//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Dealing with Demons 
// Story: World of Warcraft: Burning Skies 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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"I'm glad that's over." Spitfire commented, though even as she said that she banished her warglaives back to her horns for a time and stopped when the neared the area that Saurfang and the rest of the leaders, from both factions, were standing in, even though she could see that Khadgar and the other mages were in the middle of teleporting everyone back to Dalaran so they could continue their efforts to turn the tide against the Legion, especially since she had no idea if the other Pillars of Creation had been found or not, before she sighed as she glanced at the rest of her now fellow leaders, "The first thing we have to do is come to an agreement between the two factions, a ceasefire for the foreseeable future to be exact, though a new leader for the Forsaken will have to be chosen as well, someone who won't do what Sylvanas tried to do and wishes for peace between both the Alliance and the Horde."

"Given how you handled revealing Sylvanas' ploy, and the fact that her desires didn't match up with what the rest of what we want, I'm sure finding a new leader will be easy," Anduin replied, because he had faith in Spitfire's abilities, as she would make a good Warchief, even if he suspected that it was temporary in her eyes, and that her power would show the rest of the Horde's leaders that she could defend herself from the dangers of their world, before he glanced at the Forsaken that were standing nearby, who seemed confused as to what was going on and what they were supposed to do now, "and it seems that some of your new followers are in need of guidance, so between those two I'm sure that you'll be busy between now and when we start our investigation in Suramar, for the last Pillar of Creation."

"And I'll be sure to do so, given the situation that I have thrust myself into," Spitfire said, to which she turned towards the rest of the heroes that followed her to Stormheim and focused on Rainbow for a few seconds, who was walking away from Nathanos' body, as while she was expecting the undead archer to do something in regards to Sylvanas, like free her from the area she had been imprisoned in before this battle had happened, she wasn't expecting him to make an attempt on her life, and such a pitiful one at that, but right now she needed to focus on everything that was going on and what she needed to do next, "Rainbow, while I'm busy making sure that the Horde doesn't pull itself apart due to Sylvanas' death, and find a new leader to lead the Forsaken in her place, I want you to head back to the Fel Hammer and see what the rest of the Illidari are up to, since I'm sure they've been keeping their eyes on the Legion and might have discovered a threat or something that needs to be taken out before we move forward with Suramar. Oh, and Eyir, did you retrieve Sylvanas' soul, or do we have to worry about her coming back to bother us?"

"Her soul, along with the soul of Nathanos and the Lich King's Val'kyr that were following the banshee, have been taken to the Shadowlands, to be judged by the Arbiter," Eyir declared, her tone revealing that she was pleased by what had Spitfire had done, by getting revenge for her and the others that had been mistreated by Sylvanas, be it her, the Val'kyr, and even her own forces, the latter that really made everyone angry, even though she and Odyn were also happy that their new ally had stopped Sylvanas from breaking open a portal to the Shadowlands and really screwing everything over, before she focused on Spitfire once more, "You have done well in stopping the Banshee Queen from doing all of the deeds that the spiritual human showed everyone, and, at the same time, you have shown great honor by abiding by all of the rules that you set, even if your foe broke them all and tried to end your life with a blast of death magic... it seems that Odyn might have found a champion that is truly honorable and full of valor, so you should expect him asking you to deal with Heyla in the near future, when you have time anyway."

Spitfire said nothing to that, rather she nodded her head and thought about that, as it would be nice to take someone like Helya down so she would stop trying to bring death to the lands of the living, and making terrible deals like what she did with Sylvanas earlier, to which Eyir and Havi departed for the Halls of Valor not a few moments later, something that was followed by her doing the same thing as she and the other leaders of the Horde headed into Orgrimmar, which allowed Rainbow and the rest of the heroes to head back to Dalaran with Khadgar and whoever was heading back there, as there were a few things she needed to set straight right now, hence why the leaders of the Alliance were following her group as well, to which Rainbow smiled for a few seconds as she walked through the nearby portal. While Rainbow wanted to show off to her new friends and their allies, to reveal her skills and whatnot, she knew that Spitfire was stronger than she was and when she fought someone it was best to stand back and provide support, hence why she might have been in the back of the pack for a time, but now that everyone was going their separate ways for a time, no doubt to check out their Order Halls, Khadgar's name for the places the various 'classes' of Azeroth gather in, such as the Fel Hammer for her and the rest of the Illidari, so they could check in with all of their allies and plan their next moves against the Legion, making her take a moment to wonder what Kor'vas and the others might have for her. What she was thinking was that she could see what the others had in store for her and get moving with their next set of attacks on the Legion's forces, mostly since Spitfire was now the Warchief of the Horde and would be busy for a time, so this was mostly to get the boring or tedious stuff out of the way, so that way, when she came back to the ship, they would tackle some of the harder stuff together, before they tried to find out where the Felsouls might be waiting for them, given that they had fled the last time she and Spitfire had faced the pair of corrupted demon hunters. As such she waited for a few moments, to make sure that Khadgar's portal took them to Dalaran, and as soon as they arrived Rainbow bid the other heroes farewell for the time being before she bothered to make her way over to where the Landing of the city was located, where the Flight Master was tending to all of his griffins and other flying creatures, and then leapt into the air as she spread her wings so she could fly down to the tiny floating island that the portal to Mardum rested in.

