NOVEL NEXT The Battle of Ahn’Quiraj III
3/17 afternoon
I chain blinked past the Naga, mostly avoiding their attention with a combination of Stealth, Fade, Invisibility, and the good old fashioned art of not being seen. I never stayed in one place very long, and as long as I was moving towards the giant glowing amber building I was making progress.
My Eros persona was chosen because as a Watcher I didn’t need to breathe, but I was also a trained bronze dragon chronomancer (shout out to Doan). As such, I could navigate into the erratic field of temporal energy without too much trouble. Behind me, the battle raged, in front of me were quite a few infinite drakes that could be felled with a single swipe of Strom’kar.
••••••••••
Xal’atath did not float among the stars, looking down upon the hundreds of overlord drones she commanded, but it was close enough for description. She visualized the locations of her drones using their memories of their surroundings, assembling the information into a useful format that she could work with, coordinating the actions of her many hand puppets. She did all this while comfortably nestled at Vanessa’s hip and carefully watching the rapidly growing number of deaths that would herald her rebirth.
Most of her drones in Ahn’Quiraj were gathered around Cairne. The followers of C’thun were fanatically loyal to him, but many of the strongest servants he had were rather simple minded and had extremely simplistic inner lives. It was easy enough to twist perceptions and poach the Aqir with oaths of service to Cairne, at least until C’thun noticed and started countering her. He could easily dispel her influence, but she only needed to wrest control for a few seconds at a time, and any energy diverted to her was draining her reserves, so she considered it a laudable use of her overlords. The heroes of Azeroth were quite able to rampage through the ancient city, and once they reached Ossirian he was defeated with shocking ease.
Of course he put up a fight. In his fortified position, strengthened as he was by C’thun’s power storage crystals, he could have taken on any three of the human sized members of the retinue quite handily. He wasn’t fighting three, five, ten, twenty-five, or even fourty. In only about twelve hours, facilitated primarily by a shocking disregard from the retinue for their own lives, C’thun’s champion was broken and his energy reserves plundered.
N’Zoth was quite a bit more problematic. C’thun, being natively inferior and currently in a compromised position, was more or less on equal footing with her in their diminished states. N’Zoth, though the weakest of the Old Gods, was back to his peak of strength. Rather unfair, in Xal’atath’s opinion, just because he’d been captured while all in one piece.
Regardless, Xal’atath could see through the perfect senses of the Overseers that the overwhelming majority of the enemies before her were nothing but Faceless Ones wrapped in delusion. Quite a lot weaker than the faux titans and elemental nobles they were being presented as. Sharing this information weakened the illusion, but merely being told something did not override the evidence of one’s own eyes. So long as there was a doubt to latch onto, easy when Eonar was being asked to trust the word of an old god, N’Zoth’s magic still had some small effect.
••••••••••
I smiled as I felt the vibration from my amulet. Ossirian was dead, so my amulet counted as an orb of entrancement now. With any luck, that meant C’thun would be dealt with promptly. I didn’t have time to think about that too hard right now, as I had a guardian to get past. Azshara, her moderns incarnation, stood watch outside of the ancient seal. There was only one way in, and to be perfectly frank the fact that she had accepted guard duty was all the evidence I needed that she was captured. She was joined by a single Naga woman with a large warhammer.
Something tickled at the back of my head; a sense that hammers would be absolutely shit weapons underwater. Either way, she seemed unimportant at a glance. I only really needed a distraction, so I retreated back around a corner and called in someone that wasn’t officially marked as a combatant anymore after transforming her into a titanic construct; a ten foot tall version of herself. My fuck toy, Azshara, was almost certainly a match for herself. That’s how it worked, if you are captured you will instantly be set to your absolute peak of power. They should be evenly matched.
Since fair fights are for chumps, I also called in Anveena and about thirty fairy dragons in aquatic forms. The modern day Azshara was a krakengirl, but she was still absolutely a mage first. Magic proof dragon supports and a mana battery channeling infinite energy to my fuck toy should make this fight easy. I, for my part, intended to blitz in and collar Neffie dearest with my newest configuration of the tempest jewels: a mask.
I slipped in during the fairy dragon assault; I was immediately thankful that I’d decided to provide backup for Azshara. The ensuing beam war was more or less as expected: the two empresses were more or less evenly matched, but the Naga moved with preternatural speed to start disassembling every fairy dragon present. I realized this was probably that Paladin I fought up north. Shocking that she was still around really, the way Neffie went through minions, but she seemed to be displaying her efficacy right now so what do I know.
“By the authority of Eonar, I order this door open.” I hissed when I reached the portal in question. I didn’t know what gimmick Neffie used to get in and out, but I had permission right from the top and it could tell if I was fibbing. I slipped in and repeated the process to lock myself in. I had my spotter ready to pull me out in case anything went wrong. I swept my gaze across the prison and locked on to my prey. I needed to be quick.
••••••••••
C’thun was being overwhelmed. He was a distraction of sorts in N’Zoth’s plan; Nefaria could empower each of them in turn, even finding and capturing Yogg’Saron. C’thun only needed to last for three days, a period of time that seemed increasingly unlikely as the future came into focus. Fighting all of the Titans’ lap dogs at once, alongside two nascent titans and some kind of hybrid dragon… Titan… Naaru… thing would have taken his full attention when he was at his peak. Even worse, Ossirian had been killed and several of C’thun’s power crystals were destroyed.
