Farce

Arcane flashes spread through the air; the teleportation was about to begin. Deren had just pulled the pink chocobo into his arms to stop her from pecking at his face when a piercing commotion suddenly erupted behind him.

"Stop! You lowborn rabble dare abandon us?!"

He spun around sharply and saw dozens of lavishly dressed elf nobles pouring out from the City Hall's side entrance. The leader wore a crown encrusted with sun crystals, and not a single crease marred his silk robe, as though the catastrophe destroying their nation had nothing to do with him.

(Damn it, those parasites actually survived until now?)

A male elf wearing a Silvermoon insignia ring grabbed Deren by the collar. His gem-studded nails nearly jabbed into Deren's eyes. "Send troops to Morningstar Tower at once! My father is the Council Chief—"

Bang!

Deren's fist smashed solidly into his nose.

Amid the crisp crack of bone, the elf noble flew away like a rag doll and knocked over three companions. His priceless crown clattered into a pool of blood, instantly turning dark red.

"Who's next?" Deren shook his wrist, his knuckles still smeared with elven blood.

The square fell deathly silent. Even Jaina, who was maintaining the Teleportation Array, raised an eyebrow.

"Y-you know who we are?" shrieked an elf woman with an elaborate coiffure. "My grandfather's grandfather fought in the Troll Wars!"

"Wow, how impressive." Deren bent down, picked up the bloodstained crown, and tossed it back into the crowd. With one hand, he casually soothed the chocobo pecking at his buttons. "Did your ancestors ever teach you—" He suddenly sprang forward and punched the nearest elf statue to pieces. "—to shut up when you're running for your lives?!"

As shattered stone flew everywhere, the nobles all took three steps back in unison.

Vokaya suddenly emerged from the shadows, his skeletal fingers playing with a twitching bat specimen. "I say we turn them all into chocobos." He deliberately let a voodoo potion boil in his palm. "Their colors are flashy enough anyway."

"No! We're leaving right now!" The previously most arrogant elf woman tore off her cumbersome hoop skirt. Ignoring the possibility of exposing herself, she charged toward the Teleportation Array first. The other nobles followed, clutching their inherited jewel cases as they shoved and squeezed toward the blue-glowing Arcane Barrier.

Holding the still-flapping chocobo, Deren flashed the stunned ranger guards a grin. "See? This is called—"

Boom!!!

A large section of the City Hall wall collapsed, and through the smoke emerged a black-armored Death Knight.

"...a strategic retreat." Deren swallowed and finished his sentence. He tucked the chocobo against his chest with his left arm and pressed her frantically pecking head down with his cheek, instantly subduing her until she fell silent and even trembled slightly. With his right hand, he casually pulled out a poleaxe and hurled it with all his strength. It whistled through the air and split the Death Knight, who had been preparing a desperate charge, cleanly in two. The sight left all the survivors dumbfounded. Jaina and the chocobo swallowed at the same time. The next moment, the Teleportation Spell activated, and amid dizzying disorientation, everyone arrived at the Magic Academy.

Outside the Sun King's Royal Palace,

Arthas stood atop the shattered statue of the Sun King. Frostmourne was buried deep in the statue's eye socket, and ice spread along its cracks, freezing this symbol of Quel'Thalas's glory into a pale tombstone. Countless Undead poured into the Royal Palace while flashes of resisting arcane magic rose and fell. Though the Sunwell's Magic Array had been destroyed, the elf high nobles and royal family had not yet given up. Relying on magical items accumulated over countless years, they were still resisting desperately. But how long could such futile resistance last against endless Undead?

In the distance, familiar streams of arcane radiance pierced the plague fog like the brightest stars in the night sky.

"Jaina..."

The Death Knight's voice seemed squeezed out from a frozen abyss—low and hoarse, yet carrying a warped sort of nostalgia.

He slowly raised his head. Beneath his helmet, ghostly blue Soul Fire burned in his eyes.

"How... nostalgic. Let me give you a reunion surprise!"

As if sensing their master's emotions, the Scourge surrounding the Royal Palace suddenly froze. Their rotting heads turned in unison toward the arcane flashes.

A necromancer drifted to Arthas's side. A hollow echo came from beneath his black robes. "Your majesty, lord Kel'Thuzad's ritual is about to begin. Should we—"

Frostmourne suddenly swept sideways. Half the necromancer's body slid to the ground as black smoke gushed from the severed wound.

