World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Suramar: Confronting Gul'dan

As Spitfire suspected it took a few minutes before anything happened, as Elisande was working on the portal that would allow her, Rainbow, and everyone else to head up to something called the Font of Night, which happened to be the top of the both the Nighthold and the Nightwell, where the Eye of Amun'thul rested, and Thalyssra was working with her to be sure she didn't stumble, given that she had just been through quite the ordeal thanks to the Sayaad Queen's torment and the fact that she had eaten an Arcfruit to cleanse herself of her dependence on the Nightwell's energies. Such they knew that it would take a while before they had to move, the heroes spent this time preparing for the battle with Gul'dan, due to the fact that they were mere moments away from facing one of their worst foes and putting an end to whatever plan he had been working towards since he came to Suramar, even though at this point many of them had figured out, without being told all that much, that his plan might be to use the body of Illidan Stormrage as a vessel for Sargeras, or at least that seemed to be the most accurate idea they had come up with. It was also possible that he was only using the body as an anchor or something to boost the power of the Felstorm that was building about the Tomb, maybe in an effort to link Argus with Azeroth so Sargeras could come collect his prize at long last, but regardless of whatever his mission was they knew that they needed to be ready for anything and everything, especially with Khadgar informing them of every bit of knowledge he had on the orc warlock in question, though for now he would be sitting out of the fight to make sure Light's Heart remained safe and sound. If Spitfire was right there would come a time where Lord Illidan's soul could be returned to his body, shoving out whatever Gul'dan was trying to do to it, though all of the Fel energy that was being used on him would actually boost Lord Illidan's power and that would be a benefit for later on, when it came time to launch their next assault on the Broken Shore, a successful one this time since both the Alliance and the Horde were no longer trying to kill each other, which was one of her and Rainbow's greatest achievements, not counting everything else they had done to save this world.

Once she pushed that thought from her mind Elisande smiled as the portal she had been working on flashed for a second and stabilized before their eyes, meaning that the way to the Font of Night was open and that it was time for them to get going at long last, to which Spitfire made sure everyone else was ready to go, as in they had rested and had made sure all of their equipment was ready, before heading through the portal and found herself on a new circular platform that had a mass of Arcane energy moving through several groves in the floor, had four elven statues that formed an x, four pillars which seemed to be holding up the dome for this area, and found Gul'dan standing in the middle of a light blue glass-like area that had two rings in the ground.

"Ah, yes... the heroes have arrived. So persistent, so confident in your 'victory'... but your arrogance will eventually be your undoing." Gul'dan said, his tone revealing that he didn't care much for any of them, despite the fact that they had broken his plans in Draenor and had done the same to most of the plans he had set in motion since coming to Azeroth, though as he said that the rest of the heroes teleported up to the Font of Night as Spitfire noticed that the orc was channeling a bit of Fel and Arcane energy diagonally up into a large Fel crystal, the very one that contained the body of Lord Illidan, which she knew Khadgar would be keeping an eye on, before the warlock glanced at all of them, "Alliance dogs... have you forgotten your humiliation on the Broken Shore, about how your precious High King was bent and broken before me, before I used a bit of Fel energy to kill him? Will all of you beg for your lives as he did in his final moments, whimpering like a pack of worthless dogs once you have been shown the error of your ways? Your pathetic Alliance will fall to dust soon, your new boy King will bow down and serve me, and all of you will be twisted to serve the Legion!"

"You will find that we won't be so easily broken," Remeraa stated, causing every hero from the Alliance to nod their heads for a moment when she said that, showing Gul'dan that none of them were scared of him anymore and that many wanted to bring him down for his crimes against them, Draenor, Azeroth, and everyone the orc had messed with since pledging himself to the Legion, even though his statement about the previous High King caused many to frown, as they didn't like the fact that Gul'dan was trying to trash the memory of Varian Wrynn.

"And what of you, dogs of the Horde?" Gul'dan continued, either not caring for what Remeraa had to say or simply let her speak before making the rest of his statement known to all of them, even though this time he switched to the heroes of the Horde this time around, where Zuleth and several others gripped their weapons as they frowned at him, knowing that he had something foul to say before they lashed out at him and got this battle started, "Have all of you forgotten how your mighty Warchief was stuck in the belly like a helpless piglet? Will all of you die as slowly as he did, with your bodies being consumed by Fel corruption and squealing for a merciful end that won't be granted to you? Your pathetic Horde will fall to dust as well, as you are made to serve my masters as well, and in the end, death will inherit this world... though the husk of Illidan will prove an ideal vessel for my master's glory, for Sargeras will rise at long last, and together we will watch your world burn in the Fel fires that have consumed countless other worlds."

