Chapter Summaries

After concluding that Herad had driven Dimensius into hiding, the Ethereal leadership sent Node Prince Shaffar to assess him and explore an alliance. Herad demonstrated his opposition to the Void by showing Shaffar the captive, mutilated N'Zoth and described his plan to defeat Dimensius and reclaim the Ethereals' homeworld.

• The Ethereal leaders attributed the burning of their homeworld and Dimensius's disappearance to Herad, then agreed to seek his cooperation.
• The Ethereal leadership dispatched Node Prince Shaffar to contact Herad and gauge his stance toward the Void.
• Herad recalled Xal'atath and Ulthalesh from tormenting N'Zoth, and they brought the mutilated Old God back to the Obsidian Warship.
• Seeing N'Zoth captured, Shaffar accepted that Herad was determined to oppose the Void.
• Herad told Shaffar he intended to destroy Dimensius, reclaim the Ethereals' homeworld, and turn it into the universe's most prosperous trading hub.

Herad studied Ethereal technology and became fascinated by the Manaforge’s ability to draw energy from the Void. After seeing footage of it trapping lesser beings of void energy, he and Shaffar began discussing how to build one large enough to capture Dimensius.

• Shaffar watched Herad’s treatment of N'Zoth with approval and discussed how Xal'atath’s history left her with little experience compared with his.
• Herad examined Ethereal technology and identified the Manaforge as a possible solution to the Obsidian Warship’s growing power needs.
• Herad learned that the Manaforge drew energy from the Void, whose energy density the Ethereals had confirmed was extremely high.
• Shaffar explained that Manaforges attracted beings of void energy but could not draw in a Void Lord, then sent Herad footage of the process.
• Herad saw that trapped beings of void energy were drained inside the Manaforge and began planning with Shaffar how to make one capable of capturing Dimensius.

Herad and Shaffar negotiated a massive expansion of the Manaforge’s energy conduits, settling on a twenty-meter limit that would strain the Ethereals’ resources. Herad agreed to protect K’aresh and conduct their trade there after a month of burning, while preparing the Obsidian Warship for deployment in orbit.

• Herad proposed increasing the Manaforge’s energy conduits to fifty meters, but Shaffar rejected the plan as impossible.
• Shaffar set twenty meters as the largest conduit the Ethereals could build, and Herad accepted their limit.
• Herad offered felcloth and bulk purchases of mageweave and runecloth, and promised to help safeguard K’aresh.
• The Ethereal leaders requested that K’aresh burn for another month before they conducted trade there, and Herad agreed to park the Obsidian Warship in orbit.
• After Shaffar left, Herad reflected on the Ethereals’ teleportation abilities and placed the Scepter of Sargeras on the warship’s spatial jump magic circle.

Herad continued purging Void-corrupted planets, killing Old Gods by igniting their worlds and burning N'Zoth's remains. He then headed to K'aresh, where he widened the Obsidian Warship to accommodate the Ethereals' Manaforge, leaving its hull enormous but dangerously thin.

• Herad learned that fully developed Old Gods could withstand repeated cannon fire, but planetary reshaping could trap them in a world that would burn for ages.
• Herad dumped N'Zoth's remains onto a burning planet, where the flesh rapidly ignited in the magma.
• Herad directed the Obsidian Warship toward K'aresh, the Ethereals' homeworld, surrounded by their powerful amethyst Starships.
• Herad widened the Obsidian Warship to one thousand meters so it could accommodate the Manaforge's energy conversion towers and conduits.
• Herad spread the ship's obsidian shell thin to achieve its new width, leaving it too fragile to withstand a gust of wind in an atmosphere.

The Ethereals began rebuilding K'aresh by freezing its magma-covered surface with a fleet of more than a thousand Starships. Herad joined the effort by using the Tidestone and Hammer of Khaz'goroth to greatly increase their cooling efficiency.

• More than a thousand Ethereal Starships assembled near K'aresh to begin restoring their homeworld and preparing to face Dimensius.
• The Ethereal fleet spread across K'aresh and fired frost beams at the magma, slowly freezing and raising a section of the planet's surface.
• Herad realized the Ethereals were trying to recreate K'aresh's original terrain by forming a continent before oceans accumulated.
• After consulting the Ethereal fleet's senior officers, Herad positioned the Obsidian Warship above the fleet and connected its frost beams to their ships.
• The Tidestone strengthened the fleet's frost beams, while the Hammer of Khaz'goroth drew heat from the magma and made the world-shaping effort much more efficient.

