fel energies the Jailer was using, just to keep him pinned to one area before the Legion came to corrupt his soul, and, based on everything that they were witnessing, it was easy to determine that Vethir had come to fight Skovald and his demonic allies, to make him pay for what he did to the rest of the Thorignir before the group had arrived to help them out.

The rather interesting thing was that there were no guards near the Fel cage, which was a mistake in the grand scheme of things and that meant Skovald was focused entirely on smashing his way into the Halls of Valor and claiming the Aegis for his foul masters, where it was easy for them to walk over to the edge of the camp that the Fel cage rested in and quickly approached the area that Vethir was resting in, who continued to struggle against his bindings for a few more seconds before stopping as he noticed that someone new had come to his side.

"What is this... that I see?" Vethir asked, his tone revealing that he must be tired from both the assault on his home peak, the attack on Hrydshal, and whatever he had been able to do before he had been knocked out of the air and forced into this fel cage, though it was in that moment that he smiled as he considered what he might be able to do now that he had been reunited with the very group that had saved his brood from the Legion earlier, "Ah, heroes, it is... good to see you once more... even if I wish the... circumstances were better."

"That we can agree with," Scarlet replied, as while they would have liked to have met Vethir normally, and not with him or his brood being the center of attention once more, there was nothing they could do in a situation like this and had to roll with the punches that were thrown at them, though even as she said that Spitfire and Rainbow raised their hands towards the Fel cage for a moment and seemed to be studying the magic that was trapping the storm drake, "What happened since we left Hrydshal and continued with our trials?"

"My brood and I... we had come to defend the Halls of Valor... and to take our revenge on Skovald... but I was taken from the sky before I could do anything..." Vethir stated, informing the group that there were a few more allied storm drakes for all of them to meet, meaning they had to be on the other side of the bridge and were scattered around the Gates of Valor, but the group said nothing for a moment as they waited for their friend to tell them anything else he might have to share, even though the next step was obvious to all four of them as they stared at the Jailer demon that was lurking nearby, who Spitfire and Rainbow were itching to kill, "I... I am ashamed to admit that I... cannot break free of my bindings. Please, find the jailer who made this cell... Set me free, friends..."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of these Fel-corrupted vrykul," Rainbow replied, though even as she said that both Scarlet and Vytheril were on the move already, where the latter lashed out at the mystic vrykul that happened to be near the area they were currently standing in while the former pulled out Frostmourne and parried the incoming attack from a vrykul warrior that was apparently guarding one of the mystics, to which she and Spitfire nodded to each other as they headed down the path and entered the camp that Skovald had set up in this area.

The vrykul that were guarding this camp certainly didn't like the fact that the group was invading their area, as they roared at all four of them as the mystics lashed out at them with a few runic spells that reminded them of what the Bonespeakers had used, though when Spitfire got a closer look at one of the mystics she realized that it had to be someone who served under Runeseer Faljar, meaning that either they had seen all of the four power that the mystic had commanded during his battle with her and Rainbow, or these mystics had thrown themselves at the Legion so they could gain the power to bring ruin upon those that broke the Bonespeakers of Haustvald, which was them and their friends. Based on what they were seeing at the moment everyone inside the camp had a decent amount of Fel energy, just enough to grant them a new level of strength and magical might, so they could bring down whoever they caught off guard in the future, but not enough to actually start their transformation into full fledged demons, as that was a price that all who used the Fel energies, and who weren't demons, would have to pay at some point and even Lord Illidan was sort of like that, as he seemed to be half night elf and half demon, even though there were some in Azeroth that believed he was a full demon and deserved to be seen as such, which was one reason why she and Rainbow didn't like Maiev. Of course the same could be said for them, that as soon as they absorbed too much Fel energy they would start to transform into true demons, taking a stance like their Lord had done, but these vrykul, on the other hand, had tainted themselves enough to where they could cut them down and, at the same time, take their souls and Fel energy to use against the Legion and their allies, something that might infuriate the fel-corrupted vrykul in some manner, but at this point neither Spitfire or Rainbow cared what their foes felt, as the instant they joined the Legion in their crusade they became enemies of creation and deserved their fates. The Jailer demon came into the fight a few moments later, apparently only caring about the fact that it might be able to take down two of the foes that were bothering the Legion, like it didn't care for Scarlet and Vytheril since it floated over to where both Spitfire and Rainbow were standing, to which they parried the incoming attacks and lashed out with their weapons, allowing them to cut open its hands as it tried to smash them into the ground and made sure to smash through the cage that it tried to put both of them inside, surprising the demon in the process, before they hacked its arms off and proceeded to cut it down while Scarlet and Vytheril took care of the vrykul that were guarding the rest of the camp.