"You done talking? Because you'll soon discover that none of us will beg for mercy... though you might be asking for it by the time this battle is over." Zuleth commented, referring to the fact that Spitfire and Rainbow were standing with them as everyone stared at the orc that was currently in the middle of this area, as one of them now possessed four Cosmic Forces inside her and the other seemed to be a walking incarnation of Fel energies, as each demon slain made Rainbow stronger and prepared her for the battles that were ahead of them.

"And let's not forget you two, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash." Gul'dan stated, showing that he had one more thing he wanted to say before he moved on with his mission and the battle started, though at the same time the pair in question pulled out their warglaives, knowing that the moment he stopped talking they would rush into battle and take him down, even if it might take some time for them to kill him since he must have prepared a number of defenses to protect himself from all sorts of harm, which was when the orc chuckled for a couple of seconds, "Once we claim Azeroth for the Legion, and have taken down those who would stand in our way, we will find out where your world rests and drown it in a sea of Fel energy, corrupting and twisting everything and everyone you know into demonic beings that will lay waste to everything else that exists in reality... you didn't think we weren't aware of the power that the two of you possess, did you? You have shown us that the beings who call your world home would be perfect additions to the Legion, once we corrupt and train them, and the two of you will be leading the charge on your own world, once I've killed you and your companions."

"Yep, we're so going to kill you." Rainbow remarked, to which she and Spitfire rushed through the air and swung at the orc before he had a chance to react, though that was when they noticed the pair of rings that formed the outside of the Eye of Amun'thul moved out of the floor for a moment and started to spin as both of them passed over Gul'dan's head for a few seconds, forming an Arcane dome from the energies of the Pillar of Creation, something that caused them to stop as soon as it happened and backed off, all while everyone else scattered around the Font of Night, as they knew that it was time to fight Gul'dan, even if the orc was protecting himself for the time being.

In that moment their foe chuckled again as three points of Fel energy appeared around the area the heroes happened to be standing in, where a Fel Lord appeared near Spitfire and Rainbow, an Inquisitor formed out of some shadows near the heroes of the Alliance, and a large Jailer was summoned near the heroes of the Horde, showing them that Gul'dan likely didn't think that they would be able to beat him and wanted his remaining minions to take everyone down while he turned his attention to a ritual that he was trying to perform. While it was clear that he was trying to divide them into groups and make sure they couldn't do much for a time, as if he was trying to play on the fact that the Alliance and the Horde didn't like each other at all, the two groups nodded their heads as they glanced at each other before weaving themselves into a single unit in a matter of seconds, something that caused Gul'dan to raise an eyebrow as the heroes lashed out at the pair of demons that had been sent at them, some of the Alliance and the Horde focusing on the Inquisitor while the rest turned on the Jailer. Spitfire found Gul'dan's shocked expression to be amusing, as it meant that he had been assuming that both factions would eventually break down when he targeted them and they wouldn't rush to each others aid, almost as if he might be hoping for something similar to the Broken Shore happening again, at least from his view point since he had no idea why the Horde had been forced to flee and why it prompted the Alliance to flee a little later, though as she took a few seconds to think about that Rainbow flashed around the remaining demon, where she was sure that all three of them had to be lieutenants of the orc, and spun around as she hacked the Fel Lord apart in seconds, while making sure to catch all three of the demonic souls before they left the area. Such a thing caused Gul'dan to pause for a moment, as he was likely expecting his minions to stay alive for far longer than what he had just witnessed, even if he took into account the power that was coursing through Spitfire's body, power that she hadn't used yet since there was no need to do such a thing just yet, though once everything was said and done everyone regrouped and faced the Eye of Amun'thul once more, as now they were waiting for him to make the next move and emerge from the dome that was around him, even though Spitfire had the feeling that Elisande might be able to stall it since she likely had more experience with the Pillar of Creation than anyone else in existence, save for the fallen Titans anyway.

