Exposed

The smell of blood permeated Maraudon. It was a scent that Vampyr couldn't resist. Delvin, controlling Alaric's body, hid in the room tainted with the stench of blood.

He was plotting how to salvage the situation. Marla and the other two had uncovered the truth. To prevent their intelligence from changing Tatsel's radical stance towards the Alliance, Delvin had no choice but to send his own men to attack the three Dark Ranger. In hindsight, this was undoubtedly a foolish move.

The Forsaken's fleet set out, but Vampyr's whereabouts were also exposed. In the end, Delvin found that everything he had done seemed to have received no reward from the Horde.

Garrosh had promised to let him lead the Forsaken once they joined the Horde. But so far, the Great Chief has taken no action. He has neither sent messengers to contact the Forsaken nor deployed troops to help Forsaken fight the Alliance, creating the illusion that this Undead organization is allied with the Horde. He's truly remained aloof!

The more dissatisfied Delvin was with Grommash's behavior, the more worried he became. He began to suspect that the Orcs had only been using him from the beginning, and perhaps never intended to help him take over the Forsaken, but only wanted to provoke a war between the Forsaken and the Alliance.

In fact, they had been using each other all along, but Delvin believed that Garrosh, as an Orcs, should know how to keep his promises.

"Perhaps he's just waiting," Delvin muttered. Maybe Grommash was observing the battle at Southshore; only when a real fight broke out would the Orcs be willing to take action.

But how much longer? The Blood Prince couldn't wait any longer. The stench of blood permeating Maraudon was an irresistible temptation for him. Many of his men had already been captured and executed on the spot.

Bang! The room door was kicked open violently.

"Who is it?" came Alaric's voice, followed by Belmont and two or three Deathstalker entering. He quickly took a few steps back.

"My lord, what do you want with me?" Delvin had already guessed that he had been exposed. Just like Belmont was checking the house for any dangerous traps, he was also thinking about how to escape. The door was blocked by a Deathstalker.

"May I have your name."

"Alaric." Delvin had a slightly amused expression on his face, but inside he was already taken aback by Belmont's cleverness.

"Yes, you certainly look like Alaric, and a member of the Shadowblade, but there are plenty of Scourge Forsaken, using our name to sow discord. Your master, the Lich King, used a similar trick back at the Lich Gate. Now, tell me, what is Alaric's full name?"

The Deathstalker drew their weapons; they were the Forsaken's hidden swords, dedicated to dealing with potential threats and carrying out shady missions.

"What are you talking about? You know my name best, don't you?" Alaric's innocent expression only drew Belmont's laughter. This was no longer the Alaric Hawkins he knew; it was just a shell with a vicious soul inside.

"At first I thought Alaric was in cahoots with Vampyr," Belmont said. "But when I went to the tavern to check on you, the tavern manager and several regulars told me you were just following a suspicious guy. They never mentioned the Witherer Master."

"Do I need to listen to that, Belmont?" Delvin didn't seem flustered at all; instead, he looked angry, a completely different expression from the Aleriel that Belmont knew.

Belmont's heart skipped a beat when Alaric called him by his name. The man standing before him was once one of the top assassins in the Shadowblade, yet he had been killed because of a simple investigation. Belmont had many men, and it wasn't just one or two who had died, but Alaric was the first Forsaken to perish on his direct orders.

A surge of suppressed anger was about to erupt.

"The Scourge and the Forsaken are all Undead, what's the difference? Don't tell me you maintain free Will, don't you still choose to serve someone? It's just that my master is Arthas, and your master is Nathanos. As long as you are Undead, someone needs to lead you. Nathanos gave up the position of leader, so someone should take his place..."

You mean that person was you?

"At least I understand better than the Witherer what the Forsaken truly need, and I am stronger!"

A sneer rang out from the mouths of several Deathstalker, as if they were mocking a madman.

"The living must be completely annihilated. The thirst for killing is innate in the dead. I have already made arrangements. After the Forsaken have drunk the blood of the Alliance, we will begin our attack on the Horde and unify the world."

"Unification?" Belmont felt like he'd heard the biggest joke in the world. He didn't directly refute Vampyr, but instead questioned, "You think we're no different from the Scourge? You think our master and the Lich King are the same kind of people? Now I can tell you, the Forsaken's purpose is to shelter souls rejected by death, not to destroy the world. The Lich King only knows how to enslave, while Lord Nathanos the Witherer created everything the Forsaken today. You idiot. You have no idea what you're doing; all your ideas are nothing but your own self-delusion!"

Delvin looked as if he had been slapped; his eyes rolled back instantly.

"What makes you think you're qualified to lead the Forsaken? You're not even one of us. It was a wise choice for the Master of the Witherer to refuse you entry. He saw long ago that you Vampyr would always be a pack of hopeless, stray dogs."

"Enough!" Alaric's body disappeared into the smoke, and a taller figure appeared.

Belmont has seen many blood Prince, and they all look alike.

"I will make you suffer the same torment as I did Alaric, Belmont! I should have done this long ago, and then used your position to take over the Forsaken." A black lightning bolt flashed between Delvin's fingers, and a breeze blew between his knees, billowing his black cloak.

"The Forsaken have never been my masters." Belmont waved his hand forward, and several bombs were thrown in. The Blood Prince's eyes snapped open, and his door slammed shut...

With a deafening roar, the smoke and sound shook the entire Maraudon.

Belmont coughed a few times, and only went to check on the situation after the dust settled.

"Delvin is missing, sir," a Deathstalker said.

"This will not be our last confrontation with him."