Antonidas waved his staff in a wide circle, his long, white beard fluttering in the dust storm caused by the leathery wings of their enemy. Gradually, the moisture in the air condensed, creating thick fog all around them. It looked like an arena was being created for a decisive battle, a circle beyond which everything had been submerged in white.

  His actions were not to show off their struggle to any kind of audience, he aimed to hide a ship submerged in flames which was moving towards them with immense speed. Antonidas had his disagreements with Kael'thas Sunstrider, but they were still the top powers of Dalaran with considerable power and experience. He knew that the high elf would easily guess his intentions.

  The high elven ship had been almost empty at this point, its crew abandoning it to facilitate their leader's grand move.The whole of the ship was being turned into a gargantuan fireball with the high elven prince guiding it along the way, preparing for a strike that could obliterate even the nightmare in front of them in one hit.

  Naturally, the demon was not stupid and Antonidas intended to hide the approaching strike in every way possible.

  "Switch to fire spells!" He shouted while he himself conjured an intense blizzard which started to bombard the demon with razor sharp chunks of ice, leaving numerous cuts on its tough skin. The cold permeated the air around the demon right when the first volley of fire arrived and slammed into its chest. The incoming shards had their edges melted and the sharpness was not as high as before.

  "Stupid human." The demon's laugh thundered above them and the aura of blood around him intensified. The red portal behind the demon pulsed with a feeling of wrongness and a next wave of smaller demons erupted out of it.

  The face of Antonidas remained stoic, his weary old eyes following the steam created by the clash of fire of ice. The hot steam that engulfed the demon, obscuring his actions. It was not hot enough to seriously hurt the demon, but that had never been their intention. He quickly cast fire blast at the demon, turning the small cloud of steam even hotter, making its heat signature more distinct.

  Easier to follow for anyone who might be perceptive to heat or fire spells.

  "Now, it is your turn, prince." The Archmage murmured and watched the edge of the circle of fog around him, as at this point in time, the real strike was about to arrive.

  In the next moment, a golden haired figure emerged out of the fog, his emerald eyes glowing with determination. He was guiding an enormous fireball below him with the help of a few other brave figures of the Kirin Tor.

  Their speed was exceptional, and in a short moment, they were passing above the heads of the bold assault team.

  "Join the strike, push it back through the portal!" Antonidas shouted loudly, his voice magically amplified and soon, a huge projectiles of ice and holy power were moving in the wake of the elven ship which had been turned into a meteorite.

  With no serious firepower of his own, Kael decided to join personally this decisive move and ran quickly, following the misty tail of the last ice projectile.

  The demon's attention snapped back at them, his efforts to summon more helpers out of the warp portal interrupted. However, it was too late to dodge the carefully engineered barrage of projectiles. All it managed to do in its haste was to lift the sword and try to cut through the giant fireball with the corrupted weapon.

  A fiery explosion erupted, the heat completely suppressing the icy nature of the artifact of chaos. With a roar, the demon took two huge steps back, crushing half of the minions he had just summoned. Yet, he was still a single large step away from the portal.

  It roared fiercely, but before it had any time to correct its posture, the demon was impacted by a shining ball of Light. It roared again and made another single step back, now its back was almost pressing against the warp gate.

  "Yes!" The paladins and mages were cheering when they saw the last projectile of ice crash into the blood-like aura of the demon's weapon.

  Everyone felt like pushing with their will alongside the ice spell, but they soon realized that it had not enough momentum to provide the final push that would send the demon through the portal.

  An ominous feeling began encroaching upon the minds of all present, as this had been their best opportunity to be rid of the mutated disaster towering in front of their eyes.

  Luckily, a roaring chainsword suddenly smashed into the unholy weapon followed by a bulk of a ceramite power armor.

  It was the last straw for the demon's already unsteady balance and it unwillingly made yet another large step back, which took his body directly through the red portal.

  "I would have never expected to end up croaking on this kind of a weird world." The inquisitor whispered bitterly while the momentum of the demon carried him along through the portal and he felt the hungry warp energies sucking him along with it.

  Unexpectedly, he felt his right foot was entangled by something and there was a pull trying to hold him back from fully disappearing inside the portal.

  "Where do you think you are going?! Don't you remember my orders?" With a surprise, he watched a high elf gripping a rope, his feet sliding along the ground, leaving two deep trails in the ash. The other end of the rope was naturally entangled around his foot, its very tip bound to a high elven arrow.

