World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Suramar: Return to Helheim

Once Khadgar and Jaina informed the other heroes, those who weren't in Shal'Aran, Meredil, or Tel'anor, as those just so happened to be the main camps of the Nightborne rebellion, of what they had just discovered, Spitfire and Rainbow bid Thalyssra farewell for now, as both of them knew that she would be able to handle training an army with both Tyrande and Lady Liadrin, at the very least, assisting her while keeping an eye on Gul'dan and his demons, before heading outside their base of operations, where Allari followed and handed Spitfire a large crystal that would hold the soul they were after, to which they nodded their heads and took to the skies once more. Truthfully, Spitfire was a tad bit surprised to learn that the Legion would make such a deal with Helya in the first place, for her to take Lord Illidan's soul and keep it safe from all those who might come looking for it, but in the end she figured that it had to be due to Kil'jaeden or Gul'dan thinking the ruler of Helheim might be able to bring down some of Azeroth's heroes and weaken them even further, cutting down on the number of enemies either of them would have to fight later on, making their jobs that much easier if such a thing were to happen. In addition to Helya being in possession of their Lord's soul, which was the main reason they were heading to her domain, something that would happen after they spoke to Odyn, the other reason Spitfire wanted to take Helya down was because she had formed a pact with Sylvanas during their last visit to Stormheim, meaning the ancient being might be wanting to make another deal with someone else, to fulfill what the Banshee Queen couldn't accomplish, so she knew that eliminating her would help safeguard Azeroth from another threat and would likely appease Odyn as well. The reason for calling all of their new friends to their side was because she was also sure that this would count as another raid, the time where every hero of this world, as in from both the Alliance and the Horde, would form a united front and attack whatever location that their foe was located in, similar to how their allies had raided a place called Hellfire Citadel, back during their time in the alternate version of Draenor, which lead to them beating Archimonde and Gul'dan being sent to this world to fulfill his mission, which they wanted to stop at all costs, especially since there was no telling how many guardians they would have to face before finding and fighting Helya.

Of course it also made her wonder what in the world Odyn wanted to talk about, even if she had a pretty good idea due to Helya standing against him and his forces, and figured that he would tell them what was going on when they reached the Halls of Valor, since he seemed to be calling them to his domain and it was best to flock to his side, instead of ignoring him and possibly getting on his bad side, hence why she and Rainbow landed in front of the Gate of Valor after a short flight from Suramar, something that was followed by their allies slowly gathering, as some had been busy when the call came to them and likely finished whatever they might have been working on.

"So, we're heading back to the Halls of Valor," Scarlet commented, as she had been one of the three heroes that had been with Spitfire and Rainbow during their last visit to the halls that Odyn called home, even though someone joined them to run through the dungeon style location that had been presented to them, though while she talked they waited for the rest of the heroes to join them before heading into the structure that was right in front of them, which would bring them to the edge of the Halls of Valor, "I wonder how many minions Helya will throw at us, before we reach the area that she rules from and actually fight her in, especially when we think about how many we faced in the Nightmare."

"Well, we know she has that dog chimera that's guarding the barrier between her area and the starting area, so that's one foe to take down," Rainbow replied, recalling the three headed creature that had been guarding what she assumed was the midway point of Helheim, Guarm based on what she recalled that one spirit telling them about when they headed into Helheim to recover Scarlet and Vytheril's souls, since both of their friends had been unfairly condemned to that place by a Fel empowered foe, one they killed before heading into Helheim after their brand new friends, before she shrugged for a few seconds, "other than that, I have no idea what she might throw at us... but it makes me eager to see what sort of foes she be planning on throwing at us, especially after what we faced off against during our venture through the Emerald Nightmare, including facing Xavius himself."

Spitfire knew that they would find out that information soon enough, once everyone was assembled and was ready to go, and they only had to wait for a few more moments as the last of the heroes joined them, the three Battlelords who served under Odyn himself, as leaders of his armies, though once they joined the group everyone turned towards the Gates of Valor and walked towards the portal that would bring them to the Halls of Valor, as it was time to see what he wanted all of them to do as they took out another threat to Azeroth and claimed Lord Illidan's soul. It only took them a few moments to reach the portal in question, which quickly brought them to the edge of the walkway that lead to the area Odyn rested in and caused everyone to start walking when they appeared in this realm, though one thing Spitfire noticed was that they weren't alone, as there were Val'kyr and Vrykul heading for the area that they would find Odyn in, meaning a trial might be taking place when they reached their destination, like a final test before sending them straight to Helya's domain, but she kept that to herself in case she was wrong. Of course the heroes who hadn't been to this place were interested in what they were seeing at the moment, which was understandable considering that the Halls of Valor had to be one of the places that the Titans had made when they ordered Azeroth, according to what she and Rainbow had been told by Khadgar in the past, so many of them were glancing around as they took in everything they were seeing, while many of the Vrykul spirits who lived in this realm nodded towards the group for a moment, no doubt knowing what was coming and were eager to see what might happen next. Other than that it looked like Hymdall wasn't guarding the main entrance to the Halls, as the large figure was nowhere to be seen, allowing the group to walk through the Halls without having to worry about having to prove themselves to the guardian of the Halls, as only five of them had done what while they were obtaining the Aegis and stopping Skovald's dark plans from becoming reality, and it didn't take all of them long to reach the energy bridge and use it to access the part of the Halls of Valor that Odyn was no doubt waiting in, since it held his throne and where he liked to challenge mortals who came to his realm, or at least it seemed like that was the case.

What they discovered was that Odyn was definitely sitting on his throne, with both Hymdall and Hyrja standing in front of his throne, both carrying their weapons, before Spitfire and the others noticed that the stands that wrapped around this area, like a colosseum or fighting area of sorts, had a number of Vrykul, the iron like Iron Vrykul, a number of Val'kyr, and two individuals who seemed to be somewhat weaker than Odyn, if one was speaking in terms of power, Hodir and Thorim, as Vytheril informed her and Rainbow, who were the Titanic Watchers of Winter and Lightning respectively, guardians of Ulduar, the prison of the Old God Yogg-Saron.

