Deathwing assessed the recovery of his injuries, buying time with words while contemplating how to escape.
He was insane, but he wasn't stupid.
Without the Demon Soul, facing three Guardian Dragons in good condition plus a Titan Guardian was no different from seeking death. Deathwing yearned for eternal peace, true, but not by throwing his life away.
Even escaping at this moment was a very troublesome matter. The only method Deathwing could think of for now was to exchange injuries, preferably by quickly crippling one of his opponents, which would then create an opening for escape.
However, as Deathwing pondered his countermeasures, he didn't notice the soul pressure gradually rising from the ice beneath his feet—he knew of the strangeness of Icecrown Glacier, and perhaps because of that, he overlooked this abnormal change.
Just as the earth-shattering Arcane energy Malygos had condensed dissipated, Deathwing thought he had found an opportunity and was about to spread his wings and take flight, but the next second, the eternally solid ice, as if struck by a god's hammer, instantly cracked into countless fissures.
As Deathwing's heart was filled with shock and confusion, a savage long tail tore through several meters of thick ice and slammed heavily onto his forehead.
The immense power made the bone spurs at the tip of the tail shatter the air, and a terrifyingly sharp booming sound ripped through the sky, followed by violent tremors that spread when the dragon's tail and Deathwing's head collided, literally shaking the falling snow in the air into a clear circle.
Even with Deathwing's powerful physique, he became unstable under such a heavy blow, his massive dragon body swaying precariously, clearly sustaining no small amount of damage.
Before Deathwing could even recover, sharp dragon claws, imbued with cold killing intent and fury, viciously landed on his neck.
The ice-blue claw marks were even imprinted in the void, lingering for a long time, and Deathwing's hard scales and skin were torn through with overwhelming force, hot, vital blood gushing from the wound, vaporizing large sections of the ice upon impact with the ground.
Between the snow and mist, Deathwing finally saw it: in his hollow pupils, two clusters of eerie blue flames burned faintly, and a monstrous bone dragon, whose size was no less than that of a Guardian Dragon, stood before him, with the flames erupting from Deathwing's body still burning on its claws.
"Sindragosa?" Deathwing instantly understood the bone dragon's identity. He covered the wound on his neck with one claw, his voice carrying a hint of laughter, "Can Malygos not even grant you peace, you pathetic creature?"
With that, Deathwing, disregarding his injuries, opened his jaws to an incredible angle, his chest and abdomen expanding and contracting, as a torrent of crimson magma breath erupted like a volcanic explosion towards Sindragosa.
As he breathed, his wings also ignited with flames, and with just a single beat, the flames instantly shot out, making the surrounding air scorching hot.
Upon seeing this, Sindragosa also exhaled a frost mist capable of freezing everything, but her power was ultimately not as great as Deathwing's, and her Frost Breath was forced back by the scorching flames and magma.
As ice and lava merged, large amounts of water vapor rose, and Deathwing, by his own power, unleashed enough force to turn the surrounding sky crimson, with temperatures sharply rising, and the glacier even melting under his erupting flames.
The steam dispersed, but it became a fog-like obstruction blocking Deathwing's vision. Sindragosa also didn't blindly compete in strength with Deathwing; in her undead form, Northrend was her home turf.
She flapped her wings, rising from the ground, and the violent wind pressure surged outwards, almost tearing the ice sheet apart.
The strong winds carried ice and steam, dancing together. Deathwing unhurriedly looked left and right within the high-temperature steam, searching for Sindragosa's trace.
In the mist, Deathwing noticed an inconspicuous pale blue flicker. He immediately swung his right claw, unleashing magma-condensed claw marks that imprinted on the void, striking towards where the light appeared.
However, the anticipated impact sound did not come. Deathwing's attack seemed to land on air, disappearing after traveling a considerable distance.
But the fierce claw strike also dispersed the air in that section, and the black dragon then realized that what he had just seen was merely a blue-glowing ice crystal floating in mid-air.
