Sunset's plan to dominate the Mirror World, so she can conquer her home world, ends up blowing up in her face and sends her to the world of Azeroth, to be risen as a Death Knight to serve the Lich King.
Sunset Shimmer's plan was simple: steal the Element of Magic, return to the Mirror World, and use it to gain the power to dominate everyone around her so she could return to Equus and conquer it... except it failed and blew up in her face. Thanks to those who opposed her she ends up in an odd world called Azeroth, in an area that is under attack by someone called the Lich King, and is forcefully risen as one of his Death Knights, undead beings of great and terrible power. She must survive the great and terrible actions that he forces her and the others of her kind to inflict upon the world, either to break herself free or turn the tables... or die in the process.
(Wow/MLP Crossover. Starts in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion) (Standalone story, not tied to a series)
Sunset Shimmer had planned it all out, to the tiniest detail, so she could claim the Element of Magic and ascend to being a being of incredible power, an alicorn like her old mentor, Princess Celestia, where she had considered it her birthright as soon as she discovered it. Of course to do that she had to leave for another world, partly because of an argument over her princesshood and the fact that Celestia bestowed her power to some random pegasus, who became the 'Princess of Love', a fact that made her sick when she thought about it. The other part was due to the fact that time worked differently between her home world and the world that was on the other side of the mirror portal, because, as she had soon discovered, time moved far slower in the odd school world she had found herself in. Such a thing meant that, with her calculations, she could she could skip multiple years in her home world and await the awakening of the Element of Magic, so when she made her return it would be a simple matter to snatch it, return to her new world, and become a being of pure power.
She discovered a few interesting things about this world, everypony from her home world had a counterpart in this world, humans to be exact, and it also cut her off from her magic since none existed in the new world, which had been factored into her plan once she discovered it. Part of her plan also involved breaking the 'Friendship of Magic', so she had to enroll in the local school, where Sunset found she was fortunate that her counterpart was elsewhere in the world, not to mention a lot of sleepless nights figuring out how to hack and everything, before she could set up her plans. Once she was a student she proceeded to dominate the school with her iron fist, causing students and teachers to fear her and her wrath, to the point where she drove five childhood friends apart with her lies and rumors, much to her glee. Sunset also extended that to a local apartment area, as she had figured out a way to get free rent without the owners calling the cops, and even if they did there was a fair chance they wouldn't know who to look for.
Of course the only thing she hadn't originally intended on was for the portal to close on her, trapping her in the world on the other side of the mirror, so she had to put up with three years of school and the same routine to force everyone to maintain their dislike of each other.
The other pitfall in her plan was that the crown that was the Element of Magic had been taken by Principle Celestia, the counterpart of her old mentor, and she informed them that it was the crown that would be given to the one who won the Fall Formal, which Sunset would win in no time. At least that had been her thought at the time, only for Princess Twilight Sparkle, the one chosen by the Element of Magic, followed her to the mirror world and forced her way into the hearts of the students, finding ways to bridge their old connections and reforge relationships. It was a complete disaster, all of her plans upturned by one upstart princess who didn't deserve her power or position, and Sunset found that everyone, save for the local idiots, turned on her to support the one who helped them regain their connections. It had forced her to take drastic measures by threatening to either shatter the portal back home, to trap them both in the mirror world, before she threatened the little dog that followed Twilight, which, after some doing and effort, gave her her prize.
She had to admit that the sheer power that surged into her, even if it meant darkening an Element of Harmony, burned a little as it transformed her into what could only be described as a devil form and gave her the power to brainwash, even transform, the students into her personal army.
Her plan, despite it's various hiccups, had been successful and she had the power to overturn her entire world, where she would use the army to take down the various cities and towns, to make more followers, while she focused on beating the Prinnesses and breaking them with her mental powers. She had even demonstrated her power by twisting the idiots that followed her into their own devil forms, crushed part of the school to access more of the students, and seized control of the minds of the students, much to her joy. Of course Twilight thought that she could win and overturn her changes to the world, that she could stop her and right the wrongs that she committed, and, much to Sunset's annoyance, something in the immediate area gave both her and her new friends the power to stand up to her. Twilight claimed it was the power of friendship, that the bonds she shared with the girls, who happened to be the counterparts of her own friends interestingly enough, were enough to summon the power of the Elements of Harmony to this world and protected them from the blast Sunset had sent their way.
Somehow Twilight was able to connect with the crown and called upon the power of all six Elements, those being Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter, transforming the six of them into what could only be called pony girls, as they were humans were pony ears sticking out of their heads, with extended hair and wings, if they were pegasi on the other side of the mirror.
Sunset had assumed that everything would turn out okay for her, that her dark Element would win against the true power of the Elements of Harmony, while Twilight claimed that, because she didn't possess the magic of friendship, she couldn't wield the true power of the crown. Such a thing allowed the unthinkable to happen, Twilight and her friends seemed to overpower the Element of Magic before forming a heart formation in the air, allowing them to combine the six Elements into a single beam of power that wrapped around her in a tornado of rainbow energy. They then undid her work, undoing the mind control on the students and liberating them from the magic Sunset had placed on them, especially when they got to her followers, before the Elements struck her repeatedly inside the tornado. As Twilight used more of the power on her, however, Sunset found that it was planning on smashing her into the ground before searing away the power that she had worked so hard to obtain, though she fought back to the best of her ability and refused to submit, or even accept, the scene that was happening before her eyes.
Despite Twilight's claims that she didn't understand the power of Harmony, and maybe she didn't, Sunset did know that the princess had overloaded the harmonic power, as when the tornado smashed her into the ground, causing pain to resonate all over her body, she ended up slipping through a portal that suddenly opened behind her, though she ended up blacking out in the process and slipped into the darkness.
The Lich King had risen from his long slumber, awakening the mighty Scourge from it's slumber and caused the forces of Death to stir once more, their undead bodies moving with ease despite the harsh winter conditions of Icecrown, which would slow and cripple any mortal warrior. It was here that his citadel, Icecrown Citadel, rested as it reached into the sky, forged from a metal said to be the blood of an Old God, making it incredibly sturdy and almost unbreakable, though he was currently out in part of the frozen wastes, enforcing his will upon the world. After awakening from his own slumber he had walked out of the citadel and made his way to where a mighty dragon had fallen a long time ago, supposedly during the War of the Ancients ten thousand years ago. Upon his arrival he had first made sure that he was in the right spot, as he found her body trapped below the ice, and drew his runeblade, a large two handed sword known as Frostmourne that was feared by mortals, where the Lich King channeled the power of Death into it before stabbing the ground.
His actions caused the power to surge into the massive skeleton that was buried in this area, which forced the ice to break as it, now reanimated by his power, emerged from it's long slumber, awakening the first of the Frostbrood, as he would call them, and allowing Sindragosa to roar as she soared over the Scourge, causing them to cheer in kind.
This was his power, the immense power of Death that the Legion sought to use against the people of Azeroth, to raise the dead into a force of darkness that would cripple the heroes of the Alliance and the Horde, two factions that battled each other and clashed every so often. While the factions were often at odds with each other both he and the Legion knew that, if they combined their forces, they could tear down most enemies that stood in their way, as they stopped one of the two leaders of the Legion from entering this world, much to his annoyance. Even before the factions existed most of Azeroth stood against the might of the Legion, finding ways to stop them from entering this world and banishing the leaders back to the Twisting Nether, often at great sacrifice for the races that called the world home. Such a thing was why he ordered his Cult of the Damned to find the coffins of great heroes, those slain either in conflict with the Legion, people they found to be allied with the demons, or even those slain while fighting the Old Gods, and opened the way for him to travel over to where they were resting, allowing him to make death knights of those heroes.
The Lich King's endgame was to unite the world in undeath, leaving nothing of life behind, so when the time came he and his forces could destroy the Legion, but to do that he first had to end the Alliance, the Horde, and anyone else that dared to stand in his way, namely the Scarlet Crusade.
As he stood near the edge of the cliff, overlooking his army of undead, the Lich King felt a change in the air as something headed towards where he was currently standing, causing him to turn his head towards the sky as it burst open and he found a meteor that slammed into the side of Sindragosa's former resting place. What he discovered was that it wasn't a meteor, a burning rock that would make a mess of the area that was around him, rather it seemed like someone might have teleported themselves to this place, as he knew there were mages capable of great things, in fact he had known one at one point in time. Sure enough the Lich King found that someone rested in the small crater that had been left behind, a young adult girl, possibly around twenty years old, who looked like she might have been in a fight before coming here, due to her strange clothing looking like it might have been burned in some manner. At first he assumed she was a human and expected to see such a body, before finding that her legs ended in hooves, similar to the draenei who now called Azeroth home, and she had a few other interesting parts, such as her pony tail, the pony ears poking out of her hair, and the horn in the middle of her forehead.
While he had no idea who she was, or what she was for that matter, he could feel the power coming from her, magical energy unlike anything he had felt recently, to which he stepped down to where she was resting and found that the sound of his metallic armor was causing her to stir. He suspected that she would make a great death knight if he raised her, in fact she might very well be the champion he had been seeking, the tool that would help him bring death to this world and allow him to fulfill his plans, but first she had to die. With that in mind the Lich King channeled the power of Death into his runeblade once more, causing an icy sheen to wash over Frostmourne's blade again, before he came to a stop in front of the stranger, whose eyes finally opened and allowed her to take in everything that was around her. In the next moment, before she understood what was going on, the Lich King drove his blade right into her heart, causing her to look down in disbelief for a few seconds, which was when the power of Death surged through her body like a plague, causing her body to go limp as the life left her.
In the next moment he pulled the blade free and channeled another power that it possessed, linking her soul back to her body, dragging it out of the afterlife essentially, where he found that her skin tone darkened, a sign it was working, before her eyes snapped open and showed him the icy nature of a death knight, but as she collapsed, however, he smiled as he called for the cultists to take her, as it was time to put his champion to work and he was looking forward to the carnage she would cause in his name.
Sunset groaned as she stirred at long last, as she felt like she got ran over by a truck thanks to the powerful blast of the Elements of Harmony, thanks to Princess Twilight and her new friends, though as she opened her eyes she found herself in an entirely new and unknown area. She had expected to awaken in a crater or a hospital bed, given what happened to her earlier, but what she appeared in was some sort of laboratory, due to the fact that she seemed to be resting on a bed that looked like experiments were done on it. Such a thing was also reinforced by what could only be described as a grotesque thing being assembled on another table, where flesh and bone were being bound together to some sort of monster that was far, possibly for protection, and had three arms, two normal and one on the back. Sunset found that she was surprised to find that such a thing didn't disgust her, in fact she wasn't even repulsed or sick when she looked at the figure, before she glanced out at the rest of the area she had found herself in.
What she found was some sort of sunken middle area that looked like it had all sorts of books and tomes, around an area that two individuals seemed to be riding in, as they were riding horses that looked like they were ready for war and both of the figures were wearing metallic armor, not to mention carrying weapons. In addition to the bloody construction area she was in, as that was the only way to describe what she was seeing right now, there seemed to be a lab emitting a dark green light and she could see something rotting, again not doing anything for her. The wing to her right seemed to be a place of frozen spires, where a floating skeletal figure seemed to be manipulating the cold environment to it's benefit, or maybe it was showing someone how to use their powers, where she tore her gaze away from it as she focused on the rest of the odd area she was in. One other thing she noticed was that there seemed to be a lot of bones, massive ribs anyway, that had been molded to fit the form of the structure she was in, or at least it looked that way, but she did spot what appeared to be an exit across from her and got up.
It was in that moment that she finally noticed how odd her body was, that her legs were different than she remembered and that they ended in hooves, plus the pony tail and ears that she didn't have before, including the horn, but decided to ignore what was going on and get out of here, before someone checked on her.
Sunset found that, despite the odd changes to her body, that she was able to walk with her new legs like she had been using them for her entire life, and that the coloration of her body seemed duller than normal, when she looked at her left hand for a moment. All of that made her wonder if the life had been drained out of her body or something, because death seemed to be the only answer she could think of and that meant that something might have killed her, before deciding to focus on escaping before worrying about anything else. She then found two figures in the left wing, a human wearing red armor, almost blood colored based on what she was seeing right now, and a lady who seemed to have long ears and was wearing metallic armor that exposed her stomach area, something she didn't seem worried about. Of course they were far too close to the path she wanted to use, since the floating undead was on the right path and the first armored pair had the middle covered, causing her to realize that there was no way for her to escape without someone noticing her.
In that moment a figure appeared in the middle of the wing that she had been making her way towards, one wearing the most imposing metallic armor that gave off the appearance of someone who dealt with death all the time, with a crown that had a blue gem in the forehead area.
As someone called for everyone to stand at attention, due to the 'Lich King' arriving in 'Acherus', though as he stepped into the area that they were in, a floor as Sunset discovered since there happened to be another floor below them since she could see over the rails, she found herself frozen. It wasn't in fear, in fact she was sure that such a thing had been broken when she died, rather it was because she recognized the figure who was walking, her memory of her death was coming back to her as she stared at the imposing figure. She recalled how she suddenly appeared in this world, in a crater, and the fact that the figure stabbed her with a sword, right in the heart, which told her everything she needed to know at the moment, as he had stabbed her, pierced her heart in seconds, and then, before she could move on, brought her back to life, even if it was some sort of undeath. Such a thing seemed to bring on a headache unlike anything she had felt before in her life, something that caused her to fall to one knee as she realized that something was happening to her, someone, she determined, was invading her mind and she felt her mental walls crumbling before her, as they were nothing before the power of the being that was in front of her.
While her mental walls crumbled Sunset could feel something stirring inside her, a feeling of anger, cruelty, vengeance, and all sorts of powers awakening, while her free will seemed to be extinguished before her very eyes, eventually causing her head to hang low as the being came to a stop in front of her.
"Rise, Sunset Shimmer, and heed your master's call." the figure said, his voice cold and commanding, as if whenever he told someone to do something they did so without question, to the point where they ensured to appease him with some of the best results, and she found that, while she did have some control over her actions, the power that had ensnared her mind compelled her to obey.
"As you command, master." Sunset replied, where she found that her voice sounded odd, likely another thing that had changed after her death and rebirth, especially with the glowing eyes that she possessed, given a brief reflection she saw in the imposing being's armor, but, once again, it didn't bother her at all.
As Sunset stood up she found that the rest of the undead beings had turned to focus on her, because the Lich King, as in the figure who had approached her, was interested in her and that meant the others had to wonder what was so special about her, save for the shape that her body took in this world. Her mind was filled with all sorts of new knowledge, likely forced upon her so she could survive and prove herself to her new master, where she found that the floating skeleton was a lich, there were ghouls on the lower level of Acherus, the vessel they were on, and so much more. She had to wonder if the Lich King gathered all the knowledge of those he raised and passed it around accordingly, or maybe he wanted to save time by shoving all sorts of information into her head, though while his actions did give her a headache she found all sorts of knowledge now available to her. Her master beckoned to his right for a moment and another figure approached, baring a crate that was placed in front of Sunset, where she found what appeared to be plate armor, tough metal that would be hard for someone to overcome, hence why she had been reborn as her master's instrument, a powerful death knight, an imposing warrior of great power.
While the others went back to their duties, and the Lich King walked away, Sunset followed the unspoken command, she pulled off her ruined school attire and slipped on all of the plate armor, finding that there was some material to prevent it from cutting into her own skin. It took her a few moments to put all of it on, where she discovered that she looked like she was a force of death, which she guessed she was now, and found that it had small shoulder pads, a cape, and some pieces of jewelry that boosted her new power to some degree. In addition to all of that she found a few bags inside the crate, to allow her to carry all sorts of things, even though they disappeared when she accepted them, causing her to not question it as she pulled over the jacket she had worn before coming here and slipped it inside her storage space, since it was the only piece she didn't want the dead to burn. The last thing she did was pull out the hood and found that it would give her a dark and mysterious look, which she assumed was what the makers of it intended when they designed the set, where she slipped it on and assumed her dark role as her master's instrument of doom.
With that done she found that one of the other two risen warriors, the ones on steeds, were waiting for her to arrive and escorted her down to the lower floor, and by that she meant walking over to a teleport pad and warping down to the floor below where she woke up. Sunset discovered all sorts of undead, the massive abominations with three arms, the feminine val'kyr who had wings and raised souls to serve the Lich King, ghouls that seemed to be servants and sacrificial pieces for when a battle occurred, and a few others. There were other risen warriors, also death knights she learned, who were in the middle of practicing for the battles ahead of them, former heroes who died fighting dragons, the opposing faction to their own, powerful beings called Old Gods, and all sorts of dangers, though she figured out that each lost their life to give Azeroth, this world, another day. She also discovered a variety of work stations that seemed to be where the smiths made armor and weapons for the various troops, forges were some knights imbued their blades with terrible might, and several wooden dummies for everyone to train on so they could improve their skills before heading into battle.
She also found a tall figure, a human, wearing bright blue armor who seemed to be an instructor for the knights, including some of the other melee fighters who served the Lich King, though as she was escorted to him she found that one of the two knights carried a blade with a circular area that had a floating metallic skull in it.
"So, you are the one our master raised... I shall measure you, to determine your worth." the instructor said, his tone telling Sunset that he was a military advisor or something, as he sure sounded like it, before he raised a hand and beckoned to one of the weapon racks that were scattered around the floor, "However, prove that you truly have a death knight's runic power and create your first runeblade... it is vital for a death knight's survival, and if such a thing is impossible you won't last too long."
Sunset had a feeling that this was why the Lich King pushed so much knowledge into her head, to make sure she passed all of the tests to make sure she was worthy to become a death knight, to which she walked along the upper ring of this floor and stared at the various weapon racks. All of the swords looked like they were worn out, well used by the forces of Acherus, and her information informed her that once she imbued the blade with power it would be restored to it's proper form and power. She found a blade a few moments later, which looked chipped and totally worn from the battles it had seen, though it seemed to be calling to her and she took it in her right hand, where she walked over to one of the forges that had a skull design and held it out. Sunset focused her mind for a moment and found that the runic power came when she called out to it, where icy energy washed over the blade and three runes appeared on it, one red, one blue, and one green, before the process was done and she found that it took on a sharper form, complete with a wing shaped guard that had an icy blue eye in the middle.
After that the instructor, Razuvious, had her engage one of the other lesser knights, who came at her sword swinging and she found her mind informing her how to fight, where she parried the attack and pushed it back with ease, even if this was her first time swinging a weapon. Once more she had confirmation that her master wanted her to succeed with the tests, hence the knowledge that became available when she needed it, though she also found that the knight attacking her was an orc, a race suited for battle, while finding the other knights, who were from different races, watching them. Sure, her blade was a greatsword and was heavier than a normal sword should be, but she found that it was lighter than what she was expecting and even switched to one hand at one point, allowing her to instinctively cast a rotting attack on the floor, chipping away at her foe's power. She found that none of the others were surprised by this fact, as they did everything to ensure their victory over whoever their enemy happened to be, and even her foe approved, even though she knocked him to the ground and forced him to yield to her.
Razuvious, however, chuckled a little as he announced that she had passed, as she might be the champion that the Lich King had been waiting for, though since they were a great distance from their destination he would make sure to hammer his lessons into her and turn her into a weapon of the Scourge, all while Sunset looked forward to enforcing her master's will upon the rest of the world.
Sunset found that her days were spent training with the various trainers and death knights, allowing her to improve all of her abilities, though from what she could tell no one knew that her master had blessed her with the power she needed to fulfill her mission. She learned how to control the powers of a death knight, drawing upon the powers of blood, frost, and the unholy to hurt her enemies, heal herself, and ensure that the flow of battle followed her desires, especially with some skills to stop runners in their tracks and even yank them back to her. Part of her had to admit that the power she wielded now, combined with her original power, made her far stronger than a normal death knight and allowed her to tackle far more foes than her fellow trainees could face, and it would have excited her, had she any emotions. Rather it meant that she could fulfill her duty, because the stronger she was the more doom and death she could spread in her master's name, all while part of her remembered what happiness felt like, even if her body didn't experience it.
She also learned as much as she could about Azeroth, finding that the world she had been sent to to be interesting, and the races that called it home, allowing her to learn more about the humans, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, trolls, tauren, and all sorts of races, including the other strangers, the draenei, some who died to save this world as well. From what she gathered each race had their own core ideals and beliefs that caused them to ally themselves with either the Alliance or the Horde, the two main factions in this world, three counting the Scourge, and in death all hatred was erased. She knew it was so they could serve the Lich King better, so they weren't tied down by their convictions and beliefs from when they were alive, hence why he make sure she shared the same fate, so she would see the others as her brothers and sisters in arms. They were soldiers of the Scourge and some of her fellows had fallen to the very order they now served, having failed to stop the tide of undeath while they were alive, and now they had turned their devotion to life into a dark devotion to bring about the death of all living things.
Sunset spent some time learning about their mission, as Acherus was on it's way to the Eastern Kingdoms, to the Eastern Plaguelands to be exact, where they would be dealing with some of their master's more annoying foes, though she knew it was so he could focus on the Alliance and the Horde later. Their current foes were the Scarlet Crusade, an order that was dedicated to the eradication of undead, where at times they were seen as fanatical and insane, and Light's Hope Chapel, a location that served as a blemish on the Eastern Plaguelands, so they had to be crushed. Darion Mograine, who was her direct mentor, taught her everything he could about the Scarlet Crusade and the orders that branched off from it, just so she could have an idea of what to expect, as well as allowing her to learn about his weapon, the Ashbringer. It had been a weapon of the Light, an instrument used to destroy the Scourge and leave nothing but ash in it's wake, hence the name it had been given, but now it was corrupted into a tool of Death, the opposite of it's purpose.
In the end Sunset understood that both forces existed to undo the work of the Lich King, undo their master's hard work, to which she dedicated herself to mastering her new powers so when the time came she could be of use to their master and not perish in the battles to come.
Eventually, however, her training came to an end as they reached their destination, a death and plague infested area of the Eastern Kingdoms known as the Plaguelands, an area that was ruled by the Scourge, not to mention members of the Lich King's Cult of the Damned. There were ziggurats all over the northern part of the Eastern Plaguelands, which were ancient structures from their allies in Northrend, the land that the Lich King's citadel rested in, and provided a source of raw energy for the undead forces that their master commanded. Sure enough she found a chapel resting near a mountain on the right side of this province, one that clearly radiated Light energy, because after seeing and experiencing the energy of Death for the entire journey she recognized the other power without having to be near it, where a powerful figure had to be leading it's people against her master. On the other side of the mountain they found their first target, an area known as the Scarlet Enclave, where the Scarlet Crusade thought themselves to be safe from danger so they could get ready for the trip to Northrend and join the offensive, where they built a number of structures and walls, making themselves at home in an area her master commanded.
Sunset felt nothing as Acherus came to a stop above the area her master's first wave of forces had prepared for the war against the Scarlet Crusade, rather all she felt was her constant desire to bring death and destruction to the world of the living, hence why she knelt before the Lich King as he stared out over the entire enclave.
"Sunset, gaze upon the lands of the Scarlet Crusade, who scurry to undo my work, while Light's Hope stands defiantly on the other side," the Lich King commented, mostly referring to the targets that they had come to destroy and wipe out, to make his plans that much easier for when the Alliance and the Horde reached Northrend, in fact he was sure that both of them would be coming once they learned of his existence, "I have bestowed upon you the tools to become my force of retribution... my anger, cruelty, vengeance... I have even granted you immortality... so that where you tread, death and doom will follow in due time. Acherus is a great citadel of death, far stronger than Naxxramas, and with it's all seeing eye we can see anything that our enemies hold, so let this be your first instance of using it's eye to study the Scarlet Crusade's fortifications in the town of New Avalon."
"As you command, my master." Sunset replied, where she stood up and walked over to one of the two pedestals that were up on the level that the Lich King stood on, which was usually where those who controlled the Eye would gaze out at the surrounding area and gather all the information that their master desired, no matter how long it took.
A few moments later her power interacted with the blue orb and her sight shifted to a phantom eye that was looming over the decent sized town of New Avalon, where she found people gathering near the town hall or the local garrison, likely to complain about the looming Scourge threat they were now facing. Sunset studied the walls that protected the town, or at least they should since they were massive and their gates seemed to be open all the time, before turning to what looked like the smithy, where the blacksmiths were hard at work crafting more weapons and armor. She already knew that most, if not all, of the gear would be used to fuel the Scarlet Crusade's efforts, either here to protect them from the Scourge, the more logical idea, or they would be shipped off to Northrend, to be used against her master's forces up there. In addition to that she studied several other buildings, such as the town hall, where two figures of the Scarlet Crusade were speaking to the scared residents of the town, the garrison that seemed like a worthwhile place to wipe out, a chapel, the inn, and a few other places to get an idea of what was in New Avalon.
Another thing about being risen in undeath was that she didn't need to eat, in fact she could if she wanted, but it wouldn't do anything for her, rather her 'hunger' could be satisfied by hurting others in some manner, or at least that was what the other death knights said, before Sunset focused on her mission and pulled herself back to Acherus, so she could report to her master.
"I see that they are preparing for battle, as we expected, and yet there is something else... an old enemy I destroyed long ago." the Lich King commented, informing Sunset that he must have seen through her eyes, or he used the other pedestal to observe her actions without actually moving from where he was currently standing, before he focused on the area that was in front of them, meaning the rest of his comment wasn't important, "It matters not, for we will send the full force of the Scourge at our enemies before they are able to evacuate. Listen well Sunset Shimmer, my chosen death knight, for I am going to give you the words that will start a war, as my final judgement has been passed: Death. To. ALL. None shall stand before the might of the Scourge... now go, speak to Highlord Mograine and tell him to begin the assault, where you shall be instrumental in destroying the members of the Scarlet Crusade... and once they're dead we will crush the Argent Dawn and return to Northrend."
Sunset bowed her head before using the teleport pad to reach the level that the Highlord was resting on, who knew that the time had come, due to Acherus coming to a stop, and nodded his head once as she relayed the information to him, all while the val'kyr blew the horns of war. While she found that her speed was increased, possibly because she was inside Acherus and had to be due to whatever spell the undead battlemaidens had cast with the war horns, Mograine informed her that she would be heading down to Death's Breach and would report to Prince Valanar. The figure in question was one of the san'layn, vamperic elves who once served Prince Kael'thas in life, meaning in death they had been altered into their new forms, who she had met briefly during the flight here. With her orders received Sunset made her way to the one who commanded the undead gryphons, who claimed that she would bring about death, chaos, and destruction before sending her down to where the first wave of the Scourge's forces were declaring war on the living.
Valanar, as she discovered, was standing in his command tent as he gazed out over the area that they were attacking, as all sorts of humans were working to collect wood and raise horses, a lumber mill, one that would soon be overrun by the Scourge and turned into a place of death.
"Do you smell it, Sunset Shimmer? Fresh meat... the scent of the Scarlet Crusade fills the air." Valanar said, where it was all too easy for one to tell that he was excited to sink his teeth or magic into the living, so he could drain them and fulfill his own duties at the same time, before he focused on her, "My apologies, for I'm sure you don't share my taste in cuisine. No, you are here to work, to bring death and destruction to our master's enemies, and we already have a list of things to do to ensure our victory over the Scarlet Crusade: I require you to strike fear into their hearts by killing their soldiers and ending the fleeing villagers, Orithos asks that you recover his saronite arrows, and Salanar wishes for you to break into the nearby stables and acquire one of their horses, as its time for you to earn your deathcharger."
A deathcharger was a horse that had been twisted by darkness and death to serve death knights like her, though to make sure they earned the right one had to find a proper horse, deliver it to Salanar, and then delve into the realm of shadow to find the darkened form of the steed, often killing the shadowy ride to claim it. Sunset also knew that saronite was a metal only found in Northrend, so while they had come prepared with all sorts of arrows and other gear, to ensure they had all they needed, it was also something the Scourge had limited resources of and it made sure to claim whatever was used, to continue the war without stopping. She had also proven herself to the other death knights, hence why someone wasn't asking her to challenge the others to duels to show them that she was prepared for what was to come, but even then she walked over to the edge of their staging ground and found one of the red armored Scarlet warriors coming up to do some harm, or attempt to. Someone had let him slip through the defenses, one of the death knights that didn't have the skills to do what needed to be done, where Sunset drew her sword and summoned her power as she used a lasso of darkness to yank him over to her, allowing her to stab him in the heart, killing him instantly.
As she dropped the warrior to the ground, however, Sunset found herself grinning as she enjoyed the feeling of ending a life with her own hands, likely something that had been changed in her due to her death or because her master willed it to be so, but she had a feeling she was going to enjoy causing havoc as she tore the rest of the Scarlet Crusade apart and was looking forward to it.
After slaying her first foe, and enjoying the feeling of ending someone's life with her own hands, Sunset readied her blade as she descended on the battlefield in front of her, finding more members of the Scarlet Crusade tending to the peasants that were working in the fields. The warriors and clerics noticed her and charged to meet her in battle, those who weren't in the middle of being torn down by some of the other death knights who attacked from the opposite side of the area, though she was fine with that as she called forth her new power. They found that the ground around her started to rot and decay as soon as they stepped into her domain, something she had learned from her blood aspect trainer, while the energies that a death knight could wield danced around her blade, empowering her strikes as she swung at her foes. Some of the clerics tried to use their holy spells on her, to slow her down or imprison Sunset so her foes could cut her down safely, but they found that such a thing didn't matter as her magic sprung to life, cancelling the spells before they hit her.
Some of the humans screamed in terror as she slashed through them, especially when she yanked some of the peasants and citizens over to the area that she happened to be fighting her way through at the moment, where she found that a number of them begged her not to kill them. Even without the Lich King whispering in her ears as those statements were said, encouraging her not to show weakness towards the weak or their enemies, Sunset showed no mercy as she swung her sword and ended the lives of the Scarlet Crusade soldiers. The peasants and citizens found that they weren't spared either, as she stabbed some of them in the heart, some she delivered crippling blows to so the removal of her blade killed them instantly, due to blood loss, and others she yanked in her direction so she could have a bit of fun as they died. Sunset also raised her hand to pull up the saronite arrows that had been fired upon this portion of the fields and sent them flying with her magic, wounding them to the point that she could take her time and slaughter them while they felt a new level of fear.
Eventually the fields near the lumber mill were filled with the dead, mostly the soldiers with a number of citizens mixed into the piles, and she paused for a moment, as if resting from her massacre of the Scarlet Crusade's soldiers, but found that, despite all the energy she used, she didn't feel tired. Sunset knew that death knights were tireless soldiers of the Scourge, fighting long after a mortal soldier or hero would have stopped and fallen, so this just confirmed what she had been told previously, to which she used her magic to gather the saronite arrows once more. This time around none of the arrows were used to slaughter the other Scarlet Crusade individuals who were in the area, rather she sent them back over to where Orithos and his archers had been firing from, as they would put them to good use as she focused on her other remaining assignment. As such she made her way over to the stables, or the staging area that all of the Scarlet Crusade's steeds were wandering in, and found a red brown that seemed the best to her eyes, likely another gift given to her by her master's grace, one that she climbed onto and made her way back to her camp.
Salanar was pleased with her actions and banished the horse to the realm of shadows, where Sunset entered the realm a few seconds later and found that it was just a shadowy version of what she had grown used to, causing her to focus on her mission, instead of wasting time. She found specters watching her as she walked down the path she had ridden up a couple of moments ago, beings of dark energy that either didn't seem interested in her or they were waiting for her to do something stupid to consume her mind, or whatever the consequence was for failing. Fortunately it didn't take her long to find a dark knight riding a steed that looked like death had touched it, as the reason for sending the horse to this realm, as she had learned, was so a shadowy dark rider of Acherus could raise the steed into undeath, similar to how the Lich King raised his own steed into this life. Of course she had to prove herself to both Salanar and the new deathcharger, though it didn't seem like much of a challenge to someone like her, where it was hard to tell if that was her own arrogance or what her master had poured into her to make the death knight champion he had been searching for.
Based on what she saw the rider was fighting while on the horse's back, instead of climbing down to face her, though she was fine with that turn of events, where Sunset swung her sword and called forth her powers once more, bashing her foe's blade backwards before knocking him to the ground, allowing her to end the battle and ride the twisted horse back up to where Salanar was currently standing.
"Impressive, Sunset Shimmer, most death knights fail this test, while others pass in incredible fashion... you took what you desired most without hesitation." Salanar commented, where he and the other commanders that the Lich King had picked for this mission stared at the newcomer that was the rising start of their master's forces, each wondering what she might have been like before she was raised into her new station, especially with the brutality she showed earlier, as in when she massacred the Scarlet Crusade's soldiers.
"And yet I desire more... more death and destruction, in the name of the Lich King." Sunset replied, as she relished the odd feeling she had felt as she slew her foes, broke their wills with her might, and littered the ground with corpses that would be raised in due time, to spread even more death across the continent.
"And you shall have it." Valanar remarked, as they knew more about Sunset than she realized, due to their master sharing information about her after her rebirth, but, after having witnessed her fight and destroy her enemies, with both of her powers, he knew that the Lich King had been right, the chosen death knight had been born at last, "Your efforts have led to more chaos than we expected, as now our enemies are trying to strip the nearby mine of everything inside it and load all of their cargo onto nearby ships... Gothik has a solution, to make things more interesting."
Gothik was a necromancer of the highest order, in fact he trained all death knights in the art of raising the dead, even the weakest of Sunset's new kind, and yet, due to her power and old study nature, he didn't need to help her since she had been able to raise a ghoul on her first attempt, much to his joy. Sunset found that the skills that brought her to Celestia's attention, and made her a princess' pupil for some time, aided her in more ways than she originally thought, as now those same skills allowed her to adapt to Azeroth's power. Of course she hadn't done anything with the power yet and felt that it might be some time before she bothered to raise her own ghoul, to which she forced herself to focus once more and took a moment to bow her head, to show Valanar that she understood the orders she had been given. With that in mind she walked over to the part of the camp that Gothik, who was taller than most humans, like the Lich King for example, while wearing a blue robe and an interesting helm over his head, though he seemed to be focusing on a nearby pit.
"Lord Gothik?" Sunset inquired, because it looked like the necromancer was busy doing something else right now, at least she was sure of that, though she was eager to see what sort of plan the figure had in store so they could spread more death and destruction across the land.
"You have fought hard to invade the realm of the harvester... wait." Gothik stated, as if she were one of the heroes he had faced in the past, because she learned that Naxxramas had been attacked by heroes at one point in time, though whether or not they were successful was up for debate among the leaders of the Scourge, before he looked at his notes and then glanced at her again, "My apologies, old habits die hard. Anyway, I have a gift for the Scarlet dogs that is sure to speed up their production in the mine... a portable plague spreader, which you will use on their miners and transform them into our ghouls, while informing our enemies that not even their miners are safe."
"Which will leave their backs open to us, opening new holes in their defenses." Sunset remarked, as she understood what the point of this particular mission was, they needed the Scarlet Crusade distracted and worried about fulfilling their own plans, so they would walk right into their traps and allow them to push forward.
Gothik nodded as he handed over the circular device in question, allowing her to study it for a few moments, though while she did that one of Orithos' archers presented her with a new cape to replace hers, to show that she was moving up from being a new recruit, one that symbolized the union of a death knight's powers. Most of her kind only focused on one type of power, in fact they only had the capacity to use one of the three types, while she, on the other hand, could use all three and her magic at the same time, without any serious consequences. This also told her that some of her superiors might also reward her for her actions against the Scarlet Crusade, giving her new gear and jewelry to replace what she had been given when she was reborn in this state, though she simply nodded her head a little before switching the old cape for the new one. With that done she carried the device down the path that was to the left of their camp, heading down to where the Scarlet Crusade was hard at work digging into the mountain so they could siphon off all of the materials that might be inside it, unaware of their proximity to the camp that she and the other members of the Scourge had set up.
The miners, as she expected, started to freak out as they noticed that she was approaching them, as she didn't need her deathcharger to reach this point, where she picked an area to fight in, deployed the dispenser, and started to use some of her power to drag her targets over to where she was standing. None of them tried to fight back as she knocked them to the ground and forced them to breath in more of the plague that was inside the circular device, where some were turned into near mindless ghouls, just as she intended, while some simply died and their souls transformed into spirits that tried to kill her, only for her to cut them down. When as the latter happened, something that would have likely annoyed a more mortal individual and not a death knight, Sunset just continued her onslaught and made sure the corpses were gathered by the geists, undead that had a gait to their walk and one of the lower ranking members of the Scourge, designed to help gather components for their masters. After spending a few minutes just massacring the miners, and any Scarlet soldier she had missed in her initial purge, likely hiding in the mines to save themselves, Sunset picked up the device and lead the ghouls back up to where Gothik was waiting, who was pleased with her efforts.
As the scene unfolded before them, the Scarlet soldiers proving that they were in a hurry after seeing her massacre their forces at the mine, she understood what needed to be done, she needed to use a mine cart to get past enemy lines, as in get passed all of the soldiers that were between them and the main fleet.
The moment the coast was clear, and they were sure of that, Valanar's minions placed a modified mine cart near the small outhouse that all of the miners used, where Sunset slipped into it and found that it contained some magic to hide the fact that someone was inside it. Sure enough a miner emerged from the outhouse and noticed the mine cart, where he openly wondered where it came from, meaning he must have assumed his fellow workers had cleaned out the mine, before he started to move the cart down the hill, heading for the beach that the ships were currently docked. Interestingly enough none of the soldiers she had seen earlier stopped the miner, meaning none of them had noticed the cart being placed by Valanar's minions, and it wasn't long before she came to a stop and the miner mentioned that this was the best place for him to place it. A few seconds later Sunset emerged from the mine cart and discovered that she had been brought to one of the two ships that were in the area, each one having a number of cannons for her to use, to which she channeled a bit of her magic and seized control over the cannons, all six of them, before beginning her assault on her enemies.
It was a bloody massacre as her cannon blasts tore through the Scarlet soldiers before they even realized that one of their enemies had taken control of their ships, and when any dared to get close to her Sunset unleashed bolts of lightning that shocked them to death... though when her foes were dead, their bodies scattered all over the place, she lifted the ships out of the water and crashed them against the rocky cliffs, before making her way back to her camp.
"The entire Scarlet fleet, wiped out in a matter of minutes... we shall receive commendations for this act." Valanar said, as he spoke as soon as Sunset returned to the camp, even though he and the others were slightly surprised by the amount of death and destruction she wrought on her enemies or targets, she didn't discriminate when it came to the living, to which he handed over two things, a sealed letter and a pair of plate saronite bracers, "Return to the Highlord and inform him of our success... we'll get to work turning Havenshire into our domain."
Sunset said nothing to that as she accepted the items, as she felt nothing after massacring the entire fleet, other than the desire to cause more death, to which she took one of the undead gryphons and returned to Acherus without delay, where she waited for it to arrive at her destination before switching her bracers with the new ones, leading to her approaching the Highlord with the letter.
"Ah, the report of what has transpired so far, let's see what Valanar has to say... you destroyed the ENTIRE Scarlet fleet, all on your own!?" Darion exclaimed, as while he had been expecting a tale of her victory, given that she had been picked by their master to be his champion and spread his influence over the rest of Azeroth, he wasn't expecting her to actually slay the entire fleet in a matter of minutes, even with her powers, "Such power... I haven't seen such a display of dominion in years, since my father... no, it doesn't matter. We have more work to do."
Indeed. a voice said, one that Sunset and Darion heard in their heads, the voice of the Lich King speaking to them as he observed the carnage and destruction from where he was standing, on top of Acherus since it gave him the best view in the entire area, Sunset Shimmer, you are return to Prince Valanar and continue the assault.
"As you wish, master." Sunset replied, though as she said that, and the voice retreated for the time being, Darion handed over a new set of leggings, plate like the rest of a death knight's attire and made out of saronite, where she took it with a slight bow of her head before moving to a private area to put it on.
With the newest piece of armor on, and she found that nothing was holding her down, Sunset moved out once more, as it was time to see what else she could do to bring about the Lich King's will, as she was eager to bring death to their enemies and wouldn't stop until the Scarlet Crusade was finished.
It didn't take Sunset more than a few seconds to return to Death's Breach, where she found that the Scourge had been hard at work after her massacre of the Scarlet fleet, where Havenshire was in flames and the sky had darkened from all the smoke that was now in the air. In addition to that some of the lesser undead had moved a platform out so Valanar could stand on it, allowing him to overlook the destruction they had wrought on the Scarlet Crusade's lands, and based on what he was saying he seemed pleased with what had happened thus far. The other death knights, the lesser ones who were being trained by the Highlord and everyone else, were kneeling before their commander, like they would do if the Lich King was in front of them, showing them that he was their leader for the time being. She, on the other hand, was not bound by their rules, as she was the Lich King's chosen death knight, the herald of death, doom, and destruction, so she walked up to the platform and stepped up to where the Prince was standing.
Of course some of the stupid death knights seemed to think that this was a fatal error on her part and she was about to be struck down by Valanar or Salanar, since the others were busy spreading their unholy energies over the land, but the Prince just held a hand out to silence them before focusing on her.
"Sunset, your actions have allowed us to start our attack on the gates of the Scarlet Crusade's last bastion," Valanar said, a fact that reinforced his actions in the eyes of the other death knights, that Sunset was above their station and she, alone, was allowed to approach him and all of the other commanders without needing to kneel, save for their master, "and some of our allies, Noth the Plaguebringer and my brother, Keleseth, have begun to fortify our forward outpost as we wage war on the soldiers of New Avalon. Make your way to the Crypt of Remembrance and commence the next stage of our war!"
"For the glory of the Lich King." Sunset replied, showing everyone that she was a loyal soldier, which she was, and that she would bring death and destruction in their master's name, though instead of standing around she called forth a bit of her power and summoned her deathcharger nearby.
Not a few seconds later she rode down the path on the right side of their camp and headed down into Havenshire, which gave her a chance to see the consequences of her actions up close, though she felt nothing towards the fallen humans she had killed, other than what could have been glee at massacring them. From there she found her way to part of the fields that she hadn't done much damage to earlier, where she found that the Scourge had been busy, killing and raising all of the guard dogs that were supposed to protect this place. Sunset then found Noth standing in the middle of the field, who had white hair, no doubt a sign of him being risen into undead at some point, and wore a black robe, though like Gothik he was a necromancer of great skill and a powerful curse weaver, hence his position of Plaguebringer. She stopped near him for a moment and learned that he had been tasked with making a plague cauldron, a powerful Scourge tool that had all sorts of effects, such as twisting the land and air to better suit the Scourge's forces, and, since she would likely be going into New Avalon soon, he had a list of items he wanted her to claim.
Having one of the Lich King's greatest followers backing her, and possibly empowering her in some manner, was a boon and she continued on with his desires in mind, where she made her way to the crypt, which was nearby and had specters of death watching over it, before leaving her steed and heading down to meet Keleseth.
"Hail, Sunset Shimmer, and well met. I am Keleseth, and we have much work to do." the second Prince said, where she found that he seemed to look a lot like Valanar, in fact only his voice sounded slightly different, all while Sunset noticed that Darion's companion, who was near him most of the time, was down here as well, Baron Rivendare she recalled, even if it was irrelevant to her, "The information you obtained earlier, upon using the Eye of Acherus, has pointed us to one of our important targets, Mayor Quimby, who should have a registry for us to use against the Scarlet Crusade... also, the Baron wishes for you to slay more of their soldiers and citizens."
"With pleasure." Sunset replied, as the brutality that a death knight was supposed to have had been instilled into her being by their master, no to mention all of the training she did before they reached this place, and the battles she had been in so far had awakened a much darker desire inside her, which she was happy to indulge in.
With her tasks in mind, as she considered Noth's one as well given what he was doing, Sunset headed outside and rode up the hill, passing by some ghouls that were tearing apart a Scarlet soldier, though once she reached the center of the town she climbed off her deathcharger and got to work. Her first target was the Mayor, though what was interesting was that the town hall happened to be surrounded by citizens, complaining about how he promised them safety, security, and all sorts of things that he failed to deliver on, especially with the necropolis hanging overhead. Sunset's arrival, however, was what caused all of them to shut up as they realized that one of the Scourge's monsters had bypassed the guards that were fighting at the walls, but before anyone could run she engaged her power and yanked them all over to her. She wasted no time in slaughtering the citizens of New Avalon, hacking and slashing her way through each and every one of them without pause, and, as per Noth's request, she removed their skulls until she had ten of them.
Once that was done she entered the town hall and found a few Scarlet soldiers guarding the Mayor, a fat man who had to be embezzling money and food, where she desecrated the ground as her foes came at her and dropped corpses with just a swing of her blade. After that she approached the Mayor, where Quimby backed up until he was at the window, not that it mattered since she yanked him forward and ran her blade through his chest, much to his surprise, where the removal of her weapon ended his life, before she found the tome she was looking for, due to it being marked as the registry. With it in hand Sunset left the town hall and made her way over to the inn, the nearby two story building, and discovered a number of innocent people cowering in fear, though such a thing was irrelevant to her as she slashed her way through them, while ignoring their cries for mercy. From there she headed into the basement, slaughtering more of New Avalon's citizens as she did so, and found a cauldron that would be perfect for Noth, so she grabbed onto the edge of it and hauled it back up to the upper floor, transferring it to her steed as she headed for the smithy, where she found the chains that were the last piece of the Plaguebringer's task.
With the chains in hand, which were well made and would withstand all sorts of abuse, Sunset climbed onto her steed and headed out to the Crypt once more, though first she stopped by Noth and handed over the materials he requested, which were transformed into a plague spewing cauldron and, by placing skulls inside, empowered it further. As he handed over a new piece of equipment, a saronite plated waist piece, Sunset could feel the new power in the air, which told her that the brand new plague cauldron was working as intended and meant that the ghouls would be able to hold out for longer, due to the power boost. She stood there for a moment as she gathered her power and teleported the skulls of the citizens into the device, where Noth watched as a flume of unholy energy surged into the air, darkening it further as he felt the power of the Scourge increase, something that caused Sunset to grin. She knew that this would only be a temporary boost, since one had to be near a plague cauldron to earn the boost that it provided, though her actions ensured that they would have a significant power boost for the duration of their time in this place, to which she switched her old belt for the new one before heading down into the Crypt.
"The Mayor is dead, as are many of his people and soldiers." Sunset stated, where Keleseth and Rivendare turned toward her as she stepped down to the lower level of the tomb, though as she did so she also pulled out the tome and handed it over to the Prince, who took it and studied it for a few moments.
"Were you just an ordinary death knight, I'd ask if you wanted to serve me... your power is quite impressive." Rivendare said, as while he and the others knew of her skills, in fact it shocked him when he witnessed her sheer brutality and saw how she slaughtered everyone without pause, showing them that she was more refined than most death knights.
"Yes, and her power has gained us more information: the Scarlet Crusade has three ships heading for Northrend, and next to it are the words 'Crimson Dawn'." Keleseth remarked, something that seemed to annoy him to some degree, though as he said that Sunset found that Rivendare had modified saronite boots for her to take, a replacement for the ones she was wearing at the moment, before the Prince pulled out an ornate box, "Take these persuaders and discover the truth about this Crimson Dawn from our enemies."
The persuaders, as Sunset soon discovered upon walking outside, were a pair of daggers that had heated edges, meaning Keleseth's plan was to torment the soldiers into revealing the information they knew about this event, causing her to place her blade on her back before gripping Keleseth's toys. With them in hand she rode into New Avalon and found some more Scarlet soldiers, surveying the scene of her previous attack on some of the citizens, to which she climbed off her steed and summoned her power, chaining down of them with frost chains while leaving the third unharmed. She then proceeded to parry incoming attacks and stab her foe in return, unleashing the power of the persuaders on her opponent, where she demanded to know what this 'Crimson Dawn' was and told her target that his beatings would continue until she was given the information she was seeking. The other two were observers, witnessing her brutality with their own eyes, though she found that the first soldier resisted the persuaders with all his will and died before telling her anything, causing her to use her power and yank another one over to where they were standing, allowing the pair to watch and understand that both of them would share this fate soon enough.
She hacked and slashed into a few soldiers, mildly annoyed by the fact that none of them were willing to share what they knew about the Crimson Dawn, even though she did confirm it existed since they were so tight lipped about it, before she pulled over one of the two observers and readied her magic, as she had a better plan in mind.
"You won't break me, monster! I'll die before I tell you anything!" the soldier said, showing her that he and his companion were of the opinion that they would rather perish here and not reveal anything about the Crimson Dawn to her, which just continued to confirm the existence of her target in her mind.
"Maybe against the persuaders... but how about this?" Sunset inquired, where she weaved a few spells around her target before using a bit of power to slowly skin his arm, as she was going to flay him alive until either he died or he gave her the information she wanted, all while putting on a show for his companion.
Interestingly enough the soldier resisted her spells to the best of his ability, trying to hold out as his nerves were ruined as his skin was removed before his eyes, but he didn't say anything about this being a tickle when compared to everything he had experienced in the past. In fact it looked like she might have found a more effective method for interrogating people, at least with her powers, especially since the soldier eventually submitted to her demands and gave her the information she was looking for, in fact he pleaded for her to stop, causing her to stop the spell so he could speak. According to him the Crimson Dawn was an awakening, as the Light, one of the cosmic powers as Sunset had learned, apparently speaks to the High General and, through him, informed them as to who would be allowed to head to Northrend and who would stay behind to defend New Avalon. As he claimed that this was all of the information he knew, essentially worthless in her eyes, he did inform her that a courier was on his way from Hearthglen, an area held by the Scarlet Crusade in the Western half of the Plaguelands, as area they would likely attack once the enclave was destroyed, before he died from the pain.
In the following moment she yanked the other soldier over to her and cut him down, showing that she had no mercy for the living, before climbing onto her steed and headed back to the Crypt without delay, where she returned the persuaders to the ornate box and returned them to Keleseth as she made her report.
"I knew that the Scarlet Crusade were insane, but delivering their people to the very heart of the frozen wastes, right into our master's grasp, is new." Keleseth commented, especially when one considered that they would be facing the Scourge no matter where they went, so all they were doing was delaying the inevitable, their deaths and rebirth as servants of the Lich King.
"Perhaps this courier can shed some light on the matter?" Sunset inquired, as it seemed like the logical thing to do, figure out where the human was, end his existence, and steal the information he had been tasked with delivering, since it would allow them to turn the tide against their enemies in no time.
"Indeed. Which means you should report to our other outpost, in a tavern behind enemy lines," Keleseth said, which she knew was behind two orchards, based on what she had seen when she scouted out the area at the beginning of their war against the Scarlet Crusade, so she said nothing as the Prince spoke, "three of our allies, Orbaz Bloodbane, Thassarian, and Koltira Deathweaver, have been using it while you distracted the Scarlet Crusade, keeping an eye out for some of the more important members of the Scarlet's forces. Go there and speak to them, as they might be able to help us find this courier and obtain whatever information he's carrying."
Sunset confirmed his orders before heading back to where her deathcharger was resting, as it was time to head behind enemy lines and see if she could learn anything about the Crimson Dawn, all to bring about the utter destruction of the Scarlet Crusade and continue her master's war against the rest of the living.
After leaving the Crypt of Remembrance, and leaving Keleseth and Rivendare to whatever they had been doing before her arrival, Sunset climbed onto her steed before heading into New Avalon once more, where she found that the people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. She supposed they were, given that their Mayor had been killed not that long ago and she had massacred a number of their soldiers before departing with the information she needed, and she found that her slaughter earlier had provided her with the opening she needed. She and her steed were able to get across the town without drawing the attention of the citizens or any of the soldiers, in fact the latter seemed to be in the middle of fighting the ghouls that were currently tearing through their defenses, thanks to her empowering the plague cauldron not that long ago. Such a thing allowed her to reach the orchards that the tavern was located near, which also happened to be near a chapel she had seen previously, though what surprised her was that none of the Scarlet soldiers had noticed her, even with her being so close to their keep, so she placed her steed behind the two story structure and headed inside.
Sure enough she found a number of death knights guarding the area, keeping themselves hidden for the most part so any of the enemy soldiers wouldn't see them until the last moment, before she found two powerful death knights, both humans in imposing armor, standing over some slain soldiers while ghouls feasted in the nearby bedroom.
"So, the infamous Sunset Shimmer has seen fit to join us." the closest of the two death knights, Orbaz, remarked, though at this point in time she wasn't even surprised by that fact, rather she expected everyone in the Scourge to know of her, due to all the people she had slaughtered since her rebirth as the Lich King's tool, "We have been hunting our targets while you slaughtered our enemies, but our master has informed us of a courier that you're looking for... to be honest, we don't have a damned clue as to where he's supposed to be. Fortunately, while we were trying to fulfill our own mission, we learned that there should be a patrol schedule somewhere inside the garrison, so you might be able to obtain it and figure out the courier's route."
"Also, we lost one of our best death knights in the act of establishing this place, and I'm sure he's somewhere inside the garrison you're heading into." Thassarian, the other human death knight, added, something that caused Sunset and Orbaz to turn towards him for a moment, as he spoke like the person was his brother or an ally who had been brought back into undeath as well, "Rescuing Koltira would be a boon to our forces..."
"And why should I care? We're death knights, uncaring soulless killing machines, and if he got caught than it's his own fault for being weak at such a critical moment." Sunset replied, something that pleased Orbaz, while surprising Thassarian, but before either of them could say anything she raised her hand and grasped the second death knight by the neck with her magic, a fact that was followed by her lifting him into the air, like she was strangling him, "There were rumors about you caring about our kind, Thassarian, and I was hoping that they were exaggerations or outright lies... but now, after seeing it for myself, I should just purge this weakness before it infects the rest of the Scourge."
Stay your hand, my chosen death knight. a voice said, where Sunset quickly recognized it as the Lich King's voice, as it was hard to mistake it as someone else's, and reacted instantly, releasing Thassarian before closing her eyes to listen to her master, though she also kept her senses open, just in case the pair tried anything while she was doing this, I have plans for his bond with Koltira, and will speak to them when both of them return to Acherus... for now, continue with your search for the courier.
"As you wish, master." Sunset replied, because the only one that could stop her from doing anything was their master, so if he told her to stay her hand, and allow Thassarian to have his bond with Koltira, she was going to do so, meaning when she headed into the garrison she would have to rescue him as she gathered the information she required, causing her to open her eyes, "The Lich King has commanded me to stand down in this manner, as he will tend to you two personally, so that means I'll rescue Koltira as well."
Thassarian said nothing for a moment as he rubbed his neck, because he was sure that without the timely arrival of their master's voice, and his command, he would have died for the second time, though he kept his mouth shut as he realized that the tales were right, Sunset was the Lich King's chosen death knight. As he thought about that, and what it meant for all of them, Sunset headed outside and climbed onto her steed for a moment, where she rode for the garrison and found that it was being guarded by all sorts of Scarlet soldiers, not that it mattered to her. When she got close enough she raised her hand and yanked the first pair of guards over to her, where Sunset jumped off her steed and slew her foes before they had a chance to defend themselves, allowing her to force her way into the garrison without delay. Her first action was to find her way to the upper level, as that seemed to be where the Scarlet Crusade hid their more important documents, and it wasn't long before she found the stairs leading up there, even though she lined the path with the corpses of the Scarlet soldiers, much to their dismay.
On the upper floor she found a more armored Scarlet soldier, likely the Commander of their forces, and was disappointed in his skills, as he informed her that he would rid the world of the Scourge and left himself open, allowing her to cut out his heart and kill him, to which she claimed the book and headed to the basement, where she found Koltira.
"Count yourself lucky that the Lich King has plans for you, otherwise I would have left you behind." Sunset said, cutting the Scarlet preacher down before she had a chance to even cast a holy spell on her, who must have been tasked with doing something to Koltira, who stared at her as he picked himself up off the table he had been resting on, without armor, which was nearby with his battleaxe.
"You were still foolish for coming, as now we might both die." Koltira remarked, though he had a feeling he knew who was the cause behind Sunset's annoyed mood right now, where he coughed for a moment as he moved over to his armor, as he could hear the sounds of the soldiers of the Scarlet Crusade coming to end them, "I am still weak from my ordeal, but I will do whatever I can..."
"Yeah, I don't care." Sunset replied, where she turned her head for a moment and engaged her magic as she spotted some of the Scarlet soldiers, yanking them through the railing of the stairs, impaling one of them in the process, so she could cut them down with a swing of her runeblade, "I'll slay whoever dares to challenge me!"
Koltira paused as he put his armor back on, as he had heard tales of her brutality while he and the others were fulfilling their own tasks, even though he had a hard time believing that she was capable of such feats, but watching her combine her magic and death knight powers told him that they were true. Sunset Shimmer was a force to be reckoned with, as she slashed through her foes without pause and showed no hesitation when it came to killing the living, in fact he was positive that the Lich King's conditioning had twisted her into a pure soulless killing machine that was unlike any death knight that had come before her, maybe even beyond that of the first of their kind. Even the High Inquisitor, one of the stronger Light users that remained in New Avalon, didn't stand much of a chance when it came to fighting Sunset, as she tore through his magic and smashed him into the ground, killing him before he had a chance to do much, before grabbing his head as she hauled him outside. Since the figure was dead this was a way to instill fear into the hearts of the Scarlet Crusade, as in to show the soldiers that not even their strongest Light users were safe from the might of the Scourge, and many who saw them fled as she walked out of the garrison, though before Koltira departed for Acherus he informed her that there were some prisoners being executed near the chapel.
Sunset, of course, didn't care as she pulled the corpse onto her steed and made her way back to the inn, where Orbaz and Thassarian were surprised by her arrival, even though they were pleased to see the body of Valroth, who would raised as a servant of the Lich King in due time, and she handed over the patrol book as she made her report.
"You have done well, Sunset, and I will endeavor to figure out when the courier will arrive." Orbaz remarked, where he was pleased to have her on their side, because if she was part of the Scarlet Crusade he was sure that it would have been an entirely different story for this assault, before he handed over two items, a pair of saronite plated gauntlets and a chest piece made of the same material.
"Still, we might as well check out the chapel, to see if anymore of our order have been captured." Thassarian said, where this time he found that Sunset didn't seem to care that much and was only doing it since Orbaz needed some time to look over the tome she had given him, to track down the courier she was looking for.
Sunset wasted no time in heading outside and walked over to the chapel, where she found that it was on fire and that the side building was intact, meaning the death knight leader much have found something important, who saluted her when she approached the building.
"We didn't find any of our brothers or sisters, as we heard Koltira's report before he left, but we found some feisty prizes inside the prison house." the death knight, Plaguefist he called himself, said, though his actions told her that she had to be a higher rank than he was, something he might resent given that she was fairly new to the Scourge's forces, though as his forces torched the area he focused on what they had found, "It appears that the Scarlet Crusade had captured some of the Argent Dawn's forces, possible champions who disagreed with what our enemies were doing, and have executed a fair number of them before our arrival... we left them alive, as an apology for wasting your precious time."
Sunset took that to mean that they were there to vent her anger or frustration, so she walked over to the doorway of the prison house and found all sorts of people kneeling around the chamber, from humans to draenei and from blood elves to orcs, the main races of the Alliance and the Horde.
"You've come to finish the job, haven't you?" a voice asked, where she found that the female human looked up once they heard someone walk into where they had been contained since they had been captured, though while many were slightly surprised by her appearance, her hooves and pony features, each of them knew that she was Scourge, "I don't know who you were in life, but I have a feeling that you were a champion of your kind... a hero... and that you have been risen into a mockery of what you stood for while you were alive. Listen to me, whoever you are, you have to fight the Lich King's dark hold and free yourself, as he's a monster that will see the whole of Azeroth covered in darkness and transformed into a world of ruin, and he is using you to make his will a reality!"
"Me? A hero?" Sunset remarked, where she chuckled for the first time since her rebirth as a death knight, as she found this to be hilarious as she found that everyone had paused what they were doing as she spoke, before she steeled herself for what she was about to do next, "No, I am no hero... I'm a villain, given a second chance to dominate my enemies, and right now those enemies are you, the Scarlet Crusade, and the rest of the living who call this world home! My master will bring death and destruction to this world, you're right about that, and I will fight until my last breath to make his will the new reality, with everyone serving the Lich King... and you, too, shall serve him!"
The Argent agents barely had time to react to her statement as she summoned her power and yanked them towards her position, where she lashed out at all of them and ended their lives before anyone could defend themselves, though in the following moments Sunset held her blade out, like she recalled from her own death and rebirth, and felt one of the val'kyr watching over this area.