"Champions! Many of you have spilled the blood of Helya's minions and those who tried to aid her cause," Odyn declared, showing that he appreciated what had happened during the time that Spitfire, Rainbow, and their friends had spent in the province his realm was connected to, especially since it meant bringing an end to the plans that Helya had been trying to set in motion since the Legion started their invasion, even though some of the heroes had been taking the fight to Helya's forces while Spitfire and Rainbow helped the Nightborne with their problems, before he became serious once more, as the rest of the heroes stopped in the area in front of his throne, "but the time has come for you to enter Helheim and bring an end the sea witch's dark reign, thus allowing both the Valarjar and myself to leave the Halls of Valor, increasing the forces that you will have access to and, more importantly to some, securing the soul of someone important to two of our allies, a powerful one at that. But first, before I open the way to send all of you to Helheim, I have a final challenge for my chosen Battlelords and their allies, which means that two of you, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, shall rest and watch, as I do not need to test either of you in battle!"

As Spitfire raised an eyebrow for a moment, because it was a little odd for the two of them to remain silent and just watch their friends fight whatever trial Odyn had in mind for them, she could have sworn that she heard a familiar laugh coming from behind where they and the heroes were standing, something that was followed by Lunara, of all people, landing near her and Rainbow, to which the dryad picked them up and jumped into the stands, to a slightly large circular area that she could lay in while having two people near her, leaving Rainbow to her left as she had Spitfire rest in front of her as she laid on the area that Odyn had prepared for the pair to watch this battle, meaning he must have known they were coming just before Allari discovered the location of Lord Illidan's soul.

"Hymdall! Hyrja!" Odyn declared, where he stared down at the two figures who stood in front of his throne, who turned as he called their names and bowed their heads towards him, reminding the heroes that he was the Lord of the Halls of Valor and that all Valarjar followed his orders to the letter, though Spitfire glanced around and came to a quick decision that the vast majority of the watchers in the stands had to be Odyn's highest followers, those under Hymdall, Hyrja, and Eyir, as she did spot the Val'kyr Queen as well, "Test the mettle of these mortal heroes, as I must be certain that each of them have the necessary courage and skills that are needed to pave the way to Helya's cursed domain."

"Shall we be lenient with these pets of yours, Odyn?" Hymdall asked, where he gripped the handle of his sword for a few seconds as Hyrja did the same with her spear and shield, showing the heroes that they were eager to do battle with them, after their Lord had sent a messenger to beckon them to the Halls of Valor, though both of their actions caused the heroes of Azeroth to grip their weapons as well, as it looked like a battle was about to unfold and everyone was ready to show off their skills, all to let Odyn know they had the skills he was currently looking for.

"No! Hold nothing back, as I must know if they are ready for this task!" Odyn stated, letting the heroes know that Hymdall and Hyrja would be using their full power against them this time around, meaning that when Spitfire and Rainbow fought them they might have been holding back, before Spitfire determined that such a thing was true in Hymdall's case, thanks to Eyir elevating Hyrja to the rank of a Val'kyr when they first visited the Halls of Valor, so by now Hyrja had her own skills and power to use against those Odyn sent her to fight.

"So be it! The unworthy shall be purged from the Halls of Valor!" Hyrja replied, sounding a little excited for this fight, as if she wanted to make up for what happened when Spitfire's group had made their way through the Halls the last time they had been here, though at the same time the heroes braced themselves, showing that everyone was ready or whatever she and Hymdall had in store for this battle, while the crowd seemed eager to witness their fight and see if the heroes had the power to fulfill Odyn's mission.

"The battle is yours to begin, heroes!" Odyn said, revealing that neither Hymdall or Hyrja would make the first move this time around, rather they would be waiting for the heroes to make the first move, giving the heroes time to talk with each other for a few moments before starting this battle, though he remained on his throne and observed them as Spitfire and Rainbow remained on their platform with Lunara resting behind one of them, as all of them were eager to see what sort of battle might take place.

What happened next was that Zuleth raised his powerful axe and charged at Hymdall, leading to the two clashing for a few seconds as the guardian druid, still in their bear form since they never seemed to switch back to whatever their true form might be, did the same thing and focused on Hyrja, though what instantly interested Spitfire was that the pair pulled both of Odyn's fighters away from each other, that way whatever power either of them possessed wouldn't aid or empower their partner while they were fighting the heroes. Of course the remaining heroes split themselves in half as well, where half of them focused on attacking Hymdall and healing those who were fighting him, with the others doing the same with Hyrja, though Hymdall raised his horn not a few seconds later and started to blow into it while he parried several attacks, something that caused a bit of magical energy to resonate with the heroes and lead them to separate from each other for a time, putting some distance between them so whatever the attack did wouldn't hurt their allies. This showed them that the forces of Azeroth were highly skilled and understood things in a matter of seconds, instead of being surprised by the tactic and letting it lead to them being taken down, before they regrouped and continued their assault on the pair, where Hyrja used her power in that moment and enchanted one of the heroes with a burst of light, something that caused the hero in question to pull away before it went off, so only they were damaged by the attack and none of their allies took any damage from it, before she gathered some light in her shield and then bashed it in the direction of another hero, one that caused a beam of light to burst off of her shield and hit those in line with the one she was targeting, which also caused the hero to move to an empty area to avoid hurting their allies. The crowd cheered as all of that happened before them, as it seemed like this fight was far better than what they were expecting it to be, and even Hymdall revealed another attack to use against their enemies, hurling enchanted magical blades that rushed at whoever his target was and hit those that just so happened to be near them as well, another move that required the heroes to move it away from the group, which did seem to impress Odyn.

