World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Shore: Cathedral of Eternal Night

Rainbow found that the entrance to the Cathedral of Eternal Night rested near the Broken Shore side of the bridge that had, at one point in time, linked this island up with the rest of Suramar, a bridge that was now shattered and most of the pieces rested in the water between the two areas, though once she discovered where her destination was she paused for a few seconds as Illidan and Maiev caught up with her, which was easy to do since the former could fly with his wings and the latter had the speed to match the one she was following, even though it did give her a chance to stare at the massive stone structure that had been corrupted by the Legion, or maybe it was the piece of Sargeras' power that was sealed away in the depths of the structure. It looked like Mephistroth was definitely up there, near the peak that the Aegis of Aggramar had to be returned to as the first step in sealing the Tomb of Sargeras, allowing them to break the Felstorm and made sure that door was closed, even though she knew Spitfire had a plan that was molded from what Lord Illidan had told her, though she did have to reflect on that and mentally refer to her mentor by his name, as Illidan insisted that she and Spitfire were now at the point where neither of them needed to use the title when speaking to him, to which she sighed for a second as both of her companions joined her. Normally dungeons were supposed to be run with five heroes, with whoever else being like a guide or something, sort of like what happened when they tackled the Halls of Valor and Odyn commented on what they had been doing, but at times like this, where most of their forces were needed to make sure the Broken Isles and their new camp were safe from harm, or be ready for when the Legion retaliated, something they knew was coming and were just waiting to see what Kil'jaeden did next. Such a thing reminded her of the fact that she had Archimonde's Fel crystal in her pack, a fitting punishment for one of Sargeras' most powerful followers, the other being Kil'jaeden himself, though she had refrained from devouring the impressive amount of Fel energy that was attached to the Defiler's soul, mostly because he was one of the most powerful demons in existence and she had been worried that devouring his power might break her or something, or focusing on others, like Mephistroth and the others, gave her the time to prepare herself.

Once she finished thinking about that, and found that there were no demons guarding the opening that happened to be resting in front of her, Rainbow pulled her Warblades from her horns not a few seconds later and marched through the bit of magic that served as the entrance of the Cathedral, which brought her to a decent sized chamber that looked like part of a temple of some kind, which might be accurate since the Tomb had been, according to Khadgar, a temple of Elune in the past, only now it was corrupted by Fel energy and was home to demons.

"Given our recent invasion of the Broken Shore, and what Kil'jaeden is likely planning next, we are fortunate that there are no demons pouring out of the Tomb," Maiev commented, as everyone knew that it was only a matter of time until a large group of enemies, possibly a horde of them based on what they had seen in the past, marched out of the Tomb's opening and joined Kil'jaeden's mission to bring his foes down, though that was when she turned her head to look at the rather short passage that lead to the next part of the corrupted Cathedral, "though it would appear that Mephistroth has taken the last hour or so to pack this place full of enemies, to stop us from reaching the Aegis' resting place."

"The Dreadlord is scared, as he should be," Illidan remarked, something he took pride in discovering, as most demons had a vast hatred for the Illidari he had trained to bring the Legion down, since they had the ability to steal the power of their enemies and turn it against them, but it was impressive for one of his followers to install a level of fear in a demon, even one of the powerful Nathrezim, demons who should hate them due to the fact that he raided their planet and had taken a moment to collapse the portal on that planet, to wipe it out and prevent Sargeras from discovering that the Illidari knew of the Sargerite Keystone, which made him even more proud of both Spitfire and Rainbow, "he has no idea that these foes will only serve to strengthen your power and make it that much harder for the Legion to bring you down, even though, in their arrogance, they believe themselves to be untouchable."

"Yeah, well the forces of Azeroth have certain torn down the image that the Legion wants to present," Rainbow said, as she was referring to the fact that most demons seemed to be of the opinion that they were immortal and all powerful, that no one could touch or even harm them in anyway, only for most of Sargeras' forces to be slain and sent back to the Twisting Nether, save for the ones that were permanently killed in that very place, or those whose souls were trapped inside both her weapons and Spitfire's weapons, to which she stepped forward and walked out onto a curved hallway that looked like a crescent moon, with the curve to her right and the tips to her left, before she spotted Mephistroth flying in the middle of the open space between the two sides of the hallway, "Ah, Mephistroth, I was wondering if you were going to show up, or if you were too scared after our last encounter... oh, and I returned your ship to Argus, or whatever Legion world that was on the other side of the Felstorm, so you won't have to worry about it at all."

"Ah, Rainbow Dash, I'm looking forward to breaking those horns of yours and crushing your body," Mephistroth stated, as if he wasn't scared of her at all, despite what happened when she fought him on his ship not even an hour ago, and she could see that the wound her attack had left hadn't been treated yet, meaning he literally came here and set up all sorts of guards to stop whoever followed him, plus she had the feeling that he was actually scared of her and was trying to make her lower her guard or something so he would have an easier time killing her, "You will pay for your crimes against both the Legion and the Nathrezim, and I will make sure that your punishment is the worst that Antorus has to offer... you will be begging to be turned into a demon before the first day, much less the first hour, is even done."