What Rainbow found was that most of the Illidari were busy, either pouring over the various pieces of information that they had gathered on Spitfire's orders, slashing at some of the chained demons to make sure their skills weren't rusting, or training their allies so they could be ready for what was ahead of them, as in the Broken and the Naga, though that was around the time that she found Kor'vas looking at something and she raised her head as soon as Rainbow returned to the Fel Hammer, where she beckoned her over and it wasn't long before she touched down in front of the demon hunter, as she was interested in what she might have to share with her.

"Rainbow Dash, the time has come for us to make contact with the Master's soul." Kor'vas stated, which Rainbow wasn't expecting to hear, as she figured that they would have tackled a few more demons and done something else before they even attempted such a thing, but she remained silent as Kor'vas talked, as while she might be one of Spitfire's champions she was sure that Kor'vas was one as well, before the demon hunter sighed for a moment, "We know that it is somewhere in the endless expanse of the Twisting Nether, which, as you no doubt know, Mardum is located in, so naturally one would assume that such a thing would be easy... however, the truth of the matter is that finding a specific soul is not unheard of, as we've discovered that the Legion have done it a number of times over the years, but it will be exceedingly difficult, even for us, since we might appear on our enemy's radar while we do this. Now, the Matron Mother had us gather a number of components while you and Lady Spitfire were in Stormheim, stopping the Alliance and Horde from tearing each other to pieces at such a critical stage of this invasion, but, thanks to some careful calculations we did earlier, we have discovered that we're going to need a great deal of demon blood to perform this ritual... like, a lot of it!"

"Well, Stormheim has next to no demons left at the moment, as I'm assuming you mean fresh blood and not the blood of a demon that's been dead for a while," Rainbow remarked, showing that she understood what Kor'vas was talking about, which seemed to either surprise the demon hunter in question or impress her, as it was hard to tell what the rest of the Illidari were expressing when most of them had burned out their eyes and someone of them were stuck in permanent expressions of anger or thought, because she knew that there was at least one or two who had such a thing happen after they became demon hunters, though that was when she thought about the map of the Broken Isles, "I don't think there are any demons in Highmountain or Val'sharah, so our choices are to either head down to part of Azsuna, since you guys tackled some of the Legion's forces in that province, or head into Suramar, into Felsoul Hold to be exact, and harvest the blood from the demons that call that place home... Azsuna might be safer in the long run, given that we know Gul'dan is either in Suramar or the Broken Shore, so attacking Felsoul Hold too soon might alert him to our presence and cause him to do something to hinder our progress in some manner."