In fact Odyn also threw in an additional challenge for the heroes, just to make sure they had the skills he was looking for, as the five runes that formed a circle in the middle of his large chamber started to glow as five chosen runecarvers took a moment to jump down and joined the battle, where the heroes noticed that and some of them diverted their attention for a time, pulled each runecarver over to the rune they were connected to and, with the help of their allies, took them down, knocking them out in the process, which actually empowered the runes and gave everyone a resistance to the massive blast of light energy Odyn fired at the arena... though once that was done, and the runecarvers were pulled back into the stands, the heroes managed to knock Hymdall and Hyrja to the ground.

"You have done well, heroes of Azeroth... but your final trial is not yet over!" Odyn declared, where several Val'kyr quickly flew down into the arena they had been fighting in and lifted both Hymdall and Hyrja up with their powers, healing them as they were carried to two other platforms that had been added to this place ahead of time, granting them a place to rest and watch, while also giving them a good view in case one of them was called upon to land a hand to this fight, since there was no telling what might happen next, though once they were in the stands Odyn got up and walked down into the arena at long last, showing the heroes his true intentions as a large spear appeared in his right hand, "Come and face me, for I shall determine whether you are truly ready for this important mission, or if you lack the skills needed to ensure Spitfire reaches Helya's dark throne!"

In that moment Spitfire understood Odyn's intentions, he was planning on having her sit out for each and every fight that was between them and Helya, meaning that once this battle came to an end Rainbow would be able to join the heroes and fight whoever might be standing in their way, all while allowing her time to make sure she was rested and ready to face off against Helya with all of her power, to which she remained silent as she and her friends waited for the heroes to engage Odyn and show them just how skilled they were. Not a few seconds later the heroes charged at Odyn and started the final trial at long last, where the massive Titan Watcher swung his metallic spear at those he deemed the greater threat, such as Zuleth or one of the other heroes who served as a tank, though in addition to that Odyn also called forth one of his powers as he did that, which allowed him to summon thick metallic spear heads from the ground, in five different locations, which forced the heroes to avoid the attacks, even though they broke apart a few seconds after emerging from the metallic floor and formed five balls of energy that moved outwards, forming another attack that they had to avoid. What Spitfire found out was that this spell seemed to be one of Odyn's favorites when he was actually testing a group of heroes, as every ten seconds a new set of five spears burst out of the floor, without damaging it since they were made out of energy, and burst into orbs to stun and hurt whoever happened to touch one of the orbs, as one of the rogues actually let one hit them so it didn't hit one of their healers, allowing them to focus on healing everyone else and not be knocked out for a few seconds, as they wanted to prevent the tide turning in Odyn's favor. After some time he called for five Valarjar to join him in battle and focus on the five heroes he picked out, marking them with the five different colored runes once more, something that was followed by his targets pulling the Valarjar that were targeting them to the runes as most of the group focused on the new enemies that had joined the battle, allowing them to knock down their enemies and depower Odyn's upcoming attack before it could hit all of them, as it was a repeat of his massive burst of light that he had used when they were facing both Hymdall and Hyrja earlier.

Interestingly enough both Hymdall and Hyrja, after some rest, would jump down into the arena and engage the heroes for a time, though it was only one of them and never both, so the heroes made sure to divide their number in half to quickly take down the warrior that was aiding Odyn, with the couple of powers they had used earlier, and they departed from the arena after taking a bit of damage, meaning they were skill exhausted from the first part of this trial, but it did reveal that they could deal with any additional enemies that might bother them. After Hymdall and Hyrja were forced to retreat to the stands again, as in the third time since this battle started, Odyn declared that he would be using his full power against all of them and that was followed by a golden glow appearing on the floor, forming a circle around the area that the couple of runes were located in and three lines that branched out from it, cutting the rest of the area up into three sections, but as that happened Spitfire quickly noticed something interesting about this move, three of the four areas were turned into dangerous storm-filled areas. Basically this move was designed to force the heroes from one point of the arena to one of the others, to make sure they understood that dodging certain attacks was necessary for when they ventured into Helheim and faced Helya's forces, especially when a number of small tornadoes touched down in the central area, but even as that happened Odyn also summoned bolts of lightning to strike whoever he wanted to, as he targeted the heroes at random as they fought each other and offered no pattern for them to focus on. Eventually Odyn switched which areas were fine and which ones were dangerous, forcing the heroes to move over to the new safe zone as they continued to battle the Titan Watch who ruled over the Halls of Valor, where Odyn continued his assault as the heroes fought him, throwing lightning at his targets as Scarlet, Vytheril, and the others channeled their own powers at him in return, impressing all the watchers as it happened and caused many to cheer as they witnessed what was going on, while Eyir and the others simply observed the fight while saying nothing as their Lord clashed with the heroes, and even Lunara was cheering for the heroes to win this fight, which made sense given what happened during their attack on the Emerald Nightmare.

Eventually the heroes launched Zuleth into the air and he swung Shadowmourne at Odyn, cutting a light scratch into the metallic armor that he wore over his chest, causing the Titan Watcher to stagger for a moment as the golden light faded a few seconds later, something that caused the heroes to pause as they waited to see what he did next, even though a few looked like they were hoping he was going to admit defeat since everything he had thrown at them had been exhausting, so a rest was necessary before they advanced on Helheim.

"Enough! You have proven your worth, Champions of Azeroth!" Odyn declared, something that was followed by the crowd letting out a massive roar as they cheered for the rest of Spitfire and Rainbow's new friends, while at the same time Odyn lowered his hand and banished his spear as he returned to the stairs that his throne happened to rest on top of, where he turned and faced the heroes as Spitfire and Rainbow flew down into the arena, with Lunara jumping down after them, all while the heroes focused on the Titan Watcher that they had just finished fighting, "With you as my champions, Helya's forces will fall in due time and her reign will be broken, allowing both myself and the Valarjar to finally leave these Halls, to take the fight to our unwelcome foe... but rest for a few moments, as all of you will need your strength for the upcoming battles against her minions."