"Are you trying to be intimidating, because if you are... well, its failing to scare me," Rainbow remarked, though as she said that she noticed what sort of demons were lingering around the crescent hallway that she would have to fight through so she could reach the stairs that were on the other side from where she, Illidan, and Maiev were standing, where a number of Felguards, Eredar, and Felstalkers happened to be patrolling the hallway in groups, mostly of four to five and had one of each demonic race in each group, and there were a number of Felbats flying through the air as well, before she focused on the Dreadlord for a few more seconds, "Let me make one thing clear, Mephistroth: you don't scare me. You fled from your own ship when I challenged you, while Tichondrius and the other Dreadlords I've fought, including the last female that was killed just a few minutes ago, faced me with their full might, which makes you more cowardly than every other Dreadlord that came before you... not that it matters, for soon you'll be dead on the ground and both your soul and your Fel energy will be mine."

Mephistroth looked like he wanted to say something, anything, to install some fear into Rainbow, though Illidan smirked as his pupil, who had become a master in her own right and was far stronger than he originally assumed she would be when he started teaching her and Spitfire, took a step forward and the Dreadlord actually flinched for a second, something none of the other Nathrezim had done in the past, before he turned into a mist of bats and fled through an opening that was on the right side of the crescent walkway, likely something Aegwynn or the Kaldorei of old had used in the past, before this place stopped being used. Rainbow wasn't too annoyed by the demon's actions, rather she figured that he was really after the Aegis and she glanced back to make sure Maiev stayed close to her, with Illidan making sure any demon that got too close suffered greatly, though once the pair were ready to move she turned to her right and rushed at the pack of demons that happened to be standing nearby, all while she threatened their master and called him a coward, where she parried an incoming attack from a Felguard and used her tail to smash an unsuspecting Felstalker into the smooth floor, allowing her to end it not a few seconds later. The Eredar of the group, of which there were two, lashed out with bolts of Fel energy and watched as their spells did nothing to her, as part of Rainbow's power involved absorbing any Fel attacks that were sent at her, such as Fel fireballs or a wave of Fel energy that was supposed to knock her down, meaning she took no damage from them and added all that power to her growing pool of of energy, before she spun around and swung her blades at the foe that was right in front of her, cutting a diagonal cross through both the Felguard's armor and his chest, which let her drop him to the ground and move towards the last enemies of the first group. Of course both of the Eredar were worried about their chances at this point in time, since she was absorbing each and every attack they sent her way and had crushed both demons that had been near them earlier, but Rainbow wasted no time in crushing both of them, by cutting them down a few seconds later, and collected all of the souls of those she had slain so far, even though she spotted a group of demons that were to the left of the opening she had walked through, a Felguard and Eredar who had a Doomguard with them, but all she did was flash over there and remove their heads before returning to her former position.

Illidan, however, smirked for a moment as he witnessed that happened, as it also confirmed just how powerful Rainbow was at this point in time and he could see that her power was still evolving, reaching to new heights, as while her ability to drain Fel energy should have affected him as well, since it was in its infancy right now, it appeared that she already knew how to focus the power of such an ability on those that were around her, as while he remained untouched he could see a few Eredar, on the other side of the crescent hallway, who staggered for a second or two, an almost unseen movement to most, and it meant she was focusing on tearing the Legion down.

Once the first collection of souls were added to her weapons, and she absorbed their Fel energy as well, Rainbow started to move once more as she focused on the demons that were in front of her, swinging her Warblades at either the heads or the chests of their enemies, the latter designed to destroy the hearts of her foes, while also spinning around to use her tail to crush some of the demons and used her clawed feet to cut others down, though in her rush to kill them all she made sure to dodge attacks and make sure she didn't get sustain too much damage for now, given that there were no healers in their group of three. While she did that, and her companions followed after them, Rainbow noticed that a new demon was chasing them with the intent of smashing them into the ground, no doubt to finally claim the Aegis in the Legion's name, to which she paused for a moment and flashed backwards as the Doomguard, who called itself Dul'zak, tried to reach out so it could grab Maiev, something the Warden stopped by cutting into the demon's hand as Illidan did the same to its legs at the same time, even though Rainbow finished it off as several slashes appeared on the Doomguard's chest and its body collapsed in a heap of pieces as she landed where she had moved from. Of course the souls of the slain demons flowed into her Warblades as she siphoned the Fel energy of her enemies, focusing on slowly drawing it out of the enemies she wasn't fighting right now while fully taking all of the power from the demons she had ended so far, and while she moved down the crescent hallway Rainbow glanced over part of the edge and found that they were definitely above what had to the main chamber of the Tomb of Sargeras, though it caused her to pause for a moment when she spotted a demon that she couldn't wait to sink her blades into. She was staring at a massive Eredar, red skinned to be exact and who stood just as tall as Archimonde had before his death, who had large red leathery bat wings that showed his demonic nature, if one didn't understand that by staring at the Fel energy coming from his metallic bracers, shoulder pads, hoof plating, and the sash that rested around his waist, though he wore brown shorts that were tattered at the end, and didn't reach his knees at all, while only having a skull of some kind attached to a chained necklace that rested in front of his bare chest, and while he commanded some of the demons to make themselves ready she noticed a scar over the demon's right eye, one that she recognized as soon as she saw it.