With the Jailer brought down Spitfire and Rainbow quickly slashed the soul of the demon in half and absorbed a half each, allowing their powers to grow a little more in the process, before turning as Scarlet and Vytheril cut down the last of the Fel vrykul, where the Fel energy was pulled into their warglaives to ensure these enemies didn't return to the Legion's side, but after that happened they located a dark green crystalline shard that seemed to be the key to the Fel cage, to which Spitfire walked over to the cage with the others following after her and used the shard key to unlock it, where neither she or Rainbow allowed the Fel energy to leave the area they were standing in.

"You still manage to surprise me, friends. You cleared out the camp in a matter of moments, when it would take even the greatest of the vrykul warriors minutes to do the same thing," Vethir stated, his statement revealing that while he didn't doubt their skills, since he had sent them free the rest of the Thorignir from Skovald's forces, this allowed him to see that none of them were to be underestimated and that all of them were quite strong in their own regard, and that wasn't even counting the fact that Spitfire and Rainbow were part of the group in the first place, before he pulled himself up from the area he had been pinned to and stood at his full height once more, "Your trials are complete, and yet you have enemies and challenges to face, as from what I could see, before I was grounded by that demon, the God-King has gathered all of his forces, of which there are many tainted vrykul and demons mingling with each other, but the four of you possess a vast amount of strength and power, which should be able to bring down our enemy! To make matters worse Skovald has done one of the most insulting things in Stormheim's history, he has profaned the Gates of Valor with his demonic allies, and he has a number of twisted mystics spread out through his forces, who are conjuring portals to ferry his Fel allies from their blighted worlds and bring them to our world... if we wish to stem this tide, and prevent these foul demons from spreading to the rest of the Broken Isles, these portals must be destroyed, so to help you out I will give you a signal horn that I was given by our mother, which will call me and our allies down to help you destroy the portals from the skies!"

"Okay, that sounds like a plan," Vytheril stated, to which he walked over to Vethir's backside and revealed that a small bag bad been strapped to one of his legs, making them wonder why in the world the demons or the fel vrykul hadn't bothered to look inside it and see what in the world he had been carrying with him, though it didn't take him long to pull out a horn that looked like it had been carved from a horn of some kind, possibly either from one of the animals of Stormheim or one of the storm drakes in the ancient past, before he returned to Spitfire, Rainbow, and Scarlet's side, "Is there anything else we need to know before we cross the bridge and approach the Gates of Valor?"

"Yes, and that is the fact that the God-King has enlisted demons of great power to act as his lieutenants, to lead all of his Fel tainted forces in battle against his enemies," Vethir answered, even though this was mostly a confirmation as to what Spitfire and Rainbow had sensed thanks to their Spectral Sight when they glanced in the direction of the Gates of Valor, as that meant that their ability was still keen and hadn't dulled since the last time they had used it, though none of them said anything as they waited for the storm drake to finish telling them everything they needed to know, "so, if we wish to bring an end to this assault, and purge the Gates of those that seek to taint it, we will need to take their leaders. Now normally certain demons can be too powerful for most mortals to face, but with two of you gaining the power of Stormheim, due to the trials you went through, and two of you possessing impressive power on your own, I have the feeling that these foes will be taken down in no time, allowing us to shatter the spine of Skovald's offensive and track down our foe, to punish the Fel-tainted vrykul for defiling the clans and attempting to defile the trials."