Spitfire knew that it was mostly to prepare themselves for whatever powerful creatures stood between her and Helya, as Odyn informed her that, while she might not be the most honorable person in the world, in fact she had next to no honor and he had to pull Scarlet, Vytheril, and the others out of Helheim after they fulfilled Helya's 'impossible' bargain during their first visit to her foul realm, the dark witch might call her out for a 'one-on-one' battle, due to the fact that she killed Sylvanas and ended whatever plan both of them had come up with. Basically, Helya was going to be pissed and would call her out once she and her companions reached her throne, to kill her and take revenge for the fact that her plans had been ruined, though at the very least it would make things easier since the ruler of Helheim needed to be taken down so they could claim Lord Illidan's soul, so it could be returned to his body once they tracked Gul'dan down and killed him, and she had the feeling that facing Helya would be the key to acquiring the third Cosmic Force. Rainbow, of course, was interested in why Lunara had come here in the first place, where the dryad revealed that while she was a defender of nature, given who her father was, she was also a warrior in some sense and liked to watch battles take place, even though it was rather rare for Odyn to allow her to come to this place, but she wanted to cheer on the heroes who had freed her father and the Lord of the Halls of Valor seemed to think it was a good idea, either to see if any of them got distracted or whatever his reason might have been for allowing her to come here. Whatever her reason was Spitfire didn't care, mostly since it was good to have someone cheer for the rest of the heroes as they faced Odyn's trials, where she found that a few Valarjar came from the feasting halls and placed some plates down so Scarlet and the others could eat for a time and get ready for the fights that were ahead of them, especially since they had no idea what sort of enemies would be waiting for all of them when they departed from the Halls and invaded Helya's dark realm, given that the dark witch likely knew they were getting closer to her domain and had no doubt prepared for their arrival.

Once everyone had rested for a few minutes, and head something to eat to recover most of their strength, Odyn raised a hand towards the assembled group and weaved his magic over them as Lunara moved over to his throne to get out of the way, before they vanished from the Halls of Valor and appeared in the air above Stormheim, though as they fell towards the ground Spitfire found that all of them were shrouded by Odyn's power, allowing them to safely touch down in front of Haustvald, where the portal to Helheim rested. Of course Helya's forces were waiting for invaders to come to this place, as there were a number of Vrykul skeletons that had been raised from the ground and seemed eager to kill the heroes, but it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things as Rainbow parried their incoming attacks with her Warblades and pushed the first pair backwards, allowing the heroes to lash out at the skeletons in question as Spitfire stood back and watched what happened as her companions fought their enemies, given that Odyn wanted her to face Helya. She wasn't sure if Helya might do what Odyn thought or not, as in seek out a one-on-one battle or fight the entire force of heroes, but either way she knew that Helya would perish in due time, the seal on the Halls of Valor would break and allow Odyn to leave at long last, and they would be able to recover Lord Illidan's soul, giving them a partial advantage over Gul'dan that might ruin the orc warlock's plans, once they figured out where he was hiding anyway. After the first group of enemies they found a few Kvaldir, the seafaring Vrykul whose spirits served Helya in death, standing between where they landed and where their destination rested, and they joined the reanimated bodies that were being forced to fight right now, which showed them that Helya really had no care for those that were dead, rather she used them until their souls were trapped in Helheim like all of the other souls she collected, allowing her to use their bodies in this manner. Such a thing didn't stop Rainbow from leading a charge as they engaged their enemies, as she hacked and slashed her way through the enemies that were right in front of her while Scarlet, Vytheril, and the others focused on weakening more of their foes, or outright killing those who survived Rainbow's first attack, allowing them to press deeper into Haustvald as they kept their guards up, since this did seem like a place that a powerful foe would attack them in.

The only downside to killing the Kvaldir was that their souls were taken to Helheim, meaning they would likely have to kill those that were guarding this side of the portal a second time, which Spitfire's companions considered for a few seconds as another group fell before their might, but right now they were focused on keeping their guards up in case there was a powerful enemy waiting outside the portal or waiting on the other side, the latter to ambush them, even though they did split up at one point so Rainbow could head down the main path as the remaining heroes headed to her left and right, as those two paths met back up right in front of the stairs that lead down to Helheim's portal. Interestingly enough it didn't look like there were any powerful minions standing between where they landed and where the portal rested, like the few they had faced in the Emerald Nightmare, meaning Helya was either underestimating them or wanted them to lower their guard at the wrong moment, but the heroes smashed through the rest of the Kvaldir and sent their souls to Helheim, even if they would have to fight them a second time around. Once that was done Rainbow made sure everyone was ready to do before marching down towards the portal and passed through it, where Spitfire brought up the rear and watched as the rest of the heroes followed Rainbow's lead as they headed through the portal as well, before appearing on the other side and discovered that they were, in fact, in Helheim, where a number of Kvaldir were standing in front of them and down the walkway that lead to where Guarm happened to be resting, leading to another fight breaking out as everyone stepped into Helheim. While the heroes engaged the first group of Kvaldir that happened to be in front of them, however, Spitfire found that there were a lot more Kvaldir, as in those who had been camping out in this place, who were in the middle of getting up and heading over to where her companions were fighting in, meaning enemy reinforcements were coming to bother them, something Rainbow noticed as well as she loosed a bolt of lightning into the chest of an advancing Kvaldir, blasting her target into the ground before parrying another attack so she could remove her foe's head, leaving the heroes to face all of their enemies and let Spitfire notice something else, Guarm was awake and seemed to be focused on guarding the pass between this part of Helheim and Helya's throne.