Of course, after taking in who was down there, she pulled back and allowed Illidan and Maiev to glance down there for a few seconds before pulling back as well, though Rainbow fought the urge to ruin Spitfire's plan by taking down Kil'jaeden here and now, as with a sneak attack and a swift swing at his neck she was sure that she could take him now, before the foul Right Hand of Sargeras even knew what had hit him, and continued moving down the path that was in front of her as she focused on the other demons, though she resolved to strike him down if he was still here once she placed the Aegis in its resting place, regardless of Spitfire's plans.

The Felguards and Wrathguards that were in front of her also tried to cut her down with Fel-empowered attacks, ones that she simply caught with the palm of her hands and siphoned all of the power behind the attacks with ease, allowing her to crush those demons and snatch their souls as she cut down the Eredar that were in her way and smashed the Felstalkers with her tail, even though it was amusing to watch as some of her magical enemies tried to cast some of their powerful spells and found that, despite not fighting anyone or casting any powerful magic recently, they weren't anywhere near the level of power they were used to. Such a thing allowed her to cut them down and continue moving without wasting too much time worrying about what the demons were up to, as they were either weakened from her new ability or they used all of their remaining power in an attempt to bring her down with a few attacks, something that didn't work as she cut all of her foes down and sent all of their souls screaming into her weapons while a small smile remained on her face, as she made sure to take all of their Fel energy and adding it to her own. Even a force of ten Felbats flew into the area and tried to bite or claw her into submission, to make the job of the remaining demons on this floor that much easier, though instead of swinging either of her weapons at those enemies, or crushing them with her tail or claws, Rainbow focused on moving down the hallway and Illidan watched as the ten Felbats collapsed on the ground without his pupil even touching them, as if she had simply drained all of their Fel energy from their bodies and, as a consequence, it also ripped the souls out of the demons in question. Such a thing made Illidan realize that if such a thing was true, and Rainbow trained such a power to its full potential, she could likely drain an entire demon world of all its Fel energy and weaken the Legion in the process, as in she would likely target both the planet and the forces that were inhabiting the planet, granting her the power to end all sorts of threats before they could become threats, something they would have to focus on at some point after their visit to the Cathedral of Eternal Night was over, especially since she was sure that Spitfire would be interested in hearing what he and Maiev were seeing right now, even though it was likely Spitfire knew of Rainbow's power and was letting it grow while she kept an eye on it.

While he thought about that, and Maiev was likely thinking about it as well, he watched as Rainbow cleared this floor of the remaining demons, as in she killed all of the demons who were trying to bring her down and claimed their power for her own, just like those that had tried to kill her earlier, before she reached the path that would allow them to head up to the next floor of the Cathedral, a curved staircase that was guarded by an Eredar, a Felguard, and a Sayaad, who stood on a small platform that rested in the middle of this floor and the next, though Rainbow cut them down with ease and paused for a few seconds as she absorbed their souls, especially the Sayaad's.

"What's wrong? Why have we stopped?" Maiev asked, because while she figured that Rainbow had her reasons, which she had a good idea what those reasons might be, she was worried that if they lingered here for too long Kil'jaeden might take notice of them and come attack them personally, instead of leaving it to Mephistroth, and if such a thing happened while they were here she had no idea if Rainbow would be enough to bring down the one who stood as Sargeras' Right Hand, regardless of the power that she commanded.

"Nothing... I was just curious if my body would change more, since the souls of the Sayaad have an interesting effect on the bodies of the Illidari," Rainbow replied, where she stood at an angle for a moment so Illidan and Maiev could see what she was referring to with their own eyes, or Spectral Sight in the case of her mentor, even though she was sure that they were used to seeing her new form at this point in time, to which she sighed as she started to move once more, despite the fact that she was fine with how her body had turned out and didn't want the chest to grow eve more, but this did give both of her companions something else to think about as they moved through this place.

At the top of the curved staircase Rainbow found a number of groups wandering around the floor that was above the one they had started on, groups comprised of a single Sayaad and a number of Fel-corrupted Lashers, small plants that liked to lash out at whoever was near them, even though she did spot a small stone bridge that connected to an area that was just above where she had seen Mephistroth had been flying when she first entered this place, an area that had a number of Fel-corrupted plants based on what she could tell. As such the first thing she did was weave her power around the area and watched as the various Lashers that were standing in her way collapsed in what she had to assume was their death state or something, their Fel energy and souls, if they had any of the latter, gathering in her weapons and growing pool of energy, before flashing as she moved forward and attacked the couple of Sayaad that happened to be standing between her and her next destination, demons who lifeless bodies fell to the ground not even a few moments later. Once she and her companions reached the connecting bridge, however, she found that there were a few Felborne left, how she had no idea since she and the heroes had killed every single one of them they had found inside Suramar City, meaning they must have been sent here before they could be taken out, and some appeared to be tending to the plants that were around the area, Lashers to be exact, before she spotted a large tree creature, an Ancient based on what Maiev told her, which had blackened bark and had Fel cracks in its body, meaning it was no longer the being that the Kaldorei created all those years ago, rather it was a Fel Ancient and was likely linked to the Fel barrier on the other pathway. As such Rainbow focused on cutting down the remainder of the Felborne, of which there were only five of them wandering around the garden that they had corrupted, or finished corrupting since the demons had been here for far longer than they had been, and siphoned all of the Fel energy from the Lashers that happened to be in her way, though once that was done she had Illidan and Maiev stand back as she approached the Fel Ancient, who Maiev claimed was called Agronox, a name that existed on a plaque on the side of the stone arch they had walked through earlier.

