Malderan's Interference with Fate

The Atama Crystal, an ancient holy relic of the Eredar, was a remarkably wondrous thing.

It had appeared almost at the very beginning of Eredar history and was deeply entwined with the race's past, yet its true capabilities had always remained a mystery. Primordial Sorcerer Augure had once used it to tame the elements, while Velen had used it in an accident to summon the descent of the Holy Light's Naaru.

It would always display different miraculous abilities when least expected. Velen had even discovered that it could amplify his gift of prophecy.

But in the end, very few could truly explain exactly what was so miraculous about the Atama Crystal. Even Sarkir, who had once stood at the pinnacle of Eredar spellcasters, could only speculate.

Dick, however, was an exception.

He was probably the only Eredar alive in this era who knew the secret of the Atama Crystal.

This relic was suspected to be connected to the mysterious primordial Naaru—the Naaru born from the first eruption of Holy Light during the Great Ordering of Light and Shadow. Even among the Naaru, a mythic race renowned across the stars for its numbers, primordial Naaru were exceptionally powerful and rare.

But the Atama Crystal was merely a remnant.

It did not possess the power to turn its user into a transcendent being overnight. All it could offer was amplification of a certain power, and that amplification would only truly manifest after the Atama Crystal had shattered into seven fragments.

The Heart of Fury, which controlled rage; the Shadow of Verdant Leaves, which cast concealment; the Song of Souls, which enhanced prophecy; Naaru's Shield, which governed defense; the Eye of the Storm, which manipulated energy; the ever-changing Kiss of Fortune; and the final jewel most closely connected to the Holy Light, Brilliant Star (Ps1).

The best part was...

That final jewel was now in Dick's hand.

Did they think he had picked up that fragment at random?

No!

He had not!

It was precisely because he held this thing that Dick dared to choose this moment to engage Sarkir, who was far stronger than him, in the final duel of the world of Argus.

Every Atama Crystal had its own power. At this moment, Brilliant Star, first ignited by Dick's Holy Light, was beginning to reveal its might in the battle against Sarkir. When Dick clenched it in his fist and slammed it against Sarkir's fel shield, the Enlightener, who had paid no attention to such crude close-quarters attacks, suffered a drastic change in expression in an instant...

Well, considering his current, excessively exaggerated "flaming skull," the change in his expression was better represented by the flames winding around his skull violently leaping into a bizarre shape.

He sensed the abnormal agitation of the blazing crystal in Dick's hand!

But at such close range, it was already too late to retreat. He could only roar and sacrifice the roaring felguard at his side to place a thicker shield around himself. Yet it was completely useless!

Boom!

It was like a heavy bomb detonating between them.

The violently erupting Holy Light tore apart all of Sarkir's shields with devastating force, leaving behind a Terrifying Explosion wound on his fel body, which had risen from death.

Brilliant Star's first eruption sent Sarkir flying. The disheveled Enlightener rolled twice across the ground before climbing back to his feet, without a shred of the dignity expected of an old legend.

This duel, which should have been one-sided, had become thrilling from the very beginning. The scene left the surrounding Man'ari warlocks utterly horrified.

Was Dick, this mortal Vindicator burning himself in an attempt to break through to the legendary rank, really this powerful?

Even after being stripped of World Power's blessing, he could still confront the Enlightener head-on?

Even if Sarkir had been unwilling to accept Lord Sargeras's blessing and complete the glorious Demon Ascension in such a wretched state, this body had still been tempered by fel energy. Its might should not have been something a Vindicator, already exhausted from fighting until now, could contend against.

And yet, that was exactly how it was.

If his body had not been infused with fel energy, that close-range eruption of Holy Light alone would have been enough to crush him.

"What a pity."

Dick revealed a helpless expression.

His plan had indeed been to take advantage of Sarkir's ignorance of the Atama Crystal's wonders and kill him with that sneak attack.

But reality proved that an old legendary figure truly had some skill.

Though he had seemingly been blasted away in disgrace, Sarkir had blocked most of Brilliant Star's explosive energy through consecutive demon sacrifices. The price was that a whole row of "spectating" demons nearby had inexplicably fallen over.