"Well then, let's get started and not give him much time to react to our presence," Spitfire said, because she was itching to punish Skovald for turning so much of Stormheim against itself, given how many of the residents sudden turned on their own ancient rights and their allies, especially the ones that were tied to the trials for that matter, and she could tell that all of her allies, not just Vethir, were eager to get started and she wasted no time in heading over to this side of the bridge so they could start their assault on Skovald's Fel-tainted forces and demonic allies.

What was interesting was that there were no Fel vrykul guarding this side of the long bridge, save for the ones that they had just taken out so they could free Vethir from the Fel cage, though that didn't stop Spitfire, Rainbow, Scarlet, or Vytheril from readying their weapons as they walked over to where Skovald's forces were gathered and discovered that there were a large number of vrykul standing guard over the Gates of Valor, many of whom were in the middle of drinking cups that were filled with the sinister green Fel blood, poured from a cauldron by the looks of things, meaning their foe was readying his own forces for a hostile takeover of the parts of Stormheim that weren't allied with him and then he was going to lead an assault on the other provinces, no doubt to claim the other Pillars of Creation. Instead of allowing their foes the chance to get ready for an assault on the rest of the Broken Isles, regardless of whether or not the other heroes had found the other three Pillars of Creation that they knew about, the group lashed out at the vrykul that were positioned around this side of the bridge, Vytheril raining arcane bolts of energy down on some of them to draw them away from the rest of their allies, which was just a tactic to allow either Scarlet or Rainbow to cut them down, even though sometimes they did take a moment to parry an attack before pushing their foe backwards and finishing the job so they could move onto the next foe and clear the Gates of Valor. Spitfire, on the other hand, noticed a few things while she and her friends cut down the Fel vrykul that were around the starting area for the Gates, as she could tell that there were more demons lurking around this area, instead of the four powerful ones she and Rainbow had spotted, so her first order of business was to take care of all the enemies that were around this side of the bridge, even though she was focused on cutting down the Fel vrykul as she headed up to where the cauldron was located and found a few of Skovald's loyal Fel followers passing cups full of Fel blood to the rest of the clan that had just joined the God-King's army. Rainbow seemed to understand what she was up to and called the lightning to her side as she blasted the foul cauldron apart with a powerful bolt, one that they suspected might have been empowered by the three Thorignir that were flying around the air above the Gates of Valor, where it looked like they were taking down every Felbat that was up in the air, and it didn't take Vethir long to join the others as he raked his claws over those that were in the air and dropped them down into the area that was near a set of stairs.

The cauldron exploded when Rainbow blasted it with her lightning powers, scattering metal while knocking the Fel blood into the air and surprised the vrykul in the process, though that didn't stop her and Spitfire from lashing out at all of the blood that had been knocked into the air and cut it apart, mostly because that drew the Fel energy into their warglaives and empowered them further, before they landed and focused on the vrykul as they regained themselves, who quickly drew their weapons and rushed at the pair as Scarlet and Vytheril focused on another group of enemies that were nearby, so they didn't interfere with what Spitfire and Rainbow were doing. Even with their base powers the pair could tell that the normal vrykul and the Fel vrykul were strong, which sort of made sense considering that they had been part of Skovald's clan before he became infected with all the Fel energy that was now coursing through his veins, though that didn't stop either of them from parrying the incoming attacks that were coming their way, cutting down the Fel blasts the corrupted mystics sent their way and siphoned the power of the magical attacks, and either slashed their foes in half or cleanly took off their heads, allowing them to drag the Fel-corrupted souls into their warglaives while the souls of those that hadn't been yet corrupted were no doubt taken to Helheim, to be punished for their crimes. While they did that the Doomguard that was watching them fight growled and flew down into the area that they were currently located in, where he swung his large hand down at both of them as Spitfire parried the attack with one of her blades and then twisted it to knock his hand backwards, allowing her to swing the other blade and deliver a diagonal gash to Garzareth's chest, as the demon gave her and Rainbow his name as he flew down into this area, though Rainbow delivered a pair of smaller gashes to its back at the same time, causing the demon to growl as he drew himself to his full height and lashed out at them without warning, not that such a thing mattered since the pair was used to this sort of tactic. Of course the pair had to admit that Garazeth was slightly stronger than the majority of the demons that they had found scattered around Stormheim, mostly since the ones they had faced so far were minor minions and were nowhere near the power of the demons that had been in Mardum or the other Legion worlds, so it wasn't long before they brought down the Doomguard and split his soul in half, allowing the pair to take one of the fragments and empower themselves before they focused on the rest of the enemies that were happened to be scattered around the Gates of Valor.