Agronox, as Rainbow suspected, wasn't too pleased to have someone invade the garden it was tending to and lashed out at her the moment she approached it, swinging its wooden arms down in an attempt to smash her into the floor, though she raised her hands and stalled the attack as it came at her, the collision of their Fel energies causing the air to shake for a few moments, something that would likely tell Kil'jaeden what was going on and case him to flee before she got to him, to which she focused on the Fel Ancient and nothing else for the time being. Of course she could tell that Agronox had a decent amount of Fel energy inside its body, not as much as most of the demons Rainbow and her allies had faced in the Nighthold earlier, though her new ability came in handy as she slowly drained its power, making sure it didn't notice what was going on, as she pushed its fist backwards and swung a Warblade, cutting into the bark that rested on its chest and left a mark behind as her foe staggered backwards for a tiny bit, before it lashed out at her again. Once the initial collision was over Agronox continued to attack her with two other abilities that it had access to, one being the release of spores to create a cloud of poison, or maybe it was supposed to infect his targets with bits of Fel energy to weaken them, while the other ability allowed it to summon a mass of Fel vines to wrap around her and restrain her, making her an easier target to hit no doubt, though Rainbow grinned as she siphoned the power out of the vines and crushed them by moving both of her arms outwards, though she also flashed through the cloud and snatched all of the Fel power inside it, allowing her to focus on her true foe. Given that Agronox was an Ancient it was hard to see if it was surprised by her actions or annoyed, though the latter was likely the truth since the corrupted figure continued to attack her with its fists, attacks that she just parried with both of her Warblades, allowing her to slowly siphon more of her foe's energy as they fought each other for the next few minutes, even though it was clear that Agronox was getting weaker and weaker as time went by, due to her actions and the couple of cuts that pierced its bark and struck its core, or at least she assumed that was what she had to be hitting while they fought in this area.

Eventually Rainbow carved her way to what she assumed had to be the core of Agronox's body, a wooden item that sort of looked like a heart and had a lot of Fel energy coming from it, reflecting all of the corruption that was inside its body, and tore it out without delay, allowing her to spin around and hack the heart apart as the Fel Ancient collapsed on the floor not even a few seconds after she did that, allowing her to send its corrupted soul into her weapons while devouring its energy as well, though once that was done she made sure everything was stable before moving once more, since they had no idea if Kil'jaeden might be sending reinforcements to deal with them.

With Agronox defeated Rainbow headed over the second walkway, the one that would allow them to move deeper into the Cathedral of Eternal Night, where she found a few groups of Felborne wandering around, some accompanied by a Sayaad and others having a Lasher near them, to which she flashed out of the area she was standing in and cut down the demons who were to the left of the walkway she used to leave Agronox's arena, mostly because she knew that none of those were the guardians of the path she needed to take and the fact that she didn't want to leave any enemies behind. With all of the side enemies defeated Rainbow flashed back to where her companions were standing and rushed at the enemies that just so happened to be guarding the next curved staircase that would bring her to the next floor of the Cathedral, though most of the Felborne who were in her way crumbled within seconds of lashing out at her, the Lashers collapsed without being able to do anything, and the couple of Sayaad tried, in vain, to avenge their fallen Queen, even though they were targeting the wrong person since Spitfire had done in Xazariel during their assault on the Nighthold earlier. Once she was sure that all of the guardians were dead, and that included the demons that rested nearby, Rainbow headed up the staircase and quickly found that a number of Wyrmtongue and Imps were guarding the flat section of the stairs, which connected to one of the ancient rooms of the Cathedral, but she crushed them as she spun around the instant she met them, cutting down all of the lesser demons that were in her way and sent their souls screaming into her weapons, and making sure to take all of their power, before reaching the top of the staircase, finding a couple of Imps tossing ancient tomes between them, to which she sighed and cut them down before making sure the books were safe. The reason for making sure the tomes had sustained no damage was because she knew that Khadgar and the other mages, including the Nightborne, would want to check out what was inside these tomes and would be annoyed if something happened to any of the ancient tomes, but as soon as that distraction was completed she walked through the doorway that was raised a little in front of her and found that it lead to a decent sized chamber, which a Mo'arg could fit in with ease, which appeared to be a library of some kind, due to all of the tomes and shelves full of books, before noticing a number of Wyrmtongue wandering around.