"Arise, Argent champions, and serve the Lich King in death!" Sunset declared, where she was sure that the Lich King had seen what she was doing over here, waiting for her reaction to the Argent agents, and had sent a val'kyr once she decided to raise all of them to serve the very being that they hated during their lives.
Sure enough all of their bodies faded a little as the energy of death washed over each of them, similar to what happened when someone was raised from where they had fallen, and Sunset watched as the human was the first to be reborn, with a look of horror on her face, before the others joined her. Once that was done she ordered them to follow her as she took them out to Plaguefist, informing him that she had slain and raised all of them with the aid of a val'kyr, to which she left all of them in his care and watched as some of the other death knights summoned deathly portals back to Acherus, forcing all of her new recruits to join the Scourge. With them dealt with, and Sunset having shown the others that she had didn't care for the living, she left Plaguefist to the rest of his duties as she returned to the inn that Thassarian and Orbaz were in, who seemed to look at her in a new light, not that she cared about that too much. She suspected that the right of calling or using the val'kyr was reserved for their master's chosen, Scourge commanders who were higher ranking than she was, but she didn't care at all, as the Lich King humored her and helped raise the Argent agents into undeath, where each one would be put to work.
"I've figured out that the courier will be passing by our area in the next few minutes, and we have created a disguise that he'll have to investigate." Orbaz said, where Sunset found that it was a tree made out of a flat piece of wood, likely a door that was no longer serving the purpose it had been created for, and she was sure part of the paint was made of blood, to which she glanced at him for a few seconds, "Use this, ambush him, and take everything, including his clothing... I'll explain the plan when you return."
Sunset said nothing as she accepted the disguise and headed out, this time ignoring her steed, it wasn't necessary for her to use it at this point, which allowed her to quickly reach the arch area near the garrison and planted the disguise, though she added a bit of magic to make it look like a real tree and entice people to come look at it. Of course no one else was in the area, so she was able to slip into her illusion and be hidden from everyone, where she waited for a few moments as she heard the sound of someone coming, someone on a horse. Sure enough it was the courier she was waiting for, who, much to her amazement and continued belief that the Scarlet Crusade was full of idiots, stopped at the tree and wasted his precious time investigating it, even as she disengaged her spells. She wasted no time in running her blade through his chest and killed him, allowing her to pull the body out of the way and hide it where no one would see it, before claiming all of his belongings and heading back to where Orbaz was waiting for her to return.
As it turned out the armies of Hearthglen and Tirisfal were on their way here, heading right for a massacre, though once they knew what his letter was they cast an illusion on Sunset, allowing her to take on the courier's form and even used it to hide her steed, as she had to deliver the letter to whoever it was intended for. With that in mind she quickly returned to her deathcharger, a normal Scarlet horse thanks to the illusion, and rode out, heading for the road the courier had been on before she waylaid him. She found that the Scarlet soldiers believed the illusion and allowed her to ride down the path, one even announced her arrival as she did so, where she found a ship and several of the missing Scarlet commanders, the ones that Orbaz and Thassarian had been sent to kill. The High General actually mentioned that she was late, believing that she was the male courier, and took the letter, only to curse as she realized that the armies were riding into the hands of the Scourge, before informing her that she had to deliver a message to the High Commander, to 'turn their forces back and prepare the ships to travel to Northrend', and ended it with handing her a book.
Apparently the Scarlet Crusade was no more and the Scarlet Onslaught was taking it's place, to which she acknowledged the message and rode out of the cove, though instead of heading to meet the armies, as much as she wanted to slaughter them on her own, she regrouped with Orbaz's group and delivered her report, along with the book.
"All that effort, for this rubbish?" Orbaz remarked, as the book was just an edited version of the High General's diary, one that detailed how she heard the 'Voice of the Light' and created the new Scarlet Onslaught, before he quickly drafted his report and handed it, with the book, to her, where he opened a portal back to Acherus, "Take our report back to Acherus and deliver it to the Highlord, as we must prepare for the encroaching armies."
Sunset said nothing as she nodded and stepped through the portal with the items, finding that she was back on the floor that Darion rested on, allowing her to quickly deliver the report and journal to him without wasting time, even though he was surprised by her actions and proclaimed that she was an instrument of doom. With the report in hand he ensured all of their forces readied themselves for the armies that were coming, though he also handed her some imposing pieces of plated saronite shoulder pieces to replace her old set, making her look more like the instrument of death and doom she was becoming. As she accepted the armor, however, Darion moved out to get things ready for the arrival of their enemies, allowing her a short period of time to get herself ready for their final battles with their enemies, and once they were done they could return to Northrend and slaughter their remaining foes to focus on their master's plans, which she was looking forward to with her entire being and could only imagine the slaughter awaiting them.
A couple of hours passed before the forces of Hearthglen and Tirisfal reached their destination, finding that New Avalon was full of death and that Acherus was looming nearby, where they started to set up all of their weaponry, because they didn't have the message not to engage the Scourge. Sunset, now sporting the near full set of plated saronite armor, save for the helm, looked out at the scene before her with a smile on her face, as she could only image the battle that would unfold once the Lich King commanded them to engage their enemies. Of course their val'kyr had risen every slain Scarlet soldier and citizen who had been slain recently, forming an undead army that was far more than what the Scourge had started with in the beginning of this conflict. That was the beauty of the Scourge, no matter how many of them the living slew in battle they would raise the fallen and boost their number to more than what they had started with, usually drawing from the lines of their enemies to cause chaos among the ranks of the living.
In fact everything was in flames, allowing the Scarlet Crusade to see that the Scourge was in control of everything here, and their foes didn't seem to care right now, in fact it looked like the human soldiers wanted to destroy them first, before even worrying about the flames, much to her amusement as she watched them.
"Sunset, it is time to bring about the Scarlet apocalypse. The Lich King is waiting for you at Death's Breach." Darion said, a fact that interested her for a few seconds, though she simply nodded her head a little as the Highlord departed, as he was part of the force that would assault Light's Hope once the Scarlet army was destroyed and risen.
It didn't take her long to reach Death's Breach, where she found that the Lich King was standing on a raised platform that had a ramp leading up to his post, while the two Princes were on either side of him, standing in magical circles, with the rest of their death knights standing nearby, to which she walked part way up the ramp before kneeling and lowering her head towards her master.
"You have served me well so far, Sunset Shimmer, as you have caused death and destruction as far as the eye can see, all while burning the mark of the Scourge into the Scarlet lands," the Lich King said, where he seemed pleased with her, due to being one of his most brutal and soulless death knights, far worse than any who had come before her in such a short period of time, before he gestured to the burning town for a few seconds, "but more is required, for it is time for you to finish what you started. You, who have slaughtered all that stood in your way, without pause or remorse, and yet have been unable to fill the craving for death and destruction in your dark heart, will bring an end to the armies of the Scarlet Crusade, by commanding one of my frost wyrms and taking it into battle."
"It will be done, master." Sunset replied, though while she showed no emotion towards this decree, like most of her kind, inside she was excited and honored that her master was allowing her to bring about the end of the Scarlet Crusade, while riding one of his frost wyrms no less.
A frost wyrm was a dragon risen into undeath, possibly one from the Blue Dragonflight, one of the five flights that seemed to live in this world, and it flew down to them on the Lich King's command, stopping nearby as it waited for someone to get on it, before he transferred the ability to command it to her. With that done Sunset climbed onto her new mount and took off without delay, where she and her wyrm flew through the air and approached New Avalon, where she could hear the screams of the Scarlet soldiers as they witnessed her arrival. She found some ballistae scattered all over the place, as if they had been expecting a frost wyrm to show up, or maybe they had been planning on using them on Acherus, but she destroyed them with the power of her mount's icy breath, loosing spheres of icy power on her targets. Flying through the air was nice, dodging arrows and the bolts of the remaining ballistae, though Sunset found far more enjoyment in slaying the Scarlet soldiers and delivering despair to them when they realized that they couldn't hit her, as with her magic being able to sense incoming attacks she could move the wyrm before it got hit.
Due to her actions, and the Scarlet Crusade's soldier's inability to hit her, it wasn't long before the armies of Heartglen and Tirisfal were wiped out, broken before her cunning and might, allowing Sunset to return to where her master was waiting for her arrival and reach it in no time, leading to her kneeling before him once more.
"Sunset Shimmer, you are indeed worthy of being my champion, and so I bestow this helm upon you," the Lich King said, where she and the others found that he had a plated saronite helm in his hands, one that also hid part of her face and had tusks on either side of where her face would be, to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, but it had been altered at little, to provide a horn for her horn and ears to slip through, to which she pulled her cowl off and let him place it where it belonged, "Your terrifying visage will tell our enemies that death comes for them, and that any who stand boldly before us will face a merciless end, driven into a corner by your incredible might. There remains but one task now, the end of Light's Hope Chapel and the deaths of the Argent champions who are currently hiding there. Go now, my champion, as the Highlord and Thalanor are awaiting your arrival before making my final command a reality."
"It shall be so, master." Sunset replied, as the moment she had been working towards was finally here, the Scarlet Crusade had been crushed, with only the Onslaught remaining in Northrend, and it was time for the Argent Dawn to join them in undeath, as her master raised his terrifying runeblade and channeled it's dark power, raising the fallen Scarlet soldiers as soldiers of the Scourge, many of the rank and file becoming ghouls with the commanders retaining their form.
As that happened, and the new army listened to their master's call, Sunset climbed onto her steed and rode through the nearby cave, as she received the directions she needed via her mental link to the Lich King, which he used to tell her what her orders were, all while not invading her privacy since she had proven to be his loyal weapon. The cave was more like a tunnel and lead to an area infected by the Scourge's power, part of the Plaguelands to be exact, though she didn't have a lot of time to waste as she headed down a path to her left and rode for a mill. There she found Darion, Thalanor, Koltira and Thassarian, and a few others getting ready for war, though she knew when the horn of war was sounded their forces would be summoned to do war with the forces of Light's Hope Chapel. For a few moments none of them said anything as she rode up to where they were waiting, either because they feared her or because they were relieved that she was part of this assault, she really didn't care to be honest, but she knew the silence would break eventually.
Sure enough it came in the form of Darion issuing his command, calling for the death knights of Acherus and the soldiers of the Scourge to rise and do battle with Light's Hope Chapel, though as Sunset rode into battle with the others she found that blood seemed to be raining from the sky, causing her to smirk as the Scourge followed her.
Not a few seconds later she found her targets, the soldiers and champions of the Argent Dawn, where she jumped off her deathcharger and impaled her first foe with her blade as her forces surged into the small area, forcing the defenders to raise their weapons as the other death knights joined her. By her estimates it looked like there were only three hundred defenders for Light's Hope Chapel, while the forces of the Scourge numbered far greater than that, easily between five to ten thousand total soldiers that could be brought down on this place if need be. There were a number of powerful foes for them to face, paladins and priests who were strong in the Light, far more than the Scarlet commanders she had slain back in New Avalon earlier, something she was able to confirm when she slashed into one's chest hard enough for him to call forth a barrier of holy energy to protect himself for death, causing her to change targets. Several knights rushed her at the same time, as if they knew that she was the far more important target to take down, yet none of them were ready for her to suspend them in the air with her magic, strangling them before ending their lives and tossing their bodies to the ground as she continued her onslaught.
Darion and the others proved to be great in combat as well, cutting down knights and forcing the stronger foes to shield themselves with some of their energy, not that it mattered since they'd fall once their power ran out, before something odd happened, the Ashbringer started to fight the Highlord's control. It was as if the blade sensed that there was someone more worthy of it's power in this place and, when confronted with the power of the Light, it remembered the purpose that it had been forged to bring about, leading to it fighting it's corrupted nature and master. For a while it was amusing, as he was supposed to be the blade's master, but it soon reached the point where Darion found himself unable to target any of his foes, the weapon refusing to hit any of the paladins or priests that they were supposed to be tearing down. Once that happened Sunset was less amused by Darion's lack of ability and was just annoyed that he couldn't control the blade, as he should have done something about this a long time ago, when he was raised with the weapon, to ensure that it was his and his alone, total domination of the weapon's will.
When the hundredth defender fell, however, Sunset felt the power of the Light surge over the area as another figure, likely a paladin who had been in hiding the entire time, rode over to them and stalled Darion with a single command, even if it was followed by a Light spell being used on all of them, as in her, Darion, Thassarian, Koltira, and the other death knights, save for Orbaz, who simply disappeared.
"Have you learned nothing, boy?" the figure asked, speaking to Darion and no one else, where Sunset found that most of her force was in front of him and she, on the other hand, was off on the side with multiple paladins maintaining a prayer to the Light, to keep her chained to this part of the field they had fought on, "You have become everything that your father fought against... much like that coward, Arthas, you have allowed yourself to be consumed by darkness, though I know why he does not dare to show his face, for he fears what lies beneath this chapel. He's sent you all to your doom, just like all those he's raised in the past."
As Darion opened his mouth to protest something happened, the Light seemed to drag out some memory of his, calling a figure who had to be his father and his younger self, though all Sunset saw was his weakness brought to life once more, a fact that enraged her. It was a repeat of what Thassarian and Koltira had revealed to her back in New Avalon, though as she called upon some of her power she found that the paladins and priests redoubled their efforts, in fact more came to aid them, showing her that the Light knew she was dangerous, likely pushing them to keep her contained. As she fought against the power of the paladins and priests, who were surprised by the fact that she was battling their strength and that she was drawing closer to breaking free, Darion faced the spirit of his father, Alexandros, who had been the Ashbringer before him, his father to be exact. If Sunset had been alive she was sure that this would have been touching, but since she was undead, an uncaring death knight that destroyed anyone who stood against her master or betrayed the lessons that had been instilled inside her, this just enraged her to no end and fueled her as she pushed through the Light's power, all while constantly surprising the paladins and priests.
When Alexandros' spirit got to whatever lesson he was trying to pass on, however, a death gate opened behind him and all of them watched as the Lich King, in all his dark glory, stepped out, though he mocked their 'touching' reunion before returning the spirit to Frostmourne as he declared that Darion, like all death knights, belonged to him, which enraged the Highlord as he picked himself up and charged at their master, who swatted him away like a fly.
"You're a damned monster, Arthas." Tirion, the higher ranking paladin that had turned the tide of this battle, stated, but as he said that most of the paladins and priests gathered themselves, because while no one had suspected that the master of the Scourge would show himself, while his forces were still struggling, they knew that they needed to be ready for his assault.
"You were partly right, Tirion, I sent most of them to lure you out into the open... how easy it was to do so, despite all the signs that it was a bad idea, but one I sent to take your head." the Lich king said, as it was rare for him to care about any of his minions, in fact Sunset was only aware of one undead that he cared about, that being the greatest lich of them all, the one he personally helped revive into his undead state, the great Kel'Thuzad, possibly two counting herself, "My champion has power beyond your imagining, and if you think this will hold her you are sorely mistaken."
Tirion barely had time to think about what that meant as Sunset shattered her bonds, the sheer force knocking back the paladins and priests that had been trying to bind her to one spot, while those who were nearby rushed at her, intending on taking her down before she could do anything. Such a thing was irrelevant to her as she swung her blade and crushed the weapons that her foes were using right now, breaking their maces and greathammers, the latter being the one that needed two hands, as she yanked others to her and cut them down. Tirion seemed surprised by her movements, how she could lay waste to the guards that were keeping her contained, without remorse for her dark actions, or without pause for that matter, while understanding what the Lich King had been saying, she was his dark champion. In that moment he had a few doubts about his skills, even Sunset could see it as she hacked through one of the paladins, and when he drew his sword she zeroed in on his position without delay, swinging her sword multiple times with enough force to smash through it, scattering fragments as she knocked him backwards with her force.
In the following moment she lifted her blade and her empty hand, using her powers to yank her enemies to her and just suspended them in the air, like she had done when she nearly strangled the life out of Thassarian, though in that moment, with her back turned, Darion picked himself up and hurled the Ashbringer through the air, which she sensed and moved her hand to catch... only to find that it avoided her hand as Tirion took hold of it.
"ARTHAS!" Tirion shouted, where the Light exploded out of him, taking out Sunset's power on him and everyone else, all while transforming the deathly Ashbringer back to it's original form, a shining blade with a floating golden circle where the skull had been resting, meaning his power had overwritten Darion's own.
Sunset knew what was coming and jumped back, allowing her to intercept the incoming attack that was meant for the Lich King, even though the Ashbringer smashed through her runeblade, breaking it into several pieces, causing her to discard the ruined weapon as she called forth her power and snatched the blades of the fallen. The Lich King had blessed her with a variety of skills and techniques, all of which granted her the ability to use different types of weapons and styles, so she switched from one two handed greatsword to two smaller weapons and rushed at Tirion as her magic rolled over the area they were in. As she lashed out at him, however, Sunset found that none of her weapons seemed to stand up or resist the power of the Ashbringer, as no matter what technique or style she used the blades broke, the greataxe was smashed, and anything else she seized was broken before the might of the Light. It enraged her that the Light, a force that usually only awakened paladins and occasionally answered prayers, or at least the Scarlet Crusade claimed that, would suddenly take such an interest in this fight and deny her the victory she had worked so hard to obtain for her master, fueling her desire to end Tirion and deny the Light whatever it was trying to do.
As she did that Tirion gathered energy in the edge of the blade, where Sunset recalled that Darion once told her about one of the powers Ashbringer used to have, Wake of Ashes, a powerful attack that dealt massive damage to the undead, and as soon as it was ready he swung it at her. Sunset reacted by summoning her magic, as she was planning on catching the attack and breaking it, which would open the way for her to cut him down and end this battle, but what happened before her eyes wasn't the power she had been told about, rather Tirion used one of his paladin abilities to stun her while most of her focus was on him. Such a thing allowed the holy energy to split apart and wrap around her body, where she found several spikes made out of some white material appeared around her, acting like posts for the Light to pass the energy through, allowing it to constrict her and drop her to the ground. As she engaged her magic once more, since it didn't mess with her horn and natural powers, she found that Darion and the other death knights had combined their green magical barriers, an anti magic zone designed to protect them, into a protective shell around her, designed to cancel out her own magic and render her horn useless.
In that moment she realized that many of their order were planning on betraying their master, after hearing that he didn't care for them, even if that should be expected, and, in her desperation, directed her thoughts to her master, willing him to live before the Light tore him down, especially as Tirion struck him with his new sword, knocking the Lich King backward a tiny bit and caused him to depart.
"Mark my words, Tirion Fordring, I won't rest until you, your order, and the traitors are slain and the master's will is made reality at long last!" Sunset stated, as she didn't want the Highlord or his allies to believe that they had won, especially due to the Light cheating and actively helping them in a fight they should have lost, rather she wanted them to know that this event would lead to their ruin and that, in due time, she would bring about their eventual defeat, "Do you hear me?! None of you are safe while I walk this earth!"
As she said that, however, Sunset found something messing with her body, likely the Light in some manner, and her eyes felt heavy for the first time since she was raised into undeath, where her head hit the ground as she passed out, unaware of whatever the future held for her and the traitors.
Sunset had no idea how long she had been asleep, as it had become a foreign concept to her after being reborn as one of the Lich King's death knights, but when she finally opened her eyes she found that she was in a large structure that looked like a prison. How she knew that was because there were a number of cells resting around the area, some larger than the others and some human sized, like the one she was now resting in, which had magical barriers in front of them to keep the inmates inside their cells. What she found as she looked around the area was that there happened to be two floors that she could see, plus a watery area that might lead down to some submerged cells, ones no longer in use since most humans couldn't go down there, before noticing that the holy bindings had been removed. Of course, as she discovered, she found purple magic bracers on her arms and legs, which were connected to devices in the wall behind her and she found that it also applied to her magic, based on the ring around her horn, causing her to lean against the wall.
Since there wasn't a lot she could do in this situation, as something was negating her powers, Sunset glanced out at the rest of the prison and found that there were all sorts of creatures in the other cells, a large fire hound with two heads, a being made of shadow, and three human sized cells with humanoid bird creatures, as those were the ones she had a good view of from her cell.
This was already boring, locked inside a cell with nothing to do and, based on what she was feeling, something had cut off her connection to her master, where she suspected that Darion had done something to her while she was asleep, likely a rune designed to interrupt the connection. As such she sighed and pulled off her helmet, setting the terrifying piece off to the side for the time being, because it looked like her former mentor had decided to throw her in prison and just leave her here, until he figured out how to restore a fraction of her old self. Her only reason for thinking about that was due to the fact that a number of death knights had broken free of the Lich King's will, likely the Light intervening again, and with their master no longer enforcing his will on them Darion was likely searching for a way to save her. She was, after all, one of the most brutal and soulless killing machines in the world, so she knew that his thoughts were that if he liberated her, and she returned to how she was before being reborn, her power could be used to bring down the Lich King, which just made her want to cut him down when she thought about it.
At the same time, however, she let out a light chuckle as she rested her head against the wall, because their master just so happened to be one of the strongest forces in this world, one that not even the Lords of the Legion or Illidan Stormrage, a powerful demon hunter, and bringing him down would result in Darion's death, if he got that far.
"Someone seems to be in a good mood." a voice said, one that was unknown to her, causing Sunset to focus on the one who spoke and found that someone had entered the prison, a human mage, judging by the robes that looked like he was more suited for exploration, wielding a staff with a raven sitting at the peak, who had to be important in some manner, all while discovering Darion, Thassarian, and Koltira behind him.
"Not really, given that I'm in prison." Sunset remarked, because even before her death and rebirth it was something she had avoided to make sure her plans to dominate the mirror world succeeded, though to be sure that none of her powers worked she raised a hand towards Darion and mimicked the motion of strangling him with magic, only to find that nothing happened, causing her to shrug as she lowered her hand, "I had to try... especially since you brought some traitors to my new resting place."
"Even here, far away from Northrend and cut off from the Lich King, she still calls us traitors." Thassarian commented, an interesting fact when Sunset thought about it, as it sounded like the traitorous knights of Acherus had taken her to some new location, hoping that distance would help break the bond between her and their master.
"Our master desires the end of the living, and yet here you are, consorting with the Lich King's enemies." Sunset said, as it was pretty obvious why she saw him and the others as traitors to the cause, because each of them had been raised into undeath to bring death and destruction to the world, though Darion's faction likely stood to protect this world, which was just a guess on her part, "Of course I'm going to keep calling you traitors... you're lucky that I'm in this cell, and that all of my powers have been cancelled out, otherwise I'd fulfill my earlier promise."
"What is your master planning? We know he unleashed some ghouls and plagued grain on Stormwind and Orgrimmar not that long ago," the mage asked, where Sunset suspected that he was an Archmage, a powerful individual, though nothing compared to the might of the Lich King or even her old mentor, Celestia, while finding that Darion didn't dare to get close to the cell, just in case the magic died at the wrong moment, "Tell us what you know. We can help you return to who you used to be, before that monster raised you into undeath and twisted you into a tool that he's discarded, but we need to know what he's planning."
"You mean besides the utter destruction of the Alliance and the Horde? Nothing." Sunset remarked, where she chuckled a little as she noticed that Darion and his companions seemed surprised by her choice of words, though that didn't make them any less true, she knew nothing about the ultimate plan her master had created for this world, "All I knew was that he was focused on destroying the Scarlet Crusade, which will extend to the Scarlet Onslaught in Northrend, he wanted to kill Tirion, and he desired both factions to be destroyed... as to what he's actually planning, when he's planning on lashing out at his enemies, I have no idea. I'm in the dark, just like you are, and nothing will change that fact."
"Come on Sunset, surely the Lich King told you something? You were, after all, his champion." Koltira said, where he took a few steps and stood in front of her prison cell, an arm's length away from her if she was standing and the barrier wasn't in the way, showing her that he wasn't afraid of her or her power, even though he should be after everything he had seen her do in the Lich King's name, "He was known to telepathically deliver orders and commands to those who were out in the field, all while he watched from his post in Acherus, and you were his greatest and darkest weapon, someone he put a lot of trust in... he must have told you something, anything, that might be crucial to his war against the living."
"How many times do I have to tell you? He. Told. Me. NOTHING!" Sunset snapped, where she got up from her position and struck the magical barrier of her cell with her fist, though while she expected it to do nothing she found some cracks, small ones anyway, forming around the area she struck, surprising her guests for a moment.
Khadgar, as that was the Archmage's name as Sunset discovered, wouldn't take no for an answer and kept asking her all sorts of questions, trying to figure out more about the Lich King's plans and the key figures he might be planning on killing in the future, with his minions, but her answer remained the same. Some of his questions went into what she learned in Acherus, the skills that a death knight needed to master before they were sent into the field, though she said nothing, due to the fact that he had three other members of her kind that could answer them, as she wasn't about to hand information over to the enemy. She suspected that Darion might have handed over all sorts of details on runeforging, the art of adding runes to runeblades, along with going into the three aspects that a death knight could master, as most of her kind were either blood, frost, or unholy, with her being an exception, so she said nothing. The question about runebaldes did make her wish her weapon had survived the battle with Tirion, given that all of the other humanoid prisoners here had what had to be their gear on hand, just so she could run them through if the power was suddenly terminated, but since that wasn't happening she simply ignored the questions.
With her little outburst Sunset found that Khadgar also stood away from the cell, allowing the other death knights to stand in between them if she suddenly found a way to break the barrier, though after standing for some time she turned and sat back down again, assuming the position she had been using earlier.
Of course he also asked about her, as her race was one he wasn't familiar with, even though he did think she was a blend of human and draenei, at first anyway, but she continued to tell him nothing about her, her body, or her race, and saying nothing for so long eventually caused them to leave. As they departed from the prison she was greeted by silence once more, where Sunset simply remained sitting where she had taken up her position and simply stared out at the rest of the prison that she knew was going to be her home for the foreseeable future. Based on what she found there were guards who usually watched over this place, armored mages who seemed ready for anything, meaning a riot or attack must have happened at some point in the past and caused them to make new procedures to protect this place from whatever force might seek to bring it down. That told her that she wouldn't be able to escape with brute force, even if she was able to break out of her prison and the bindings on her limbs, as the guards were either charged with holding the prisoners back, knocking them out, or killing them if they continued to resist, meaning she was in for a really long stay.
As the hours ticked by she found that the guards did change out with another set that was likely resting or patrolling the area on the other side of the main entrance, where she assumed it was the former so they would have a restored body for their duties, but it did nothing for her situation, other than gathering information. She couldn't really form a plan of attack since she had no weapon or magic, but that didn't stop her from imagining what would happen if she undid the barrier in front of her and the other inmates that had been locked away in this place, the chaos and destruction they would cause before Khagdar or someone else was able to restrain them. Another thing she discovered was that this place seemed to be lit so that no matter what time of day it was she and the other inmates would only see light, something she assumed had been designed to aid the guards while dissuading any of them from trying to escape, since there were no shadows to hide in. Her reasoning behind that was because she was sure that hours had passed since her waking up in this place and no darkness had filled the prison, a sign that night happened to be approaching, though she filed the information away for later, even though she was sure that it would be some time before her observations became useful.
Because Sunset didn't feel the need to sleep, a perk of being a death knight, despite the fact that she could force herself to do so, she was able to think about her situation, what it meant for the Lich King's plans since his chosen was in a cell, and a few other things, but she knew that once she was free she was going to show Khadgar, Darion, and the others a level of death that was unlike anything they had seen so far, she just had to be patient and wait for that day to come.
Sunset found that while she could think about the situation and what she'd do when she was freed, massacring those who either wronged her or the Lich King, there wasn't much else to do and felt that the silence would be maddening to others, but she wasn't like the other prisoners that happened to be trapped in this prison. Her reasoning was because before she had come to this world she had been the best and brightest unicorn in Canterlot, and second in terms of magic, due to the fact that the first was Celestia herself, and she had ways of making sure she didn't go insane while she tried to figure out how to get out of here. There were all sorts of meditation techniques and a number of metal exercises she could perform to pass the time, allowing her to consider her situation in greater detail than before, going over the scenarios where she could try to escape by doing different things, using the knowledge she had gathered since waking up in this place. It was a great way for her to kill some time and not go mad from being stuck in her cell, but other than that it didn't do much else for her, especially when she found that every scenario ended in her defeat and either imprisonment or total death, where the latter would definitely free her in the worst way possible.
Of course it annoyed her a tiny bit, that there didn't seem to be anything she could do to break out of the cell that she had been stuffed into, at least from this side of it, but she was able to stave off the madness and that seemed to be the best she could do for the time being.
She also found that Darion came to visit her a few times over the weeks, something she was able to determine by simply counting the time between each of his rather short visits, where he first informed her that the Knights of the Ebon Blade were joining both the Alliance and the Horde in their fight against the Lich King. Apparently that was what he and the rest of the traitorous death knights, those who had fought beside her during the assault on Light's Hope Chapel, went by these days and they had seized Acherus, giving them a fortress to take Naxxramas down. In addition to that the heroes who had been raised into this life, and had regained what they had lost thanks to Tirion taking the Ashbringer, had returned to their former factions and, with some assistance from Tirion, took up arms in the name of either the Alliance or the Lich King, as if nothing had happened to them. Such a thing sickened Sunset when she heard it, as none of her former allies seemed to care about the fact that they had betrayed the one who gave them a second chance at life, three if one counted the couple of forsaken that had been raised again, and that they were all too eager to call him a monster that needed to die, hence why they were joining the expeditions to Northrend.
While Darion talked Sunset found that he had replaced his missing weapon with a pair of runeblades, blades that needed only a single hand to wield, where she imagined the barrier falling and her seizing one to take him down before beginning the siege on the area near her prison, before he eventually departed to lend the living his aid.
After her former mentor left she found a number of mages, often watched over by Khadgar and sometimes by another mage, one who radiated power and importance as well, who came to the prison to look over the prisoners, studying each of them for the future. Many of them were shocked and surprised by her existence, since she was one of the oddest in the prison, at least according to many of the apprentices, though as the others studied the prisoners she often found Khadgar staring at her, no doubt trying to silent coax her into telling them something important. She didn't have anything to share with him or the living, about herself or the Lich King's plans, but she did consider the fact that she had been abandoned to her fact, it was a possibility she couldn't ignore, not since she'd been here for at least a week. While she was the chosen champion of the Lich King, destined for greatness against the world of the living, it wasn't hard for one to imagine why it was so quite here, why her master didn't march on the city or prison to break her out and put her to work again.
As time went by, however, Sunset found herself wondering if she had actually been abandoned, which was common when death knights were captured by the enemy, despite the fact that she was the Lich King's champion, causing her to lean back in her cell as she watched all of the mages come and go, showing them nothing new as she thought about what she was going to do next. While she considered that the days slowly turned into weeks, where she found that she felt nothing, not a bit of hunger, not the desire to rest, nor even anything else that the living needed to do to survive, leaving her to her thoughts, which was dangerous given what happened in the past. When the weeks turned into months, however, she did feel the location of her prison move from one point to another, a surge of magic washed over everything around her and it felt like she was being dragged along, thanks to the cell and bindings, before the sensation disappeared. All that told her was that someone, or a group of someones, had moved the prison to another location, meaning there was a chance that an invasion force might have been close to freeing them and Khadgar got them out of the area, much to her annoyance as she stared at the wall for some time.
As Sunset did that, however, part of her found herself thinking back to the world she had left behind, idly wondering what sort of mess she had left behind in the mirror world, but decided that such a thing was irrelevant to her right now, even if it did help her pass the time as she waited for something to happen.
Twilight stood in front of the door that separated her from Princess Celestia's room, an area that was off limits to visitors, and forced herself to calm down, as she knew that this was about what happened in the mirror world, when she went in to retrieve the Element of Magic. Such a thing instantly worried her once more, because of what she had witnessed after taking the crown back and using the harmonic magic to defeat the demon that Sunset Shimmer had become, or at least that was what she had assumed had happened. It had been hard to explain the empty crater, with no signs of Sunset in it, just like it had been hard to tell the human versions of her friends what they had done to the person who bullied them for so long, even if some of the students believed Sunset deserved whatever her fate ended up being. In fact, with the portal between worlds closing, she hadn't been able to do anything before forcing both herself and Spike through the magical portal in the statue that was outside the school, meaning she left the girls alone in their time of need.
That was why she was already coming up with a new way to open the portal between worlds, because now that the crown was back with the other Elements, and nothing major seemed to be happening, she had some time to do such a thing and wanted to head back, just to comfort the girls and hopefully resolve everything.
"Ah, Twilight, I'm sorry I kept you waiting... court lasted longer than I would have liked." a voice said, where Twilight found the radiant form of Princess Celestia, an alicorn who stood taller than most ponies, including her own sister, walking over to the door, where her magic opened the door and allowed them to ended the room in question, or at least the area she entertained guests in, since the bed was behind another door.
Twilight and Spike, who had come along since he had passed through the mirror world with her, followed her inside the room, where Celestia closed the door before using her magic to put her regalia where it usually rested when she went to bed, and since it was night out Twilight knew she and Luna must have raised and lowered their celestial objects before she caught up with them.
"So, how is Sunset doing?" Celestia asked, as that was why they were here, she knew that Twilight and Spike had met her previous student, one she had failed utterly and completely and couldn't help since Sunset was out of reach for so long, so while she had gotten the official report, as in Twilight informing her that she reclaimed the crown, she wanted to listen to Twilight and learn about what happened to Sunset.
"Um... about that..." Twilight said, because this was what she was dreading, having to tell Celestia that her former student was likely dead, utterly destroyed by the crown's wild power, as that was the only explanation she could come up with to explain what she and Spike had witnessed, "She's... well..."
"Dead... at least, that's what the girls on the other side of the mirror said." Spike stated, though while him butting in was a common occurrence, and usually a bad one at that, this time around he wasn't cheerful and seemed depressed, especially after the final battle he had witnessed with Sunset Shimmer.
Twilight told Celestia everything she knew, knowing that her mentor would be devastated by the news she had to share, about how Sunset had been twisted by the crown into a demon, about how she was planning on dominating everything to gain an army, and her plan to take over this world. She went on to explain what she had done to defend herself and the girls she had befriended to liberate the school from Sunset's dark hold, how it had awakened some magic in them so they, with her guidance, could wield some form of harmonic magic to defend themselves and attack Sunset. Of course she had thought that the power would liberate Sunset, like what happened when she and her friends faced Nightmare Moon, even if that had been Celestia's plan from the start, and yet all they got was a crater with nothing inside it. Twilight then went on to explain that she had detected no teleportation spells, no other magic than what her group and Sunset happened to be using at the time, and while she knew that the Elements couldn't kill their enemies, either due to magical safeguards or it being the will of their wielders, even she couldn't explain what they had seen.
As Twilight talked, however, she noticed the cracks forming in her mentor's mask, which she showed to nearly every pony she encountered during the day, and since she was far more experienced in the power of the Elements it was clear that her mentor was hoping, praying no doubt, that Sunset had been banished to another world.
"I... I see. Thanks for telling me, Twilight." Celestia said, where it was far too easy for Twilight and Spike to see that there were more cracks in the mask by the time the tale was over, showing them that she was far too worried about Sunset and that this had likely caused her more harm than good, "I... need time to think about this... we'll talk again tomorrow."
As Twilight and Spike departed, so they could get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow, Celestia held herself together before collapsing on her bed and cried, as she had lost Sunset again, possibly for good this time since they had no idea what had happened to her, and all it did was cause her to worry, as the Elements didn't kill, they couldn't, meaning all she could do was worry about what happened to Sunset this time as she stared at the stars.
Sunset continued to use her methods to pass the time, just to make sure she didn't go mad, but eventually she stopped keeping track of time, as it was useless when she thought about it, plus there were no more guests for her to worry about, so she was stuck in silence for who knew how long. The time away from the Lich King allowed her to notice something else in due time, the part of her that had been repressed, as in her desire to dominate and rule over everything she saw, or felt that belonged to her, had returned, meaning she had been modified more than she thought. Of course she wasn't even a tiny bit annoyed by that discovery, in fact Sunset silently admitted that it made sense, it allowed her master to make sure she didn't betray him when his back was turned and he was distracted by whatever their enemies were doing, but after all her time in this cell, cut off from him, she had rediscovered it. Such a thing meant that part of her time was spent thinking of new ways to dominate this world and enforce her will over everything and everyone who called it home, even though it meant facing the Lich King at some point.
She found that, despite her former desire to call the Lich King her master, the idea of facing him in some manner, even taking his position and weapon from him, excited her, though it was a nice thought to have as she waited in prison, which was the most boring thing she had ever experienced.
"You seem bored." a voice remarked, where Sunset found someone standing in front of her prison cell, an elf with golden hair, unlike what she was familiar with when she looked upon the blood elves and night elves who had been her brothers and sisters during their battle with the Scarlet Crusade, who wore a light gray robe with silvery and golden bits.
"I've been in this prison for months, without being able to fulfill my master's will... of course I'd seem bored." Sunset said, though instead of being annoyed with the figure she studied him in greater detail, as something about him screamed that he was stronger than one would assume, like he was some ancient force in disguise and this was the form he had picked out a long time ago, while maintaining the illusion that the Lich King was still her master.
"You've been in here for four months, thirteen days, seven hours, forty-seven minutes, and ten seconds." the elf stated, a fact that caused Sunset to pause, as there was no way he knew the exact amount of time that she had been imprisoned in this place, unless he knew when she had first entered this place and had been watching her for some time, where he let a smile appear on his face for a moment, "I have been watching you for a long time, Sunset Shimmer, since the day the Lich King raised you as his champion, and I must say he was right, the power you possess is staggering... it could, if used right, change the course of history entirely."
"Who are you? Why are you so interested in me and my power?" Sunset asked, because she was interested in discovering who she was talking to, especially since he had confirmed that he had been watching over her for some time, meaning he knew things that she couldn't possibly know right now, before noticing that the guards and inmates hadn't noticed him or his sudden arrival, "You aren't really here, are you? I must have finally gone mad."
"No, you are quite sane, despite being a soulless killing machine of the Scourge. I am here, but also not." the figure said, yet another fact that interested Sunset as she stood up and stretched, showing the guards that she had gotten tired of just sitting on the ground during her stay in their fair prison, an illusion that nothing was out of the ordinary, and she could see that the elf agreed with her actions, "I am, shall we say, messing with time to speak with you, using some magic to make it so the guards don't see me while we converse, as it would be... inconvenient... if someone discovered that I was here, in Dalaran's prison, talking with you. As for who I am, well, I am the bronze dragon Kairozdormu, or 'Kairoz' if you prefer, and I have a specific reason for being interested in you."
Sunset couldn't believe her luck, a time dragon, as that was what this particular dragonflight was known as, was interested in her and her power, meaning the door to achieve her goals had appeared before her, but, at the same time, this meant that Kairoz had a deal he wanted to offer her, otherwise he wouldn't be risking himself in this manner.
"Meaning you want to break me out so I can overturn some sort of historic event you disagree with." Sunset remarked, as it was easy to see why Kairoz, a dragon who was supposed to watch over time, would be seeking someone like her, since he didn't want to show himself until he completed whatever task he was currently working towards, which only made her wonder which event he wanted her to mess with, "So, what's the deal you have for me?"
"I wish to change the future of Azeroth for the better, to prepare us for the arrival or awakening of our enemies, and to do that my allies and I need to change certain events... like stopping Arthas from becoming the Lich King." Kairoz answered, to which he raised his hand for a moment as Sunset heard his statement, as he knew this would enrage her and right now he didn't want to alert the guards, something that she realized a few seconds later and acted like nothing happened, "Tell me, have you ever wondered if there might be someone more worthy of wielding Frostmourne? Someone who could wield the true power of the infamous runeblade and lead the Scourge without a shred of remorse?"
Part of Sunset, the part loyal to the Lich King, wanted to say no, that she didn't think there was anyone who could replace her master, though the other part of her, the side of her that was hungry for more power, which had caused her to head to the mirror world in the first place, eventually won over her own dark loyalty.
"You must know, Kairoz, that if I'm to stand a chance against my master, before he became the Lich King, I need a blade to face the might of Frostmourne." Sunset stated, because her old runeblade was gone, smashed to pieces and likely claimed by one of the Knights of the Ebon Blade so it could be turned into a weapon for another death knight, another traitor who deserved to die for betraying the Lich King, though one could accuse her of the same thing if they knew what she and the dragon were talking about.
"Of course. Would a blade of titansteel suffice?" Kairoz inquired, something that caused Sunset to pause again, because the metal in question was, supposedly, the strongest in all of Northrend, far more than saronite, what her armor and most of the weapons in the Scourge's was made of, and she knew, thanks to her added memories, that it was made by a smith combining titanium with the eternal energies of fire, earth, and shadow.
"Ensure that I can engrave my runes on it and make it look like a true runeblade... not Frostmourne, but take inspiration from it... and I'll consider the offer." Sunset replied, though her own statement informed him of her desires, she needed a weapon to do the job and he likely knew someone who could make it to her specifications, otherwise he wouldn't have offered her such a thing, meaning Kairoz knew that if she was freed she'd fulfill her own dark desires.
"Excellent. I'll ensure that the blade is crafted before your arrival." Kairoz said, informing her that there was somewhere he and his allies gathered in, likely free from the people he was trying to avoid at the moment, to which he turned for a few seconds, like he was going to leave, before pausing as he glanced back at her, "In three days some blue dragons will attack the prison and attempt to use the prisoners to burn Dalaran to the ground, and during the prison break one of my allies, a rebellious blue dragon, will break your bonds and open your portal to freedom... once your out, well, we can discuss what needs to be done."
Sunset said nothing as Kairoz departed from the prison, his magic breaking apart while leaving nothing for the guards or anyone else to detect, before she returning to her sitting position and slipped her helmet on, as all she had to do now was wait for her new ally to arrive and she could set her dark plans into motion.
Sunset found that the guards, true to Kairoz's word, had no idea that someone had been talking to her, as she found that none of them moved over to her cell after the bronze dragon's magical image, which only she had seen apparently, had vanished from the prison. That was good in her eyes, as it meant that no one knew that in three days things were about to change, even though it also told her that the blue dragons had to be angry with the mortal races of Azeroth, given that they were more attuned to the magical energies of this world. Such a thing interested her, as the stewards of magic would be interesting allies, if they overlooked the fact that the Scourge had raised a number of their slain as undead mounts and tools of war, just like the bronze dragons were interesting allies, given that they governed over time itself. She was fortunate that Kairoz was so interested in her, though while he claimed to want to work for the good of the world, and correct the wrongs that had been committed, she knew he had a desire for power that was similar to her own, she could almost smell it on him, and he likely had a reason for his actions.
She shifted her thoughts for a moment as she considered the dragonflights, where she knew the blues were connected to magic and the bronze were linked to time, though the greens were protectors of the natural world, the reds watched over life itself, and the blacks happened to be protectors of the earth. If there were rebellious dragons in two of the five groups of dragons, wanting to do more than what they had been charged with or disagreeing with their leader's desires, she had to wonder if there might be any other dragons who were dissatisfied with what they were doing with their lives. If so there was a chance that she would meet them in whatever place Kairoz and his allies were planning on bringing her to once the force of blue dragons attacked the prison, something she decided to shelve for the time being. Of course she also had to wonder if Kairoz was the only bronze dragon who wasn't happy with the status quo of his flight, or if he had allies that were lurking in the shadows, waiting for something to happen before revealing themselves to the rest of the world.
As the day came to a close, however, she found an unexpected guest, Khadgar had returned to the prison, likely to see if she had a change of heart during her stay in this place, though he was joined by a figure who was half human and half elf, who had short blue hair and seemed to be dressed as an adventurer, despite being a mage.
"Archmage Khadgar, what an unexpected surprise... here I thought you had forgotten about me." Sunset remarked, only speaking once the pair came to a stop in front of her cell, where she pulled her helmet off and set it on her knee, which was purely to maintain the illusion that nothing was wrong and that she wasn't plotting anything, before glancing over at the hidden dragon, as she could feel it thanks to speaking with Kairoz, "Oh wait, you did! You left me to rot in this cell with no company and no way to tell the time, for whoever knows how long... and now, when you finally remembered that I'm here, you bring company just to bother me!"
"Sunset, play nice. Kalec, this is the one I told you about, Sunset Shimmer." Khadgar said, though it was clear that he must have been busy for some time, hence why he didn't return to check on her like she thought he would, at least for the first couple of days, but she focused on the figure as he stared at her, "What do you think?"
"You were right, she possesses a substantial amount of magic in her body, magic unlike anything I have experienced in my long years," the newcomer, Kalec she recalled, answered, where blue and purple bits of magic seemed to gather in the air around his hands, as if he was peering at something only he could see, though Sunset had the confirmation that a dragon was in front of her right now, given the slits that appeared when he used magic, "The Lich King spent a great deal of time and effort to make you into the ultimate tool, so he could utilize your terrible power to lay waste to the world of the living, yet even after all this time you still refer to him as your master."
"If your plan was to keep me cut off from him, and try to break the connection, you shouldn't have teleported your city to Northrend, with myself and the other prisoners no less," Sunset replied, where it looked like her statement caused them to realize the error in their judgement, though despite that fact she still couldn't hear the Lich King's voice, which was both annoying and relieving at the same time, before she focused on what they were trying to do, "also, no, I'm not joining your side... Tirion and the Ebon Blade traitors will be the first to perish by my hand, once I get out of this cell, and your precious city will follow them in due time."
"Which will never happen, for the walls and wards protecting this prison are unbreakable." Khadgar stated, showing her that many believed that the prison was impenetrable and that nothing could overcome the magic that was in this place, a fact she would have believed had Kairoz not told her that a blue dragon would come and break the seal, "The war with the Lich King has started and his forces are facing losses all across Northrend... it is only a matter of time until we tear down the walls of Icecrown and make him pay for the lives he's ruined. Let us free you, so you can get your revenge on him and help save this world from his dark schemes... please, Sunset, let us help you."
Sunset said nothing to that as she slipped her helmet back on, showing Khadgar that there was nothing she wanted to say to him right now, causing him to sigh as he and Kalec departed from the prison, though as the silence returned she closed her eyes and focused her mind. Sure enough she found that part of her connection to the Lich King was still there, likely caused by her sticking to referring to him as her master and the fact that the Helm of Domination's power must have been focused on her body before her awakening as a death knight, so it wasn't easily erased. Other than that it seemed weaker than she originally thought, caused from being cut off from everything for such a long period of time, making her wonder what would happen when the barrier eventually came down, would she remain in this state of clarity or would she simply find a weapon and massacre everyone in Dalaran. Truthfully, she was thinking of betraying Kairoz immediately, as in just heading out of this massive prison with the other prisoners following her and murdering everything and everyone in the city, but, in the end, she decided to at least hear him out and not make an enemy of his group.
As such she simply leaned back and focused on the rest of the prison once more, either counting bricks, magical stones of some kind, or just watching the guards as she willed the last couple of days to go by so she could leave this place and get on with her own plans.
Her peace was disturbed by a sudden surge of magical energy, meaning it had to be the day of reckoning since it was next to impossible for her to tell otherwise, where Sunset raised her head for a moment and watched as a swirling vortex of magical energy appeared in the middle of the prison. What she discovered was a four legged scaly beast, like a fusion of human and dragon in some manner, due to the fact that it had a more humanoid torso area, who walked out of the portal and studied the area. She found that it had blue scales, meaning it had to be a member of the blue dragons and might be here to do what Kairoz had told her, though it wasn't the ally that she was waiting for, as it wandered off and started to use it's powers to open multiple portals into whatever location the attack force was waiting in. Sure enough it didn't take long for more members of the blue dragonflight to pour into Dalaran's prison, where one of the guards retreated, likely to sound the alarm and call for some heroes to aid them, while the others rushed to deal with all of the sudden intruders, as the blues wanted the mage guards dead.
Sunset watched for a time as the two forces tore into each other, the blue dragons actually gaining the upper hand over all of Dalaran's prison guards, before a group of five heroes, a male orc death knight, a female draenei priest, a male human mage, a female blood elf paladin, and a male dwarf hunter with a bear pet, took over for the mages, allowing them to pull back before some magic ended the assault.
By that she found that the initial assault was over, though the portal openers didn't stop there, rather they continued to open portals to the location that had been prepared ahead of time and assaulted the heroes that were here, though she found that she wasn't the only prisoner interested in this event. Of course the others would wonder if this might be when they would be able to leave their cells and lay waste to the city that was beyond the walls that surrounded them, and she knew that their thoughts would be correct, at least in regards to all of them escaping. The downside was that the group of heroes happened to be the only thing standing between them and freedom, which might some of the inmates might die in the process of escaping, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make, otherwise she wouldn't be able to leave the prison and set her plan into motion. For a few seconds, when the prison was clear of enemies, Sunset found that the heroes did take a moment to look at her, no doubt surprised by her form or the fact that a death knight was in this place, but before any of them could say anything more blue dragons tore open additional portals and swarmed them once more, forcing all of the heroes to focus on their enemies.
As the portals continued to open, however, Sunset found a small whelpling that slipped through one of the portals, one who was ignored by the heroes since it flew around the ceiling for a time, surveying the battle below it, before flying down to the cell that she was in and stopping in front of it.
"I am Miragosa, ally of Kairozdormu." the little dragon said, something that confirmed everything for Sunset, this was the figure she had been waiting for, the dragon that would spring her from the cell that she had been trapped in and allow her to get on with her life, where magical energy danced around the being's body for a few seconds, "Let's get you out of here, while the heroes are distracted."
Sunset said nothing as what could be described as a magical nullification spell was cast, something that smashed into the barrier of her cell and disabled it in a matter of seconds, though it extended to the rest of her bindings, breaking the bits that had been placed on her limbs and horn, allowing her to step out for the first time in months.
"Beware, Sunset Shimmer is free!" the death knight declared, showing that someone had been paying attention to what was going on in the surrounding area, meaning someone knew that she was no longer in her cell and that she was free to do whatever she wanted, especially since the heroes felled the group they had been working on and turned towards her.
"Sorry, heroes, but I'm not sticking around." Sunset said, where several portals opened around her, no doubt Miragosa making sure her escape route was secure and unseen by the group of heroes, and more blue dragons moved forward, all unaware that they were being sacrificed for her own escape, "Oh, do tell Tirion that his days, and the days of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, are numbered... he'll understand what I mean."
At least two of the heroes thought they could stop her from leaving, though the force of blue dragons was all she needed to shroud her escape, as Miragosa opened a smaller portal for the two of them and Sunset stepped through as soon as all sorts of blue dragons were attacking the heroes. A few seconds later she appeared in a space that looked like it peered out into space, given the stars around her, and she found a smooth stone platform below her, with arcane runes lining the floor, meaning it had to be the domain of a blue dragon, Miragosa's to be exact. As she took in what was around her, and enjoyed the feeling of being free, the little dragon joined her and closed the portal behind her, where she opened another one, showing her that this was just a stop for them, before the two of them passed through it as well, moving to an island far away from any of the other landmasses. Sunset's reasoning for that was because she could barely see a massive tree in the distance, Teldrassil her memories told her, though she soon found that there was a decent sized two story building on the island and there were two floating hourglasses near the main door.
After closing the portal, however, Miragosa transformed into a blue haired elf, like Kalec except far more elven, who wore a blue mage robe, where she pushed the door open and Sunset found that Kairoz was in the middle of the main chamber, near a table that had a large cloth covering something that seemed like a weapon.
"So, Sunset, how do you like the taste of freedom?" Kairoz inquired, as the moment he heard the door open he turned his head and smiled as the pair entered the place he had either found or set up before this point, where Miragosa stood near the entrance as the one she risked her life for approached their bronze dragon ally.
"I guess it's nice, after nearly five months in there." Sunset replied, though at the same time she glanced back at the blue dragon and nodded her head towards her, mostly because without her she wouldn't have been able to get out of her cell, much less the sacrifice of her kind to ensure they were able to escape, "You have my thanks, Miragosa."
"Indeed. You have my gratitude as well, Mira, for springing Sunset from the cell she was forced into." Kairoz said, where he and Sunset found that the blue dragon didn't seem to care, rather she had her own reasons for allying with him and might be waiting for him to fulfill his side of things, to which he focused on the table for a moment, "A black dragon ally of ours, who is a rather talented blacksmith, agreed to make this weapon and asked that I provide the parts, which I spent some time gathering from the various points in time. Allow me to reveal your runeblade."
Sunset said nothing as he removed the cloth and revealed a greatsword with a blade whose thickness was close to what Frostmourne possessed, had two curved blade pieces near the guard, etchings for her to empower with her runes, and the guard was a metallic skull that was close to the blade, with two branches that ended in smaller ornate metal skulls, all while ending in a handle that could withstand the use the blade would soon see.
"A wonderful weapon... our ally has my thanks." Sunset remarked, noting that the gleaming titansteel had been darkened by the methods, and likely madness, of the black dragonflight, though it bared no corruption inside it, that much she could tell, to which she grasped the handle and raised it, finding that the blade was as light as her old one and was likely just as powerful, and it wasn't long before the runes glowed, an icy blue like her old runeblade.
Following that Sunset stepped outside for a few moments, causing Kairoz and Mira to raise their eyebrows before finding that she started to swing her blade and remember what she had been told, allowing them to witness the sheer brutality of her blows, in just the motion of attacking, until she suddenly stopped and grinned.
"Oh yes, this will suit my needs quite well." Sunset said, because it was as she said, the blade was wonderful and was the perfect tool for her to fulfill her desires, though she needed to test it in battle before even attempting to take down Arthas, before he became the Lich King, and she had an idea of how to make sure she was ready for her quest.
Kairoz let a smile appear on his face as he watched Sunset with her new blade, the terrifying death knight that the Scarlet Crusade feared, and both the Alliance and the Horde feared the tales of, had been reborn, outfitted with the tools to bring her desires to live without having to worry about anyone standing in her way, and he was eager to work with her and work towards a better future for Azeroth.
"So, are we ready to get this show on the road?" Mira asked, meaning there was definitely something that she wanted the pair to do, some sort of reward that was connected to her springing Sunset from her cell, and she had a feeling it was tied to either something that happened in her past or to her flight's leader.
"Not quite. First, we make sure everything is in order," Sunset replied, as while she understood that their ally wanted to get this over with, and just set their plan into motion without thinking of the potential consequences, she also knew there were things that needed to be tested, even if she, personally, didn't care about things either, "and that means performing a test run, since we're planning on making a massive alteration to the history of this world... ensuring that Arthas doesn't become the Lich King, by taking Frostmourne from him or beating him to the punch, could have an impact that might alert our enemies to what we're doing."
"As much as I want to cause a significant change, and see what happens, going after the Lich King right out of the gate isn't the best idea, despite our deal." Kairoz said, showing that he had been thinking about this for some time and that he likely had a decent plan of attack that would allow them to see which option was correct, while Mira crossed her arms, as if she was annoyed about something, but said nothing to his remark, "We need a smaller change that can be overlooked by the other bronze dragons, since they'll be keeping an eye out for anything major... like trying to kill Thrall before he can reform the Horde, or stop Medivh from opening the Dark Portal and allowing the orcish Horde into Azeroth."
"That might not be as easy as you think." a voice said, where they found a newcomer had joined them, an elven figure who had nothing over his chest, save for some cloth that started just below his shoulders and reached his wrists, with a set of dark mage pants, though his skin was a dark gray, his claw like fingernails were ghostly white, and his eyes had some sort of ghostly blue energy to them, "Might I suggest going after Thrall's parents?"
Sunset, despite having no idea who was in front of her, found that neither of her allies bothered to move and that meant he was an ally as well, though she relaxed her hands a little and found that, much like her old greatsword, her new blade could be placed on her back, freeing her hands for the time being.
"Lord Murozond, it is an honor to meet you, and your suggestion is one that should, for a time, be missed by the bronze dragons," Kairoz replied, though while this was Sunset's first time meeting someone like Murozond, as it felt like he was far stronger than the bronze dragon was, she had a feeling that he might be one of the Aspects, the five dragons that lead the dragonflights, meaning he had be Kairoz's master, which was confusing when she thought about it, "Sunset, allow me to introduce Murozond, Lord of the Infinite Dragonflight... he's, well, the future counterpart of Nozdormu, the leader of the bronze dragons. All you need to know is that he and his followers are our allies in trying to alter Azeroth's history, by heading into the past to alter different events, and, more importantly, they don't like the heroes that have stopped their previous efforts to make some alterations."
"I'm not even surprised, not after everything the Lich King shoved into my head." Sunset remarked, as she knew about the heroes thanks to all of the information that had been given to her, allowing her to learn about the others who had been reborn as death knights, before she focused on the main issue with their idea, "So, what's this about going after Thrall's parents?"
"Draka and Durotan die and their son, Go'el, is found by some humans who raise him to be a fighter, hence the name they gave him, 'Thrall'," Murozond explained, something that interested Sunset, as she knew that Thrall was the leader of the Horde, one of the main factions of Azeroth and happened to be trying to forge good bonds with the Alliance, despite what happened in the past, though as she thought about that Murozond raised a hand and a magical sigil of am hourglass, one that was shattered, appeared above it, "Now, we can't have a death knight show up out of the blue and 'save' them, not to mention most of the clan that got slaughtered, though we can disguise you as an orc warrior from one of the other clans and you can intercept the attackers... you aren't saving Go'el and his parents, you're killing those who need to die. As soon as all of the attackers are dead, and the group return to their soon to be new home, we'll pull you out and see what sort of changes occur to the new world that will have been made by your actions."
"Okay, let's do this." Sunset said, where the sigil moved over to her and flashed for a moment, as it rested before her neck before disappearing entirely, though once that was done she braced herself for whatever was coming next, as she had no idea what sort of magic would be used on her to send her into the past.
Murozond raised his hand towards the large empty portion of the floor they were on, where a faint bronze colored portal opened before their eyes, before gesturing to Sunset, who simply nodded her head before rushing through it, feeling the surge of magic around her as her skin tingled. A few moments later she appeared in what seemed to be a frigid area, no doubt in the Eastern Kingdoms, and glanced down at herself, finding that her body was now the pristine light green of the orcs, while her armor was more leather and pelts in places and her weapon was an axe. She was an orc warrior, like she had been told, though Murozond was kind enough to leave the guise as her actual gender, instead of forcing her to take on a male form again, not that she actually cared about such a thing, before Sunset focused on her mission. She needed to find her targets and see what sort of changes would occur to history if Thrall was raised as Go'el by his parents, instead of being a slave to humans, though it didn't take her long to find a group of orcs, wearing some attire that looked like it was made from wolves, heading to the north, with a more heavily armored forces following them.
She would have questioned the scene in front of her, but after seeing the little baby that the female wolf armor orc was holding, like a precious bundle, she suspected that she was in the right place and charged down the hill, something that came as a surprise to the band of orc warriors she had focused on.
Since she was presenting herself as a warrior, and they didn't have magical powers, Sunset focused on her weapon skills for a time, as when she reached her targets the first thing she did was swing her new blade at them, finding that the magic didn't transform it, either because it matched her guise or the others would be fooled by her appearance. She smashed through the first orc's weapon on the second swing, showing her foe's that she wasn't messing around and that she was a force to be reckoned with, though she also killed the orc that had been her opponent, allowing her to grin as the rush she felt when she first killed someone came back. It was something she had missed during her isolation in her cell, the rush of ending the lives of her enemies, which she had felt multiple times during her war with the Scarlet Crusade, though that did cause her to wonder if she could find a timeline where the Scarlet Organization won, just to bring them terror in the form of a death knight they couldn't actually defeat. After thinking about that she returned to the battle and parried the attack that was coming at her, while finding that multiple orcs were charging at her at the same time to cut her down, where she picked the perfect moments to cut down her foes, often by targeting the openings in their defenses.
As she did that, however, she felt her power increase as she cut them down, where she quickly determined that it was her new runeblade that was causing it to happen, the black dragon that had forged it had done more than she assumed, not only did it resemble the weapon of a death knight it also possessed a power like Frostmourne. This weapon was marking the souls of the slain, allowing her to siphon the anima from each one, the soul energy that each living soul possessed, yet another fact she learned from everything the Lich King had given her in his haste to make her a terrifying weapon. Such a thing meant that when she killed someone she was stealing their soul energy, adding their power to her own, and she found that she even learned a little in the process, as if she also stole all of their knowledge or skill as well, but this did give her an incredibly dark idea that might work out to their benefit. Still, that didn't stop Sunset from fighting and slaughtering the force of orcs that were in front of her, scattering their bodies around the area they were in, much to the dismay of those who were still alive, and it wasn't long before she was the last one standing, having slain the force that killed Go'el's parents back in her timeline
With that done she retreated from the area she had fought the orcs in and observed the group of orcs that had been their targets, finding that they might have seen her fight the force and continued to the north, to lead the Frostwolves to glory or whatever it was Durotan was currently seeking, but Sunset simply entered a hidden portal and returned to her point in history, assuming her true form once more.