The Ethereals pushed the Manaforge’s design to its limits as they sought a way to make their homeworld safe from Dimensius. After the Naaru said they could not assemble enough forces to defeat him, Herad decided to help the Ethereals deal with the Void Lord.

• The Ethereal engineers planned eight pairs of high-specification Energy Conversion Towers and conduits along the Obsidian Warship’s edges, while the Ethereal leaders supported their ambitious design.
• Herad approved of the Manaforge plans and recognized that the Ethereals could devote their resources to the project because he could provide magical cloth and help them return home.
• The Ethereals’ dealings with the Naaru were described, including how the Naaru bought Starships from them and had Holy Light that countered Void forces.
• A Naaru Squad fought Dimensius’s forces but withdrew after being overwhelmed by Shadow Bolt Volley attacks and Voidwalker self-detonations.
• The Naaru concluded that defeating Dimensius required at least ten full-strength Naaru Squads, but they refused to gather that many on K’aresh.
• Herad decided to help the Ethereals defeat Dimensius so the Obsidian Warship would not have to become a space fortress.

As the Ethereals rebuilt K'aresh, Dimensius recruited the Void Lord Mormont to help destroy the Obsidian Warship, which had thwarted his attacks. Mormont began crossing into the Material Universe, where the warship detected him and alerted Herad.

• The Ethereals formed a growing continent of frozen rock on K'aresh while Dimensius watched them from the Void and nursed his grudge.
• Dimensius decided the Obsidian Warship was too difficult to overcome with his own attacks and sought a powerful ally.
• Dimensius paid Mormont, the Demon King of Sound, with a Void Energy gem to help destroy the warship.
• Mormont crossed the veil toward the Obsidian Warship and asked whether it was truly formidable.
• The warship's Intelligent Program detected Mormont, contacted Herad, and charged its main cannon.

Herad’s Obsidian Warship battered Mormont and repeatedly stopped him from escaping into the Void World, while Dimensius’s attack on the Ethereal fleet forced Herad to choose between pursuing Mormont and rescuing the Ethereals. Herad turned to save the fleet, but Dimensius fled when the warship threatened to ram him, leaving Mormont gravely injured.

• Herad ordered the Obsidian Warship to fire on Mormont, then rammed him and blasted him whenever he tried to enter the Void World.
• Mormont reassembled after the attacks, but each strike weakened him as the Obsidian Warship absorbed energy from the explosions.
• Dimensius entered the Material Universe and sent void energy beings against the Ethereal fleet, putting the damaged ships and their unconscious crews in danger.
• Herad chose to relieve the Ethereal fleet and ordered Ulthalesh to keep attacking Mormont while the Obsidian Warship turned toward Dimensius.
• Dimensius faced the warship’s cannon fire to protect Mormont, but fled into the Void World when it charged to ram him.
• The Obsidian Warship struck Mormont again, leaving him nearly unable to hold his form.

After the Ethereals defeated Mormont and drove Dimensius away from K'aresh, Herad focused on strengthening their defenses and building a vastly more powerful weapon. He began constructing a thirty-kilometer Planet Cracker, though he still doubted it would be enough to kill Sargeras.

• Dimensius abandoned K'aresh after Mormont was killed, while the Ethereal fleet remained on guard before resuming its work.
• Herad proposed joining the Ethereals' warships into super warships with layered shields, and the leadership approved the defensive plan.
• The Ethereal leaders decided to invest more resources in the Obsidian Warship and eventually defeat Dimensius through overwhelming resources.
• Herad judged the Obsidian Warship's firepower inadequate and designed a Planet Cracker capable of destroying planets.
• After Ethereal merchants found potential substitutes for arcane crystal, Herad began building the weapon's barrel, which reached thirty thousand meters in length.

Herad completed the enormous Planet Cracker while the Void Lords learned of Mormont’s death and blamed the Ethereals. More than a dozen Void Lords ambushed the Ethereal fleet near K'aresh, forcing the Obsidian Warship to retreat under their overwhelming assault.

• Herad rapidly shaped a thirty-thousand-meter Obsidian barrel with the help of powerful artifacts.
• News spread through the Void World that Dimensius had been defeated and Mormont had died, leaving the Void Lords grieving and demanding revenge.
• More than a dozen Void Lords gathered near K'aresh and launched a surprise attack on the Ethereal fleet as it cooled its homeworld.
• The Ethereal leadership ordered a retreat and abandoned K'aresh as the Void Lords overwhelmed the fleet with summoned creatures.
• The Obsidian Warship dodged a concentrated barrage, fired back at the pursuing Void Lords, and then retreated as their minions filled the battlefield.