Based on that information she had the feeling that the Legion, or maybe Mephistroth, had sent these little monsters here to claim some of the tomes for their cause, though based on what she was seeing it didn't look like any of them had taken anything yet, to which she made sure her companions stood back for a few seconds as she flashed around the chamber and quickly cut down the Wyrmtongue that were trying to loot this place, though when all of them were laying on the floor Rainbow found a Darkglare as well and hacked it apart, something that was followed by a Mo'arg Brute falling through the ceiling and landed in the middle of the chamber, though he made more Fel energy than the rest of his type of demons, or at least Rainbow sure thought he did.

The Mo'arg apparently called itself Thrashbite 'the Scornful', why Rainbow had no idea and honestly she didn't care all that much as she switched to her combat stance once more, though the demon actually made the first move this time, instead of waiting for her or her allies to make it, where it swung its cudgel down at her with enough power to make it hurt if the attack connected with his target, despite the fact that Rainbow raised her Warblades and parried the attack, which caused the floor around her clawed feet to crack a little as she faced the Mo'arg. Of course it seemed that blocking the first swing annoyed the demon, as it was far easier to read the emotions of a demon since most of them liked to have part of their faces uncovered when they fought and she was sure that she could see something behind the metallic helmet her foe had over his head, though once they separated from each other Rainbow swung her weapons at Thrashbite and found that he parried them with his weapon, meaning Mephistroth had a good demon in charge of defending this part of the Cathedral and that it might take some time to take him out. That was when she found that the Mo'arg did something strange, he just threw his cudgel and it rested on the outer part of the chamber, between the shelves and the walls, where it spun around for a few seconds while making a complete circle, leaving the demon without a weapon for some time and meant that she could attack his armored chest without having to worry about getting hit by the cudgel, even though she was sure getting hit would do nothing but make things that much more interesting for her. Without his weapon Thrashbite swung his fists at her as he waited for his weapon to come back to him, showing that the Mo'arg was more like a brute and didn't seem to think about his decisions all that well, though Rainbow followed suit as she switched to her fists and parried each attack he sent her way, something which caused him to growl at her in annoyance, but it did allow her to open his defenses without too much effort and lash out at his chest, causing the Mo'arg to stagger backwards as he noticed some cuts on his chest, all thanks to her claws. Not a few moments later Rainbow noticed that the cudgel returned to its owner, Thrashbite's right hand to be exact, but instead of swinging at her with it, no doubt after seeing what had happened the last time he tried to do it, the Mo'arg jumped backwards and positioned himself like he was going to charge at her, meaning she could either dodge the attack and let it hit the wall or angle the demon so he struck some of the shelves that were around them, which was when she made sure he was facing her and nothing else since there was nothing between them.

In that moment Thrashbite charged at her, bypassing the shelves that were around them as he chuckled as he informed all of them of what he intended to do with the tomes later, smash them and burn everything that was around him, something that caused Rainbow to raise her hands and grip the Mo'arg's chest for a few seconds, stalling the demon as Illidan and Maiev stood there in silence, surprised by just how much strength she had, before she pushed her arms outwards so she could open the demon's defenses, allowing her to deliver an uppercut and knock the Mo'arg backwards, onto his back no less, which was when she removed his head and killed him before he could do anything else.

Once that was done, as Rainbow was sure that Thrashbite's soul was where it belonged, she headed through the arch that was on the other side of the chamber and continued to climb the rest of the floors that the Cathedral had, but it did give Illidan some time to tell Maiev what he had learned about her all those years ago, before his forces were attacked by those the Warden had tricked, and he recalled that her friend Twilight was an individual who sought knowledge, so she was used to someone who read ancient tomes and punished the Mo'arg for even mentioning destroying them, given everything he knew about her friend. On the other side of the arch Rainbow found a pair of Wyrmtongue and some Imps around her, all messing with ancient tomes like those they had found before discovering Thrashbite in the main library chamber, though she wasted no time in wasting the demons before heading up the curved staircase that was close to the arch she walked through, which brought her to an area that had a bunch of webs, a couple of small spider demons, and an Aranasi, one of the humanoid spider demons, though the Aranasi growled at her as she stepped up to the area that it was guarding right now, showing that it was angry with her as well. At this point in time Rainbow wasn't worried about the mentions of the demons she faced, rather she rushed into the area the demon was standing in and parried several swings that the demon sent at her, especially from the smaller spider demons as well, before she overpowered the Aranasi and cut it down within the next few seconds, including all of the smaller enemies that were around her, which allowed her to head for the other side of the section of the Cathedral she was in, even though she was stopped by a pair of Fal'dorei, the spider elves, who were also corrupted by devouring some of the Fel energy. As Rainbow rapidly moved around and cut them down, which did open the way for her to progress towards her destination, she had to wonder if there was a timeline where the angry Fal'dorei weren't twisted into what she and the others had seen so far, as in they still became spider elves, that much she was sure would be impossible to change, but instead of being angry with everyone maybe they retained a measure of the lives they possessed before trying to mess with one of the Arcan'dor, but she was going to leave that idea for Nozdormu, Murozond, and Elisande to worry about, since they were working on Spitfire's orders.