"The deed has been done." Sunset stated, finding that Murozond and her new allies were studying what she had done, no doubt seeing if it had altered the history of their world or if it made another world that was connected to theirs thanks to the Caverns of Time, the domain of the bronze dragons, "So, what's the verdict on our test?"
"Go'el went on to learn shamanism from Drek'thar, after his people settled and built a new home," Murozond replied, as he was looking at an orb that allowed him and the others to see what had happened to the timeline he had sent her to a few minutes ago, where he raised an eyebrow for a few seconds, "It seems that many of history's events are the same as before, only this time the Frostwolves fought back against the instances of the Legion's return, or their agents, working to take over Azeroth, earning them an uneasy alliance between them and the alliance of the humans, dwarves, and even the night elves. Based on what I'm seeing it looks like saving Go'el's parents ensured that he'd grow into a hero of his people, where he'd show mercy when necessary, as sometimes the Frostwolves showed mercy to either capture someone or get valuable information, but other than that it doesn't look like history was changed that much... save for a passage leading to our new reality being made."
"So the Horde is lead by a true orc leader, instead of the softhearted Thrall we have." Mira remarked, showing them that their first test might not be a success and that nothing major had happened, save for a few lives being changed, causing her to sigh as she considered something about the scene, "It would seem that the test is a failure, yet I think you learned more during this than you originally intended... and, based on what we're seeing right now, none of the bronze dragons even noticed the change in history."
"No, this test was a success, as we've determined that altering history creates a new branch, leading to a new world that is impacted by our changes." Sunset said, as she had been thinking about what Murozond had said so far and understood what she was seeing right now, making a change to history didn't actually damage their reality, which was interesting and opened up many doors in her mind, especially with her new runeblade, "I would wager that we'd create another world if we stopped Gul'dan from convincing the orcs to drink the felblood and creating the Horde that attacked this world a long time ago... this test actually opens many doors for us, ideas to explore before making an attempt on Frostmourne."
In fact, as she thought about it, she didn't even have to go after Arthas to get the legendary runeblade, she just had to find a reality where he didn't claim the blade and take it for herself, and she already had an idea that might allow them to do fulfill her goals, a timeline where the Scourge failed to raise Kel'Thuzad, causing her to turn towards Murozond.
"Out of curiosity, is there an alternate world where the Scourge failed to raise Kel'Thuzad?" Sunset asked, because if such a timeline existed it meant that Arthas had been beaten by the forces of Quel'Thalas and whatever humans were survived his assault on his home kingdom, while at the same time serving as the creation point for a more dangerous Scarlet force, and it might open the way for them to find Frostmourne without having to face Arthas.
"Right now? No, there isn't one... however, I can send some of my forces back to manipulate events to ensure that such a world is created." Murozond replied, though in that moment he and Kairoz understood what she was getting at, that there might be another way for them to get at Frostmourne, without targeting Arthas, especially since their current plan would alert the bronze dragons to what they were doing, while Mira caught on after a couple of seconds, "I see... that's what you thought of during our test. Very well, I'll call forth some of my infiltrators and task them with engineering events to make a world where the Scourge failed to do such a thing, leading to the creation of a stronger Scarlet Crusade... it'll impact some important events, but if we work while some of my forces lash out at other points in time we should be able to hide what we're doing from Nozdormu."
"Good, then we'll try our hand and see if this works better than our original plan." Sunset said, because this would make it more interesting for her, especially given what she had been make to do upon her dark rebirth as a death knight, though while she left the leader of the infinite flight to his work she turned towards Kairoz and Mira, "Also, do you think it might be possible to change where I landed? I know it won't change my reality, but I'm curious as to what might have happened if I landed somewhere else."
Kairoz and Mira admitted that they had no idea and set out to see what they could do to ease her simple curiosity, even if she had dark plans for even her alternate selves, though since she needed to wait for Murozond to complete his changes to history Sunset found an empty chair and sat down, discovering that it had books nearby, meaning she had something to do while she waited for her allies to be ready for the next stage of their dark plan.
It took Murozond some time to actually pull off his endeavor, carefully manipulating the Scarlet Crusade and their history to make a timeline where they won, that the Scourge lost, especially since some of his forces were altering other events to draw in the heroes and distract them. Sunset found that he attacked several key moments that drew the bronze dragons in like moths, one being trying to stop Arthas from reaching Icecrown when he transitioned from death knight to Lich King, a second being altering Gul'dan's course so he'd stay with the Horde, especially when he left them behind, and a few others for added distraction. This time around the infinite Aspect had his distraction force pull out and not engage the heroes, as he knew that most of them would fall, especially since the heroes were far stronger than before, meaning they were able to pull out of their chosen points in history and attack another one. It had to be maddening to the bronze dragons, seeing so many infinite dragons attacking at the same time, trying to alter the history of so many important events, yet none of them had any idea that this was a ruse, to distract them from what was really going on, and the heroes were running around like they were chickens with their heads cut off.
Sunset had to admit that it was humorous and would have laughed, if she had the ability to do so, as the aspect of her that was the soulless killing machine was absolute, just as the Lich King intended, before she turned her attention over to the area that Kairoz and Mira were currently working in.
From what she could tell they could alter the trajectory of her entry into Azeroth, so instead of landing in Icecrown, near the Lich King, her alternate selves ended up landing in other locations, the first reaching Dalaran and learning about the power of the Arcane from those who watched over the city. Another was split in half, as part showed her landing in a chapel and becoming a paladin of the Light, even though such a thing sickened her, though the other half showed her being found by a group of shadowy priests that taught her how to tap into the Void's power. The fourth one revealed what would happen to her if she fell to the Fel's influence by being found by warlocks, showing a twisted demonic version of her that was eager to burn all of reality, complete with new tattered bat wings, spikes, and other additions. She found that the last one they found showed her landing in a forest and being tended to by some dryads, causing her alternate self to be transformed into the same centaur creature, even if they were mixed with fawns instead of horses, while showing Sunset that Life had taken an interest in her as well.
"So, all six Cosmic Forces are interested in me... I was destined to land in one, regardless of our tampering." Sunset said, a fact that caused Kairoz to nod his head for a moment, while Mira didn't seem to care all that much, but the amusing thing was, thanks to all of Murozond's tampering, they were able to make five other timelines without interference, leading to new worlds being created for her other selves, "Death rules my life, while the Arcane has wrapped around me, the Light aids a paladin version of myself, the Void whispers into the head of another version, the Fel has twisted one into a demon of destruction, and Life gains an unyielding champion to spread nature and enforce it's wrath."
The last one was true, as they could see the dryad version of Sunset running around, spreading the power of Life to every corner of the area she had landed in, before moving onto the Plaguelands, utilizing some sort of teleportation magic, likely attuned to nature, to battle the Scourge. To be honest it was rather interesting when she observed her other selves from this point, finding that there were aspects each of them shared, such as the fact that all six of them were brutal in combat, tearing through enemies like they were nothing, while also having started out serving some master, but, just like her, the others seemed to be plotting their takeover. Sunset smiled as she watched them, they were just like her and wouldn't bow to a force for too long, as no master could hold sway over them for long, but out of them the only one that seemed more in tune with their chosen force was the dryad, who spread Life's influence with every step. Out of all of them she felt that the dryad would be the toughest one to take down, if it came to such a thing, especially when she added elegant metallic armor, likely made out of chain mail that was enchanted by nature to empower her, that helped keep her safe as she tore down some of the abominations that the Scourge used.
Sunset was sure that the dryad had made a new name for herself, to show that she was one with nature and Life's power, and part of her wanted to learn it so if they ended up clashing, and she might slay her alternate selves to ensure she was the only version of her in existence, she could meet the dryad as an equal.
"All five of them are impressive, but she's on a level that's above the others." Kairoz remarked, as he and Mira knew about the dryad Sunset, given that they had been watching her as well, and it was staggering to see how Life was overtaking the version of Azeroth that was made by altering Sunset's trajectory so she'd land in a special forest, "If she's like you, Sunset, we might have created a problem that will come back to bite us when we make our move on the blade... we're lucky she doesn't have any bronze dragon allies, otherwise we would have felt her sting by now."
"Don't worry, I'll deal with her if she becomes a problem for our plans." Sunset said, in fact she was hoping that the dryad would become a problem, just to see which power was stronger, Death or Life, before she turned towards Murozond for a couple of seconds, who seemed to be done with his own task and stepped away from the orb he had been focused on for some time, "So, do we have a new timeline?"
"Yes, the Scarlet timeline, as we call it, has been created... a world in which the Scourge lost, and the Crusade is amassing for an assault on Northrend, to destroy the source," Murozond replied, which everyone suspected was the Lich King, even if that was false since the true source was far different than what many believed, before he turned his attention to Sunset for a few moments, "Are you ready to get the show on the road?"
Sunset nodded as Murozond opened the time portal again, allowing her to travel to the new timeline they had created, to which she appeared in what appeared to be the edge of Tirisfal Glade, on the western coast to be exact, and she was able to recognize her location thanks to the massive city off in the distance. In her time the city in question was a corpse of it's former self, the Undercity that was ruled by the Forsaken, though with the Scarlet Crusade having succeeded in driving the Scourge back it had been restored to it's former glory, to that of Lordaeron City, a bastion of humanity as they waged war on the remaining holdings of the Scourge. She knew that making such a timeline had to confuse some of her allies, as the blade she was after was still in the Lich King's hands at the moment, at least in her world, but she was here for two very specific reasons, unrelated to her quest to claim Frostmourne. The first was obvious, she didn't like the Scarlet Crusade and wanted them all dead, meaning this was going to be a massacre unlike anything they had seen before this point, while the second was a confirmation test of her runeblade's powers, to be sure it siphoned the anima of those she slew and that she could gain additional knowledge or skills by doing so.
In that moment she readied her power and found that she could still summon her deathcharger, where she climbed onto it's back and started to ride towards the Plaguelands, or whatever they had been called before being twisted by the power of the Scourge, all while finding several white stone towers that rested all over the province. Those were watchtowers that the Argent Dawn maintained, at least in her timeline, which seemed to be empowered by the Light, allowing them to keep an eye over everything and stall the spread of death that was trying to wash over the land. Since they were maintained by her enemies they were the first things she was going to destroy, where she found some crusaders standing guard over the first of the four towers, at least in Tirisfal, even if they didn't exist in her timeline, and found that her foes were waiting for her arrival. Of course she wasn't trying to hide herself, not this time anyway, though once she reached the edge of the first tower Sunset climbed off her steed and approached the crusaders as she drew her weapon, all while feeling that a val'kyr might be watching over her with some interest.
As the first group of crusaders approached her, however, Sunset called forth her powers, yanking enemies into the open air without giving them time to understand what was happening, where she slashed and hacked at the ones who stayed up in the air, as the others landed and regrouped to rush at her. It was perfectly fine with her, as it gave her more exercise as she exterminated her enemies, smashing through their defenses with ease as she confirmed the other thing she had experienced during the fight with the orcs earlier, when she cut her foes down their souls were marked by the runeblade and, more importantly, she stole their power. The anima stealing aspect wasn't something she had been expecting when she told Kairoz to have the blade forged with Frostmourne as the inspiration, meaning the smith added some power to it to make it like the legendary runeblade, or at least mimic some of it's immense power, but, in the end, she wasn't about to complain about the outcome. As she considered that one of the crusaders lashed out with a bit of holy power and Sunset smashed it with her own magical barrier, much to the surprise of her foe, before cutting him down as she turned on the rest of the foes that wanted her dead, who rushed to their deaths without even realizing it.
Once the first watchtower was overrun, and the crusaders were all dead, Sunset climbed onto her steed and traversed the land, where her magic pulled apart the tower, a sign to the other crusaders that their time was coming, though she found that those she slew were raised into undeath and followed her, a sign that a val'kyr was watching over her and, more importantly, the Lich King of this world was interested in her.
From there she made her way to the northern coast, to cut off the potential escape route, and found a harbor in addition to a few towns and homesteads, showing her that the Scarlet Crusade was planning on invading Northrend, with food and supplies being prepared before her very eyes. She found that two of their ships had their cannons positioned where they could be used on the harbor, where an idea formed in her mind as she rode into the homesteads, slaughtering the couple of defenseless farmers so she could siphon their anima and the val'kyr could raise a new army. As the undead ravaged the landscape, with the poor val'kyr calling for aid from Icecrown to find new leaders to watch over these new soldiers, Sunset continued on her rampage, riding into the harbor before anyone could stop her, where she heard the people screaming as they found a death knight ruining their way of life or their beliefs that the Scourge had been repelled. Sunset, however, slashed her way through the crusaders that were guarding the harbor right now, barely giving them time to defend either themselves or those they were worn to protect, and when some of the cannons were turned on her she used her magic to catch the cannonballs and send them flying back into the ships, blowing them away in mere seconds.
The gray val'kyr watched all of this with a look of shock on her face, for Sunset was beyond the power of the death knights and members of the Scourge she had witnessed in the past, especially since one being was capable of annihilating a whole village and harbor on her own, and the val'kyr reinforcements were equally shocked, but they got to work raising the fallen to serve the Lich King.
With the harbor in flames, and a new wave of the Scourge born from the slain, Sunset marched south on the massive city, swinging to the southwest to cut off another escape route and make sure that no enemies could send word about what was going on, before entering the city itself. Sure enough the people were surprised by her arrival and she wasted no time in slaughtering them, using her dark power to yank innocents to her so she could cut them down, enraging the crusaders in the process, which was the point as she slipped through their defenses and ended each one with ease. The terror came after that as the remaining citizens and crusaders watched as all of their friends, family, and defenders were raised before their very eyes, as new members of the Scourge, creating a wave of enemies that the defenders, despite their victories in the past, couldn't stand against, not with Sunset leading them. As she expected some high ranking member of the Scarlet Crusade ruled over the reborn city, showing her that her enemies had definitely seized control of everything in this land, to ready themselves for their Northrend expedition, but the warrior was nothing compared to her.
Such a thing told her that the leaders were either in the monastery or were already fighting the Scourge of Northrend, to which she finished off the last of her enemies and departed, leaving the val'kyr to raise the fallen before following her so they could see what else she had planned for her enemies.
The monastery had some warning of her arrival, as Sunset tore down their watchtowers and slaughtered the guards that were in her way, though even they weren't ready for the slaughter that had come for them, as she hacked and slashed her way through the crusaders that were guarding the building. More joined the Scourge as the val'kyr worked their magic on the fallen, causing them to be targets for the crusaders that were trying to keep the undead at bay, though she swung her blade and cut her targets down before anyone could do so, despite the fact that she noted that some of the val'kry were novices, in comparison to the ones she was used to dealing with. It just confirmed that this timeline was one that the Scourge weren't victorious in, as the ones in her world knew when to come down and raise the dead while these, in her eyes, were far too eager to serve and do their duty, especially in the case of one who must have been raised into her new form not that long ago. The figure in question ended up getting stabbed by multiple crusaders in the process, where Sunset yanked her back with her dark lasso, as if saving her from total death, before slaughtering the rest of the crusaders that were in the area, even though she also slew the annoying val'kyr when she got in the way, only to call on the power of Death to force her to serve the Scourge once more, to learn from her mistakes.
After that, as Sunset started to slaughter the remaining crusaders, she thought about what had happened and realized what had happened, she had the other piece of confirmation that was part of why she had this world created, she could steal or copy the skills of those she killed, even if the slain happened to be a val'kyr that she had killed in annoyance.
"How interesting." Sunset remarked, where she stabbed a female crusader, the last one of the group she had confronted, in the chest and waited for her to stop moving, though when that happened she pulled her blade out and let the body fall to the ground, before she gathered her unholy power and raised her runeblade, returning the souls of the slain to their bodies as she created the newest batch of death knights.
As she marveled at her boosted power, and the skill she had stolen in her annoyance, a male crusader of high standing, a commander, informed Sunset that he would destroy her, as he was the son of Tirion Fordring, something that caused her to simply kill him, his fault for leaving himself wide open, before raising him into undeath, all while wondering what might happen if she killed and raised a dragon into undeath.
"And with that, Tirisfal Glades belongs to the Lich King." Sunset remarked, where she enjoyed seeing the looks of despair on the faces of the newly born death knights, as it was true justice to force the undead slaying Scarlet crusaders to serve the Lich King as replacements for those they had slain before this point in time, "Listen to me: all of you are tasked with the protection of this province, to make sure our enemies don't retake it, while I ensure that the will of the Lich King is being enforced elsewhere... don't worry, I'll be back in no time to continue our war on the living."
She enjoyed leaving them in despair, knowing that there was nothing they could do but serve the Lich King, which meant listening to her and obeying her orders, not to mention fight their old allies, to which she found a more private area and used Murozond's portal to return to the present, as it was time to plan out the next stage of her plan.
"What was the point of making such a world, when you can't claim Frostmourne?" Mira asked, speaking the instant Sunset returned to their hideout, while Kairoz and Murozond stood nearby, observing what her deeds were doing to the timeline she had been interested in making.
"First, I wanted to massacre the Scarlet crusaders again, and tearing them down after their victories is the rush I wanted," Sunset replied, as she figured that she might as well be truthful with her allies, especially since collapsing and wiping out the timeline she had returned from would catch the eye of the bronze dragons, before she held her runeblade out, which also stopped Mira as she admired the blade, "Second, it allowed me to siphon the anima, the power of one's soul, from those I slew and added it to my own, allowing me to grow even stronger and elevating me to a new level... and I also stole a val'kyr's power to raise the dead."
"I see. You inquired about the other timelines to sake your own curiosity and lust for power." Murozond said, though this was one of the rare instances where he was fine with someone pulling the wool over his eyes like this, because Sunset was no longer mortal, thanks to the Lich King's dark tampering, and he knew she needed the strength to take Frostmourne, no matter what point in time it was taken from.
"Call it what you will, but it just confirmed the powers of this runeblade for me." Sunset stated, though as she glanced at the blade she noticed something she had missed beforehand, there were six runes on the weapon and only one seemed to be responding to the power of Death, making her wonder if her desire to see the other Cosmic Forces claim her had some justification she hadn't been aware of, "With this information in hand we can focus on finding other targets of great power, allowing me to build my strength before I make my move on Frostmourne... once that's done, and the runeblade is in my hands, I'll be able to set things right in this world, starting with the heroes and their war in Northrend. Also, keep a link to the Scarlet timeline open, since I'm planning on going back to massacre them from time to time."
Murozond nodded, as he understood that it was both to kill the Scarlet crusaders and to add their power to her own, just as she claimed was possible with her runeblade, before he considered the other timelines where Sunset was taken in by one of the other Cosmic Forces, making him wonder if she was thinking of killing herself, in a way, to get a massive surge of power in a short period of time.
"So, where do we attack next? Stop Thrall from escaping his prison, prevent the opening of the Dark Portal, or do we mess with the battle of Mount Hyjal?" Kairoz inquired, because while he was specific with some of his choices, since the infinite dragons had tired and failed to do so on their own, he was simply curious as to what might happen if they sent Sunset to do what the others couldn't accomplish.
"We go after one of the others... her, to be exact." Sunset replied, gesturing to the five orbs that were now floating nearby, the timelines that her alternate selves were responsible for creating due to her own curiosity, though they found that she was interested in the Life timeline, where the dryad version of her was working to undo the Scourge's presence in both parts of the Plaguelands, "The Western Plaguelands are all but gone in her timeline, no doubt due to her spreading Life's influence, but the same cannot be said for the Eastern Plaguelands... I wonder how she'd react to seeing a deathly version of herself standing between her and her mission, and if I kill her I'll get a massive boost in power."
Murozond and the others glanced at each other for a moment, as it was dangerous to send Sunset to fight one of her five alternate selves, as it was obvious that the bronze dragons would be interested in those timelines, in fact he was sure that agents were already being sent to investigate, before he opened the portal for her. Sunset wasted no time in traversing time and space as she appeared in another version of the Eastern Plaguelands, where all sorts of druids were aiding the Argent Dawn in preparing to purge the sick province and return it to what it used to be before the plague hit it. She could sense the Scourge gathering in this province, trying to bolster their ranks for when war came to their domain, though such a thing caused her to realize the perfect way to force her other self to come here, all she had to do was slaughter everyone in the towers. If the dryad was attuned to nature, as they thought she was, she would sense the deaths of the druids and likely come to investigate, or maybe she'd just wait until all of the damage done to the Western Plaguelands was healed before making such a rash decision.
Either way didn't matter to Sunset as she called forth her deathcharger and got to work, as it looked like Murozond placed the portal in the northern half of the province, allowing her to ride passed all four towers and even Light's Hope Chapel, giving her plenty of people to slaughter on her way to the river that separated the two plaguelands from each other. Sure enough the paladins and druids tending to the towers were surprised to see a death knight riding through the land, due to most of her kind having been either expelled, killed, or turned into allies, though that initial confusion worked out quite well for Sunset. It allowed her to slaughter the first set of guards before they even realized what was going on, where the next bit of shock took hold as she raised those she slew into undeath, forcing even druids to serve the Lich King and kill all of their former allies, and as the paladins realized what was going on she slaughtered them as well. Anyone who dared to run from her was yanked back with her dark lasso, allowing her to stab them in the heart for their insolence, though she grinned as she finished slaughtering the tower's defenders, giving her a chance to annihilate all of their preparations, just to prevent Life from seizing this area, and gaining more power before moving to her next target.
Once more she zeroed in on the locations that her foes had set up, allowing Sunset to slaughter guards and villagers alike as the undead started to regain control of the Eastern Plaguelands and push the living back, even though she found that it was odd they'd move in before the plague was gone, not that she was complaining about the situation. The druids were in the province in force, that much she could tell as feline creatures emerged from the shadows and leapt at her, though as she killed them they reverted to their night elven forms before she forced them to be reborn as members of the Scourge, much to their horror. As she did that the wave of undead grew, some having hidden themselves at the Lich King's order, to attack when the druids were least expecting it, and in no time she undid a chunk of what the living had done since beating back the Scourge, allowing her to make her way towards the river that connected the lands. Such a thing allowed her and her force to take down the remaining three towers, not to mention their guardians, essentially erasing everything that her other self had done since being claimed by Life's champions, before eventually stopping at the river.
On the other side of the bridge she found her final target, the version of her who had the lower body of a fawn, who had been reborn as a protector of the forest, a harbinger of nature, and a force that would allow Life to spread it's influence over the rest of the world, and carried a polearm that looked like a mix of metal and nature.
"How sad... the source of the disturbance is none other than myself, corrupted by Death itself." the dryad said, where it was easy for Sunset to tell that her other self was saddened by that fact, as if she had been expecting something else, or maybe it was due to the fact that she had discovered what happened to another version of herself, though she shifted her stance and weapon for a few seconds, "Very well... Sunset Shimmer, I, Erith Moonglow, shall bring you the peace that you rightly deserve."
"Really? You gave up your name, in addition to your form, when you were reborn as Life's minion?" Sunset remarked, as the dryad's hair was more green and slightly wild looking as she focused on it, looking more in place with nature, meaning she had let go of who she used to be to become Life's champion, causing her to sigh as she climbed off her deathcharger and approached the lone bridge, "Very well, let's see which force is stronger... is it Death, or is it Life?"
Erith said nothing to that as she leapt into battle, as in she bound through the air and crossed the entirety of the bridge in a single jump, where Sunset called upon her power again as she drew her runeblade and swung it, causing their weapons to collide not even a few seconds later. Such a thing caused their powers to clash for supremacy, due to the fact that light green energy was coming from Erith's weapon, not to mention all of the flowers that were starting to spring up all around her, while the deathly energy wrapped around her runeblade and her area decayed. She had to admit that the dryad was far stronger than she initially assumed, confirming that being reborn by a Cosmic Force's power granted her far more power than simply learning how to control said power, but it didn't stop her from shifting her stance and changing how her blade rested to force Erith back. The dryad jumped back for a moment, landing on her new legs and moving like it was nothing, confirming her bond to her new power source, where Sunset used her skills to track down her opponent, making sure to swing her runeblade whenever her foe got close to her, though she was somewhat pleased that her first real tough foe, as in one who didn't fall easy or cheat, was herself.
Of course Erith's speed was nothing to underestimate, as she was faster than Sunset was and managed to slip in a hit, that being her landing in front of the bridge and kicking her with her back legs, though she regained herself as she flipped back and raised her empty hand, summoning spheres of fire, shards of ice, and bolts of lightning that she hurled at Erith, all to take her down or weaken whatever defenses she had.
As she expected the dryad was capable of using magic, in addition to her new Life powers, given the horn in the middle of her forehead, protected by armor like Sunset's was, where Erith quickly raised her left hand and summoned a barrier that tanked all of the spells that came at her. Erith then followed that up with lashing out with some of her new magic, to which she summoned a few spears in the air, which looked like they had been coaxed out of the trees with music or something, and they rained down on where Sunset was standing, forcing her backwards. As she dodged the attacks, finding that many of them got close to hitting her, she realized that challenging Erith might have been a mistake, as she expected them to be about equal, with the stolen power being what allowed her to stand on equal ground with her foe, but Erith was faster and stronger than she expected. Only one thing made sense to her, they must have also sent Erith back in time as well, which had to be tampering due to another bronze dragon, though she also considered the fact that Life might be unfair as well, just like what happened during her battle with Tirion and the Light ruining everything.
She knew exactly what was going to happen in due time, Erith was going to overpower her and kill her, where it looked like Murozond or Kairoz agreed with her since a time portal opened nearby, causing her to beckon to the new undead and let all of them head through, hoping her allies sent them to the Scarlet timeline, before swinging her runeblade and parried another attack from Erith.
"I won't let you leave, minion of Death." Erith stated, showing Sunset that she was less concerned with the undead that had departed by using the portal, even if some had been her friends and now it would be impossible to reconnect them to nature, and that she was more concerned with the true threat that was in front of her.
"You don't have a choice, Erith." Sunset replied, where her magic flared for a moment and several large fireballs formed in the air nearby, which went flying towards the purified Western Plaguelands, aimed right at a number of druids that were currently in the middle of finishing their duties while the dryad kept her contained, "What's more important to you, pawn of Life? Is it killing me... or is it saving your friends?"
Erith knew how damaging her spells could be, because she was another version of herself and that meant most of their memories were the same, causing her to sigh as she disengaged from the battle and rushed to aid her friends, allowing Sunset to see another difference between them as she climbed onto her deathcharger and passed through the portal her allies had provided, ending up back in the mansion.
"Looks like you bit off more than you were expecting." Mira commented, as they knew that Sunset was strong, since she had been chosen by the Lich King, though discovering that Erith had the power to stall her meant they needed to do some more research onto all of the other aspects they had created to sate her earlier curiosity.
"That might be so, but it confirmed one thing: the other versions of me are the keys to great power." Sunset replied, where she dismissed her steed as Murozond carefully sealed off the portal back to Erith's timeline, as they didn't want the dryad to suddenly appear and ruin things before she was ready to make her move, before she grinned for a moment, as while it hadn't been a win it was more fun than she had been expecting it to be, "I'll take her down in due time, but first I need to find a point in time that is ripe for harvest to boost my power..."
"What's going on here? No one's supposed to be on this..." a voice asked, where they turned and found a female gnome, in the same time related attire that Kairoz was wearing, standing in the doorway, something that informed them that they might have been found out, but the figures eyes were on someone else, as she dropped the small staff that had been in her right hand, as if in fear, "Oh no! Not Sunset Shimmer! I have to..."
Sunset wasted no time in calling forth her dark lasso to yank the gnome her way as she readied her blade, surprising the disguised time dragon, as she had spent more than enough time with Murozond and Kairoz and could recognize it now, as the runeblade pierced her chest, causing her to look down at it in shock. In the following moment she glanced at her allies and it wasn't long before a portal back to the Scarlet timeline was formed, allowing them to travel through it and arrive in the fallen monastery she had taken over, because if one time dragon had found their hideout there was a chance that it would come under siege by the heroes in an attempt to take her own. She walked out into the main courtyard, which was in front of the seat of the structure's power, an area she had ordered to be empty since those she had raised could defend the outside of the building, and finally let the gnome pull herself off her blade, who hit the ground and stared up at her for a few seconds, with fear in her eyes. Oddly enough she didn't try to heal herself with her power, making her wonder if the flight in question prohibited the use of time power on themselves, but it mattered little to Sunset as she raised her sword and readied her power, allowing her to steal the dragon's anima before raising her as a member of the Scourge.
As the revived beast shifted back into her dragon form, and letting out a roar to let the Scourge know they had a dragon in their ranks, Sunset noticed that her scales had darkened as well, becoming more deathly, before turning her attention to the next potential point in time she could attack, as she needed more power to complete her goal and she had all the time in the world to complete her mission, and she was looking forward to what might happen next.
Instead of picking a point in time to attack directly, since she had just invaded a timeline that one of her other selves lived in, Sunset decided to focus on what was going on in the Scarlet timeline, finding that nothing had happened since she took over the monastery, and when she glanced towards the Eastern Plaguelands she found Acherus floating in the air.
"So despite winning so many battles, and killing so many of the Scourge, the Scarlets were unable to destroy it... we might have our next target." Sunset remarked, because if she stayed here there was a chance that the other bronze dragons that were looking for her wouldn't find her until it was too late, while if she immediately went after another important event she might be discovered before she was ready, so it looked like a massacre was coming.
"Acherus is a fortress that can weather any event this world throws at it... not that I need to tell you that, my Queen." their new ally, the bronze dragon Sunset had killed earlier, stated, though what was interesting was the fact that while she had a female voice, indicating what she had seen with her gnome form, her actual dragon body looked more masculine, which was a little odd.
"How unexpected... I really wasn't expecting that." Sunset said, though while her statement was due to the dragon's form, and only that, she had to admit that being referred to as 'Queen' was exciting, in fact it made her wonder how she'd react if she managed to claim both Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination, to be crowned as the new 'Lich Queen'.
"The dragonflights have a special ceremony called Visage Day, where we pick a mortal form to use when dealing with the races of Azeroth, and many blues take on high elf forms," Mira remarked, as she understood what Sunset was thinking as she stared at the dragon in front of them, even though this was her first time meeting the previously confused dragon in question, and by that she meant that the bronze had sought out several dragons to talk to before coming to a decision on what her Visage would be, "Chronormu, for example, had a hard time coming up with a decision and he sought out many of the other dragons... Nozdormu, Kalecgos, and Onyxia among them... before he came up with who he wanted the rest of Azeroth to see and became what you saw earlier: Chromie, a charismatic female gnome. Speaking of which, Chromie, you could have come to one of the blues and asked us to change your dragon form as well, so it would match how you felt on the inside... we've had a few in your position before and helped them find their true selves."
Sunset wasn't even surprised at this point, because in this world it was possible to reanimate the dead and raise them to do battle with the living, it was possible to alter one's original form into another with the power of Life, and now she was learning that the Arcane could bend genders and alter one's body, causing her to shelve the thought before focusing on the next stage of her dark plan.
"We'll discuss the Visage Day more later, once we're done taking control of Acherus." Sunset said, because she knew that there was an easy way for her an her allies to get up to the necropolis and move it to the province she controlled, all she had to do to that was fly up to the structure and take control of it, especially since she now had a dragon that had been risen as one of her servants, "The plan is simple: Kairoz, you and Mira will join the val'kyr in raiding the Scarlet crypts, as in heading inside and opening portals for the newly risen Scourge to be teleported over here, to our domain, which should distract the Scarlet as they notice their dead being taken. Chromie, you will be taking me to Acherus and I will claim it, and any Scourge that are still up there, before we return to our new domain and begin the assault on the Scarlet lands, which means starting with the Western Plaguelands. After we've ruined the Scarlet's plans, and have forced their soldiers to join the ranks of the Scourge, I will start seeking other avenues to gather the power I require before making my move on the powerful item I desire."
"Might I suggest heading to Quel'Thalas and ravaging the Sunwell?" Chromie inquired, confirming that when one was slain and revived as a servant of the Scourge they no longer held the morals they had when they were alive, meaning a dragon who was tasked with protecting time would be twisted into a being who wanted to ruin time, "Our current point in time is 612, the year that the Scourge ruined Lordaeron and, with Arthas at the helm, ruined much of the Highborn's domain, a fact that included using the magical Sunwell to revive Kel'Thuzad as a powerful lich... the potent waters of Eternity could do wonders for someone of your power."
Sunset grinned for a moment, not because of the fact that she could befoul the Sunwell and slaughter the high elves like Arthas had done to revive one of his closest allies, but because of the fact that Frostmourne was out there, without one to wield it, as the Scarlets had ravaged the Scourge and there was no telling where the runeblade had fallen when the first of the Lich King's death knights had fallen.
"Very well, first we claim Acherus, then we reinforce our army, and then we march on the Sunwell." Sunset stated, where her allies realized that she must have discovered something after listening to Chromie's comment on the point in time she had chosen to ruin, though it didn't take Murozond or Kairoz long to figure it out, as it was the tool she wanted to claim, one that was responsible for her previous decisions.
With her orders given Murozond, who she didn't order around since he was Kairoz's master and her ally, focused on the magic that was hiding this timeline from the bronze dragons, while his subordinate and Mira departed for the crypts, like she commanded, where Chromie allowed Sunset to take her place on her back before taking off. As they flew through the air Chromie roared and the Scourge responded, understanding that she was one of them now, while Sunset found that all of the Scarlet crusaders were taken aback by the discovery of a fallen dragon having been revived by the Scourge, but this was, of course, the least of their concerns. Sure enough she found that the crypts that were scattered around the province were overtaken by a surge of deathly energy, the fallen crusaders being brought back to life and being forced to serve the Scourge in their new life, though before they were teleported back to Sunset's domain some of them did drag down a few unsuspecting crusaders and ended their life. Such a thing brought a smile to her face as those newly fallen crusaders were forced into their brand new lives as members of the Scourge, the ultimate punishment for them in her mind, though she had other matters that demanded her attention right now as she focused on the necropolis.
When they got close Sunset directed Chromie to the balcony she had first used the Eye on and discovered that it was still in control of the Scourge, there were death knights and several other types of undead on the floors, to which she landed and climbed off her new servant before strolling inside Acherus, causing the death knights to observe her. In that moment she raised her hands and summoned her power over Death, where Chromie and the other minions of the Scourge felt a change in the air as the necropolis started to move from where it had been left, traveling from the Eastern Plaguelands as she directed it over to Tirisfal Glades. Sure enough she found that many of the Scarlet crusaders were shocked by this odd event, as they were used to Acherus being just a floating stronghold they couldn't touch, and while they stared up at the sky it seemed that her allies took it upon themselves to snatch more groups of crusaders to add to her collection, just to show the Scarlet organization that their time was up. When Sunset was halfway across the Western Plaguelands, however, she stopped the necropolis and issued her orders to her minions, that they were to wage war on the denizens of the now cleansed province, leading to the Scourge surging into the province from the western side while Kairoz's reinforcements were scattered everywhere else.
Sunset smiled as she rode down to the battlefield, watching as the living were brought down by the Scourge, who avoided her still living allies due to the feelings they were receiving, and when Chromie landed in the middle of the province she let her master off, where Sunset drew her runeblade and began the slaughter. While the Scarlet crusaders were ready for war with the undead Scourge, given their victories over the undead, none of them were ready for what was happening, with an undead bronze dragon tearing her foes apart, death knights that had been inspired by a new leader, and living allies that had betrayed them. In addition to that they were unable to stand before her power, where she swung her runeblade and cut down her opponents like they were pieces of wheat, as if she were a farmer of some kind, where she stole their anima as the val'kyr raised them to slay their former allies. All of this added to her power, just as she intended when she set her plan in motion, and it wasn't long before the Scarlet organization, who actually seemed to be stretched too thin among all of their various bases, were fighting a losing battle, though Chromie cut off their escape with a wall of flames.
It amused her when she considered the arrogance of the Scarlet crusaders, who thought they had won and continued to operate with that feeling, as if nothing could touch them or bring them down in battle, and yet here she was, bringing all of them down and reviving them as members of the Scourge, where she didn't stop until all of the Western Plaguelands was back under the Scourge's dark control.
"I was originally planning on taking half of the province, but this is even better for our goals." Sunset remarked, because the newly raised members of the Scourge would allow them to reach her next destination with ease, while their power had been added to her own, causing her to turn towards her allies, "Shall we get this show on the road?"
Kairoz and Mira nodded their heads as they combined their magic into a portal, allowing them to travel from one point to another in seconds, dropping Sunset and her army at the start of the undead scar that Arthas would have inflicted on the lands that the high elves currently lived in. With Chromie aiding them she was able to track down the one who had aided Arthas in breaking through the barrier that protected the lands, manipulating events so that he was here, believing that Sunset was someone else, allowing the Scourge to enter the realm of the high elves. Sunset found that Arthas, at least the one in this timeline, had started marching across the land, bringing death to everything, but the scar didn't last long, not when she considered the fact that the Scarlets invaded this place as well, as this world's version of the organization had been formed far sooner than the original, hence their victories. Still, she found that she didn't care that much as she and all of her Scourge marched through the lands in front of them, bringing death to everything and everyone who happened to be in this province, which proved to be a number of elves who couldn't escape her grasp, not with her magic dragging all of them back as Chromie cut off their escape.
Their highborn ally, who Sunset had stabbed and revived as a darkfallen, an undead elf, informed her of three locations she needed to hit to gather the key fragments to a gate she would need to pass through at some point, though they had smashed through the first with ease, thanks to his help. Instead of heading to the locations herself Sunset had Kairoz and Mira track down their targets, teleporting the keepers and their guardians out of their hiding places and bringing them to the Scourge, allowing the undead to slaughter them before Sunset raised them. Such a thing meant that she didn't have to waste time tracking her opposition down, even though she was sure that Mira would leave once she got what she wanted from the group of timebreakers, but Sunset was focused on the here and now as she slaughtered the high elf defenders and marched on Silvermoon City, what was the blood elf capital in her world. It amused her that Arthas had smashed the first of the two gates down before he and his army was routed, but now, with her might, her allies, and her army, Sunset was ready to do what he did in their timeline, which meant killing the Ranger-General, ravaging the land, and tainting the Sunwell with her dark actions.
She also enjoyed the screams of agony and the looks of horror that came from the high elves when they realized what was in front of them, though as they started to cross the river, and drew closer to Silvermoon City, she spotted a female elf in the distance, a ranger who wore a chest piece that exposed part of her midriff, where Sunset recognized her from what the Lich King had shoved into her head.
"Sylvanas Windrunner... this should be somewhat interesting." Sunset remarked, where she beckoned for the others to continue moving as she rode over to the area that the high elf was guarding, summoning her magic to block some arrows that were meant to take her down, before she leapt off her steed and yanked the ranger over to her with her dark lasso, ripping her from her hiding place in the process.
"So, you know of me, Scourge dog. Such a thing won't help you." the ranger replied, where Sylvanas pulled out a pair of shortswords, her preferred melee weapon when she didn't have a choice in the matter, as she switched her bow out and used the momentum to attack Sunset, who swung her runeblade and parried her attack with ease, enough to force her back for the time being.
Sunset knew that Sylvanas was an impressive foe, to the point where Arthas tore her soul out of her body and turned her into the first banshee, all while carting her fallen body around to mock her, so she wasn't about to underestimate her foe, not in the slightest, especially when she came close to killing the death knight that Arthas had been. Sylvanas had been a thorn in Arthas' side until her death and twisted rebirth, hounding her foe every step of the way when she found that her home was under attack, so she was nipping this problem in the bulb before it bothered her as well, while her forces killed all of the other elves that stood in their way. The two clashed not a few seconds later, showing Sunset that the Ranger-General knew or suspected a ranged battle would result in her demise, not that it mattered since she swung her blade and pushed her foe's weapons back in rapid succession, as their speed was about the same, yet another advantage that the Lich King had given her upon her resurrection. Sylvanas did her best to overpower her and retreat, though Sunset found that without the power that had been bestowed upon her, as the first banshee in existence and later being known as the Banshee Queen, the Ranger-General could only go so far and that her best skill was with the bow, meaning she was doing this with a bunch of disadvantages stacked against her.
Despite all of her attempts to bring Sunset down, increasing in intensity as more of her kind fell and were revived as new minions of the Scourge, Sylvanas fell before her might and collapsed on her knees, where her arms, legs, and body had a number of cuts all over them, while at the same time Sunset stood untouched.
"Finish it! I deserve... a clean death." Sylvanas stated, where she recalled what happened the last time someone tried to lead an army of the undead through the realm of the high elves, the first gate had been broken, which allowed them and a number of their human allies to wipe out the army before they even got close to the second gate, but this invasion was far different, as if another force was behind the attack, and her foe was too strong for her to take down.
Sunset grinned as she stabbed Sylvanas in the chest, surprising the Ranger-General in the process, though as soon as the life fled her body it was only a matter of reviving her fallen foe as a member of the Scourge, much to her dismay as she, too, joined the force of undead that was ravaging her homeland. Such a thing broke the moral of the living as they found all of their slain tearing down their friends, family, and everyone else they knew or cared about, with Sylvanas loosing her arrows at those who dared to flee from the Scourge. With Sunset's magic her army was able to cross the river and press on to Silvermoon City, eventually breaking through the second elfgate and slaughtering the remaining high elves who had been hoping to survive the invasion that was wiping them out. Arthas, in her timeline, had failed to kill everyone and she took a few more moments to make sure the city was scourged, all life extinguished as their rulers fell to her might, before Mira informed her that the portal was ready and allowed them to march on the isle that her target was on, surprising the rest of the high elves with their sudden arrival.
As her forces slaughtered the living and raised them, while scouring the land, Sylvanas lead Sunset to the Sunwell, which was inside the large structure that the high elves had been guarding, where she found that it was a radiant font of energy that could do all sorts of things for her, based on the information she had been given, before discovering her prize floating in the air above it: Frostmourne.
"We realized that we couldn't destroy the weapon, so we contained it where it couldn't be used against us," Sylvanas said, no doubt recalling the battle that she had with Arthas, one that she won with the aid of the Scarlet crusaders and whoever else responded to what was going on, because she knew this was the beginning of the end, given who was near her and what was in front of them, "or be turned against the rest of the world."
"A noble effort, but worthless in the end." Sunset remarked, where she stepped forward and found that the waters of the Sunwell seemed to inch backwards, trying to get away from her and her dark power, while Frostmourne, however, simply lowered itself down to where she was walking, showing that it sensed her presence and her power, "Time to claim both of my prizes."
Sylvanas said nothing as Sunset raised her hand and claimed Frostmourne, causing a surge of deathly energy to shock the chamber they were in, followed by an icy chill that reminded her of the portion of Icecrown she had landed in, thought it accepted her as it's wielder with no resistance. The will of the Lich King was that she take this weapon as her own and use it to bring about the rest of his plan, likely resurrect Kel'Thuzad and try to summon Archimonde, though she had her own plans and it started with taking this weapon as her own. In the next few seconds she summoned her magic and connected it to the Sunwell, finding that it responded to both her unique magic and her undead nature, before she raised her other blade, her replacement runeblade, and let her power dance around it as well. The titansteel blade merged with the other runeblade when she brought them together, allowing her to grip Frostmourne with both hands as energy danced around it's edge, before Sunset drove it into the Sunwell and a massive surge of deathly energy surged into the sky, darkening the entire area that was around the well as she corrupted everything that the high elves were guarding.
Sunset found that her desire had been correct, her version of Frostmourne possessed the power to steal the anima of the foes she slew, even stealing the power from objects like the Sunwell, as when the pillar dissolved, and the sky remained in it's darkened nature, she emerged from it with a dark grin on her face, all while leaving a dark crater behind, though as her forces cheered she knew it was time to move onto the next part of her dark plan.
Following the Scourging of Quel'Thalas, and the demise of the high elves, Sunset and her army returned to Lordaeron, where she had all of her followers spread out over her province as she and her allies returned to the monastery, which just so happened to be the safest place for them to talk about things. The revived Sylvanas, including all of the risen leaders of her former kind, were to oversee the Scourge as her Darkfell Council, a name she gave not because most of them were elves, like those who followed Kael'thas in her timeline, rather because they were heroes or leaders in her world and had been turned into undead by her hand. Of course Sylvanas and the former ruler would be the ones who would stay on it once she revived more of the heroes into her army, just as Chromie would stand for the bronze dragons, but she had plans to help her fill out her Council in the future, as for now she had other plans that demanded her immediate attention. Even with Frostmourne in hand, a blade that struck terror into the hearts of those who knew of it's dark power, she knew that there were other steps that needed to be fulfilled before she was ready to start her endgame, especially withe her alternate selves, who might become a problem if she left them alone.
"You have the blade now... are you ready to make your move on our timeline?" Mira asked, because her understanding of the plan was that they were preparing Sunset to claim Frostmourne, only to find an unclaimed version of the runeblade in this timeline, meaning that their ally was far stronger than she had been before, due to all the people she slew and her taking the legendary blade.
"Not yet, for there is one more thing I need from this timeline, before I track down my other selves: I require the armor of the Lich King." Sunset replied, as she knew, like most of the important death knights, that Arthas had been a paladin in the days before he claimed Frostmourne and was darkened by his new master's will, yet his armor and holy weapon were abandoned the moment he struck down Mal'Ganis, a demon he had been hunting, before he donned the deathly attire he wore in her timeline, "While not as important as Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination, both pieces of a larger puzzle, the armor completes the terrifying visage of the Scourge's leader... in this timeline, with Arthas defeated, there is only one place I can think of where they would seal away his body and armor, so it could be under constant watch in case the dark power of the Lich King caused him to rise."
"Light's Hope Chapel, where the Light's users gather to discuss their next steps against their enemies." Kairoz said, as he and Chromie understood what Sunset was saying, because there was more to that place than what their ally knew about, or at least he thought that way since he had no idea if Frostmourne or the Lich King were whispering to her, "After we get the armor, and it is modified to fit your body, will you march on Icecrown and claim the Helm as well?"
"Yes and no." Sunset stated, where she shifted her stance and raised the runeblade so all of her close allies could see it in greater detail, no doubt interested in whatever she had to tell them, though she was studying the weapon in great detail, as it was a wonderful weapon and she'd do great things with it, "I will head to Icecrown after we claim the armor, though it will be to draw out some of the bronze dragons that will have noticed this timeline... Chromie went missing, the Scarlet organization is nearly in ruins, and the Sunwell has been scourged while the near entirety of the high elves who had been guarding it have been slain. I would imagine those signs are hard to miss, even for a bronze dragon, and they'll know it was me who broke the history of this timeline, so they'll either bring in heroes to take me down, who will fail in their mission, or they will call in the only ones who could get in my way: myself."
"The alternate selves... the Highlord of the Light, the Archmage of the Arcane, the Protector of Life, the Destroyer of Fel, and the Corrupter of the Void." Chromie remarked, as after she joined the Scourge, and became a part of this group, she had been told of the alterations that lead to the creation of five other Sunsets, each one possessing the power of another Cosmic Force, with Sunset standing as the Champion of Death, before she realized what she was seeing, "You're seeking to take them down and not only steal the power of your other selves, but dominate the other five Cosmic Forces, to show everyone that Death is the greatest of them all... while becoming the master of the Scourge at the same time."
Sunset nodded, as that was her current goal so she could gather the power necessary to fulfill the last step of her current plan, while finding her allies agreed with the idea, as there was no telling when the bronze dragons would interfere with their plans by bringing the other versions of herself into the equation. With the others knowing her current plan of attack it didn't take them long to spread out as she called forth her army once more, this time turning them on the eastern half of the Plaguelands, where she found Sylvanas leading an army of rangers to fulfill her master's dark desire. It wasn't long before the living found themselves under siege once more, where the remaining members of the Scarlet Crusade, those in the Eastern Kingdoms anyway, joined forces with the Argent Dawn to bring down their enemies, with no success as Sunset watched the Scourge tear them down. As Acherus floated overhead, to observe what was going on and instill fear into the heart of her enemies, Sunset marched at the front of her army, swinging her blade at the crusaders and soldiers that were in front of them, the fallen rising behind her as she stole more and more power for herself.
Together the Scourge laid waste to the land, cutting a path from tower to tower as Sunset cut off the Light's protection, a fact that caused all of the still living fighters more despair before they were slain and revived to serve her, before making a stop at Stratholme to awaken the dead that Arthas left behind, bolstering her forces even more. With that task done she and her forces marched on Light's Hope Chapel, which now had walls surrounding it to keep out enemies and help those on the other side keep an eye out for potential enemies or allied riders, not that it mattered to her. Sylvanas' force was the edge she needed to utterly wipe out the initial defenders, without them having a chance to stand before the Scourge, so while her forces tore them down she focused on the chapel itself, finding that it was small and didn't seem to be a place of Holy power, like she had been told previously. In that moment she understood what she needed to know as she used a bit of magic to blow open the floor, revealing a staircase that lead down into the earth, into a place of the Light that looked a lot like a church or massive chapel, with all sorts of paladins protecting it.
She found paladins of all orders, such as the Argent Dawn, the Blood Knights, and the Hand of Argus, while consisting of humans, dwarves, night and blood elves, draenei, and tauren gathered in front of her, who were surprised to see her and grabbed their weapons.
Sunset grinned as the paladins rushed to meet her, where she found that her powers far outclassed them, because she was able to parry their attacks with ease before either cutting them down or lifting them into the air to snap their necks, a fact that lead to her foes being revived as she defiled the hidden holy site. Tirion, of course, was somewhere in Northrend, with the Argent soldiers who joined him in assaulting the Lich King's holdings while the Scarlet crusaders did the same on another portion of the continent, so the defenders were missing some of their powerful paladins and it ended with many perishing at her hand. Once the defenders were slain Sunset raised her runeblade and gathered the power of Death once more, pointing it directly at an empty area where a speaker would address the crowd that would sit at the benches, and as soon as Frostmourne was ready she gripped it with both hands and drove it into the floor below her. Sure enough a surge of energy washed over the walls, darkening the holy site as the paladins who were buried here were raised into undeath, before she reached her true goal that happened to be in the depths of this place, a forgotten coffin sealed with the Light's power, which she broke with ease.
A few moments later the members of the Scourge found the form of Arthas Menethil, clad in his old paladin armor and carrying his old hammer, meaning someone went and found each piece so he could be sealed away with them, walking up to where Sunset was standing, though he also bared a metallic container that contained the deathly armor that he found after claiming Frostmourne.
"The attire of the Dark Lord, they who rule over death itself." Chromie commented, having shrunken down to her gnome form so she could see what happened after Sunset descended to the depths of the chapel, where she wasn't surprised to see what her master had done, darkening the area and subjecting all of the dead, newly slain and old corpses, to her will, to which she studied the armor for a few seconds, "Give me a few moments... I should be able to alter it."
Sunset said nothing as Chromie called forth her power, just in time for the other allied dragons to join them and add their powers to the mix, allowing her to surround the set of armor with her magic so Arthas could back away, though it wasn't long before Sylvanas joined them and reported that the Plaguelands were theirs. Sunset nodded as she watched the scene in front of her, allowing Arthas to walk over and talk with Sylvanas, who apparently dealt the blow that ended up knocking Frostmourne out of his hand and allowed him to come to his senses, long enough to be purified by the Light before dying to his wounds. It explained why he had been buried and sealed away by the Light, as the other paladins feared that his exposure to the runeblade might have corrupted him in some manner, allowing them to watch over him and kill him if he was reborn on his own, but in the end it, too, was irrelevant before Sunset's dark power. Other than that he and the rest of the paladins did nothing, as they were now members of the Scourge and there was nothing they could do to stop what was going on in front of their eyes, and even if they had the power to act against her she would kill them anyway, hence why they did nothing.
A few moments later, when Chromie was ready, she nodded her head and Sunset stepped forward, allowing the magic to envelop her for a time as the next step of her plan was fulfilled, as when she emerged a few seconds after entering it they found that the armor had been molded to fit her body, as if it was made for her and no one else.
"The old armor served me well, but this is far superior to it in every way," Sunset remarked, where the Scourge found that she now looked more like a ruler than ever before, the only thing missing was a crown or helm to reflect her station over all of them, even though all of them knew where she could find one of those items, before she glanced at the others for a few seconds, "It is time that I head to Northrend, to Icecrown to be exact, and unleash my power so our enemies find me, to see what the bronze dragons end up doing in response to my existence... the majority of you will be staying behind, to secure and reinforce our domain in case the living have discovered what we're up to."
As her forces moved to fulfill her orders, and reform the Plaguelands, Sunset passed through the portal Chromie made for her and found herself in the frozen landscape of Icecrown, some distance from the massive spire that was the citadel that the Lich King ruled from, at least before Arthas took over. For a moment the land seemed quiet, far more than what she had been expecting, meaning the Scourge was either surprised by her arrival in this area or were busy fighting the Scarlet Organization, to keep them away from Icecrown, but that was about to change. In the next few seconds she called forth her power as Chromie kept her eye on the time energy her kind were attuned to, letting it fill the area for a time as Sunset waited for her targets to show up, since she had no idea if one or more would appear to deal with her. She assumed that her earlier thoughts would be right and that no bronze dragon would miss the destruction she had caused to the timeline she was hiding in, though she had to smile as two time portals tore open some distance in front of her, confirming that someone was coming to 'take her down'.
All it took was a few seconds for her to figure out who was in front of her, as two of her other selves had shown up, where the one on the right was pulsing with demonic energy, especially with the spikes that were growing out of her arms, the scales on her limbs, the demonic horns growing out of her hair, and a pair of thin looking tails with sharp blades right at the ends of them. The Sunset that waked out of the left portal, however, had a dark outline to her body and possessed a dark power that could only be the Void itself, an experience Sunset knew about thanks to everything the Lich King shoved into her to make his ultimate tool, while her eyes spoke of the hunger she felt. It was all too easy for her to tell who was in front of her and the powers they had access to, the right one had been turned into a demonic being by Fel's power, while the left had embraced the darkness of the Void to empower herself, even if it left her hungry for more. In addition to the pair Sunset found two more bronze dragons, one a male high elf and the other a female draenei, both wearing attire that was similar to Chromie and Kairoz's, but she was more focused on her immediate foes.
What was humorous about this was that the bronze dragons picked the other selves of her that had been twisted by the darkest of the Cosmic Forces, as Death, Fel, and Void were considered evil while Life, Arcane, and Light were thought of as the good ones, but she shelved the idea as she approached her new enemies.
"So, you two are who the bronze dragons called in to stop me." Sunset remarked, as she liked what she was seeing, as the Fel version of herself was brimming with power, reminding her of Erith, while the Void one seemed to be keeping her own power hidden for the time being, not wanting to reveal her hand before it was time to do so, "I am Sunset Shimmer, the chosen death knight of the Lich King, not to mention the current commander of the Scourge's forces in this timeline. Now, who are you two? I'm only asking because I had the pleasure of meeting Erith Moonglow, our Life counterpart, some time ago and discovered that she abandoned her old name, form, and her ambitions."
"You may call me Helra Felflame." the version on the right said, where she shifted her stance and revealed that her hands had claws, likely her hands had evolved due to her exposure to the Fel energy, though with no weapons on hand that told Sunset that this version was an expert in hand to hand combat.
"I am Z'irja," the Sunset on the left stated, though in that moment Sunset watched as the darkness washed over her and a number of shadowy tendrils appeared all over her body, a few on her exposed arms and legs, while some also grew out of her hair, confirming that she was connected to one or more of the Old Gods that were contained in this world.
Sunset smiled for a moment before approaching her foes, finding that Helra rushed at her while Z'irja stayed back, likely to see how strong she really was and how she compared to one of her other selves, though she was fine with the decision as she swung Frostmourne, forcing Helra to block it with her claws. While her weapon was classified as a greatsword, due to the size and the handle that supported two hands, Frostmourne could be used with a single hand, almost as if it was just a normal sized blade, which was either part of it's construction or an addition from merging the temporary blade with it not that long ago. As such Sunset was able to deliver powerful attacks to her foe, smashing and breaking her claws like they were nothing before her might, though before she could deliver what might be the finishing blow Helra jumped back for a few seconds, allowing her to raise her hands to her horns before pulling out two curved weapons. Sunset knew that they were warglaives, basically a weapon with two curved blades on either side of the handle with a shield over it to ensure the wielder's wrists couldn't be tackled, though they radiated Fel energy, meaning Helra either killed many demons with them or stole them from a powerful demon.
She knew of the weapons because Arthas, just before taking his placed as the Lich King, had faced off against a night elf by the name of Illidan Stormrage, a demon hunter to be exact, and had beaten him in combat, who happened to carry a pair of warglaives into battle, even though she also had a staff of Fel energy that she stashed away for right now.
Helra was stronger with her warglaives, though Sunset was faster as their blades clashed against each other, but that was just the start as Sunset raised her spare hand and summoned large fireballs, hurling them at her foe who either dodged a few of them or counted with eerie green bolts of energy. It was what she had been expecting, that when forced to do so her foe would summon her power to defend herself from an attack, especially when she responded with her own magical power, not that the latter mattered as some of the fireballs smashed through Helra's defenses. Such a thing made Sunset wonder if her Fel drunk foe had lost the power of her unicorn horn and traded it for the Fel energies she commanded, but in the end she decided that it ultimately didn't matter, because her enhanced power was far stronger than Helra's, who was surprised by this turn of events. While that happened Sunset kept her senses open, just in the off chance that she was attacked by Z'irja, who seemed to be simply watching the fight, though sure enough her thoughts were right as she found her magic catching someone who tried to stab her in the back with a curved dagger, one that had an Old God eye near the short handle, and she had a Void book in her other hand.
Z'irja had used her power to make an illusion of herself, or tried to use her Void powers to trick her into seeing something else, though that wasn't all she did as she summoned tendrils of darkness that rushed out to smash Sunset into the snow below them, which had spikes on the edges. Right now Sunset wasn't impressed by their powers, even though they were a lot stronger than when her allies first checked on them, as she swung her runeblade and the tendrils were slashed apart in an instant, before she gathered the power of Death as she focused on both of her foes. She yanked Z'irja over to where she was standing and impaled her, where the blood erupting from her mouth indicated she had struck the true Void user and not another copy, though with that done she removed her fallen alternate self and focused on Helra, showing her that she had no problems with killing herself multiple times. As she stole Z'irja's anima, however, Sunset assaulted Helra with the power of Frostmourne, pushing her arms down as she tried to defend herself from her onslaught, and it didn't take her all that long to break open her defenses and stab her in the chest, much to her Fel self's surprise.
"It would seem that you failed, bronze dragons." Sunset remarked, though as she finished draining the anima from Helra's body, leaving the corpse behind, Chromie raised her hand and stopped the two dragons from leaving, where Sunset used a bit of her power to drag them over to where she was standing, allowing her to cut them down with a single swing, giving her more anima as she raised them as servants of the Scourge, "Hopefully you do better as my soldiers, like Chromie has done since I raised her."
As Chromie embraced her new companions, and welcomed them into their new lives, Sunset gathered the bodies of her foes and obliterated them with a powerful blast of magical energy, but not before taking their weapons as trophies, just in case she found a use for any of them later, though once that was done she turned her attention to cleaning up the loose ends that she needed to clear up before completing her dark quest.
Following her domination over her Fel and Void selves, adding their power to her own and raising the bronze dragons who brought them into undeath, Sunset glanced at Chromie for a second and the gnome opened a portal back to her domain in Tirisfal Glades, which they used without delay. Upon their return to the tainted monastery she found that the Scourge were starting to build everything that they made when they took over a region or province, beginning construction of ziggurat crystals, wagons to carry the dead so the val'kyr could remain safe, and other tools for their war. If it wasn't for her plan to gather her strength for the final step of her plan, so she could exact her revenge on Tirion and those who followed him, she would spend a lot more time enjoying this and dominating the rest of this timeline, before she paused. With five dragons that were linked to time itself, one of which being the alternate self to Nozdormu himself, Sunset had the power to tap into other timelines and even the past if she wanted, like she had done so far, but it opened doors she previously thought were closed.
To further her goals Sunset remained in the area that she and her Council called home, even though each member would need their own domain once she completed her task, where Murozond and the others approached her area, though in that instant she readied Frostmourne and stabbed the leader of the infinite dragons in the chest.
"Nothing personal, but I have a feeling that you might betray me in the very near future." Sunset said, because from what she could gather the infinite Aspect was the creation of the influence of the Old Gods messing with Nozdormu, resulting in what she and her soldiers were seeing right now, even though this confirmed something for her as the dragon went limb, adding his vast power to her growing strength.