But who cared about demons' physical and mental well-being?

No, nobody did!

Not even the demons themselves cared!

On the contrary, when Dick's eruption sent Sarkir flying, those violent demons cheered. They did not care who won. They only wanted to see a bloody, blade-to-blade slaughter! Wow, seeing such a fierce clash between powerful fighters made this trip worthwhile even if they died today!

The Eredar truly had a talent for becoming gladiators.

"So this is the proper way to use the Atama Crystal?"

Sarkir rose from the ground, reached up to grip the edge of his skull, and with a crack, twisted the crooked skull back into place.

He paid no attention to the wound Holy Light had blown open in his chest and abdomen. Instead, he stared curiously at the dimmed Brilliant Star in Dick's hand. The thing was tightly clutched in the Vindicator's hand like a tiny sun fallen into the mortal world.

He said:

"The Atama Crystal was passed down through our hands for tens of thousands of years, yet you were the first to bring out its true wonders. That strike just now was impressive.

"Unfortunately, you fell just short.

"You were too impatient, child. You should have unleashed your killing blow while I was casting and unable to evade."

"But it can still be used many more times, Enlightener."

Dick gripped the Brilliant Star crystal tightly in his hand and said:

"You'd best pay attention from here on out. Don't embarrass yourself too badly in front of your master. Lord Sargeras is not an easy boss to work for, especially when you're nothing more than barely useful cannon fodder.

"You've been asking me questions all along, so let me ask you one!"

His hooves stamped against the ground. With power erupting through his legs, he clutched the sharp Naaru fragment and charged at Sarkir. With every rise and fall of his blade, he cleaved the demons lunging out of the fel vortex to stop him into dancing ashes, then roared as his momentum continued to build:

"The Dark Titan uses you to eliminate the threat of the Void. He believes it is an act of justice, but what happens after victory? Sarkir, tell your followers loudly! After you flatten the sea of stars and complete the crusade, what then?

"Will the Dark Titan truly allow an army that knows nothing but destruction to continue running rampant through the starry sea He has 'purified'?"

Bang!

The Naaru fragment swinging down with all his strength collided with the demonic Spine Staff Sarkir had raised.

Empowered by tremendous fel strength, Sarkir blocked the blow, then stepped forward with a roar and kicked Dick in the chest, forcing the Vindicator back.

"You will die!"

Dick steadied himself and attacked again.

His power was burning, his mind was burning, even the flesh of his body was burning in golden holy flames. It was not merely the gathering and condensing of legendary power, but the final eruption of a desperate gamble.

In terms of absolute strength, he was no match for Sarkir.

He could only fight with such relentless, savage assaults to win himself a sliver of victory. As for how he would escape this demon-occupied world after defeating Sarkir, he did not know...

But he no longer cared!

Old Hutton had survived for more than twenty thousand years on corrupted Argus. He could do the same!

Even if his body shattered, even if his mind sank into ruin, even if he lost the Holy Light, he would endure. He would keep enduring until the day old Velen and Father Hutton returned to Argus with a million Highlords!

Only after personally witnessing Argus's World Vow fulfilled would he allow himself to end his second life.

"You will be strangled to death by Sargeras himself! Like tools whose final value has been squeezed dry, being discarded is only a matter of time!"

He roared, as if making his final eruption.

Under the unceasing slashes of the sharp Naaru fragment, he grew fiercer and fiercer.

The silent Sarkir continuously parried with his staff in a stance that balanced offense and defense. Whenever he found an opening, he hurled corrosive fel energy, layering more and more curses onto Dick, accompanied by the siphoning and conversion of Life Force.

He knew everything Dick said was true.

He knew that Dick's "prophecy" would most likely come true once the Burning Crusade was complete. But once he had set foot upon this path, there was no turning back.

"You are leading your people toward death... You are only delaying the coming of the end."

The crazed Commodore raised the recharged Brilliant Star and threw a heavy punch forward, but Sarkir sneered as he used a demonic teleportation spell. With his flickering displacement, he dodged the blow and selected a "lucky audience member" from among the watching demons to take his place.