With the Fal'dorei taken care of, and she was sure that there were no more enemies for her to worry about, Rainbow just walked up another curved staircase that happened to be in front of her and reached an area that had a slot of some kind in the center of a decent sized chamber, where Mephistroth might be lurking, and it contained a lot of Fel energy, likely due to all of the demonic activity that was happening in the Cathedral, though while Illidan and Maiev stood outside this area Rainbow walked into the chamber as a Fel Lord opened a portal so he could step into the chamber as well, to which both of them stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"Kil'jaeden sends his gratitude, Rainbow Dash, for delivering the Aegis of Aggramar into the Legion's hands," the Fel Lord stated, as if Rainbow was betraying Spitfire and the Grand Alliance that was standing against Kil'jaeden's forces, as if she was about to turn around and cut down Illidan and Maiev before claiming the Pillar of Creation, something that caused her to frown for a moment as she focused on the demon that was in front of her, while noting that Illidan was readying himself in case any demons attacked them from behind as a Fel barrier sprung up between the chamber and the passage she had used to reach this chamber, "too bad that doesn't include sparing you, so you shall die now and suffer for every life you have stolen from the Legion, just like what will happen when we tear down Spitfire... and I, Domatrax, will take great joy in being the one to kill you at last."

"You demons talk way too much," Rainbow remarked, to which she flashed through the air and approached the Fel Lord's head without delay, where she spun forward and brought the edges of her clawed feet downwards, in a cutting motion so she could do some damage to her foe, only for Domatrax to raise his massive battleaxe and swung it at her, their attacks colliding in the middle of the space between them and caused the air to shudder once more, which would tell Kil'jaeden where she and her companions were, but she grinned for a moment as she was pushed backwards, as it looked like this Fel Lord might be stronger than most of the demons that had been in the Cathedral of Eternal Night.

In response to that fact Rainbow landed near where the Aegis had to be placed for a few seconds, mostly to give her a few seconds to see what was going on, before she rushed through the air and swung her claws at Domatrax, finding that he was more than capable of swinging his battleaxe in rapid succession, instead of swinging once and then having to pause for a moment or two before attacking again, though all that meant was that she clashed with the head of his weapon and it demonstrated the strength the Fel Lord possessed. Of course she didn't stick to just trying to claw his arms up, scratch his chest, or claw out his eyes, even though some would benefit her in this fight, rather she made sure to swing her clawed feet at the demon whenever she got the chance to do so and spun around every now and then to smash something with her demonic tail, though it was possible that Domatrax had been studying her since he seemed to understand the couple of changes that had given her more weapons and did his best to parry all of the attacks she sent his way, though a few did slip through the cracks in his defenses. Those attacks were punches that smashed into the chest piece that the demon had on over his chest and she left dents in most of the places she struck, even a few cracks based on what she could see, but all it did was tick off her foe and that was what she was hoping for as they fought, as an enraged demon was far easier for her to take down than a demon who happened to be calm and collected, though that was around the time that Domatrax heaved his battleaxe into the air once more and swung it down at her, which she avoided and let it smash into the ground she had been standing on, only to appear in front of his face and knock him to the ground with a kick to the face. That was an attack that was designed to annoy him and force the Fel Lord to make some mistakes, which would eventually spell his doom if her plan worked as she intended, though as Domatrax got back up he raised his left hand for a moment and tore open a Fel portal near one of the walls of this chamber, showing Rainbow that the Fel Lord was calling in reinforcements to aid him, an army of Imps to be exact, something that caused her to just stare at all of them and the portal they came from, before turning her attention back on the Fel Lord she happened to be fighting right now, which surprised Domatrax as all of the Imps paused and tilted their heads in confusion.

Illidan and Maiev, however, understood that Imps were nothing to Rainbow, as she could either kill them all by flashing all over the chamber and reappearing where she had started within a second of moving, like she had done to several groups of enemies recently, or she could just use her drain ability to siphon the Fel energy that all of the Imps had, killing them in mere seconds and before they understood what was going on, and it appeared that she was going with the latter this time around, as the Imps collapsed before their eyes, to the point where they stopped moving, and the Fel portal broke apart a moment later, with all that Fel energy going right into Rainbow's body. While that happened Rainbow went on the attack as she focused on Domatrax, this time dodging the battleaxe that was coming at her as she slashed and punched at the Fel Lord's crumpling chest piece over the next few moments, her attacks dealing more damage to the armor until it shattered before her eyes, much to the surprise of her opponent since he clearly wasn't expecting it to happen at all, which caused him to jump backwards and put his back closer to the wall while he made sure to put some distance between them, even if Rainbow could close the distance in a moment if she truly wanted to do so. In that moment Domatrax raised his hands, as he stabbed the head of his battleaxe into the ground and let got of the handle so he could focus on what he was doing for the next few seconds, before Rainbow found that he was gathering his Fel energy, mixed with some of the Tomb's energy to make it even deadlier than what it might have been before this point, before he fired a massive burst of Fel energy right at the area she was standing in, an attack that would have done some serious damage if it had been used against some of Azeroth's heroes. Rainbow, on the other hand, just stood there and smiled as she weaved some of her power through the air for a few seconds, which was followed by her opening her mouth as the attack was forcefully condensed into a smaller wave as she ate it before the Fel Lord's eyes, and once the attack was over she closed her mouth and licked her lips for a second, due to the fact that she enjoyed doing that while shocking her foes in the process, before she rushed forward and punched Domatrax in the chest, her strengthened attack cracking a few ribs and causing the demon to cough as he took a few steps backwards, all while sweating as if he realized that he was done for and that there was no way he was going to win this fight.