  "This guy." Kael Gull vanished inside the portal, followed by his unsuccessful rescuer, as the warp gate burst with power for the last time.

  The gate was protesting as the forces of the Kirin Tor were at this point fully focused on sealing the treacherous portal.

  "One final push and the anomaly will be sealed!" Antonidas tried to motivate everyone around him and even the half-hearted effort of the high elves improved. They quickly realized that their companion who had just been sucked into the portal could not be saved.

  In the face of the big picture, he was expendable.

  After a moment of an intense struggle, the portal shrunk until it completely vanished from existence, leaving everyone panting with exhaustion.

  "Good work!" Kael'thas Sunstrider prized everyone, but his expression turned stiff when he looked around him.

  It was not how a victory was supposed to look like.

  "Indeed." Antonidas sighed and everyone moved to make sure the threat of demons was truly gone, their prayers with the two heroes who were lost inside of the demonic portal.

  * * * *

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  Keal Gull was thrown back, after the demonic abomination mobilized its strength and swung its sword while burning with bright flames. For a second, he hoped the force would send him back through the portal, but he just flew through its residual energies before slamming into a wall. The gray bricks of the wall cracked loudly under his weight, his figure imprinted deeply into them.

  He looked around quickly to be aware of his surroundings and his teeth clenched tighter.

  "Bald Eagles, what a place to live through my last struggle." He pealed himself off the wall and small pieces of it went along with him, leaving an imprint in the wall that was slightly larger than his frame.

  They were in a spacious square framed by tall buildings twisted by the warp a long time ago. There were two gates and one huge plaststeel door leading out, but all three escape routes were closed shut. In the middle of the square was a large statue of a Space Marine in full armor with a granite memorial desk at its feet. Among the crumbling symbols were those Keal recognized and he quickly figured out where he was.

  Bald Eagles used to be a Chapter of Space Marines, before a great disaster befell its members. Adeptus Astartes of Bald Eagles had been targeted by one of the chaos gods, Slaanesh, who corrupted their Chapter Serfs with his power. Sabotaging the Chapter from the inside, chaos space marines were able to enter their fortress-monastery. They deployed a powerful chaos artifact that helped them pull the whole Chapter into the Warp.

  The very place around him was that fortress-monastery. A bleak place of ruin, a badge of victory for the forces of Chaos, lost in time and space, forever condemned to drift at the edges of the warp.

  "My power grows and my hunger will be sated!" The demon roared, its heavy injuries twisted until the corrupt flesh reformed into even more grotesque forms. With its hands and legs becoming of uneven length and an extra salivating mouth growing on his side, the demon rushed towards the Inquisitor. Fueled by its irrational hunger, the abomination of chaos swung both its sword and its deformed hand in multitude of attempts to hit Kael.

  Kael Gull dodged a few times before he parried the demon's hand with his weapon. The teeth of the chainsword immediately severed a few fingers of the demon and caused a large opened wound on its thigh. Yet, the demon's assault could not be stopped, as his flesh began to constantly shift, reforming any injures the inquisitor managed to inflict.

  "No escape, your blood will fuel his glory!" The demon growled and continued to advance, leaving no respite to the defending inquisitor. Kael knew that the demon was not weak and along with its chaos artifact and the support of the warp around them, he had little chance to win the confrontation. He could only repeatedly dodge while parrying the lighter blows, observing his surrounding as he looked for a way out.

  "Your blood will be spilled! Khorne demands it!" The demon's skin became wet with blood and another pair of hands grew out of its body to assist him with the hunt. The flurry of attacks became even madder and Kael knew he would be dead with the first slip up. If the multitude of hands managed to grip him, his immobilized body would be easily cut in half by the demon's powerful weapon.

  "Hahaha!" The demon roared with laughter when one of his hands finally managed to catch the inquisitor and the spawn of chaos rushed to finish its enemy. However, its legs were momentarily caught in a rope and the demon had to use his two hands to steady itself instead of grabbing the inquisitor.

  Kael Gull jumped back and looked at the rope. Following it with his eyes, he ended up staring at the perpetrator of this desperate assistance.

  "What a pity, I hoped the warp has spared you, elf." Kael whispered while looking at Lor'themar Theron, who had obviously been sucked into the warp along with him.

