Diakum's Dawn Proclamation

"He has come..."

Kil'jaeden fought with all his strength to cut down a demon. Panting, he raised his head and saw the burning figure standing above the heavens.

The Dark Titan's march of destruction through the stars had finally reached Argus.

He stood within the sea of stars. His manifested upper body alone occupied the entire sky visible to mortal eyes.

This world could not contain a being so powerful that he stood at the pinnacle of the material world's strength. Merely standing beyond the planet and gazing down coldly, he eclipsed the light of the stars.

The Naaru ships fled into streams of light the instant they saw the Dark Titan arrive, like startled egrets taking flight.

The Holy Light protected their escape. Had they been even a little slower, fel energy's pull would have instantly transformed them into vile abominations. Yet no one could condemn the Naaru for cowardice at this moment.

Before the Dark Titan, the entire starry sea was weak.

Lord Sargeras's body still carried unextinguished battle intent. It was not directed at the frail world of Argus; he had simply just returned from the battlefield against his enemies in the Void. Perhaps not long ago, the corrupting vanguards cast into the material world by the Void Lords had been destroyed beneath the Dark Titan's sword.

Toward the chaos born from the Sea of Darkness, the Dark Titan had always killed every one he encountered, without mercy or compassion.

That was his duty.

Even when he had been the Pantheon's foremost enforcer, even when he had been a Titan of Order, that had already been his duty.

Perhaps the Dark Titan's choice to embrace fel energy had also come from his adherence to that duty. After all, compared to arcane power, fel energy was clearly a sharper weapon against Void corruption.

To be honest, the Dark Titan had little interest in the various conflicts occurring within the material universe.

He rarely descended into the material stars in his true form to personally oversee a world's destruction or vent his fury.

He found it boring.

Moreover, he was not a tyrant who casually vented his rage upon the innocent. Every appearance he made in the sea of stars was inevitably accompanied by some purpose beyond reality.

Rather than bully mortals and admire their pathetic struggles amid destruction, Sargeras preferred to hear the terrified cries of the Void Lords when they faced him directly.

But this world before him...

It was indeed worth spending some precious time on.

The Dark Titan studied Argus with curious eyes.

His burning gaze pierced the planet, making the World Soul hidden within its body tremble. Yet at this moment, Sargeras was not concerned only with his still-unformed "brother." Rather, more of his attention rested upon the Eredar.

Thirty days ago, he had sensed a prophecy involving himself. Thus, wielding his great power, he had cast down the Doom Proclamation upon the two insects who dared peer into the Supreme Lord.

Perhaps it had merely been a whim. After all, this world before him was already his for the taking.

He could never win the war against the Void alone. His enemies were cunning and vicious, numerous and strange in their ways. They spread corruption through the shadows of the entire physical universe. He needed more warriors and companions to purge the Void's poison.

He had tried discussing it with his brothers and sisters of the Pantheon. He had tried to obtain their aid. But the arrogance and contempt innate to the primal force of Order left him weary and helpless. Their rebukes and restraints had forced him to kill those companions who possessed power yet remained Obsessed with their "Pokémon game."

The facts proved that not every mighty being could correctly understand where power should be directed. Thus, Lord Sargeras had resolved to build his own "Dark Pantheon."

He already had an initial plan, and Argus, a world nurturing a Star Soul, was well suited to serve as the site of his grand design.

At first, he had only needed this world.

But the repeated failures of the demons he had used as "execution tools" made the Dark Titan realize that he had underestimated this world.

He had underestimated his weak "brother" and the guardians it had chosen. Especially when the Greater Demons personally blessed by the Dark Titan were sent back to the Twisting Nether to queue up for resurrection in short order, the Eredar's supreme valor finally caught Sargeras's attention.

He had long realized that the current Burning Legion lacked organization and guidance.

The demons' terrible violent nature determined that they could only become excellent destroyers, incapable of accomplishing the great undertaking the Dark Titan wished them to fulfill.

The legion under his command lacked intelligent management and qualified commanders.