At that very moment, Sindragosa's figure broke through the dark clouds in the sky. She folded her wings, like a peregrine falcon targeting its prey's vital spot, plummeting downwards.
Although all of this happened almost in an instant, the massive size of the dragons made it difficult for them to completely conceal their tracks. Deathwing keenly sensed the anomaly above his head, but surprisingly, he showed no intention of dodging.
The next instant, Sindragosa's claws of vengeance, imbued with hatred and fury, landed on Deathwing's head and fiercely pierced downwards. The immense energy directly penetrated the ice layer that had accumulated for countless millennia on the ice cap, plowing an unfathomably deep gully.
Amidst the earth-shattering tremors, and scattered ice and snow, the three Guardian Dragons finally recovered from the brief battle. Everything had happened too suddenly; Sindragosa's "resurrection" and her utterly reckless, ferocious assault had left all three dragons without any reaction.
"I cannot sense Deathwing's condition," Nozdormu gazed at the area where Sindragosa and Deathwing had just been; it was still a chaotic mess, impossible to discern the exact situation with the naked eye.
Malygos flapped his wings, but the flickering Arcane runes on his body proved that his mood was not as calm as his expression suggested.
"Arthas... what exactly is going on?!"
Arthas, hidden in the seam between the present world and the shadow realm, did not appear, but he still answered Malygos's question, "This is vengeance. Don't you understand, Malygos?"
"But you shouldn't disturb a deceased being like this, even if—"
"You've misunderstood. This isn't a disturbance; for Sindragosa, it's actually a form of liberation." Arthas did not panic at Malygos's potential anger; Sindragosa's resurrection was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.
"Liberation? Arthas... although I don't really understand undead magic, this doesn't look like liberation for any dragon."
This time, it was Alexstrasza who spoke. She could feel the heart-wrenching rage and resentment emanating from Sindragosa. Alexstrasza wondered, if she were to be in such a state after death, it might be a hundred times more painful than being killed.
Malygos stopped speaking upon hearing this, but his gaze clearly conveyed the same sentiment as Alexstrasza.
"Perhaps elsewhere, Sindragosa truly could find peace, but this is Icecrown Glacier, my friends," Arthas provided the answer, "Ten thousand years of hatred and resentment make it impossible for Sindragosa's soul to rest. The unique terrain and environment here torment her soul. If these negative emotions cannot be purified, Sindragosa's soul will forever wander in pain and suffering."
Sindragosa's corpse has been permeated by the power of Icecrown Glacier; her resurrection is only a matter of time. I merely accelerated the process. If we were to wait until the day she crawled out of her grave on her own, driven by immense resentment, it's likely she would never regain her lost self."
Arthas's fingers brushed across the blade of Frostmourne. "And don't even think about taking her back to Dragonblight for burial. In her current, extremely peculiar state, even if her bones were buried in Dragonblight, she would likely awaken all the deceased dragon corpses across the entire Dragonblight in the end—I don't want to see Ghalakrond's corpse flying above Dragonshrine after we defeat Yogg-Saron!"
Arthas certainly didn't want a new Undead Scourge of bone dragons, uncontrolled and potentially driven mad by death energy, to darken the skies of Northrend after the original Undead Scourge was gone.
If the dragons that had died over countless years were truly infested by death energy, even he wouldn't be able to deal with them all in a short time. By then, these destructive, terrifying skeletons would be able to fly to every corner of Azeroth within ten days, unleashing their resentment upon all living beings.
"Now that Deathwing has inexplicably appeared here, Sindragosa has the perfect target to vent her frustrations. Once she expends some of her power, I will do my best to help her quell the torment of her soul."
"Regardless, after Deathwing is dealt with, I hope Sindragosa can rest in peace as soon as possible," Malygos said in a muffled voice. He was about to rush into the battle but was stopped by Arthas.