After Void Lords overwhelmed K'aresh with summoned creatures, Herad retreated aboard the Obsidian Warship and delayed retaliation until the Planet Cracker was finished. Xal'atath infiltrated the occupied planet and reported that its surface was buried under layers of void creatures, with no Void Lords in sight.

• Herad's Obsidian Warship fled K'aresh after more than a dozen Void Lords summoned too many creatures for it to defeat, and the planet was reclaimed by the Void.
• Alleria comforted Herad, who accepted that the warship had escaped safely but lamented that the unfinished Planet Cracker and a shortage of magic-conducting materials delayed his revenge.
• The Ethereal leaders reported that they had escaped, and Herad left the intelligent program's bold combat settings unchanged while the warship remained understrength.
• Xal'atath secretly entered K'aresh, where the void creatures mistook her for one of their own, and sent Herad reconnaissance images.
• Herad saw that layers of void creatures covered K'aresh and were using their bodies to endure the planet's still-hot magma while they corrupted it.

Herad concluded that the Void Forces were using Void Energy Creatures to assimilate K'aresh and promised the Ethereal leaders he could stop them. He destroyed a nearby planet and sent its fragments crashing into K'aresh, with an enormous fragment still on course as the devastation began.

• Xal'atath continued attacking Void Forces out of revenge while Herad monitored the Void Energy Creatures appearing around K'aresh.
• Herad informed the Ethereal leadership that the Void Lords were trying to assimilate K'aresh, and Node Prince Shaffar asked him to stop them.
• Herad promised that K'aresh would burn again, then used the Obsidian Warship to bombard a nearby planet until it exploded.
• Herad guided the planet's fragments toward K'aresh, where thousands of impacts reignited Groundfire and devastated the planet.
• A fragment nearly six thousand kilometers in diameter hurtled toward K'aresh as the Void Energy Creatures fled the spreading flames.

Herad used the Obsidian Warship to hurl planetary fragments into K'aresh, turning the world into a burning Lava Planet and driving off the Void Lords. Unable to challenge the Void Lords, the Ethereal leaders began converting their Starships into super warships.

• Herad guided planetary fragments into K'aresh, destroying the Void creatures nearby and leaving the planet severely damaged and aflame.
• The Void Lords abandoned their attempt to corrupt K'aresh and searched unsuccessfully for the Obsidian Warship, leaving Void creatures behind to guard the planet.
• The Ethereal leaders saw that they were too weak to join the conflict over K'aresh and decided to begin converting their Starships into super warships.
• Ethereal engineers joined Starships into enormous frameworks and covered them with amethyst to create sturdy, cobbled-together vessels.
• The Ethereal leaders accepted that their super warships would not match the Void Lords' power, but their layered shields could withstand attacks such as Mormont's roar.

The Ethereals tested their Super Warships against the Void Forces on K'aresh, while Herad waited for the Obsidian Warship to be completed. When the finished weapon entered combat, it shattered the stalemate by killing Void Lords and sending the rest fleeing.

• The Ethereals took their Super Warships to K'aresh and drew the Void Lords into battle.
• The Super Warships withstood the Void Lords' attacks and fought an endless war of attrition, rotating out to replenish their energy.
• Herad watched the stalemate continue while the Obsidian Warship grew into a black, sword-shaped vessel over fifty thousand meters long.
• The completed Obsidian Warship entered combat testing, crushed and blasted apart Void Lords, and caused the enemy to flee.
• The Ethereals' Super Warships joined the pursuit of the fleeing Void Lords.

The Ethereals repelled the Void Lords, while Herad’s Obsidian Warship trapped some of them in its Manaforge. Herad then ambushed Sargeras at Argus by crashing another planet into it, but Sargeras emerged from the resulting Lava Planet.

• The Obsidian Warship and Ulthalesh killed most of the invading Void Lords, and the Ethereals resumed cooling K'aresh Planet.
• The Manaforge began draining Void Energy Creatures, including Void Lords, leaving them trapped with no chance of escape.
• After two years of travel, Sargeras returned to Argus and found its surface battered and Antorus, the Burning Throne, ruined.
• Herad redirected a planet toward Argus, and the two planets collided while Sargeras was inside the World-Soul.
• The collision formed a Lava Planet, and Sargeras's enormous head emerged from its lava sea.