Eredun was blindly loyal but inflexible. The Nathrezim were cunning but cowardly. The Mo'arg possessed clever minds but cared only for their machines. Aranasi had foresight and could weave the threads of fate, but their numbers were too few and they reproduced with great difficulty, making them unfit for major use. The Shivarra understood how to interpret orders but lacked authority, fit only for adjutant work.

The Greater Demons under his command all had one flaw or another. After gathering his own forces, Sargeras finally understood why his former brothers had wasted so much time across countless planets trying to cultivate "perfect life."

Flaws.

Creatures with flaws were truly unfit for great responsibilities. Yet a casual Doom Proclamation had brought him a surprise.

The Eredar!

The Dark Titan's gaze swept across the battlefield of demons on Mac'Aree.

He saw Kil'jaeden lead the remnants of his forces against demons hundreds of times their number.

This was strategy, loyalty, and obedience!

He saw Diakum wield a Holy Light disc to scatter the demonspawn, protecting his people as they fled into the sea of stars.

This was talent, strength, and conviction!

He saw the wounded endure the demons' threats to bring Velen, whom they had risked their lives to protect, back to the starship.

This was unity, courage, and kindness!

He saw Sarkir pursue the survival of civilization at the cost of falling into irreversible corruption.

This was sacrifice, devotion, and persistence!

His brother Argus had, with its still-innocent power, accidentally created a group of mortals Sargeras considered exceptionally outstanding.

They possessed everything demons possessed, and lacked none of what demons did not have. Since the Burning Legion's formation, the demons had never suffered such a humiliating defeat on any world.

Perhaps the demons believed they had washed away the humiliation by ultimately conquering Argus. But for the first time, they had failed to exterminate a civilization on a planet. Instead, they had allowed the Eredar to complete a world-shaking escape in thirty days.

Under the command of their wisest, their bravest had protected the less capable individuals well...

Sargeras was very satisfied with the outcome of this war.

He had once again seen the demons' advantage in numbers, but he had also discovered the perfect subordinates he had been seeking.

The Eredar!

If these Eredar joined the Legion, the army of destruction he forged to pacify the stars would gain a mind. This drawn blade would also gain a will of its own. They would know where to direct their force.

The Burning Crusade...

The Dark Titan thought that the demons still completely failed to understand the mission they were to bear, or the destination of this crusade that would set the sea of stars ablaze.

That world nurturing the Supreme Star Soul...

That world hidden within the physical universe by his brothers and sisters!

That world protected by the Pantheon's strongest safeguards and an entire host of Titan guardians.

Even if the current Burning Legion found it, it could only suffer defeat after defeat. Heh. The demons thought too highly of themselves, yet they had nearly failed to take even Argus. Sending them to the harsher battlefield of Azeroth would only make them embarrass themselves in circles.

They still needed training!

So thought the Dark Titan.

He had always been strict with mortals, but everything that had happened on Argus over the past thirty days truly deserved for him to show this world's beings leniency and grant them an opportunity.

An opportunity to embrace and dedicate themselves to a true great undertaking!

The thoughts of an exalted being undoubtedly possessed power, and the demons seemed to have sensed the Supreme Lord's will.

Their assault, like collapsing mountains and raging seas, quietly stopped at a certain moment. The Eredar warriors trapped in life-or-death combat on the battlefield also discovered in confusion that they had lost their targets.

Across the now-silent battlefield, within one circle after another formed as the demons withdrew, warriors of varying numbers stood with weapons in hand and blood staining their bodies.

They did not understand what had happened.

They could not comprehend why these demons would willingly spare them. But Kil'jaeden knew that the fateful moment for himself and the Eredar had arrived.

He had seen this future!

In the vision he saw on the day of the Doom Proclamation, and in the prophecy brought by Mother of Light Xe'ra, he had personally seen his twisted self, bloated with fel energy.

He had seen himself seated upon the Skull Throne, commanding trillions of demon armies across the sea of stars. He had seen himself become the lord of Greater Demons, obedient to the Dark Titan.