In the following moments Gul'dan made up his mind on what he was doing to do about the situation he was in, where he seemed to call upon the Fel power that he was using to bolster his frail body, as his body enlarged before their eyes and only stopped when he was twice, if not three times, as tall as he had been before the battle had started, Fel spikes had also burst out of his arms and were covered in Fel energy, and there was a crimson red glow around his eyes as he stared at all of them, which was also when the Eye stopped rotating and a wave of Fel energy shattered the dome that was covering the Font of Night, even though Spitfire wasn't worried about the debris since Jaina and the others could catch the pieces before they hit the ground.

"You have failed, heroes, as the ritual is upon us!" Gul'dan stated, though as he said that none of the heroes were even a tad bit impressed by the display he was putting on for them, as his sudden transformation meant that he had to be very worried about facing off against the powers that Spitfire and Rainbow possessed, despite all of the Fel power that he could call on to complete his mission, before he stepped off the Eye of Amun'thul and glared at them for a time, likely planning out how he was going to go about fighting them, "However, to ensure that the ritual is successful, all of you must fall first, and with my unstoppable power I will bring all of you down and crush your spirits!"

With that said Gul'dan actually rushed into battle, as in charged at the heroes, and clashed with Rainbow, as she happened to be the one to charge at him as soon as he started to move, while Spitfire and the rest of the heroes lashed out at their foe, even though it was clear that he was focusing on one of the more dangerous enemies and showed that he was much smarter than those who came before him, given that most of his demonic followers didn't focus on her or Spitfire and just focused on hitting the heroes first, though if he was truly smart he would have lashed out at Spitfire first, given that of the two she was the strongest, but for now Spitfire let him move however he wanted. As such the first collision of Rainbow and Gul'dan's Fel energies caused everything around the Font of Night to shudder for a moment, even though what caused it was the fact that one of Rainbow's Warblades had been caught by Gul'dan's right hand, showing that he knew more than what all of them had assumed, before he channeled more Fel power into his other arm and threw another punch that was aimed for Rainbow's face, something that she avoided by dodging out of the way and swung her other Warblade not even a second later, hitting the orc's chest and cut through part of his robe. Given the lack of a grunt or something it was face to assume that either she had missed his chest or the attack had connected and nothing had happened, as if hard metal had hit a bit of equally hard metal, with the latter being Gul'dan's Fel-hardened chest, though in the following moment both of them separated from each other for a few seconds as the empowered warlock tanked several blasts that were coming his way from the other heroes, where he waved his hand and hurled a number of large Fel fireballs at his targets, though he found that none of them hit their targets as Spitfire raised her right hand and cancelled them out by blasting them with a bit of power. As that happened Rainbow summoned her lightning powers and flashed into battle once more, where she used her enhanced speed to move all around the area that Gul'dan was standing in and watched as he focused on her not a few seconds later, as if his eyes could catch up with her speed, before he hurled a number of massive Fel fireballs right at her, showing that he was less interested in the heroes and wanted to kill her first, though that didn't stop her from using her Fel power to absorb the power that was being sent her way, which caused Gul'dan to pause again, likely thinking that what he had heard only translated to souls, before growling as he moved forward once more.

Rainbow was more than happy to engage Gul'dan again, causing the air to shudder again as their energies collided against each other once more, though as that happened the orc warlock waved a hand and formed two gestures, the first caused a number of Fel portals to open up as more demons, as in the types they had faced when they started to fight him and a couple of others that were listening to their master's call, while the second was designed to summon chains made out of Fel energy all around her body, all so he could summon a massive Fel meteor to crush her into a statue, but Rainbow was pleased that Gul'dan was a moron and siphoned all of the Fel energy into her body, cancelling the attack before rushing into the space that her foe was occupying to punch him in the face. As such Gul'dan staggered backwards as Spitfire and the heroes focused on clearing out all of the demons that were pouring out of the portals that were around the platform everyone was currently standing on right now, though of course she knew that Rainbow was maintaining her net to catch all of the souls that were freed from the bodies of their enemies, where it looked like all of the bodies faded away once the demon in question had been slain, being absorbed by the soul no doubt, and it wasn't long before the souls surged into the Warblades as Rainbow lashed out at Gul'dan, causing the air to shudder once more. Gul'dan was roughly as strong as Xazariel was, in terms of Fel power, with the Sayaad Queen being stronger than the warlock currently was, but, at the same time, Rainbow was just as strong as he was and was growing even more powerful as time went on, as it looked like Gul'dan was starting to realize that calling on all of those reinforcements was starting to become a really bad idea, due to the fact that the more Fel energy she absorbed the stronger Rainbow became, be it from absorbing the power of slain demons or siphoning the power from any and all Fel attacks that were directed at her. In fact it caused Gul'dan to channel his power for a few seconds and summoned a number of shadowy orbs that looked a lot like his demonic eyes, so Eyes of Gul'dan if one were to actually name the attack, and he sent them at her, where they fired small beams of dark energy at her, which meant he had either figured out how to beat her, without feeding her more power, or he was trying another attack to try and take her down, to which she sighed for a moment and disappeared as she flashed around the section of the Font of Night that they were fighting on, cutting down the Eyes before they could do anything to her.