In fact she could see Helya off in the distance, who seemed to be busy doing something specific and barely glanced in the direction of the portal, meaning she didn't care for them and might turn back to look at them once they were closer to her throne, which would involve besting Guarm in battle and killing the three headed beast, before noticing that Rainbow and their companions had dealt with the rest of the Kvaldir, to which she allowed them to step into the large area Guarm was resting in, something that caused Helya to glance at them before raising a hand and summoned a barrier to trap the group in Guarm's resting place, meaning they had to kill it to move forward.

Fortunately, that was the plan from the beginning, as Rainbow tapped into her true power and rushed through the air not even a few seconds later, smashing into Guarm's middle head as the heroes followed her into battle, leaving Spitfire to see the large beast turn its head away from the heroes as her friend slashed into Guarm's body, meaning she suspected that letting Guarm face the heroes was a bad idea, though as that happened the beast lashed out with all three of his heads as he tried to bite into Rainbow, who dodged and let him bite into the stones and ground around her. It was a good strategy since it allowed the heroes to strike at Guarm's exposed necks and his unguarded body, without having to worry about an attack coming towards them, though it wasn't long before the beast pulled all three of his heads back and started to ready another attack, as each head happened to have a power unique to it, the right seemed to channel the power of darkness, the middle contained frost, and the left had fire, and that was coming from Guarm's perspective and not the perspective of Rainbow and the heroes. Thanks to the fact that Rainbow seemed to be the main target she didn't have to worry about all of her companions being hurt by Guarm's attack, a cone style attack that had all three side by side, so someone could be hit by frost and another could be hit by fire, or at least that was what Rainbow assumed the normal attack might be since Guarm was focused on her and fired his attack straight into the air with the intent of taking her down first, which allowed her to prevent her allies from taking any damage for the time being, since Guarm might turn on the others once he tired of fighting her. Of course that didn't stop Guarm from firing his attack multiple times in a row, as he tracked Rainbow as she moved through the area they were fighting in and directed the breath away from her companions, and when he focused it on them for a moment Scarlet, Vytheril, and the others moved out of the way to avoid being blasted by it, showing that he was smarter than what some of them might think and that he wasn't going to waste time on someone he couldn't hit at all, and he even used his tail to try and smack everyone into the stones that were around the edges of the area, mostly in an attempt to open some defenses so he could take them down and please his master.

Despite all of that Spitfire noticed something that either Rainbow hadn't noticed or didn't care about, the fact that Guarm was unable to hit anyone with his breath attack seemed to cause a bit of anger to flare in the beast and likely added to his power, meaning that when someone got hit it would hurt a lot more than it would have done normally, where she waited for a moment and found Rainbow glancing at her for a second, something that caused her to raise an eyebrow for a few seconds, to which her friend looked at Guarm and seemed to understand the situation, leading her to charge back into the battle and change up how they tackled the breath attack, by actually allowing Guarm to hit half of the group to take away some of his power, since hitting them seemed to relax the beast to some degree.

She had to admit that it was an interesting tactic, that naturally dodging the attack would cause Guarm's power to increase as he missed, meaning the key was to tank the attack and allow the healers to mend their wounds before the next attack hit them, though that was when Guarm let out a roar from his heads and knocked all of the nearby heroes away from the area he had been standing in, to which he turned and rushed at a group of them, showing that he was changing targets for a time and that the heroes had to follow whatever he did. Of course that wasn't the end of it, as the beast remained at the edge of the area he was fighting the heroes in and started to charge over towards the other end that he had started in earlier, when Rainbow and the others encountered him, though it looked like he was going in a rectangular pattern at the moment and that forced everyone to avoid his charges for a time, just to be sure that the powerful attack didn't hit them at all, though once he did a lap Guarm came to a stop and marched into the middle of his arena again. After that Guarm started to repeat his movements, either meaning Helya didn't give him anything else and had shown them everything he had in his arsenal, or he had a few more moves and was trying to lure them into a false sense of security before showing off a few new attacks to weaken them, though that happened to be when Rainbow spun around and smashed the edge of her new tail onto the top of their foe's middle head, causing Guarm's heads to stagger for a moment as she heard part of the skull crack, showing her allies that her new addition was useful in battle, just like her clawed feet. Rainbow, however, used that opportunity to fall backwards for a moment and flashed around the area their foe was standing in, kicking all of Guarm's heads and knocked them away from each other for a few seconds, which only seemed to enrage the beast as he snapped at them once more, but as the heroes avoided that attack, and prepared themselves for the breath attack he was no doubt going to use, Guarm moved his heads and positioned them closer to each other than they had been earlier, this time gathering all of his flames, frost, and shadows into a single point, which meant that this beam attack was going to be far more devastating, as it reminded Rainbow of what happened when Spitfire wiped out Xavius.

In that moment Rainbow gathered her own power and banished her Warblades for a moment, where she channeled all of her Fel lightning into a lance that she spun around as she floated in front of where the heroes had gathered, because she knew that it had been a good attack during their time in the Emerald Nightmare and she was hoping it would remain true for this fight, though as Guarm opened his mouths, to fire his beam at them, Rainbow pulled her arm backwards for a few seconds and hurled the Fel lightning lance through the air, where it collided in the middle of the arena as it struck Guarm's attack head on. The area the two attacks met up in caused the rest of the arena to shake for a moment, showing that their powers might be evenly matched to some degree, where Rainbow smiled for a second as she flexed her hand and a burst of speed was applied to her weapon, sending the lance straight up towards Guarm's heads, or as close as she could get since the beam was a constant problem for her and her companions, before crushing her hand and watched as the lance exploded right in front of the beast's faces, cancelling out the beam attack and kicking up some smoke that prevented him from seeing what she and her companions were up to. What Rainbow did was rush up high into the air for a few seconds, just to make sure Guarm couldn't see her at all, before rushing downwards and attacked the middle head again, only this time around she did a forward flip and swung her clawed feet at her target's exposed neck, as she gathered her Fel power for a moment and sharpened her claws for a moment as she made contact, which was followed by several energy waves, about the size of her Warblades and possessing a Fel green color, cutting through his neck and took off the middle head, causing Guarm to roar in pain and anger for a moment, which actually drew Helya's attention for a moment, since even she wasn't expecting something like that to happen in the first place. In response to that Guarm only focused on her and tried to bite her to death, which happened to be the wrong move as Rainbow avoided the attacks and struck the backs of his two remaining heads not a few seconds later, causing them to fall closer to the ground, but before he could recover from this attack the druids in their group summoned a number of vines and yanked his heads closer to the ground, where the paladins called upon a Holy chain version of the ability to lock them in place.