It was in that moment that Kor'vas revealed a container, a cylindrical one at that, which she said was supposed to contain enough space to hold the blood of a hundred demons inside it, giving Rainbow a number to work with when she decided which area she wanted to tackle, while at the same time informing her that once she had enough demonic blood that she should return to Kayn and give it to him, where Rainbow wasted no time in letting her know that she understood the next stage of their plan and grabbed the container before heading back to the portal, so she could head back to Dalaran and pick out which province she wanted to assault. In the end she determined to assault Azsuna, given that she didn't want to alert Gul'dan just yet, and once she was on the other side of the portal, standing on the small island again, she spread her wings and took off for the province that happened to be left of where the city was floating in the air, as there happened to be an area where the demons were fighting a force of Illidari that either Spitfire had sent there or one of her champions had done the same thing while they were in Stormheim, though as she did that she spotted a few elven ruins scattered all over Azsuna, making her wonder if Khadgar and the mages were planning on going and exploring some of them for the lost magics they might have. Instead of focusing on all of the ruins, and what might be inside them, she focused on what she had been told and quickly found the Fel-corrupted area that was her destination, where she quickly found all sorts of demons guarding the place from any enemies that might try to beat them down and expel them from Azeroth, such as the Mo'arg, Inquisitors, Imps, Felstalkers, one or two Infernals, a dead Jailer, a number of Eredar, some Felbats, and a Felguard that seemed to be a commander, meaning she had a number of targets to choose from and that none of them would be missed in the grand scheme of things, to which Rainbow grinned for a moment as she drew her warblades and flashed down right into the area that the Felguard commander was standing in, where the demon barely had a chance to move as he noticed her and its body collapsed into a pile of pieces, to which she stood up for a moment and gathered the blood from its body, even though she also absorbed its soul as well. Such a thing caused her to keep the smile on her face for a few more seconds, as this allowed her to cut down on the number of demons in Azeroth, absorb their souls so the Legion didn't learn what she and the other Illidari were up to, gather the blood she needed, and get a power boost for later, all so she could catch up with Spitfire, despite the fact that she believed that Spitfire would find a way to get a massive boost in the near future, how she had no idea.

As such Rainbow went on a rampage of sorts, where she carefully hunted down the demons that were in the area that the Felguard had been standing in and swung her warblades at whoever dared to challenge her, which involved slicing Imps in half, cutting down the Felstalkers, dodging the attacks that the Mo'arg sent at her before slicing them open, stabbing the Inquisitors in the back and making sure they stopped moving, cutting the Eredar down before any of the corrupt magic users even knew she was there, and hunted down the rest of the demons that were scattered around this area, which was called Faronaar according to one of the Eredar who claimed that the Legion commanded this area, something she sort of believed based on the more corrupted side of the island that housed who knew how many demons inside it, an area that she and the others would have to investigate at some point. From what she could see as she flew near the other half of the island was that there were a fair number of the demonic spiders that the Illidari had encountered on Mardum, the Aranasi she recalled, and by that she meant both the normal demonic spiders and the more bipedal female demons that were just like the Brood Queen who used to rule Mardum, though she was sure that if she flew over the rest of the island she would find a number of other demons gathering their forces for a push into Azsuna, or at least that was what she would do if she was in the Legion's position, so it was likely that there were more demons to fight. However, she decided to continue with her task for once and take this information back to Kor'vas and the others, since they needed to know of a demonic force that was near where one of their camps was resting, since she did spot the Illidari camp on the other side of the small bit of watch that was between this island and the main part of Azsuna, so she continued to hack into the demons that were all around the area she was in and collected both their blood and their souls, though once she was done here, and the rest of her friends knew of the force of demons, she was sure that the demons would be routed in due time and peace brought back to Azsuna, before they focused on Suramar and the Broken Shore, the last two provinces that seemed to be infested with demons, based on what their readings in the Fel Hammer indicated. In fact the last demon Rainbow needed to take down was one of the Eredar and made sure to take her soul, along with a good amount of her blood, though once she did that she made sure to seal the container, as to not spill any of the blood she had collected, before heading into the air and started to head back to Dalaran, as she was interested in seeing if Spitfire had returned to the city yet or if she was back in Orgrimmar, dealing with the leaders of the factions.

When she returned to the floating city, however, she found that many of the leaders were already present and seemed to be in the middle of sending out their forces to the four provinces, as in sending some soldiers to their new allies in case of a Legion invasion or something, like an advanced warning system so they could know where to sent the rest of the armies, before she spotted someone standing near the edge of the Landing and smiled as Spitfire glanced up at her, to which she landed nearby and tucked her wings in as she approached her friend, who seemed to be ready for whatever the rest of the Illidari needed to before they headed to Suramar.

"I wasn't expecting you to be done with the other leaders so soon," Rainbow commented, as while she was sure that she had been in Faronaar for some time, like thirty minutes tops, she felt that it was hard for the leaders to come to any sort of understanding in that short amount of time, especially since both of them had been at war with each other for so long and had a history of conflict with each other, something that Spitfire had positioned herself between and apparently wanted to bring an end to it, which she agreed with since they had a much bigger threat looming over this world, "So, tell me, what in the world happened in Orgrimmar?"