What the group found was that there were a number of Mo'arg guarding one of the nearby portals, one of the major ones based on what they were seeing, and there were smaller gates that seemed to be calling in Imps, so what the group used a simple tactic in clearing out the area, Scarlet and Vytheril would focus on drawing out and weakening whoever was their targets, be they the Fel vrykul or a few demons, though after weakening them Spitfire and Rainbow would move in and cut down the demons before they had a chance to realize what was going on, which also allowed them to absorb the souls of their enemies and add their power to their own. Another thing that they did was make sure to clear out the area that was around the first of the three large portals that were scattered around the Gates, which involved killing all the Fel vrykul and their demonic allies, and once that was done Vytheril raised the horn Vethir gave them and blew it for a moment, which caused one of the four storm drakes to fly down and loose a powerful blast of their lightning breath into the portal once they were in position, breaking it to pieces within seconds, cutting into the amount of reinforcements Skovald's forces had to call upon if things went south for them, which would be happening soon enough. After the portal was broken the storm drake that came down returned to the sky and rejoined the rest of his brood, allowing the group to continue engaging the Fel vrykul and their demonic allies as they cleared out the Gates of Valor of those that were trying bring ruin to the area that lead to the Halls of Valor, though their next target was the Inquisitor demon, who appeared to be in the middle of a lecture of some kind based on the fact that there were a few Fel vrykul that were kneeling in front of it, but it didn't take it long to notice them and called for its students to attack the group. Given the fact that there were about five or six of the Fel vrykul standing in front of them Scarlet switched to wielding the Blades of the Fallen Prince and parried the incoming attacks as Vytheril blasted the same targets with his arcane blasts, opening the way for Spitfire and Rainbow to tackle the demon lieutenant that served Skovald, no doubt due to whatever orders its superior had given it, but Ravathes, which was the Inquisitor's name, preferred to keep its distance and blast them with the same magics that they had faced in Mardum, when they first encountered this type of demon, which basically gave them a number of openings and allowed them to cut the demon in half before it could even harm them, where they smiled as they split its soul and power, like they did to each of the demons they killed as a team, before assisting their friends once more.

As soon as the last of the Fel vrykul were dealt with, or at least that group to be exact, the four of them made sure that the rest area that rested around the set of stairs they had walked down to face Ravathes was clear of enemies, as the stairs had brought them to a lower level than the one that Garzareth had been located on, before all of them turned towards the left of the bottom of the stairs and started attacking the Fel vrykul and the demons that were down here, even though Spitfire recalled that the Gates of Valor had three areas to it, a small lower area, a much larger middle area, and a slightly smaller upper area which also contained the path to the Halls of Valor, but she intended on clearing everything out before they headed for the main set of stairs. Of course they also found one of the other two large Fel portals in this area, which lead the group to take care of the enemies that were in the immediate area so Vytheril could blow the horn and call down one of the other three storm drakes to blast the portal apart, though Spitfire and Rainbow made sure to cut down all of the demons that tried to stop them from breaking the larger portal apart, even though the Imps and Mo'arg failed and it only caused the pair to absorb a few more souls as each of the smaller portals were shattered as well, which cut into the amount of reinforcements their foes could be expecting to come to their aid. Once that was done they cut their way back to where the smashed cauldron was resting and headed to the other side of the section they were fighting on, even if that was when Scarlet and Vytheril headed into the lowest section to clear out the normal vrykul that were part of Skovald's Fel army, just so they didn't have anyone sneak up on them later, and quickly made their way over to what appeared to be a training area of some kind, where they found the massive Mo'arg that was the lieutenant for this fragment of the army it was now apart of, for the time being anyway, and none of the Fel vrykul or other, slightly smaller, Mo'arg were pleased to see the four of them advancing on their position. As such Scarlet raced forward and parried an incoming attack with one of her blades while cutting down a second with the other blade, opening the way for Vytheril to blast some of the Fel vrykul as they approached her, either knocking them backwards or knocking each of them onto their rears so Scarlet could finish what he started, but as they did that Spitfire and Rainbow rushed at the demons and dodged the incoming attacks, as the Mo'arg tried to smash both of them into the ground with their weapons, and even Muorg, the larger Mo'arg, failed to strike them as they moved around its training area.