He had once believed he could defy that fate...

How foolish and laughable. How passionate and regretful. How sorrowful and glorious.

Kil'jaeden laughed.

Under the gazes of the guards around him, he threw away his weapon and staggered forward. He reached up and removed his heavy helmet, then tossed his shattered shoulder armor to the ground.

Talgas seemed to sense something and tried to reach out to seize his commander, but Kil'jaeden merely shook his head at him.

He continued forward, casting off his armor piece by piece. At last, wearing only an undershirt soaked in demon blood, he reached the edge of the battlefield. Upon the elevated platform where the Seat of the Triumvirate had been destroyed, he raised his head and stared straight at the majestic figure beyond the heavens as though staring into the sun.

He said:

"Show me."

"..."

Silence answered him.

But immediately afterward, the Dark Titan's supreme thoughts seized him like a heavy net, along with every Eredar on the battlefield.

Even those at death's door.

Through the Dark Titan's perspective, they saw the boundless stars. They saw galaxies where starlight flickered into being and vanished every moment. They saw the dark roots hidden beneath those beautiful worlds, and how indescribable entities of chaos injected the Void's poison into planets.

The vermin in those shadows gave shameless, sinister laughs, corrupting and degrading countless living beings into one festering wound after another within the physical universe.

They saw, in the shadows of the sea of stars, the abyss-born abominations crawling through the darkness. Those corruptors from the Sea of Darkness desperately longed to witness the arrival of a great twilight over the stars, when all things fell into ruin.

Those enemies of all life whispered among themselves.

Just as they had corrupted that pitiful World Soul, they longed to shape one Void Herald after another, wreathed in plagues of extinction, within a material sea of stars that did not belong to them.

If no army resolute and powerful enough stepped forward to stop all this, the corruption and end of the material stars would be only a matter of time.

The Dark Titan did not even conceal the brutal scenes of slaughtering his brothers and sisters.

He showed the Eredar the truth: the Pantheon did not consider any of this a problem. Their arrogance had allowed them to fall for the Void Lords' schemes. They could not properly govern this sea of stars, so Sargeras would replace them!

If this galaxy, destined to fall, could not be saved, then burn it to ash!

Beneath the warm ashes, seeds of pure hope for the future would take root and sprout.

This was the Burning Crusade!

This was the Dark Titan's will and hope.

"Well?"

A deep, majestic voice echoed through Kil'jaeden's mind and spirit.

He had rarely granted mortals the right to choose. Perhaps the Eredar's performance over the past thirty days deserved such respect.

Lord Sargeras was this kind of god.

He possessed the Titans' flaw of arrogance as well, but he viewed mortals who accomplished miracles in a different light.

The same thing had happened more than once in the True History of the Dark Portal.

In the future, the Odachi, supreme masters of strength who would beat the Burning Legion into abandoning their armor and fleeing in panic, their wails echoing through the galaxy, would earn such glory as well.

And Azeroth, incomparably tenacious, which would drive the Burning Legion's main force out of its world for a resounding victory even without using the useless Titan guardians, would earn the same glory.

But whether in true history or this "unofficial history" wild enough from the start, the Eredar were always the first civilization to earn such favor.

The Dark Titan awaited Kil'jaeden's answer, and Kil'jaeden did not disappoint him.

He knelt on one knee and looked up at the majestic being.

"What you need are marshals and commanders. You have gotten what you wanted. Please spare my people... At least for today, give them a chance to choose. Just once!"

The Dark Titan gave him an answer.

He truly appreciated this unyielding soul, one that still carried mercy and a desire to protect others. He seemed to see another version of himself in Kil'jaeden.

At the moment of his answer, he hesitated for an instant over whether to include the Lightforged—the sole person on the battlefield capable of resisting his mental summons—in this "exchange." But in the end, Sargeras abandoned the thought.

That uncut gem had already been claimed first by the omnipresent Primal Light. What a pity.

So be it.

He had gained enough today.