"As of right now, we've agreed that there will be no war between the Alliance and the Horde, so all of our forces are getting ready for the Legion's next move," Spitfire replied, though even as she said that she seemed pleased with herself, as she had done what she had originally planned when she decided to declare the Mak'gora, stop the potential war between both factions and had now focused their attention on the Legion, which had to be worth something, before she glanced over to Rainbow for a moment and noticed the container that was on her back, "also, we discovered the existence of the Desolate Council, a band of twenty-two Forsaken lead by their Vellcinda Benton, who have agreed to rule over the Undercity and the rest of the Forsaken in Sylvanas' place, while promising that they aren't going to be following in her footsteps, so we won't have to worry about any further interruptions from her supporters. What's with the container?"

Rainbow took a moment to explain what she had been doing, that she had been in Azsuna killing demons to take a decent amount of their blood for a ritual that Kor'vas and the others wanted to perform, to contact Lord Illidan's soul, though as soon as Spitfire heard that she decided that her worries about being the Warchief were irrelevant right now and both of them wasted no time in spreading their wings and heading for the small island so they could return to the Fel Hammer, all so they could see what happened when the blood was delivered to those that had requested it, though on the other side of the portal they found Kayn and Altruis waiting near the ship's entry point.

"Well, I've collected the amount of demonic blood that Kor'vas said we needed for the ritual," Rainbow stated, where she took a moment to shift her stance for a moment and passed the container to the pair that was in front of her and Spitfire, as she knew that both of them had been informed of the ritual that they were planning on doing and that they must have been making sure everything was ready before all of the blood had been acquired, the missing ingredient that she had claimed from the demons of Azsuna, even though she could see that Spitfire was interested in what was going to happen next, especially since it seemed different than what happened outside Orgrimmar.

"If this isn't enough demon blood to contact Lord Illidan, then no amount will be." Kayn commented, though at the same time he sighed for a moment as he took the container from Rainbow, almost like he was considering the changes of them actually being able to pull this off with a success, which would mean finding the soul of their Lord, before he glanced up at the pair that was in front of him and Altruis, where he was reminded of what they had done so far and suspected that if both of them were involved with the ritual this might work for them, "Now, let us see if we can make contact with Illidan's spirit in the Twisting Nether, though we're risking our very position by doing this, given that the Nether is full of creatures with unimaginable power and appetites and the vast amount of worlds that the Legion controls... but, despite how risky this sounds, we have to perform the ritual so we can figure out the next steps of our Lord's plan to bring down the Legion, and we've prepared the Nether Crucible for this event. Its time to make the blood offering."

Spitfire and Rainbow nodded for a moment as they followed the pair down to the lower level of the Fel Hammer, where the Nether Crucible was located and found Kor'vas standing near it, no doubt putting some finishing touches on it and what they were planning on doing, to which they stood in front of where it rested, and in front of the ramp that lead right to the forge that empowered their weapons and reforged Frostmourne to use against the Legion, before spilling the blood into the center of the device and readied their Fel powers for a moment, as it was time for them to see if they could figure out where their Lord's soul was located... though not even a few moments later, as literally ten seconds passed after the start of the ritual, a transparent image, which was blue colored for some reason, appeared before them and it just so happened to be the image of their Lord's soul, even if they had no idea where in the Twisting Nether he was since there was nothing else to see.

"Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, I have been expecting your arrival for some time now... it is good to see that the both of you are alive and are fighting the Legion." Illidan said, where it looked like he had a smile on his face, even though he was dead at the moment and that he needed to be returned to his body, though even as he said that it appeared that, even as a soul, which shouldn't have to worry about fighting anyway, he had fought something recently and that he was in the middle of crushing the skull of a demon, meaning either his soul was lingering in an odd sort of limbo and was killing any demon who dared to come near his position, or he was hunting them down and devouring their Fel energy to sustain himself until he could be returned to his body, before he noticed the others that were near the pair, "Kayn Sunfury, Altruis, Kor'vas Bloodthorn, it is good to see the three of you again as well."