"You'd best not go, or rather, it's best if none of us go right now," Arthas said, stopping Malygos. "Sindragosa's current state is…indiscriminate. She will furiously attack all targets she resents. If Deathwing ranks first, then you are probably second. Even Nozdormu and Alexstrasza will incur her wrath."
Upon hearing this, Malygos felt even more dejected. Was he, besides Deathwing, the one Sindragosa hated most?
"But we can't just stand by. Sindragosa is no match for Deathwing; he'll escape this way."
Alexstrasza was somewhat anxious. Although Sindragosa appeared to be suppressing Deathwing, that was due to her unexpected sneak attack earlier and the pressure the three Guardian Dragons were still exerting on Deathwing from outside the battle.
Once Deathwing found an opening, he was not incapable of immediately disengaging.
And indeed, after briefly suppressing Deathwing, Sindragosa gradually showed signs of "fatigue"—as a bone dragon, she naturally wouldn't feel tired, but Deathwing was gradually intensifying his counterattack.
As the former Blue Dragon Queen and a dragon from the ancient era, Sindragosa was enormous in size. Even with only her bones remaining, her massive body was unparalleled among all dragons.
However, her opponent, Neltharion, was himself a Dragon King-level Guardian Dragon, and after being corrupted by the Old Gods, elemental power erupted and grew within him. Tens of thousands of years had allowed his body to continuously grow, making Neltharion almost the most robust dragon in size apart from Ghalakrond.
Frost breath that could freeze everything was not very effective against Neltharion, who was covered in active lava. Instead, the Shadowflame Neltharion spewed could even corrode a bone dragon's soul.
As Neltharion's injuries gradually healed, Sindragosa also slowly lost her suppressive power over him. However, as death energy was continuously released and vented in her battle with Neltharion, Sindragosa's originally chaotic and unorganized fighting gradually became cautious and rational.
After witnessing Sindragosa's transformation, Arthas immediately sent a signal to all combatants present—it was time to act!
Archaedas, who was still on the ground, no longer engaged in the minor skirmishes he had with Deathwing before. He directly invoked his authority as the Earth Guardian, rapidly gathering elemental power in his hands. This represented the gradual materialization of the Earth's benevolent power, condensing into a simple, ancient warhammer.
Beneath its unassuming exterior lay the majestic power of creation, capable of overturning mountains and shaking oceans.
Immediately after, this Guardian, who had once personally bestowed the title of Earth Guardian upon Deathwing, hurled a fatal blow at the black dragon.
At this moment, a certain intuition in Deathwing's mind almost exploded, warning him of impending danger. He immediately unleashed terrifying Shadowflame without reservation, engulfing all surrounding space. Sindragosa tried to endure it, but the pain of her soul burning from the flames made her let out a wail before quickly retreating.
Deathwing wanted to immediately flap his wings, not caring that the excessive release of power made the energy within him even more chaotic, but before he could lift off, a heavy force pressed down from the sky above.
The three Guardian Dragons united to cast a sealing spell, pressing Deathwing firmly to the ground and cutting off his chance to fly.
And in that brief instant, the Titan warhammer flashed like lightning, crossing thousands of meters, and in Deathwing's slightly horrified eyes, it pierced directly through his head?!
The three Guardian Dragons felt the immense force beneath them instantly lighten. Deathwing's resistance almost vanished instantly.
"Did it succeed?" Alexstrasza murmured.
Arthas felt the powerful, scorching, and insane soul rapidly subside, but before he could relay this news, he suddenly detected a strong, powerful void fluctuation abruptly appearing.
"Careful!"
Arthas, with the fastest reaction, conjured a Holy Light barrier and an Anti-Magic Shield, protecting the three dragons within. The Guardian Dragons also quickly sensed something was wrong. They too, as quickly as possible, struggled to open their shields, stabilizing the defense alongside Arthas.