"Gather all Abominations, Banshees, and Crypt Fiends." Arthas shook the lingering soul fragments from his sword. "I will personally... welcome my old friend."

The Undead army withdrew from the Royal Palace like a receding tide, leaving only the scattered remains of elf defenders behind.

Arthas stepped over shattered elf banners, frost spreading beneath his feet.

Fragments of memory suddenly stabbed into his mind—

In Lordaeron's rose garden, a golden-haired girl turned with a smile, the same arcane radiance dancing at her fingertips...

"No."

He clenched Frostmourne tightly. The runes on its blade flashed wildly, tearing those warm illusions to shreds.

"Jaina Proudmoore," he whispered into the fog. "This time, I will give you a... dignified ending."

Arthas led his army from the Royal Palace toward the Magic Academy. More and more troops joined them along the way, surging forward like a tide. Screams, roars, and the scraping of claws struck at the heart like heavy hammers. A group of necromancers cast spells together as the Time-Space Disturbance churned above Silvermoon City.

"No!" Master Antonidas roared in terror from within the Magic Academy. "Damn it, they're casting a time-space disruption spell. The Teleportation Array is being interfered with. We're finished!"

By then, over a thousand elf refugees had gathered at the academy, with more survivors still arriving behind them. The Dalaran mages had already completed two rounds of teleportation and had planned to leave after the final batch. Who could have known they would attract the main force of the Undead army, along with spatial disruption magic? They were about to be trapped in a city of death.

"Stay calm, my archmage." Deren went over to comfort the white-bearded old man, the archmage known as "Upside Down." "I have a backup plan." He then signaled Jaina.

Jaina looked displeased at being treated like a tool, but she raised a hand and cast a simple magical signal spell. A multicolored magical firework exploded high in the sky.

"That's it? Do we have reinforcements?" the archmage Upside Down asked in surprise.

"Yes! Prepare the teleportation quickly. We only have one chance." Deren urged him. I even have a backup for the backup plan. No need to tell you that. Onyxia and Chromie won't let me down, right?

High above the outskirts of the Sunwell, Onyxia's Dragon Wings swept through the sky. Her shadow covered the Sunwell's damaged dome like Death's cloak. She had deliberately restrained her Dragon Awe, but black smoke carrying the stench of sulfur seeped from every gap between her scales, leaving winding toxic trails across the scorched earth.

"I'll set off some fireworks too..." She narrowed her vertical pupils at the magical signal rising in the distance, slowly climbed higher, and unleashed a stream of Dragonfire like a cascading waterfall, illuminating the dark sky.

In the distance, the Scourge's fully assembled ground forces began to stir.

The necromancers presiding over the resurrection ritual suddenly looked up in unison, Soul Fire jumping violently in their withered eye sockets.

"A Black Dragon! Deathwing's offspring!"

Kel'Thuzad's skeletal face, still being resurrected, emerged from the Magic Array. His jawbone scraped harshly as it opened and closed. "Your Majesty Arthas—the Sunwell must not—"

Before he could finish, Onyxia suddenly dove!

Rather than breathing directly onto the ritual site, she deliberately swept her attack across the Sunwell's outskirts. Black Flame ignited the Corpse Piles stockpiled by the Undead, and the stench of burning rotten flesh instantly engulfed the entire highland.

"Damn reptile!" the Death Knight roared through the Communication Crystal. "All Gargoyles, take to the skies! Crypt Fiends, cut off her retreat!"

Inside Silvermoon City's Magic Academy, Jaina used Eagle Eye to observe the Sunwell's direction.

"The signal's here!" She grabbed Deren, who was peering outside. "Prepare to teleport now!"

Antonidas cast nervously, attempting to lock onto Dalaran's coordinates within the Time-Space Disturbance. His staff erupted with unprecedented brilliance, and the old mage's white beard whipped wildly in the magical turbulence. "Everyone, hold on tight! Prepare for teleportation immediately!"

The elf civilians supported one another as they entered the Teleportation Array. A few nobles tried to seize priority positions, only for the Troll Witch Doctor to scatter a handful of Sleep Powder over them, leaving them reeling and collapsing.

"Ladies first~" The Troll Witch Doctor grinned.

Outside the Magic Academy, Frostmourne suddenly froze in midair.

The Soul Fire beneath Arthas's helmet flickered violently—the Black Dragon's roar from the Sunwell and the arcane flashes within the Magic Academy tore through his mind as two conflicting images.