Herad repeatedly attacked Sargeras with the Obsidian Warship, eventually striking him with Elementals Annihilation and erasing his upper body. Sargeras began rebuilding himself by burrowing into a metal-rich planet, leaving Herad to seek another way to defeat his immortal foe.

• Herad ordered the Planet Cracker to fire at Sargeras, but the blast only severed one Demons Horn, which quickly regrew.
• Herad repeatedly warped the Obsidian Warship into range to attack Sargeras, while the scouts fled when Sargeras unleashed an Energy Shockwave.
• Herad's Planet Cracker finally produced Elementals Annihilation, which enveloped Sargeras's upper body in a black sphere and erased it.
• Sargeras's lower body plunged into a nearby planet to replenish its lost material, and Herad abandoned further attacks and resolved to find another solution.

Herad brought the Obsidian Warship to the Pantheon, hoping the Titans’ abandoned gathering place could provide a way to imprison Sargeras. He discovered the Pantheon’s immense power might capture a Titan, but lacked a suitable energy source to operate it.

• Herad considered Sargeras’s regeneration and concluded that killing him would require luring him into a planetless region of space, though Sargeras would likely avoid the trap.
• Herad theorized that the Pantheon could imprison Sargeras, as it had in the game, because its power could pull Titans across vast distances.
• The Obsidian Warship arrived at the Pantheon, breached its Defensive Barrier, and entered the enormous, pristine structure.
• Herad studied the Pantheon’s Energy Runes and determined that it could pull Titans to the gathering place and potentially hold one captive.
• Herad considered using the Obsidian Warship’s Manaforge to power the Pantheon, but it was needed to deter the Void Lords, and the Ethereals lacked resources to build another.

Herad searched for a powerful energy source to activate the Pantheon's capture function before Sargeras reached Azeroth. He found that the Forge of Wills could be moved, but Mimiron warned that its finite power would not hold Sargeras for long.

• As Sargeras destroyed planets near the Argus sector and headed toward Azeroth, Herad considered using the Sunwell or Well of Eternity but rejected the risk of destroying Azeroth.
• Herad avoided asking the Ethereal leadership for information about other planets with powerful energy sources because using one could doom its civilization.
• Herad went to the Storm Peaks and considered moving the preserved Forge of Wills to the Pantheon as a power source.
• Mimiron explained that the Forge of Wills stored more energy than the Forge of Origination but would run out once removed from Azeroth.
• Herad realized the Forge of Wills could only delay Sargeras and felt disappointed that it would not solve the crisis.

Herad and Mimiron planned to gather Titan artifacts to help resolve the world-ending crisis, and Mimiron suggested excavating ancient Vrykul tombs in Stormheim. Herad sent a large force of Fern Treants toward Stormheim, leaving the Tauren and Drogbar convinced he was launching a major attack.

• Mimiron suggested collecting many Titan artifacts, explaining that the Titan Keepers had left Ulduar stocked with artifacts and that ancient Vrykul kings were buried with theirs.
• Herad agreed to send subordinates to excavate Vrykul tombs in Stormheim rather than do the work himself.
• Herad teleported to Highmountain and delivered supplies to the Tauren and Drogbar before sending Fern Treants toward Stormheim.
• Mayla Highmountain asked whether Herad intended to attack the Vrykul, and he said the Treants would clear out some warlike Vrykul along the way.
• The Tauren and Drogbar watched the heavily equipped Treants depart and mistook Herad’s archaeological expedition for a major military operation.

Herad led the Fern Treant Burning Legion down from Highmountain into Stormheim, where the Tauren and Drogbar watched them sweep aside the Vrykul. The Vrykul assembled an army to stop them, but the treants answered with rocket launchers and left the battle’s outcome grimly apparent.

• The Tauren and Drogbar defenders let the Fern Treant Burning Legion pass through their checkpoint as it descended Highmountain, driving back roaming Vrykul along the way.
• The Fern Treants surrounded and killed Vrykul stragglers with sharpened shovels, then drained their corpses for nutrients.
• The Tauren and Drogbar followed the treants down the mountain and celebrated by trampling the Vrykul’s remains.
• The Vrykul clans sent an organized army to encircle and annihilate the Fern Treant Burning Legion in Stormheim.
• The Fern Treants fired their rocket launchers into the advancing Vrykul formation, filling the sky with fire and smoke as limbs flew everywhere.