"And now the infinite dragonflight will follow you." Chromie commented, as it was easy for her and the others to figure out what they were as Sunset pulled her runeblade out of Murozond's body and revived the fallen dragon as a member of the Scourge, bent to her dark will like everyone else she chose to revive, before noticing that Kairoz and Mira were caught off guard by this event, "What is our next move?"
"I need to tie up some loose ends before moving onto the final stage of my grand plan." Sunset replied, which meant the other three alternate versions of herself that were still wandering the timelines, since she was sure that Erith was looking for her after their encounter and the others might be unaware of what was going on right now, even though there were all sorts of other 'loose ends' she wanted to take out, "First, we purge this world of the living, starting with the remainder of the Scarlet Crusade in Northrend before we worry about the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, to tear down what's left of both the Alliance and the Horde. Once this world is filled with death you and the other time dragons, both the bronzes and the infinites, will open the way for me to return to our main timeline, where I will travel to the points in time where the heroes killed the other villains, such as Onxyia and Nefarian, and raise them into undeath. That should, in theory, force the bronze dragons to call in Erith and the other two alternate selves that are out there, allowing me to fight them and bring all three of them down, granting me all the power I could want... after that, well, the Helm of Domination will be mine, and I will be able to fulfill the promise I gave Tirion."
Chromie and the others nodded before opening new portals to Northrend, where Sunset and her army marched through them without delay, appearing in the snowy region of Icecrown, which she was fine with as she channeled her power into her runeblade and let it spread all over the land. Sure enough she found that the dead, be they the recently slain vrykul in a nearby village, the long frozen dead who smashed out of their icy prisons in either ice or snow, or even the forces that were protecting the citadel, responded to her call and marched to join her army. As she did that her force marched on the small province between them and Dragonblight, where the Scarlet organization was stationed, though the dragons flew over to the Storm Peaks and rained death on whatever enemies were over there, the val'kyr raising whatever they killed to serve Sunset's dark will. She also spotted a floating city, on a piece of ground, up above the ground of the crystalline forest she marched through, scouring the land of life as the Scourge slaughtered the living guardians, a few elves here and there, allowing her to raise them as well as the forest crumpled to her will.
Sunset smiled a little as she raised her hand and brought Dalaran, the floating city, crashing to the ground, allowing the dead to surge through it and wipe out the citizens, even Khadgar's powerful group, allowing her to raise them as members of the Scourge and she did the same for all those still trapped in the Violet Hold.
Once that was done Sunset rode through the southern opening and invaded Dragonblight, which would serve as a terrible turn of events for the living as she extended her power and raised the fallen of the five flights into undeath, as this land was the graveyard of the red, blue, green, bronze, and black dragons. It was a massive error on their part, building their graveyard on the continent that the Lich King ruled over, and it wasn't long before dragons of every flight joined her army, giving her far more power than she had before, both in terms of soldier strength and her own terrifying power. Of course she found that the still living dragons were terrified of the scene they were witnessing, because they flew down from their tower and tried to attack her army, which was yet another error on their part as her forces tore them out of the sky, either the revived dragons just crashing them into the ground or the undead giants pulled them down. She also knew that three of the dragon Aspects were protecting this province, as Deathwing was somewhere else in the world and Malygos was slain by heroes, where she found three large dragons approaching her army, the bronze dragon Nozdormu, the red dragon Alexstrasza, and the green dragon Ysera.
Sometimes the living were far too predictable, as whenever the Scourge showed up their focus was on fighting them and rarely thinking about why they were doing whatever their leader wanted them to do, though the death of Murozond told Sunset all she needed to know, the Aspects were long-lived, not immortal like they pretended to be.
"Undead, cease your unholy acts and return to the frozen wastes you came from... this will be your only warning, and if you persist we will burn you to cinders." Alexstrasza stated, where she landed and reverted to her visage form, that being a female high elf that wore some rather revealing clothing that was basically a golden metallic bra with red filler material, a design that was mimicked on her bracers and boots, and she had panty armor for some reason, plus Sunset noticed her pair of curved horns with gems attached to them.
Sunset reckoned that Alexstrasza was used to most dragons and mortals listening to her, but instead of listening she raised Frostmourne and stabbed the Dragonqueen in the heart, something that surprised the red Aspect when she glanced down at the blade that had pierced her. As that happened both Ysera and Nozdormu roared in rage, as if sounding the horn of war against her army, where Sunset barely moved her head as some of the undead giants moved out and pulled Ysera out of the air, smashing her against some nearby rocks. Nozdormu, on the other hand, found himself knocked into the ground by his own counterpart, as Murozond took advantage of their displaced focus and got above him, and the infinite Aspect landed on top of him, keeping him trapped in this position. Once they were brought down Sunset finished off Alexstrasza and paused for a few seconds as the Aspect's body hit the ground, allowing her to absorb the power of the Life-Binder, another massive surge of power since she, like Murozond, was over ten thousand years old and had a lot of experience to add to her own, before she raised the fallen Dragonqueen into undeath.
"There will be no end to the Scourge's campaign, and now you three and your flights will join my army." Sunset said, where she walked over to Ysera, who shifted into her night elven form to escape the giants, and slew her in the same manner as the red Aspect, before repeating the motion with Nozdormu and then raised both of them into undeath as she added their power to her own, making her far stronger than she had been moments ago.
Sure enough raising three of the Aspects into undeath enraged the other dragons in Dragonblight, though her next act, in combination with that, really pissed them off as her bronze and blue dragons opened a portal to when Malygos was slain in this timeline and pulled his corpse out, allowing her to raise him into undeath as well. Once that was done Sunset let all of her forces spread out, where her new intense power followed the Scourge and raised the dead from their graves, while at the same time covering all possible exits that the Scarlet crusaders might use to flee from what was happening, as some of her newly raised dragons flew out over the water to burn the ships. As she expected the rest of the Scarlet organization fought to the death when they or their leaders realized that their ability to retreat was cut off, though all she could do was grin as each crusader fell in battle and was raised to further the will of the Scourge, much to their eternal dismay. Sunset also made sure to tear every dragon out of the ground, adding to her power and the might of the Scourge, and once the Scarlet organization was torn apart, with no one left to stand against her, she spread her army all over Dragonblight, just to be sure the flame of life had been snuffed out in this province.
After that she spread her darkness all over Northrend, allowing her forces to tear down every living foe that might be left to challenge them, regardless of who they were, as the vrykul collapsed in defeat, she tore down the Titan's defenders in Storm Peaks, and all of the minor races that lived on the continent fell before her dark might, even the magnataur, a race that was a cross between a giant and a mammoth, were no match for her forces.
One thing Sunset noticed after some time was that absorbing the power of multiple Aspects had a much stronger effect on her than she originally expected, especially since each Aspect had over ten thousand years of experience and each one had been empowered by the Titans. As such the intense power of the dragons, the power of the Aspects combined with the droplets of power from the lesser ones, surged through her body like a massive tidal wave from a hurricane, trying to overwhelm her with the sheer force it represented. She was sure that Life was making an attempt to make her into one of it's minions, especially since Alexstrasza was the Life-Binder and Ysera was connected to the Dream, though once she had that thought Sunset summoned her own power to dominate the dragon energy, forcing it to obey her command before it settled in like all of the other powers she had stolen so far. Of course it took some time for the power to fully settle down, but when it did she felt that a shudder pass through her tail, where Sunset watched as it transformed into a dragon tail, a vibrant red color like her demon form and thicker than the pony tail she had previously, all while her armor altered itself to fit her new addition and covered it for some extra protection.
With that done she felt a slight pinch in her eyes and assumed it was her pupils changing into the piercing dragon slit she could see in the eyes of the Aspects, though it mattered little to her as she turned her focus to what was going on in front of her, all while her darkness covered the entirety of Northrend as the Scourge tore the living down.
Once that was done Sunset began her crusade against the living of this timeline, returning to the Eastern Kingdoms and started to head south, though instead of following a single path she followed all of them so she could flank her foes, not to mention cutting off their escape routes, especially with the dragons cutting off the beaches. Since they were undead none of them had to stop for sleep or food, meaning they were able to overcome some of the living that tried to flee, plus with the growing size of their army those who stood and fought were wiped out in no time. This time Sunset remained on her steed and watched as the Scourge overran the living, wiping out the guardians of the Eastern Kingdoms and leading to the eventual downfall of each major city that stood in her way. Her reasoning for staying her hand was because she had done more than enough to topple the living and this was her army's turn to have some fun, decimating the living so they could be raised into undeath as well, just as she intended as she gathered more under her unholy banner.
Of course she also stabbed both Kairoz and Mira when the opportunity presented itself to her, raising them into undeath like all those who came before them, as the Scourge was an army of the undead and having the living as part of it might cause problems, and with both dragons raised as undead her forces were even stronger.
When half of the Eastern Kingdoms had fallen to the Scourge, and her force was far larger than she expected due to them raising everything that had been living, be they bodies in the crypts or graveyards and the recently slain, Sunset focused on the other loose ends she needed to clear up first. Half of the time dragons joined her in Arathi Highlands and gathered their energies without delay, tearing open portals to the main timeline as each small group tracked down the villains and evils that the heroes killed in their quest to save Azeroth, be it Nefarian, Onyxia, the troublesome elementals, and many others, leaving the Old Gods for when she was ready for them. She weaved her power into each portal, creating illusions to make the heroes lose focus of the bodies so they didn't take the heads of certain enemies, allowing her forces to pull the bodies into their timeline so she could raise each and every one of them into undeath. With the power of the bronze and infinite flights she could spread death to the other timelines, collecting more and more soldiers for the Scourge, and by targeting the worlds that her Fel and Void selves came from her strength got even stronger than before.
Such a thing gave her multiple versions of the dragons she had raised so far, adding their power to the Scourge's might as she ordered them to continue spreading death to this timeline, allowing her army to attack Kalimdor as well, making it far harder for the living to win against their dark might, all while she could feel scales growing on her arms and legs, a sign of all the dragon energy she had obtained so far.
Her plan worked out quite well as multiple tears in reality opened nearby, where she found Erith leading a charge with all sorts of minions following her, such as another Sunset who had Arcane energy dancing around her body and a staff, not to mention another clad in plate armor and wielding the Ashbringer. The other three had brought themselves to her with an offering of their followers, causing her to turn all of her followers, all of the Scourge, on them without delay, which was when the alternate heroes found themselves surrounded by an army of undead and dragons, a force that was stronger than they originally believed them to be. As that happened Sunset rushed at the enemies she was interested in, where she found Erith raising her weapon as the paladin and mage readied themselves, summoning their powers in an attempt to chain her to the ground, like what happened when the Light aided Tirion in overcoming what happened to him and those who ended up betraying the Lich King. Sunset simply grinned as she summoned her power and swung Frostmourne, the sheer act of doing that breaking the chains before they could even reach her, surprising Erith's allies in the process, which was fine with her as she continued her assault, zeroing in on the paladin, as she didn't want anything to do with the blade or the Light.
As the paladin shifted her stance, and raised Ashbringer to stop Sunset in her path, she also altered her stance and swung her runeblade, smashing the weapon to pieces with a single blow, before the second attack cut through the force of Light that had been inside it and it's wielder. The mage, watching her ally fall as Erith rushed forward to stop what was coming next, tried to summon a wall of ice to stop her or even stall what was coming, where she slashed her way through it with a single swing and stabbed her in the chest. As two of her targets fell, proving that Sunset was far stronger than when she first fought Erith, she quickly altered her stance again and parried the incoming attack from the dryad, the air shuddering as they clashed for a few seconds, simply repeating what had happened the first time they clashed, but this time she was strong enough to take her foe down. Previously when they clashed Erith was stronger, likely due to Life wanting a version of her that could twist the world in it's image, or for whatever reason it had for making Erith like this, but now, after all the anima she had stolen from those who had perished since setting this plan into motion, Sunset was stronger and she was growing even more formidable with each soldier slain and raised by her army.
This time around, when they separated from each other, Sunset swung her runeblade and multiple wounds appeared all over Erith's arms, legs, and her body, showing her that this fight wasn't going to turn out like the last one, before she took a moment to wipe out the paladin's and mage's bodies, after claiming the arcane staff for later, allowing her to focus on the dryad again.
"Don't you feel ashamed for all the death you've caused, minion of Death?" Erith asked, once more sounding sad because of the fact that Sunset was causing so much destruction and death to the world around her, plus those who called it the lands home, before she took a moment to truly study Sunset's body in great detail, "I see that you have altered your form as well, after sounding angry that I was reborn in a different form... you're becoming a dragon of death and destruction, a being of pure evil."
"No just death and destruction... a dragon of Domination!" Sunset remarked, as she really didn't care if her body changed a little, because the power she had gained from slaying and raising all of the Aspects, not to mention their flights, gave her a massive power boost and now she was standing up to the one figure who stood in her path, who noticed the sinister icy blue color in her eyes, "Take a look around you, Erith... you and your allies have failed."
Sure enough the living had been wiped out, the heroes from the alternate timelines were dead, slain by those who might have been allies in their own timelines and were caught off guard by all the dust the fighting had kicked up, and she found that Erith, despite her trust in Life, fell to her knees in despair, especially when she found that her bronze allies had been raised as well, cutting off her escape route.
"As much as I want to fight you I have a world to conquer, so our battle must end here." Sunset continued, to which she took advantage of Erith's weakness for the living and stabbed her in the heart, finding that her Life counterpart was just saddened by what was going on, not even caring about her own life, maybe because she realized that no matter what she did she was going to be overpowered, to which Sunset took the power she was seeking before wiping out the dryad entirely, before turning to her massive army, "It's time. All of you, finish off the rest of this timeline's living and regroup in Icecrown... once we're ready, well, we'll be linking back up with the main timeline and claim my prize!"
The Scourge, boosted by the foolishness of her other counterparts, cheered for a few seconds before getting to work, as it would take them some time to finish off the rest of the living that infested this world, something that allowed her to take a break for a time as she waited for them to complete their mission, and once they were ready she would return to her own timeline and claim her prize before fulfilling her promise to her enemies.
It took the Scourge some time to finish off the rest of the living in the timeline Sunset was staying in, though the amount of raised dragons certainly aided them in that regard, especially with at least four of each Aspect, save Deathwing, aiding them in their efforts. The blue flight continued to move the undead across the lands, allowing them to ravage the living without allowing them to escape, while the red and green flights spread death from above, leaving all of the bronze and infinite dragons to ready themselves for what Sunset had in mind. She was intending on wiping out everything on this world, as in end all life, before worrying about her own timeline, but what the two time flights were focusing on was merging a piece of this timeline with the one she came from, allowing her to transfer all of the Scourge to her Icecrown and surprise the army that Tirion must have built. Basically put it was a massive teleportation spell across timelines, hence why the time dragons were focused on it while the other dragons were slaughtering everything else in the world, all while she readied herself for the final stage of her current plan.
Eventually, without any need for her to do anything, the Scourge wiped out all life in the timeline she had created, giving her a massive army that gathered in the icy region of Icecrown without bothering to rest at all, with the blue dragons making all sorts of platforms so everyone could stand in this region.
"The army has gathered, as per your orders." Chromie said, where she and the other members of the Council knelt behind Sunset as she stared out at the army of undead and dragons that was her version of the Scourge, in addition to liches and other dark abominations that served the Jailer of the Damned, all brought back from death to help her destroy the world of the living, "Our dark and glorious Queen, what are your new orders?"
"It is time to bring us back to the main timeline, to claim my prize. Nozdormu, Murozond, Malygos, it is time to bridge the two timelines!" Sunset stated, as there wasn't much more for her to do in this world, not after slaughtering everyone with her army, where the dragons in question nodded their heads and started to gather their energies into the spell she had all of them create while the others wiped out the living.
The borders of Icecrown were surrounded by a barrier of arcane energy, the sign that someone was working hard to make her will a reality, before a surge of temporal energy started to gather as Chromie and her brethren began to bridge this world to the one she had been sent to not all that long ago. It was time to stop using this world as a hideout, so she could keep herself hidden until the time was right, and bring about the end of the living in her timeline, so she could focus on all of the potential threats that still existed, but had yet to reveal themselves to the stubborn heroes. Of course she couldn't just appear shortly after her disappearance, or even before that, hence why she had her allies steal the bodies of all those who fell defending Northrend from the Alliance and the Horde, to revive them and press them into service once more, and she even stole Naxxramas, which the living forgot about. That reminded her of the fact that, with all the time dragons on their side, there were now multiple necropolis' in the air as well, a sign of how massive their army was, though she knew all of them were stolen from the timelines her deceased alternate selves had come from.
As the dragons worked, and her army stood still, waiting for the gateway to open and link them up to the main timeline, she found herself thinking of the fact that she was about to fulfill her promise to those that prevented her from bringing the Lich King's will to reality, but in doing so they opened the doors for her to make her will a reality. When she took a bit of time to think about it she found it to be hilarious, as Tirion and everyone else assumed the Lich King stood above them all as the most dangerous being in the world, with the Dark Titan being even scarier than Arthas was, but they had made a mistake by not killing her when they had a chance. With all of her power, both new and old, Sunset stood as a force to be reckoned with, a being of darkness that wouldn't stop until all things bowed to her, regardless of who or what they were, and as she told Erith before she killed the dryad she wasn't just a being of death and destruction, she was becoming a being of domination. The dragon aspect was more due to her killing and raising the dragon Aspects into undeath, all while siphoning the anima from each of them, and what she had gained so far had made some interesting changes to her body, mostly in her tail for now, and she knew that if she kept it up she might become a true monster.
She had to admit that the idea of becoming a dragon of domination, which she envisioned to be a combination of all the powers of this world and the power of an alicorn, was an interesting one and that she might pursue it at some point after she completed her current goal, though her attention shifted back to what was in front of her as a dark light appeared in the air above them.
"Soldiers of the Scourge, the time has come for us to return to the main timeline and wreck havoc on the living, and those who dare to stand in our way." Sunset stated, where the army of undead cheered upon hearing that it was time to get her show on the road, as this was what she had been waiting for when she set this plan into motion, to which she nodded to Chromie, who shifted into her dragon form and let her climb onto her back, before they moved into the air, "It is time to make my will known to those who dare to oppose us! For the glory of the Scourge... and for the Lich Queen!"
The point in history that they would be returning at was right when Arthas fought the heroes on top of the citadel, which Nozdormu told her about while she was waiting for the Scourge to complete their mission, and sure enough she arrived in time to witness Frostmourne, Arthas' version, being shattered by Ashbringer, where the souls of the damned lashed out at him and knocked him to the ground, removing the helm from his head.
"Wow, what a battle." Sunset commented, where she noticed a force of heroes standing near Tirion, who had shattered her old master's blade with the stolen blade he carried, though they all stopped as they realized that she had returned, due to all of them knowing of her escape from the Violet Hold, but she focused and climbed off Chromie as she landed at what was the edge of the circular arena in front of the Frozen Throne, "I wish I could have gotten here sooner, but there were certain... obstacles... I had to overcome, and I am pleased to announce that my time in another timeline has come to an end."
"Sunset Shimmer, what do you want?" Tirion asked, though this was the worst case scenario for all of them, as the heroes were exhausted from their fight with Arthas, even if they had been slain and raised by the Light to finish this fight, while he had channeled a lot of his power to break Frostmourne, a blade that Sunset also carried he noticed, meaning they weren't ready for another fight, while their opponent clearly was.
"Many things." Sunset replied, where she shifted her stance for a moment as she raised her Frostmourne, calling forth the fragments of this world's version of the blade and absorbed them into her own, as per energy, which forced the souls of the damned to surge into her runeblade, before she weaved some of her magic into the air as she raised Arthas into undeath, his armor becoming the saronite plating she wore once upon a time.
"Of course she'd ruin our efforts, by reviving her dark master." one of the heroes, the orc death knight, remarked, though she did find that he had a runeblade that was an elegant axe that radiated all three aspects of their kind and seemed to be a counter to Frostmourne, no doubt made a reality by Darion and the rest of the Ebon Blade.
"Incorrect. I brought back a worthy soldier, so he could help spread death over this world." Sunset said, though after that was done she walked over to the base of the Frozen Throne and sheathed Frostmourne for now, allowing her to pick up her true prize, the Helm of Domination, though while it might not fit her head right now she knew a bit of remodeling would let it rest upon her head, "Congratulations, though, you beat the Lich King... and have paved the way for someone else to take his position as Master of the Scourge."
"That destiny is mine to bear." a rough voice replied, where they found a burned and charred figure, a human likely taken by the flames of a dragon and tortured by the forces of Icecrown Citadel, maybe even the Lich King himself, and he wore bits of saronite armor, like he had been in the middle of being remade into a minion of the Scourge, "I will take the Helm and become the Jailer of the Damned, to save..."
Sunset, instead of saying anything, shifted her spare hand and yanked the figure, who had to be Bolvar Fordragon, one of the paladins that Arthas wanted to torment to break Tirion, had the assault on Light's Hope Chapel failed, off of the Frozen Throne with her dark lasso, bringing him down to where everyone else stood, smashing him into the icy surface as a bit of punishment for his actions.
"You are also incorrect. The Helm of Domination belongs to me now." Sunset stated, where she raised the helm and let a smile appear on her face for a moment, as the heroes started to move and Chromie froze them where they stood, so they couldn't interfere with what was about to happen, before she claimed her prize.
As she lowered the helm onto her head, to claim the position that was now vacant due to Arthas being defeated in battle, a surge of magic washed over where she was standing and surrounded her, the magic on her armor altering the helm so it could match her body and not hurt her ears, even if she didn't feel pain anymore. The crystal section in the forehead area pushed forward, creating an opening for her horn to fit through with ease, while a pair of holes opened right on top so her ears could slip through without any problems, but other than that there was nothing else that needed to be altered. Once it rested on her head, and she lowered her hands, she felt a surge of power as she took her position as the Lich Queen, in addition to the Jailer of the Damned and all the titles that the mortals had given to Arthas and their predecessor, as there was one other before Arthas. In addition to that she felt a surge of power as a pair of leathery dragon wings, with the color matching her new tail, grew out of her back, replacing her cape in a matter of seconds, which faded away as if it no longer existed, and she flexed them with a smile on her face, where the force of her doing that knocked away the protective shell that had been covering her.
Such a thing allowed the heroes, Tirion, and Bolvar to see her once more, where she relished the looks of shock and terror that appeared on their faces, because now they knew that they weren't dealing with an ordinary undead knight, rather she was a being who would bring death to the world of the living.
Of course, with them being heroes and everything, many of them regained themselves as Chromie let them go, allowing all of the heroes to charge at her, where Sunset shifted her stance as she moved, swinging her weapon with lethal grace as her foes fell before her might. This showing caused the two paladins to back away from her, while Tirion held his weapon at the ready and Bolvar seemed unsure of what to make of this situation, though since neither seemed to be coming her way, and were studying her movements, she quickly dealt with the latter with a quick stab of her blade. Once Bolvar was down, however, she raised Frostmourne and pointed it at Tirion, who raised Ashbringer for a few seconds as he thought about the fact that her previous assault ended with the heroes, those who helped take down the Lich King, falling to her new dark might. In the following moment she zeroed in on her target and knocked the Light blessed blade out of the way, showing her foe that her strength was far more than what he was expecting when he heard she had disappeared from her cell, before she stabbed him in the chest, causing Tirion to cough up some blood in the process.
"I told you, Tirion, that you and the traitors would suffer, and so you will serve me in death." Sunset stated, where she let the Highlord perish on her blade before pulling it out of him, something that was followed by her channeling her power as she focused on all of the bodies that were around her, calling the heroes back to serve her as well, and it didn't take her all that long to force everyone there into undeath, "Now the fun begins! Rise and serve your ruler once more, servants of Icecrown Citadel, and bring death to this world!"
As she said that Sunset gathered the power of Death once more and stood in the center of the platform that was in front of the Frozen Throne, where she brought the runeblade down without wasting time and sent all of the power down into the citadel, rising the guardians of the massive structure and forcing them into service once more. Of course that meant a lot of things were happening at the same time, the living that were inside the structure were surprised by the sudden and unexpected revival of everyone who had fallen since the assault began, and that confusion was all her forces needed to begin the slaughter. As that happened her new soldiers descended down to the entrance of the citadel and assaulted their old allies, resulting in the deaths of several notable heroes, such as an orc called Saurfang and another one called Garrosh Hellscream, where her val'kyr ensured that they were brought back as soldiers of the Scourge. She also found that one of the flying vessels that had been attacking the citadel, a metallic ship with four propellers to lift it into the air, was fleeing, to get away from them, where Sunset had Chromie sneak aboard while she cleansed her domain and the rest of Icecrown of the living.
While her forces expelled the living from her domain, however, Sunset opened her new wings and found that, due to her blade's ability to steal powers and the memories of how to use those powers, she was able to fly with ease, allowing her to zero in on the Argent soldiers fleeing from the entrance, which was when her greatest surprise happened and her massive army from the conquered timeline warped in, slaughtering the living in a matter of seconds.
"Come, soldiers of the Scourge, let us lay waste to those defending Northrend." Sunset commanded, where she and her army marched out of where the citadel was located, while the necropolises started to spread out so they could cover the other provinces, meaning she was launching an attack on everyone who dared to attack her domain, though she swung her runeblade and cut through the Argent soldiers who dared to get in her way.
Tirion found that it was just like Sunset told him, and those she designated as her messengers to remind him, those who betrayed her were hunted down like dogs and slaughtered with the overwhelming might of the new Scourge she had put together in her time in whatever place she had spent her time in. Those like him, who stopped her from fulfilling the will of the Lich King, were slaughtered without a thought and raised without delay, forced to serve the one they had annoyed, all while he realized the dark truth that by doing that they had created a darker monster than what Arthas became. Sunset, in such a short period of time, had gained a level of power that was beyond what her former master had possessed and was now a force to be reckoned with, to the point where he had to wonder if anything in this world could stop her, when even the dragons had failed to kill her. Still, it pained him to fight against his former allies and kill them in her dark name, all so her val'kyr could raise the fallen Argent soldiers and press them into service as well, while she seemed to be having fun at his expense, not that he could resist her dark will, not with her wearing the Helm of Domination.
Sunset smiled as the Argent grounds were wiped out by Tirion, the heroes he had trained, and the soldiers that followed him into battle, allowing her forces to raise the fallen as servants of the Scourge, and with that done she turned her focus to the rest of the continent, knowing that it was only a matter of time until her army wiped out the rest of Northrend, then she could focus on the rest of what Azeroth had to offer her.
Twilight took a few steps back from the image that was on the crystal ball she had been using to connect with the spell on the mirror she had used to head to another world, all to get the Element of Magic back, as the scenes she had witnessed were hard to believe. Following her discussion with Celestia, about Sunset's supposed fate and what the Elements might have done to her, she decided to spend a great deal of her time moving the mirror from the Crystal Empire and having it transported to Ponyville, so she could conduct her research. Of course her mentor knew about her efforts, in fact she was the one who authorized the transfer of the mirror so Twilight could obtain it, even though Twilight knew there was only one reason behind Celestia helping her out, she wanted to know what happened to Sunset. The only downside to this was that she was constantly being interrupted by other adventures or troubles in Ponyville, but she dealt with them as quickly as she could so she could return to her search for the missing Equestrian, as she and Celestia refused to believe that the Elements had killed her.
For a while she thought that her efforts were going to be in vain, that no matter what she did she wasn't going to find her target, which made her realize that she was going to fail Celestia all over again, since her first true failure was being unable to save Sunset from what happened to her, to bring back the student her mentor trained all those years ago.
Then, as if spurred on by her failures, she made a breakthrough and discovered a world unlike the one she had followed Sunset to so she could recover the Element of Magic, full of types of magic she had never seen before and creatures she was interested in meeting as soon as she laid eyes on them. Unfortunately, while she wanted to study the world, Twilight had a task to focus on and tracked down Sunset as quickly as she could, finding that the lost Equestrian had landed in an interesting place, a frozen land that she thought was right outside the Crystal Empire, until she realized that it wasn't what she thought it was. The area was far too different from what was outside Cadance's domain, with massive cliffs and sheets of ice, along with an imposing and dreadful looking structure that looked like the citadel of the evilest creature that called the planet home, before her attention was brought to where Sunset landed. It appeared that Sunset had landed at what had to be the edge of a massive grave, as there was a massive undead skeletal dragon off in the distance, before she laid eyes on a being who stood above Sunset, in imposing armor and wielding an imposing sword that frightened her just by looking at it, before he stabbed her in the chest.
Twilight was sure that it had been the end of Sunset, that she had been sent to another world and was slain in no time at all, just like Spike told Celestia, but when she tried to find the world again she discovered something interesting, Sunset was alive, or maybe undead given the fact that her body color looked more drained than before, and it looked like she was being trained by some unholy soldiers.
The scene shifted to what had to be a few days later, where Sunset seemed dressed for war or something, given the blade in her hands, before she found the other Equestrian, who was in a mix of her human and pony forms, fighting beings and killing them with her weapon. It was a sickening sight to behold, blood being spilled, people dying by the dozens, the sky and ground darkening, and while all of that was going on, unless her eyes were deceiving her, Sunset was enjoying herself as she, well, slaughtered everyone in her path. Such a thing made Twilight wonder what sick horrors had been inflicted on Sunset to make her like this, as this wasn't the pony Celestia had trained before her departure to the other world, she refused to believe that this was Sunset, and she found that the horror continued as the figure slew everyone in her way, all while each person killed, in some way, was reborn into an unholy existence. Then came the assault on the beach, the point where she determined that something was seriously wrong, especially with how Sunset used her magic to wipe out everyone who stood in her way, all while her armor seemed to change every now and then, becoming a dark visage as she enforced her master's dark will over her enemies.
She could barely watch when Sunset, well, she couldn't really describe it, since she didn't have any knowledge of the dark arts, but it looked like she was torturing someone with her magic, extracting information from him, and after that she kept killing everyone in her path, like she was terror incarnate or something.
Eventually it came to the point where Sunset lead a force against a chapel and her force was defeated by a light of some kind, some force didn't want her to succeed, and yet, as many turned on the dark ruler, Sunset seemed convinced that her master was in the right and that everyone else was wrong. Twilight found that Sunset was sent to a prison and stayed in a cell for a long time, between four to five months based on her observations, before someone broke her out of it and sent her to some island with a mansion, which was when things started to get weird. She observed as Sunset went to war, not with the world she lived in, like one would expect after witnessing all of that, but rather she invaded other timelines with the aid of what Twilight guessed were time dragons, corrupt ones no less, and continued to slaughter everyone she came into contact with. What terrified her, more than anything else, was of Sunset gaining the power to force those who died to her blade to be reborn, meaning no one was safe from her dark might, especially when she claimed the terrifying blade that her old master wielded and the armor he wore, altered to match her new body.
She couldn't bare to watch as Sunset lead her army of the undead against the living, killing everything and everyone in her way like they were nothing, and realized that she couldn't tell Celestia what she had seen, it would break her heart to learn what Sunset was up to, yet she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread, like something bad was going to happen at some point in the future, and Twilight could only hope that this was one of those times where she was utterly wrong.
With Icecrown totally in the hands of the Scourge once more, and the defenses were bolstered by her army, Sunset set her sights on the rest of Northrend, allowing her army to spread over all of the Storm Peaks once more and ravage the living who called it home, to give her control over the northern portion of the continent. After that she would carefully work her way down to the southern end of the continent, heading to Zul'Drak and Grizzly Hills in the east while wiping out anyone in Sholazar Basin and Wintergrasp, just in case anyone dared to flee to those regions. With that done Chromie and the rest of the Council were under orders to seize the Borean Tundra, the Howling Fjord, and the water south of Dragonblight, all to cut off all possible escape routes, while she would quickly enter a small central province, Crystalsong Forest, and bring down Dalaran. After that she was planning on invading Dragonblight personally, to raise the fallen and take the tower that the Aspects had been guarding in the other timeline, just to see how much more dragon energy she could steal from them in the process, to make her far stronger than anything else in this world.
Of course Sunset knew that she was basically repeating what she had done in the other timeline, which she was fine with since it gave her far more soldiers and boosted the ever increasing might of the Scourge, something that Azeroth's heroes had failed to stop when she revealed her hand to them. Such a thing made her think about all the materials that she had access to, all the metals, ores, gems, and whatnot that she could pull in from all of the conquered timelines, giving her the ability to mass produce necropolises and flying machines, and with engineers she could replicate the machines that both the Alliance and the Horde used to transport their troops. That caused her to glance in the direction that the Alliance ship had flown in, taking it's leader back to Stormwind so they could regroup with the leaders of the other races, likely to ready themselves for the impending doom that would be coming to kill them all. She purposely let that one ship depart with her minion hiding aboard it, just to see what sort of plans her enemies had in store for her and her army, though she already knew that it wouldn't do them any good, as her army would ravage the land until all of her enemies were dead, but Dalaran was able to escape destruction, as it wasn't in the air above the forest.
While her army ravaged Northrend, and cut off all possible escape routes that the living could use, she used her wings and flew through the air with ease, focusing on the tower and all the dragons who were waiting for her to kill them, though as she reached her destination Sunset was surprised to find that only one figure was on top of the tower, the Dragonqueen herself.
"Looks like someone told you that I would be coming and the rest of the dragons let to avoid crossing me." Sunset said, all while landing at the edge of the top of the large tower, though she knew that what the rest of the dragons decided to do didn't matter in the end, not when her forces would find them and raise them into undeath.
"Once you claimed Frostmourne we knew it was only a matter of time until a new Jailer of the Damned was born, and one of our allies confirmed it with their powers." Alexstrasza replied, her tone showing that she didn't seem to mind her being there, in fact it was possible that her time ally, whoever it happened to be, showed her that she had died several times in her attempts to bring Sunset down, in fact she walked up to Sunset for a moment, stopping when they were in the middle of the tower's peak, "It pains me to see so much death, caused by your hands, when you could do so much more with all of your great power... you could have been one of the greatest heroes this world has ever seen, in fact you could still walk down that path if you relinquished your hold over the undead and cleaned up the mess you've made."
"Come now, you realize it won't be that simple, even if I did such a thing and blamed it all on the Lich King." Sunset said, as she was humoring the Dragonqueen at this point, because it gave her something else to do while she waited for her army to fulfill her orders, though given Alexstrasza's power she had a feeling that if the red Aspect came to speak to her during her time in prison something interesting would have happened, "I'm afraid that it's far too late for me to change, not after what I've done to reach this point and everyone I've slain to gain the power to become the next master of the Scourge... at this point, well, it is nothing more than a distant fantasy for someone like me."
"Dear Sunset, of course there's still a chance for you to right your wrongs and become a hero," Alexstrasza stated, where she took a few steps forward, showing that she wasn't afraid of her after seeing what she was capable of, meaning Sunset had to applaud her bravery in the face of a monster that many would cause many to cower, though as she raised her left hand for a moment she pulled it back as Sunset gripped her weapon's handle, "Please, Sunset, don't walk down this path anymore... you can be so much more than a monster."
As Sunset opened her mouth, to tell Alexstrasza that such a thing was a waste of time, she felt something in her head and in that moment she shattered the illusion that the Dragonqueen tried to use against her while they were talking, just by exerting her will over the area, causing her foe to take a few steps back.
"Really? You tried to use an illusion on me... of what, becoming a broodmother?" Sunset said, showing Alexstrasza that she quickly understood what she had tried to do and had broken the spell before it could take hold of her mind, which had to be a benefit of the Helm of Domination, while her statement was due to her foe's position as the Life-Binder.
"Not just an illusion... I sought to change your reality, but your will is stronger than I thought." Alexstrasza replied, where Sunset found that, once more, she sounded sad about what was going on, like she had been hoping to overwhelm her defenses with a surge of her power and awaken something inside her, to create a being who would fix the timelines she had broken to reach this point, "You'll have to forgive my desperate actions to change you into something other than the new Jailer of the Damned... the death of my children always makes me sad, the deaths of my consorts always hurts more than anything, and just hearing about everyone you've killed makes me want to just give up and embrace death. Sunset, I don't want you to walk down this path, killing and raising everyone who dares to get in your way, hence why I sought to alter you in such a way, so you could reverse the damage you've done to the timelines. Yes, using my power to twist you into something else might have been a little extreme on my part, maybe even uncalled for... I will admit that right now... but embracing the good inside you would change everything. You don't have to be a force of darkness, Sunset, as you can be whatever you want: a hero, a leader, a teacher, an explorer, or whatever you set your mind to, just... please, choose anything other than a dark harbinger of death."
"While it is amusing that you would try something so drastic to try and change me, it won't change the fact that this is the path I have chosen to walk." Sunset stated, though as she said that she drew her runeblade out and readied herself for a fight, because while the other dragons had fled, to save themselves, the fact that ALexstrasza stayed behind to make such an attempt to bring her down told her that there had to be more coming, "This world will fall before the might of the Scourge and become a world of death, which means that every living creature must be slain and raised into undeath... and that, I'm afraid, includes you, Alexstrasza."
"I understand, even though I was hoping to help you become a beautiful red dragon." Alexstrasza said, where she took a few steps back as Sunset started to walk up to where she had been standing, as she could see that the figure wanted her dead and that, once that was done, she would raise her as a weapon of death and turn her against Azeroth, before finding that she had reached the edge of the tower's summit, "However, I'm afraid that our time together will have to be cut short..."
Sunset found that Alexstrasza fell backwards and a portal opened behind her as she started to fall towards the ground, a portal that closed a few seconds after she spotted it, though she already knew that there was no reason to trace the magic to where it had originated from, as the Dragonqueen would have fled the moment she landed on the ground.
"This world's version of Nozdormu warned her about my arrival... interesting." Sunset remarked, though she guessed that it was her fault for attacking multiple timelines to gather the power she wanted, before claiming Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination, before sheathing her blade as several dragons landed nearby and shrunk down to their preferred guises, just like what happened when she spoke with Chromie, "What do you have to report?"
"The Sanctums have been cleared, my Queen. The eggs, and their guardians, have gone missing." one of the dragons, a blue dragon who actually wore a female human guise, replied, while the others, being a male dwarf, two female night elves, and even a male gnome, nodded their heads.
"So the living are trying to prolong their suffering, by hiding from us... fine, I'll play their game." Sunset stated, because this would make things much more interesting for her in the long run, as the Alliance and the Horde were preparing their armies and the dragons were fleeing to keep themselves alive, before a red dragon she had raised earlier landed nearby and told her of another fallen red dragon, along with them conquering all of Northrend, "Prepare for the start of our assault on the northern reaches of the Eastern Kingdoms, while I raise the rest of the continent to fuel the might of our war machine."
As the dragons took off Sunset stood at the edge of the tower and raised Frostmourne to the sky, channeling the dark power of Death into the air before sending it all over Northrend, where she found that the dead started to rise from their resting places, both fresh graves and old graves, and grinned as she prepared herself for the next stage of her dark plans.
While Sunset was doing that, and was covering Northrend in darkness, Khadgar and the other Council members gathered in Stormwind's main keep, though in addition to the six of them they found that the leaders of the Alliance were gathering, not to mention the unprecedented arrival of Thrall and the other leaders of the Horde, an emergency war council to address the incredible danger their world was in.
"I'm afraid Nozdormu's vision has come to pass, the Helm has found a new master... one darker and eviler than Arthas was during his tenure." Khadgar commented, though as he said that he found that Jaina, who had loved Arthas before he turned into the monster that eventually became the previous Lich King, didn't know how to react to this news, though he and many of the leaders sighed as they understood what was coming their way, "Even the remaining Aspects have fled, to save their flights from the darkness that has claimed all of Northrend... what are we going to do?"
"The only thing we can do: most of us must prepare ourselves for the battle to come, while we must send a number of our people to a safe location, to weather this storm." a voice replied, where they found that it came from Sylvannas, instead of one of the Alliance leaders, though she was clearly thinking about what she had said, especially since, due to what their allies had revealed to them previously, Sunset had wiped out an entire world already, "The problem is finding a location, or multiple locations, to hide our people until this is all over."
"We need a landmass of some kind that Sunset doesn't know about, and even then we have to be careful since there's no telling what her allies will tell her," Velen stated, an old draenei who had seen far more than most of the people in front of him, especially since he had fled from his home planet when his old friends betrayed him and joined Sargeras and the rest of the Burning Legion, so he was smarter than most people, "Going off world isn't an option, the Exodar is incapable of flight, even if it would solve the housing situation, and Outland doesn't have the resources to sustain all of our people for a significant amount of time... we might have to use Netherlight Temple..."
"I might... have... a suggestion." a voice spoke up, where the leaders turned and found that a newcomer had arrived, but it was something they weren't expecting, as it was a panda creature who had a black jacket and pants on, with a bamboo staff on his back, a pandaren, a race that many thought to be a fantasy, "Forgive my interruption... I was in the market just a few moments ago, buying a few herbs and spices, when I felt the disturbance in the air and came running to figure out what is going on. I have two suggestions for places to move to: the first being the Wandering Isle, a place that only a select few know about, while the other is Pandaria itself, a landmass located to the south of the Maelstrom, which is hidden thanks to a veil of mist."
"She might know of Pandaria, but the Wandering Isle sounds much better... less chance of her finding us." Tyrande said, all while a couple of the other leaders nodded their heads, even though most of them knew that a good portion of their races would die in the near future, since Sunset had to be readying herself for an invasion of the other continents.
The pandaren, Chen Stormstout they discovered, informed them that the Wandering Isle was smaller than Pandaria and, as a consequence, they wouldn't be able to house everyone until this storm was over, so each leader had to be smart as they considered who to send with him. Varian, on the other hand, already had one of his chosen in mind, he was planning on sending his own son, Anduin, with those who would be chosen to continue living, as with the downfall of Tirion his faith in the Light was second to Velen's own faith, especially with the loss of the paladin heroes who served the factions in the war against the Lich King. At the same time he was learning how to be a leader, as he had been grooming him to take over at some point in the far future, so this would allow his son to bring together the races of Azeroth, and maybe even some of the pandaren, into a force that could topple this new threat, especially if Nozdormu and the Aspects were able to meet up with with them. Of course the other leaders had to make such a hard decision in the next few hours, since they had no idea when Sunset was going to start her conquest of the known continents, hence why everyone broke and got moving to set things in motion, before their foe came knocking at their door.
He suspected that things were going to go from bad to worse before they got better, given what he had learned about the new ruler of the Scourge, and hoped that his son was prepared for the challenges that would be coming his way, all while hoping that this was unnecessary and that someone would end Sunset soon... but knew that only time could tell as he and the others got ready for the darkness that would be upon them in the very near future.
Sunset sat on the Frozen Throne as she waited for her forces to be made ready for the initial assault on the rest of the world, as there were more living creatures to slay and she had plans for what to do first, but before that happened she had to do something with the Helm of Domination. She had found that it did gave her control over the Scourge, which was one of the more commonly known powers of the item, though at the same time, when she concentrated her mind and cut out all distractions, she was able to peer into the vast realms of Death, so named the Shadowlands, something she knew about thanks to the information contained in the Helm. She could tell that someone was very interested in her and what she was doing, as she could sense a dark power observing her from the safety of his realm, which she was sure that Arthas had sensed during his time as the Lich King, but so far the powerful being was just watching. It was clear that the dark presence in the Helm understood that she wasn't to be messed with or angered and might be giving her some space, though she did know that, in due time, she'd deal with the figure in some manner, allowing her to open her eyes and focus on the pair that was floating in front of her.
After her first meditation station with the Helm she found two figures, who looked a lot like the val'kyr, floating near her and the Frozen Throne, where she discovered that both of them were blue skinned and wearing armor that had no doubt been forged in the afterlife, as if they were warriors of some kind. She studied the pair for a time and found that one of them was female, who seemed to be far more experienced in the art of flying, while finding that the other was male, had an unkempt beard, and had next to no knowledge of how to fly, as his companion had to remind him of the lessons she had given him previously. Sunset also found that they were hanging around her predecessor for some reason, hence the reason she had this world's version of Arthas stay on the peak of the Citadel with her, patiently waiting for her to speak like an obedient soldier. Since the pair were from the Shadowlands, usually unseen to the mortals of the worlds, she had determined that the reason she could see them was due to the Helm of Domination, given all of the powers that it seemed to possess, even though there was a slim chance that her power was far greater than she assumed and this was due to all the powers she had stolen so far.
Either way she was interested in them and knew that, if she left them alone, they would likely haul her predecessor to the afterlife while her focus was on something else, though Arthas didn't seem to care about them, rather he seemed to be ignoring them, even if one was Uther, his former mentor that he killed with Frostmourne.
"What is interesting to me is that you two are here, in the land of the living, without orders from your leader." Sunset said, because thanks to the Helm she knew that these two, Kyrian to be exact, were those who ferried the souls of the dead to the afterlife, where they would be judged and sentenced to one of five afterlives, which all depended on what they did while they were alive, yet these two came without the blessing of their leader.
"We are here to claim the soul of Arthas Menethil, who you wrongfully raised into undeath." Uther stated, showing that he either didn't understand what was going on, meaning he was a novice in terms of the Shadowlands, or he was so fueled by his desire for vengeance that he couldn't see right from wrong, and his mentor, a female Kyrian of importance, remained still as she and Uther flapped their blue feathered wings, "For all the wrong he has committed, against both myself and the rest of this world, I shall cast him into the Maw, where he rightfully belongs."
"And yet that would break the machine of death, wouldn't it?" Sunset remarked, causing the pair to stop as Arthas stood still, knowing that she knew what he had gleamed during his time as the Lich King and that she already had a even deeper understanding of things than he did, "I thought so. You have a central location, a figure to be exact, who studies the souls brought to it and that sends them out to the rest of the Shadowlands, to the afterlives they belong to... breaking that chain of events would have serious consequences for all of your reality. Oh, and don't even dare mention that raising everyone to serve the Scourge will do the same thing, due to the fact that there are other timelines where I changed something but didn't attack it, meaning those souls would have gone to their final resting place... I would say that I've actually helped your realms out."
The female Kyrian opened her mouth to say something, anything to refute Sunset's statement, before lowering her hand as she realized it was true, there were worlds that Sunset had created, simply to see what sort of timelines she could make in her search for her cursed weapon, that were still alive and those who died there were brought to the Shadowlands with nothing happening to them.
"I... as much as it pains me to admit it, you would be correct." the Kyrian replied, as she couldn't believe that she was even agreeing with the figure in front of her and Uther, especially after everything Sunset had done to claim her weapon, but in that moment she realized that, if she continued to show that she wasn't aggressive, she might convince the being to hand over Arthas' soul, releasing him for his punishment in the Maw.
"Indeed... though I'm afraid that it will be a long time before you two are able to see the Shadowlands again." Sunset said, where she pulled herself from the icy throne and drew Frostmourne, something that surprised the two figures for a few seconds as she made her move, using her magic to pull the female to her so she could stab her in the chest, piercing her armor with ease, while finding that Uther decided to flee, not that it mattered since able to repeat her actions on him in a matter of seconds.
Sunset grinned as she slew both of the figures, the price they had to pay for interrupting her conquest of the world, even if she had done her studies before their arrival, before she readied her power and pulled them back into undeath, which put a darker smile on her face as she added Devos' power, who was the female Kyrian, to her own.
"Devos, you will join my val'kyr and join them in raising the dead as servants of the Scourge," Sunset stated, which was just a stab for both of the figures, one was used to delivering souls to the Shadowlands and was now being forced to raise all those slain into undeath, before she turned towards Uther for a moment, "while you, Uther, will join your student and kill those who oppose me... you need a weapon to do so... maybe the corrupted Ashbringer, now molded into a true weapon of death by our smiths."
To ensure that the Light couldn't take over, and bestow the blade onto someone else, Sunset had used her new extensive knowledge to mold weapons into Mourneblades, weapons of great power, not as powerful as her own of course, that she only bestowed upon those worthy of their power and the position on her Council. Her Sylvannas, for example, had a pair of scimitars that had been transformed into new weapons by the power she granted them, true weapons of death, while her bow received a boost by being remade in saronite, though she wasn't the only one whose blades were given a change of appearance and power. The Council also served as her Mourne Knights, her greatest champions who oversaw the rest of the Scourge, which meant each one needed weapons befitting of their station, hence why she had new weapons made or reforged to fit her new desire, just like how she took Shadowmourne and gave it to Arthas, the old Lich King one to be more exact. Uther and Devos would serve as great members of the Council as well and she already had a weapon in mind for the latter, since she might double as someone who could fight her enemies while raising others, so once she was done here she'd have a new weapon made for her as well.
As Sunset started to move, to dismiss the figures in front of her, she paused for a moment as Kairoz landed nearby, who knelt after shifting into his guise, showing the newcomers that even dragons bowed to her, even if he had been raised into undeath as well.
"Ah, Kairoz, how go the preparations?" Sunset inquired, as while she could easily read the minds of her servants, or use all of the powers that were available to the Lich King, part of her wanted to hear a report being given, even though there was little that was change her current plans to invade the rest of the world.
"Good, but I have some news to share with you: He is returning!" Kairoz replied, something that caused the others to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard him say that, since most didn't have any idea what he was talking about, but, due to all of the things that the fallen bronze dragons had told her about, she had an idea as to what he meant.
In that instant, as Kairoz made his report, there was a change in the air that Sunset felt and glanced to the south to see if they were right about what was happening right now, something that was followed by the ground shuddering for a couple of seconds, a sign that the last of the Aspects was about to return to Azeroth, before the Maelstorm shuddered, which was followed by all of Northrend, and the rest of the world, shaking violently.
"He's back... Deathwing has returned to Azeroth at long last!" Sunset remarked, where she found that the entirety of the world was definitely shaking, the elements screaming in turmoil as the planet faced something similar to the Sundering, an event that shattered the supercontinent that existed all those years ago, and she was sure that the living shamans, as there were plenty left, were terrified of what was coming next.
Sunset barely left any orders for the others, simply ordering them to get everyone off the ground, as she took to the air for a time and headed for the Maelstrom, as she wanted to see this with her own eyes and not have it be reported to her by one of her underlings, before she heard a voice speak.
Pain... a loud raspy voice said, one that sounded like it was in constant pain or had permanent damage to the throat, which, given the information she had on the being in question, made sense since the dragon that would become the mad dragon Deathwing, all while Sunset paused as she felt the image of a hammer striking a red hot plate appear in her head, as if she was receiving a vision, Agony...
This time Sunset could see a bunch of hammers working on a massive metallic plate that was red hot, meaning something had been heating it for a while to ensure people could work on it, though this confirmed her thoughts and Kairoz's words, the Aspect of Death was about to return to this world.
My hatred burns through the cavernous deeps. the voice continued, which was when the workers hauled the plate into the air and, with some doing, nailed it to a massive body that looked like it was in the middle of breaking, where the dragon roared in pain as the plate was attached to his exposed flesh and burned when it came into contact with his still broken body.
As the workers continued to fix Deathwing's body, as that had to be what she was seeing, the black dragon had a violent reaction to having his body pulled back together and fastened into place by the molten plates, as he attacked the cavern he was in, the earth itself responding to his actions. A swing of his tail on the floor of the cavern caused parts of Azeroth to crack, the ground breaking just a tiny bit, though when he swing his massive wings she discovered that a massive wave of water struck the southern end of the Eastern Kingdoms. Upon fixing his neck brace, and striking the ceiling with his head, Deathwing said that the 'world heaved with his torment', where she found that the Barrens cracked in half, part of it lifting up into the air a little as the southern half sunk, and a zeppelin crashed into Orgrimmar when he said that the 'wretched kingdoms quaked beneath his rage', in addition to the Thousand Needles area being flooded entirely. When the last of the bolts were fastened into place, and the plates had settled so his body didn't pull itself apart, Deathwing violently emerged from the realm that he had been hiding in for some time, breaking through the Maelstrom as he left Deepholm, the realm of earth, and she could see the massive dragon off in the distance.
Flames danced around his blackened body as he flew through the air, setting certain locations on fire as the sheer intense heat broke other locations, like a dam for example, and both continents seemed at his mercy as he zeroed in on the city of Stormwind, landed, and roared as he declared that everything would be burned beneath his wings, though as he did that Sunset found herself smiling once more.
"Things have gotten interesting." Sunset remarked, as with the return of Deathwing she knew her focus would be split, as in did she focus on destroying the world of the living like she did in the other timeline, or did she tear down the dragon that was in the process of breaking Azeroth, a world she designated as her domain.
Sunset had a feeling that she could do both, with as massive as her army was, and there was no telling what the return of the Aspect of Death would have for the world as a whole, save for the ability to invade the Elemental Planes, but she was looking forward to everything that was about to unfold.
"Thrall, you can't be serious about this." Jaina Proudmoore, a human mage of great skill, said, as she and the leaders of the Alliance had just learned something from the orc Warchief, the figure who stood as the leader of the Horde, similar to how Varian stood as the King of Stormwind and the main leader of the Alliance.
"Jaina, as a Shaman of the Earthen Ring I must try to help the Elements, even if it is dangerous to do so." Thrall replied, as he and the others had witnessed Deathwing's return to Azeroth, in fact he had landed near the entrance of Stormwind, on top of two watchtowers, and the sheer intensity of his inner fire had burned claw marks into some of the stone, before he departed for parts unknown, "You must understand, this is likely the only chance we'll get to flee. Sunset wants a world to conquer, so she's not about to let the Aspect of Death bring ruin to Azeroth and will likely focus her attention on him and his allies, the Twilight's Hammer cult and whoever else is on his side... this is our best chance to leave for the Wandering Isle, since it seems to be the safest location for us to hide in. While you do that I must head to the Maelstrom and see what Deathwing has done to our world, or what he's set in motion, and try to appease the Elements, or at least calm them until either new heroes rise to save Azeroth or Sunset finishes the Aspect of Death herself."
"I can understand your devotion, Thrall, but it will leave the Horde without it's Warchief." Varian commented, as while he had no love for the other faction that protected Azeroth, and sometimes they fought over locations or even provinces, he was more reasonable thanks to Jaina, plus Thrall was about the only figure he trusted to run the Horde.
"I would have selected either Garrosh or Saurfang, as they are well respected in the Horde, but now they're dead, having fallen to the Scourge." Thrall said, which was a sad day for all of them, given how both orcs were on the battlefield, before an idea came to mind, one that might allow him to fulfill his shaman duties while ensuring that the Horde had a leader, for as long as it mattered since there was no telling what Sunset might do next, "While she has concerns for the safety of our collective people, I wouldn't trust Sylvannas with the position... that leaves either Cairne or Vol'jin."
"While both are honorable, I know Cairne would only accept with the intent of passing the title back to you... provided you are able to return without Sunset finding you." Jaina remarked, though while she didn't like talking as if this might be the last time she and Varian might see Thrall, she had to accept the reality that they were facing a monster that was far more dangerous than Arthas had been when he became the Lich King, so there was a chance he might die during his quest, a fact Thrall was fine with, "Vol'jin might be more realistic, just in the off chance that something happens to you... oh why did things have to turn out this way?"
Thrall and Varian agreed, because they had planned on a lasting peace with the downfall of the Lich King, who had been the greatest threat to their world, but with Deathwing up and about, doing whatever he wanted, Thrall had to step into the role as a shaman once more and tend to the Elements, but before they could say anything a swirling portal opened near them, one made of elemental energy.
"It looks like my ride is here. Tell Vol'jin he's in charge of the Horde, and that I'm sorry I can't pass it on in person." Thrall stated, as the opening of the portal meant the other shamans were gathered at the Maelstrom, ready for him to join them in answering the call of the Elements so they could set things right.
As Jaina and Varian nodded, watching as Thrall stepped through the portal, she could only hope this wasn't the last time they would see the mighty shaman who wielded the Doomhammer, that he would return to them in due time and come baring good news, but knew that only time would tell.
As the Scourge marched down into the Plaguelands, after ruining the realm of the blood elves once more as Sunset wiped out their Sunwell as well, Sunset found that they were able to quickly overcome both the eastern and western halves with far too much ease. Such a thing confirmed what she had thought, allowing some of the living to flee meant they were clearing out all of their domains as quickly as they could, gathering in places they thought were safe until she surprised them and slew those that were in her path. It also allowed her to take over several provinces in no time at all, though she made sure that a portion of her army stayed behind to build up the defenses of their new domains and corrupt the land, just like she had done in the past when she served under Arthas' dark thumb. Most of her focus, however, was on tracking Deathwing, as the dragon seemed to be doing the bidding of the Old Gods, N'Zoth to be exact since C'Thun and Yogg-Saron were dead and she knew, thanks to her own Void self whose knowledge she stole, that even Y'Shaarj was dead, though this was more to sate her curiosity.
As she marched into Tirisfal Glades, however, her advanced force returned with an interesting discovery, bipedal wolf men called worgen, located outside the massive Gilnean Wall that protected a settlement of humans from the rest of the world and the dangers everyone else faced.
"Interesting. Because of my tampering, this didn't happen in the other timelines... at least not yet." Sunset remarked, as the moment she got the report she flew to Silverpine Forest, which was the next province after Tirisfal Glades, and found the massive wall that the worgen had been attacking before her advanced force slaughtered them, where she raised her blade and brought them back as soldiers of the Scourge, "The Worgen Curse... Kairoz, feel like making a new timeline, to see what might happen if the curse was incurable?"
"I see, make an army to bolster our forces even more." Kairoz said, as he understood what Sunset was talking about, even if she was also interested in seeing what sort of damage could be done by altering the curse these worgen possessed and had to live with, and with the power of the fallen Aspects he was sure they could alter it in no time, "Excuse us, I will see to it that your will is made reality."
Sunset said nothing as the dragon disappeared with one of the worgen, leaving her with a force of five that she had used her power to bring back, where she found that they didn't have tails, as odd as it sounded since they seemed more like werewolves, plus their claws and teeth looked sharp enough to do some real damage. They were vicious killers, fueled by some sort of rage brought on by an ancient power, but, like all those who were mad before being revived as her soldiers, they, too, were freed from their rage and found a new purpose in following her commands. Most of their kind were dead, slain by heroes in the distant past, but Sunset was fine with that as she found an opening into Gilneas, which was caused by Deathwing wrecking havoc on the world and even damaging the wall, where she ordered the Scourge to continue to the south as she lead the five worgen into a new land. She knew that if she brought down the wall with the might of her army the people of Gilneas would run in fear, giving them some time to get organized or do whatever it was their leaders decided to do, but since there were no guards on the wall, a fatal mistake, they wouldn't be able to do anything to stop the darkness that was invading their home.
Gilneas, as she discovered, was an impressive city and seemed to be well preserved despite the destruction that had been caused by Deathwing's return, something that was also very impressive when she thought about it, before she shrouded herself in shadows and sent her worgen into the city.
As they made their way into the outskirts of Gilneas, however, she cast a spell to silence her movements as she landed on one of the roofs, allowing her to see that someone important to the city, likely a prince, riding on a horse while a captain walked next to him. Based on what she could tell everyone else seemed to be in their houses, since it was still night out, meaning they were in the middle of patrolling the area, looking for danger that wasn't there and pausing whenever one of them heard something, so their duties would take longer as well. As she studied them, however, she found discovered an interesting fact, there were more people outside the main city, farmers and workers who were just getting up, which was when she diverted her worgen and smiled as they tore into the small settlement, each one easily trapping the people in their houses and workplaces, even if there were only five of them. In the following moments the worgen unleashed their curse on the people in the settlement, clawing and biting each one in a matter of seconds before backing off, where she placed near invisible magical domes over them to observe the effects of their terrible curse.
She watched in fascination as the Gilneans transformed over a period of time, roughly between ten to twenty minutes by her count, where their feet and hands turned into sharp claws, their limbs were restructured to be more powerful, their bodies bulked up to show their power, and their faces pushed out into wolf muzzles. This new variation of the curse made it so they didn't go mad with rage, like those that came before them, but she made sure to use their bestial power to her advantage by sending them all into the city to begin the spread of the curse. To speed things up, since she didn't want to spend too much time in this place, she recalled the information she had gained about the curse from those that knew of it's existence, and quickly altered the attack pattern of her new forces, instead of biting everyone the worgen would knock their targets down, prick a finger, and drop a bit of blood in the mouths of their targets. According to her information the curse was incredibly fast if one drank or took in worgen blood, so by doing this her new soldiers could rapidly curse those around them before moving onward, allowing the newcomers to join in not a few moments later, and the first few to fall suffered as she intended.