Once that was done Spitfire watched as the heroes lashed out at Guarm, hacking, slashing, and blasting his heads and his body before he could free himself, though that was when Zuleth leapt into the air for a moment, raised his powerful axe high above his head, and brought it down like he might be executing someone, removing Guarm's right head in seconds and caused the beast to roar in pain again, even though that was quickly silenced as the blood death knight and several of the other heroes cut through and removed the final head, slaying Guarm in the process and caused a look of pure hate to appear on Helya's face as she lowered the barrier for them to approach her dark throne.

"It seems that we've pissed her off, more than we did in the past," Rainbow commented, though while she was happy with how the battle with Guarm had done for her and the rest of Azeroth's champions, as Guarm had been a powerful foe and had, despite not actually hurting anyone with most of his attacks and only dealt damage because they let his breath attack hit them to weaken his power, been an interesting challenge for her to face, she could tell that felling the beast had made Helya even angrier than she had previously been, to which she turned towards Spitfire for a moment, who pulled out the crystal they had been given and handed it over to her, "Are you sure that you want to face her on your own?"

"Yes I am, but the moment she cheats and summons her forces, well, you know what to do," Spitfire remarked, due to the fact that she had a feeling that Helya would try to overpower her by cheating at some point during their 'one-on-one' fight, and they knew she was dishonorable thanks to what happened the last time they had been here, so she wanted Rainbow and the others to rest before such a thing happened, that way their power would be back to normal before charging into battle once more, to which Rainbow sighed and nodded her head for a moment as she joined the others in resting for the time being, where she stepped forward and walked into the area that served as Helya's dark throne, where she stared at the massive dark skinned Titan keeper who served as one of Azeroth's Gods of Death, or Keeper of Death anyway, while keeping her hands empty for now, "Helya, we have come to make you answer for your crimes against Odyn, the Valarjar, and the rest of Azeroth, though I am ready to face you in a one-on-one match for Lord Illidan's soul..."

"Oh no, Odyn's mighty 'champion' has come to face me... you don't scare me, Spitfire, though I will take great pleasure in slaying you and your allies," Helya stated, where she snapped her fingers for a moment and a new barrier appeared in the area between Guarm's domain and the area her dark throne rested in, even though the dark keeper was currently resting with the lower half of her body resting below the water and the upper part was above, meaning her lower body might be more aquatic in nature, like an octopus or something, before Helya pointed at her for a moment, "You killed Sylvanas and derailed our plans, as she was meant to bring war to this world and leave death in its wake, to gain the power to break the cursed Helm of Domination and bring Death to Azeroth... I'm going to enjoy sending your soul straight to the Maw, so you can be tortured until the end of time!"

"Well, seems you haven't changed at all... makes this so much easier for me." Spitfire replied in kind, as it sounded like the dark keeper was totally mad, either having gone mental or just outraged by her grand scheme failing so hard, and that she wanted to kill her for taking down Sylvanas, to which she shifted her stance for a moment and called upon her power while she stared at Helya, allowing the Fel and Life energies to gather around the area she was in for a moment as Helya did the same thing as the dark energy of Death did the same thing, though hearing that Helya still wanted to break the Helm of Domination, which the Lich King wore, meant killing her was a good thing.

Rainbow growled for a moment, as she couldn't believe that Helya was going to stop them from rushing to Spitfire's aid if the dark keeper called on reinforcements, though before she or the others could do anything Spitfire rushed through the air and zeroed in on where Helya was currently standing, where she raised her right hand as Helya did the same thing not a few seconds later and they clashed by allowing both of their fists to collide with each other, and their energies clashed at the same time, even though that was when the sky seemed to divide in half as that happened. Such a thing meant Spitfire and Helya were either had the same level of power or someone was holding back to accurately test how much power the other had, or maybe both were holding back, but this sight, with a line actually dividing the sky into two halves, caused her and the heroes to pause as they watched what was going on right now, because this meant that the battle might be more than what happened when everyone faced Xavius earlier, which had been an interesting battle and made her interested in witnessing the upcoming fight. A few moments later a detonation caused the pair to separate from each other, despite the fact that Helya had to stay in the water while Spitfire moved backwards through part of the air, which had likely been due to the Life and Death energies colliding with each other, where only a few seconds went by before Spitfire flew through the air and rushed towards her target, which caused Helya to growl as she gathered her power and hurled several head sized orbs of Death energy at her, showing that she meant business and wasn't going to hold back, even if it was clear that she was going to hide some abilities until the need was great. Spitfire, on the other hand, raised her own left hand and loosed a few small magical blasts in response to her foe's attack, where her blasts collided with the orbs and exploded when they came into contact with each other, causing smoke to fill the air as she rushed through it and appeared in front of Helya's face, allowing her to spin around and kick her foe in the side of her head with the side of her right leg, knocking her head into the side of the raised stone section that they had found Sylvanas in when she and Rainbow came to free Scarlet and Vytheril from what Skovald's minions had done to them, which caused Helya to growl as she regained herself and pulled herself up to face her once more.