If the warlock was surprised by the sudden collapse of his Eyes he didn't show them any new expressions, rather he went on the offensive with his spells, weaving shadowy bits of energy into each and every one of them as he focused on taking her down first, where Rainbow found that she was also to siphon less from each attack and had to use a bit of her own Fel power to blast the rest of the attacks, causing the air to light up as the two fought each other, even though this was next to nothing in comparison to what happened when both of them physically clashed with their energies. Not a moment later Gul'dan gathered some Fel power inside his eyes and loosed what appeared to be scythe blades that were made from the energy he had been quickly pulling together, though since each of the blades were made out of Fel energy Rainbow took the orc's attacks and siphoned the power from each attack, but that was when she noticed that there was another benefit to this particular tactic, for Gul'dan at the very least, was that he was now able to attack at quicker speeds and started to do so as he attempted to catch up with Rainbow's speed. Rainbow smirked as she saw that, because she was still faster than both their allies and the orc warlock and was able to outpace Gul'dan with ease, even though it didn't stop her from doubling back to kick her foe in the face and knock him backwards, as while he had hardened his chest with the Fel power that was coursing through his body it looked like he didn't think she'd attack his head like that, but even then she knew his head would be hardened to some degree, in preparation for the fight, and knew that cutting it off would have to wait until she weakened him to the point where he could no longer maintain his empowered state. As such she flashed around the Font of Night as Gul'dan's eyes followed her, which was still impressive despite the fact that his speed didn't match hers at all, before finding that he was summoning a number of Fel fireballs above his head, likely to either toss them at her while hoping that she'd avoid them to burn those that were resting around the Nightspire's base, or drop his attacks on Spitfire and the rest of the heroes, to douse them in Fel fire and hurt their chances of beating him in this fight, where she quickly smashed through each of the large Fel fireballs, siphoning the power into her body like normal, before landing in front of Gul'dan and struck him with a bolt of lightning that pushed him backwards and caused him to stagger for a second, which had to shock the orc warlock as he witnessed it happen.

In the following moments Rainbow discovered that while her normal attacks couldn't do much to the Fel-hardened body that Gul'dan was using to fight her, even if she was sure that Spitfire would be able to overcome it with ease, but using her lightning allowed her to actually cut into the orc's chest and blast him hard enough to leave some markings on his arms or whatever part she had struck, something that caused him to growl as he tried to bring her down, though by channeling her power along the edges of her Warblades, clawed feet, and her tail she was able to deal some good damage to Gul'dan as he faltered under her barrage of empowered attacks... before he loosed a burst of energy that knocked everyone back for a second, not enough to knock them off the slightly cracked platform, and teleported into the dome that the Eye of Amun'thul had created, putting up some protection around him once more.

"No more distractions, for I have work that needs to be done!" Gul'dan stated, though as that happened his power flared to life once more as a large gaping hole in reality was torn in the air near where they were fighting, a tear that was just so happened to be facing the direction that the Tomb of Sargeras, and the Felstorm, rested in, which meant Gul'dan had to be in the final stages of his terrible mission, though on the other side of the tear Spitfire spotted a familiar sight, a planet that had been corrupted and was partly broken by the Legion's Fel energies, which meant it was Argus and that Sargeras was likely watching everything that was happening in this fight.

"No if we have anything to say about it!" Elisande replied, where she and Thalyssra, who had been hanging back near the area she had opened the portal to, finally stepped forward and weaved their Arcane energies through the air, where both of them focused their minds for a moment and Spitfire watched as the rings of the Eye of Amun'thul stopped spinning, as if the two powerful Nightborne had cut off the power that was feeding Gul'dan's ritual, though while Gul'dan growled at her and Thalyssra, to show that he was annoyed with them and should have killed them as soon as he met them, Spitfire knew that the orc was still connected to the Eye in some manner, as the tear still existed, and suspected that if they were to weaken him enough such a bond would break in no time.