It didn't take the pair all that long to cut into Muorg's arms and legs, something that caused the demon to roar in pain for a few moments, where they used the opening to take its head off and drop its body to the ground, which ended up crushing some of the Imps that rushed down to help them, as in they came from the upper area that the last of the lieutenants was resting in, and by the time Spitfire and Rainbow were done all of the Fel vrykul and the demons had their souls absorbed and their energies added to their power, while the normal vrykul were punished by being sent to Helheim, as Helya would have words with them at some point. Once they were done clearing out Muorg's area the group found a set of stairs that lead up to the area that the third and final large portal rested in, where there were a number of Fel vrykul warriors, several Imps, a small group of mystics that were maintaining the larger portal and a smaller one, and the fourth lieutenant that they had to take down, a Nathrezim some of the vrykul called Karuas, which was an odd name for a Dreadlord based on all of the named Dreadlords that Spitfire and Rainbow had encountered in the past. What they did first was purge the mystics that were guarding the larger portal, something that caused the rest of the Fel vrykul warriors, ten of them to be exact, to stop what they were doing and charge over to where they were standing, even though such a thing drew the attention of Karuas at the same time, who growled and rushed over to them with a look of anger on his face, which made sense due to the fact that Spitfire and Rainbow had helped Lord Illidan invade the world of the Nathrezim and then detonated it to kill off a good portion of the demonic race, meaning he knew what they had done and wanted to punish them for what they did in the past. As such the pair raised their weapons and parried the incoming claws that were heading their way, pushing their foe backwards a little bit, but even as that happened they left all of the Fel vrykul to Scarlet and Vytheril, who nodded their understanding, as they clashed with the Dreadlord and made sure that he was away from where their friends were working at the moment, something that was followed by one of the storm drakes flying down and blowing the large portal apart to sever the connection to whatever Legion world it was connected to, though even then the pair found that Karuas wasn't even putting up much of a fight, as it appeared that he was overwhelmed with anger for the loss of his planet and he might be using that as he fought them, not that it really mattered since they forced him to kneel and then took his head clean off, breaking his soul in half like all of the other lieutenants they had killed so far.

Once that was done they headed back to the main path of the Gates of Valor and walked up the stairs that lead right to the Halls of Valor, where it was easy to find a pair of large stone warriors, looking like the guards of Aggramar's Vault and also carried large weapons to defend the Gates, which they had done based on the vrykul corpses that were in front of them at the moment, guarding the steps from any and all invaders, where the pair allowed the group to walk by since they were here to help them out, and they found that Havi was standing directly in the middle of the large opening that was behind him, with Vethir off to his left.

"Well, we've cleared out the Gates of Valor of nearly every enemy that was attacking it," Scarlet commented, though as she said that she made sure that the Blades of the Fallen Prince were cleaned before shifting them back into Frostmourne, as the next time they got into a fight she wanted to use it against whoever their enemies were, even though she suspected it might be against Skovald, given that they hadn't seen the Fel-corrupted vrykul ruler anywhere since they reached the Gates of Valor, meaning he was either inside the Halls already or he was still outside the Halls like they were.