"It is good to see you again, our Lord." the three other Illidari said, where they bowed their heads for a moment and were happy to see that they were able to find the soul of their Lord, something that made Kayn wonder if the power of Spitfire and Rainbow, a power that Lord Illidan seemed to have been studying before the assault on Mardum and might have even been keeping track of in the Twisting Nether, given the fact that he came to their call within seconds of the ritual starting, but despite his thoughts on the matter he, Altruis, and Kor'vas remained silent as they listened to what their Lord had to tell them, as it seemed like he might know why they were calling to his soul.

"I would like nothing more than to hear what you have to tell me, about your tales, but there is little time, so I would ask all of you to listen to what I have to say," Illidan said, where the group remained silent for a time as they waited for him to say what he had to say, though both Spitfire and Rainbow seemed happy that their Lord knew something about what they had been through and had been eager to hear what they had done so far, before he straightened his body and faced them so he could give them the information that they sought, "Long ago, before the assault on Mardum, I entrusted the duplicitous Akama with planning the campaign against the Legion and eventually entrusted him with my final plan for our assault, so he, alone, knows every detail of what needs to be done to bring down the Legion, which means that all of you will need his counsel if you are to succeed. Also, I shouldn't have to remind you of this, but I will for the sake of being thorough, as you must also regain the Sargerite Keystone to invade the Legion's worlds, or in this case Argus and a few select worlds that I felt we needed to take down before the main event, so you will need to figure out where Maiev might have hidden it, even if she might not want to part with it... there is more I would like to say, but your ritual is starting to attract attention, and I feel that you won't be able to contact me like this again, so I will pass the leadership to you, Spitfire."

Spitfire and the others watched as something found their Lord's soul and he lashed out at them with an Eye Beam, tearing the demon in question apart rather easily, though before they watched anything else the image disappeared and nothing was left above the Nether Crucible, to which Kayn, Kor'vas, and Altruis lead them up to where the rest of the Illidari were waiting for them and declared that they had been successful in their mission to contact Lord Illidan's soul, that they had acquired wisdom and a course of action, and that Spitfire had, as predicted, been named as the leader of the Illidari, just like she had been doing before hand, causing the Illidari to cheer as they walked over to where the Shivarra were standing, as they needed to speak to the leader of their allies.

"I overheard that our Lord wishes for you to seek Akama... just so you know, getting into the Black Temple is going to be rather tricky." Malevolence said, showing Spitfire and Rainbow that she understood what they were going to ask her and that she already had an answer prepared for them, though at the same time the pair suspected that there was something interesting that she knew and that none of them were going to like, even though she was focused on the reason that they approached her in the first place, "Following the break-in by the Council of the Black Harvest, where one of them stole the power of the Shrine of Lost Souls and transformed himself into a demon after devouring the Fel energy... something I'm sure one of the Netherlords is looking into, given their interest in demons... Akama had his Sha'tari priests erect a Holy barrier over the temple, one that prevents me from using my teleportation magic to get inside. However, despite having such an obstacle in our way, I might know a way to bypass those protections and take us directly to the summit, as long ago, I had a... liaison with a certain high elf wizard named Lan'dalock, who later joined the Kirin Tor... if you were to ask him very nicely, and drop my name, I am certain that he would help you find something to overcome the barrier."

Given the fact that Lan'dalock was a member of the Kirin Tor, and that the base of operations for that particular group of mages happened to be Dalaran, Spitfire and Rainbow headed for the portal that would take them back to the floating city, where Malevolence mentioned for them to give the mage her best, no doubt implying that they had more than a normal relationship in the past, where it didn't take them long to return to the landing and found a guard, who pointed them back towards the structure that the Council of Seven rested in, meaning more Archmages had to be milling around that area, besides everyone they had seen in the past so far, where it wasn't long before they found a person who looked a lot like a blood elf but wasn't, meaning he had to be a high elf, even though it was a purple transparent version of him and he was up on the second floor of the building.

"Archmage Lan'dalock? We need to talk with you for a few minutes." Spitfire said, though she made sure that no one else was around her, Rainbow, and the transparent image that was right in front of them, mostly due to the nature of what she had been told a few minutes ago, since an Archmage having a demonic contact would be seen as wrong, even traitorous, thanks to the current invasion that was going on right now, hence the reason that she lowered the volume of her voice as the image turned to face her and Rainbow, "Malevolence told us you might have a way to bypass a Holy barrier that can protect whatever its thrown up around from Fel magic, like teleportation magic to be exact."