With a deafening boom, the erupting Brilliant Star instantly burned the terrified succubus before Dick into ash.

Sarkir appeared behind him and elegantly spread open his left hand. His five fingers opened, then closed, as though issuing some command, causing the dozen or more curses on Dick to erupt at once.

Dick, who had been charging about like an enraged thunder elephant, was instantly drowned in pain. It felt as though both his body and mind were being torn apart.

It was no illusion.

The eruption of fel fire and shadow turned him into a sacrifice.

As his Life Force drained away, he transformed into a moving demonic seed, using a sacrifice of flesh and blood to summon a doomguard through a tear in space. The moment it landed, it swung its great sword of destruction and dealt Dick a vicious blow.

It was a standard decapitating strike, but before it could land, it was blocked by a heavy layer of Holy Light.

Divine Shield had come just in time.

Protecting his wounded body while clearing away every negative curse, Dick rose beneath his "turtle shell," cast a high-level heal on himself, then used several Flashes of Light to restore his dangerously low health to full.

The instant Divine Shield ended, Radiant Spirit was also summoned in the form of Guardians of Kings.

He and his heroic spirit launched a fierce assault together, killing the doomguard on the battlefield in moments. But Sarkir had already pulled away. The spellcaster had gained enough of an advantage to decide the outcome.

The Enlightener with the burning skull leisurely kept throwing out Shadow Fury and Death Coil, forcing Dick to endure a fear check on the level of the mind every second of his charge.

He knew that if he was defeated even once, if he fell into panic for even one second, Sarkir would slaughter him as easily as a pig.

He could not dodge, much less retreat!

Another Shadow Fury burst down upon him, making Dick spit blood.

Sarkir sneered as he controlled that blood and infused it with fel energy. It erupted around Dick again, reigniting the curses placed within him with vicious smoldering fire. Every drop of fel-infused blood that struck the ground was like fuel, setting off hellfire.

Although Dick, with wings unfurled, purified it with Burning Consecration the next instant, those few seconds of delay left him covered in curses once more.

Warlocks had always fought viciously, not to mention that Sarkir was a master of all three warlock disciplines.

He was proficient in curses, destruction magic, and demon summoning at once. Fighting such a master spellcaster was practically the same as Dick facing an entire walking demon army alone.

The distance between him and Sarkir widened once more, and with demons continuously summoned by the fel vortex obstructing him, victory seemed farther and farther away.

Especially when the Holy Light-formed Guardians of Kings dissolved into beams of light with a roar, it meant Dick's Fiery Guardian had been triggered.

He had just "died" once. Only the Holy Light's protection had allowed him to evade death's pursuit.

But this was exactly the moment the Commodore had been waiting for!

As Guardians of Kings collapsed, it ignited its final energy in an explosive burst, transforming into the radiant strike of Holy Vengeance. In an instant, it cleared away every lesser demon entangling Dick. When he raised his head and revealed a savage smile, a chill surged through Sarkir's heart.

He began to charge.

Driven by the beating of radiant wings, Dick's charge this time was faster and more vicious than ever before, while cascading halos constantly unleashed at his side hindered demons from approaching to support Sarkir.

The instant Sarkir used demonic teleportation to shift positions, Dick turned and poured his momentum into Brilliant Star. The moment Sarkir appeared, he hurled the fully charged jewel like a flying axe.

No matter how powerful a warlock was, once the marker for demonic teleportation had been set, he could not change his destination again!

In other words, Dick had already locked onto where Sarkir would appear after this teleportation. Just as Sarkir had "taught" him earlier, Dick should use his killing move when his opponent was casting and unable to dodge—just like now, when Sarkir was completely unable to evade during the recovery after teleportation.

So please enjoy this Pro Max version of Hammer of Wrath!

Brilliant Star, which had drawn upon Dick's Holy Light to complete another charge, turned into a flashing meteor the instant it left his hand. Amid the demons' howls as they covered their blinded eyes, its brilliant spear of light struck Sarkir squarely in the chest.