In that moment Gul'dan raised his arms as he called out for his master's aid in taking them down, where they watched as the Fel energy that was rolling around his body took on a dark orange-red flame coloration as his frame grew larger once more, as he was now twice the size he had been after empowering his body the first time around, which meant they might be in trouble if his body were to resist most of the attacks that the heroes launched at him, though for the time being both Elisande and Thalyssra held the Eye of Amun'thul in check, giving Spitfire and the others the time they needed to take their foe down and stop his terrible mission from succeeding. Based on what Rainbow was seeing if Gul'dan poured any more Fel power into his body there was a chance that he would reach the point where he would detonate with enough power to wipe everyone out, something she would be able to cancel out by absorbing said power if it happened, though the instant he was done changing he rushed at where Rainbow was standing and swung his fist down at her, which she parried with a swing of her Warblades, even though that seemed to be followed by the air shuddering again as she felt part of the large platform crack, showing them that Gul'dan was far stronger than he had been moments ago. As that happened Gul'dan raised his other hand and made another gesture, which was when the wind itself picked up and seemed to push everyone towards the edge of the Font of Night, in an attempt to knock everyone off this area so he could be left alone and not have to worry about them interrupting the ritual he was performing, though for the most part the heroes were able to stand their ground and avoid the terrible fate that Gul'dan had planned for them, especially since Khadgar briefly made himself known as he summoned an Arcane wall to save them from the edge, though once that wind died down he withdrew his power and allowed the heroes to advance on the orc warlock once more. Gul'dan growled when he saw that and swung his hand again, summoning a number of his Eyes, now red colored and likely empowered like the rest of his body, to stall Spitfire and the others as he focused on Rainbow once more, who flipped onto his other arm for a moment and kicked out with right leg, hitting the side of the orc's head and knocked him to the side, which was oddly satisfying as his large frame hit the ground not a few seconds later, though her foe growled as he picked himself up and continued attacking her with all of his power, borrowed or otherwise.

Interestingly enough just using brute force wasn't the only thing Gul'dan tried to do, as he called upon his vast power for a few seconds and summoned a dark storm of energy that lashed out with shadowy lightning, targeting the heroes without any sort of pattern, though in response to that the mages and shaman gathered their powers and lashed out with bolts of lightning or bolts formed from the energies they were used to channeling, cancelling out the dark lightning before any bits had a chance to hit them or their allies. Even despite what they were doing the healers made sure to focus on anyone who was hurt and mended their wounds, while avoiding the attacks that happened to be coming their way as well, but for the most part it seemed like Gul'dan had learned his lesson and was no longer summoning demons to come and bother all of them, since his minions would be slain in no time as their souls and power would be sent over to Rainbow, so what he was doing allowed them to focus on him, after slaying any and all of his Eyes that he sent at them. When it was clear that this attack wasn't working, since the heroes were taking care of the shadowy lightning, Gul'dan quickly dismissed it and used a bit of his power to summon a mass of shadowy energy that snapped out at the heroes in an attempt to snatch portions of their souls, likely to either weaken them or to slowly feed them to the power that was being used to open the way between Argus and Azeroth, though it was in that moment that Spitfire focused on another aspect of her powers and channeled a bit of her Death energy for a few seconds. Her tactic was designed to snatch the fragments of all of their souls and return them to their rightful owners, something that caused the orc warlock to growl as he noticed that happen, before she sent a burst of power right into the heart of his well of energy and wiped out the Well of Souls he had created not a few seconds ago, something that allowed Rainbow to lash out at Gul'dan as she struck his chest and knocked him backwards, showing them that one of her empowered punches was more than enough to knock him around, though she wasn't about to back down as she moved into a series of punches and kicks that were designed to weaken her foe even more and push him to the point where Gul'dan surrendered, or just fought to the bitter end and fell by her crushing his body to the point where nothing of him was left.