  "I am still under orders to babysit you, you know?" The high elf smirked and nocked another arrow while assuming a fighting stance.

  "Let's grant ourselves a glorious death." Kael Gull used the sudden onslaught of arrows the high elf unleashed onto the demon to grip his weapon with his both hands and swung mightily, aiming to cut off the demon's both legs.

  A wide arc of his blow caught the legs of the demon and the teeth of his sword ground its sturdy bones into powder. With the chainsword half-through its legs, the demon managed a swing of its own, forcing the inquisitor to quickly jump back.

  But just for a second.

  As soon as the ominous blade in the enemy's hand missed its mark, the inquisitor jumped back and further deflected the blow away while stomping on the damaged leg of the demon. The bone snapped and the large frame of chaotic muscles, teeth and claws lost balance, falling to the side. Before it managed to lift itself off the ground, the inquisitor's weapon draw a small arc and cut off the second leg of Khorne's abomination.

  The demon limbs began to regenerate quickly, but Kael Gull kept cutting the limbs off faster than they managed to grow anew, while dodging chaotic blows of his enemy.

  The high elf kept sending arrows the demon's way, but soon realized that due to the insane regeneration of their foe, the effect was minimal. Lor'themar quickly changed weapons, drawing his blade and rushed to aid his companion, helping him in crippling the abomination.

  Roaring, the demon tried to hit both of them with his dangerous sword as they kept chopping at it while it lay on the ground. However, its efforts were in vain, as its ever changing body shape disrupted its balance and orientation.

  Finally, the inquisitor managed to cut off the hand wielding the chaos artifact and the wails of the demon intensified, its regenerative powers heavily impacted. For a few minutes, the two fighters kept butchering the abomination that fell into disadvantage after losing its weapon until only a pool of blood and flesh remained. The demon no longer had the energy to reform into any specific shape.

  Breathing heavily, they looked at each other and then at the corrupted sword that lay not far away, gripped by the remnants of the demon's hand.

  "What next?" Lor'themar Theron looked at his comrade in arms, his chest heaving wildly from the intensity of his exertion.

  "What mankind has known for millennia. Death and war." The inquisitor straightened his body and rolled his shoulders as if he had only just warmed up. "But we are not participating in the first."

  * * * *

  "I thought it lost!" In awe, Kael'thas Sunstrider yelled when he saw magical energies swirling and settling down again at the place from where they had originated.

  Roaring magic energies condensed at the bottom of a devastated pool, creating a thin film which gradually rose higher and higher as the surface approached the rim of the well.

  "Incredible! Have we acted in time?" Antonidas joined the few watching the breathtaking spectacle in front of them. The arcane energies flowed around them with the last bits of corruption being cleansed due to the paladins present. Their very presence not allowing it to permeate the Sunwell, the power of Light pulsing strongly with them as its anchor.

  With the corruption losing its source, it could not but vanish.

  "Nay, no corruption may take root here. " Uther the Lightbringer propped his massive hammer against his shoulder and smiled for the first time since the foul invasion of chaos began.

  His heart had been filled with sadness after he had found out about the ill fate of Arthas, but looking around him, he was reminded of the most important.

  "As long as the Light shines bright in a heart of a single person. There can be no defeat." One of the paladins, Alexandros Mograine stated while wiping his sword clean of the demon blood, letting its blade glitter in the mesmerizing light of the Sunwell.

  "Indeed." The other paladins of the order nodded, clearly ignoring all the signs of devastation around them, its material nature insignificant. For them, winning at the fundamental level was what mattered, the material flavor of the victory being just that, a flavor of victory. Fleeting and insignificant.

  Temples, domes and castles could be rebuild, coins minted, ideas rediscovered and operations restored. Just frivolous details built on top of the most significant, the victory of the Light.

  "I wish the two had this kind of hope on the other side, wherever the other side is." Antonidas sighed while observing the paladins, he could never fully grasp the paladins, as he was based strongly in rationality, not faith. The two military men inside would be obviously left relying mainly on their training, not Light or arcane magic.

  "Fear not, it is with them. Even though it is. . .different." Uther's smile remained wide as the last traces of corruption faded away and the Sunwell was full of pure arcane energies again. Its exterior was damaged, but its essence remained the same, a beacon of hope for all the high elves on the Isle of Quel'Danas and beyond.