Such a thing ended up causing a tidal wave of worgen to emerge from what seemed to be the market area of the city, the section that happened to be the closest to the wall Sunset and her forces had come from, overwhelming the defenders of the city before they could do anything to slow them down. Of course there weren't that many guards out right now, since no one knew what was going on right now, but she watched as her worgen army grew by the second, her forces knocking people to the ground before forcing their blood upon them. The Gilneans struggled as their bestial sides were awakened, fighting against their inner beasts, though Sunset knew it was in vain, as she could see each of them breaking under the pressure as claws replaced hands and feet as muzzles replaced their faces. Sure enough the transformation was quick for the newcomers, who were reborn as powerful worgen and howled to let the humans know that their doom had come, all while Sunset simply let them do it, because it would make things more interesting in the long run, especially since several of the human guards noticed what was going on and raised the alarm.
She wasn't too worried about the alarm being sounded, as it only served to cause a panic that ended with many rushing right into the hands of her new terrifying force, in terms of the civilians running while the guards moved to protect them, allowing more worgen to be made as time went by. One thing she expected was that those who were further away from where she started had a greater chance of fleeing before they were overtaken by the worgen, giving her new force some exercise as more prey joined the hunt. In fact one of the lords of Gilneas tried to stop the worgen with his faction, to give the people and their ruler time to flee into the wilds, no doubt to remain hidden until Sunset and her army departed, but it didn't matter as her new force washed over his forces and converted them in no time. After that she nodded her head and watched as the worgen spread throughout the rest of Gilneas, transforming the rest of their former friends and family in no time at all, and those who tried to flee by using their ships found that it was impossible to do such a thing, as they were run down by her brand new army.
When the deed was done, and morning dawned on a transformed Gilneas, Sunset found that the worgen sought to join the first group that she raised into undeath and she granted their wish, utilizing her great power to end all live on Gilneas in an instant before using Frostmourne's dark power to create a new force of darkness.
"What have you done?!" a feminine voice asked, one who sounded horrified and afraid of what she had done, which only caused Sunset to turn back, as she was in an open clearing near the city, and found a night elf who must have slipped in after she cast her spell, a female elf who wore a golden robe that had revealing edges on the sides and where her chest was, though she carried a powerful scythe and a staff.
"Belysra Starbreeze. Here I thought you'd be with Tyrande and the rest of your kind, preparing for my arrival," Sunset said, though she knew this figure because of the information she had stolen from someone in the past, honestly it was hard to tell who it was after all the people she had slain and raised, where she shifted her stance as she finished her turn, giving the night elf her full attention, a bad thing to have these days, "Should have known that you would have felt something, in regards to the worgen or whatever it was that you felt... or maybe your time ally revealed what I was doing... and that you would have come running to see my handiwork. As for what I've done, I've discovered the Worgen Curse and figured out a way to use it effectively, by combining it with my own power, death, and the Helm of Domination's dark power... these are no longer the worgen you're used to dealing with."
Belysra said nothing to that as she rushed forward and swung the staff at Sunset, who shifted her stance for a moment and shattered it with a single swing of her blade, the fragments scattering as she commanded the undead worgen, and the rest of the newly risen population of Gilneas, to leave and join the rest of her army. After that she quickly shifted her stance again and used Frostmourne to counter the scythe attack that was coming her way, which she knew had to be the Scythe of Elune, a rather powerful artifact for druids, before the pair jumped back and readied their weapons. Not a few seconds later Sunset rushed into battle and swung her runeblade at her foe, finding that Belysra was more agile than one might assume, even though she was a night elf, and she knew it was due to her fighting Alpha Prime, a powerful worgen who nearly killed her during their fight, and she was very skilled with the scythe. Even with all of the talent her foe had it wasn't enough to contend with the power she had amassed since her escape from the Violet Hold, as Sunset was able to overwhelm Belysra's attacks and pressed the assault without giving the night elf a chance to rest or recover, forcing her back as time went by.
The fight came to a quick end when Sunset stabbed Belysra in the chest, mostly her fault for wearing nothing more than a robe that offered no protection, and it wasn't long before the night elf perished, even though it only lasted for a moment as she raised her into undeath, while at the same time extending her power to the Scythe of Elune, twisting it into a far more terrifying visage with the icy blue magic dancing around it.
With Belysra and the Scythe of Elune under her control, an addition she wasn't expecting when she decided to eliminate all of Gilneas with a curse they feared, Sunset started to march out of the ruined land and the night elf followed, though as she did that a group of dragons landed nearby and shifted into their visage forms as they walked beside her. As it turned out the group had a report on Deathwing's movements, as he attacked the goblin island of Kezan by causing a volcano to erupt, a fact that sent many goblins to their death as others fled to another island to escape, only to become shipwrecked. She also learned that several of the val'kyr, of which Sunset had more than enough to supply multiple forces now, joined them while that was going on and raised the goblins into undeath, though they were planning on observing the rest of the survivors and raise those who fell, just to see if the were capable of escaping the island. It also provided them with all sorts of new followers to be added to the Scourge, so they were using the goblins to their advantage to purge whatever was on the island, allowing them to raise all of the fallen before exterminating the survivors, causing her to nod as she sent them back to their operation, so she could focus on her conquest.
As she, her worgen, and Belysra joined the Scourge, who welcomed their new brothers and sisters with open arms, Sunset found that there were several additional provinces for her to take over, ones that she hadn't explored before, though it just made her more interested in what sort of recruits she could find while ruining the world of the living.
With the addition of the worgen and goblins to the Scourge, races that Sunset didn't have from the world she attacked to put her army together, she found that the northern half of the Eastern Kingdoms were easily conquerable, because the forces of the Alliance and the Horde had pulled out after their failure on Northrend. Such a thing meant that the only beings left for her to take out were the native races, such as ogres and trolls, so her army washed over them in no time at all, causing her to focus on other things as she studied the provinces they were passing through. Sunset stopped at the graveyards and used the power of her runeblade to bring those who had been buried in each one back to life, adding them to the growing might of the Scourge, where the fallen were welcomed by her forces as they tore into those that were still living, killing them so she could bring them back as well. Other than that Sunset found that there wasn't a lot to do while her scouts tracked down the exact whereabouts of Deathwing, as she had sent several dragons out to figure out exactly what the Aspect of Death had done to Azeroth, so she could plan her attack accordingly.
When they reached the end of the Arathi Highlands, however, Sunset paused as the Scourge marched into the Wetlands to the south, crossing a bridge that connected the two parts of the continent together, as she spotted some naga, beings that had been highborne night elves before being turned into serpentine creatures, with the lower body of a snake, though the males were more brutish than the females.
"How curious. The naga refused to show themselves in the other timelines... something must be attracting them, but I have no idea what that might be." Sunset commented, speaking to herself as she stared out to the west, her eyes following the naga she had seen, before she found something new off in the distance, to the southwest, which interested her since she had no information on it, "Pull back into the northern half of the Eastern Kingdoms and fortify our position... once I have an idea as to what's going on, and kill some naga, I'll have an idea of what to do next."
"As you wish, my Queen." Mira said, bowing her head towards Sunset for a moment before she and the Scourge marched back into the province they had just passed through, while at the same time she knew that this would give them a chance to contact all of their scouts and figure out what else Deathwing had done to the world.
As the Scourge moved back into the Arathi Highlands, and would soon rest throughout the northern half of the Eastern Kingdoms, Sunset opened her wings and took to the air without delay, tracking the naga for a time as they headed for the new area she had spotted. What she discovered was that they were heading to a previously undiscovered province, one that rested beneath the water with only a tiny bit resting on the surface, a fact that was good for the naga since they were able to breathe underwater, thanks to their gills. Such a thing meant that the mortal races of Azeroth wouldn't be able to follow the enemy force or do anything, not unless a shaman assisted them based on what she knew, but, at the same time, it wouldn't stop her from following her targets, as a perk of being undead meant she didn't need to breathe at all. She also took a few seconds to consider why they were here, as she knew of nothing that would attract the naga, though Sunset figured that once she killed and raised some she would have all the answers she needed, thanks to the powers of the Helm.
When the naga dived deeper, so they could fulfill whatever their dark mission was, Sunset smashed into the water and sunk as well, following after them as she found herself in an underwater kelp forest that happened to be full of life and all sorts of aquatic creatures, such as twisted goblins suited for living in their new environment.
"Fascinating, I never would have expected to discover something like this... at yet, at the same time, I should have known, given how this world works." Sunset commented, though in that moment she found that several of the naga, as in those who had been here before the group she had been following passed through, along with a number of water goblins that seemed to be their servants, gathered around the area she was in.
Sure enough she found that the naga rushed at her and, more importantly, her body wasn't suited for this sort of battle, as her movements were slower than what she was used to when she was on land, but Sunset was fine with that, because it added some fun to the fight. Of course there was a chance that the first one she slew would grant her the power to fight on their level, allowing her to adjust to the water and not be hindered at all, but until that happened she was more than willing to take her time and swing her blade accordingly, finding that the naga were studying her as they sought openings in her defenses. Such a thing brought about their downfall when one rushed at her, sensing that she might be able to end their foe or knock her down enough to enslave her, where Sunset parried the attack and stabbed the naga in the chest, a fact that stunned the others and their servants, especially when she raised her into undeath. Her thoughts proved to be right, all she had to do was slay one naga and suddenly her ability to fight while underwater improved drastically, where she hacked and slashed her way through the naga, all while using the power of Frostmourne to raise the fallen and turn the tide against their remaining enemies.
While Sunset did that she also figured out what the naga were doing in Vashj'ir, the name of the province she spotted after seeing some of them moving through the water earlier, they were gathering in force to capture three Ancients, beings of great power, and corrupt them before unleashing a kraken called Ozumat on Neptulon the Tidehunter. She knew, due to raising Ragnaros into undeath some time ago, after the heroes left his temporary domain, that the figure the naga were after was one of the Elemental Lords, the Lord of Water to be exact, who had been made by the Old Gods to do battle with the Titanforged all those years ago. Since Deathwing was a servant of the Old Gods, given his madness, it made sense that he was going to call forth his allies and wage war on the races of Azeroth, but the naga had found out that Neptulon had no desire to join the mad dragon, so they were here to enslave him and press him into service once more. Sunset also put together what would happen in the near future, Deathwing was likely going to call forth the other three Elemental Lords, Ragnaros for fire, Al'Akir for air, and Therazane for earth, in an attempt to lay waste to those who defended this world, all so his masters would be able to break out of their prisons, or master since two of the Old Gods were dead.
Of course none of them realized that she had already raised Ragnaros into undeath, corrupting his flames, but that left his domain and his forces, something Sunset would have to deal with in due time, but for now she decided to turn the tide on the naga, to take their targets and add their power to her own.
"So, Lady Naz'jar seeks to enslave Neptulon on Queen Azshara's orders... little does she know that she's doing my work for me, opening the way to the prize." Sunset remarked, as it was humorous when she thought about it, that the naga had no idea that things were terrible on land and that someone had replaced the Lich King, someone who was willing to attack all living creatures, including the Elemental Lords, "Come, my naga. Let us wage war against our enemies!"
With her orders given Sunset and her naga spread out from the area she had started in, which appeared to be where the naga would wreck ships with their kraken, where they cut down anything and everything that dared to get in their way, as she did on land with her army. She found that there were some murlocs, small strange creatures that looked like ugly fish humanoids, some gilgoblins, the water goblins, and some sea giants, aquatic giants that loved to sink ships, wandering all over the province, in addition to the still living naga. As the first couple of battles happened she found that the naga were just like all of the other living creatures, they either didn't notice the new deathly nature of those that had been brought back to life or were shocked by what happened to those they knew, but in the end it didn't matter as her new force cut all of her foes down and continued to the edge of the province. Such a thing allowed her to raise them into undeath and add them to her new fighting force, which was starting to wash over their former allies, who were distracted by their plans to capture the ancients and use their power to enslave Neptulon.
When the first province was devoid of life, which was becoming Sunset's specialty, she and her army dived deeper into the land of Vashj'ir before resuming their assault on Lady Naz'jar's massive force, which had been assembled to do battle with Neptulon's forces so Ozumat could seize control over him and his forces.
It was interesting to watch the undead naga tear apart their former allies without a care in the world, in fact most of the races of Azeroth knew they didn't like life and sought to end all things, due to being allied with the Old Gods, but what she was referring to was that the living naga were still shocked by this turn of events. It seemed like all races, no matter who they were, could be shocked with the sudden arrival of allies they assumed were still alive, only to discover that they had been slain and revived by some unknown force, causing chaos among the ranks that she took advantage of. It delighted her to see that even the naga, a force that was seen as evil to most of Azeroth's races, could be taken aback by this, almost as if they hadn't believed such a thing could happen to them, and with each naga falling to their former comrades another rose to join her army. Eventually she found her way to one of the three Ancients that were positioned around the area, a massive shelled creature that one could enter through what had to be air passages of some kind, and inside it she found a number of Twilight's Hammer cultists messing with the creature.
While her naga slew their former allies and washed over the cultists, adding more soldiers to be revived, Sunset drove her runeblade into the heart of the Ancient, slaying the massive creature in a matter of seconds, showing her that the cultists had weakened it greatly, before grinning as she brought everything around her into undeath.
Delving deeper into Vashj'ir allowed her to wage total war on not only the naga forces, but also the water elementals that saw her as a threat to their domain, since she had naga in her dark army, where she confirmed that she had the power to raise them into undeath as well. Such a thing allowed her to slowly chip away at Neptulon's forces as her army sought out Ozumat, because the kraken had to be somewhere and everyone assumed it was moving closer to the Tidehunter's place of residence, the entrance to his Elemental Plane at the very least. Sure enough she found the main force of naga heading far into the sheer depths of the province that had been pulled high enough for people to notice it, with a taller female that had to be Lady Naz'jar, though she hung back for a bit, watching as the naga found the deepest section and the entrance to the Elemental Plane that Neptulon ruled from. Her thoughts were proven right as Lady Naz'jar and her forces attacked the water elementals, clearly intending on enslaving them to the will of their Queen, and she found a massive brown beast swimming through the water, Ozumat no doubt, though she continued to wait as the water shifted before her eyes, the sign that she had been waiting for.
Sure enough a massive humanoid creature, the upper half more like stone while the lower half was pure water, rose out of his hiding place and turned on the naga attacking his kind, which was when Sunset made her move, her forces ending Lady Naz'jar's while she strangled her main target and her kraken, ending them both in no time.
"You have arrived at an opportune time, mortal." Neptulon stated, though it was far too easy for Sunset to tell that he was a bit unnerved by how she effortlessly wiped out the naga that were attacking his forces, all while he was seeing what had to be naga serving her, something that put him on edge instantly, "What business do you have..."
Neptulon didn't get a chance to finish his statement as Sunset leapt at him and drove Frostmourne into his heart, where the force of her attack knocked him into the ground, and when she stood up the necrotic power of her runeblade washed out all over the area, raising the fallen as members of the Scourge, and with Neptulon joining them Sunset headed for the surface, to continue her crusade against Deathwing's forces before worrying about the rest of the living.
Upon her return to the surface, after spending who knew how long down in the depths of Vashj'ir, Sunset found that her forces had obeyed her orders and fortified the surrounding province, and possibly the other ones that they had passed through to get to this point.
"My Queen, it seems that you were successful." a voice said, which came from Mira, who must have been waiting for her to come out of the water while the others went to work fortifying the conquered provinces, before she glanced out at the rest of the Scourge that stood behind Sunset.
"Indeed, even if I've likely annoyed Queen Azshara in the process." Sunset remarked, since the naga queen wanted to take down Neptulon and subjugate him for her Old God patron, while she marched in and ruined all those plans with ease, but, in that moment, she decided not to worry about it as she focused on the next stage of her plan, "Has Deathwing attacked any other provinces while I was down in Vashj'ir?"
"No, but we've determined that he's going to Mount Hyjal next, to raise the Firelord so he can burn down a World Tree." Mira answered, something that caused Sunset to raise an eyebrow as she considered what she was hearing, since she had raised the Firelord not that long ago, giving her two of the Elemental Lords, while World Trees were connected to the Emerald Dream, a version of Azeroth untainted by intelligent life.
"Well, he's going to be in for a surprise when he does so." Sunset said, because she could only imagine the look on the dark Aspect's face when he realized that an ally he 'revived' turned out to be an enemy, something that caused her to turn her gaze towards the naga that were behind her, not to mention Neptulon's forces, "I want you to join the others and reinforce the provinces that are under the Scourge's control, all while tracking down any living creature, no matter what it is, and take them down... I expect the Alliance and the Horde to make a move against us, and I want to be prepared... unless all of them decide to wait for me to deal with Deathwing. While you do that, I'll head over to Mount Hyjal and see what sort of damage I can do to the mad Aspect's forces... and maybe take control of Ragnaros' realm as well."
As her forces nodded their heads Sunset found that the naga and water elementals remained in the water, their domain to be exact, while several of the raised druids approached her, combining their energies to make a portal to Moonglade, which was a province just below Mount Hyjal. With her wings such a thing wouldn't bother her at all, so she stepped through the dull green portal and appeared in what looked like a night elf structure, one that was empty by the looks of it, meaning even the druids were fleeing before she could reach them, before deciding that it didn't matter that much. The moment she was sure that the small province was devoid of living creatures, as everything had cleared out not that long ago, she spread her wings and took off, heading to the peak of the rock wall that was to the north of Moonglade, which allowed her to see the rest of Mount Hyjal. The province in question was definitely one connected to nature, especially with some dryads fighting a number of fire elementals and creatures that were simply killing their enemies, with the val'kyr raising them, and directly in front of her she found a massive pool of lava, with the armored dragon flying above it.
Sure enough Deathwing loosed a burst of flames down on the lava for a couple of seconds, something that caused a faint ripple to wash over the mass before the massive flaming form of Ragnaros burst out of the substance, a being that was like Neptulon, the upper body being more humanoid while the lower half was a swirling elemental mass.
"I RISE AGAIN!" Ragnaros loudly declared, allowing all of Mount Hyjal to hear of his return, causing his forces to cheer while the remaining defenders likely experienced fear with his sudden return, though in that moment his flames dulled, taking on a lifeless color that all of the Scourge took on when Sunset raised them into undeath, as he pulled out a hammer that was his main weapon, a massive one to be exact, "Soldiers of the Firelands, take Mount Hyjal and cut down the living... for the glory of the Lich Queen!"
Deathwing, sensing that something was amiss, took to the air as he avoided Ragnaros' hammer, showing Sunset that he was still capable of such movements, before he flew off as he continued his own task, where this time she found that his next destination was to the south, likely another new province to explore. With the mad Aspect no longer bothering this part of Kalimdor, as she wouldn't call it an assault, Sunset nodded to Ragnaros, who had bowed when he noticed her arrival, before she rushed over to the massive tree in the distance, leaving the Firelord to order his troops around. That was the benefit of twisting him into a soldier of the Scourge, it had spread to his forces as well and now they sought to destroy Mount Hyjal, in the sense of spreading her version of death, instead of burning everything to cinders. Her earlier thoughts about the val'kyr proved to be right, there were more than enough of them to make multiple assault forces, which she might utilize at some point in the future, which caused a smile to appear on her face as a dryad was pinned by several of her revived friends, only to be raised into undeath not a few seconds later.
She also found that the defenders of Mount Hyjal had a couple of Wardens, night elf warriors who acted as jailers, and a few green dragons, though this world's version of Ysera was absent, meaning she knew Sunset was coming and departed before she could be cut down like those who got in her way. What interested her was that the Twilight's Hammer seemed to be interested in an Archdruid who was on Ragnaros' side of the current conflict, Fandral Staghelm according to those she slew and forced into undeath, causing her to bring down all of the green dragons and Wardens that dared to stand up to her. Sunset was also interested in the fact that some of Mount Hyjal's defenders were more like defectors, wanting to bring destruction to all of Azeroth, where she wasted no time in cutting them down and raised them into undeath as well, though with her simple swings she found that there was no challenge in facing her foes. Even the Wardens, who fought quite well against their lesser foes, were no match for her as she cut them down and discovered her target resting in the depths of a barrow, an underground area used by night elves, and Fandral was mentally imprisoned by shadowy chains, a spell she shattered with a wave of her hand.
As the Archdruid realized that something was up, and that none of his allies had come to save him, Sunset cut him down in an instant and raised him into undeath as a mighty ally, putting him in charge of the Twilight cultists she had raised so far, and with that done she headed outside before gathering her thoughts.
"So, the Twilight's Hammer wants to corrupt the Wild Gods, in addition to burning down Nordrassil," Sunset commented, to which she smiled as more information surged into her mind as she considered the ancient power that had hidden itself in the other timeline, one that was now coming back with the rise of Deathwing and his cataclysm, because she now had more targets to hunt down and turn into servants of the Scourge, "Very well, it's just one more target for me to claim in my quest... everyone, spread out and start tearing down whoever is left in Mount Hyjal."
As her forces bowed their heads, confirming that they understood her orders, Sunset took stock of the information she had gained and knew that three Wild Gods could be found in Mount Hyjal right now, those being the wolf aspect Goldrinn, a turtle demigod called Tortolla, and a harpy demigod known as Aviana. Their shrines were scattered over the eastern half of the province, if she carefully divided Mount Hyjal into two sections, meaning she had a reasonable area to start looking for them in, giving her something to do while her forces tore down the living and added them to her ranks. As such Sunset followed the information she had taken from the Twilight cultists, finding a supply chain where they intended on using all sorts of captured individuals as slaves to move supplies from one camp to another, one that brought her to a shrine that was dedicated to Goldrinn. Sure enough she found a number of cages spread around the small lake and camp near it, each one filled with those who worshiped the great white wolf, though as she landed on the small bit of central land she spotted a cave with a powerful black wolf that was stronger than the others, Lycanthoth as her Twilight cultists called it.
It took her all of a second to cut down the Dark Ancient, something that caused the real Aspect to emerge from his prison, as a majestic white wolf appeared outside Lycanthoth's cave, but it was a short lived victory for Goldrinn as Sunset chained him to the ground with her magic, stabbed his heart until he died, and then broke nature as she raised him into undeath, which caused his cultists to howl in outrage.
With Goldrinn being overtaken by death the surrounding area that his shrine was resting in fell under the sway of her forces as well, life fading away in a matter of seconds, all while Sunset freed Goldrinn's followers, even if they died seconds later and were brought back as members of the Scourge. Once the area was cleared she spread her wings and took off, giving her a chance to watch as the army of death was moving down Mount Hyjal's main path, Life's former guardians tearing down all of their former allies as she spotted ogres, dryads, and even a couple of satyrs among her growing army. As they marched on her enemies Sunset focused on the knowledge she had gained and found that Aviana's shrine was on a cliff, with harpies nesting outside a night elven structure, though it didn't look like the Ancient was nearby. Such a thing caused her to smile for a moment as she entered the two story building that the elves had left behind, as inside one of the rooms rested a large egg that contained a similar power that matched Goldrinn's, meaning it had to be Aviana, and it started to crack as she stared at it for a few seconds.
What emerged from the egg was a feminine figure that looked like a night elf merged with a bird, because she had talons for feet with the lower half of her legs looking like bird legs, her fingers looked like talons, in fact they probably were, and had feathers growing out of her arms to form wings, and she even had large white tail feathers.
Like Goldrinn before her Sunset barely gave Aviana time to realize what was going on as she slew the Ancient and raised her into undeath, finding that she, like Alexstrasza, wore what looked like a bra and panty armor, causing her to resist the urge to sigh as the raised harpy joined her army, as it wasn't worth worrying about. With that done Sunset focused on her last target, since she needed to track down the other Ancient, Aviana started to corrupt the area that her shrine was in and also tore down her own children, allowing some of the val'kyr to raise them into undeath as well. Her target, the Ancient known as Tortolla, was located to the south of Aviana's shrine, where she found that the Twilight cultists had chained him with all sorts of magic and there was a massive tainted turtle some distance down the path, Nemesis as they called it. She wasted no time in tracking down her first target and smashed the Dark Ancient into the ground with her magic, allowing her to kill it in an instant, before turning on the magic keeping Tortolla in place, breaking it in an instant, where she used Frostmourne to slay the massive Ancient before he even had a chance to move.
After that she raised him and his followers into undeath as well, allowing the army of death to move into the section of the province the Twilight Hammer ruled over, though they submitted to death and willingly joined her army, enforcing her rule over both all of Mount Hyjal and the Firelands, causing her to grin for a moment as she wondered what the next province might offer her.
With Mount Hyjal claimed for the Scourge, and some of her forces teleported over to begin reinforcing it for when it came time to move against the rest of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, Sunset sat in the main temple that the defenders had used before her arrival, at the head since she was the Lich Queen. What she was doing was going over everything she had gleamed from those who had been slain and reborn as members of the Scourge, though this time she was focused on the information of the Twilight's Hammer cultists, who served Deathwing and the Old Gods in life. There were all sorts of plans to deal damage to Deathwing's enemies, or enslave former allies that were turning out to be enemies this time around, and while she could see they were interested in the Twilight Highlands, and the Twilight dragonflight, along with Deepholm, the realm of Therazane, and Uldum. The last one in the list was the direction Deathwing had flown in after Ragnaros tried to hit him with his massive hammer, where, according to her new information, Al'Akir was planning on either turning the people of the province into new soldiers or killing them if they resisted, while Deathwing himself rested for a time.
The Twilight Highlands and Deepholm were interesting, and she'd get to them at some point, but her focus turned to the third province, Uldum, a land the cultists really knew nothing about, a total mystery unless she asked someone else for more information, and she opened her eyes so she could glance at the assembled group.
"Kairoz, I want you to open a portal back to the Caverns of Time, so I can fly to Uldum." Sunset stated, where she could see that the assembled figures, those who were new to the brand new organization of the Scourge, were surprised by what she was saying, since her predecessor didn't do these things, but kept their mouths shut as she talked, "I want everyone else, save for a few val'kyr, to stay here and continue preparing for the assault on Kalimdor... the chosen val'kyr will join me and raise anything I slay."
"It will be as you command, my Queen." Kairoz replied, something that was echoed by the others as they took a moment to bow their heads towards her, even the raised Ancients did so, showing her that her art of revival forced total loyalty and obedience on her targets, even those that the val'kyr raised.
Since there was nothing else for her to do in Mount Hyjal, not with her forces having seized everything, Sunset got up from her seat and followed Kairoz outside, where he gathered some of his energy and opened the portal to the Caverns of Time that his flight watched over, to keep time intact. She stepped through the portal and appeared in an area that was close to a desert, Tanaris it was called, to which she spread her wings and headed to the southwest, to where she detected a faint magical presence that she didn't recognize, at least not immediately. It didn't take her long to discover something new, a passage carved into the side of a mountain ridge that hadn't been there earlier, in fact her stolen memories told her that it must have been hidden by magic, along with statues carved into the two walls that connected Tanaris to Uldum. What she found were that the statues seemed to be of centaur cat creatures, one unique to this province most likely, before quickly spotting a small caravan that seemed to be fleeing from Tanaris, no doubt thinking that if they went somewhere she had no idea about they would remain safe.
Sadly it wasn't meant to be as a group of small and somewhat ugly looking humanoid creatures, that rode hyenas as their mounts, attacked the caravan, though Sunset wasted no time in landing and drew their attention to her, fear from the the group that knew her and interest from the newcomers. Fighting the pygmies, she was guessing with their name since this was her first time seeing them, proved to be rather easy to someone of her skill, all Sunset had to do was dodge while her foes attacked her, though she used her dark lasso to pull in the caravan when they tried to flee. Such a thing caused them to perish in a matter of moments, much to the amazement of her current foes, and that amazement proved to be their downfall as well, as their defenses were open and she slew them accordingly, littering the ground with corpses and blood in no time at all. It was a replication of what she had done to the Scarlet crusaders when she first started killing the living, minus the amount of people needed to make it a true massacre, but once she was done with her foe she nodded once as she got moving, the val'kyr raising the dead to serve their new master.
It was in the following seconds that she learned that the pygmies were known to capture slaves and deliver them to one of the cities in Uldum, one far to the south, near the water, and that they handed them to a race called the tol'vir, the very same race that the statues were modeled after.
"Things are getting interesting... I think I'll pay this 'Lost City' a visit." Sunset commented, to which she spread her wings once more and headed to the south, issuing a silent command for the new undead to slay everything in the area that they had been slain in while most of the val'kyr stayed with them to raise even more into undeath, allowing one to follow her to her destination, as she suspected she'd find new people to slay.
Uldum was an interesting place, a desert province that had enough water to allow for several settlements and farms, all while having all sorts of structures that were unknown to her, though her focus was on the large city resting at the end of a river delta, one full of tol'vir, most made of flesh since she found a few stone ones walking around. In addition to that she found something else that interested her, there was a large elemental being, this one made of wind in the lower half, meaning it had to be one of Al'Akir's soldiers or trusted followers, meaning he was a prime target for her to tear down in the near future. Based on what she could tell the locals were confused as to why there was an elemental in their city, right in the center to be exact, though it was clear he was allied with Deathwing, at least according to the cultists' information, and that he was preparing to convert them into being followers for his master. If that was the case, and she was sure of it since it looked like he was planning something, that meant his hold over the city was far from complete, though it hardly mattered to her as she landed in what seemed like the military area and cut down the tol'vir before they had a chance to fight back, surprising everyone in the city.
Fighting four legged creatures was interesting, especially since this was the first time she was doing so, but the feeling she felt soon died down as Sunset increased her own experience while tearing them down, along with the fallen being raised into undeath by her single val'kyr. As the tol'vir were raised as soldiers of the Scourge Sunset received more information on how to fight beings like them, as each one had trained for a long time and had more experience fighting their own kind, allowing her to tear her way through their defenses like they were nothing. While she did that, however, she spotted the elemental trying to flee to a citadel that rested in the sky, some distance from the ground, and realized it had to be part of Al'Akir's realm, Skywall, while her magic snatched her target and slammed him into a nearby wall, stunning him for a short period of time. The val'kyr, having watched Sunset for a while now, knew what was coming as she cut down the elemental and raised him into undeath without wasting time, finding that he was known as Siamat, the Lord of the South Wind, and that meant there were three more Lords to take down before cutting down Al'Akir.
"What to do first... do I wipe out all of Uldum, or do I kill the Conclave of Wind and Al'Akir first." Sunset remarked, as that was what she was thinking of right now, which target did she go after first, before she glanced at the two citadel pieces up in the air, as she found another one after looking through Siamat's new information, "Siamat, let's pay your fellow Lords and former master a quick visit."
Siamat bowed his head as he followed her into the air, while the raised tol'vir made sure the surrounding area was clear of enemies, where Sunset rushed up to the entrance of Skywall and burst through it with ease, appearing in a place where the wind responded to one's command. She was standing on a platform that seemed important, since there were three more of them that formed a circle around a central one, one that was far larger than the others were, and it was easy for her to see three elementals the size of Siamat floating above them. In the center she located a massive elemental that was the same size of Ragnaros and Neptulon, while his face was covered by some sort of cloth and he carried a large blade in his right hand, which had lightning dancing around the edge. It appeared that they were talking about Orsis, a town or city located in Uldum based on her new information, where it sounded like Al'Akir was planning on having Siamat head over to it and cure them of the 'Curse of Flesh', but it didn't look like any of them noticed her arrival, which was fine with her since it meant this was going to be her win.
For a second Sunset gathered her magic and shifted her stance, though in the next Siamat watched as she pulled her arm back and hurled her blade like it was a spear, where it smashed into Anshal, pierced Nezir, and tore through Rohash in a matter of seconds before she leapt forward, caught Frostmourne, and drove it into Al'Akir's chest, knocking him right into the ground, only to rise a moment later with her new soldiers.
"With this three of the four Elemental Lords are under my control." Sunset stated, where she and the Wind Lords returned to Uldum, breaking through the prison that the Titans placed Al'Akir in all those years ago, and descended on the land, all while her undead army marched out of the lost city and started to wage war with the rest of the province, which was when a grin appeared on her face, "Let's make it an official order: kill anyone who dares to stand against us!"
Unlike Mount Hyjal or Vashj'ir there was no one for her to face, not after killing Al'Akir and his Conclave, so Sunset floated in the air and watched the new faction of Scourge tear into the living, though part of her attention was on a large pyramid off to her right, one that seemed different from several of the stone buildings around the province. According to her new stolen information it was known as the Halls of Origination, a Titan construction that no one from the outside world even knew about, while the tol'vir knew that it had the power to reoriginate the planet, transforming it to suit the desires of the one who used it, so like how N'Zoth, or another Old God, would seek to bring Ny'alotha. She knew this since the Twilight cultists knew about the grand plan their masters had, or at least the current step, and Sunset, being smart enough to see the connections, figured out the end goal long before anyone else on Azeroth had even noticed the first link. Such a thing caused her to grin as she made her way over to the structure, finding a entrance on the eastern side that would allow one to enter it, causing her to imagine what it might accomplish in her hands or even the hands of those who opposed her, be it the living races or the Old Gods.
In the end she gathered the blue dragons and combined her magic with theirs, creating an impenetrable barrier that she knew would keep the living out of the Halls of Origination, allowing her to focus on the rest of the province, though at the same time she suspected that some living fools were enraging Deathwing and hoped they kept him entertained while she wrecked his allies.
While Sunset was doing that, silently being observed by some of their bronze dragon allies, another situation was rapidly unfolding in the Badlands, where the red dragon Rheastrasza, or 'Rhea' as she preferred to be called, was flying for her life as Deathwing himself tried to torch her. She suspected that it was due to her experiments to make an uncorrupted black dragon egg, even by forcing the black dragon Nyxondra to aid her in her plans, but she hadn't been expecting him to just appear out of no where and attack the province she had been working in. While the mortals were fleeing to several areas, all carefully linked with magic that many hoped the Lich Queen wouldn't be able to detect and use against them, she and a few of the remaining heroes had been tasked by Nozdormu to complete her research, where she was able to finally do so, even if using a Titan artifact to get what she really wanted. According to what the master of the time dragons had told her this one egg, one she would know just by looking at it, held an existence that could be the key to saving their world from the disaster that now plagued it, meaning it was a powerful black dragon, maybe even Deathwing's match.
If that was the case it certainly explained why the Aspect of Death was chasing her, trying to kill her and break the egg in her claws, though fleeing was another thing entirely since any massive magic would alert their true enemy and she didn't want to be the one to endanger everyone else.
The only reason she was still alive was because of a blue dragon that had arrived to help them out, Kalecgos he was called, who used his power to open portals in front of Deathwing's breath attacks, teleporting each one out to sea so they had no chance of damaging the landscape. She knew there was no way for the Lich Queen to ignore these attacks, in fact there was a chance that she was on her way right now, to put an end to whoever was fighting and raise them into undeath, and Rhea wasn't about to lose what could very well be their savior. In fact if this black dragon fell into the hands of the Ruler of Death she was positive that it would bring about the end of their world that much quicker, which was why she was risking her life, and the lives of her team, to get it away from Deathwing, who was relentless in his attempts to take everyone in the province down. Such a thing told her that he either suspected that something that would hurt him would be born if he lost the egg, or something harmful to his dark masters, or he was just annoyed because of the fact that someone dared to use Nyxondra, who was watching from the sidelines, like Rhea had.
As she considered the fact that she was likely going to die here, before being able to hand the egg over to someone who would ensure it would be in good hands, the ground nearby split open as Ragnaros, his flames dulled in color, burst out of the stone and swung at Deathwing, providing enough force to knock the mad Aspect backward.
"Ragnaros! You dare to get in my way again!?" Deathwing roared, showing them that he was angry at being interrupted, all while Rhea regrouped with her comrades, heading into a cave that would allow everyone to escape before someone was able to catch up with them.
"By the Lich Queen's orders, all living must be purged... that also includes you." Ragnaros replied, where flames burst out of the ground around him as he rushed at the Aspect of Death, which allowed Rhea and the others to understand part of the scene, that while the new Ruler of Death wasn't their ally they could expect her to deal with Deathwing, giving them all the time they needed to flee.
Clearly the others had no idea what was going on right now and Rhea really didn't blame them, even her thoughts didn't make a lot of sense when she tried to understand everything, but she wasn't about to waste this opportunity, where she and the others found that Kalecgos was ready. His plan, to be sure their foes couldn't track them accurately, was that he had opened multiple portals to various locations across the world, and even if the Lich Queen's forces followed them back to Stormwind it would be far too late, as they would be gone before someone figured out the right path. Once he was sure the last portal was ready to go, even if it lead to nowhere, the disguised blue dragon nodded and started to usher the rest of the group through the correct portal, while Rhea made sure Deathwing was contained by Ragnaros, which was a fight she never thought she'd see. She found that Nyxondra got caught in the crossfire and crashed into the ground, which told her that the next time they crossed paths she might be part of the Scourge, before she and Kalecgos rushed through the portal and appeared in Stormwind Keep, where the blue dragon made sure all the portals slammed shut at the same time so their foe didn't find them.
In that moment she let out a sigh as she, in her goblin form, checked the egg she had been carrying and found that it was just fine, though in that moment Anduin, the Prince of Stormwind and a rather talented priest, rushed in to see if any one was injured from their mission into the Badlands.
"Prince Anduin, we're fine... and we have the egg Nozdormu said we needed to obtain." Rhea stated, though she knew that her words wouldn't stop the prince from ensuring that his allies were fine, especially since the Alliance and the Horde had been forced to join forces to survive the wrath of the Lich Queen.
"Wrathion... let's hope Nozdormu was right about him." Anduin said, where he was happy to see that everyone was fine, in fact they were better than he thought they would be considering the plan meant annoying Deathwing, before he glanced at the egg for a moment, imagining the figure that the bronze Aspect had seen.
Rhea nodded her head in agreement, as she hoped that this 'Wrathion' was worth angering the Aspect of Death, that they had the key to defeating not only any of the other threats that Azeroth would face in the future, but also the Lich Queen that was slowly taking over the world, and all she could do was wait and see what the next couple of days might hold for them and the rest of the remaining survivors.
With the downfall of Al'Akir and his Conclave, and the death of every living creature in Uldum, Sunset used a bit of magic to mold some of the gold in the main city to form a throne, allowing her to sit for a time as she stared at the newest faction of the Scourge. Such a thing made her think about the arrival of Deathwing and how the provinces that had been revealed all had an interesting force for her to claim for her army, boosting the power of the Scourge with each army she tore down, all while noticing that the Alliance and the Horde were being cowards right now. Of course she knew that they were hiding from her, given her might and the fact that she stood where her predecessor once stood, but part of her actually expected them to do something, anything, to try and save this world from the disaster that was currently unfolding, and yet they were clearly leaving this to her. Sunset didn't mind that, of course, since the more she slew the greater her army became, not to mention that her own power grew as she cut down those who dared to face her in battle, but she honestly expected the heroes of Azeroth to do something about Deathwing.
As she thought about that, however, she received a report from Ragnaros' forces, as the Firelord had traveled over to the Eastern Kingdoms and attacked Deathwing, killing a smaller black dragon in the process, though the interesting thing was that a red dragon fled with a black dragon egg, with some heroes no less.
"Interesting. That egg must be important for them to actually risk themselves like this." Sunset remarked, mostly talking to herself for a moment as she listened to the report, though while she was a little annoyed that the living escaped she was fine with Ragnaros harassing Deathwing, keeping the Aspect of Death distracted for a time, before she focused on the force that was in front of her, "Al'Akir, you and my new soldiers will stay here for a time, to fortify our position in this province, and once I'm sure we're ready we can begin our assault on both the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor... I, on the other hand, have one last destination I want to conquer before we move forward."
As Al'Akir bowed his head, and the new Scourge did the same as well, Sunset removed herself from the throne, spread her wings, and took to the air once more, though this time she headed for the one place that many might not expect her to travel to, that being the Maelstrom. From what she knew it served as an entrance to Deepholm, where Deathwing had been hiding to lick his wounds and piece together his shattered body, becoming the molten figure that many knew about, but she was after something else since she knew the dragon would have left nothing behind. Her true prize would be Therazane and her forces, the last of the four Elemental Lords, along with the Twilight cultists who were likely still wandering around in an attempt to enslave the land to their will of their dark masters. Of course she knew that Deathwing's arrival had damaged the foundations of the Elemental Planes, allowing each one to slip into Azeroth more than they could in the past, so she might have to repair that damage to stabilize things, otherwise she'd have to worry about one reality consuming the other while she was tearing the living down.
It took her some time to reach her destination, the swirling mass in the ocean that was surrounded by a fair number of large rocks, some of which could be platforms for people to stand on, and as she landed Sunset spotted something, Thrall was standing on the other side of the Maelstrom, only he was wearing the attire of a shaman.
"Thrall, I'm honestly surprised that you're here... I figured that you, and the rest of the living, would have fled by now, just to stay alive for a bit longer." Sunset remarked, where she floated down to where the orc was standing and found that he was channeling his elemental energy to either maintain the Maelstrom or speak to the elements, all while noticing the rain that was hitting the area.
"Sunset Shimmer, I do not wish to fight you, rather I wish to aid this world in healing from the cataclysm." Thrall replied, a fact that many of the shaman of the world agreed with, even though he insisted on being one of the few people to be here, so the others could aid in their efforts to flee before the Lich Queen found them, though his mate, Aggra, refused to leave his side and so far he could see that Sunset hadn't spotted her yet.
"Yes, something happened in Deepholm, that much I understand, thanks to all the Twilight cultists I killed." Sunset stated, as she understood the plans that the cult had for this world and she was planning on breaking everything they had planned so far, before she came to a stop some distance in front of the shaman, who she knew was powerful when he tapped into his full elemental power, "However, you and the others that are here are members of the living, and that means that you must die before I do anything else."
Thrall said nothing as he and the other three shamans, Aggra and two others, channeled their elemental energy and called forth a hand of earth that gripped Sunset, large enough to contain her for a short period of time, and before she could even swing her sword he hurled her into the Maelstrom, trapping her in Deepholm to give the living more time before she started her invasion of the other provinces. Sunset, on the other hand, passed through the portal with ease and found herself in a massive underground cavern, one that was unlike anything she had seen before, especially when she spotted a tower that had been shattered, but she instantly knew where she was, as she was now in the realm of Therazane the Stonemother, Deepholm. She grinned for a moment, as while the living would live to see another day she would claim the last of the Elemental Lords and boost the power of the Scourge even more, to the point where the living might surrender to her might, to which she spun around and corrected herself. As she focused her mind she could tell that there were all sorts of earthen creatures for her to take down, such as stone dragons, stone dwarves, a race called troggs as well, and a number of powerful elementals that had to be like the Conclave.
While Sunset debated where to go first, even though she did locate the Twilight camps, she glanced at the ruined tower for a few seconds and knew she had to track the pieces of it down, hence why her magic was rolling all over the realm at the moment, seeking her targets and the scattered pieces.
In the end she started with the Twilight camps, where Sunset landed in one of them and swung Frostmourne, cutting her foes down before they had a chance to stop her or even defend themselves, though they didn't stay dead for long as the val'kyr that was following her raised the fallen into undeath. The interesting thing she discovered was that there was a few disguised dragons leading the cultists, twilight dragons to be exact, who usually had dark purple scales, sort of like when the day turned to night, and she only knew that because one of the now risen cultists had been a dragon in disguise. With that information in had she also learned something else, there was a dragon called Abyssion who happened to be carrying a piece of the 'World Pillar' on him, meaning if she wanted to stabilize the world he had to die, not that such a thing really mattered to her since she was planning on ending him anyway. The good thing about this was that the twilight dragons would make a good addition to her forces, in addition to the elemental forces she would be stealing in due time, and once she claimed the entirety of the camp, with her val'kyr raising the dead to serve her, Sunset focused on tracking down the rest of the camps.
Based on what she had discovered and learned so far the Twilight's Hammer cultists were great at enslaving the elements to their will, in fact some of their stronger members had 'Ascended' forms, those who weren't dragons anyway, but even those stood little chance against her might as she cut them down. Another thing she discovered was that a portion of the cult's forces in Deepholm were stationed in the Stonecore, as in the very heart of the temple that had been the pillar that Deathwing had shattered earlier, so while her forces tracked down all three pieces of the pillar she had another target to wipe out. Of course, before she did that, Sunset tracked down Abyssion, who was an imposing beast, even for a drake who wasn't an aspect, meaning he must have been blessed in some manner, and cut down the dragon before he could even do anything to her, allowing her to raise him as a soldier of the Scourge. With that done he handed over the fragment that he had been carrying for some time, which she stored inside her pack for the time being, before joining everyone else in slaughtering the rest of the remaining cultists, though she knew that once all of the cultists were slain they were move on to their other enemies, all of the earth elementals.
While that happened Sunset spread her wings and flew over to the massive tower, circling around it before discovering an entrance to the Stonecore, though when she went inside she discovered a number of cultists that were surprised to find her approaching their 'sacred site', the area Deathwing had been worked on before leaving Deepholm.
Sure enough the cultists weren't strong by any stretch of the imagination, in fact they were the same as those Sunset had killed before coming here, but there was one powerful mortal that she cut down and raised into undeath, a gnome mage called Millhouse Manastorm, who had the potential to be an Archmage in time. With him and his followers joining her she started to cut down the elementals that were guarding the inside of the tower, such as a large stone worm, a gyreworm as they were called, that she slew in no time, or a stone drake that challenged her to a fight, even if it resulted in her bringing it down in no time. After that she discovered a large stone elemental, a colossus to be exact, that was wandering the halls and saw her as a threat to Deathwing's plans, though while it was tougher than the other enemies it didn't last long either, ending with Sunset killing and raising it into undeath before entering the core of Stonecore. The last figures she found in this place were some insane members of the Twilight's Hammer, plus a high priestess, though through death Sunset was able to liberate them from the madness that their dark masters had forced upon them, adding their power to the strength of the Scourge.
Once the Stonecore had been claimed for the Scourge, even though it was more like a stepping stone, Sunset headed out into Deepholm and found that the risen cultists were following Abyssion's lead, tearing down the elementals of this realm so they could be raised into undeath as well.
"Who dares invade my realm and harm my children?" a loud voice shouted, which filled a good portion of Deepholm for a moment as Sunset tracked it down, finding a large and obese woman made out of stone, floating above the ground with stones rapidly moving below her, moving down to their position, before she locked eyes with Sunset, "You! You dare bring the stench of Death to my realm?!"
"Yes, I do, and you shall fall as well, just like the others." Sunset stated, where she shifted her stance for a moment before rushing at her final target, though this time around she could see that Therazane wasn't surprised by her assault, rather the Elemental Lord sent spikes of earth at her, intending to either pierce her or smash her into the ground.
Sunset was fine with this change of pace, as she had been disappointed with the Elemental Lords falling with her doing next to nothing to take them down, though Ragnaros didn't count since she never fought him, but her fun was only for a brief moment as she slashed through Therazane and downed her, causing Deepholm to shudder as she raised her into undeath as well.
"And with that the four Elemental Lords are now under my thumb." Sunset commented, which pleased her greatly, since it cut down on the number of enemies that the living could ally with in the future, and as she said that some of her forces delivered to her the other two pieces of the pillar, allowing her to restore it and stop Azeroth from being swallowed by this realm, before discovering Kairoz among her new forces, "Kairoz, what an unexpected surprise. Did something happen?"
"We have found an artifact you might be interested in, though it involves heading into the past to claim." Kairoz replied, as he had been studying the timelines, making alterations to create a world of worgen, an interesting turn he admitted, just as his mistress bade him to do, before locating something she might like to claim for herself, "Plus we discovered a new continent to the south of the Maelstrom, a land called Pandaria, which we can invade as soon as Deathwing is dealt with."
Sunset grinned for a moment as she wondered what sort of artifact Kairoz and his team had discovered, especially since he was convinced that she would like it enough to claim it, not to mention a whole new continent, with all sorts of races to fight, kill, and raise as members of the Scourge, and she was actually looking forward to tackling both discoveries.
With the downfall of the last of the Elemental Lords, strengthening the power of the Scourge to new heights, Sunset and Kairoz returned to Tirisfal Glades, where her army was busy securing her existing domain before waiting for her orders to head into the other provinces, though she took her position on the throne as she faced Kairoz.
"So, what's this about an artifact?" Sunset asked, as while she could easily read his mind and figure it out on her own, like her predecessor might do to learn about things ahead of time, she preferred to do this every now and then, since relying on a single method for things was not the best thing to do.
"It is called the Demon Soul, and it possesses the power to control and destroy the flights." Kairoz replied, where Sunset could tell that some of the other bronze and infinite dragons, those who were part of his team in dealing with timelines and her curiosity, stiffened for a moment as they heard it's name, "It was created by Deathwing, when he was still Neltharion, containing the essence of the other Aspects so none of the flights could damage it, and was infused with the power of the Old Gods and even demons. The artifact was destroyed not that long ago, in Outland to be exact, but we can open the way for you to head back to when it was first used, before Neltharion was torn apart by it's power and the madness of his dark masters... you would not only gain a powerful new weapon, but also..."
"Allies. Neltharion, those who fell before the Sundering, and many others." Sunset said, which pleased her, because such a thing meant that the mortals would face even greater danger if she introduced even more soldiers into the equation, even if her sights were also on the land of Pandaria, the new continent they discovered, "Once I defeat Deathwing, and we take out the rest of the living, you and the blue dragons will open the way to this new continent so we can conquer it as well. Do I make myself clear?"
As her soldiers confirmed her orders, because they knew it was foolish to stand against her desires, Kairoz gathered them and they combined their powers into a single point, opening a portal into the past, one that was further back than what she had done so far, and she suspected that it would cause a massive change to another timeline when she was done with her new mission. The area Sunset appeared in was the sparkling city of Zin-Azshari, the ancient domain of Queen Azshara, the highborn queen that nearly summoned Sargeras, the Dark Titan himself, to Azeroth, caused the Sundering, and even turned herself and her people into the naga that served N'Zoth. Sure enough she found a number of highborne soldiers, with demons standing near them, since the two forces were allied with each other, which meant she'd find some satyrs as well, since it was around this point in time that they were made, though before doing anything Sunset made sure that the val'kyr, at least five, came with her. While she did that, however, it was far too easy for her to feel the energy in the air, as in the massive amount of magic being used to form the portal that would allow Sargeras to enter this world and claim it as his own, but her focus was on her target and nothing else.
Sunset's first action was to engage the demon, finding that it fought better than some of the mortals she had faced so far, which was a nice change of pace after everything she had faced so far, and while she had no shield, it wasn't something a death knight used, Frostmourne was more than enough to block incoming attacks and cut her foe down.
What she did after that was drag the demon's soul back into it's body and forced it into undeath, depriving the Legion of a soldier, but it opened so many more doors for her and she glanced back at Kairoz for a brief moment, who nodded as he made a note of her latest desire. The interesting thing was that there was only one Legion in the universe, as in when she created an alteration to a timeline all of the people had alternate selves made, like how there were multiple versions of the Aspects in her army, but the demons, however, only had one life across all timelines. This meant that, in due time, she would be able to steal a portion of Sargeras' army and add it to the Scourge, hence why Kairoz was going to go back and find all of the slain demons in the history of Azeroth, once she was done with her quest anyway, to add another force to the growing might of the Scourge. With that in mind she started to move deeper into Zin-Azshari, finding that there were a lot of statues depicting Azshara, one of the ancient beauties of the world, not to mention one of the most powerful since even N'Zoth took an interest in her during the Sundering.
"Over here, in the shadows." a voice said, where she found an elf wearing a blindfold over his eyes, in addition to a pair of warglaives that weren't like what she remembered from Arthas' memories, which made sense due to the fact that she was now ten thousand years in the past, but before he could say anything else she stabbed him in the chest, causing shock to appear on his face.
Sunset wasn't about to let Illidan Stormrage, he who would become the Lord of Outland at one point, go like this, due to the fact that his power was great and would be even greater later in life, but for now he would serve as a soldier like those she had killed so far. With that done, and another force added to her still growing army, Sunset marched down into the next section of the palace, as that was where Kairoz had brought them, and found demons moving into portals that would no doubt take them out to the battlefield. As such she and Illidan hunted the army that was in front of them, cutting off all of the portals so none of them could flee and cutting down the demons so her val'kyr could raise each one into undeath, surprising the living demons as some fell to their former allies, just like what happened when the living found their fallen friends and family coming to kill them. It told her everything she needed to know, not even the demons knew that they could be enslaved by the power of Death, and those that learned this lesson fell before it could be delivered to the rest of the Legion, meaning it was her secret to use against them.
Eventually she clashed with Peroth'arn, the satyr in charge of the demons and highborne in the courtyard, but in the end he was only slightly stronger than the demons she had faced so far, allowing her to add another satyr to her army before heading up the path that would bring her right to Queen Azshara.
The highborne guards, the royal ones that reported directly to the queen, were far tougher than the other highborne she had faced so far, which was fine with Sunset since it meant a greater challenge for her, though to make it even she made sure to send her army out into the surrounding area, along with most of the val'kyr. Sure, some of the royal guards were able to slip through her defenses, not that it mattered since their weapons bounced off her armor, but she was happy to have a new challenge and not be dragged down by enemies who didn't know what they were doing. Those that fell were raised by the lone val'kyr, who remained near her to ensure her foes were raised once she killed them, where Sunset found herself smiling as she faced the royal guards, as while she was able to cut them down in due time she knew that they were the greatest fighters she had engaged so far. As she did that, however, Sunset spotted the Well of Eternity over the edge of the balcony she was approaching, with dragons attempting to stop the highborne from opening the portal for Sargeras, and in the center of the balcony, resting on an elegant bed, was a figure only talked about in legend.
Queen Azshara was, as the legends said, a beautiful figure with brilliant blue skin and elegant white hair, who wore a gown that was fairer than anything her subordinates and citizens wore, and she was focused on the portal right now, though the moment Sunset stepped onto the balcony she turned her eyes on her.
"Ah, welcome." Queen Azshara said, speaking the moment Sunset moved closer to where she was resting, where she turned her eyes on the mages that were working to summon the Dark Titan to Azeroth, no doubt bought by promises of power or something, while at the same time ignoring the fact that Frostmourne was out in the open, "You are here to join us in the upcoming celebration, no?"
"You could say that." Sunset replied, where she couldn't believe that it was this easy to get close to Azshara, especially after all the information she had gathered on the figure, and wasted no time in stabbing her in the chest, breaking the magic that had been keeping her safe from enemy attacks in a second.
Raising Azshara into undeath, not an easy task to do since her will was stronger than any others, boosted Sunset's power, not to mention the power of the Scourge, and she wiped out her still living guards so they could join her in undeath, mostly to serve her as they did while they were alive. As she did that, and organized the fallen highborne to liberate the rest of the city, Sunset turned her attention on the magic in front of her and noticed a perfect golden disk that radiated power, which had to be the Demon Soul, or Dragon Soul as it was once known as. In that moment, after studying the web of magic in front of her, Sunset decided to call forth her own magical power, all of it this time around, and the area shook under the sheer intensity of her power, causing the four dragon Aspects to pause for a second. It was all she needed from them as she wrapped her power around the Demon Soul, finding that it was as strong as she had been lead to believe, not to mention that she could feel the presence of the Old Gods trying to force her out, to stop her from seizing it, and, at the same time, the Void dagger she had taken from one of her other selves acted up, as if fighting her as well.
In the following moment she pulled out the dagger and shattered it, absorbing the fragments into her blade, like she had done to this world's version of Frostmourne, before raising her hand as the Demon Soul floated over to her position, a fact that allowed her to embrace the power of the artifact. The energy of the Aspects rushed through her body as she did that, strengthening her further than ever before, all while she could feel herself getting taller, by a couple of inches, and most of her muscles bulked up a little, becoming more refined, while her armor shifted slightly to accommodate her changing body. In addition to that she felt multiple changes happen all over her body, just like what happened the last time she took in a lot of dragon energy, as in her hands sharpened into claws with scales on the backside, a pair of horns grew out of her head and coiled until they were pointed in front of her, the helm opening holes for them to fit through, and her teeth sharpened a little. Those weren't the only changes as Sunset felt her hooves break open, becoming the clawed legs that a dragon would possess, or if they took on a humanoid form without losing their draconic features, and, just like before, her armor altered itself accordingly, making her look even fiercer than before.
With that done the Demon Soul shrunk down to the size of a small fingernail sized gemstone that she integrated into the Helm of Domination, right under the blue gemstone, granting her domination over all dragons as well, or rather those that she wished to use her power on. She knew that because a massive black dragon with deep red colored wings roared the moment he witnessed what she had done, where she grinned as she extended her hand and knocked Neltharion right to the ground, forcing him to bow his head in reverence to his new master. In addition to that she also caught the remaining Aspects before they could flee from the area, forcing them to the ground like their brother, before she landed and made her move against them, as she forced each one to assume their visage forms before quickly cutting them down. Just like before the dragons didn't stay dead for too long, not when she raised each of them into undeath and extended that to all of the lesser dragons that were following them, just like what happened when she assaulted the other timeline, and when her enemies came to her.
The moment she had her prize, and then some, Sunset gathered the newest addition to the Scourge and returned to the future, as it was time for someone to put Deathwing and his followers in their place, before she could focus on hunting down all of the remaining living and unite all of Azeroth under the Scourge's dark banner.
Following Sunset's venture into the past, claiming far more power than she originally thought she'd obtain when she made the decision to head back and claim the Demon Soul, she returned to the present of her world and focused on what had to be done next, namely allowing her Scourge to invade the remainder of Deathing's bases. By that she meant having the red and black dragonflights invade the Twilight Highlands, allowing them to run rampant as they slaughtered nearly everyone in the province, as she learned that some of the locals, the Dragonmaw orc clan and the Wildhammer dwarf clan, had fled to stay alive, leaving the rest of their clans to die. It also included attacking Grim Batol, an ancient fortress of the dwarves that fell into the hands of the Twilight's Hammer, and the heart of the cult's operations in Azeroth, the Bastion of Twilight, where the two headed ogre mage Cho'gall ruled over all of his followers, and Sinestra, Deathwing's prime consort, was rumored to be in the area as well. It was for that reason that she sent Neltharion to the province, to deal with her, while both his and Alexstrasza's flights would be tearing down the rest of the twilight dragons, though his children, Nefarian and Onyxia, were in charge of wiping out everything in his mountain laboratory.
She didn't have to worry about her soldiers failing to carry out her orders, as she knew that they would succeed in killing their targets and delivering them into the clutches of the Scourge, so Sunset turned her attention to preparing for the fight she was going to have with her main target. She was planning on taking out Deathwing to ensure the safety of this world, all so it survived so she could conquer everything else, though at the same time she had other preparations she wanted to make before the big fight, which her Council was carefully setting up without the insane Aspect discovering her ploy. There were two targets she wanted to take out and absorb the power of, those being both C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, before in the past she avoided dealing with them to keep herself from falling into the abyss of their madness, but with the power she had obtained so far, plus the Demon Soul, she felt that it was time to claim her prize. That was part of the reason that Sunset broke the Void dagger and absorbed it's fragments into her Frostmourne, in preparation for dealing with the Old Gods that have been killed so far, not to mention one that Kairoz claimed she might find in the near future, but that would have to wait until Deathwing was taken care of.
After readying herself Sunset nodded to Kairoz's team and they opened the way into the past, where she found that it lead right to an ancient temple that had been corrupted by the power of an Old God, a massive one that had an eyeball above it's massive body. This was C'Thun, an Old God who had shattered his prison by corrupting the facility above him, and the being was under attack by the heroes of Azeroth, as in those that now served under her as part of the Scourge, though she emerged without being seen, allowing her to slip into the shadows to observe them. Fortunately she was brought in at the very end of the fight, where the mighty Old God collapsed under the power of Azeroth's heroes, due to the fact that he used most of his power to break through all of his bindings. As C'Thun collapsed, however, Sunset strolled into the area as they fought over the items that he dropped, likely from anyone who had tried to fight the Old God before this point, and claimed her prize, C'Thun's eye, which she channeled all of his essence into.
One good thing about having the bronze and infinite flights as her soldiers was that they revealed all sorts of information to her, especially when Kairoz told her that the Old Gods weren't immortal, so if she closed in on them like this she could steal their power and essence before they were claimed by the Kyrian.
With that done she returned to the present and stood still for a few seconds, allowing Kairoz to open the way to the next target, a massive Titan facility built in Northrend, in the Storm Peaks, though once again he made sure to bring her right to her true destination without wasting time. This time it was a pit in the depths of Ulduar, another facility meant to protect the world from the Old Gods, or whatever it was supposed to do, and resting inside it was the gaping maw of Yogg-Saron, a massive beast that was, essentially, just a large amount of mouths attached to a body. Like C'Thun she could feel that he wasn't at full power, likely because he was weakened from weakening his seals so he could escape from his Titan made prison, where she found that the heroes, now bolstered by the draenei, blood elves, and death knights, were bringing him down. Sunset simply did nothing as they tore down Yogg-Saron, allowing her to weave her power into the area to seal his essence into an eye of her making, before returning to the future once more, this time allowing Kairoz to close the portal without changing it, as she had what she wanted for the time being.