Of course that didn't stop him from raising his hands and tearing open more Fel portals, where one had a number of Imps march through, a second had some Felguards rushing out, while the third had some red skinned Shivarra, an interesting color since she wasn't used to seeing that type, not that such a thing mattered since she flashed around the chamber for a second and slew the reinforcements as the portals lost their Fel energy, gathering more energy as she removed the head of the Fel Lord as well, who had been trying to stand up and this ended the fight, allowing her a few seconds to make sure all of the souls were inside her weapons and the energy had settled down before she glanced at the wall that was across from where the hallway rested.

"Come on, Mephistroth, I know you're lurking in the shadows, waiting for us to leave so you can claim the Aegis the instant we leave the Cathedral, so you might as well come out." Rainbow stated, as it would be like a Nathrezim to hide nearby, in the shadows, while some of his allies were fighting, hoping to lure the heroes into a false sense of security before striking at whoever his targets happened to be, though it wasn't long before some of the shadows shuddered for a moment as the demon in question materialized before her eyes, with a frown on his face, meaning he wasn't expecting her to notice that he was there and might have been hoping to avoid fighting her.

"I will offer you one last chance to join us of your own free will, Rainbow Dash, for if you refuse we will torture you until you bend the knee and swear to serve the Legion," Mephistroth replied, apparently under the delusion that repeating the statement would be enough to convince her to just stop what she was doing, betray her comrades and companions, and just join the Legion because a bunch of demons told her to do so, though that was when she flashed through the air that was between her and Mephistroth within a few seconds, much to the surprise of the demon in question, before she swung her fist and punched him in the side of his face, knocking him to the ground as she landed nearby, causing the demon to growl for a moment, "Fine, I will take great pleasure in breaking you and forcefully converting you into a willing servant of Kil'jaeden, not to mention a vessel of the Legion's terrible might!"

Rainbow sighed for a moment, as she was getting tired of the demons repeating themselves and their threats, before she pulled her Warblades out and rushed at Mephistroth, who gathered his Fel energy and, in a display of stupidity that made one question if he was even a true Nathrezim, some of the smartest demons in the entirety of the Legion, hurled a couple of blasts in her direction, even though he switched his hands and sent them around her, targeting both Illidan and Maiev as if he was going to lower the barrier protecting them, but Rainbow flashed backwards and struck each blast as she took in all of the energy that her foe had used. She had to give it to Mephistroth, it did seem like a good idea to make her think she was his target and have her rush at him, allowing him to actually target the ones holding the Aegis of Aggramar, but, at the same time, it also showed Rainbow that the Dreadlord was afraid of her, because he should have targeted her and not those who were just watching, as it looked like Kil'jaeden didn't care to send any reinforcements, and if Mephistroth was afraid of her it meant that things might go in her favor for the next couple of minutes. It was hard to see if the demon had an idea of what was coming his way, as he channeled more of his power and hurled a large sphere of darkness at her, to which she smashed her way through it not a second later, using her tail to break it down, before she let her weapons fall to the ground for a second as she gathered her own Fel energy and swung her claws at Mephistroth's chest, cutting into his armor and chest while leaving six decent sized diagonal gashes, three coming from the left and the other three coming from the right, causing the Dreadlord to howl in pain as he did something new, he engaged his power and slipped into the shadows within a matter of seconds. This was one of the more annoying powers of the Dreadlords, their ability to simply disappear as they lurked in the shadows, leaving heroes unaware if they were still around the area they had been fighting in or if the demon had disappeared to recover before trying to take his foes down while all of them were unaware of what he was doing, to which Rainbow paused for a moment, in the center of the chamber, and closed her eyes as she focused on channeling her Spectral Sight, as she was curious if she could use it like this and see if she could find her target while he was lurking in the shadows.