In that instant Helya glowed for a few seconds as her form shrank down to Spitfire's size, allowing her to remove herself from the water and revealed that her legs had been octopus legs, which was understandable due to the tentacles she had used to attack her a few moments ago, though it looked like she was compressing herself into a smaller form, which was more humanoid since it looked like her turned her animal legs into normal legs and put armor over them, and fixed both of her wings so they didn't look broken, meaning she looked like a dark corrupted Valarjar, or Helarjar as she called those she twisted into her dark champions.

Once that was done Spitfire and Helya rushed through the air and let their fists collide as they tried to punch each other for a moment, causing the sky to crack in half once more, but neither of them let that bother or distract them as they focused on fighting each other, as both of them moved into punching and kicking at their foe as they moved into the air for a time, where black lightning branched out from where they were fighting from time to time, which struck the ground and water as the heroes watched what they were doing. Spitfire was sure that it was due to her Fel-Life energy was colliding with the Death energy that Helya was using, given the effect it was having on the rest of Helheim, though even then she moved to the side for a second and avoided a punch that would have hit her in the face had she not been paying attention to her foe's movements, to which she kneed Helya in the chest and caused the dark keeper to stumble backwards, opening the way for her to spin and kick her in the side of her head, sending her flying straight down into the stone structure again and broke it into pieces as she collided with it. A few seconds later she gathered her power and loosed a burst of blasts down on the area that Helya was currently resting in, blowing up the entire area that she had been knocked into and kicking up a bunch of smoke in the process, though that was when Helya proved that she wasn't going to take this and summoned her aura to create a barrier to protect herself from Spitfire's attacks, which was followed by her cancelling out the attack and rushing through the air as she reached the area her foe was currently resting in, though she had to avoid a few more orbs of Death energy, which raced into the air and disappeared. After that another clash between their fists happened, as while Spitfire was thinking that Helya would cheat at some point it sure looked like she was maintaining some sort of honor this time around, which worried her a little since it made her wonder what in the world her foe might have planned this time, even though that was around the time that Helya revealed her hand by opening her mouth and loosing a twisted shadowy breath attack, similar to Guarm's flames, which hit Spitfire in the chest and knocked her backwards, as she had been ready for a punch or kick, before blasting her chest with a volley of Death orbs, which seemed to be her favorite attack out of the couple she had shown off so far, even though she fired another volley a few seconds later.

This time, when the smoke cleared, Spitfire sighed as she emerged with a barrier made of Life energy wrapped around her body, which had protected her from the second volley of attacks and had healed her body after the first volley had struck her dead on, a somewhat painful attack she had to admit, though this revealed that Helya was willing to use tricks to take down whoever she was fighting and, as such, that meant that she needed to be careful with how she approached the rest of the fight, hence why her current plan was to gather her power for something big. Helya, on the other hand, switched to hurling all sorts of Death empowered attacks in her direction, such as orbs, beams, blasts, and even a wave for two, but for the most part it looked like they were missing since Spitfire was able to avoid them with ease, though it made her wonder if Helya was having a mind break or something that might be causing her to make terrible decisions right now, though she had to quickly reevaluate her decision when she loosed a wave of Fel-Life energy, sending it diagonally down at Helya, and her foe avoided the attack in question, allowing it to cleave into the ground and blast a small sized hole into the stone not a few seconds later. After that Helya went on the offensive once more, this time more aggressively than she had been in the early stages of their fight, forcing Spitfire to defend herself and either parry or dodge the incoming attacks, but despite her actions Helya, being a fighter with more experience than Spitfire might have, was able to kick her in the side and sent Spitfire downwards for a few seconds, forcing her back towards the ground for the time being, though she turned around before hitting the ground, allowing her to take a moment to figure out Helya's next move before rushing back into battle, as she was sure her foe had something planned. As that happened, and she found her opponent once more, she noticed something odd as she felt a shift in the energy that lingered all over Helheim, as it appeared that Helya was channeling the power of Death that rested all over her realm into a single attack that would be used against her, or at least that was what Spitfire would do in this situation if she was having a hard time fighting someone and had the power to do such a thing in the first place, and she found the source of what she had felt not a few seconds later, as Helya was in the middle of making a massive sphere of Death energy in the sky above them.

By massive she meant something that anyone could mistake for a moon or something, as it seemed big enough to destroy all of Helheim if it hit the ground, though she honestly had no idea why Helya would even do such a thing in the first place since this was her realm, especially since the sheer power that was coming from it seemed to be breaking anything that might be around it as it formed in the air, to which she weaved her energies into a single mass and hurled it into the air so she could counter the attack... something that seemed to form a sort of barrier in the air above them, or at least it looked like it, and the sphere hit it not a few seconds later, causing Helheim to shudder thanks to the collision.

"Are you insane?!" Spitfire shouted, as she really couldn't believe that Helya was planning on dropping such an attack on all of them, which would likely wipe out all of Helheim if she let it collide with the ground, and right now she needed to stop it from happening, because if everyone died that meant none of the heroes would be left to stop the Legion, since all of their artifacts would be wiped out as well, save for those who were leading the Alliance and the Horde at the moment, though she could tell that it was taking all of her power to stop Helya, "This attack of yours will level all of Helheim if it manages to hit the ground!"

"That's the point! I'll be sending you, all of your companions, and every soul in Helheim to the Maw!" Helya replied, where Spitfire felt Helya's power shift for a moment and figured that the connection to Stormheim was being sealed, so no one could escape and return to Odyn with news as to what was currently going on, before she felt another shift in the air and figured that her foe was doing everything in her power to win this battle, especially since the massive sphere was pushing down on the barrier and kept creeping ever closer to her location, "And to ensure that you fail to stop me, from blasting all of Helheim to pieces, I'm calling in two of my Mawsworn, demons from your past, to make sure my plan is successful and all of your souls end up in their proper destination."