As soon as she was ready to go Sunset shrunk down the pair of eyes, into gems the size of the Demon Soul, before linking them to her helm as well, giving her two purple gems in addition to what she had so far, though she refrained from using her power to raise the Old Gods into her service, as she felt that it might ruin her plans if she did that.
"My Queen, we have conquered the Twilight Highlands." Neltharion said, where he, Alexstrasza, and the risen leaders of the province, as in the cult and both clans that happened to call it home, knelt and bowed their heads towards her, just like all those who fell before her might, while at the same time keeping their heads down until she ordered them to either raise them or head out to fulfill her orders.
"Good, and the others have slain more of Deathwing's corrupt followers... all that remains is drawing him and his allies to an area of our choosing." Sunset replied, though at the same time she smiled as she gathered her power and formed her plan of attack in no time at all, as she would bring the Aspect of Death to Northrend, along with the rest of his followers, to her domain before cutting each and every one of them down.
As such Sunset issued her orders to the rest of the Scourge, they were to track down the rest of Deathwing's forces, as in the bronze and infinite dragonflights would be doing that, while the blue dragons set a trap inside the Eye of Eternity, as she felt some might appear there, before taking her position at the peak of Dragonblight's tower, allowing her to close her eyes for a time as she waited for her enemies to arrive.
As it turned out Sunset and her army waited for a few days before anything happened, making her wonder if the Aspect of Death and his forces were terrified of what was going on, but, as she expected, N'Zoth coaxed him out of hiding to take all of them out, as that was the last living Old God and had to be Deathwing's master. Sure enough she discovered a force of angry earth elementals erupting to face them, even though they were surprised by Therazane's forces clashing with them as the Scourge tore some of the lesser ones part, to be raised by the val'kyr like everyone else. While that happened she also found three massive maws, corruption based off of the power of the Old Gods, that erupted out of the ground to the west, north, and east of the temple and came complete with massive tendrils that dug into the surrounding area, mostly to corrupt everything as Deathwing's commanders prepared for battle. Sunset smirked as she thought about that plan, as it was a good one, but that was why she made sure her army was prepared for anything and everything, as she ordered Ragnaros to take the north maw, Neptulon would strike the west, and Al'Akir had the east.
As for the Aspects and their risen flights, who were patiently waiting, Sunset had them tear down the twilight dragons who came to join the battle, while the remaining forces of the Scourge tore into the Twilight's Hammer cultists who even dared to show themselves in this place.
"It would seem Deathwing is a coward, since he hasn't shown himself yet." Sunset remarked, though she was fine with this turn of events, because even if the Aspect of Death fled she would be able to find him with the aid of the time dragons, to which she glanced to the south and found one of the massive earth elementals, like the one in the Stonecore, marching up to where the tower rested, "Very well, I guess I can play around for a few moments."
In the following moment her Council members, those who were still around the peak, lowered their heads as she leapt off the top of the tower and opened her wings, allowing her to catch the air as she zeroed in on her target, who noticed that she was coming right towards it. Sunset spun around the fist that was thrown at her and smashed into the elementa's face with her clawed foot, causing the air to shudder while she did so, before swinging Frostmourne at the incoming arm that was reaching for her, showing her foe that he was too slow to actually do anything to her. After that she flashed around it for a couple of moments and cut into it's arms and legs, mostly because she could as she waited for Deathwing to appear, as she knew he had to come at some point, before delivering the final blow to it's chest, causing it to crash on the ground it had crossed to reach the tower. Once that was done she walked away from her fallen foe and raised it with her power, adding another monster to her force as the val'kyr raised the fallen elementals as well, before discovering that the rest of the Elemental Lords were done with their tasks, allowing her to raise several Old God servants into her army while taking a moment to devour the maws with her powers.
With that done she returned to the peak of the tower and discovered something interesting, Deathwing was a fair distance from where her Council was standing and it seemed like he was talking about something, but she tuned him out since it wasn't important to her, as her focus was on Mira.
"It would see you were correct, my Queen, the cult has invaded the Eye of Eternity." Mira said, confirming Sunset's prior thoughts on the matter, where she and the other blue dragons opened the portal to the location in question, all while the twilight dragons continued to be torn out of the sky by all the risen dragons.
"Good, time to cripple the cult." Sunset stated, where she wasted no time and stepped into the portal, finding that she was brought to a location that seemed to be a separate space from everything else, in appearance, though it was where most of the ley lines connected, a place Malygos intended to use against his enemies before his death.
As she stepped into the magical space Sunset discovered a number of enemies emerging from some elemental portals, a sign that she was dealing with the Twilight's Hammer, and each one wore the attire of the cultists she had killed since the return of Deathwing. Since they seemed to believe that she had walked into their trap, and thus was dumber than most of them had believed her to be, Sunset decided to decimate them with little effort, using her telekinesis to restrict some of her foes by suspending them in the air, while swinging her runeblade every now and then to cut the challengers down. Of course she never went anywhere without a val'kyr, where the one who followed her carefully raised all of the fallen before their former allies could do anything to stop her or even hurt her, once more demonstrating her power to those who felt she was weaker than they were. Even the head shaman couldn't stand before her might, where Sunset crushed her into the ground before slaying her where she stood, allowing the val'kyr to raise the last of them into the Scourge before they departed for the tower once more, where her newest soldiers joining the others on all the flying vessels.
After that happened she felt the pull of some powerful magic and found that something was trying to pull them into the twisted realm of twilight, a slightly darker version of their world, only to find that it was a larger twilight dragon, where she simply swung her runeblade twice and used her power to hack it into fourths, leaving the val'kyr to raise it as she focused on her true target.
"Let's see how he likes this." Sunset remarked, where she gathered her power and the observers found that it was forming the shape of a dragon's head in front of her, a golden one based on the Demon Soul's appearance, and as she did that she could feel Deathwing's fear as he realized what was in her possession, causing her to smirk as she locked onto the large molten figure, "Dragon Burst Cannon!"
Deathwing barely had time to react as the dragon head fired a twisted beam of energy at his location, punching a hole in his chest, as he had been in the middle of changing directions at the time, allowing her to infect his body with the chill of death as he collided with the ground of the Crystalsong Forest. Of course she knew that it wouldn't be that simple to kill an Aspect that was driven mad by an Old God, in fact she could feel a bit of N'Zoth's power at work, but as she floated down to where the dragon crashed she channeled her other new power, cutting into the madness that had plagued his mind for a long time. In addition to that Sunset let Frostmourne go to work on her foe's body, hacking at his arms and legs, even his wings, as he tried to flee from where he crashed, not that it mattered since her power was far too strong for someone like him to resist, even with a piece of an Old God's power backing him in some manner. With the sheer difference in power it took her no time to take out Deathwing, where she was grateful for the Demon Soul's power, even if it made things far too easy for her, and, just like those who fell before her might, she raised her fallen foe into undeath, cleansing his mind of the Old God's corruption as she added another power to her army.
With the Twilight's Hammer destroyed, the Elemental Lords tamed, and the world saved by subjugating the dragon that reshaped the world after his armor was fastened to his body, Sunset could turn her attention to the remaining living that were left on Azeroth, all while wondering if there was anything left to discover before heading back home to conquer it.
Following the downfall of Deathwing, and the crushing defeat that his forces suffered before being raised as members of the Scourge, Sunset stared out at the rest of Azeroth as she considered her options now that most of the Old Gods were dead, the Elemental Lords were hers, and several powerful figures were under her command.
"With the world saved from the Cataclysm, I suspect that the Alliance and the Horde will make their move," Sunset said, as while she knew that several of the heroes had claimed a black egg before fleeing, due to Ragnaros appearing nearby to clash with Deathwing, meaning it had to be important in some manner, though other than that she had no information on what the living were doing, "Chromie should be making her report on their movements soon... until then, let us resume our quest to take over this world by returning to the other provinces."
That was the benefit of having a massive army at this point, as part of them stayed on Northrend to protect it, part was sent to the Eastern Kingdoms to resume their march down from Tirisfal Glades, and part of it was sent over to Kalimdor to start conquering the western continent. Sunset didn't have to do much while her forces spread over each province, as they were spreading death and decay to the rest of the world while the val'kyr raised anyone that was encountered and slain by her soldiers, meaning she could rest and prepare for the future. Deathwing himself refrained from using his dragon form, rather he used his visage form, that of a buff male human who wore metallic armor that resembled his molten body, and he held a two handed mace that made him look like a dark lord of some kind. Such a thing allowed him to smash through the satyrs and other hostile races his force encountered, just like all of the other forces that were spreading around the world, yet the heroes of the two main forces, the living ones anyway, remained hidden.
She honestly expected more out of the Alliance and the Horde, as she had been planning on them coming in as soon as she took care of Deathwing, and yet, as hours started to turn into days, nothing seemed to change, where Sunset sighed for a moment as she sat on Orgrimmar's throne, as the Horde's main city had been empty and she conquered it in seconds.
"This is starting to become boring... where are the heroes?" Sunset asked, as she knew that none of her Council members, or those who had taken the city before quickly reporting their instant success to her, had an answer and kept their heads down as she picked herself off the wooden throne, which was covered by animal pelts and spikes, and walked down to the center of the circular building, "I know my overwhelming might, and the might of my army, might have scared them, but they were willing to face down Illidan Stormrage, Arthas Menethil, and would have faced Deathwing if I didn't intervene... so why are they being cowards, when the fate of their world is at stake?"
"I do not know, my Queen." a voice replied, where Sunset found that Chromie, at long last, returned to her side, meaning it must have taken her a long time to find an opening to slip through so she could deliver whatever information she had found out, something that interested Sunset greatly, since it would allow her to destroy the two factions, "What I do know is that a pandaren appeared in Stormwind some time ago and has revealed the existence of a new continent to the surviving leaders, a land called Pandaria, which they are planning on using as a safe haven until they form a more concrete plan to survive the war you've started with them."
"A new race, a new continent, and, presumably, new powers to be claimed." Sunset remarked, because while she had no idea as to what a 'pandaren' was, other than a race that resembled a panda bear, just like she had no information on the new continent, she knew that it had to have some sort of power for her to steal before she resumed her assault on the rest of the living, "When are they planning on heading for the continent?"
"Right now the continent is shrouded by mist, but it will dissipate in no time, so the living will leave soon." Chromie stated, a fact that told Sunset all she needed to know right now, that it was due to Nozdormu that the the living knew about the continent's position, because if it was shrouded by mist the pandaren in question likely didn't know where to find it, but, if her thoughts were right, it would be to the south of the Maelstrom, "From what I have been able to gather the parting of the mists will be an aftereffect of the Cataclysm, but had you stayed your hand and kept to the shadows both factions of this world would have continued their fighting for some time, ignoring the emergence of a new continent... however, now that you have beaten Deathwing, it seems that they're planning on heading to Pandaria to either hide from us, figuring we would never go there, or to make new allies."
"No, they're looking for a power that can destroy the Scourge, and, of course, myself." Sunset said, as while she knew that allies would be a good thing for the living, especially ones who possessed powers they knew nothing about, some of them were likely searching for something, anything really, that could cripple her ever evolving powers and her army, to which she turned towards her Council for a moment, "Bring me General Nazgrim and Admiral Taylor."
Chromie nodded her head and departed for a time, allowing Sunset to go over the plan that was forming in her head, as it seemed that they had some time before the Alliance and the Horde made their move on Pandaria, so she was planning on making the first move, hence why she needed loyal commanders to fulfill her dark orders, and it wasn't long before they arrived and knelt as they bowed their heads.
"Nazgrim, Taylor, I want the two of you to gather your forces, board one of the airships from your original faction, and make your way to the continent of Pandaria," Sunset stated, where she found that Chromie returned and used a bit of her magic to create an image of the landmass in question, one that had untouched forests, vast valleys, places shrouded by all sorts of darkness, and who knew what else, and she found both figures raising their heads to observe the image so they understood her orders, "I know my standing orders for the Scourge are to eliminate the living, and we will do so after we learn more about this province, but for right now I want you two and your teams to travel to this new continent, find some of the locals, and 'befriend' them... once we have a better understanding of Pandaria, and the people that call it home, I'll give the command to claim it in the name of the Scourge. Everyone else, your orders are to claim the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, along with killing and raising anyone who dares to stand in our way... Chromie, return to your post and see if you can learn anything else about what the survivors are planning."
As her soldiers and Council members voiced their understanding, meaning they understood her orders, Sunset removed herself from the building and stepped out into the canyon city that was Orgrimmar, as while it was an interesting place it was nothing compared to Icecrown Citadel, or even Stormwind for that matter. Upon overtaking this place she ordered all of the engineers and workers from the slain Horde members to get to work on all of the vehicles that had been left behind after her assault on Northrend, granting her more airships to use to transport her forces. Of course, with engineers from the Scourge and the Alliance, her version of the Horde's vessels were faster and would be far more deadly, while some of her forces made additional changes to the vessels they had stolen from the Alliance, boosting the power of her air forces further than before. That was what Orgrimmar was being used for right now, a workspace for her forces to prepare for the next stages of her dark plan, which Stormwind would experience once her forces conquered it in the near future, hence why she was focused on seeing what this new continent had to offer.
Once more she was silently glad that the Scourge didn't need to sleep or rest at all, as the two commanders got their small groups ready while the engineers ensured that everything was ready for their upcoming departure, and it didn't take the pair long to fly out of Orgrimmar, with the blue dragons opening two portals so the ships could arrive in different parts of the area Chromie had pointed out earlier.
Sunset, of course, joined them and stood on the head piece of Taylor's ship, allowing her to stare at the sight before her, a pristine and majestic landscape that didn't seem like anyone had harmed it over the years, like how both the Alliance and the Horde had damaged their continents over the years. Within a matter of seconds she found all sorts of structures, both small and large, that were ornate and dotted the landscape, as she opened her wings and too to the skies as soon as her chosen vessel was through the portal, before raising her eyebrow as she noticed the residents. True to the land's name she found a number of bipedal bear creatures that resembled panda bears, where she found the males were large and all of the females were slightly thinner, yet they seemed to be wearing some sort of silk or leather attire that fit them, while also working in harmony with nature. Some of the males seemed to be in the middle of making cider, or maybe it was ale since this world did enjoy beer, as they were tending to a nearby orchard and a granary while they worked, though as she watched them she noticed something interesting, there were statues of large imposing figures that weren't pandaren, just another race they would be discovering.
As she did that, however, she felt something beneath the ground of this beautiful land, something dark and dangerous, as in the presence of an Old God's power, causing her to grin as she realized that she had another reason to invade this land, all while making her look forward to seeing what might happen once her forces made landfall.
"This is most troubling... Sunset has invaded Pandaria." Nozdormu, the one sitting near Anduin and the other leaders that survived the initial purge, remarked, though while he knew that a single life hadn't been lost yet he also knew that it was only a matter of time until that changed for the worst, as Sunset Shimmer, the self-proclaimed Lich Queen, was one of the worst monsters in the entire world, in fact she was putting the others to shame with her actions.
"That was the plan, was it not?" a stern voice asked, which belonged to Varian Wrynn, the King of Stormwind and the High King of the Alliance, the leader who stood opposed to the Warchief of the Horde, though he was referring to the change of plans that all of them had agreed on not that long ago, including Nozdormu carefully using his time magic in combination with the other Aspects to hatch a very special egg.
"Indeed. Let her invade Pandaria, seeking the darkness that lurks below the ground... a darkness that will destroy both her and her army." another voice stated, where Varian turned his head for a moment and stared at the figure that spoke, who was a young adult male human that wore some sort of white attire that, if one looked close enough, resembled the scales of a dragon, all while looking like a desert prince's attire, and came complete with a white turban, "Of course there's also the chance that she'll conquer the darkness in question... but it will, in the end, open a gaping hole in her defenses, one we have to exploit to save our world."
This was Wrathion, the very dragon that Rhea and the chosen heroes risked their lives to obtain the egg of before one of their foes, Deathwing, found them and torched them to death, who the Aspects had carefully worked their magic on so he could hatch sooner than he was supposed to, safely they said, and while he was only a whelp, in the world of dragons, his wisdom and power were far beyond that of a whelp. He was the only who ultimately convinced them not to flee to most of their hideouts, like the Wandering Isle, rather most of their people fled to Netherlight Temple, a place far from Azeroth that only chosen priests had the power to access, as it was possible Sunset had no idea it even existed. Of course Varian had sent his son and a few others to the Wandering Isle, to welcome the pandaren there into the survivors and get them away from any potential danger, once more something Wrathion had recommended, just to ensure Sunset was focused on the formerly hidden continent. He wasn't too sure he trusted the black dragon in question, since he had informed all of them that he was the 'Black Prince', indicating that, despite not being Deathwing's immediate son, he was taking the title for himself, and if his power matched his intelligence they needed him on their side, so Varian kept his mouth shut as the remaining leaders thought about his statement.
He honestly couldn't believe that this was the black dragon's plan, give Sunset access to a brand new continent and, if the information was accurate, hope that the slumbering darkness resting beneath the ground, likely an Old God, tore her and her dark army to pieces.
"How are you so sure that it will open a hole in her defenses?" Varian asked, as that was the piece that didn't make sense to him, especially if they were right about an Old God or it's power being buried beneath parts of Pandaria, as Sunset had taken the essences of two of them and this would empower her even further.
"Because someone is watching us, and I intend on investigating... I have a feeling this observer might hold the key we need to save our world." Wrathion answered, where the other dragons nodded their heads for a moment, once more telling the King that they knew something that he didn't know, though right now he was more interested in bringing down Sunset, so he was going to let this slide for the time being.
Varian nodded for a moment as he silently walked out to join the citizens that were fleeing right now, heading to the new safe zone they had decided on to ensure they were safe from Sunset and her dark army, as for the time being his strength was useless and this was the best use of his time, even though he hoped that the dragons were right and they weren't about to bring about the apocalypse with their odd plans.
Sunset stood on the headpiece of Taylor's airship for a time, staring down at the ornate buildings and it's people, who had now noticed that visitors had arrived on their continent and were no doubt sending word to someone to speak with them, and she discovered that it came in the form of a male pandaria, wearing leather armor and a hat that covered his eyes for the most part, while riding on a black serpent dragon.
"My Queen, shall I order the soldiers to blast him out of the sky?" Taylor asked, as while he knew that her orders were to reach this place and befriend the locals, only to later welcome them into the Scourge with the gift of death, he wanted to be sure of her intentions before sending a party down to investigate the new continent.
"No, let him approach. I will speak with him and see how the locals are going to react." Sunset replied, where she knew that the crew understood what she was hoping for, because if this lone figure attacked them, before they could announce their intentions, she had ever reason to tear him down, raise him into undeath like everyone else she killed, and then slaughter everyone on the continent as she dug up their dark secrets.
The soldiers nodded as they went back to their work, mostly to keep the airship afloat, while Sunset stepped down to an area that was more welcoming, the main deck to be exact, which allowed the serpent to fly overhead as the pandaren dropped down onto the deck, where he turned his head ever so slightly, seeing how armed she was, before standing up as his mount came to a stop right behind him.
"Strangers, I do not know why you have come to our land, but do not bring your war here!" the pandaren declared, which told Sunset part of what she needed to know, they knew about the Horde gunship that was approaching from the north half of this province, and yet he chose to come here, to the ship that she was riding on, to speak with her, likely to talk her into leaving this continent, "Pandaria is not like whatever lands you and the other ship come from, as it lives and breathes, but you must be wary of the energy you have brought with you, as the land itself will respond to your passions and your violence."
"Is that so? I'll keep it in mind as we explore this wonderful land." Sunset remarked, where she turned for a moment and looked out at the rest of the province that was around them, just waiting to be explored and desecrated with the power of Death, all while noticing an interesting look in the pandaren's eyes, as if he didn't trust her, "You know, the mistrust that you harbor inside your heart will only cause you trouble... it will eventually be your undoing, that much I can promise you right now."
"Are you threatening me?" the pandaren inquired, something that confirmed that he either disliked outsiders, without a real reason to do so since this was the first time he was meeting someone from beyond the mists, or he had a problem in understanding what someone happened to be saying while talking with him, which was deadly if someone happened to misunderstand anything he said.
"Oh no, I'm just having a civil conversation... if I wanted to threaten you, you would know by now." Sunset said, though in that moment the pandaren froze, noting the scabbard that contained Frostmourne, while taking in her form, one that was made for both war and domination, showing that even he understood that facing her might be a bad idea, "However, if you are having trouble with some of the local races, just let us know... we'll solve your problems, do a bit of exploring, then be on our merry way."
"The Hozen, Jinyu, Saurok, Mantid, Yaungol, and the Mogu... you would kill them all, and maybe us at the same time." the pandaren replied, as if he realized that they were here for a reason beyond what Sunset had said so far, though as he considered the seriousness of the situation Sunset found that she was proven right with her earlier statement, when she told him that the mistrust in his heart, the wrongly placed hatred for outsiders, would lead to his downfall, "I am ending your attempted conquest of our land here and now, fiend, before you can harm Pandaria or it's people!"
Sunset resisted the urge to chuckle as her excuse to invade Pandaria was given to her, as the pandaren rushed at her with the intent to punch her in the face with his fist, where she swung her right leg into his chest, crushing several of his ribs in the process, and used the force of her blow to send him off the ship, where either the fall would kill him or he would just drown, though she made sure to kill and revive his dragon before turning towards Pandaria.
"Citizens of Pandaria, I am Sunset Shimmer, known as the Lich Queen to the living of Azeroth, and I came to your peaceful continent to simply explore," Sunset declared, using her magic to project her voice to all of the province they were in, all while her own forces to the north seemed to stall as well, listening for the command they were waiting for to be given so the invasion could begin at long last, "however, the leader of your special security force, Taran Zhu of the Shado-Pan, just had to attack me and my transport, so listen to my decree: I will deliver the gift of Death to all of Pandaria and it's many enemies. Soldiers of the Scourge, belay my previous orders! Your new orders are as follows: DEATH TO THE LIVING!"
Taylor and his men saluted her for a moment, just like she imagined that Nazgrim's group was doing, even though she was nowhere near them, before Sunset felt both the Alliance and the Horde soldiers, those not important to keep their ships in the air, warped down to the ground without delay. Sunset smiled as she watched as Taylor's group marched into the small village and put the pandaren to the sword, killing the villagers and their guards without wasting too much time, giving their val'kyr a chance to raise them into undeath, just like her soldiers to the north were doing. While that happened she found out some interesting things about the races that Taran Zhu mentioned, as the Hozen were monkey people and were kind of dumb, while having tremendous courage, while the Jinyu were bipedal fish people who spoke to the water, but they had a fierce rivalry between them. Sunset smiled for a moment as she considered the information that was currently flowing into her head, thanks to everyone who was raised into undeath, she could actually use this to her advantage, especially given some of the legends that the pandaren possessed about their emotions.
Apparently they had buried their hatred and anger, quite literally thanks to their last Emperor, which was when the mists came and shrouded the entire continent, but there was a massive flaw in the legends, if a massive enough conflict arose it would damage the seals left behind and release the power that was slumbering beneath the continent.
Sunset chuckled as she discovered that piece of information and acted upon it, mentally informing Nazgrim to raise the Hozen into undeath and send their raised Jinyu down south, while Taylor's group would do the same to their Jinyu and send their raised Hozen to the north. Her plan was rather simple, she was going to form two large armies, each one being bolstered by the pandaren who got in their way, and once they were ready her commanders were going to have them do a bit of fighting near the massive jade statue of a serpent dragon. It was of Yu'lon, a serpent dragon that, according to her new information, represented wisdom, and she suspected that by destroying the statue, in such a violent display, would break the first seal and release part of the Old God's vast power. Once her commanders knew of her plans Sunset spent a bit of time simply flying over the rest of this province, the Jade Forest, and found one of the Saurok, a bipedal lizard that, in her eyes, was more barbaric than most of the races she had encountered so far.
As such she wasted no time in slaying it and raising it into undeath, where she sent it back to it's den with a val'kyr, which would give her another force to use against the rest of Pandaria, before sensing a disturbance in the northern half of the forest and tracked it down, for someone was messing with the souls of the dead. What she discovered were a group of tall leonine figures, wearing cloth robes that suggested that they were tending to the souls in the area, and she watched for a time as they drew the souls of long dead pandaren out of the Shadowlands, to imprison them in either jars for later or in the stone statues to use their Anima to power them. Such a thing caused her to sigh as she landed and drew her blade on the Mogu, finding that while they were tougher than some of the warriors she had fought so far, no doubt to their bodies being hard like stone, her runeblade cleaved through each of her targets and her val'kyr raised them to serve her, which gave her even more knowledge. The Mogu were gathering their soldiers, both the living ones and all of the stone carvings, to find the body of Lei Shen, the Thunder King they called him, revealing another target she would have to take down, but she wasn't too worried as she raised Frostmourne and readied her magical energy once more.
She stabbed the ground with her runeblade and raised the fallen into undeath, the magic spreading out over the area for a time, and with her power over time itself Sunset could bring the fallen pandaren back at the exact moment they fell, to combine their souls with fresh bodies, increasing the size of her army again.
With that done she had the new pandaren and Mogu force declare war on the remaining sections of the Jade Forest, all so they didn't interfere with her true plans, before Sunset made her way to an overlook that allowed her to observe the area that the jade statue was resting in. While she stood there, observing the area, Sunset made sure to hide her presence with a single spell, allowing everyone to go about their lives with ease, unaware of the danger they were in, all while noticing another male pandaren, this one on a red serpent dragon, who seemed to be studying history. It reminded her of her own past, back when she was working to make herself a princess under Celestia, causing her to chuckle, as she had no idea of the true power that had been lurking inside her, waiting to be unleashed on the world, and now she was about to boost her strength even more. All she had to do was be patient as she observed the two camps that were forming, Nazgrim and the Hozen while Taylor prepared the Jinyu, and sure enough spreading Death across Pandaria was working as smoothly as she assumed, as the former lost most of their monkey foolishness and the latter seemed more connected than before, all while preparing to follow her orders to the letter.
Eventually, after about two hours to make sure everything was in order, the two forces gathered near the statue as most of the workers cleared out, taking cover to keep themselves safe from danger, and it wasn't long before both forces lashed out at each other. Sure enough it had the effect Sunset was looking for, she could feel the seals weakening as the Hozen and the Jinyu clashed with each other, on a scale that happened to be far beyond what Pandaria was used to seeing, and she directed the cannon fire of the airships on the statue's base. She observed as cracks formed in the base, both due to all of the damage her forces were doing and the forceful collision of the two races that never got this far in the past, and when a powerful crack started to split everything she gave the command to flee, allowing it to fall on an empty area while her forces observed from a safe distance as the statue was destroyed. Her thoughts were proven right as some dark white and black energy started to spill out of the ground, forming a giant creature that radiated negative energy, which she knew to be doubt, where it had three sharp claws on it's hands, two fingers and a thumb, had four legs that ended in points, and darkened the land it walked on.
In that moment, before the Sha of Doubt could flee, Sunset flew at it and pierced it's chest with Frostmourne, drawing in the power of doubt, a fragment of the Old God Y'Shaarj, into her body, forming a metallic icon above her heart that was of a seven pointed star with an empty core and one black crystalline point, causing her to smile as she wondered what else she might find in the lands of Pandaria.
Sunset stood still for a moment as she observed the corrupted ground that was around her, as the energy of the Sha, the giant creature she had absorbed the power of not a few seconds ago, had painted the ground pitch black while the edges were an eerie white, and even with her doing what she did the minor Sha continued to spread it's influence.
"My Queen, are you... alright?" Nazgrim asked, as while she seemed fine, because her form hadn't changed, he and most of their army were worried that something might have happened to her after absorbing such a beast, even though he was a little surprised the lesser creatures didn't attack them, meaning they might be under her control as well.
"Yes, I am fine." Sunset replied, which was the truth, even though she noticed the new icon on her armor and noticed that it confirmed her thoughts, not to mention many of the stories that had been shared with her by raising the slain of the Jade Forest, there were seven Sha and she had six more to track down, not to mention what appeared to be a heart, before she turned towards her enlarged army, the Pandaren force anyway, "Now that we have expanded the force of our army, a lot sooner than I was expecting, I want you to divide into two forces under General Nazgrim and Admiral Taylor, where the former's force will march into the Valley of the Four Winds and the latter will head into the Krasarang Wilds... Sha, keep up the good work and spread across this province."
"Are we still keeping the living alive, for now, or are we openly declaring war on Pandaria?" Taylor inquired, because while he knew that he had informed the people of the Jade Forest of Taran Zhu's actions, and her response to said actions, he also wanted to know if they were falling back to her previous orders, before she was attacked.
"Kill them all. Spare no one as you darken the land." Sunset stated, a command that was followed by the undead saluting her for a few moments, confirming that they understood her orders and would follow through on them, not that she was surprised to see that since her will was absolute and none of the Scourge could disobey her, "I will travel to the southern province soon, as I can feel one of the Prime Sha, like the one I absorbed earlier, somewhere inside it, and I would like to add another to my collection. After that I will travel to the Valley of the Four Winds and check your progress, as some of the slain indicate that there's a massive wall that separates two of the provinces from the rest of the continent, with the entirety of an army on the other side... I wish to see if the rumors are true before we invade the northern province."
As her forces started to spread out Sunset took to the air and observed them for a time, watching as Taylor's ship headed for the southern province as their leftover forces actually walked over the water to reach the wilds, thanks to the death knight power to walk on water, while Nazgrim's force marched towards their destination. As they did that, however, she spotted the pandaren with the red serpent dragon flying off to another portion of the continent, no doubt to get away so he could survive to see another day, before she turned her attention to the remainder of the minor Sha. They were doing their best to corrupt the rest of the province they were in, plaguing the land with the power of Y'Shaarj, and as their new domain grew the more poured out of the ancient prison that the first Prime Sha had been in for a long time, but there was one thing stopping them, the temple of Yulon. As such Sunset rushed over to the temple and found that there were a few monks gathered in the courtyard of the entrance, ushering in the remaining citizens as they guarded the area, but they were small fry as she found the jade serpent, in the flesh, flying through the air.
It didn't last for long as she drove Frostmourne into the serpent's head and drove her to the ground in the center of her own temple, where Sunset allowed the citizens to watch as she raised their patron into undeath and used the power that was inside Yulon to corrupt her living followers, turning them into undead with relative ease. As Yulon fell into Death's hand, much like everything else Sunset came across, the rest of the Sha got more excited as they corrupted everything in the forest as fast as they could, though those that reached the edge seemed to move into the Krasarang Wilds, while yet another sect slowly made their way towards the highest point for the remaining imprisoned Prime Sha. From what Sunset could tell there was one Prime Sha somewhere in the wilds, none in the valley, supposedly three in the mountain province, and one on the western side of the continent, leaving the seventh, by her estimates, in the heart of Pandaria, the central province that would be the last she checked out.
Her plan was to use the living of the continent against the seals that were keeping the Prime Sha imprisoned, because the fear, doubt, despair, anger, and hatred they would soon feel would weaken each of the remaining seals and allow the Sha to escape for a time, to use their powers however they wished, and by doing that she would be able to pinpoint where all of them were located.
Once her chosen commanders understood her desires they pressed into their provinces and she could practically hear the screams of the living as Nazgrim's forces tore down the living, be they pandaren, virmen, the animals, or whatever else her soldiers found in the province in question. At the same time Taylor's force found more Mogu in the southern province, not to mention some foolish night elves who must have come here in secret to discover some ancient secret or treasure, an idea she could get behind as her forces quickly slaughtered them. In addition to that there were a couple of tauren who fell once her forces clashed with them, allowing Sunset to discover that they seemed to be searching for the same thing, water that, if the tales were true, would give the user eternal life, but, based on what the Mogu were doing, it looked like they had already corrupted the font of power and had broken it. After discovering that, however, Sunset decided to fly into the province that Taylor was currently in the middle of conquering and found that there weren't a lot of people to kill in this place, save for a village at the start of it, a Jinyu village on the western half of the province, and the temple that the Red Crane, Chi-Ji, lived in as he watched over his own order.
Based on what she was feeling it seemed like her plans had been successful, in part, because she could feel the Sha energy starting to seep out of the prison that the second Prime Sha was trapped in, to which she made her way over to it and found an interesting sight when she reached her destination. She discovered that the exterior of the temple was already falling to the corruption of the Prime Sha that Chi-Ji was watching over, meaning it must have slowly been working behind the scenes to twist everything to it's desire, and there were large Sha beasts gathering around the temple. The Crane Wing Order, the pandaren who served Chi-Ji, were scattered around the exterior of the temple, with all sorts of Sha inflicting despair on their former captors, as she found that they were either kneeling or huddled on the ground, none possessing the power to fight against the power that had overtaken them. In addition to that she found two larger beasts, Maws of Despair, that were in the process of spreading their negative emotion to the rest of the province, all from the safety of their base of operations, and there was a general level Sha, an Embodiment or Incarnation, wandering around while commanding the lesser Sha, but the Prime Sha was nowhere to be seen.
Such a thing caused her to head inside the temple, where the Sha actually moved out of the way when she landed and a few even bowed to her, showing her that even these creatures knew who this world's master was, before Sunset found her way to the basement and discovered the Sha of Despair in the middle of it, keeping Chi-Ji pinned to the ground while inflicting despair on him, dealing massive damage by the looks of it.
"You know, if you want to really make him feel the weight of your negative emotion, I can give him eternal despair by raising him as a servant of Death." Sunset remarked, causing the Prime Sha to turn his massive head towards her, where she found that the basement was large enough for him to freely move around in, why she had no idea and she wasn't about to ask why it was designed like this, while finding that he looked nearly identical to the Sha of Doubt, before he presented the figure to her, "Glad we understand each other."
Chi-Ji barely had time to realize what was going on as Sunset drove Frostmourne into the powerful being's heart, where she quickly brought an end to his natural life before reviving him as a servant of the Scourge, but once that was done she turned her runeblade on the Sha of Despair, who bowed his head and offered himself freely, allowing her to absorb his power into a second crystal on her chest armor. With that done she headed outside and watched as the Sha continued to spread over the province, wearing down the living so her army could cut them down, allowing the val'kyr to raise them like those who came before them, all while she turned her focus to the Valley of the Four Winds. As such she left the forces in Krasarang Wilds with the same orders she had given them earlier, spread Death to the region she assigned to them, while she flew into the province to the immediate north of Chi-Ji's temple to see how Nazgrim was faring. What she discovered was that the Valley of the Four Winds was a massive farmland that was used to grow food and, at the same time, convert a portion of items into components that went into brewing beer, but that wasn't the part that interested her.
What held her attention right now was the massive stone wall, easily a fourth of the size of Icecrown Citadel, that rested on the western side of the province, Serpent's Spine she believed it was called, though what really caught her attention at the moment was the large force of bugs that happened to be attacking this side of it. These pests were bipedal, like most of the races of Pandaria, and while one seemed cunning she could tell that multiple in a group were dangerous to their enemies, all while noticing that they resembled pray mantis, in a sense. Fortunately it looked like Nazgrim's force was on the scene as well, as Sunset could tell that there wasn't a lot of defenders in this province, in fact there was no standing army in case things went south, a terrible thing indeed when she considered that the Mantid could break through the wall if they had a powerful battering ram. Such a thing was proven right not even a few moments later as a massive blue beast, an insect of some kind, smashed through the wall and rained stones down on the farmland that the Mantid had been in the middle of tearing down, allowing Sunset to see a massive province with what she assumed were massive amber trees and an army of Mantid that were ready to consume everything in their path.
One Mantid clearly through she was a weakling or something and tired to take her down, where Sunset cut it down before it could touch her, though when she raised it into undeath all sorts of information surged into her head, where she could tell that all of the fear that the living had felt over the last few hours had born fruit, another of the Prime Sha had broken out of it's prison and the Mantid were attacking early because of it.
"Already three of the Prime Sha have been freed, and I can feel the prisons of the other three weakening, while the prison of the seventh seems as strong as ever." Sunset commented, which was the truth of the matter, meaning she needed to figure out where the last of the Prime Sha was buried to break the last prison, and she already had an idea as to where to look for her target, before she focused on the Mantid army, "Well then, let's get the party started, shall we?"
Sure enough the gunship opened fire on the army that was in front of them, blasting Mantid out of the air, while the rest of the army clashed with their foes that happened to be on the ground, though Sunset found that their foes only thought they had a single army to face, which caused surprise to appear on their faces as Taylor's group marched up a path to the left of the wall and crashed into their side. The Mantid were further surprised as her army revealed their next card, where the val'kyr raised the fallen into undeath and Sunset turned the newly revived Mantid on their former allies, tearing them down while more and more flocked into the Valley of the Four Winds. While they did that she rushed through the air and swung Frostmourne into the massive head of the siege insect, the Kunchong as the insect race called them, which came as a surprise to the Mantid as she downed the beast and raised it into undeath as well, even if she pulled it back to watch the fight between it's former allies and it's new brothers and sisters. Her intent was for the Kunchong, the Colossus as many of the Mantid called it, to act as a buffer in case more of it's kind came through the opening, while her actions would cause a great deal of them to worry about challenging this undead host, but for the time being their fear was driving them to die in the name of their Empress, so Sunset's army was just growing as time went on.
As the moments ticked by she found that her forces swelled due to the foolishness of the Mantid swarm, allowing her to sit back and observe her handiwork for awhile, as she enjoyed watching her forces tear all of their enemies to pieces, but, in the end, she had business to attend to and called forth her commanders for a few seconds.
"General Nazgrim, I want you, your forces, and seventy-five percent of our army to stay here, collecting resources from the Mantid Empire." Sunset stated, where the orc commander nodded his head, confirming that he understood her orders on the matter, before she turned to face Taylor, who was interested in what his force would be doing next, "Admiral Taylor, you and your forces, along with the remaining fourth of our army, will be joining me as I head to Kun-Lai Summit, where we will find more of the living to slay... and, at the same time, we'll be able to flank the Mantid army without them even knowing what's coming their way."
As Taylor nodded his head and got to work figuring out which soldiers would be following them, as she wanted one soldier from each conquered race, Sunset grinned as she turned her head to the north, because she was curious as to what she might find in the mountains and which Sha she would free next.
Once Taylor had figured out who would be joining them on their venture to Kun-Lai Summit, exactly one fourth of the army that had been put together at the time the command had been given, Sunset began the death march towards the fourth zone she was interested in exploring. Part of their force would be flying around the edge of the mountain, the eastern side so they didn't tip their hand to the Mantid swarm that was in the Dread Wastes, while she and everyone else would pass through a hidden passage, one several pandaren knew about and she obtained that knowledge when she raised them into undeath. According to the information part of the path would take them through the Veiled Stair, a not so hidden place that was traveled by many, hence the stairs at the base of the mountain in the Valley of the Four Winds, traveled by many while no one really lived in this province, save for a tavern that she ransacked. Other than that she found a cave system infested with Saurok, where a portion of Taylor's forces surged through it and slaughtered their enemies with ease, allowing them to be risen as soldiers of the Scourge, which vastly improved their intelligence and fighting capabilities.
When she found the passage, connected to a river, Sunset discovered that there were more Saurok in the mountains and ordered the entire area to be cleansed, which her forces did without delay as her val'kyr raised the fallen once more, but as she did that she discovered something interesting, the pandaren village at the end of the passage was under attack.
"Would you look at that, someone is doing my job for me... I don't know if I should be flattered or mildly annoyed." Sunset remarked, where she decided to have her army stay back for a moment as she flew up into the air to get a better look at the situation she had discovered, only to find that bipedal yak people, most of them close to orcs in terms of muscles, who were in the middle of dealing with some archers, "Either way, these Yaungol are as good as dead."
In that moment her army emerged from the passage and invaded Kun-Lai Summit, where at first the pandaren cheered, as if they thought reinforcements had arrived to save them, but screams of terror erupted from everyone as her soldiers slaughtered them and the val'kyr raised them as soldiers of Death. Sunset started them off by landing in front of the force of Yaungol and swung her runeblade at a few of them, cutting them down in seconds as she realized that she was much stronger than her enemies, hence why her predecessor was able to beat the heroes of Azeroth and only lost to a trick, a trait she shared with him. She sighed after thinking about that, after realizing that there were no worthy foes that could give her a challenge, before drawing back as the val'kyr got to work and sent the raised Yaungol at their former allies, just like what happened in the past, allowing her to watch as her forces started to spread out over Kun-Lai Summit. Of course she had several targets that needed to be taken care of, namely the Jinyu village that was near the one she had invaded just now, not to mention the temple of another powerful beast that needed to be converted to Death, to join the others in tearing into the Mantid, before she worried about the Shado-Pan's base of operations.
Sunset knew that Taran Zhu wasn't dead, no he was too stubborn to be slain by sending him off the airship, and based on what she understood he must have retreated to the fortress he ruled over, to make sure they were ready for when she arrived to free the rest of the Sha. She knew that three were here, in this province, and since she found Doubt and Despair already, while having a glimpse as to where Fear rested, she felt that the other three were Anger, Hatred, and Violence, a fact that made her wonder about the seventh Prime Sha once more. Based on the other Sha, and what she had gathered from all of the pandaren she had slain and raised, giving her access to various stories even though part of her wanted to kill that one figure with the red serpent, she suspected that the last one was Pride. To Sunset it made sense, given that she could feel that the prison of the last Sha and knew that it was stronger than the others that came before it, meaning it had be to something as potent as Pride, though she suspected that once she claimed the remaining four she'd be able to find the last prison and end her assault on Pandaria.
By the time her forces cleared out the first portion of Kun-Lai Summit, crushing both the Yaungol and the Jinyu, Sunset set her sights on the Yaungol camps that were spread around the province and focused on taking them down, even though she also knew there was a few Hozen camps and an area full of Mogu statues. Her forces didn't need to be told what to do in this situation, they slaughtered the living, raised the fallen to serve their new master, and the Mogu were forced to join the other races as well, she wasn't about to left them off easy. While they did that, however, she stood in an area that was to the west of the passage her forces used to reach the summit and stared at a massive golden door that was sealed, the entrance to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, a sacred place she would invade in due time. To open the door she needed all four August Celestials that called Pandaria home to pour a bit of their power into it, and while she had Yulon and Chi-ji she also needed Xuen, the White Tiger of this province, and Niuzao, the Black Ox of Townlong Steppes.
Of course she didn't have to do that, since she had wings and could easily fly over it, just like she could send the airship over it as well, but part of her figured that she'd take everything else before worrying about the sealed province, sort of like a prize she guessed.
As such Sunset turned her focus on the Temple of the White Tiger, on the eastern side of the province, where she found a sight that interested her, there was a large tiger, who almost looked like energy, who had to be Xuen, while standing near him were his followers, meaning he knew of her coming and was ready for her assault. With that in mind her forces came with just a thought, allowing her to pit them against the monks of the temple as she rushed at Xuen, knocking him off the side so they could fight in an area that was larger for someone like him, just to add a bit of fairness to the fight. She found that Xuen was fast, especially taking his size into consideration, and that he preferred to jump around to give himself a far better vantage point as he rushed back at her, a worthwhile strategy when she considered it, but such a thing left him open to attacks. It was for that reason that she studied Xuen's attack patterns before lashing out at him from below when he tried it again, unleashing a thrust attack from his blind spot that pierced his heart, something that allowed her to end his life and raise the third of the four August Celestials into undeath.
His death and rebirth, however, shattered the resolve of his monks and Sunset's forces tore them down with ease, though she discovered that one of the Prime Sha was actually imprisoned here, Anger to be exact, while Xuen confirmed that both Hatred and Violence were located in the Shado-Pan Monastery. As such her first action was to track down the prison of the first Prime Sha and found that it was located below the center of Xuen's temple, sort of like how Doubt was near Yulon's and Despair had been in Chi-Ji's, and she activated her power once she came to a stop. Sure enough she felt the prison break as another massive Sha emerged in the center of the chamber, corrupting the entirety of Xuen's temple as a number of lesser Sha emerged to spread their darkness across Kun-Lai Summit. The Sha of Anger stared at her for a moment, feeling her own power and the fragments of the other Prime Sha she had absorbed, before offering her his power, allowing the Sha to surge into her as he made a third crystal on her armor, causing Sunset to grin for a moment as she turned towards her next target, Taran Zhu's monastery.
As Sunset marched across the mountain range her forces resumed the slaughter of the living that were here, ending all sorts of Yaungol, slaughtering small creatures known as Grummles, which apparently were troggs changed by Pandaria's waters to be the more intelligent beings her forces discovered, and even trolls from the Zandalari Empire. With the fierce Yaungols and the warlike Mogu, combined with the other races she was forcing to serve her, the living of Pandaria didn't stand much of a chance against her terrible might, and even the few Shado-Pan she discovered fell before her might, including the small villages they were trying to protect. Even the massive yeti beasts of this province, fueled by rage after eating certain berries, stood no chance against her might as her army tore them down, adding to her forces as she marched up the path that she knew would lead to the monastery, confirmed by her own powers and the Grummle guides. It wasn't long before they found her target, the massive structure that was almost as impressive as Xuen's temple, where her army spread out to surround the place so no one could escape, even though she suspected that if a Sha tried to flee it would be able to do so, not unless one offered themselves to her.
This time she entered the monastery on her own, save for a val'kyr that was following her, and she found a force of Shado-Pan waiting at the entrance, likely having been prepared by Taran Zhu after he survived their previous encounter, but they were nothing compared to her might. It wasn't because she was the Lich Queen and her strength was far greater than most of the people of Azeroth, rather it was due to these guys being either trainees or powerful initiates who had never seen a real fight before, as she slaughtered them with ease as she exited the first of the buildings. Sunset discovered that there were four total buildings in this monastery before she reached the end of it, an area where she could see Taran Zhu being tormented by the power of one of the Prime Sha, Hatred to be exact, while the building before that area house Violence, a being who was tearing through his own barrier. In addition to that she could feel all of the lesser Sha spreading all over the monastery, using their powers to torment the pandaren who guarded their Prime versions while corrupting the ground that was all around them, though she paid little attention to the figure that challenged her, as he was cut down in an instant and his onyx serpent shared his fate, of being raised like the rest of the pandaren she had slain so far.
In the next building she found the lesser Sha tearing through the defenders and spreading their corruption to the rest of the area, though they bowed to her and allowed her to pass, causing the remainder of the Shado-Pan to see her as a true threat to the peace that their order seemed to strive for. There were archers waiting on some of the roofs, where Sunset just caught all of the arrows with her magic and sent them back to their owners, ending their lives in a matter of seconds, and as she entered another building her val'kyr continued her work. Inside the building she found a teacher pandaren and his trainees, where the former was displeased with her breaking the seals that kept the Sha contained in their prisons, a fact that was echoed by all of the other pandaren that were around her, and Sunset found that they assaulted her at the same time. Instead of wasting time with them she summoned the chill of winter, another death knight power, which was a barrier of chilly wind that cut into her enemies and slew the Shado-Pan that were around her, including the remaining two that were the best of the best.
As the val'kyr raised them Sunset walked up to where the teacher pandaren was standing and found that he tried to fight her, swinging his fists at her in an attempt to take her down, where she parried them with her claws, figuring she'd see the strength of a monk for herself, and once she was done he was cut down with Frostmourne.
After that it was a simple matter for her to walk outside, followed by the trainer and his risen students, now members of the Scourge, and found that the Sha that were in front of her bowed their heads as she passed, allowing them to spread their corruption without being interrupted by heroes. Sunset crossed over the bridge that was in front of her and walked into the last of the buildings, where she found the Sha of Violence had broken out of the prison it had been trapped in for a long time, and, just like the other Prime Sha, it seemed to sense her intent and offered her the power it commanded, as a fourth crystal appeared on her chest armor. With that done she headed through the last door and made her way over to the area that Taran Zhu was currently waiting in, who was either bathing in the energies of the Sha of Hatred or was being possessed by the creature, as punishment for keeping it and the others contained for so long. In the end she didn't care which answer was correct and which one was wrong, as she was here for the fifth Prime Sha and nothing else, all so she and her army could advance into Townlong Steppes and take out the last of the August Celestials, before worrying about the Mantid Empire.
"Sha of Hatred, while I will admit that Taran Zhu makes an amazing vessel, there are bigger fish to fry," Sunset said, which was the truth, the other Sha understood that she possessed the power of two Old Gods and suspected that she might be able to do something about Y'Shaarj, especially after seeing her raise everyone her forces had killed into undeath, with an iron will unlike anything anyone had seen so far, "Come, join the other Prime Sha as I seek out the Sha of Fear, eradicate the entirety of the Mantid Empire, slaughter the rest of the Mogu and their king, and break the prison of the Sha of Pride so I find the rest of Y'Shaarj's power and conquer the rest of this world."
The mention of the fallen Old God got the Sha of Hatred's attention, where it surged out of Taran Zhu and quickly merged with her, causing Sunset to stagger for a moment, as this one was stronger than she assumed at first, but when the fifth crystal appeared she smiled as she regained her posture, raised the Shado-Pan leader into undeath, and started to leave, as there were two more provinces to take control of before she worried about any of her other targets.
With Sunset overtaking the Shado-Pan Monastery, claiming both of the Prime Sha that were trapped in there while slaying the rest of the living inside it, she marched outside and started to make her way down the western side of Kun-Lai Summit, as there was a gate heading into Townlong Steppes.
"The Yaungol have been trying to break through here for years, but now we don't have to worry about them." Taran Zhu said, speaking as Sunset and her army approached the area that would allow them to complete the pincer attack on the rest of the Mantid Empire, finding that the Yaungol were, in fact, gathering to attack Kun-Lai Summit, only to stop when they noticed the army that was approaching their location, "Shall we kill them?"
"Indeed. Death to the living." Sunset stated, as she could tell that the pandaren soldiers were still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they had been slain and revived as killing machines, while the Shado-Pan, having been trained in the art of battle, adapted and passed on their training in record time, as being raised into this state made them learn things at a faster rate.
Sure enough Taylor flew overhead with his airship, blasting the war camps of the Yaungol on the other side of the wall, as it opened the way for the army to march on the rest of their enemies, who were temporarily distracted by what was going on in Townlong Steppes, a fatal mistake on their end. With the attack on two fronts it really wasn't a fair fight for the Yaungol, as they were dying before really having a chance to stand before her might, but Sunset was fine with this as her army tore their enemies down and the val'kyr raised them to sow chaos among the enemy's ranks. It never ceased to amaze her when she watched that happen, that each race, even those that were said to not care about their own kind, were utterly surprised and caught off guard when they came face to face with their raised loved ones. Such a thing broke the morale of everyone her army fought, even the mighty Yaungol warriors weren't immune to this, so Sunset did nothing as she studied the province they were invading, finding Mantid amber trees and a temple to the west, which had to be her next destination, Niuzao's temple.
Fortunately it seemed like the majority of the Mantid Empire was focused on the battle with Nazgrim's forces, who were getting stronger and more numerous as more enemies rushed to their deaths, meaning the val'kyr over there were busy raising the fools into undeath, allowing her to focus on her targets in this province.
Once they had broken through the last time of the Yaungol's defensive line her forces surged the rest of their villages, as it allowed them to spill out into Townlong Steppes and gather more soldiers for the cause, where Taylor and Taran Zhu just turned their attention on their targets. Sunset had the Admiral deal with the Mantid, while the pandaren force would head over to Niuzao's temple and bring it down, allowing her to turn the fourth and final August Celestial into a force of Death, where her force leaders nodded their heads before getting underway. She, on the other hand, followed the risen monks to the west, as she wanted to fend the Black Ox with her own hand, like she did to his fellow Celestials, and while she did that her soldiers knew what to do when faced with the living, that command was drilled into their heads. Of course there were a few small camps that seemed to be scouting positions for the rest of the Shado-Pan, where at first the pandaren thought that reinforcements had come to aid them against the Mantid, only to discover the truth as Taran Zhu beat one of them up as his soldiers did the same.
While her forces did that, however, she walked down the path in front of her and crossed the bridge, where she stared at the large temple in front of her, which looked more like an open arena with a resting place for Niuzao to stand on, since it was far too easy for her to see the ox in question. Niuzao, to his credit, stood his ground as he tried to trample her as soon as she stepped down into the arena, showing her that he knew she was a threat and wanted to eliminate her before she could do any damage to him or his personal order. His monks, on the other hand, were ready and waiting with arrows, all aimed at her so that the moment she showed him any openings one or more of them would use it against her, which she knew was another good strategy, but, at the same time, it was flawed, as it wasn't taking into consideration the Scourge she had brought with her. Her archers opened fire immediately, shooting to kill as their arrows struck their targets with a surprising degree of lethality, at least to the living, once more reminding her that when one was raised into undeath, and started to serve the Jailer of the Damned, their personalities were twisted into something new.
It was this desire to end all life that allowed her forces to wipe out Niuzao's forces, and the Mantid trying to assault part of the small island it was situated on, while she dealt with the Black Ox before he could even run away, allowing her to raise the last of the August Celestials into undeath.
"With this I hold the keys to entering the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, but first I require the sixth Prime Sha." Sunset said, to which her forces bowed their heads to her for a few seconds, showing that they understood her wishes, before she and all of her new soldiers headed into the rest of Townlong Steppes, where she turned them loose on the living that were here, so they could join Taylor's force and capture the province.
Sure enough the Mantid were surprised by the sudden arrival of another army, where she was fortunate that they weren't linked by a hive mind, otherwise her plan would have been ruined, before Sunset smiled as the rest of her forces in Kun-Lai Summit joined them, namely the lesser Sha that spread their corruption across the land. Some of the stronger soldiers had stayed back to keep an eye on the Zandalari Empire, as in the trolls that were looking for something, as it would lead to the Mogu's precious Thunder King being revived, someone she would cut down before worrying about the Vale, so for now she was just waiting for her forces to report his revival. With the might of her forces in Townlong Steppes the Mantid stood little chance of actually surpassing them, allowing Sunset to watch as they were put down and raised to serve her as the power of Death spread to their precious amber trees, showing the living that nothing could resist her power. She also discovered that the only path into the Dread Wastes was to use the fallen husk of a tree to cross the gap in front of them, where she used a bit of her power to manipulate the amber that was now under her control and rapidly formed walkways for the rest of her ground forces to use.
Once Townlong Steppes belonged to her, and no living remained, Sunset gave the order for her army, both halves of it to be exact, to march into the Dread Wastes and lay waste to the rest of the Mantid Empire, where she watched as Taylor's force marched in as Nazgrim's finally went on the offensive after defending the Valley of the Four Winds for a time. As her forces did that, however, Sunset felt several areas that had amber energy coming from them, not counting the main hive itself, and one came from a place crawling with Mogu ghosts, so she made her way to the ancient stronghold. Sure enough she used a bit of her power over Death to raise the spirits of the fallen Mogu as her servants, before spotting an interesting sight, there was a Mantid with a tuning fork of some kind that was being attacked by it's own kind, likely two separate factions based on what she was seeing. Either way it was irrelevant to her as Sunset cut down both sides without pausing, allowing her val'kyr to raise them as soldiers of the Scourge, though while that happened she learned of the Klaxxi Paragon that was buried in this place, where she gestured for the awakener to raise his charge from the amber he was trapped in.
The figure in question was a Mantid warrior who seemed far stronger than any other she had encountered so far, though as he emerged from the amber she stabbed him in the chest, allowing him to fully awaken as a soldier of the Scourge and grant him all of his former power within seconds.
"I am Kil'ruk the Wind-Reaver, my Queen. Speak your desire, and I will fulfill it." the ancient warrior stated, taking a moment to kneel and bow to her, though while she expected such an ancient and powerful Mantid to resist her power she found that being in the state of amber induced slumber, for a long period of time, weakened his body, to the point where her power was enough to break him, but she also felt that it was due to the power she was gathering.
"My forces will be conquering the rest of the Dread Wastes, though you and I will be seeking the rest of the Paragons, as I'm sure they'll prove useful for our assault on the Empress' palace." Sunset stated, because her powers informed her that there were eleven other places that matched Kil'ruk's temporary resting place, meaning there were eleven more members of the Klaxxi Paragons to awaken into undeath and add their power to her army's growing might.
While Sunset had no need for such a powerful warrior on her side, not with the power she possessed, she knew that this would give her a front row seat to Kil'ruk's power, before she sent him back to the front lines, hence why the two of them, three counting the val'kyr, departed for the other hidden Klaxxi Paragons. What she first discovered was that many of the Paragons were alchemists, warriors, assassins, and even precious inventors, as two of them were behind the very method that preserved them in amber, or at least one was when she learned that another had modified the existing formula for a smaller companion pet. The other thing was that, true to his work, Kil'ruk slaughtered his enemies with ease, almost as if he was dancing on the wind, allowing him to watch as the val'kyr raised those he slew into undeath, showing him that the more he slew the greater their army became, even though he also showed some caution since he was still fresh from his prison. The last thing she discovered as her forces started to cover the Dread Wastes was that each Paragon she was able to uncover were in a weakened state, allowing Sunset to stab each one and raise them into undeath like she did to Kil'ruk, and she even claimed one before the power of the Sha fully corrupted him, until eventually all twelve signatures belonged to her.
With that done Sunset turned her army loose on the rest of the province and watched as the Mantid Empire collapsed as her forces tore down the insects, and it wasn't long before everything expect the palace belonged to her, to which she and the Paragons marched into it, leaving Nazgrim and Taylor to keep an eye out for any living that they might have missed during their various invasions of Pandaria's vast provinces.
As Sunset entered the palace she heard the sermons of one of the Empress' most trusted followers, who seemed to be in the middle of whipping the lesser Mantid into shape, though her new Paragon tore into the enemies in front of her as she focused on the targets she needed to take out. The Imperial Vizier was the first one she had to take out, where she quickly followed his voice and found him flying around one of the main chambers of the palace, who seemed annoyed by the fact that she was turning his soldiers against him and the Empress. What was amusing was that it took little effort to drag him down to their level, her forces just had to cut down all of the Mantid that were in the chamber and then he flew down once he was the last one left, though a simple stab from Frostmourne ended him. Sunset suspected that the same would be true for the rest of the Mantid in the palace, the soldier level figures would be ended by her own force while the commanders, or whatever they were called, would fall before he might, to which she continued along the path as the val'kyr raised the fallen into undeath.
The path brought her to an area that a military commander happened to be resting in, the domain of the Blade Lord, and he had four instructors that he seemed to be passing information to, though they and their trainees were nothing compared to the might of her Paragons, allowing her to cut him down and move up a nearby ramp.
Such a thing brought her to an outside area that another important figure, the Wind Lord, was resting in, though before she could tear him down she had to deal with a large Kunchong that was brought up to deal with attackers, since they were on a balcony of sorts. It was incredibly easy to take out, as all one had to do was strike it's four legs to weaken it and then slay it with a well placed blow, which she did after the Paragons wiped out the lesser soldiers, before she challenged the Wind Lord to a fight, who had been watching them from an area above where the Kunchong was dropped. Of course he and his small group of followers stood little chance against her might, as she was able to slash all of them down with a matter of seconds, to which she and her growing force marched inside the palace once more. After that it was a simple matter to track down a large chamber that possessed a number of amber creations, along with their master, though the Paragons who worked with amber were displeased with his actions and tore him down with their strength, allowing her to make her way into the lair of the Empress.
Part of the reason she was doing this was because it would eliminate one of the races and deprive the living of potential allies, though the other one happened to be because of the large shadowy figure who was lurking in the darkness of the final chamber, a Prime Sha who was a twisted black-purple color and had red eyes, claws, and spikes.
"Sha of Fear, it is time to join the other five Prime Sha I have absorbed." Sunset stated, noticing the massive pod that likely held the Empress inside it, who had to be scared of the power that had torn it's way through her forces, so she focused on the figure before it decided to leave and make her hunt it down again, "With all six of you I'll be able to track down the last of the Prime Sha, the Sha of Pride, and with all seven of you I will track down the last components of Y'Shaarj, allowing me to do many things with you and his core."
That seemed to be all the information that the figure needed to know, where it surged through the air and was absorbed like the others, giving her a sixth gem that formed a near perfect circle around the heart gem, though without looking she drew Frostmourne and launched it with her magic, killing the Empress without looking at her, before catching it as she left, leaving the val'kyr to raise the Empress into undeath as she focused on the next target she had to take down.