Then the violent explosion swallowed everything.

The holy flames formed by the radiant eruption even surpassed golden streams of light. Those milky-white flames clearly possessed a higher temperature, making even Sarkir scream.

Struggling, he lunged out from the area engulfed in holy flames, flailing in place like a burning pillar of fire. He summoned a rain of fel fire to suppress the body ignited by the holy flames.

This shell was merely a vessel for the soul.

For a master warlock, the flesh was no more than baggage that could be discarded at any time. The integrity of the soul was what mattered most.

But the problem was that this time, the holy flames had attached themselves to both his body and his mind. That was enough to keep Sarkir from remaining calm.

He knew clearly that Dick's legendary advancement had been completed!

The Holy Light had granted him greater power, and he himself was the first victim of that power.

That was indeed the case.

At the moment Dick completed the fatal blow, when every bit of power in his body had been drained by that strike, the golden runes dancing before his eyes gathered again, shining as though in celebration:

[External power connected!

Power path: Holy Light primal force.

Connection method: Gathering/Enhancement/Blessing.

You have proven your righteousness and resolve to uphold your oath to the Holy Light. Legendary advancement complete!

Legendary talent [Ashbringer] acquired!

Demons purified by you will have their souls burned away and cannot return to the Twisting Nether to revive.

Legendary talent [Lightforged Knight] acquired!

The Holy Light grants you the honor of commanding a sacred war steed. This mount may alter its appearance and abilities according to different circumstances.

Legendary skill [Seraphim] acquired!

Replaces [Avenging Wrath], granting you more powerful explosive holy power enhancement for a short time.

Legendary skill [Holy Nova] acquired!

Your [Holy Halo] and [Hammer of Wrath] skills have been upgraded into more powerful forms and will passively inflict enemies with [Holyfire Annihilation].

Legendary advancement complete. Third class slot unlocked!

Legendary advancement complete. Legendary/Heroic class slot unlocked. Available Legendary/Heroic class detected: [Harbinger of the Sun]/[Light Weaver]/[Archon].

This class change requires special material: Holy Body Remains [2/1].

Notice!

Individual life status is in extreme danger. Leave the battlefield immediately!

]

"Heh heh..."

Such a perfect advancement should have been celebrated.

But the problem was that Dick no longer had any chance to flee the battlefield.

To be honest, after fighting to this point, he had not intended to run anyway.

I managed to move away more than half the Eredar before Sargeras arrived, preventing the destruction of Eredar civilization; I personally killed four demon demigods in Argus's thirty-day decisive battle, forcing Sargeras to personally intervene to clean up the mess!

I managed to transfer out the fragment of the Argus Star Soul's will, doing everything possible to prevent the Extinguisher's birth ten thousand years from now.

I had not been here long since crossing over, but I was undeniably a true legend already!

Ha, this life of mine had been worth it!

"Sarkir! Look at me!"

Dick propped himself up with the bloodstained Naaru fragment. Drawing upon the stamina and holy power restored by his legendary advancement, he unleashed his final burst.

In Seraphim's dazzling eruption, his radiant wings transformed into bright milky-white beams behind his back, making him seem clad in sacred armor.

Charging forward to the death with the fragment in hand, like the Divine Descent of the Holy Light itself, he roared:

"You want an answer, then I'll give you one!

"Sargeras may kill me, but He will never frighten me. I know where His soul will end up, just as I know you will be cast into hell! This is the fate you await in obedience, while I resist it!

"None can defy it! None can stop it!

"Before it, you and your master are both cowards! But I am a fighter!"

"You have no right to stop me, and even less right to judge me!"

Boom

The demon blocking his path was knocked back by the holy charge. As Dick lunged in for the kill, Sarkir only had time to hurl the Soul Fire in his hand.

But the Commodore, who had already cast aside all concern for life and death, did not dodge at all. He took the killing blow head-on and pressed forward. Amid the agony of his left leg exploding, his left hand clamped down on Sarkir's shoulder while the Naaru fragment in his right hand flashed with radiance and plunged viciously into the Enlightener's fel-driven heart.