Normally Spitfire would have said something to that, though what she found was that Helya had opened a small portal to the 'Maw', or at least she assumed that such a thing was happening since the sphere prevented her from seeing anything else, and discovered two figures, both clad in sinister looking dark gray armor, one that made them look like they served a Lord of Death, someone far above Odyn and Helya's station, and both of them had black feathered wings that radiated the same type of energy that Helya was using, though one was much taller than the other, just as tall as Tyranna, the Brood Queen of Mardum, had been, while the other was just as tall as Sylvanas had been.

"Spitfire, we meet again," a familiar voice said, where the small figure raised a hand and waved a hand over her face for a few seconds, causing the mask part of her hood to disappear and revealed that it was actually Sylvanas, before she caused a pair of dark gray curved blades to appear in her hands, which she used to cut into Spitfire's arms for a moment, just to weaken her so she couldn't focus on the sphere, which caused that smirk of hers to appear on her face again, despite the fact that Spitfire could tell that she was angry, "thanks to you, I've spent an eternity in the Maw, being shaped into a grand weapon to bring you down... Tyranna was ordered to come as well, to chip away at you until you die..."

"Titans almighty, you just never learn!" Spitfire remarked, as it seemed like Sylvanas had come to Helheim with revenge on her mind, instead of whatever her master might have ordered her to do, and that meant she believed that her mission was the correct path that Azeroth should have taken and that forcing the Alliance and the Horde into another war was needed as well, and honestly she really didn't care about Sylvanas all that much since she was just a nuisance at this point, but in that moment she smiled, as based on what she could tell Tyranna was still a demon, even if her power was no longer tied to the Fel like the demons who were alive, hence why she smiled for a moment.

In that moment Spitfire did something that she knew the others might be shocked by, she let go of her connection to the barrier she had summoned, which would stall the sphere for a short period of time before breaking, and called out both of her Twinblades, where she hurled one of them at Sylvanas' soul, causing her to parry it with her blades for a second, but that was all that needed to happen as she ducked under one of Tyranna's incoming claw attacks and sliced her true target in half, discovering that the armor was more like a suit with a soul trapped inside it, or it was in Tyranna's case, but despite that fact her Twinblades snatched the demon's soul as the demon's Death power was separated from it. As that happened she knew that the heroes of Azeroth and Rainbow knew what was coming next, as that fragment of Death energy rushed into her body and empowered her, causing a massive surge in her power, something she was blaming on how long the former demon had been trapped inside the Maw, before the barrier she had summoned shattered and the sphere came closer to where she was standing, causing Sylvanas to chuckle as she pulled away with her wings, but even that didn't stop Spitfire from acting. Even though she didn't have any experience wielding Death energy, like she did with Fel and Life, she gathered all of the power she had access to and split it in half, where the power she would wield with her left hand would be used to stop Helya's attack in its tracks and the right hand would have an attack that would shatter what was in front of her, breaking the sphere apart and soaking up all of the Death energy so it didn't take out Helheim, or at least that was her plan at the moment. A few moments later she pushed herself into battle as she raised her left hand and her power stalled the sphere, something that likely surprised Helya when it happened, though before her foe could do anything she shifted her stance and threw a punch towards the sphere, like she was an arrow being loosed from a bow, causing a burst of her power to rush into the base of Helya's attack and then pushed through the center of it, piercing the sphere like butter or something, and it kept going as the massive sphere started to unravel, with all that power surging into her Death Arrow, as she would call it, to ensure that no damage was done to Helheim.

Not a few seconds later she felt the arrow burst out of the other side of the sphere and pierced Helya's chest, before she even had a chance to understand what was going on, causing the sky to light up as an explosion rocked all of Helheim for a few seconds, even if the smoke was contained to the air since Spitfire had prevented the sphere from hitting the ground, though that was when all of the Death energy surged into her body and the tattoos on her right arm took on a dark gray coloration, where she was sure that her right wing had the same thing now, but before she could do anything something hit the ground, Helya's smaller form, and it looked like she tried to reach for her. However, due to the gaping hole in her chest, where the arrow had struck her a few moments ago, Helya was dying and that meant her magic was breaking apart before her eyes, though as Spitfire walked over to the fallen Keeper of Death, to put her out of her misery, Sylvanas picked that moment to land near Helya and seemed to be protecting her so they could get out of Helheim, to which she sighed for a second and disappeared, only to reappear behind Sylvanas as her head and body, now separated from each other, hit the ground. She had summoned her Twinblades and used one to behead the stubborn Banshee Queen, while using the other to remove Helya's head and put an end to her magic at long last, though as that happened she could have sworn that she felt someone touch her shoulder for a second before noticing that the crystal she had given Rainbow had a faint glow inside it, meaning Lord Illidan must have been watching and had known what to do ahead of time, meaning they had succeeded in their missions. Something that confirmed that they had been successful was the fact that Odyn teleported into Helheim, meaning he was no longer confined to the Halls of Valor and didn't need to use projections as his only way to communicate with those outside his realm, though as she noticed that she felt a wave of exhaustion hit her and she had a new seconds to return her Twinblades to her horns before falling and impaling herself on accident, but before she even hit the ground someone caught her and she found that it was Lunara, who must have come with Odyn's group, though all she did was smile before letting exhaustion claim her.

Rainbow, on the other hand, had to admit that the battle between Spitfire and Helya had been epic and that she had done a fantastic job freeing the souls of Helheim, in addition to everyone else that was freed upon the dark keeper's death, and smiled as she and her companions started to depart from this realm, with Lunara letting a slumbering Spitfire ride on her back in a secure position, as it was time to return to Suramar and wait to see what might happen before Gul'dan figured out that they had claimed Lord Illidan's soul, or made his next move against them and the Nightborne rebellion.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

well that was freakin epic. wow did Helya ever get roflstomped by Spitfire along with giving spits Access to death magic now.

[zachary12]

nice work

[badninja]

So is Spitfire going to ascend to being an alicorn? With all of the life energy I don see her becoming a god of destruction, if we are going that route again.