After dealing with the Mantid Empress, and raising her into undeath after absorbing the Sha of Fear, Sunset returned to her forces in the Dread Wastes and found that they were silently waiting for their next orders, as most of the provinces had been conquered and more of their enemies had been slain. According to the information she had gained so far there was one more threat for them to take down, that being Lei Shen, the Thunder King of the Mogu, and if her thoughts were right his Zandalari allies might have stolen him away and raised him from the dead. In addition to that there was one more Prime Sha that had to be found and absorbed, where with the power of the other six she discovered something interesting, it was sealed somewhere in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, just as she expected after thinking about the rest of Pandaria earlier, so it was only a matter of time until she found it. Once that was done, and her main objectives were taken care of, she could finish her war against the rest of the living that called Azeroth home and bring an end to this war, so she could prepare for the next stage of her plans.
"My Queen, what are your orders?" Taylor and Nazgrim asked, kneeling before her as they lowered their heads, the latter being echoed by the rest of the Scourge that had once been the living of Pandaria, showing anyone watching that they were eager to please her, regardless of what they were alike when they were alive.
"We make for Kun-Lai Summit... it is time to invade the Vale of Eternal Blossoms." Sunset stated, where she could tell that all of the Pandaren, while initially worried about her order given that it was sacred to their people in some manner, bowed to her and said nothing, revealing that Death had broken them as well.
With that in mind Sunset made her way back to Kun-Lai Summit, to the golden door she had seen earlier, and her army just marched through the land, leaving portions behind in the various provinces to make sure no living creature was spared, not to mention keeping an eye out for potential dangers. When she reached her destination, however, she paused for a time as she waited for the four August Celestials to arrive so they could officially open the door and allow them into the Vale, even though she could blow it down some a bit of her magic. While Sunset waited, staring at the structure in front of her, one of the scouts she left in the summit earlier, to keep an eye on the Zandalari, revealed what she had been expecting, they had made off with the body of the Thunder King and they seemed to be taking him to the Isle of Thunder. According to Taran Zhu that was Lei Shen's domain, where his fortress had been built before he tried to conquer lands outside Pandaria, as the tol'vir had stories about him invading to take their Titan structure for himself, a fatal mistake since it killed Lei Shen, but now Pandaria's other ancient foe would be brought back to life.
Sunset also knew that under normal circumstances Taran Zhu would be claiming that this was her fault, as an outsider, and would have likely demanded that she pay her debts to Pandaria, or something similar to that, but after being risen he had lost much of his hatred towards outsiders, even though they couldn't help him now.
After listening to the report Sunset found that the four August Celestials had finally gathered and watched as they used their powers for a few seconds, causing the seals on the golden door to be undone in no time at all, before it opened before her eyes and allowed her to see the Vale at last. There were all sorts of Mogu structures, since they had been the rulers of this continent until their defeat, with all sorts of golden flowers and trees that gave this place it's name, where she could tell that it was a majestic and beautiful place, even with a pair of large Mogu statues resting nearby. As Sunset stepped into the Vale she noticed something immediately, the province was teeming with power, as if it was a cradle of life or something, just like the Sholazer Basin in Northrend, but that wasn't the only thing she was feeling as she entered the Vale. The other thing she felt was the presence of not only the Sha of Pride's prison, which Sunset knew would be broken in due time, but also the very heart of Y'Shaarj, the core of the fallen Old God's dark power, a fact that brought a smile to her face as she felt a slow beat somewhere below the surface of the Vale.
She followed the beating for a time, walking over to an area that was near a potent well of life energy, while resting right in the middle of three important looking buildings, two shrines and an ancient palace, something that caused her to turn her attention to the soldiers that were waiting for her to give them orders.
"A quarter of you will be staying here, to slay the rest of the living who dare to hide from us, while the rest of you will be following me to the Isle of Thunder." Sunset stated, as she suspected that some Mogu were likely hiding in the palace, due to it looking like a decent place to hide while they waited for their Thunder King to be revived, hence why she wanted to deal with them before they had a chance to counterattack, "Taylor, you stay and make sure this province is claimed in the name of the Scourge... and that prison had better be found by the time I get back."
Taylor saluted her before getting to work, separating his forces into three units, one to clear the palace, one to search the rest of the province for targets, and another to start digging so they would have something to show her upon her return to the Vale later, as they knew she would return victorious. While they did that Sunset gathered the rest of the army and set off in pursuit of the Zandalari who dared to come here while she was claiming Pandaria as part of the Scourge's domain, following the tug of the scouts that traveled to the Isle of Thunder before sending one back to tell her the news. The isle, as she discovered, was to the northeast of Kun-Lai Summit and Townlong Steppes, at least thirty minutes away by boat when Sunset considered everything she was learning, before she chuckled for a couple of seconds. That was how long it would take for the mortals, in their bickering and warmongering, but with the power of the Scourge she could teleport all of her forces over without wasting time, and she, herself, could fly over in no time at all.
When she arrived at her destination Sunset found an interesting sight, there was a massive fortress of the northern half of the isle, likely called the Throne of Thunder given that Lei Shen was the Thunder King and the island was called the Isle of Thunder, where she found ancient Mogu structures, an area full of Saurok, and a swamp area full of dinosaurs and statues, the latter like the ones she had seen in the past.
Once her army arrived she set them to work, watching as they spilled out into the island and sought out the living, starting with the Mogu that were trying to bend the spirits of the dead to their will, and once their foothold was claimed she used a portion of her power to enslave the dead to her will. After that her forces separated into three forces, one taking the east side of the island to deal with the Saurok, the second dealt with the swamp area, and the last one went to the west to see if there were any enemies there to deal with, which ended up being some trolls who fell behind the main force. The only real threat her forces faced were the massive amount of Saurok that were on this island, not that it mattered in the end since the Scourge wiped them out and her val'kyr raised them into undeath as well, allowing Sunset to turn her attention to the large fortress that was her destination. With a wave of her hand she magically opened all of the doors that stood between her and her target, allowing the might of the Scourge to surge into the battlements of Lei Shen's domain, cutting down the trolls that served him and every beast that they commanded, until all that remained was an army of death that was ready to swallow anyone who dared to oppose them.
As she walked up to the main entrance, however, a blue cloud serpent with lightning arching between certain scales came down to challenge her, where she dragged it to the ground, slew it, and then raised it into undeath, showing everyone that she wasn't to be trifled with, before entering the Throne of Thunder.
Sure enough she found that the first section was crawling with trolls, those who had either escaped the wrath of her army or were here to guard Lei Shen, though in the end it didn't matter to her as she slaughtered the first group with ease and let a val'kyr raise them, allowing her to turn them against their former allies. Any doors placed in her path were pushed out of the way with a bit of her magic, as Sunset wasn't going to waste time waiting for her soldiers to open them for her, especially since she wanted to claim the last of the Sha before wrapping up her time on Pandaria. One brought her to an area where a large troll was waiting, who looked like he had been enlarged and empowered by the Thunder King, making him a tougher foe to deal with intruders or his potential enemies, where Sunset simply raised her hand before using her magic to pin the troll to the ground. With that done it was a simple matter to stab him in the head before making her way towards her next destination, allowing the val'kyr to do their job, before discovering that she was going to cross a couple of walkways with a number of spirits floating around the place, looking more like sentries, to which she raised her blade and stole all of them.
With that done she spread her wings and took off, slashing through a tall stone golem and a lone troll who was calling up a storm, which didn't bother Sunset at all, before entering a large arena that had a bunch of trolls and a large beast that was on the other side of a wall. She listened to the 'Beastlord' as he went on and on about how the troll empire would soon be the rulers of Azeroth, as if he was spitting in her face since everything belonged to her, and sure enough he even claimed that the Scourge would fall before the might of the Thunder King. In that moment she slaughtered everyone for his claim, as in the Beastlord, the trolls around him, and all of the critters that they had planned on using against her, and she kept at it as she moved down another passage that would bring her closer to the Thunder King. As she did that she discovered that the val'kyr weren't the only ones raising the dead, as there was a troll spirit trying to keep the spirits of his kind tied to Lei Shen, though she stole each and every troll she slew for the Scourge, before finding the keeper of the spirit and four important looking trolls from different tribes.
To her it didn't matter if they were desert trolls, forest trolls, frost trolls, or even jungle trolls, they all fell before her might and were enslaved to serve Death, though after that she approached a bridge that lead to another large door, where she found a bolt of lightning that summoned Lei Shen to her position.
"You have swept the filth from my doorstep... perhaps you are worthy of my attention." Lei Shen stated, though as he said that Sunset noticed that he was a large blue skinned Mogu who wore no shirt, had a necklace that channeled lightning in a blue gem, which almost looked like an eye, with a helm that had four curved spikes, "But your trespass ends here. No one, I mean no one, may enter my forbidden stronghold! I shall rebuild this bridge with your bones for bricks!"
Sunset chuckled as she tanked the potent bolt of lightning that slammed into the bridge she was on and shattered it, but to give the illusion that he had succeeded she delved into the caverns below his palace, especially since her forces were able to follow her without delay. What she discovered was that there was a massive crystal turtle blocking the way and she slew it with a swing of her runeblade, showing her forces that Frostmourne was stronger than most material in this world, though since it broke into a thousand pieces she just absorbed it's soul into her weapon, adding it's Anima to her own as she continued down the path. It brought her to a massive chamber that was full of fog beasts and small crystal spiders, all of which fell before her soldiers as soon as she gave the order for them to begin the assault, but she did notice that there were a few bells for the undead to ring, which they did so after clearing the area out. The chimes ended up summoning a hydra in the nearby pool of water, a beast that had red, blue, green, and purple colored heads, though she wasted no real effort in slaying it, as her forces literally dived into the water and stabbed it to death, allowing the val'kyr to raise it while Sunset headed up what appeared to be a trash chute.
As such she cast a spell to allow her to levitate, since she didn't want to get her wings caught in the webs, leaving most of her soldiers to lay waste to the spiders and other insects that were down here, before spotting a large bird of some kind resting in the central pillar.
The bird didn't stand much of a chance as Sunset tore it out of the air and crushed it against the pillar, where she raised all of the fallen into her growing army before discovering the way forward, which brought her to a circular chamber that had four statue heads that looked like eyes. As such she cut down the fog beasts that were guarding the area and discovered that her actions caused the statues to fall, revealing four more creatures for her to slay, even though that lead to yet one more foe showing up to fight her. This one was a floating eye beast with golden material on the backside of it, which was either armor or a way to signify that it was allied with Lei Shen, not that it mattered since she cut the beast down, where it's death opened the door leading deeper into the fortress. A few moments later she found some blobs that looked a lot like moving blood wandering down the stairs, though her forces laid waste to them as Sunset moved forward, though she did have to wonder what else lurked in the depths of the Thunder King's grand fortress.
The path brought her to a chamber that looked like the power source for the strange dark Anima that the Mogu used, or at least that was what the legends claimed, before she spotted a crimson scaled Saurok who seemed far stronger than all of the others she had seen so far. She confirmed it not a few moments later, as when she clashed with it the beast actually withstood her first blow, unlike most of the creatures and warriors that came before it, but it, in the end, fell in no time at all, and when she raised it into undeath it clearly had a bone to pick with the Mogu. They wiped out the rest of the area in no time and made their way to another chamber, where the Mogu were trying to contain a machine that ran on Anima, an interesting thing in her mind, and by destroying the sphere they were working on it allowed her to awaken the machines in the chamber. Of course she couldn't raise any of the machines into undeath, but she could siphon their power into her runeblade before they found a path leading outside, right to where a Mogu was in the middle of training his forces, which also included a number of stone quilen, dog like creatures who served the vicious warlords.
Of course none of them could stand before the overwhelming might of the Scourge, allowing her to enter the main part of the fortress, where she found that more Mogu stood between her and Lei Shen, including an interesting sight, two female Mogu who were slimmer and more majestic than their male counterparts. They, too, were stronger than most Mogu, yet another pleasant surprise when she thought about everything she had discovered so far, where one was radiant like the sun with red attire, Suen, while the other was as beautiful as the moon and had darker skin and blue attire, Lu'lin. Sunset suspected that in the time of the Curse of Flesh, when stone and metallic beings were turned to flesh and created many of the races of Azeroth, Lei Shen or those before him created female counterparts in the off chance that they were trapped in mortal flesh, but, since they were stone again, she knew they undid the curse. She did, however, find it weird that there were only two female Mogu for the entire race of warmongers, meaning the others were either dead or they were being kept elsewhere, where she knew that the information would be gained when she revived the Thunder King under control of the Scourge.
Once the pair was brought down the val'kyr raised them without wasting time, allowing her to head up a staircase before arriving at a chamber that contained all of the Thunder King's power, to which she flew down and found that he was eager to fight her. Together the two of them clashed and the chamber shook as lightning faced the power of Death, but in that moment she understood the source of Lei Shen's power, he had the power of a Titan Watcher, stolen power as if he had found a fragment of a Titan's power, meaning this was a clash between Order and Death. His stone body was tough, just like she expected after all of the last couple of major foes she had faced, but Frostmourne, the strongest runeblade in all of Azeroth, was tougher as she cut into his body and dealt lasting wounds that surprised him, despite his attempts to take her down with bolts of lightning. She brought a swift end to the fight by stabbing him in the heart when his defenses were open, allowing her to lay low the Thunder King before bringing him back as a servant of the Scourge, before she felt the power in the fortress change and followed it for a time.
It brought her to the Saurok chamber, where she found a ladder heading into the depths and discovered that it lead right to where the Titan Watcher was resting in chains, who happened to be wounded as she discovered that his blood was the same as all the Mogu's dark anima.
"For millennia I have waited in darkness, in silence pierced only by the shrieks of the tormented, my dreams are a waking nightmare." the Watcher stated, Ra-den according to Lei Shen's information, though as he looked up, allowing her to see that he was missing his right eye, as there was a slash over it and it seemed to be gouged out, meaning she might have been right to suspect the true nature of the Thunder King's necklace, before Ra-den broke himself free, "This twisted world is beyond redemption, beyond the reach of deluded heroes and foolish villains. The only answer to corruption is destruction... and that begins... now."
Sunset said nothing to that as she used Frostmourne like a lance, piercing his heart with ease, though she prevented him from escaping and ensured that Death claimed him, allowing her to gain a new general for the Scourge as she retrieved her weapon, allowing her to focus on returning to Pandaria so she could claim the final Sha and get ready for the last stage of her quest.
While all of that was going on Celestia sat on her throne in the empty throne room, as she had asked her guards to leave her for some time when Twilight arrived, because this conversation was best kept between them and she made sure to put up a number of anti-eavesdropping spells before her student arrived. Spike had sent her a letter saying that Twilight had made some progress in searching for Sunset, since Celestia was certain that the Elements of Harmony, or Magic since it was the only one in the other world when the event happened, wouldn't kill her, rather she believed that Sunset was just lost. Twilight, true to form, had gone ahead and done her own studies into what had happened to the unicorn that came before her, in terms of students anyway, so the letter was a good thing, as Celestia had been having a few nightmares on what might have happened to Sunset, which Luna had taken care of. Of course she talked with her sister about it, since it occurred far too much for her to admit to herself, which was why she was hoping that Twilight had good news for her, not to mention an idea of how to get Sunset back here so they could mend the bonds between them.
That's why when she heard the knock on the door she called for whoever it was to enter, where she found Twilight, minus Spike, walking into the throne room, allowing Celestia to remove herself from the throne so they could have a civilized talk about her discoveries, and Spike's absence meant it wasn't good news.
"Twilight, have you... have you found Sunset?" Celestia asked, as part of her almost didn't want to know, mostly out of fear that something terrible had happened to her old student, even though the vast majority of her wanted to hear what her current student had to say on the matter.
"I... I have, but... well, it isn't good." Twilight admitted, where she paused for a moment, unsure of how to tell Celestia that her former student was a mass murderer who was devastating the timelines and wiping out everyone who dared to stand in her way, that she had slain thousands of individuals and was raising them to serve her as undead minions, before she steadied her breathing, as she noted that it had gotten heavy, and prepared herself, "Sunset... she's..."
"Been raised as a servant of Death, becoming the Lich Queen that has slaughtered thousands... no, tens of thousands... of people in her quest for power." a new voice said, where Celestia and Twilight turned to the shadows on the western side of the throne room and watched as a bipedal being in some strange clothing appeared before them, though Celestia, due to her age, could tell that a dragon was standing before them, an incredibly powerful one despite being so young based on what she was feeling, "She took the position of her former master, the Lich King, and has ushered in a new era of darkness that is unlike anything that our world has seen, as it has been accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness... our heroes, the best of the best, have fallen before her terrible might, the Dragon Aspects of other timelines have fallen to her, and my father, with all his terrible power, has been laid low. Even now she is slaughtering her way across a new continent, one we only just discovered, and she's claiming the terrible power hidden below the surface as her own... it's only a matter of time until Pandaria falls and Sunset lays siege to the rest of Azeroth, and after that it won't be long before she comes seeking revenge against those who beat her."
"The Mirror World!" Twilight exclaimed, as she understood the last part of the strange being's comment, while at the same time she noticed Celestia pale at the thought of Sunset being turned into a killing machine, as if her mind couldn't even comprehend such a thing happening to someone she used to know.
In that following moment Celestia made her move, her magic pinning the figure to the ground as a shimmering lance just appeared out of thin air, likely stored in some sort of storage area that only the Princess had access to, and she pointed it right at the stranger's face with a look of anger on her face.
"You lie! Sunset... she wouldn't... she couldn't..." Celestia stated, though Twilight could tell that her mentor was freaking out, as her former student was close to her heart and the thought of Sunset being twisted into a force of Death, bringing misery and darkness to the world she was sent to, simply broke her heart.
"She is." the figure replied, where he opened his right hand for a moment, as Twilight recognized the appendage from her time in the Mirror World, and some of his magic gathered in a sphere nearby, allowing them to see an image he wanted to show them, only for Twilight's eyes to widen as she witnessed the same scenes she had watched before, the sickening sight of Sunset killing people with glee in her eyes.
"Sunset..." Celestia said, where she pulled back for a moment and walked over to the sphere, watching as it changed over the next couple of seconds, showing the evolution from a simple knight to a terrifying Queen whose word was law, that killed whoever she wished and raised her foes into undeath, depriving them of their rest, all while her magic broke, letting the figure stand once more, "Twilight... did you...?"
"Yes... I knew, but I couldn't accept what my eyes were seeing. I refused to accept that this was her reality." Twilight said, even though she looked away for a moment, as she couldn't meet her mentor's eyes right now, and instead turned to face the sphere, watching as Sunset turned into what looked like a half dragon, causing her to glance at the figure who was just watching them right now, "Who are you? How did you get here?"
"I am Wrathion, son of Deathwing. In order to survive the ongoing threat my allies and I had to sacrifice the races of the new continent to distract Sunset for a time," the figure replied, where he held up a hand to stop them from accusing him of leaving people to die when he could have done something, anything, instead of coming here and telling them about the madness that was unfolding right now, "and with her distracted, a major feat given her own allies, the best magic users in Azeroth, combined with the Dragon Aspects of our timeline, opened a portal for us to send a ship through, one capable of traveling from planet to planet, so we could find the keys to stopping her. This planet holds the only known weapon that could stop Sunset Shimmer... that's why I'm here, to reveal to you the terrifying events reality you have unleashed on the universe and enlist your help in stopping her, before she brings Death to everything in the universe... and you, Twilight Sparkle, are one of the bearers of that weapon."
"The Elements of Harmony... how did you know about them?" Celestia asked, though this time she didn't bother to raise her weapon, an ancient tool she preferred not to use given the peaceful nature of their world, rather both she and her student glanced at the figure.
"Simple. We told him and his allies about them." a new voice replied, where Celestia and Twilight paused as they heard a voice they instantly recognized, as it was Sunset's, but the figure that emerged from the darkness was a figure that looked like Sunset's human form merged with a horse, or maybe a deer, who was armed and ready for war, "Greetings Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, I am Erith Moonglow... or, if you prefer, a version of Sunset Shimmer who was reborn with the powers of Life on her side. Wrathion and his allies made some changes to the timelines I and the other counterparts came from, as Sunset created new ones to see what would happen if she fell to one of the other Cosmic Forces, and we shared the existence of the Elements with them."
Celestia wasn't sure what was going on anymore, other than the fact that there was a version of Sunset she would love to talk to, but she and Twilight had questions that needed to be answered and plans to make, hopefully before Sunset came home, as she knew the Elements were the key and just hoped they had enough time to get ready for whatever happened next.
With the downfall and resurrection of Lei Shen, and the corruption of Ra-den into a force of Death, Sunset departed from the Throne of Thunder with more soldiers to add to her growing army, where she found that her forces had been busy tearing down the forces that had been situated around the Isle of Thunder. Sunset was pleased with the discovery, as her forces were swelling with every race and force of soldiers she came across, to the point where she knew that the Alliance and the Horde were afraid of her, in fact they didn't dare to challenge her terrible might. One of the lieutenants approached her for a few seconds, saluted, and informed her that there was another small isle nearby, according to the pandaren it was the Isle of Giants, large dinosaurs to be exact, which they were in the middle of subjugating right now, adding more imposing beasts to her army. She nodded her head as she dismissed the night elf, allowing her to return to her duties, as all of Pandaria, save for the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, belonged to her now and, once she had what she was searching for, she would return to conquering the rest of Azeroth.
With all of that in mind her forces started to pour back into Kun-Lai Summit, using portals to teleport back to the province in question, while she made her way into the Vale without delay and discovered more risen soldiers patrolling both the entrance and the rest of the province, allowing her to track down Taylor with ease.
"Admiral Taylor, it seems like you've made good progress." Sunset remarked, as she found a large dig site resting near the powerful pool of energy she had discovered earlier, as Taylor's dig team had been busy tearing into the ground, following the instructions of the shamans and void priests that were nearby, who likely figured out where the prison rested, "How long until you find the prison?"
"According to the others, soon... a few minutes, to be exact." Taylor replied, because he knew that whenever the Alliance or the Horde built new bases it usually took days, if not weeks depending on the circumstances, to complete whatever either force was working on, so it was very impressive for them to make this much progress in a short period of time.
"Good. The sooner we find that prison, the sooner we can leave Pandaria." Sunset said, though as she said that she found that the shamans were carefully manipulating the tunnel that had been dug into the ground, forming a path for her to use when her target was discovered, even though some were helping the void priests.
Fortunately Sunset didn't have to wait too long as she heard an explosion underground, followed by the workers stopping as a group of goblins came out, stopping in front of her and kneeling before informing her that they had been successful, they had tunneled into an ancient Titan structure. Sunset smiled as she told the soldiers that they had done good, allowing them to pull out and form ranks once more as they waited for her to give them their next orders, so for now she left most of her forces to guard the Vale, while she walked into the tunnel. Sure enough she found that it brought her to a Titan structure that was cubed in nature, split into two levels with hers being higher than the lower one to her right, but what interested her was that there was a large Titan watcher that resembled the Mogu, who activated upon her arrival. The only other thing she noticed was that there happened to be a large metallic door behind the figure, though Sunset smiled as she felt two things behind it, the presence of the final Prime Sha and, more importantly, Y'Shaarj's heart.
"Halt, intruder. No one is allowed inside the Heart Chamber." the Watcher stated, informing her that she was seen as an intruder and not as someone who could be granted access to what was resting behind him, as Sunset determined that the figure was male based on the voice she heard.
"No one tells me what to do." Sunset replied in kind, where she gathered some of her magic into her left hand and swung it for a moment, gripping the Watcher and pinning him to the wall on her left, much to his surprise since he was likely thinking he might end up fighting her in some manner, before she raised her right hand and forced the large door to open, keeping it in one piece to avoid damaging her targets.
"Prideful arrogant fool! You know not what you are about to unleash!" the Watcher exclaimed, confirming that the heart of Y'Shaarj was contained in the chamber she was opening the door to right now, not that Sunset needed confirmation since she could feel the heartbeat, especially with the other Prime Sha being a little more active than normal, meaning they knew what was coming up in the near future.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing." Sunset stated, taking a moment to hurl Frostmourne into the Watcher's chest, allowing her to kill him and then raise him into undeath without really looking at him, before the door opened and revealed a second cube shaped chamber to her, along with a large metallic cube suspended in the air.
Sunset chuckled for a moment as she let her power roll over the chamber, finding a number of light blue chains linked to the prison cube in question, which shattered under the weight of her power as she undid the seals on the device, where it broke apart before her eyes and revealed a massive dark purple heart that radiated dark energy. She smiled for a moment as she laid eyes on the Heart of Y'Shaarj, the Old God who had been slain by Aman'thul, one of the Titans who did all sorts of things to Azeroth when he and the others came, such as ordering the world and sealing the Old Gods in prisons to allow the planet to survive. As she cleared out the chamber, allowing the heart to float over to where she was standing, she felt a surge of energy in the area and watched as it congregated right where the cube had been resting, forming the last of the Prime Sha, where she found that Pride was an eerie blue creature, as opposed to the black color she was used to, even if the Sha of Fear had been different as well. The two stared at each other for a few moments before the Sha of Pride simply surged into her, allowing her to absorb the last of the seven Sha, symbolized by the arrival of the seventh crystal around the empty heart area, though with that done Sunset turned and walked outside, levitating the heart behind her, where all of her forces knelt as she moved to fulfill her dark purpose.
As she walked the mages weaved their magic together and formed an icy bridge for her to use to reach the magical well, her main target right now, though as she did that the wind whipped up for a moment as Taran Zhu, a living version that had to be from another timeline, appeared in front of her.
"Enough! You have run rampant for far too long, Sunset." Alternate Zhu stated, though as he said that the Taran Zhu from this timeline started to step up and Sunset held a hand out, stopping him from interfering, because it seemed like she was going to get a bit of exercise before completing her dark task, "But that ends now."
"Fool, you confront a force beyond reckoning... no one in this world can stop my dark crusade." Sunset replied, which was the truth, this world, with all of it's heroes and villains, had failed to stop her after the Light cheated and forced her to be imprisoned in Dalaran for some time, even though she had a hand on Frostmourne, knowing that this pandaren would no doubt make an attempt to stop her, despite the odds being stacked against him.
"You once dabbled in 'forces beyond reckoning'... what happened to you when you did that?" Alternate Zhu said, though in that moment Sunset paused, as there was no way he and his allies could have known about her trying to use the Element of Magic to become all powerful so she could conquer Equus, and yet, despite that fact, he clearly knew about it, in fact he was using it to provoke her.
Sunset sighed as she surrounded the Heart of Y'Shaarj with her magic before drawing Frostmourne, where she rushed up to where her foolish foe was standing and swung at him, the force of her blow being stopped by his mace head, which had been designed to counter bladed weapons. It was clear that he was trying to break her weapon, to cripple her power and free the souls trapped inside Frostmourne, which was laughable since her runeblade was one of the strongest weapons in the entire world, as the Light must have cheated to break Arthas' during his battle with the heroes. When he found that his plan was impossible to complete, given the nature of her weapon, he tried to force it out of her hand, to force her to just punch him with her fists, though she yanked her runeblade back and spun around so the edge of her tail collided with her foe's chest. Such a blow knocked him off the frozen bridge, even though he seemed to meditate in the middle of battle, to allow himself to walk on water to be exact, so he could burst through the air and throw his fist at her face, though she just dodged the attack and let him land nearby, between her and the heart.
In that moment, as if sensing that he was fighting a battle he would never win, Alternate Zhu turned on the heart, though before he could do anything she yanked him backwards with her dark lasso and stabbed his chest with Frostmourne, but this time she avoided his heart, to let him see the fruits of her labor before raising him.
"It's funny, you pandaren tried to bury your hate and anger, and yet here you are, blinded by anger towards me and what I've done to this vast land." Sunset remarked, as she could tell that the alternate Taran Zhu was just like the version from this world, he was ruled by his hatred towards outsiders and the anger he felt when he saw what they did to his home, or what she had done to everything so far, before she forced him off Frostmourne as she sheathed it and floated the heart over to her position, complete with a black claw that was provided by the bronze dragons, the Claw of N'Zoth, "This power cannot be contained, rather it must be unleashed upon Azeroth!"
"A time will come... when you will answer for your vast crimes!" Alternate Zhu stated, informing her that he believed that, in the end, someone would come and beat her, to make her bend her knee and make her pay for everything she'd done to the various timelines, causing her to chuckle for a few seconds as she extracted the Eye of C'Thun and the Fangs of Yogg-Saron, while the seven Sha turned into small motes that swirled around the large heart.
"I answer... to no one!" Sunset exclaimed, where she stepped into the opening above the well for a moment as her power caused the four fragments to transform into spheres of energy, before she and the essences of the Old Gods surged into the water below them.
For a moment the Scourge watched as nothing happened, save for a dark bubble forming at the top of the well, before a thick column of dark energy, the black and white of the Sha mixed with the icy blue power of Death, burst out of it and struck the air that was far above the Vale. As that happened the very land itself became corrupted by the power of Death, because a wave of dark energy washed over everything, similar to what happened when a Prime Sha was released from their prison, before they noticed that the water surrounding the well had dried up, meaning it had been sucked away by Sunset and what she was doing. In the center of the pillar of dark energy they found their ruler, emerging after completing her dark task, where they found that she now looked a dragon crossed with a humanoid, as her body was covered in eerie blue scales while the spikes attached to her arms, legs, tail, spine, and wings were black with eerie white energy coming off of them. In addition to that her body had bulked up a little more, becoming more like what a dragon would have if any of them took a form like this, and her face had pushed out into a terrifying dragon visage, while the Helm of Domination had altered itself to fit her form once more.
For a few seconds nothing happened as Sunset stood there, going over the changes to her body, before she spread her wings and roared in triumph, as the Dragon of Death and Domination was now complete, though as that happened reality shook as a series of purple cracks appeared nearby, breaking open to reveal a school she recognized.
"Soldiers, get ready. We have two new targets to attack." Sunset ordered, where she found that her forces wasted no time in spreading out, some returning to their airships while others were regrouping with their units as they waited for the way to be opened so they could invade the areas she wanted to attack next.
The remaining living of Azeroth could wait, as they weren't a threat to her anymore, because she was going to turn all of her focus on the Mirror World, to pay back those that caused her to be sent to Azeroth in the first place, and then she was going to complete her original plan and conquer all of Equus, causing her to grin as she prepared herself for what was going to happen once everyone was ready to go.
Sunset stood still as she focused on what she was doing, as after commanding her forces to prepare themselves for a new assault on another location she had gathered the mages and portal experts in the vast fields of the Valley of the Four Winds, the best place for her army to wait. She, in addition to the blue dragons and her vast army of mages, were gathering and focusing their various magics, all while the bronze dragons and others were tracking down the strands of magic that had brought her to Azeroth in the first place. Some of the magical Mogu had been assigned to help them to speed things up, so they weren't wasting too much time, using their powers to track down souls and soul energy, to pull them back and force them to serve the might of their now conquered empire, to her benefit. This time around she wasn't going to create a new timeline with all of the powers that were available to her, to find more power or forces to claim for her growing army, rather she had a very specific reason for tracking down the magical stream that was connected to her soul.
She was tracking down the magic of the Elements of Harmony that had brought her to Azeroth, traveling across the vast nature of this universe, to find the Mirror World she had been sent to when she tried to use the crystal mirror, as it was time for her to head back and complete her main goal. Sunset could only imagine the looks on the faces of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the rest of the school as she returned to their world, possessing powers unlike anything they had seen and leading an army of death to crush everything they loved. It would be sweet revenge, as they no doubt thought that they had killed her, to purge the world of the darkness she had infected it with to make sure harmony was broken, to separate everyone into groups and make them hate each other, to come back to them and plunge their entire world into a hell that was worse than when she was still living. She would enjoy her time in the Mirror World, using all of her power to bring Death to it and those who called it home, only to deny them the sweet release of death as she raised each of them into undeath, forcing them to slay those they loved and cared about, or at least try to since they weren't soldiers like those from Azeroth.
Once she had a base of operations, however, that was when things were going to get interesting, as while she knew that the portal structure would be offline at this point in time, meaning Princess Twilight was back home no doubt, Sunset had an idea of what to do to fix that problem.
"My Queen, the portal structure is complete." one of the Mogu stated, as she had commanded many of them to work with Ra-den and several others, where they had been carefully working together while bending the stonework of the Serpent's Spine, an untouched section of it anyway, into a portal structure that they would then use once she and her mages were done with their work.
"Good. I suggest all of you rest, for once we reach our destination you will need to make a new structure to bind the other world to Azeroth." Sunset stated, as having a permanent portal that linked the two worlds together would allow her vast army to march on the Mirror World without delay, allowing them to fortify it while she focused on her main objective, one that she would accomplish alone.
As the Mogu saluted Sunset opened one of her eyes, as she found that she could now split her focus like this and not lose whatever she was working on, likely a power stolen from the four Old Gods whose power she now possessed, where she found that the portal structure was, as he said, complete. It was a wide, as the length from her left to her right was about twenty humans standing side by side, while the height was the same as the Serpent's Spine, meaning it was large enough for her dragon forces, while the larger Aspects would have to use their Visage forms to cross over. In that following instant the circle that was around her started to glow with an eerie icy blue light, as she had her magic force build a magical circle to help them concentrate their efforts, though that was only part of it since the other half of the circle was for them to use their powers in combination with hers. The meaning behind that was that she was going to steal Anima directly from the Shadowlands, from the Realms of Death itself, and the Mogu were going to use their soul directing powers to ensure that all of it was placed into the pair of statues that were on the left and right of the portal frame, which served as batteries to empower the portal.
As such Sunset stood still as her mages raised their staffs and channeled their powers, directing the Anima into the portal frame as they worked to open the portal she wanted to open, while she, with her dual focus, focused on the main aspect of what everyone was doing, the path connecting Azeroth to the Mirror World. For a few moments nothing happened to the portal, though that brief pause was only temporary as icy blue colored magic danced around all four directions of the massive frame, surging towards the center as if they were eager to greet each other. As that happened Sunset found what she was ultimately looking for, an image of her destination, causing her to turn her power on the portal's center, where all of her soldiers watched as it surged outwards, as if something was being snapped open, as it formed an image of the area their Queen was interested in. To them it looked like a city, one far unlike anything they had seen so far, yet if anyone felt it wasn't their destination all they had to do was glance at Sunset, as the grin on her face was enough to tell them that all of their hard work had paid off.
With the portal complete, with an icy sheen that caused everyone to pause, Sunset stepped forward as her forces simply watched her, though when she passed through the portal she found herself in front of a mountain that was near her old school, causing her to return to Azeroth for a moment.
"The way is open! Portal crafters, you will follow me through to the other side and form the frame, allowing us to link the two worlds together," Sunset stated, where she could see that many of her followers were eager to hear the command to declare war on the new world, even though it was an old one for her, and she had information to share with them, before they stepped foot in the Mirror World, "orcs, you will follow me through and act as the first wave for our assault, taking out the city that the portal spawned near and allowing us to set up the base camp for everyone else... once the portal is open, well, everyone can have some fun with the rest of this new world!"
She knew that bringing the entirety of her army was overkill, especially for Canterlot High and the city it was in, but a force of orcs were more than enough and she made sure that a number of val'kyr were with them, so as soon as everyone was ready she turned around and marched through the portal, followed by her dark army. Once they were on the other side all of those assigned to work on the portal frame got to work without pause, turning on the mountain behind them, while she and her army marched through the forest in front of them, even though it started with her orcs cutting down each of the trees in front of them. Such a thing would make things better for when the main army arrived, plus the lumber would be good for wherever her forces decided to set up their base of operations, that part hardly mattered to her, though she simply made her way through the forest without stopping. She was fine with her army getting the path ready for when it was time for them to assault Canterlot, as it allowed her to set the stage and find her targets, hence why she spread her wings and took off, zeroing in on the part of the city that she was interested in.
A few moments later she landed near the front of the statue that housed the portal back to Equus, where she found that a great deal of the damage that had been done to the front of the school building, in fact she found a crater in front of the steps, where she likely crashed into before being sent all the way to Azeroth.
"It looks like barely any time has passed on this planet, while months have passed on Azeroth." Sunset commented, not that such a thing surprised her, as while the day and night cycle of the two planets were the same, twenty-four hours that were roughly split between day and night, it seemed like there might be some time displacement for her, or maybe this was how the Principle left the school while she figured everything out, "I can still feel the magic in the air, leftover fragments from the day I used the Element of Magic... feels like a lifetime ago, back when I had small ambitions."
"Who are you?" a voice asked, where Sunset turned her head for a moment and found three girls standing nearby, sisters she had to guess, even though they had different hairstyles and outfits, the first wearing a dual purple attire while having orange colored hair, the second having purple pants with a turquoise jacket and white shirt while her hair was done up in two purple tails, and the third was the only one wearing a skirt while having arctic blue hair.
"I am Sunset Shimmer, former inhabitant of Equus turned into the Lich Queen... just as you three aren't from this world at all, aren't you?" Sunset remarked, as her reasoning for that was because each of them were wearing a red gemstone near their necks, gemstones that radiated a power that could only come from her home world, making her wonder if she had, without meaning to, discovered the infamous Sirens, causing her to ignite her power, "Yes, you three are the Sirens that did all sorts of damage to ponykind before Starswirl banished you to another world... how fitting that you would come before me, on the eve of my victory over this world and the start of my assault on Equus itself. Come, serve the Lich Queen, and I shall restore you to your prime... you will experience death for a short time, but I will raise you to back to your former glory and then some."
Sunset could see the greed in the leader's eyes as she knelt before her, causing her sisters to follow her lead, where she did nothing for a few seconds before using Frostmourne to stab each of them in their hearts, though before they collapsed she channeled her power and raised them into undeath, restoring their power to what they had been at before Starswirl had banished them to this world.
"Looks like Vinyl was right, there's an awesome dragon warrior standing near the statue." another voice remarked, though this time around Sunset recognized it, as it was one of the five she had come to find so she could install fear in them before making her final move, and when she turned her head she found that Rainbow was standing in the hole she had made in the moments before her demise at Princess Twilight's hands.
"Rainbow Dash! So nice of you to show up... and you brought the others! Wonderful." Sunset remarked, as she was happy to see that Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were standing near Rainbow, meaning she wouldn't have to search the city for them before ordering her army to lay waste to everything, and she could see that they were confused about who she was and how she knew them, "Right, you wouldn't recognize this form... you might recognize this, however."
She could see the shock and surprise on their faces as her magic washed over her, creating the illusion of what she looked like when she was still a student of this school, in fact it looked like Fluttershy was about to collapse after seeing her again, before she dismissed the illusion entirely.
"How... how are you still alive?! The Princess said that the Elements destroyed you... we've been going to therapy to get over what happened that night!" Rarity asked, where it was easy for Sunset to see that they didn't know what to make of what they were seeing right now, especially since none of them had noticed the Sirens behind her, though it made sense that she was the one that mentioned therapy, given what she recalled of the others.
"She was wrong. They sent me to another world, where I was slain and raised by the Lich King, who I served for a time before finding a way to gain the power to take over, and almost all of Azeroth belongs to me." Sunset replied, though at the same time she raised her hand and ensnared the five girls in front of her, snatching them with her magic as she raised them into the air, pulling their arms and legs out as if they were being stuck to an invisible torture device, before stopping all five of them when they reached the roof of the school, "I am Sunset Shimmer, the Lich Queen, Jailer of the Damned and Ruler of the mighty Scourge... your world will be purged in a sea of Death, where everyone will be risen to serve me and join in my quest to bring multiple worlds under my control."
"You might have gained some unnatural power, but I don't see this 'army' of yours." Applejack remarked, though while she had a feeling that Sunset was telling the truth, Princess Twilight had explained it was likely because her counterpart was the Element of Honesty or something, she was hoping that saying something like this would cause her to back off.
"Oh, but you will in time." Sunset stated, where she felt the magical energy in the air and directed their attention over to the mountain that the portal had been created near, even turning their bound forms so they could see the massive flash of energy as her forces created the portal frame that would link this world to Azeroth, before she loosed an orbs of dark green magic into the air, exploding into a signal flare, "Come, witness the end of this world!"
Sure enough the orcs she had brought with her tore through the rest of the trees, showing them the decimated forest that was now filled with animals that had been risen into undeath, before surging into the city itself, slashing at the people with their weapons and blasting them with magic. Sunset could see the expression of terror appearing on the faces of the girls she wanted to torment with his scene, while at the same time she found that the Sirens joined their new companions, as while they didn't have weapons they had been given back their magic, both their full voices and everything else they had before coming to this vast world. The girls were forced to watch as those they knew or cared about were put down by the orcish horde that had appeared outside the city, even though that gave way to terror as everyone was raised into undeath by Sunset's val'kyr, freaking out Fluttershy to the point where Sunset used her power to force her to watch everything that was going on right now. Their fear was increased when they spotted people they knew, the other students and the staff to be exact, being handed spare weapons as they were sent at the rest of the city, killing the police officers, officials, and the rest of those who dared to stand up to them or those who happened to be in their way.
Sunset smiled as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes, the city was being destroyed, it's inhabitants were being put to the sword and being raised as minions of Death, and those who sent her to Azeroth, even if it was an accident, were being forced to watch as their world was destroyed without being able to do anything to save their home.
"It doesn't matter if you wreck our world, as we gave your book to Principle Celestia and she should be sending Twilight a message to destroy the portal!" Rainbow stated, clearly finding the courage to speak after seeing all of the horrors that a fraction of her army was able to inflict upon this world, though such a thing caused Sunset to chuckle as she positioned the five of them on the roof once more, forcing them to watch what happened next, "What's so funny? You'll never be able to return to your home world once they break the portal!"
"Sure, you may have sent a message, but the book's counterpart is likely buried... they'll never get it in time." Sunset said, as she had considered such a thing while building the portal to this world, that the book would have given them a chance to break the mirror, but she already knew what to do about that, because even though the portal was offline she could still feel the connection between both worlds, "Here, allow me to demonstrate!"
In that moment Sunset turned and directed her power into the horse statue that was her target, where her magic struck it before penetrating the material to get at the connection she was after, though as the girls watched they found that a fair number of icy blue cracks were appearing in the statue and the base. That wasn't the only thing that was happening to the statue, as the cracks were starting to spread out on the ground around it, as if reality itself was breaking under the might of her terrible power, and they could tell that Sunset wasn't stopping. Once she was sure that the structure was weakened enough, which didn't take too long since the portal's magic fell to the power of Death in no time at all, Sunset flexed her power and the statue flashed with the energy she had prepared, where she could feel the way opening. In the instant that followed the entirety of the statue, horse and base, exploded as she tore it apart with her power, the force of which also breaking up everything around them as if she was breaking glass, as shards of reality floated in the courtyard of the school as the girls' eyes widened in terror.
In front of them rested a breach in the barrier between this world and Equus, the world Princess Twilight called home, a breach that seemed to be staring down at some plains between two important looking settlements, one on the side of a mountain and the other near a dark forest, and they knew that dark days were ahead of them all.
Celestia went over the plan that Wrathion had presented to her, Twilight, Luna, and Cadance, the last two being brought in after discovering what his first steps were to ensure things worked in their favor, namely moving the mirror portal over to the plains between Ponyville and Canterlot. His reasoning for moving it was because once Sunset invaded the world that was on the other side of it, something he and his allies were sure of, she'd conquer it and crush everyone until they were under her dark rule, before coming through it, so they wanted her to be away from any settlements. Apparently she was no longer the mare Celestia had taught once upon a time, as she had been twisted into a force of darkness that killed any being that stood in her way, be they young, adult, or even elderly, all were raised to serve Death. As such they wanted to make sure her focus was on Celestia and Luna, the strongest of the alicorns, while Twilight gathered the Elements so they could be used against Sunset, leaving Cadance to use her powers to try and stall her in some way.
Twilight, of course, had simply told her friends that a new evil might be rising and that they would be called upon to help deal with it, as she couldn't reveal the truth to them, not after all of the terrifying things she had discovered so far, but as everyone went over the plan, and what it required, a figure was permitted into the chamber they were in, since the throne room wasn't an option.
"Right, what do you have to report?" Wrathion asked, because after he met with Celestia and Twilight he introduced them to his bodyguards, two female black dragons that weren't bound to his father's madness, where 'Right' took on the form of a female human who looked more like a warrior, while 'Left' was a female orc huntress, so named based on where they stood whenever he was someplace new.
"I have... bad news." Right replied, where she huffed for a moment, mentally cursing the layout of the castle since time, at the moment, was of the essence since they needed to be ready for when their foe showed up, before straightening as she gave them her report, "Our allies were right: the Lich Queen has conquered all of Pandaria... no life exists there. However, we were told that she would take over the rest of Azeroth before making her way to the Mirror World, giving us time to get ready for her arrival... Kalecgos informed us that she's skipped that important step."
"No... that means she's attacking the Mirror World... we have less time than we originally thought." Wrathion said, which didn't need to be explained to the four alicorns, because if Sunset was getting ready to attack the other world it meant she was getting closer to attacking Equus.
As Twilight started to open her mouth, to ask what they could do now that part of the plan had been wrecked, even if she thought that sacrificing multiple worlds to stop Sunset was a foul idea, she paused as she felt the magic in the air shudder for a few seconds, causing her to bolt out of her seat and head outside. As the others rushed after her, with Wrathion and his guard following suit, Twilight pushed through the door in front of her and stepped out onto the balcony that allowed one to overlook all of Canterlot if they desired, usually what Celestia and Luna did when they moved their celestial objects to change day into night. Her focus was on the plains that were beyond Canterlot, where Luna and Cadance had carefully placed the mirror portal after leaving the Crystal Empire, though even from here she could see that something was wrong, as if the frame was being overwhelmed by some sort of foreign energy, before her eyes widened. The portal was closed, the link between worlds was so weak that it would take even her some time, and a new frame of sorts, to create a portal that was out of the cycle, and yet, despite all that, Sunset was forcing a bridge between worlds, straining the mirror in the process, something that freaked out Celestia and Luna when they noticed it.
A few moments later the mirror split in half, as if someone had torn it in half without anyone being there, though that was when a surge of magical energy rushed into the air and slammed into the sky, as if hitting a ceiling, and the sky cracked open before their eyes, as if it was make out of glass, but on the other side Twilight saw a chilling sight, Canterlot High with the human versions of her fields being held against their will as an army of death rolled over the city.
"And I will show you the true terrifying might of Death itself!" a voice said, where Twilight realized that Sunset was talking to the girls in the other world, while at the same time informing anyone listening to her that she was going to show them, meaning that danger was coming and they had to be ready.
Celestia, however, could only hope Wrathion's plan worked, otherwise they were going to be in a world of trouble with a being of darkness baring down on them, while praying that she had the strength to do everything that was needed of her in the epic battle that would decide the fate of multiple worlds.
"What have you done?!" Pinkie inquired, as she and the others were shocked by the sudden damage done to the barrier that existed between this world and the one Princess Twilight came from, even though she and the others really didn't understand her explanation for everything.
"The way between worlds has been opened, and the previous inferior portal has been wiped out." Sunset replied, though at the same time she raised her other hand for a couple of seconds, causing the girls to groan as they were restrained more than before, as it was time to put them all down, before raising Frostmourne, "I really want to spend more time with all five of you... after all, it's only because you tried to kill me with your temporary power that I ended up in Azeroth... but I have a world that needs to be conquered and true targets to tear down. As such I shall make your suffering fast, but you will be tormented by your actions once you are raised into undeath and bring Death to this world."
The girls barely had a chance to react as Sunset sent her blade flying through the air, lightly piercing each of them right in the heart so they died in no time, and once that was done she released them so her val'kyr could raise each one into their new lives as soldiers of the Scourge, before she turned towards her val'kyr.
"Give the others this order: No one, and I mean NO ONE, is to follow me through the portal... Equus is mine to conquer, and the Lich Queen requires no help in doing so." Sunset stated, as she knew that many of her soldiers would want to see the world that was the end goal of her entire set of plans, a world far more important than Azeroth or the Mirror World, but she knew they would wreck everything and ruin her fun, hence her command that caused the val'kyr to nod before flying off, "Now then, it's about time I got moving."
In that moment she changed direction and surged through the air, flying through the breech between worlds with ease, as there was no resistance at all, and found that the forced portal was definitely located near Canterlot, instead of the frozen environment of the Frozen North and the Crystal Empire. She had been hoping to invade the Crystal Empire first, to raise all of it's inhabitants, or at least all of the slain ones who died during the reign of King Sombra, to besiege the city and use them to break the barrier so she could claim the rest of the city and kill Cadance. Out of all the Princesses she was the one that Sunset wanted to cut down the most, as Cadance had stolen her rightful ascension and her position as one of the few Princesses who ruled over the various lands of Equestria, a dream that was a pebble in the pond at this point, with all the power she had obtained in Azeroth. As such she had been hoping to fulfill her desire to end Cadance, her husband, and all of their subjects first, before worrying about the rest of the continent, but since the breech had opened up elsewhere she was going to have to focus on her main objective before crushing the rest of the ants.
In that moment she sensed the magic she was looking for, the magnificent solar energy of Princess Celestia, and zeroed in on it immediately, finding that her current target happened to be in the plains between Canterlot and the town Twilight Sparkle called home, to which she flipped around and landed on the ground, near a majestic alicorn with radiant hair and golden jewelry.
"Princess Celestia. I expected you to be in the throne room or the Starswirl wing of the library... not out here, waiting for someone like me to come along." Sunset commented, where she raised herself into a standing position so she could stare at the figure in front of her, finding that, despite the open chasm in the sky above the continent, Celestia was calmer than she expected to find her former teacher, before she glanced around the area they were in, "No, you knew I was coming and moved to an area where we could fight without endangering your precious ponies... I'm willing to bet that someone from Azeroth told you about me."
"Sunset Shimmer... I was hoping, praying, that what I learned wasn't true, that you hadn't been twisted by the darkness of Death... you've changed so much." Celestia replied, though at the same time she realized something, she was a failure when it came to those who mattered to her, as she had failed Luna when she turned into Nightmare Moon, she failed to stop Sunset from leaving and walking the path that lead her to this point, and she was afraid that she was going to fail Twilight in the future, "Please... let's not do this. Let's just talk about the pains you've been through and find a way to get around them, a sort of therapy between the two of us, and repair the damage that's been done to the barrier between our world and the Mirror World Starswirl discovered many years ago."
"Talk? You want to talk with me, after everything you did in making Cadance, a nobody, into a Princess, giving her the spot I had been working toward for years!" Sunset remarked, as that annoyed her the most, she had worked her flank off in her studies, learning everything that Celestia had placed in her path, doing everything in her power to prove herself worthy of the position that seemed to be the end goal, and her mentor, the alicorn who moved the sun, and even the moon, for over a thousand years, just gave it to a nobody, "And don't claim that it was her 'destiny', which seemed to be your favorite way to answer my questions, as you could have waited until I claimed my rightful place before raising her to be an alicorn... but no, you had to make her the center of attention and made it look like I was simply wasting my time. That, along with how you acted towards me after one of my questions, fueled my desire to take things into my own hands and I did so... sure, I wasn't expecting to be sent to Azeroth by your newest student and her temporary friends, but it ended up being the best thing to ever happen to me... I now have the power to take what I want, and that includes becoming Queen of Equus."
"I'm sorry, sister, but she's gone completely mad." a new voice said, where Sunset found that another figure appeared in the area they were in, as if dispelling an illusion, which ended up being the darker alicorn who ruled over the night, whose jewelry were more like silver, Princess Luna, though it seemed like that was the only surprise in the area, no other illusions were in the area they were in, "Sunset Shimmer, as much as it pains my sister, we must put you down, for the safety of not only our world, but the rest of the universe as well."
"If you want to die so badly, I will honor your desire." Sunset stated, where she shifted her stance for a moment while she drew Frostmourne from it's scabbard, allowing the two alicorns to stare at her blade, as they must have heard of it from whoever told them about her deeds in Azeroth, while readying her power for the fight that was about to begin between her and the strongest alicorns of Equestria, "Come, it's time for you to face the terrifying might of the Lich Queen!"
For a moment nothing happened, as Celestia and Luna seemed to consider their options, before they were covered in a pair of shining lights, one golden and one dark, where Sunset found that they had donned their ancient war armor, from the time when this world was far more dangerous than what it was these days. Sunset had read about the gear and knew that they were either stored inside vaults that only these two alicorns could access, due to some sort of seal or spell, or all of it had been carefully hidden behind the jewelry they always wore, so just in case a powerful enemy showed up, and the pair was left with no other choice, they could be prepared for everything. The reason she even considered the option of their armor being hidden was because there was no way they could have prepared all of it ahead of time, even if someone from Azeroth told them that she would be coming, so both of them likely kept the armor hidden until it was needed, to be revealed with a simple spell. Sunset also knew that both Princesses were depicted with their own weapons, Celestia was written to have used more spear type weapons, such as a lance or pike, while Luna was a more direct righter due to both the swords she possessed or even the battleaxe she used during her darker days.
As such she wasn't too surprised when she found that they summoned their weapons, Celestia with a pike that looked like it could ward off attacks while opening the way for someone to deal a mighty blow with it's head, while Luna went with a scimitar and placed a metallic shield on her left front leg.
In the next instant Sunset began her assault by rushing forward, swinging Frostmourne down on where Luna was standing with a single hand, as she was confident in her new form's strength to not need her other hand just yet, where she found that the Night Princess blocked the strike with her shield, even as the ground below her broke. As that happened Celestia swung her pike at her backside, intending on weakening Sunset while her guard was lowered due to her being focused on her current foe, she would have done the same thing in the Sun Princess' shoes, but it never reached it's target. That was due to the fact that her armored dragon tail countered Celestia's blow, causing the sisters to raise their eyebrows for just a moment before separating from her, though she remained still as she waited for them to use whatever move they were planning on using against her. She wasn't too worried about reinforcements coming to face her, as both of the remaining Princesses didn't have combat experience, so they would be useless in a fight, while the guards themselves would just be in the way, fuel to bring about the end of this world, so it would be the three of them and no one else.
What was interesting was that despite her rapid movements, and desire to not show either of them her true expression, part of Celestia was still holding back, she could tell with that brief exchange, meaning she was hoping to find a fragment of the old Sunset inside her, which would end in failure. Even so Celestia spread her wings and rushed at Sunset, swinging her pike with the intent to knock Frostmourne out of her hand, though all she did was parry the attack and the next few that came her way, as she could sense the hesitation in the Solar Princess, a flaw that would cost her dearly. Luna, on the other hand, didn't have the same connections that Celestia had and wanted nothing more than to cut her down, to save their world from the darkness that was invading it, as she slashed at Sunset with her sword and made sure to aim right at all of the openings she was showing. Sunset, however, only grinned as she raised her empty hand and held it out towards her runeblade, where the titansteel runeblade she had her allies prepare for her, in preparation to gain more power and steal Frostmourne, seemed to emerge from the other blade, giving her two weapons as she fended off the assault, quickly pushing the alicorns back for a moment.
Sunset was also pleased with this development, as while she had intended for the two runeblades to be merged into one blade, and stay that way, she enjoyed the idea of being able to draw out the other one whenever she needed it, causing her to shift her stance as both of her foes did the same thing.
This time around Sunset decided to add a bit of her magic into the mix, allowing her deathly power to decay the ground as she rushed through the air, surprising the pair since this was their first time seeing it with their own eyes, even though she was sure someone told them about her new powers. In the next instant the alicorn sisters combined their magic and set up a magical barrier that surrounded the area they were in, making it large enough so they would have room to fight, as in without running into the walls, while no doubt making sure it went deep into the ground to prevent the decay from even reaching the rest of the land. At the same time Sunset noticed something interesting, as the shimmering wall went up she spotted what appeared to be instances of the other five Cosmic Forces, as in Life, Arcane, Light, Fel, and Void, though that should be impossible since the only one left with any connection to the five forces was Anduin, and he was too young to take part in such a fight. Such a thing caused her to remember who was still among Azeroth's living, the key players to be exact, and that caused her to think about the leaders of the night elves, Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion, the latter being a druid of considerable strength, but dismissed it instantly.
In that moment she found a blue magical arrow flying through the air, no doubt loosed by Luna while she was distracted by what was going on at the moment, though all it did was slam into her chest and push her back a little, leaving nothing more than a bit of smoke as she found that her chest piece was unharmed, causing her to merge her blades once more before using her now empty hand to dust off her armor.
"I expected you two to be rusty after a thousand years, but I'm glad to be wrong on this matter." Sunset remarked, due to the fact that neither of her foes had fought anyone since the events of Nightmare Moon's sudden arrival, but it looked like she was wrong on that front, though this time she was happy to admit that she was wrong, as an easy fight against these two would have left her feeling annoyed once they were done and she was victorious, "Now then, let's get serious and tear up the surrounding area."
Sunset smiled as she took to the skies and started to fly around, extending her hand as she hurled large fireballs down at where Luna was standing, fully intending on forcing her target back or wiping her out, whichever ended up happening was fine with her, while zeroing in on Celestia as she loosed large icicles at her. While she was expecting one of the Princesses to block the incoming attacks with a barrier, as Sunset knew they were capable of such feats given her lessons, she wasn't expecting a barrier made of Life energy to appear around both alicorns, nullifying her attacks with ease before vanishing in an instant. Such a thing was impossible, unless Celestia and Luna were capable of using that power on their own, which told her that there were more enemies scattered around the area, though instead of wasting too much time thinking about it she returned to the fight as she gathered her magic and hurled lightning at her targets. Sure enough, despite the fact that both of her targets moved, more Life based shields appeared and blocked the bolts of lightning before they could even hit the ground, disappearing as soon as they were struck, which caused her to growl as she parried the incoming attacks that came from both of the Princesses.
The more she felt the Life energy the more Sunset realized that she recognized it, as it felt a lot like Erith's power, which was utterly impossible since she had crushed the life out of Life's champion and she knew that there was no way Nozdormu, or the living one anyway, would do anything that messed with the timelines.
Of course Sunset wasn't foolish enough to take on Celestia's solar powers, as she loosed a bolt of it while she was thinking about the information that was in the area they were fighting in, though her dodging the attack seemed to be what the pair were planning since Luna attacked her while she was in the air. They were strong, that much she could tell after clashing with them, but all three of them were holding back, as both of her foes could command the full power of their celestial orbs and she could channel the power of Death itself, which reminded her of her powers. In that moment she raised her hand for a few seconds and summoned a dark lasso around Luna's body, allowing Sunset to yank her target over to her so she could pierce her chest with Frostmourne, or at least that was her plan since it was ruined by a surge of Fel energy that cut through the lasso and freed Luna. Following that Sunset gathered some of her power and hurled bolts of decay at several areas that would help spread it and weaken the ground that the alicorns were fighting on, only for bolts of Light, Arcane, Life, Void, and Fel energy to appear out of the darkness and smash into her attacks, energies she recognized.
"ERITH! You and the others dare to return?!" Sunset shouted, as there was no way she could mistake the energies of the five alternate selves she had created, in an attempt to see what would happen if she was infused with the other Cosmic Forces, and while she knew that all five had perished, and obliterated by her hand, the energy showed her that they were still alive, no doubt Nozdormu was behind such a thing.
Sure enough the Fel, Void, Light, and Arcane versions of herself appeared near Celestia and Luna, each ready for battle, but the one that worried her, Erith, happened to be up in the air, her weapon infused with the powers of the Princesses, which allowed her to throw an energy version of it into her chest and sent her down into the ground, blasting part of the area up in the process.
"We may have been beaten once, but we have been given another chance to stop your madness." Erith stated, landing near the Princesses, who made sure she landed safely with their magic, before the dryad turned and focused on the smoke that had been created from her attack, readying her power once more as the others did the same, "We don't want to kill you Sunset, even if others are calling for your head... please, let us heal you and save you from the darkness that has claimed your heart."
"Darkness? You haven't seen anything yet." Sunset replied, where she emerged from the smoke and they found that she had some odd sickly blue energy coming from her body, though that wasn't the only thing that happened, as there were six more Sunsets standing near her, three on either side to be exact, though her allies were make of Sha energy, tainting the ground in the process, "It's time to get serious... prepare to die!"
Celestia, Luna, and their allies readied themselves for the next wave of the battle, silently glad that Sunset hadn't noticed the slumbering power that was being awakened in a nearby protected area, and hoped that they could survive this battle, long enough to set things right and end Sunset's corrupt madness.