The Primal Light was not an enemy either. At least before the Void's ambition was crushed, that shining glimmer still had some use...

Having received his answer, Commander Kil'jaeden lowered his head for the first time on a demon battlefield. He softly said:

"Then I shall pledge my loyalty to you."

Pure fel radiance ignited upon Kil'jaeden's forehead. In the instant the Eredar leader's mark dimmed, it transformed into the somber Legion Lord's Mark. Fel energy from the purest source within the Twisting Nether became a storm that swallowed Kil'jaeden whole.

Behind him, Talgas sighed and knelt as well, accepting fel energy's embrace.

The warriors submitted one after another. They had all heard Commander Kil'jaeden's plea before his fall, and they knew that their corruption would purchase their people's survival.

This was merely another way of protecting the people they had to protect.

But some were not so obedient...

Upon that battlefield, where beams of fel energy danced in clusters, one strand of light still burned...

And it seemed to burn even more fiercely.

"You actually withstood the Dark Titan's mental summons?! How is that possible!"

Sarkir roared in shock.

Behind him, the Man'ari warlocks stared helplessly at that seemingly undying strand of Holy Light.

They had watched Diakum become entangled and enveloped by the Dark Titan's thoughts. Yet at the moment even Commander Kil'jaeden had surrendered before that great power, Diakum had not turned cowardly after witnessing the "truth."

On the contrary, it was as though he had been enraged. His already weakened Holy Light blazed up once more.

How was that possible?

Not only were these fallen ones horrified; even the Greater Demons hidden among the demon ranks were now staring wide-eyed at one another.

It was truly their first time seeing a soul so resolute. He faced Lord Sargeras's will directly and still refused to surrender?

"Everything that has happened, has yet to happen; everything fixed, unfixed; everything painful, gentle... Everything you know and everything you do not know has been conveyed to me through the Holy Light's mighty power!"

Dick was indeed enduring the pressure brought by the Dark Titan's thoughts. That terrifying mental interference made him unable to breathe for several moments. But the constant flashing prompt before his eyes—"[Veil of the Afterlife] activated"—still allowed him to maintain his sanity amid the Titan's tide of thought.

His left hand gripped the radiant fragment left behind after the Naaru Lura shattered, while his right hand clutched a golden splinter left after the Atama Crystal broke. He poured his Holy Light into them, as though igniting these most ancient relics.

Amid the scorching aura that wound around him again and again as if his very body were burning, Dick gritted his teeth and said:

"Your Dark Titan may not even know that every threat he sees is merely the result of other schemers' plans. Compared to the brothers and sisters he slaughtered, perhaps he himself is the sharp blade that will strike at the physical universe!

"And you...

"You accomplices who commit evil in the name of justice and great undertakings!

"You expect me to kneel before violence as you have. You expect us to be shackled by cowardice as you are...

"Dream on!

"I...

"I didn't come here for this!

"And today will never be the end of my glorious destiny!"

Boom!

Scorching Holy Light erupted in that instant as though oil had been poured upon fire. Its radiance was neither as overwhelming as his earlier cheat-like burst nor as vast as when World Power had filled him.

But this was Dick's own Holy Light.

After thirty not-so-long days of refinement and countless battles tempering him, he, a mere mortal, had finally reached the moment of crossing into legend.

He knew it was time.

Even if his Priest training had not yet reached perfection, even if the Radiant Energy Pool had not yet expanded to its limit, even if there was still room to improve his affinity with the Holy Light, even if his Intelligence attribute was still rather pitiful.

But...

It was time!

He had already fallen into absolute desperation. If he did not make a desperate gamble now, he really would have to "serve the Legion" alongside Kil'jaeden.

Golden runes swayed before his eyes, forming the query of a mysterious power:

[Power Burning has begun! Life rank advancement has begun!

Power alignment: Holy Light primal force.

Power specialization: Retribution/Judgment/Sanction.

Power rating: Vindicator/Paladin (Mortal Rank · Perfect), Priest (Mortal Rank · Advanced).