"The Matron Mother?" Lan'dalock inquired, where the pair watched as the Archmage's face quickly turned red for a couple of seconds as he choked out a cough and looked around surreptitiously, doing exactly what Spitfire had done before even mentioning the part of the demon in question, though he continued to do so for a few moments, meaning he had to be a little paranoid over this matter, even though Spitfire could understand why he would feel that way and act this way, only to stop and sigh for a moment as he faced them, "Yes, of course. Anything for Malevolence... oh, and sorry about using this holographic projection, as I'm literally need to be in two places at once these days."

"Understandable, given the invasion we're dealing with at the moment," Rainbow remarked, though even as she said that, and both Spitfire and Lan'dalock seemed to focus on what had been mentioned, along with the Matron Mother's name being dropped, she felt that there was a demon in the nearby area and that it didn't belong to one of the warlocks, even if they seemed to be inside the sewers from what one of the guards mentioned, a rather odd place when she thought about it, but kept her eyes and ears open as the pair in front of her spoke to each other and Spitfire acquired what Malevolence had sent them to collect for their mission.

"Now then, you said that you're dealing with a Holy barrier that protects against Fel magic? I actually have just the thing to bypass such a thing and enable Malevolence's to teleport to whatever her destination is." Lan'dalock stated, where the pair watched as the high elf rummaged around in his pack for a few seconds, a pack that had been resting nearby and showed them that even a transparent image could interact with things, revealing what the magic of this world was capable of and that each mage seemed to be prepared for anything, since he must have left all of this here in case some of the other heroes came to ask him a question or look for something specific, before a shocked look quickly came over his face as he noticed something was missing and glanced at the nearby railing for a moment.

What they found was that there was an Imp resting nearby and that it was holding onto a grimoire, a spell book that looked like the one they had been sent to collect, though as it turned to jump off the railing that it was standing on, to escape and deliver this information to its Legion masters, Rainbow quickly stopped it by flashing over to where it was located and, in a display of speed that shocked the Imp in question, grabbed the demon before it could even run away, where she quickly sliced its head off and fed its soul to her warblades in a matter of seconds, where Spitfire picked up the grimore and held it out towards Lan'dalock, mostly in the sense that she was asking if it was what he was looking for, and he nodded his head and beckoned for them to take it, to which they nodded and departed for the Fel Hammer. Spitfire wasn't surprised by the speed that Rainbow had displayed when catching the Imp before it had a chance to flee from the building they had been standing in, though even as they left the structure she could have sworn that she felt the familiar tingle of Varedis' magic in the air and sensed frustration with it, meaning he and Caria must have been looking for the tome, to either keep it out of their hands or to use its knowledge to hit somewhere important, like one of the other Order Halls, specifically either the location of the paladins or the priests, since they were the ones that were well versed in Holy magic and would likely have the means to erect such a barrier. Part of her wondered if the Legion was only doing that in order to weaken Azeroth, since both of the Orders had heroes that had thwarted the demons in the past, or if it was due to the fact that they had something that the Legion wanted to get their hands on, like one of the Naaru or something, but in the end keeping the tome to themselves and using it against the demons was better for everyone, since it prevented their enemies from doing anything against their allies, hence the reason that they returned to the Landing and flew over to the small island the portal was resting on. Once that was done Spitfire and Rainbow passed through the portal and stepped out on the other side, where the champions of the Illidari seemed to be waiting for the order to be given for them to do something, even though they were eager to tackle their true enemies, which they would get to in due time, just as soon as they found the Sargerite Keystone and recovered the last Pillar of Creation, though that was when Rainbow took a moment to walk over to Malevolence and handed her the grimoire, so she could study it and figure out if they needed any other components before trying to infiltrate the Black Temple.

"Normally, we would do some scouting to make sure you two aren't teleporting into a trap, since we're sure that Akama might have set something up for some of us," a voice said, where the pair found that it was Belath speaking this time, as he was usually quiet and listened to what the rest of his superiors had to say on a matter, though they were interested in what he had to say, since it was possible that he might have an interesting point or two to share with all of them, as Kayn and Altruis, at the very least, were standing nearby and were waiting for him to speak his mind, before they got back to planning the next stage of their operation, "but, based on what I can remember from our time in the Black Temple, I think if we were able to teleport both of you to the summit, and arm you with a return crystal, Akama might be fine with the two of you being there, as he seemed to approve of you more than he approved of Lord Illidan."