"With their Fel leaders slain, whatever is left of the God-King's forces will scatter," Vethir stated, his tone revealing that he was pleased with all of the work that the group had poured into destroying the united Fel vrykul and demon front that had been assaulting the Gates of Valor, especially since it also gave him and the rest of the Thorignir that had followed him to this area a chance to lash out at the forces of the one that had tried to force them to serve the Legion as Felbroken slaves, since they had been resisting that when he attacked them, before he growled for a moment as he focused on the group that was in front of him, "however, even with those four demons slain, we are not finished with our work, as it would seem that the portals we have destroyed down here were not the only ones our foe created to summon his foul forces into our world. While you were fighting our enemies, and wiped out the three portals that were scattered around the Gates, I'm sure that you noticed that we were fighting the demons that were pouring in from the top of the Gates of Valor's edifice, as we wanted to make sure that you weren't overwhelmed, but we have determined that they must have been summoned by the God-King himself! Now, we know that none of us, and by that I mean the Thorignir, can face Skovald, as with all of his Fel power he'll bind us to the ground and either torment us or leave us for his Fel allies, so we will carry those of you who cannot fly up to where our foe is waiting and allow you to face the God-King at the summit of the Gates of Valor, where you can break whatever portals might be up there and, more importantly, bring down the one that dares to defile the trials and the entirety of Stormheim!"

Scarlet and Vytheril wasted no time in climbing onto Vethir's back so he could take off and head up to the summit of the Gates of Valor's edifice, and once he was in the air Spitfire and Rainbow did the same thing as they followed him, where it quickly became easy for them and their friends to see their target, as Skovald was standing in the middle of the area they had flown up to, where he had four inactive portals resting near his position, though when Vethir got close his passengers jumped off and landed on the ground as they drew their weapons, which was what Spitfire and Rainbow did after landing near their friends and faced Skovald.

"Do not think that any of you stand a chance of beating me, simply because you have come this far and overcame all of the challenges that I threw at you!" Skovald shouted, his powerful voice echoing all over the entirety of the area that the Gates of Valor, at the very least, rested in, allowing pretty much everyone in this part of Stormheim to hear what he had to say to the group, though at the same time he shifted his stance and readied his massive greatsword as he stared at the group as he turned to face them, all while Vethir got out of there before the battle started, "All of you are nothing compared to my might! Do you hear me? NOTHING!"

What was immediately impressive was the fact that Skovald was able to swing his weapon, which normally required two hands to use its true strength, with one hand and it allowed him to use his other hand, his left hand, however he wanted, though Spitfire raised her warglaives and caught the blade between both of her weapons, something that caused part of the ground to crack as their two powers came into collision with each other, though in the following moment she found out what he used his spare hand for, as Scarlet and Rainbow rushed at him and he used his hands to parry their blades as they came at him, even though it ended with some gashes being added to his gauntlet. At the same time it appeared that he was unfazed by Vytheril's magic, as several arcane blasts hit his arms, legs, and his back as Skovald and Spitfire clashed for the first time, where he simply shrugged off the attacks like they were nothing and tried to push his main foe into the ground, though when that failed the two pushed each other backwards and they rushed at each other again, allowing both of their blades to clash with each other once more, causing the air to shudder a little in the process as their Fel energies came into contact to each other. As that happened, however, Spitfire did notice one crucial thing and that was that Skovald wasn't as strong as he seemed to be, as while he did hold a vast amount of Fel energy inside him, putting him above most, if not all, of the vrykul that were scattered around Stormheim, it wasn't enough to push back the power of a demon hunter that was trained by Lord Illidan and the best of the Illidari, though even if she understood that fact it was hard to see if her foe realized it or if Skovald felt that he was still stronger than she was and would crush her with ease, but even as they did that Skovald channeled a bit of Fel energy with his left hand and one of the portals activated, allowing a number of the Fel vrykul, who must have been training on a Legion world, to respond to his call. Rainbow noticed that and directed both of their friends to the portals, showing that the three of them would focus on cutting down any reinforcements that might be coming to aid their foe, while at the same time leaving Spitfire to parry the incoming Fel empowered strike, which pushed her back a tiny bit before she applied some pressure and knocked Skovald's weapon backwards before lashing out with both of her blades, causing sparks to fly as the two clashed in the middle of the summit.