When a miniaturized Deathwing and Alexstrasza, only about five times the size of an orc each, also joined the fight he decided it would be best to make his exit. He didn’t have an escape route, not really; Xal’atath knew his tricks, so turning into a single scarab beetle and hiding deep underground would only delay his destruction. Hunting for him would, however, keep Bismark’s retinue busy while the Mistress marshaled her forces.
In a last ditch effort, C’Thun provided his final orders to his many tentacles and severed his primary mind from them. Deep underground, a tiny scarab began burrowing out into the desert of Silithus. With any luck he’d grow in power over the next few days, but even if not he could relish his limited freedom. Damn Bismark.
••••••••••
Feng squirmed with excitement as she lay down in front of the cart. Dozens of her fellows, all of whom had died in the last battle, lay beside her in their own Kyrian forms. Per the master’s orders, Siren Song and Alluring Whisper Sharing had been purchased with the credits from C’Thun, and they were all being deployed to make the most of it. She closed her eyes and waited. The crunch was sickening.
“Welcome, Prince Arthas.” The strong voice of an older man was the next thing Feng heard, “The men and I are honored by your presence.”
“Can the formalities, Uther.” A much younger blonde man answered from just in front of Feng, “I’m not King yet.”
Her vision came into focus as she realized she was wearing a steel helmet, the visor down. Her ears were already perked up as she realized she was in the presence of royalty. Royalty that she knew to be ripe for capture, no less! The memory of having important names and faces reminded the pandaren girl of the rest of her instruction. Feng stopped and assessed who she was, and concluded she was a soldier in the prince’s entourage. Quite a step up from maid already, but consort of a prince had a nice ring to it, especially if she was the one really in charge.
She listened in to the conversation between the two important men, following enough to know that her prince was coordinating some military matter. He would be leading the defense of a town known as Strahnbrad against an enemy known as the orcs, and she would be one of his few soldiers. They began their march, and at the first opportunity she moved in to touch the handsome blonde human on the wrist. He was hers, now they just needed to finish here and find some excuse to head south and do the Master’s bidding.
With a few whispers in their ears and the backing of the prince, she received a field promotion and oaths of service from her new subordinates. Her team moved out, and when she arrived in Strahnbrad she attempted to use her compelling voice on the orcs there. It… didn’t work so well. Nothing compelled them to listen to her, so while she tried to employ her siren song the huge green man buried an axe into her neck, killing her in record time.
She was pulled back to the Master’s demiplane, alongside her prince and the handful of footsoldiers she had captured. It was a shameful display, but she was told she would be allowed another try later. After all, it had been a failure by most standards, but she had come back with a copy of Prince Arthas Menathil almost immediately. It was more than some could say.
••••••••••
I pulled my jewelry from around my neck and transformed it into a mask, then blinked forward to shove it onto dear Neffie’s face. The element of surprise was on my side, but she had the benefit of precognition. She was already dodging by the time I blinked into melee with her, and snatched my wrist with a casual swipe, forcing me to drop the mask instantly. She broke my wrist with a contemptuous twist, and punched me in the jaw. She’d gotten faster and stronger than last time I’d seen her, and she’d already been strong enough to overpower me easily.
“No talking this time,” She said in a low growl, “I need to keep my head. More than enough time for fun later.”
She jabbed a needle into my side with a manic gleam in her eyes. “Now then, pet, you love me.”
I tried to look away from the dragon’s eye gemstone around her neck, but it was just… so beautiful. I wouldn’t have confessed my love if I’d been thinking straight; I was infatuated, not stupid. I even kept my glamor up the whole time, just in case. Unfortunately, when you’re entranced you kinda just say what you are thinking. As such, I was already captured by the time that I came out of the trance.
“Now then,” my mistress smiled and my heart filled with joy. “Command your retinue to stand down.”
“I’m sorry.” I answered her, my heart plummeting. “I can’t do that. I ordered them to continue all operations and attempt to retrieve and deprogram me if I were ever compromised.”
“Aren’t they supposed to transfer to me, anyway?” She demanded with a pout.
“Uh. Mistress. I believe that is supposed to happen after three days.” I corrected her sheepishly. “When one of us has been defeated and remains so for three days, then final victory is declared. Not before then.”
The building shook, and I heard a sing-song voice in my head.
“Oh, N’Zoth,” Xal’atath crooned in a voice that we all felt more than we heard it. “We never finished our discussion, and I believe you have my master there with you. I’d rather like it if you handed him back.”
Damnable timing for her regional reward to complete.
“You two. Flee to another timeline.” The god of the depths barked at us, “Somewhere that one’s servants won’t expect. If you can just hide, you’ll win.”
“Bring in the Infinites, then.” My mistress commanded regally. “I’m sure they have some kind of hideaway we can use.”
“Ah. Mistress.” I cringed at the thought of inconveniencing her. “I ordered all the infinites around the building to be killed to prevent… well, not exactly this, but close enough. I could take you somewhere, though. Somewhere that the Company clock moves very quickly. We will only need to wait about five hours for the process to complete.”
Neffie checked her eye gemstone, no doubt consulting her menu to confirm that I was, in fact, captured. I wasn’t offended. I knew I was trustworthy, but she didn’t. She still spent the next several minutes considering, until a massive spiked tentacle burst through the wall accompanied by an expanding mass of coral.
“N’Zoooooth, are you in there?” My pet old goddess cackled, “come give your big sister a hug!”
“Fine! Fine, let’s go.” My Mistress relented at last, “do not under any circumstances endanger me, though.”
“Of course, my mistress. I love you. I would never think to harm you.” I meant every word.
••••••••••
Erich shall be playing as an Imperial starting character; so what shall he be doing with the democratically elected best girl? He has a budget of 3 credits left.