"I'll send you to hell with my own hands, you weak piece of trash! The moment you chose to betray your people and your world for your so-called 'salvation,' you lost every shred of dignity and any right to keep living!"

He seized Sarkir's burning skull and tore it from his spine.

He cursed:

"May you suffer endless torment in The Maw. May you eventually become a pitiful remnant, a foul and cowardly soul fit only to become anima sampled by wild dogs... I curse you! You coward who can only kneel before the strong to beg for a way to live!"

"Yet I have received fel's blessing, child."

Sarkir's skull gave a regretful voice from Dick's hand.

"That was a fine strike, Diakum. You were right—such a dark soul as mine deserves nothing but hell... So may our journey to hell together be smooth."

Boom

Pure liquid fel erupted from Sarkir's torso, like underground magma ignited into a violent burst. In an instant, it swallowed the radiant Dick and the demons nearby that had failed to evade in time.

Sarkir destroyed his own torso, using it to bury the last warrior of Eredar civilization.

Perhaps it was kindness.

He did not want Dick to face a fate as pitiful as his own and Kil'jaeden's.

Or perhaps it was malice.

He wanted to use this mutual destruction to grind Dick's bones to dust one final time.

But it was all over.

A newly advanced legend could not possibly survive such a wash of fel.

Dick was dead!

The favored of the Holy Light died on the day Eredar civilization set, falling into deep sleep amid the weeping of the world of Argus... or did he?

"Hm?"

Dick had thought he was doomed too.

Sarkir's final eruption had been too violent. Even the ground of the Seat of the Triumvirate had shattered from it. It was a spectacle of destruction caused by the first use of the power bestowed upon him as a "Greater Demon Lord," yet Dick opened his eyes through agonizing weakness.

He could feel that part of his body had melted away, but death's call had not yet come.

Through his blurred vision, he saw a thin curtain of light around himself, as sturdy as a city wall. It was this thing that had protected him from that final killing blow.

But it was not his Holy Light.

Dick painfully turned his head and saw Malderan kneeling beside him, along with a Naaru escape pod descending rapidly from the sky. Beside the old defender still lingered the sparks of a Teleportation Spell.

Malderan maintained his protective stance, but all his Life Force and every shred of his Holy Light had been poured into this final shelter.

Through that curtain of light, Dick struggled to extend his only remaining left hand, burned down to exposed bone.

He wanted to grasp Malderan's fingers.

But at the moment they touched, the old defender's fingertips began to crumble like windblown sand.

"That sacred Primal Light taught me this move last night..."

His body was like a weathered statue, its dulling surface covered in cracks.

Commodore Malderan showed his final smile.

He said to Dick:

"Though I can only use it once, It still generously gave me the same power you possess—the power to turn and shake destiny, Diakum. It instructed me to come here and save you, just as It sent you to save us...

Dick, no matter how difficult the future may be, remember the Holy Light...

It makes us eternal."

In that final farewell, Malderan, who had used Divine Intervention to trade his life for another's, was scattered before Dick's eyes by the weeping winds of Argus.

With the one chance he had in his life, he had interfered with the course of fate and saved the person he had to save. Like collapsing quicksand, he remained forever upon the land he loved, leaving behind only a battle-scarred Argus Heart pendant, which Dick held in his hand.

"No... don't..."

Dick struggled, trying to gather the ashes together.

But he had already reached his limit.

In his fading vision, he saw the children rushing toward him through beams of light.

He saw the weeping Neri lift him from the scorching ground, shouting something at him.

He saw the strange fragments gathered upon his body, held up by Fareeya and Tramon.

He saw the crying Twins and Imira join forces for the first time to cast a Teleportation Spell, trying to send them back into the escape pod.

His vision spun.

Dick fought to remain conscious, but through the dimming haze of his mind, he saw Sargeras above the heavens. He vaguely saw another weak humanoid glow waving farewell to him, and a streak of light flash across the sea of stars.

It looked exactly like the Primal Light of legend—the first ray that tore apart darkness and brought forth light during the Great Ordering of Light and Shadow.