"So if we tell him that Spitfire is the leader of the Illidari, he might join our cause?" Rainbow inquired, because that seemed to be what Belath was telling them, that all they had to do was teleport to the summit of the Black Temple and tell Akama that there has been a change in leadership in the forces that had occupied the temple for some time, a location that they were sure their Lord had promised to return to Akama once he was done fighting the Legion, but she had to admit that it made sense when she thought about it, especially since she and Spitfire had no idea how Akama would react since neither of them knew the Broken in question all that well.

No one said anything to that, since they really had no idea how Akama would react to their presence in the temple, which meant that there was a chance he would attack them or just peacefully talk with the pair, which was eventually followed by Malevolence revealing that the way to bypass the magical barrier was simpler than she originally believed and that with all of her new knowledge she was able to open the way to the Black Temple's summit, to which she channeled her magic into the area that was to her left and opened a Fel gateway, one that seemed to be surrounded by Arcane energy to prevent their enemies from locking onto their location. With that done she beckoned for Spitfire and Rainbow to head out and see if they could convince Akama to join them in their war against the Legion, to which the pair nodded for a moment before both of them walked through the portal that was in front of them, even though the former made sure to keep an eye on Mardum and be ready to defend themselves in the off chance that their enemies tried to attack them, something that all of her champions agreed with, before they passed through the magical gateway and headed towards their destination, an area that they hadn't been in for a long time. Not even a few moments later they appeared on the outskirts of the summit of the temple, where they usually trained with Lord Illidan so they could master their abilities when they originally became too much for their previous teachers, though it didn't take either of them long to find Akama standing in the middle of the summit, in the area that had to be where the heroes of Azeroth fought their Lord so long ago, when they returned from Mardum with the Sargerite Keystone, and it seemed that he hadn't noticed their arrival yet, but Spitfire was no fool and knew that he was likely aware that they had arrived, since Lord Illidan had told him everything and that meant that he had to know someone, be they the Legion or the Illidari he once worked with, would be coming for him. As they walked away from where the portal rested, however, Spitfire held her hand out and shook her head, indicating that Rainbow should keep her warblades hidden for now, as she didn't want Akama to think that they were here to kill him or drag him back to the Fel Hammer against his will, and Rainbow nodded her head to show her that she agreed, to which Spitfire walked away from the portal and approached the center of the summit, leaving her friend to guard the portal, even if there weren't any enemies that could use it to get to the Fel Hammer, and it was the sound of her hooves that alerted Akama.

"Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, I knew that it was only a matter of time until the Illidari sought me out, hence the barrier to keep the Legion from entering this temple," Akama commented, where he turned around and stared at both of them for a few seconds, his tone and words confirming Spitfire's thoughts on the matter, though at the same time he wasn't carrying the weapons that they had seen the last time both of them had seen the Broken, rather they were attached to his belt, as if he was showing them that he truly understood what was going on and that he was willing to talk, "Am I correct in assuming that you came to recruit me into your war against the Legion?"

"We are, as we spoke to Lord Illidan's soul and he told us to seek you out, since you knew his entire plan to bring down the Legion and its masters," Spitfire replied, deciding that she might as well reveal the reason that they had come to the Black Temple after so many years of being trapped inside the Warden's Vault, even though it would have been best if Maiev had just left them alone and didn't interfere with their plans, as they could have stopped most of this from happening, but she focused on the reason that they were here in the first place and made sure Akama was her focus, "we would appreciate it if you followed us through this portal and returned to the Fel Hammer, which is our base of operations in Mardum, and help us figure out what we need to do to bring down Sargeras' forces... you don't have to stay with us if you don't want to, as I will not force you to stay in a place that you don't want to stay in, but we do need whatever plans Lord Illidan shared with you, so if you just want to write it down and have us leave we can do that as well."

"You are different from Illidan... perhaps what I saw might come to pass," Akama said, something that surprised Spitfire and Rainbow, since they weren't aware that he had the ability to see visions, though it was highly possible, if somewhat unlikely, that the Holy barrier that was covering the temple might have awakened some of his former powers, because if memory served he had been a paladin or something before becoming one of the Broken, something he didn't like to talk about based on what they recalled, before he stepped away from where he was standing and walked over to where the pair were standing, "Come, there are things I must tell you and obstacles to overcome, before we can declare war on our enemies and bring down the Legion."