The Fel vrykul weren't the only things that Skovald summoned to aid him, as from the second portal a group of Felstalkers rushed out to bite whoever got in their way, from the third came a Mo'arg that wanted to crush them, and from the fourth came a group of Imps, which was a little lackluster after the previous portal, but Rainbow, Scarlet, and Vytheril dealt with those foes as Spitfire and Skovald danced around the area they were fighting in, before Spitfire knocked the greatsword out of her foe's hand, carved an x shaped cross into his chest piece, and even hacked off one of his Fel horns, before using her right hoof to kick him backwards, even if it pushed him closer to his weapon.

"Enough! I grow tired of your pitiful attempts to bring me down!" Skovald declared, where he used his inner Fel energy to push all four of them away from where they were standing and put some distance between him and them, even if Spitfire was the only one that was close to him as he did that, though that ended up breaking the portals and prevented his allies from aiding him, allowing the group to focus their full attention on him and nothing else, which was when he rushed over to the edge of the summit he and Spitfire had been fighting in, grabbed his weapon, and then jumped over the ledge, like he might be committing suicide, before the group noticed that he had landed on his dragon mount and turned to look at the group once he was safe for the time being, "The Aegis will be mine you fools, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! If I see any of you in the Halls of Valor, attempting to take what is rightfully mine, I will cut you down and deliver your souls to the Legion!"

The group said nothing to that as Skovald flew off, either heading to the Halls or heading back to where Gul'dan might be observing his actions, and he quickly disappeared from their sight, preventing them from understanding where he might have gone so they could finish what Spitfire started, though as that happened Vethir flew down to the area that they were standing in and landed nearby, mostly since he would be carrying them back down to where Havi was waiting for them to return to his side, since they knew he might have something else to share with them before they focused on heading into the Halls of Valor and finally claimed the Aegis of Aggramar.

"Its a shame that we were unable to punish our foe, but at least we saved the Gates of Valor and the rest of Stormheim from what Skovald was doing." Vethir said, his tone revealing that he wasn't too pleased with what had just happened and that he wished he could head after their foe so he could rend the life out of his body, to punish him for what he had done to the land he had once called home, before he sighed and spread his wings for a moment, almost like he was beckoning for Scarlet and Vytheril to climb onto his back once more, "Come, it is time for us return to Havi."

No one needed to be told twice as the pair that couldn't fly climbed onto his back and he took off, where it took Spitfire and Rainbow a few seconds to do the same thing and follow after him, where this time around they could see that the area that was in front of the Gates of Valor had been cleared out and that there was nothing for any of them to fight this time around, to which they quickly landed and Vethir shared what happened with Havi, who seemed to be thinking while he listened to what the strom drake had to tell him.

"It's unfortunate that the God-King escaped, but his retreat has shown the hollowness of his cause, while breaking all of his portals has stemmed the flow of the Legion into Stormheim." Havi stated, where it was easy for the group to see that part of him was also annoyed about the fact that Skovald had gotten away and that he would be back in either the near future or at some point in the future, while part of him was pleased with what the group had done since they ended Stormheim, as they had remained true to the trials and had gone to Helheim and back to spit in the faces of those that would dare to ally themselves against the rest of this province, to which he gestured to the large archway that was behind him and what was beyond the Gates of Valor, though that was when he transformed into a massive Titan Watcher that was easily twice, if not three times, the size of Yotnar, where his armor looked like something that belonged to a great leader, his helm had what they assumed were metallic spread wings on each side of it, he had what appeared to be a molten beard, and it did look like one of his eyes had been plucked out at some point in the past, given that he had one blue eye and one dark eye that could be the socket, "Now then, champions, the Halls of Valor and the greatest of glory awaits you!"

In that moment Spitfire realized that they were standing before the ruler of the Halls of Valor, the being called Odyn based on everything they had learned from everyone that sought to aid them in their quest to pass the trials, and that he either left the Halls and took the shape of Havi to watch over those that sought the trials, of which many failed based on what all of them had seen, or maybe he was still inside the Halls and this was an illusion of some kind, one that looked more solid than anything she and Rainbow had seen, possibly showing just how much power Odyn actually had, before she glanced at the others for a moment and they nodded to her, to which they stepped forward and braced themselves for whatever the Halls of Valor could possibly put between them and their target.