Power summary: There is still room for improvement!

Begin "Mortal → Legend" advancement? Yes/No]

"It's time!"

Dick decisively chose to begin.

It was as though a bomb had detonated within his mind.

In that instant, he felt every drop of blood and every bone in his body begin to burn. The previously feeble radiant energy flowing through his blood and bones cheered as it transformed into "fuel," pouring into his self-ignited shell.

With every breath, Dick could feel new power erupting within him.

Like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam, it surged and crashed, causing holy flame-like radiance to ignite in his eyes as he raised his head.

Swish

Dick raised the crystal blade from the Naaru's broken body. The thing was so sharp that it sliced open his finger and drew blood, but he did not care. He merely pointed the Blade of Radiant Light at Sarkir before him and said, "I'm about to choose a 'lucky audience member' to witness my destruction... or my legend. Enlightener, would you care to do me the honor?"

"Hehehe, why not? The journey of such a peculiar Radiant Spirit toward its doom is destined to be extraordinary. I am also honored to personally complete the duel that you and I failed to finish before. Ah, let us treat this as the final Jed'hin Tournament of the world of Argus.

"The only contestants will be you and me."

Sarkir accepted the invitation with a strange delight.

Holding a wand formed from demon spines and clutching a skull artifact, he strode forward.

Amid the surging storm of fel energy and the howls of demons, the two had no more words to exchange. Like a collision between a dark green shadow and a radiant Holy Gun in this land of doom, it was very much like a final curtain call.

In the front row of the audience sat none other than the Dark Titan, Lord Sargeras, along with that glimmer of light shining through the darkest hour of all...

Mm, what an honor!

"We left him behind..."

Aboard the Genedar, already flying away from the world of Argus, Fareeya slumped onto the floor of the teleportation hall. This strong warrior was reduced to tears in that instant.

She wailed, "We left him in the apocalypse. The Holy Light will condemn our cowardice..."

"Damn it! Stop thinking about it, or your convictions will shatter!"

Imira, carrying the Naaru holy staff on her back, grabbed Fareeya's arm and tried to pull her up, but the others were in just as bad a state.

Their morale had sunk to the bottom.

Even the Twins hung their heads like defeated roosters.

Clearly, the people saved by Commodore Dick's sacrifice felt that they might as well die.

Captain Neri remained silent at that moment. She handed the Atama Crystal fragments brought back by the group to High Priestess Ishana, who had come to receive them. Then she took new weapons and ample ammunition from her companions in the Assassin Court, grabbed a bottle of alchemical potion to restore her energy, and tipped it back into her mouth.

The awful taste made Neri clench her fists. Then she turned and viciously kicked Fareeya's armor, shouting, "What are you crying for? Dick isn't dead yet, but if you keep dawdling like this, he won't survive. Can you still fight?"

"Hm?"

The five youngsters wallowing in despair all looked up at her. Neri pointed toward one section of the starship and said, "Do you remember how Commander Kil'jaeden returned to the battlefield? These starships have escape pods! Now, bring the most powerful weapons you can find and the strongest people you know... and come back with me!

"Commodore Dick still owes me a date.

"Though it will have to wait another two hundred years, I don't mind.

"I know we're going to our deaths, so before we set out, I have one question..."

She looked at everyone before her and asked, "Does anyone want to withdraw?"

"Enough nonsense."

Vindicator Malderan, who had been carried back by Vindicator Sovos, pressed a hand to his chest and said, "Let's go."

"Are you sure, Commodore Malderan?"

Neri sighed. "Your family is aboard this starship. Perhaps you should go meet them now."

"If I leave Dick behind..."

Malderan revealed an open-hearted smile and said, "Even my children would never forgive me. Little Maraad has already come to regard Dick as the idol of his life. As his father, how could I let my son down? Besides, Dick and I have saved each other on the battlefield more than once.

"That heavy bond has surpassed friendship and become brotherhood. I know where my final ray of Holy Light should be cast.

"Let's go, children.

"Let us bring the Hand of Argus back!"