Spitfire and Rainbow wasted no time in nodding their heads and escorted Akama back through the portal, where both of them were sure that he would ask to come back and collect his Ashtongue forces for the upcoming battle with the Legion, and they quickly returned to the Fel Hammer, where their ally walked over to Kayn and all of Spitfire's champions, which meant there were things he needed them to do before he revealed everything they needed to do, before the pair paused for a moment as they felt some Fel energy near the opposite side of the ship, from where the portal to Dalaran rested to be exact, and walked over to it as the rest of the Illidari braced themselves for whatever was coming, where they found two sinister Fel green transparent images, of Varedis and Caria no less.

"How touching... you've recruited another worthless maggot into your 'army'," Caria stated, her tone informing everyone that she was mocking them and that she felt that all of them were beneath her at this point in time, telling those that were even remotely familiar with her, or had been friends with her before she had been either killed or kidnapped before their assault on Mardum, that their old comrade was dead and that they were staring at the twisted demonic version that was resting near a corrupted Varedis, something that also annoyed many of the demon hunters, especially after everything he did to fight the Legion, "not that it matters, given what we have seen over the years."

"This is quite the ragtag bunch you have here, Spitfire, and I would have thought you could do better than this, even if all you had were the Betrayer's leftovers," Varedis said, where many of the Illidari gripped their weapons as they glared in the direction of where Spitfire and Rainbow were standing at the moment, even though Rainbow knew what to do and took a moment to motion for everyone to remain still as Spitfire listened to what their enemies had to say, since this might give them some information on what their enemies were doing and which of the Legion's worlds they were calling home right now, for when they found and recovered the Sargerite Keystone, "But, enough with the pleasantries, even though none of you deserved them to begin with. Our lord, Kil'jaeden, has sent us to let all of you know that the Illidari will soon be joining the Burning Legion and forsaking your foolish fight against us..."

"...not to mention to show all of you that you are not safe, not even here on the Fel Hammer." Caria finished, showing that they must have practiced this at some point in the past, after their warglaives were taken from them, though at the same time it appeared that Caria was ticked off, no doubt about the fact that her weapons were being wielded by someone she didn't think was worthy enough to use them in battle, but she said nothing else after that, meaning that she was waiting for Varedis to say what was on his mind before speaking again, though that didn't stop her from glaring at Rainbow and her old warblades for a few moments.

"Hear me, Illidari! All present in the Fel Hammer are welcome to join the Legion, be they demons or the hunters that they have foolishly allied with!" Varedis called out, allowing his voice to carry throughout the rest of the ship so it could reach all of their forces, meaning that everyone was listening to what he was saying right now while Caria remained silent, though at the same time Spitfire and Rainbow stared at them for a few seconds, wondering if they were being serious about this or if Kil'jaeden's corrupted allies were just this stupid, before he continued speaking to everyone that was currently inside the Fel Hammer, "Great power will be granted to those who choose to forsake the foolish mission your fallen lord gave you and join us in our glorious crusade, while painful agony awaits everyone who decides to reject this gift and continue down this foolish path, until you break from our Lord's torture and are reborn as Felsworn... Spitfire, personally I hope you, of all the Illidari, refuse, just so I can have the honor of beating you in battle and returning those warglaives to my hands, while delivering your broken body to Xazariel."

"Come now, Varedis, fair is fair... even if I feel the same towards Rainbow Dash." Caria said, revealing that both of the foul Felsworn traitors wanted their weapons back and that they were likely gorging themselves on Fel energy to prepare for the battle that would happen when they eventually came face to face with Spitfire and Rainbow again, when they figured out which planet they called their base of operation, though as soon as that was said both of the Felsouls disappeared from the area that their images had appeared in and left the Illidari to their devices, as if neither of them cared about what they did before assaulting Mardum at some point in the future.

In that moment Spitfire turned to the rest of the Illidari and found that they were determined to show the Felsouls that they were wrong and that Lord Illidan's path was what would prevail over the Legion, to which she nodded her head and everyone got to work once more, where she walked over to Akama and those he was talking to, as it was time to see what else they needed to do to follow their Lord's plan and assault the worlds that their enemies called home, before worrying about the final Pillar of Creation and Gul'dan, pieces that needed to be taken care of before they sealed the Felstorm and stopped the invasion entirely.