Illidan smirked as he watched what happened next, as Mephistroth tried to attack Rainbow while she was focusing on one of her powers, something she was doing a lot of recently and it was a good idea given what he had seen so far, though as the Dreadlord appeared from the shadows Rainbow dodged the attack with ease, moving her body out of the way while still having her eyes closed, and it caused the demon to attack her several more times with a look of anger on his face, all in an attempt to take her down, before things changed as Rainbow punched Mephistroth in the chin and knocked him just a little bit backwards. That seemed to be the end of the Dreadlord's courage, as he recalled what had happened to his ship earlier and flashed back into the shadows as Rainbow opened her eyes and glanced around the chamber for a moment, as in she turned to look at her left, right, front, back, and even the ceiling, no doubt tracking the Dreadlord as he tried to run without actually abandoning his mission to claim the Aegis, before she spun around and actually kicked Mephistroth with the edge of her left leg, as he had been behind her and tried to attack her from behind. As the demon staggered back for a moment Rainbow took the opportunity to jump up onto Mephistroth's right shoulder, which would normally be very hard for someone to do, before she moved and grabbed the side of his head, coming from the right side, before she pushed him forward and slammed the Dreadlord's head right into the floor, cracking the area she picked out and likely did some damage to his face and horns, though once that was done she pulled back and watched her foe as she waited to see what the Dreadlord might do next. Sure enough the demon attacked her again and again after he pulled himself back onto his hooves, though it failed to do anything as Rainbow punched, kicked, and even slashed into the Dreadlord's body while they fought each other, even though Illidan could easily tell that Mephistroth was weakening as he fought Rainbow, due to all of the damage he was taking and the fact that Rainbow was siphoning his power at the same time, a useful ability based on what he and Maiev were watching, and it wasn't long before the Dreadlord fell to his knees near one of the windows that were in this chamber, which had been ruined over time, and huffed as Rainbow approached him, no doubt taking a bit of time to wonder how this had come to pass.

In the end Rainbow raised her right hand and grabbed the demon's neck for a second, which had to hurt a lot due to her claws digging into his throat a bit, before she channeled her power for a moment and pulled her hand back, allowing both her companions and the Dreadlord to see what was going on, that she was extracting all of Mephistroth's Fel energy, and maybe his soul at the very end of it, into an orb that she separated from his body and let it collapse on the floor in front of her as she devoured his power, the soul being separated and trapped inside her weapons... though as that happened the Fel barrier collapsed and her companions entered the chamber, allowing Maiev to place the Aegis in the slot that it needed to be placed it, with its power surging through the Tomb for a moment.

"In ages past, this shield defended the young World-Soul against madness and corruption... today, it serves to aid those who fight to protect Azeroth." a voice said, where the trio watched as an Arcane echo of someone appeared nearby, a lady based on the voice and the form that the ancient echo picked, one who must have been powerful in life to create an echo that lasted all these years, and based on her attire, mage robes that reflected her position as an Archmage, even if there was a chance that such a title hadn't been bestowed upon her, told Rainbow who they were dealing with, before she faced the trio for a moment, "I am Aegwynn, Guardian of Tirisfal, and I left behind this echo of my power as a safeguard in the event that the wards I put in place to protect the Tomb failed... indeed, I sense that the master of the Burning Legion now schemes to claim his prize. Yet there is still hope, for if you anchor the Pillars of Creation in the halls below, you will restore my wards and push the invaders out of the ancient Tomb, though once that is done you must venture into the depths and use the Eye of Aman'Thul to eradicate the Felstorm, to sever the Legion's link to Azeroth. Your grand army, from what I have seen so far, has the potential to conquer the Legion and save this world from their crusade, though when you ready yourselves for the final battle my echo will join you once more."

Once she was done speaking the echo of Aegwynn disappeared and left the trio to simply wonder what Spitfire and their allies might think about what just happened, to which they started to make their way back to the entrance of this place, so they could return to Deliverance Point and tell their allies the goods news, though as they did that Rainbow found that she missed her chance to kill Kil'jaeden without him reacting, as he was missing the moment she walked by the first floor of the Cathedral, though she had the feeling she and Spitfire would be facing him in due time and would put an end to all of his dark plans.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

well then... I wonder how the legion feels having someone actively eating them for a change.

[badninja]

So it looks like we are approaching the endgame of this story.

[Blackdrag-rose]

10779554 Not quite. We've got a few more chapters of the Broken Shore, then we have the assault on the Tomb of Sargeras, the Argus campaign and the attack on Antorus (that being the final raid of Legion), so that's maybe twenty chapters at least, maybe thirty... I would like to deal with the rest of Battle for Azeroth as well, but for now I'm focusing on Sargeras and his Legion.

[Gargon94]

10779690
Its interesting that you mentioned some of the other Battle for Azeroth stuff that hasn't been touched on yet. I am interested in seeing what you plan on doing with the Allied Races that live on Azeroth. Ie Zandalri Trolls, Dark Iron Dwarves, Kul Tiran Humans, Vulpera, and Mechagomes.

[Blackdrag-rose]

10780145 I've refrained from touching too much of Battle for Azeroth for now, save for the Mag'har orcs a few chapters ago and stopping the Fourth War from happening at all (the latter being tied to Sylvanas), but I have several ideas and plans in store for when we reach that point... if we reach that point... especially in regards to the overall story, the Allied Races, and how it came to an end.

[Gargon94]

10780182
Ok, good to know.

[Blackdrag-rose]

10780209 Basically, I'm going to make it the forces of Azeroth vs the forces of the last Old God, N'Zoth, from the very start of BFA's story, instead of worrying about an unnecessary war... though I'm glad to hear that you are interested in what is coming in the future chapters and arcs.

[zachary12]

nice work on both chapters