Sunset stood still for a few seconds, as she had been expecting this battle to be over by this point, instead of her having to pull out more of her power after discovering more enemies were waiting for her, but she wasn't about to complain, as this also worked out for her plans. With it being seven on seven none of her foes would be able to rush to the aid of the others, so Celestia was all hers as the manifestations of the Sha distracted the other six, because if she killed and raised her former mentor into undeath the entire world would collapse in a wave of fear. If she took out Celestia she knew that things would go her way, allowing her darkness to wash over this world as she raised everyone into undeath, grant her more power for the future, when she decided to turn her attention back on Azeroth and the rest of the living. Luna was a problem, she knew that much after having gone through the last couple of minutes with her and her sister, though Erith, her Life counterpart, was an annoying foe to have on the field as well, while the others were more like pests in the grand scheme of things.
A second later she shifting her stance and swung her empty hand at her enemies, where her Sha creations charged at the six enemies that were around Celestia, as she found that Fear targeted Luna, Violence went after her Fel self, Hatred rushed at her Light self, Doubt decided to go after her Void self, Despair focused on her Arcane persona, and Anger slashed at Erith, each one pushing their foes away to leave her and Celestia alone.
"Wrathion was right, you freed and consumed the Sha of Pandaria... Doubt, Despair, Violence, Hatred, Anger, Fear, and Pride," Celestia commented, where once again she wished that the black dragon wasn't correct about what he had said and had shown them about Sunset, as she hated the fact that one of her students had fallen so low and had been corrupted into a monster that totally warped their entire person, "Very well, Sunset, let's see how strong your darkness really is."
The pair stood there for a moment, silently gauging what the other was thinking or planning, before Sunset quickly raised her blade and rushed through the space between them, where Celestia shifted her stance and parried the swing, where the air shuddered as their energies collided with each other. She knew that the same thing was happening all over the rest of the arena, her dark creations were clashing with their chosen opponents, though her focus turned towards her foe as she was pushed back, showing her that Celestia was getting serious, far more than before. Celestia spread her wings not a second later before taking flight, causing Sunset to smile as she flipped backwards, landed on the ground, and burst into the air as she zeroed in on where her foe was located, the two closing in on each other as several of the others noticed the area that they were fighting in. The pair had picked the supposed roof of the entire arena that had been set up to stop her decay from spreading to the rest of Equestria, especially since there was no telling what might happen if she reached the graveyards of her home world, but both shelved that thought as they clashed with each other once more.
The sky lit up as the power of Death collided with the power of the Sun, where the force of the collision sent them away from each other, though that was only a temporary measure as they continued to clash, moving from one part of the area to another at incredible speeds. Luna dared to take her eyes off of her foe for a moment as she watched the main fight go down, where she figured that if anyone else, such as Applejack for example, were here they wouldn't be able to keep track of the pair that would determine the fate of Equestria. In fact she was sure that the only reason she and the others could keep up with what the pair were doing was because she was an alicorn and the others were champions of their particular Cosmic Force, though she also understood that, up until this point, Sunset must have been using only a fraction of all her dark powers. Such a thing meant that if she used their full power against her enemies, as it had to be far greater than the power they were seeing right now, Luna was sure that the barrier would collapse and the land would be subject to the full darkness that was the Lich Queen.
In the next moment, just as everything died down, Sunset gathered her magical in her empty hand as Celestia happened to perform the exact same spell, where they fired beams of energy that stuck each other and detonated upon collision, creating a cloud of smoke around the pair, even though Luna knew her sister couldn't call forth her true power without vaporizing all of them in an instant.
While that happened Luna and her foe danced around their portion of the arena, where she found that Fear loved to use it's powers to taunt her, mostly by transforming into Nightmare Moon, a figure that inspired fear and even doubts that were still lingering inside her, to try and weaken her resolve to open the way for it's victory. The same was roughly true for the rest of the group, Doubt trying to bring it's opponents secrets doubts to the surface, Despair trying to use their own despair that they wouldn't succeed against the Lich Queen, while Violence, Hatred, and Anger drew upon their respective aspects to empower themselves. Luna remembered what Wrathion had said another the true timeline of Azeroth, about how the heroes would have faced their 'darkness' and would have, with some amount of lives lost, overcome the seven Sha that had resulted from Y'Shaarj's death, including the eventual destruction of his terrible heart. Sunset, however, had combined all seven of them and the heart into a single mass, consuming it and the powers of the other Old Gods, giving her a terrifying power that she had chosen to manifest as the seven Sha, since she was channeling the power of Pride, the greatest and darkest of the foul beasts.
It told her why Sunset was able to stand to her sister's power, even if Celestia was holding back to save them from being burned by the power of the sun, though that wasn't taking into consideration the dark power of Death that lingered in her body, just waiting to be unleashed upon those who dared to challenge her might.
"Excellent! To think that even in this situation, where you can't wield your full power, you would be able to keep up with all the power I've been using so far!" Sunset stated, though in that moment Celestia and the others watched watched as she called forth more of her power, the unholy power of Death as the air around her got darker, as if her power was messing with reality itself, something they were able to confirm as the blue gem on her twisted helm glowed, "Ah, much better... I want to force all of you to bend the knee and submit to my rule, instead of using Domination magic on all of you, as that would take the fun out of this."
In that moment Luna really understood what was going on, Sunset had the power to, as Wrathion put it, 'dominate' them in an instant, regardless of their defenses or powers, and this showed how arrogant she was, as she could win this battle with no real effort on her part and felt like having a fight was more important. She understood why Sunset contained the power of Pride inside her body, it was the one that she felt the most connected to, despite all the hatred and anger that was in her heart, towards Celestia and Cadance for what happened in the past, and that worried her greatly. She knew if she and Celestia channeled their full power they would destroy the entire area they and their allies were fighting in, not to mention utterly wreck the others that were fighting beside them, it would only benefit Sunset, and she could see that her sister understood that. Even Sunset understood that, she had created a scenario where the two most powerful members of her enemies couldn't actually use their full power against her, not without actually tipping the scales back in her favor, and it was infuriating when she thought about it, but for now she had to wonder what they could do to deal with Sunset's power over Death.
As Luna considered that, however, several things happened at once, Erith and the other Sunsets gathered their power for a few seconds and chained their foes to the ground, containing them with vines, what looked like chains of golden light, and even chains of darkness, before rushing Sunset. This time around it looked like the other champions were gathering their own energies, as if worried that allowing their foe to gather her strength was a bad idea, and Erith lead the charge, leading to the power of Life and Death colliding as both parties swung their weapons at each other, allowing their energies to clash as the air around them shook. Luna suspected that being on Equus had boosted the power of the five champions, since they were now standing up to Sunset without too much of a gap existing in their base abilities, though at the same time it really looked like the dryad was the strongest of the other five, reminding her of a tale that Wrathion had told them while she and the others had been preparing for this battle. The tale was about how Sunset went to attack another timeline and clashed with Erith, a figure who actually stood up to her terrifying might and forced her to retreat, even if their next encounter had ended with the powerful dryad perishing, but now she was back in action and knocked Sunset down to the ground with the next swing of her weapon.
It wasn't much, as it didn't look like Sunset was wounded, but it was better than nothing as she and Celestia chained their dark foes to the ground and rushed into the battle that was happening nearby, turning the tide from seven to seven, which would benefit Sunset in the long run, to one against seven. It was hard to tell if Sunset could break the chains and call forth her dark creatures, pushing the scale back in her favor, but the fact that the seven of them were focused on her, attacking while avoiding their own allies, meant that she had to focus less on her Sha and had to focus more on them. Luna knew that it was a good thing for them and their efforts to save their world, keeping Sunset's attention divided among the seven foes in front of her, but she kept an eye on the chained Sha, as there was no way they would remain sealed like that for long, so she and the others had to finish this soon. She knew that if the Sha broke free it would most likely spell the end of them in a few seconds, as their defenses were lowered while they lashed out at Sunset with their powers, and it seemed like Sunset was planning on that happening so she could finally win this battle and kill them all, no doubt to raise them into undeath as her dark servants.
Erith, however, gathered more of her energy into her weapon, where the other champions bestowed their power onto her and allowed them to mix with the Life power she commanded, causing her and Celestia and add the power of the sun and the moon into the mix, allowing Erith to stab Sunset in the chest and release the power in a violent flash that sent her down into the ground.
As everyone landed on the ground the Sha broke free of their bindings, though instead of surging at them they rushed back to where Sunset was located, where they found a torrent of dark energy pulsating from where she had landed, though none of them attacked as the six Sha disappeared, no doubt returning their power to Sunset. It was as if the combined power of Erith and the other champions had done some damage to Sunset, and if that was the case they had a chance to finally beat her without needing their full power, though she could feel the gaze of Death itself on her as their foe started to emerge from the mass of dark energy. Sunset's body had bloated, no doubt due to the influence of the Old Gods that had been dragged down into her back in Pandaria, as she stood three times their size, there were spikes on her arms and legs now, which actually seemed to move a little, like they were tendrils, and it seemed like she had more eyes on her head, another gift from the Old Gods. Celestia was sure that Sunset was either mutating or the Old Gods sensed a prime opportunity to escape from her grasp and taint this world in their dark names, though a moment later she noticed that a bit of her height was lost as the dark cloak of Death surrounded her, showing them that she was still in control of her body and that she was likely taming the parasites before the fight resumed.
In that moment she realized that they might not have another chance and quickly nodded her head to the others, where she, Luna, and their allies summoned their powers once more and created their strongest chains to tie Sunset down, as in bringing her to her knees as the chains wrapped around her arms, to prevent her from lashing out at them.
"Really?! Did you honestly expect this to do anything to me?" Sunset stated, as while she was amused by their persistence in the face of her power, in an attempt to stop what was coming, she was growing tired of their attempts and felt that the time was right to unleash Death's power on this world.
"Of course not, they're merely our bindings to keep you in place." Celestia replied, though as she said that she fired a small burst of magic into the air and Sunset followed it with her eyes for a couple of seconds, where it detonated like a flare, as if she was signaling someone to do something, causing Sunset to instantly realize who was missing.
Not a few seconds later a new group teleported into the area, Princess Twilight and her friends, wearing the Elements of Harmony no less, where she found that Cadance had joined them and no doubt provided the power to teleport them so the six friends could channel their power without losing focus. In that very moment she understood what was going on, as all the pieces aligned for her to comprehend everything that her foes had done to make sure she didn't notice that these six were working in the shadows, under the Love Princess' protection to ensure they succeeded in their mission. She also recalled what happened the last time she was subjected to the power of the Elements of Harmony, even if it was one and the echoes of the other five, where Sunset growled as she fought against all of the magical chains that were around her, as she wasn't about to let this happen to her again. A few seconds later a bright light emitted from where Princess Twilight and her friends were standing, where she found the rainbow energy of Harmony rushing towards her once again, which caused Sunset to shatter the chains around her left hand, her empty hand, before extending it and her power towards the incoming beam of rainbow energy.
The two forces slammed into each other without much delay, where Sunset found that, despite the initial pause, the beam of Harmony energy was pushing towards her, as Erith and the others were using their powers to tie down her power over Death itself, and she found that it wasn't long before the energy overwhelmed her and washed over her body, the searing power surrounding her once more.
As the light faded, however, Sunset found that her body felt lighter than before, no doubt due to the ponies trying to heal her body of the darkness that had taken root inside of her, though in the following moments she discovered that she was made out of a light blue material. After everything she had been through, all of the power she had obtained in her quest to dominate all life, her soul had decided to take on the form she had been given when the magic brought her to Azeroth, wearing the armor of the Jailer of the Damned and carrying Frostmourne once more. As she thought about that she found herself in someplace new, a large open area with a flat surface for her to walk on, in fact Sunset was surprised to find that she could walk at all in this state, before noticing a number of pillars made of some material that she didn't recognize and a number of stone or metallic gateways, rectangular constructs, that was floating all around them. Above her rested what had to be the stream of souls, as this had to be part of the Shadowlands, the Realms of Death that she had deprived many of by raising her army into undeath, before noticing two things: the first being that there were five symbols on pedestals around her, the second being that she wasn't alone.
Around her rested four figures, leaving two platforms blank since one figure was actually floating, and she turned towards the floating figure first, who happened to be a tall feminine figure that didn't have any feet, rather it looked like the figure was wearing a robe that was cut off at the knee area, though she wore armor that hid her face, while having an odd hole in the area below her neck that had a floating orb inside it. To Sunset's immediate left stood another feminine figure that she instantly recognized, a large Kyrian that had to be Kyrestia, who wore a triangular golden headpiece and a white vest, which showed off part of her midriff and flowed into a belt, which moved into the lower half of a priestess style robe that had flowing ethereal ends and showed off her legs. On her right stood another feminine figure who was as tall as the rest of the group, wearing a blue robe that had a collar and wing segments that reminded her of leaves, and had antlers that resembled elk or some other wild creature that was similar to it. The fourth and final figure was male, whose legs quickly reminded Sunset of the Nathrezim since they were almost identical and ended in hooves, while his pointed ears, the pair of short curved horns on his head, and red eyes made her wonder if he was more like a vampire, and he was wearing a set of attire that seemed to be a mix of armor and casual clothing.
Sunset had been right, she had been brought to the Shadowlands and was now being judged by the beings that served as the Pantheon of Death, those being Kyrestia, known as the Archon, who ruled over Bastion, the Winter Queen, a fair and harsh mistress who watched over Ardenweald, a being she suspected was the Arbiter, who judged all souls, and one that was called Sire Denathrius, who ruled over Revendreth... causing her to gulp for a moment, as she had no idea what was going to happen next and it made her worry about her immediate future.
Sunset stood there for a few moments as the Pantheon of Death stared at her, finding that they were keeping a neutral expression on their faces, or at least three of them anyway since the Arbiter had that helmet on, before she worked up the courage to actually speak in their presence.
"Am... Am I dead?" Sunset asked, because while she knew that the Elements of Harmony, both the gems and the wearers, didn't kill, and both the Princesses and her other other selves weren't actually trying to kill her, the evidence of her demise was in front of her, she was in the heart of the Shadowlands.
"Dead? Hardly. Your soul, Sunset Shimmer, has been ushered to Oribos in this dire and most critical moment." the Archon replied, where she found that Kyrestia, despite the elegant nature of her foe, was deeply displeased with Sunset and she had an idea why, two of the figures she had slain and raised into her service were Kyrian, and one was one of her Paragons, an important figure in Bastion.
"Right now you are at a critical turning point," the Winter Queen continued, showing that they were likely going to speak in turn while Sunset stood there, listening to everything they had to say, especially her judgement based on the fact that she could feel the Arbiter reading her very soul, silently judging her for every action she had taken in her life, though the Winter Queen seemed more neutral than Kyrestia, "either your soul will be consumed by the darkness of the Maw, or you will let the healing of those waiting for you to escape your dark fate."
"And if you fall to your darkness, my Harvesters and I will attempt to absolve you of your many sins." the Sire added, which told her that if she was sent to Revendreth she would likely spend an eternity being forced to face all of her sins, those she had committed before being sent to Azeroth and those after being raised as a death knight, "After that it would all depend on you: would you move beyond your sins and become a functioning member of the Shadowlands, to be returned to the Arbiter for final judgement on where you'd spend the rest of your afterlives, or would you cling to them and be sent into the darkness of the Maw, to be tormented with the worst of the worst."
Oddly enough the Arbiter remained silent as the Eternal Ones, the other name for the Pantheon of Death, spoke to her, but in that moment Sunset realized that she had missed someone in her initial search, a floating figure, who was roughly her size and wore a robe similar to the Arbiter, that seemed out of place.
"I am Tal-Inara, and I speak for the Arbiter." the figure said, which meant that they must have been designed to hear some sort of frequency to understand whatever the floating figure was saying, or at least Sunset assumed such a thing since all of this was far more than what she expected, as she assumed she would have had more time in the mortal planes, fulfilling her desires before coming here, "She is displeased with how you have been corrupted by the Jailer's darkness and have used all of your powers to deprive the mortals of their chance to enter the Shadowlands upon death. Most of your kind, the ponies of Equus, are passionate about so many things and while some would be sent to Bastion, to help ferry souls to Oribos, there are others who would go to Maldraxxus to become warriors and guardians, others who would go to Ardenweald to preserve the spirits of nature, and some would even go to Revendreth, to be freed of their sins before finding their rightful place in the Shadowlands. You, however, have twisted yourself to the point where your only options are Revendreth or the Maw..."
"So... this is some sort of... cosmic intervention?" Sunset inquired, speaking once she was sure that Tal-Inara was done with his translations of what the Arbiter was saying, as it sounded like part of her must have died, since she came here in the first place, and they were using this opportunity to speak with her before she reawakened in the plane that she and all of the others lived in, "Might I say something first?"
"By all means, take the floor. We are, after all, here to speak with you and hear your sentencing." the Sire stated, where he made it sound like all of this was a game or an event to him, which Sunset guessed made sense since he was the master of an entire realm of Death and everyone who called it home followed his orders without question, "I do, however, hope that you come home to Revendreth, as I might have a position suitable for your talents... once you've been absolved of your many sins, anyway."
"While they were disobeying my orders, to go after the soul of a mortal who should have perished, I say she ought to be punished for tampering with the order of the Shadowlands." the Archon said, showing Sunset that despite her calm facial expressions she harbored some resentment for her, to the point where she felt redemption was impossible in the face of her many crimes against the living.
"Patience, sister, for her fate will be decided like all those who come before the Arbiter." the Winter Queen remarked, still preferring to be the more neutral figure among the three that were actually talking right now, even though Sunset felt that the Arbiter might be the most neutral of them all, given her important position, before she turned towards her for a time, as if wondering what her fate might be.
"Look, when I first became the Lich Queen I put on the Helm of Domination and... well, I discovered a being who was in the middle of a terrible plan." Sunset said, deciding to get straight to the point before the Arbiter judged her, mostly to give all of the other Eternal Ones the information that the silent figure had no doubt gleamed from gazing into the depths of her twisted soul, though at the same time she found that her soul was altered again, losing the armor and taking on her attire from when she was a student in Canterlot High, "That being didn't give me his name, but I understood that he was known as the 'Jailer' and that he intends on breaking the cycle of Death, as he forced someone in his realm to make the Helm of Domination and Frostmourne so the Dreadlords could ferry them into the Mortal Plane. Sire, during my time as a pawn of the Jailer I took down several of his demonic pawns, where most revealed that while they served the Legion, to wipe out all life across the universe, they actually served several others and only one, the Jailer, was their true master... and, from what I could gather, they were originally made in your realm."
"How amusing. Are you suggesting that I am a secret ally of the Jailer?" the Sire inquired, where he sounded amused by all of this, making her wonder what he might be like when he was in his actual realm and not in Oribos, something she might learn if she stayed in his realm for any length of time, after her initial stay anyway.
"No, I was just revealing what happened to the beings that were created in your realm, nothing more." Sunset replied, as she knew that trying to implicate one of the other Eternal Ones in the plot to destroy the Machine of Death and disrupt all of the Shadowlands, to ensure that the Jailer claimed the souls and Anima of everyone who died, would only land her in a great deal of hot water, more than her current situation, "I don't know what the Jailer is planning, since he trusts little with that sort of information, especially someone who might be working for her own benefit, but, since I was a pawn of his for a time, I have an idea of what you'll ask of me: to delve into the Maw and put an end to his plans."
"The Arbiter says that the first step should be you setting everything on Azeroth right, to try and undo some of the harm you have done to it." Tal-Inara said, though it was hard to tell when the Arbiter was speaking to her attendant, as that was what the smaller floating figure had to be in Sunset's eyes, before he glanced over at the two empty slots, indicating that two of the other Eternal Ones, one likely being the Jailer and the other being the ruler of Maldraxxus, "but even then she says that your destiny resides in Revendreth, like many of those who slaughtered people... to set an example... and that it will likely take you a long time before you are absolved of your many sins."
Sunset stood there for a few seconds, wondering where she had gone wrong to end up in this situation, before sighing as she tried to call forth her power, summoning Frostmourne into the space in front of her before sending it flying into the Sire's shadow, breaking some dark chain that had been hiding there, surprising the others as she called the runeblade to her side and knelt before them.
"I know I am in no position to say anything, but I am, now and forever, a servant of Death and the Pantheon that serves to maintain balance in the universe," Sunset said, something she would have only said if she was no longer clouded by all of her hate and anger towards Princesses Cadance and Celestia, not to mention everyone else that she felt had wronged her in some manner, like Tirion, the heroes of Azeroth, and everyone else she killed, "I understand that I have sinned, greatly by your reckoning, to the point where I should be sent to the Maw and not Revendreth... I have ruined timelines, slain the various people of multiple worlds, forced those who have fallen to my Scourge to serve me in undeath, and many other sins... I do not deserve redemption, even if you claim that I do. I have broken the shadowy chain that the Jailer, or one of his pawns, left on you, Sire, and off to you my solution: allow me to go back to my body and I will attempt to right some of the wrongs I committed in my war against the living, and, to ensure they don't trouble anyone, I will deliver the Scourge to Oribos as souls, so they may be judged accordingly... I, alone, deserve to go to the Maw."
"Your newfound determination is... impressive... but it doesn't change anything." the Archon stated, though from what the three of them could tell someone had attached that chain to the Sire in an attempt to darken him into a unknowing pawn, where she had to wonder what else Sunset knew and knew the Arbiter wouldn't say, not unless it was important, hence why she raised her spear for a moment, "The Arbiter..."
"Agrees with your proposal." Tal-Inara finished, causing the three other Eternal Ones to turn towards their sister, where it seemed like they were shocked that she was willing to trust her, that she wouldn't go back to murdering everyone that she came across, but, just as Sunset expected, they bowed their heads and backed off, "She also says that if her brother, the Jailer, is plotting to destroy the Machine of Death, and throw the Shadowlands into pure chaos, than he needs to be taken care of before anything terrible happens... such as the Primus' sudden disappearance. Can you, Sunset Shimmer, defeat Zovaal the Jailer?"
"I will endeavor not to fail." Sunset replied, bowing her head to the Arbiter, to show her respect towards the figure, though at the same time she understood that this was basically, in no uncertain terms, her condemning herself to the deepest and darkest pits of hell, as some of the humans of the Mirror World would have said, but the Arbiter said that it was one of her destinies and she was accepting her punishment.
"Then return to the Mortal Plane and right the wrongs you have committed." the Sire said, though while it was clear that he and two of his sisters didn't agree with the Arbiter, in fact he seemed like he wanted to introduce her to Revendreth, they did respect her wishes and backed off to avoid offending her.
Sunset said nothing to that as she nodded her head and focused her mind, allowing her magical energy to track down the stream of energy that brought her to Oribos in the first place, which had been left open based on what she could tell, so she grasped it and her soul dissolved as she returned to the Mortal Plane. Sure enough she found that it was directing her back to Equus, to the plains that she had fought the others in before the Elements of Harmony had been used against her, as in all six of them and not one with five people that represented a specific trait. She discovered that next to no time had passed since she had been overwhelmed by the force of Harmony, as the scene in front of her was her other selves using chains to hold her down, made of their various powers, while Celestia and Luna did the same to ensure Twilight's group succeeded in their mission. In that moment her soul spiraled around where her body was resting and found that the darkness, as she had expected, had been purged by the fires of Harmony, to which she settled into her body as the energy finished washing over her, breaking her twisted form and leaving her in a 'purer' form.
As the magic died down, however, Sunset found that she was back in the form she had started in when she landed in front of Arthas, back at the start of her dark adventure, before finding that she did have a pair of wings still, black feathered wings that looked more like a raven's, to show that she was still Death's servant.
"Sunset? Are you with us?" Celestia asked, as while she had been devastated by having to fight her own student, just like how she had been devastated to punish Luna with the Elements, part of her hoped that this was the end of their fight and that they could go back to their daily lives.
"Yeah, I'm back." Sunset replied, where she found that her opponents sighed before releasing her from the chains that they had used to hold her down, while Twilight and her friends seemed happy to have purified someone else of the darkness that took hold of them, even though they were surprised in the change of her wings, "I know you have questions, but I have one thing to do before I can even answer them."
As Celestia started to open her mouth she found that Sunset raised her left hand towards the sky and opened her palm, as if sending something away from where they were standing, before they watched as the fissure in the sky started to mend itself before their eyes, until nothing of it was left, causing her to wonder what was going to happen next.
"I'm not coming back." Sunset stated, as she had been true to her word, she had talked with Cadance, Twilight, and the rest of those who had beaten some sense into her, especially with the Elements of Harmony, though after all of that she came to the decision to tell them her true intentions.
She had told Celestia and the others about her deeds, confirming what Wrathion had said, though while she found that all of Twilight's friends were shocked by her tale she also discovered that Erith calmed them down rather easily, including the fact that part of her soul had gone to the Shadowlands before she returned in her new state.
"I know the mirror's broken, but we should be able to repair it or make a new one." Twilight spoke up, even though it was clear that she misunderstood what Sunset was talking about, or rather it seemed like she was overloaded by information and this was her way of coping with everything, especially the discovery that when they died they would be judged by a being called the 'Arbiter'.
"Twilight... she's leaving Equus forever." Celestia said, though at the same time she fought to hold back the tears that were building, as they had fought hard to free Sunset from the darkness that had clouded her mind and ruled her body, turning her into what she and Luna could only assume was the 'Princess of Death', only to discover that Sunset had other plans for her future, "Will... Will we ever see you again?"
"Unlikely, as once I'm done with cleaning up the mess I made of Azeroth... well, I'll be heading to the Maw for the rest of my existence." Sunset replied, as she could see how devastated Celestia was by this information, in fact Sunset knew that if she had been the version of her before she went through the mirror she would have felt the same way by this discovery, where she glanced at the others for a few moments, "All of you are destined for the other realms... Applejack, for example, is a fighter and might end up in Maldraxxus, but she also puts her family first, so she could end up in Bastion, while Fluttershy would no doubt go to Ardenweald to help tend to the nature spirits. Originally the Arbiter said that Revendreath might be my eternal resting place, first to repent for my sins until I was ready to go to another realm, but she also said that the Maw was my other destination... Rarity, you might end up in Revendreth, not for any sins, mind you, but rather because it seems to be more elegant and up your alley than the others."
"So each of us would end up in the other realms, and not the one you've decided to call home?" Luna inquired, as she did understand the situation, even though the discovery of the Shadowlands made her wonder how long she and Celestia had in the Mortal Plane before they were brought before the Arbiter.
"Indeed." Sunset said, though at the same time she stopped sitting, as she had done so while they were talking, because it was time for her to get underway and attempt to put things right with the world she had been sent to, though she glanced over to Erith and her other selves, "I guess it's about time that we get you back to your worlds as well."
"Actually, we discussed this before we even talked with the Princesses, and we've agreed that our worlds need to disappear as well, as Azeroth needs balance, not domination." Erith replied, which came as a surprise to Sunset, as she expected that all of her other selves would have preferred to return to their timelines and the lives she had interrupted by invading Erith's, which felt like a lifetime ago at this point, before the dryad brushed Fluttershy's mane again, "The others desire rest and will be following the Scourge into oblivion so they can be take to the Shadowlands... I, on the other hand, have decided to stay here."
"As you wish." Sunset said, as she wasn't about to boss around her other selves, not when they had made this decision on their own, though she suspected that Erith might be planning on leaving Equus as well to find worlds in need of healing, instead of being tied down for the rest of her life.
After that Sunset walked out of the castle, as in the crystal castle that belonged to Twilight, and made her way back over to the plains she and the others had clashed in not that long ago, where she eventually came to a stop and focused her mind on forming a small portal back to the Mirror World. As the others gathered near her position they found sparks of purple energy being pulled into the area that she was focused on, a swirling vortex forming in the spot in question, meaning she was drawing closer to fulfilling her desire of forming a temporary portal. A few seconds later the four other Sunsets that would be joining her stepped forward and applied their magic to it as well, stabilizing it while Erith lent them her magic as well, creating a temporary link between worlds that would close as soon as the caster dropped the spell. The moment the way was open Sunset stopped casting her spell as Erith maintained it, where she glanced back for a moment, to see that Celestia and the others were sad to see her go, before steeling herself as she passed through the portal with her alternate selves, leaving Erith behind as she desired.
Sure enough she found that they returned to the courtyard of Canterlot High, though as they stepped out of the portal it was far too easy for Sunset to see what the Scourge had done, the city was burning, it's people had been raised to serve a dark goddess, and the decay had covered much of the world, meaning it needed to be purged as well.
"My Queen, you have returned!" Kairoz said, who landed nearby before reverting to his Visage form and bowed his head towards Sunset, though the fact that he and the Scourge weren't attacking her other selves meant that he believed that they were members of her army, believing what she was feeding the helm on her head, "We knew you would return with another world captured, but... we were expecting more than this."
"Equus has been captured, though I have left the new risen in that world to wipe out the rest of the living." Sunset replied, once more taking on the role of the Lich Queen, surprising herself with how easy it came to her, even though she was no longer that person anymore, before she focused on the rest of the Scourge that were laying waste to everything else, just as she had done before heading to her home world, "They will join us in due time. While they do that our army will return to Azeroth and finish wiping out the living that are there, so we can begin our preparations for the Legion's return, as its only a matter of time until the demons arrival to burn the world to cinders."
That had been her plan, ready an army to destroy the Legion, and while she still wanted to do it she knew that if she didn't return to the Shadowlands at some point the Eternal Ones would be cross with her, so she decided to focus on fixing all of the problems she had created. The first task was to order the Scourge back to Azeroth with all the haste she could muster, where she and her other selves discovered that too much damage had been done to this world, as during her fight with the Princesses and the others the undead had decimated this world. She knew why such a thing had come to pass, as she had ordered some of her chosen assault force to build another portal to Azeroth, allowing the main force of the Scourge to wash over the Mirror World within a matter of moments. While her forces marched back through the portal, where she found that many were eager to tear apart the rest of the living of their home world, she drew in her power and started to seal the boundaries of the world, cutting off an and all connections to all of the other planets that it might be linked to, all while binding it to a small marble form.
Fortunately the spell allowed her to take it through the portal to finish sealing it, which let her and her other selves return to Azeroth safely, creating a small marble in the palm of her left hand as the portal structure collapsed, though her other selves whipped the Scourge into motion to make sure they didn't stop.
Her next step was a major deception to the undead army, as she wanted them to start tearing down the rest of the Scarlet timeline and ensure that it was a foothold for them to launch their invasion of the infinite timelines that she had access to, and they seemed more than willing to follow her orders. As such she made sure that all of them, and Sunset meant every undead soldier she had raised over the course of her dark quest to conquer Azeroth, the Mirror World, and Equus, went into the portal that the others were standing near, just to make sure everyone was accounted for. It took some time for all of them to move into her chosen timeline, reminding her of just how many people she had damned to this fate, one that she would be releasing them from in the near future if the plan she was setting in motion actually succeeded. The moment that part of her plan was over, and her other selves confirmed that there were no more Scourge in the main version of Azeroth, Sunset readied her magic as she started to seal it off as well, trapping all of the undead in a world that was sealed off from all of the other timelines.
"One timeline down, so many more to go." Sunset remarked, where she looked at the marbles she had made so far, just two in the grand scheme of things, and realized that she had a lot of work to do if she wanted to put things back to normal, not to mention repairing the damage she had done to this world, causing her to turn to the others, "So, I guess it's time that you four head back to your timelines as well, so we can..."
"This is your penance, Sunset Shimmer, but Death won't claim us just yet." Z'irja, her Void counterpart, replied, to which she and the others floated into the air for a moment, each one surrounded by their own energies, causing her to realize that all of them, like Erith, were planning on leaving for other worlds, "Farewell, champion of Death."
Sunset sighed as her other selves burst into the air and disappeared, heading to who knew where, before she turned her focus back to the work that rested in front of her, condensing the other corrupted timelines into marbles so they could be safely removed like the two she had created so far. As she did that, and carefully placed the marbles into a pile next to her, she also made another timeline that was of her claiming the Helm of Domination and taking over Arthas' place as the Jailer of the Damned, but the difference between it and her reality was that she didn't unleash the Scourge on that world, rather she sealed herself in ice. Her reasoning was to make a world where all of Azeroth's heroes survived their encounter with her, so they could go on to face Deathwing and the Sha of Pandaria, before she pulled them back into this world and allowed her observer, Wrathion, to explain things to them. After making sure all of this world's heroes were back she focused on slowly restoring most of the species she had destroyed in her conquest of Azeroth, even the Elemental Lords for that matter, just to bring back everyone important to this world's future.
At the same time she did something to boost her standing with the Eternal Ones, she sent out tendrils of her power while she worked, tracking down and pulling Dreadlords to her position, as they were a blight upon reality and killing them meant things would be easier for the heroes. Of course the ones that came to her first were the Fel corrupted ones, the ones that most of Azeroth was familiar with, and she made sure to slaughter each of them, raising them into undeath so that once her work was done she could send them back to the Shadowlands. The problem came with those who went into the realms of the other Cosmic Forces, those being Light, Life, Arcane, and the Void, though she was patient and did her work to the best of her ability, leaving the explaining to Wrathion, who was widely accepted by the heroes. She even returned Chromie and Kairoz to this world, where she glanced at the latter as she brought Garrosh Hellscream back, as both of them knew what he would do in the near future and it was vital to the history of this world, even if he would go down as one of the worst people in Azeroth's long history.
Eventually the stack of marbles became a pile that needed to be stored inside a small sack, making her realize just how many timelines she had ruined in her quest to create an army of undead that could aid her in her dark mission, and once she did away with all of them, and added the Dreadlords to the last one, she breathed a sigh of relief as she tossed the sack into the air and caught it a few times.
"It seems your work is complete." Wrathion commented, though he was amazed that she had done so much in a day's work, confirming that, while the Elements of Harmony had wiped out the Old Gods she absorbed back in Pandaria, her power was far stronger than when she was an ordinary death knight or even the Lich Queen, meaning her body must have absorbed the power of the deceased Old Gods, "What will you do now?"
"First, destroy these." Sunset replied, where she tossed the sack into the air and caught it with her magic, allowing her to set it on fire with a specific spell that radiated Death energy, as it would reduce the marbles to ash, leaving nothing of them for anyone to use in the future, while sending the souls trapped in each one to the Shadowlands so they could be judged by the Arbiter and move onto their proper afterlives, "With that done, however, it's time for me to leave as well."
As Wrathion opened his mouth, to ask what she meant, Sunset gathered her magic and the jewel on her helm glowed with a bright light that radiated Death energy, where it looked like she was tracing the energies that had brought her to Oribos in the first place, before he realized what she was doing. While he could confirm that she was focusing on opening the way back to the Shadowlands, to fulfill her promise to the Eternal Ones that had judged her, he also understood that she was tracking down the location that the helm was forged in, as, by her own admission, it and Frostmourne were forged in part of the Maw. He had no idea if it was true or not, even though he knew Sunset wasn't a liar, but he said nothing as he stood there and watched as she continued to gather her energy, all while noting that she had chosen to work on the peak of her mentor's old citadel, as they were near the steps to the Frozen Throne. A moment later he watched as a circular portal of Death energy opened in front of Sunset, one that was large enough for a single person to walk through, and on the other side he found what appeared to be a nightmarish landscape, no doubt the Maw.
In that moment he stepped back and allowed Sunset Shimmer to step through the portal without saying another word on the matter, as Wrathion knew that she would bring Death to her enemies and that the Jailer would soon come to fear the monster he had created, and he was sure that Sunset was eager to see what happened next.
Sunset paused for a moment as she passed through the portal and appeared in the outskirts of the Maw, a twisted realm where the most unforgivable and irredeemable souls were sent, even though most still ended up in Revendreth so the inhabitants could make an attempt to atone for their sins. The Maw itself looked like a realm that had been shattered by some sort of force in the distant past, forcefully pulled together by large chains to form the floating islands that made up it's territory, though most of this place looked like it was charred and barren. Of course there were all sorts of buildings that were scattered throughout the Maw, structures that looked like places of torment for those souls that were sent here, an area she would have likely been sent to if she failed to be absolved of her sins in the Sire's realm. In addition to that Sunset found two interesting areas on the islands, one being a ghostly river that seemed to cut through part of the left side of the Maw, likely the entry point for those sent here, while the other was a heated area that looked like it might be a smithy, likely an area to forge specific implements of torture.
Off in the distance floated a massive citadel that looked like a prison for the evilest of souls, a spiraling tower that had to be the seat of the Jailer's power, his domain, meaning he was likely still inside it, planning out the next move he would make to fulfill whatever plan he had been working towards.
"So, this is the Maw... it almost feels like home, given what I've gone." Sunset remarked, because she knew herself better than most and, with the insight given by being purified by the Elements of Harmony, she knew that no matter what the Sire and his Harvesters did she would refuse to be absolved of her many sins, meaning this place would have become her home at some point anyway, she just skipped part of the process, "Oh well, time to get started."
With Frostmourne in hand Sunset made her way down the path in front of her and found that the tormentors were beings in dark armor that looked identical to the walls of the structures that were around the Maw, wielding pikes to inflict torment on the damned, even though some had other weapons, no doubt based on their position. Sure enough she found that the pair in her path were surprised to find her in the Maw, no doubt because they thought she was still a 'living' creature despite the fact that she had died before being raised as a death knight, but, as she expected, they were hostile towards her. She was fine with that, as Sunset figured the more tormentors she killed the greater her chance of drawing out the Jailer would be, at least in her mind it made sense, so when they lashed out at her she pulled Frostmourne up and parried the attack, before altering her stance to let the weapon pass by her. With that done Sunset stabbed the first tormentor right in it's heart, if it even had one, before pushing it back to parry the incoming attack from the second one, causing her to summon the other blade from her runeblade to deal fatal damage to her other foe, dropping it to the ground as well.
Sunset knew that this was going to be a long and painful process, as she would have to find the key players in the Jailer's forces that would draw his attention quicker than she could do with just killing the lesser tormentors, though with that lone thought in her mind she readied her runeblades before taking off.
Her secondary objective was to sow chaos amongst the ranks of the tormentors, or Mawsworn she guessed they could be called, eventually forcing the Jailer's hand to either send out more of his more powerful minions or even come out to see what in the world was going on. Even so she could feel something staring at her as she flew through the air, no doubt some sort of surveillance spell or device that the Jailer had set up to ensure everything in his realm worked as he intended, and since only the Mawsworn seemed to be flying through the air this would give her some of the attention she was seeking, or so she hoped. Even so she zeroed in on the Mawsworn that were flying through the air and stabbed them before they had a chance to do anything to her, even using one to defend herself against what appeared to be small floating towers that were designed to deal with souls that were trying to run, to ensure they were captured, causing her to alter her plan for a time as she targeted the towers. She really didn't want to be bothered by the towers and their powerful blasts, since they proved to be an unnecessary distraction, so she unleashed a small bit of her power on them, creating energy spikes that pierced the material that made the towers and detonated once they were deep enough, wiping out the towers while she focused on all of the flying Mawsworn that were coming after her.
One Mawsworn actually tackled her and knocked her down into the ground, near what looked like a fortress of some kind, to which she removed it's head with her blades, though as she picked herself up she found that there were more types of enemies to fight, as in massive giants that were brutes, floating robe wearing mages, twisted dragons that seemed ready to tear their enemies apart, and who knew what else.
"Lok'tar ogar!" a voice cried out, where Sunset glanced at the sky for a moment as an orc warrior, Garrosh Hellscream, or at least the one that fell to the might of the Scourge and was risen as a minion of Death, crashed into the ground, crushing one of Sunset's enemies before it even had a chance to attack her.
"Garrosh? What are you doing here? You should be in Maldraxxus, given your history." Sunset said, as even with him being turned into a soldier of Death, forced to kill the living, she suspected that the Arbiter would have sent him to the realm of warriors, or maybe Revendreth to purge him of all the sins he committed in her dark name.
"Since you wiped out so many alternate timelines, and sent so many to the Shadowlands, the Arbiter has decided that you won't fight this battle on your own." another voice said, where she found her Kairoz, along with the Chromie she had also raised into undeath, standing nearby, who used their magical powers to blast several Mawsworn into oblivion, their Anima being absorbed into Frostmourne, just like those Sunset had slain since her arrival.
As Sunset thought about that, and what it meant, a comet shower happened in the air, where she watched as the forces of her army rained down on the Maw, where people that she had given a second chance of sorts, by freeing them from her power and sending them to their afterlives, joined her in what might very well be her last fight. Without needing to utter a single word she gestured to all of the Mawsworn and her army crashed into them before landing, using the force of them entering the Maw to crush some of her enemies into submission, just like Garrosh had done when he entered this realm of Death. Following that she watched as some of the more powerful members of her army arrived, Deathwing struck the nearby mountain, where another fortress had been built, and roared as he used his earth powers to shatter the area that it was in, while the rest of the Aspects and their kin rained death on the Mawsworn around them. The risen soldiers of the Horde and the Alliance crashed into the forces of the Maw, cutting and blasting their enemies into submission as Sunset did the same, picking out the more important members of the Jailer's forces to cut down before they could report to their master.
It turned the Maw into a literal warzone between them and the tormentors of the Maw, where soldiers fell on both sides of the conflict, though to ensure the Jailer didn't gain anything from this Sunset used her lingering connection to those she had risen and trapped their souls in Frostmourne, to present them to the Arbiter if she survived all this.
While her forces tore into the Mawsworn that were guarding the Maw, and targeting the reinforcements to prevent them from gaining the upper hand, Sunset gathered her power for a few seconds before bursting into the air, heading right for the floating tower that their enemies called Torghast. She struck the outside of it with her magic and found that, thanks to her special gear, namely Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination, she was able to slip through whatever barrier rested on the outer walls and appeared inside the structure that the Jailer had to be waiting in. What she discovered was that the entry area looked like the antechamber of some palace, or something to that effect, and as Sunset walked forward, taking in the sights while looking for any enemies that might be lingering in this place, she spotted what appeared to be a sealed portal to another part of the structure. Such a thing meant that it had to be someone important to the Jailer, either one of the most dangerous souls in all of creation, a criminal who shouldn't be allowed to see the light of day for the rest of their miserable existence, or someone he was exploiting for his own purposes.
Such a thing caused her to turn her magic on the seal for a few seconds and shattered it with ease, opening the portal that had been sealed by Domination magic, allowing her to enter it and found that it brought her to a platform that was likely deep in Torghast's depths, with a large figure, as tall as the Eternal Ones, chained in front of her.
"Wh... Whose there?" the figure asked, where Sunset found that it was, indeed, male based on the voice, which matched the form she was seeing right now, while noticing that the chains were linked to a pair of bracers it was wearing right now, not to mention a Mawsworn helm to likely keep his identity obscured while the Jailer forced his will upon him, "Zo... Zovaal, is that you?"
"No, the Jailer is elsewhere in Torghast... I am an ally." Sunset replied, as she had a feeling she knew where the six Eternal One was now, where she raised Frostmourne, something that caught the figure's attention as he stared at her though some slits in the eyes of his prison helm, and lashed through the chains like they were butter, before readying her magic for a few seconds as she pointed it at him, "Brace yourself, as this is going to be painful."
What she did was connect her magical powers with the abilities of both Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination, just like Sunset had done in the past, before connecting them to the figure in front of her, where she found that his memories were fragmented and scattered, causing her to focus her mind. She found that the fragments in question were scattered all over the Maw, twisted into the forms of weapons and armor to serve the will of Zovaal as he prepared, in secret, for the day when he could leave this place and destroy all of reality, or maybe just enslave everything. As her power found each fragment she pulled them back to where she was standing, channeling all of them into the figure in front of her as she discovered that her process had an interesting effect on him, he lost his hunch and started to stand straight once more. The mask shattered as she worked, revealing the humanoid face of who she assumed was the Primus, the last of the Eternal Ones, and she found that his robe was restored to it's former glory, while discovering that he had a magnificent white beard, a pair of horns that were different from demonic ones, a look in his eye that represented his wisdom, and a staff of power.
"I... remember... everything." the Primus said, though as Sunset lowered Frostmourne she noticed that he lost something in his voice, as it was far more elegant and befitting of an Eternal One, far more than the grating pained expression he had in the form that Zovaal had forced upon him after tearing out his memories, before he noticed her, "You possess the Vessels of Domination, my finest mourneblade and the helm I designed to be it's partner... only twisted to serve Zovaal's plans for the rest of reality. Here, allow me..."
Sunset found that the power of the Primus washed over the Helm of Domination and felt something disappear, which had to be the connection her helm had to this place, or more specifically the Jailer, where the Primus nodded for a moment as he lowered his right hand, which he had raised to work his magic.
"I have severed the helm's connection to Zovaal, so you have nothing to fear from him invading your mind again." the Primus stated, though at the same time he started to walk towards the portal Sunset had created to enter this part of Torghast, an area the Eternal One didn't seem too interested in staying in for more than what was necessary, "We must return to Oribos and inform the others that..."
"Zovaal is plotting to destroy the machine of Death to gain the power to break free of the Maw and remake reality in his dark image?" Sunset remarked, something that caused the Primus to glance at her for a moment as she tapped the helm, as she had seen glimpses of the plan when Zovaal thought she'd become one of his greatest champions, creating a sea of undead that would be sent to the Maw once she completed her mission, "My army is attacking the Maw right now, tearing down the Mawsworn while I assault Torghast... I'm putting an end to this here and now, both to stop his plans and repent for what I did after being risen into undeath."
The Primus said nothing as he departed from Torghast, no doubt using his own power to track down a portal to the Maw so he could see what was going on, though as he did that Sunset headed into the antechamber and found that there were a number of paths for her to pick from. With how big the tower was sure knew that it would take her forever to track down the area that Zovaal was likely hiding in, watching her waste time while her army fought the Mawsworn, hence the reason that she did something that the Jailer might not have expected her to do, she closed her eyes and focused her magic for a few more seconds. She was using it, combined with the Helm of Domination, to track down the one she was searching for so she could pinpoint Zovaal's exact location before he had a chance to move even deeper into Torghast, and it didn't take her too long to locate her target, causing her to open her wings before taking off. In order to safely pass through the rest of Torghast she covered herself in her magic and watched as she passed from one part of the tower, a labyrinth that was the true nature of this place, to a fiery area for some reason, before reaching an area that looked like an open balcony, so one could look out over the vastness of the Maw.
Standing near the edge was a tall figure, the sixth Eternal One, who wore no chest piece, had some odd collar with a pair of spikes on either side of his head, with plated bracers like what the Primus had been wearing, and had chains linked up to them that were broken, before she noticed that he had red and purple pants, no shoes, and had a hole in his chest that made it seem like he was missing something.
"Zovaal the Jailer... we meet at last." Sunset stated, landing near her target as she tucked in her wings, as this didn't seem like a good place to use them, at least for the time being, all while the figure turned in her direction and she found that he had eerie blue runes on his arms, chest, and even parts of his head.
"Sunset Shimmer, my greatest champion... I was not expecting you to come here, not until the Legion was defeated and the soul of Argus was used to stop the machine of Death." the figure, Zovaal, replied, though while Sunset could see that her forces were still fighting the Mawsworn it was hard to tell if he was displeased with her actions or if he even cared, but she was expecting it to be the latter, especially since he didn't seem at all concerned by the battle that was going on near his doorstep, "No matter, for the act of delivering so many souls to the Shadowlands will benefit us in the end... many will fail to meet the Archon's expectations and be turned into doubters of her system, the Primus' chosen will be overwhelmed by new recruits and many undesirables will ruin their ranks, the Winter Queen will find her groves withering before long, and the Sire will find all sorts of souls that will be sent here. Eventually Death will ensnare the rest of reality and the other Cosmic Forces will be forced to bend their knee to us... I shall rule over a united universe, to destroy the Void Lords and all those who would oppose us, and you, Sunset Shimmer, will be my greatest champion, the force that enforces my will on the rest of reality."
Sunset knew that if she had been her twisted self, who served the darker side of Death, she would have knelt and offered her services to the Jailer, helping Zovaal impose his will upon not only Oribos but the rest of the Shadowlands, in addition to the rest of reality, causing her to make her decision. In the next moment she made her move, rushing off to Zovaal's left and using the edge of one of Torghast's walls to propel herself over to a small metallic disc she had set up while the Jailer was talking, allowing her to push herself towards her foe's backside. The plan was simple, while Sunset knew she was very strong, thanks to all the Anima she had absorbed and the power of four Old Gods merged with her own with their owners destroyed by the Elements of Harmony, she wasn't too sure that she could defeat an Eternal One in combat, despite what she had said to all of the others in front of the Archon. As such her plan was to cut down Zovaal without giving him even a chance to defend himself, hence why she was aiming at his neck right now, because if she took his head off it would bring an end to this in an instant and allow her to move on with her life.
As that happened, however, Zovaal extended his right hand and summoned what appeared to be a mace that was more like a warhammer, one that could switch between being used with one hand and used with two hands, and looked like the attire of the Mawsworn, that he used to parry the incoming attack.
Since Zovaal didn't seem surprised by this Sunset understood that he knew of her betrayal and that she was here to take his head, since she brought an army to make sure his forces were unable to stop this battle, but since her attack had been stopped she spread her wings once more and allowed herself to be pushed back. Sunset rushed around the balcony that they were currently on, finding that part of her movements were needed to slash at the chains that Zovaal sent her way, to pull her down and likely either chain her to his will once more or remove her so he could find a better champion, though Frostmourne was enough to deal with those items. After a few seconds she gathered her energy and spun around as she focused on her target, sending out a crescent wave of energy that rushed through the air and slammed into the Jailer, who seemed surprised by her attack as it slammed into his bare chest and detonated, enough to dent the balcony itself while kicking up some smoke. Several chains burst out of the smoke, where she found that, despite cutting down some of them, a few caught her and pulled her down into the ruined area, allowing Zovaal to swing his hammer into her side, where she was thankful for the armor she was wearing, as that attack hurt her insides enough to cause her to stagger, though it was in that moment she was grateful that she was still undead, otherwise she'd be on the ground.
Despite that fact, however, Sunset found that Zovaal was wounded, due to the diagonal slash on his chest, which just so happened to be bleeding right now, showing her that despite his nature as an Eternal One he was still capable of having all sorts of injuries inflicted upon him, meaning there was a chance of her winning this.
After that the two clashed with their weapons, allowing her to see something important, while the chains were still on his arms, legs, and belt area, even if they were broken right now, most of their power was still in effect, Zovaal wasn't allowed to use his full power, limiting him to some Domination magic and his own melee skills. It was the only thing going for her as she lashed out with her magic spells, slashing and blasting at Zovaal as she dodged his attacks, or at least to the best of her abilities, and while she suffered a few more strikes of his warhammer, causing her to stagger in the process, she found that her attacks hit their marks. The Jailer, with his limited skills and even more limited powers, had no choice up to allow a fair number of her spells to strike his body and inflict harm on him, where she found something to be humorous about, as when she was living she never used her magic against another, at least not until her fateful event, but in undeath she was able to learn how to inflict pain on the living. Such a thing allowed her to inflict maximum harm on Zovaal with a single well placed spell, so hitting him with multiple in rapid succession, in addition to slashing at his exposed chest with the blade he had made to fulfill his dark desires, along with his arms and legs every now and then, before she ducked under his swing a moment later and swung upwards, removing his arm in the process.
In the end Sunset stabbed Zovaal in his chest, right below the heart, and found that she brought him to one knee, but just to make sure he didn't try anything she focused her mind and left the other runeblade in his chest, allowing her to use the edge of Frostmourne to remove his head... though as it hit the ground she huffed, as he was a tough foe and would have been tougher with his full power, before she collapsed and let unconsciousness claim her again.
As Sunset regained consciousness she found that, once more, she was grateful for the fact that she had been reborn as an undead, so she wouldn't feel pain anymore, as she was sure that her body would be in agonizing pain after the battle she had with Zovaal not that long ago. She expected to find herself near the corpse of the Eternal One that wanted to destroy all of reality and enslave everyone to his dark will, staring up at the dark and twisted skies of the Maw, but what she quickly discovered was that she was in the gate filled space that was the summit of Oribos. Sure enough she found that the Arbiter was staring down at her, while also finding the Archon and the Sire to her left before finding the Winter Queen and the Primus off to her right, filling every space save for the one that was directly across from where the Arbiter rested. As she glanced back at it for a moment Sunset realized something, it had been Zovaal's position before he either shattered it or the other Eternal Ones did after he was locked away in the depths of the Maw, but now that hardly mattered since he was dead and his plans were no more.
In that moment Sunset pushed herself into a kneeling position, as she knew there was no way she could do anything with all five of the remaining Eternal Ones watching her, while gathering a bit of her magic to mend her wounds, because despite the fact that she didn't feel pain she knew that untended wounds could kill even her.
"And so the deed is done, just as you claimed." the Winter Queen stated, where it sounded like they had been waiting for her to wake up after her short battle with Zovaal, even though it had been possibly the hardest and she was sure she would have lost had he been in possession of most of his powers, all while she noticed that the Winter Queen seemed a little sad over that fact, "Zovaal, our brother, the first Arbiter of the Shadowlands, is no more."
"The First?!" Sunset remarked, as it sounded weird when she thought about it, because she meant that the others must have learned of their brother's plans and turned against him, the rightful judge of the Shadowlands, before she realized, to some degree, that everything started to make sense, especially the Domination markings on Zovaal's body, "Actually, I guess that makes sense."
"When we banished Zovaal, and I marked him with Domination to ensure he could only watch over the Maw, the forges of Zereth Mortis understood that we had no Arbiter and forged a new one." the Primus said, as he knew that Sunset had all sorts of questions and he was there to answer them, even though he was actually present in the chamber while the rest of the Eternal Ones. save for the Arbiter, were colored images coming from their home realms, "With Zovaal falling to a new position as the Jailer of the Maw, chained up for his crimes of turning against the will of the First Ones and trying to twist all of reality to 'fix' a flaw he believed he had discovered, we created a Pantheon of Death that now had six members that would watch over the Shadowlands. Following that logic, with Zovaal dead for good, the forges would have started making a new Jailer to watch over the damned that have been sent to the Maw... however, I don't believe that such a thing is even necessary right now."
"I hope you aren't suggesting that we do away with the position of the Jailer, now that Zovaal is dead." the Archon stated, which Sunset had to agree with, now that the Shadowlands have operated this way for a long time, with six Eternal Ones in charge of everything, the loss of one would cause another to be made, if the Primus was right about the existence of this 'Zereth Mortis', which the others didn't seem to agree with.
"No, I am suggesting something entirely different." the Primus replied, where he reached into his robe for a moment as all of the other Eternal Ones watched him with interest in their eyes, no doubt because he was the smartest of them all, so it meant they were eager to see what he was thinking of, before he pulled out Frostmourne, which radiated dark energy as Sunset realized her weapon wasn't in it's scabbard, "While I was imprisoned in Torghast, stripped of my memories so I'd be a pawn of our brother's plans, Zovaal extracted the plans to make a very special pair of items that I called the Vessels of Domination, which he corrupted to make it so the mourneblade would break the souls of the slain in half, keeping part of it inside the blade while sending the other half to the Shadowlands. I... originally designed the blade for the one that would watch over every soul sent to the Maw, and, when combined with the helm of a ruler, they would be the symbols of one's authority as the Jailer... I made them for when Zovaal realized his error and embraced his new role, but he continued with his path to the bitter end."
"It's a shame that we didn't bring him to Revendreth first, I could have tried to help him absolve his sins." the Sire said, as he seemed the most saddened by Zovaal's passing, mostly because it seemed like the others preferred to keep more of their emotions locked away, even though the Archon and Winter Queen were slightly saddened by the news, though after letting out a sigh he turned towards the Primus, "However, I know you well enough to understand that you have a plan in motion, brother... what are you thinking about, in regards to a new Jailer?"
"This blade, so named Frostmourne, has been returned to the realm it was created in, along with it's helm companion, so I propose our champion take Zovaal's place." the Primus answered, where the Eternal Ones glanced at Sunset for a couple of seconds, who was just as shocked as they were when she considered what it might mean, letting a mortal, regardless of whether or not she was living, would take the place of an Eternal One, "Sunset Shimmer has shown that, despite her past actions against the mortal races of the Mortal Plane, she is capable of stepping up and defending what she believes in, as in the safety of Oribos and the rest of the Shadowlands. When she struck down our brother, ending his plans to dominate all of reality, his twisted power as the Jailer was absorbed into this blade, meaning we should be able to transfer it to a new host... we are missing a Jailer, that is true, so I propose that our ally take up Zovaal's second mantle, replacing him as the new Keeper of the Maw and, more importantly, the Jailer of the Damned, watching over the souls that are sent to her domain."
"I'm not questioning your judgement, brother, but... is that a wise idea? She was, after all, Zovaal's greatest champion in all the Mortal Plane." the Winter Queen asked, which made sense when Sunset thought about it, as she seemed to be linked to Life in some manner, making her wonder if she was related to Elune in some manner, the night elf goddess that most, if not all of them, worshiped in some manner, "Shouldn't we allow the forges to do the task that was given to them when the First Ones created the Forbidden Realm?"
"I have been freed from my desires to dominate all of reality... I no longer follow the path he put me on." Sunset said, as it seemed like some of the Eternal Ones were still thinking about the idea that their brother had proposed to them, while at the same time she showed them that she was more than willing to abide by whatever they wished, because some wanted her to suffer for her crimes and she agreed with them, "However, if you decide that I shall spend the rest of my days as the Jailer of the Damned, than I will bow to your wisdom and offer you my power, to watch over anyone who is sent to the realm that Zovaal once ruled over."
The Primus glanced at the others, who seemed to debate the issue that he had presented to them, before they seemed to come to a decision on the matter and beckoned for him to proceed, causing Sunset to wonder what else all of them might have seen in her or learned from the Arbiter and talked about after her departure. In the following moment Sunset stood up and noticed that the edge of Frostmourne was glowing, radiating the power of the Jailer based on what the Primus had told the others, causing her to realize that he had been telling the truth, he was more than willing to pass on Zovaal's role, and all of the power that came with it. With the other Eternal Ones basically giving him their approval on the matter, even if some had reservations about her, despite her killing their brother to save reality, the Primus pointed Frostmourne's tip at her for a few seconds before pressing the tip against her chest, as if her armor wasn't even there. In that instant she felt the power of the Jailer surge into her body, wrapping around Sunset's entire body as it left the blade that it had been stored inside, where she closed her eyes and allowed it to wash over her as she felt her own power increase as what had once been Zovaal's own power became part of her own.
A few seconds later she emerged from the torrent of energy and found that her armor was the same as before, save for the pants area having been turned into the lower section of a dark gray robe, with chains serving as a belt, and when Sunset opened her eyes she found that she was as tall as the other Eternal Ones, causing her to jump back for a moment and land right on the last remaining pedestal.
"Sunset Shimmer, Jailer of the Damned, reporting for duty." Sunset stated, though as she said that the Primus returned her blade to her, which now seemed larger than she remembered it being, likely a side effect of her transformation, and she knew that, in time, she would be called by her new title, like how Kyrestia was the 'Archon' and Denathrius was the 'Sire', so in time she would be known as the 'Jailer'.
"And now the Pantheon of Death has been restored." the Primus said, where he returned to his own pedestal so the rest of the Eternal Ones could focus on what he was saying right now, even though everyone knew that Sunset would be in the hot water for the foreseeable future, just to be sure a second Zovaal wasn't lurking in the shadows, so she had to show all of them that she was on their side, "I must return to Maldraxxus and clean up the mess that has been made of the Houses I left behind... though I suspect that our realms will be busy for a time, thanks to all the souls that have been brought to us by our new Eternal One."
Sunset nodded with the others as the projections disappeared, where she was able to tell that her own pedestal now had an icon that looked like her Cutie Mark, only twisted in color to match Domination Magic, before Tal-Inara opened a portal back to Oribos for her to take. She walked through it and found herself on a circular walkway that looked like a ring, since there was a hole in the middle of the massive structure that was Oribos, the Heart of the Shadowlands, though she found out something interesting, if she or someone jumped into the opening it would bring one to the Maw. Sunset could feel a lingering spell of sorts in the central area, which was likely how her army had gotten to her new domain in the first place, if the Arbiter had allowed them to manifest a physical form first, but in the end she determined neither option mattered for her right now. She wished Tal-Inara well before spreading her wings as she fell backwards into the opening, allowing her to fly down towards the magical portal that connected the deepest part of Oribos' structure to the Maw and passed right through it without wasting too much time, causing her to reappear inside the Maw.
With that done she knew that she would need to speak to the remaining Mawsworn, to figure out their original duties had been, before Zovaal sharpened them to be an army, so she could get her domain back on track, but she was eager to face these challenges and whatever the future held for her and the rest of the Shadowlands.