Despite all of that Gul'dan also channeled some powerful flames as he faced them, hurling fireballs at the heroes before they had a chance to get close to where he and Rainbow were currently fighting each other, where Spitfire watched as all of the others avoided the attacks that happened to be coming at them and she simply waved a hand as she dispelled the energy behind the fireballs that came at her, once more showing everyone the difference in strength that existed between her and Gul'dan, where they knew that this would be over in an instant if she channeled her full power for even a second, but since she had taken down Xazariel she was leaving this fight to Rainbow, since her friend didn't need her stepping into this battle at this point in time. As that happened Gul'dan decided that enough was enough as he called upon all of the Fel energy that was inside his body and weaved it into thick Fel chains, ones he wrapped around Rainbow's body and hurled her into the space near the tear in reality, showing that he was going to either send her to Argus and seal her fate or this was a tactic for him to force her to consume too much Fel energy and have her physical form detonate, so her soul could be snatched by Kil'jaeden or someone else, but even as that happened it was easy for Spitfire to see that while Gul'dan's power might be starting to fail him, given that Rainbow was slowing siphoning his power and adding it to her own, that the connection between the orc and Lord Illidan's body weakened. That was what she was waiting for as she flashed over to where Khadgar was standing, as it seemed like Gul'dan was ignoring him for the most part, before placing a hand on his shoulder for a second as he raised Light's Heart and connected it to the Fel crystal, where she found a dark space that had to be filled with a portion of the terrifying energy that Sargeras commanded, something that made sense when she took a moment to consider that Gul'dan had been planning on using Lord Illidan's body as a vessel to assault Azeroth, but, at the same time, not too much of it was here and she could tell that more was trying to traverse the space between Argus and Azeroth, using the tear in reality as a portal to power a new Avatar. Instead of wasting time fighting the dark mass that was resting inside Lord Illidan's body, and giving away what she and Khadgar were doing so Gul'dan could empower it to where no one would succeed in stopping his mission, she channeled all four of her powers for a second and quickly latched onto the stream of power that was fueling the darkness, something she reversed with a wave of her hand and watched as the dark mass found itself being withdrawn by Sargeras not a few seconds later... even though she could feel that something or someone was observing what was going on at the moment, either the Dark Titan or something else.

For a moment she had to wonder if he felt her growing power and was recalling his own to not lose it, like he was afraid of her crushing part of his power and preventing him from recovering it, though once she was sure the shadowy mass was gone she smiled and pulled herself back as Khadgar channeled Lord Illidan's soul into his body, allowing her to return to the fight that was going on and found that Gul'dan was chuckling as he continued to chain Rainbow up in front of the tear in reality, clearly unaware of what she and Khadgar had done, to which she nodded her head for a moment and found that Rainbow had noticed her movement as she refocused on Gul'dan.

"Submit, Rainbow Dash, for you cannot beat me, not with the power that is being used against you!" Gul'dan stated, which just meant that he was going to continue to channel his Fel energy into the chains and whatever else he might use to keep her in place, until she submitted to him or died in defiance to his demands, but at the same time Spitfire was glad that he was incredibly arrogant, otherwise they would never have been able to get away with what she had just done, especially since the orc chuckled as he continued to pour his power into his spell, showing that he believed he had won despite the fact that none of the heroes had been beaten yet.

"Sorry, but I'm not beaten just yet... also, thanks for all the Fel energy!" Rainbow remarked, where she played her hand not a few seconds later and the chains shattered as she finished siphoning all of the power that Gul'dan had been pouring into them, though as the orc flinched for a moment, not expecting her to actually overcome his spell, Rainbow grasped some of the magical threads that were in the air between them and suddenly Gul'dan coughed, something that was followed by all of the heroes witnessing a Fel green mass starting to leave his body, as now that Rainbow had tasted enough of his vast Fel energy she was more than capable of drawing it out of him.

Gul'dan found that his form started to shrink as Rainbow siphoned his Fel energy, devouring every drop she got her hands on like she did to every demonic soul she snatched during the opening stages of this fight, where they noticed that both of her hands shook for a moment before her fingers took on a more claw-like form, similar to a Pit Lord's hands, and it even included her fur around her wrists turning into cyan scales, instead of the leathery skin that all of the vile Pit Lords had on their arms, legs, and the rest of her body, scales that also graced her legs as well, meaning she was becoming more of an amalgamation of her original form and the demons whose power she had absorbed. The moment Rainbow was sure the changes were done, since she was still in the middle of siphoning the rest of Gul'dan's power, who was currently back in the first form he had used against them when this battle had started, she rushed through the air and smashed her right fist into the side of the orc's head, knocking him to the ground as he lost more of the energy that was inside his body, an action that caused his former massive frame to decrease once more, causing Spitfire and all of the heroes to pause as they watched what was going on. Rainbow flashed forward not a few seconds later and delivered a few more attacks to Gul'dan as he tried to maintain his focus on the ritual to deliver Lord Illidan's body to Sargeras, something that had been broken as he focused on Rainbow, and with each attack the heroes watched as Gul'dan grew weaker and weaker as Rainbow stole all of the Fel energy that was inside his body, adding that stolen power to her own growing pool of energy, something that did cause the orc warlock to falter for a moment as he realized what was going on and growled as he realized that his power to call on more aid had failed him, as Sargeras had likely abandoned him in this critical moment once he realized that this ritual had been an utter failure. In the following moment Rainbow swung her right hand and let one of her claws connect with the orc's face, cutting a gash from the upper part of his right eye and down to the end of his nose, even though she narrowly missed taking his eye in the process, something that shattered his connection to everything that was around him at the moment and allowed her to siphon the rest of his Fel energy, leaving him with a tiny fraction of what he started with when this battle started, which also caused him to return to his base form and shatter the spikes on his back, before the force of her attack sent him spinning until he hit the ground and glanced at the tear in reality.