Under its radiance, countless fragments of Argus's will scattered into the sea of stars.

Like shining starlight, like meteors flying in reverse.

Every Eredar who departed was a star. The starlight they gathered would someday become a beacon, illuminating the road home for those wandering far from it.

"I'm sorry..."

he said.

"There is no need. You have already done very well, Diakum."

That voice said:

"Rest now, my brave child. May fate treat you kindly, and may your journey be smooth."

And so, amid the farewell of the baby Argus Star Soul, the weary soul fell into deep sleep.

Just as he had when he first came to this world.

"I command you! Shoot it down!!!"

The bedraggled dreadlord Tichondrius drooped the wings Dick had crippled. Standing atop a fel cannon emplacement, he roared at the Morg engineers:

"Shoot down that Naaru escape pod! They cannot be allowed to leave! The Dark Titan is watching!"

The dreadlord's eyes were filled with hatred.

He refused to let the last of the Eredar swagger away from the battlefield like that. Inwardly, he cursed that damned Enlightener as the useless trash he was, unable to kill even a mere defender who had only just entered the legendary rank. He had completely forgotten the humiliating fact that he had ambushed Dick with demigod power, only to have the other man smash him to pieces with a single blow.

That was no ordinary defender at all...

The Morg engineer did not dare defy a Greater Demon's command.

It immediately operated the living fel cannon, aiming it at the gem-like Naaru escape pod hovering above the battlefield. But just as it was about to fire, a terrifying shadow unfolded behind it.

The Morg died of fright.

It turned around and saw an Eredar with crimson skin and wings on his back staring at it coldly.

Then it died.

That was the price of rudely looking directly upon a Greater Demon Lord.

"Kil'jaeden! What are you doing?"

Tichondrius cursed:

"Are you letting the enemy escape? Who gave you the nerve!"

"He promised me!"

Demon-ascended Kil'jaeden was expressionless.

Personally appointed by the Dark Titan as commander of the Burning Legion, he had no interest in the dreadlord's private grievances. He merely said:

"Are you going to defy the Dark Titan's will? At least for today, no more Eredar will die in this world, because He promised me! And you, Tichondrius—incompetent as you are—you should address me as 'Commander'!

But I forgive your disrespect, you pathetic failed piece of trash.

Get lost!

Do not appear before me again, at least not today."

The dreadlord's face twisted with fury.

But beneath the cold stares of the increasingly numerous Man'ari warriors around him, weapons in hand and looking at him as though he were already dead, he ultimately turned into a swarm of bats and dispersed obediently.

He did not dare utter even a word of complaint.

"Talgas."

Kil'jaeden watched the escape pod rise once more into the sky and vanish into the gloomy clouds. He said to the fierce yet still loyal Man'ari leader behind him:

"Deliver something to them for me..."

"A souvenir, Commander?"

"No, a declaration of war! A warning, and a threat. Of course, you may also understand it as a souvenir. After all, I... no longer have any use for it."

Ps1:

The most enduring legend about the Brilliant Star gem concerned the forging of Ashbringer.

For many years, most players, and even some official staff, had firmly believed that the Holy Light crystal Mograine used to forge Ashbringer was the legendary Brilliant Star gem. It was, in truth, a very romantic theory and one that made perfect sense within the story.

Yet for some reason, perhaps those designers had drunk too much horse piss, when they brought the Brilliant Star into existence, they did not use this marvelous rumor. Instead, they made it part of the Eredar racial questline in the allied race quests.

The text showed that the Brilliant Star had actually remained in the world of Argus all along, safeguarded by the Man'ari.

Frankly, this text, clearly written by someone indulging in their own fantasies, greatly cheapened the status of both the Atama Crystal and Ashbringer.

However, according to Chronicles and the current speculation of some players, the "dark crystal" used to forge Ashbringer had most likely come from the void crystal on the body of Kara, the Dark Star. That thing was basically on the same level as the Atama Crystal.

After all, no one currently knew what rank of Naaru the Atama Crystal had come from. So if this theory proved true, the prestige of this artifact weapon would not be all that bad after all.