"Your Majesty?" a lich called from behind him.

The Death Knight's sword tip slowly turned toward the Sunwell.

"Ensure Kel'Thuzad first." His voice was like an undercurrent beneath ice. "Let those rats... live a few more minutes. All forces, turn immediately. Protect the Sunwell with everything you have."

The necromancers casting spells in the rear immediately stopped upon hearing the order and followed the main army toward the Sunwell.

Behind them, the Magic Academy's Teleportation Spell flashed brilliantly, then fell quiet.

In the distant Royal Palace of Silvermoon City, arcane radiance from a Teleportation Spell also suddenly flashed within the remaining walls before sinking into permanent silence.

Dalaran Square was now packed with voices and High Elves. Several thousand elf refugees crowded the square, their fine Silvermoon City clothes long since stained grayish brown with soot and blood, like a flock of golden canaries drenched by a storm.

The blue light from Antonidas's Teleportation Array had barely faded when Deren staggered to his knees and vomited a mouthful of black blood. The backlash from repeatedly overtaxing Star Soul Power had finally erupted.

"The price of showing off." Onyxia's voice came from overhead. The Black Dragon Princess had somehow already returned to human form. The tip of her high heel kicked his shin disdainfully. "If you die, who am I supposed to collect my gold from?" In the chaos of Dalaran, a Black Dragon had actually slipped in unnoticed. It seemed Chromie had teleported her over directly after she completed her diversionary task.

Deren wanted to retort, but the bloody taste in his throat made him cough violently. A scale-studded leather pouch suddenly smacked him in the face, carrying the scent of mead.

"Drink." Onyxia crossed her arms. "Don't expect me to feed you."

A burst of noisy commotion shattered the ambiguity between them. The Black Dragon Princess's anger nearly erupted at once. Deren hurried forward, wrapped his arms around her, and fed her the mead. Only then did he soothe the dangerous individual who had nearly blown up Dalaran.

The Golden-Haired Princess, who witnessed everything from afar, touched her Blue Staff and awkwardly turned away, forcing herself not to look in their direction.

"This is an insult! We actually have to share a roof with lowborn rabble!"

An elf noble whose nose had been violently broken by some human was once again lively and well. He was furiously wiping down a bench with a handkerchief embroidered with his family crest. His protest was quickly echoed, and more than a dozen nobles who had regained their strength began surrounding Dalaran's elf attendants.

"Contact Kael'thas immediately! We demand an independent settlement area!"

"Our food must be served on Moonlight Crystal Plates!"

Jaina's staff suddenly slammed heavily against the ground, and frost spread across the tiles to the nobles' toes.

"Or," she said with a smile colder than the northern wind, "I can send you back to Quel'Thalas."

A breeze passed through, and the elf nobles instantly fell silent.

Elsewhere, the rangers settled a certain chocobo, while the troll cast a spell to undo the Polymorph. A furious roar immediately rang out from the temporary tent. "That bastard! Whoever dared turn me into a bird, I'll kill you!!!"

Sylvanas, restored to human form, burst out wrapped in a blanket, her blonde hair exploding around her head like an enraged gryphon. Several pink feathers still clung to the Ranger General's pale face, and she gripped the blanket tightly—clearly, she had not had time to get dressed after changing back. Then she spotted Deren. She rushed before him and freed one hand to seize his collar.

Deren immediately turned his face away, refusing to look at the accidental glimpse of spring the female general revealed. At the same time, he shouted, "I can explain! It was a tactical necessity! You insisted on dying with the city—"

"I'd rather become a Banshee just to bite you to death!" Sylvanas continued roaring. "You actually dared turn me into a chocobo!"

Onyxia suddenly inserted herself between them, her Dragon Awe causing every nearby torch flame to shrink by half.

"First come, first served, elf." A flicker of Black Flame rose from her fingertip. "His life is my collateral."

Sylvanas released Deren and adjusted her blanket. She looked at the Black Dragon Princess with a complicated expression. Rather than fearing the Dragon Awe she radiated, Sylvanas seemed intensely interested. Staring directly into Onyxia's face, she asked, "And who are you? Where did you come from? What's your relationship with this man? Why are you standing up for him?"

"My pet risked his life to rescue you from Silvermoon City. Instead of thanking him, you're yelling at him." Onyxia responded coolly.

"It's all a misunderstanding." Jaina appeared just in time.

"Another pet owner?" Sylvanas mocked.

Deren: O_o!