In the following moment the portal shuddered as the image of Argus vanished and they were staring at a swirling vortex of energy that rested inside his tear in reality, something that caused a wave of energy to escape the tear not a second later, which was above the heads of everyone else that was watching all of this happen, before it connected with the Fel crystal that was resting up above them and sent it flying towards one of the statues, breaking the elven statue in half as the rest of the crystal shattered, though Gul'dan was focused on the tear in reality and nothing else.

"No... NOOOO!" Gul'dan exclaimed, where he forced himself onto his feet and raised his left hand towards the vortex that was in front of him, all while there was a lot of Fel fire forming behind where he was standing, a result of Illidan's crystal breaking as it collided with both the statue and the floor, flames that he didn't notice as he focused on the fact that he had been defeated before the ritual could be finished, that his plans had been ruined by Spitfire, Rainbow, and all of Azeroth's mightiest champions, "This... cannot... BE..."

As he said that the tear in reality slammed shut and disappeared, leaving the sky as bare as it had been before he tore that portal open earlier, something that caused him to fall to his knees as he finally realized that his master had turned his back on him and left him to the mercy of Azeroth's champions, where he focused on his hands for a moment as he thought of something, anything, that might save his life... though that was when two shadowy wings, ones that Spitfire and Rainbow instantly recognized from the number of times they had seen it, unfurled behind Gul'dan as the orc paused and turned to face the flames, which happened to be when Illidan Stormrage, in all his glory, emerged from the Fel flames and grabbed him by the neck, only to forcefully channel some Fel power into the orc's body as it started to crack, before he closed his wings on Gul'dan and the orc's body disintegrated in a matter of seconds.

"You have seen what I have seen," Illidan spoke up, speaking for the first time since he had been slain at the summit of the Black Temple, which wasn't counting when his spirit had spoken to Spitfire, Rainbow, and the Illidari, before everyone was able to see that the only thing that remained of Gul'dan was his smouldering and blackened skull, which the Lord of the Illidari crushed with his left hand, likely a test to make sure that everything was in order and that no aspects of his body had changed since the last time he had been alive, before he turned towards the heroes as they came to terms with what was going on right now, "you now know what we face. Now, heroes and champions of Azeroth, follow me as we wage war on the Legion... and delve into the abyss!"

Spitfire and Rainbow smiled as they sheathed their weapons, the first to do so, and approached their Lord, as now that he was back in action, and would retrieve his warglaives from the heroes who had taken them all those years ago, they could listen to what else he had planned and ready themselves for their assault on the Broken Shore, because with Gul'dan dead it was only a matter of time until Kil'jaeden made his move and they wanted to be sure they caught him before he was able to do anything with the Tomb of Sargeras and the Felstorm that was above it... though for now a small rest was necessary before they did anything else, and they were sure their new allies would like a short break before they tackled the next big problem that Azeroth was facing.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

hah Rainbow absolutely smurfed Gu'ldan, I absolutely loved it. I also enjoyed how the heroes were like "yeah spitfire could handle this in a second but she took the last boos"

[badninja]

That poor fool. He had no clue that he sealed his own fate by claiming what he was going to do in front of Rainbow. She isn’t the element of Loyalty for nothing.

[Gargon94]

On to Argus now.

[Blackdrag-rose]

10751467 Not quite yet. First, a few interludes that build up to the Broken Shore, than the assault on the Broken Shore and the Tomb of Sargeras, and then, once that's done, can our heroes move onto Argus and the dark truths that are lurking in the darkness.