Following the rapid reaction, a void impact filled with destruction and chaos first diffused as a violent shockwave. The perpetually dark cloud layer in the sky was instantly cleared, revealing a dark blue firmament. Then, terrifying chaotic energy swept through every corner of the surrounding several kilometers. Thick ice layers were directly annihilated, pulverized, and transformed into their most basic particles, consumed by the void.
Glaciers, soil, rocks—everything seemed to be swallowed by this terrifying explosion, then transformed into a medium for the void fluctuations to spread, continuing to roar into the distance.
Fortunately, Nozdormu and Malygos, having stabilized their positions, exchanged glances and then telepathically released spells. Malygos calmed the spatial tremors, while Nozdormu directly reversed the flow of time to restore everything around them.
Although the energy's momentum was extremely terrifying—if Arthas hadn't reacted in time, the three dragons would have been severely injured if not killed—after the void explosion, it seemed to lose its source, allowing them to calm the surrounding chaos with relative ease.
Soon, the explosion was dissipated by Arcane and temporal power. Alexstrasza and Arthas, still holding their shields, also breathed a sigh of relief. After comforting Invincible, whose energy body had been shaken by the void impact, Arthas looked towards the center of the explosion—where Deathwing had been.
Sindragosa was closest to the explosion's epicenter, but fortunately, she was an undead. Although most of her body was already shattered and broken by the explosion, lying motionless on the ground, her faintly burning soul fire indicated that she was at least still "alive."
Archaedas, further away, was not overly affected. He summoned the power of the Earth to protect himself, and being further away, the void fluctuations were calmed by Malygos and Nozdormu before they could continue to spread and intensify.
However, Deathwing's body was almost completely annihilated by this void impact, with only some fragmented remains scattered on the ground—calling them remains was almost inappropriate; they were more like scattered limb fragments and still-hot, active blood.
"Deathwing… is dead?"
Alexstrasza flapped her wings, landing next to the massive crater left by Deathwing's explosion, a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"He was once a respectable Guardian, a reliable friend, but due to the darkness within him, he met this end today," Nozdormu said with a sigh. Deathwing's betrayal had caught everyone by surprise, as no one had expected that the once noble and brave Neltharion would bare his hideous fangs at his own kin, at everything he once guarded.
Malygos gazed into the pit where the Black Dragon had fallen, saying nothing. Perhaps no words could express his thoughts at that moment.
Archaedas also approached from a distance at this time, carrying an ancient Titan hunting rifle, his expression heavy—he had personally bestowed the title of Earth Guardian upon Neltharion, and today, he had personally ended the wicked life of this Black Dragon.
This inevitably made him recall everything Odin had said. He looked up at the clouds, seemingly trying to see the figure of his old friend through them.
However, the sky over Icecrown Glacier quickly gathered dark clouds. This place was destined to be beyond the reach of any light.
Arthas, riding Invincible, hovered beside the crater Deathwing had blasted—Deathwing's demise was unexpected by him. He had thought that this mad Earth Guardian must still have some life-saving tricks up his sleeve, but he hadn't expected that the heavy blow from Archaedas, the former Earth Guardian, would completely destroy his body…
No, perhaps there was another hidden reason.
It was well-known that Deathwing could control Shadowflame, but this final, immensely powerful void explosion seemed somewhat abrupt and strange. Had Deathwing truly exhausted all his tricks… or was someone helping him make a dignified exit?
Arthas hadn't detected any powerful souls nearby, or rather, under the rampage of such powerful void energy just now, even souls should have been completely pulverized into Anima, or even more primitive units.
If Deathwing had used self-destruction as a means of escape, the loss would be too great. Eighty percent of a dragon's power comes from their body, not to mention a Guardian Dragon like Deathwing. How much of his power would remain after his body died? Ten percent, or even less?
"Archaedas, are you certain Neltharion is completely dead?"
Arthas turned his horse and asked Archaedas.
Archaedas nodded in response, "I can feel that the authority of the Earth Guardian belonging to Neltharion has dissipated. He should be completely dead—even if not, a Neltharion who has lost the ancient power of a Guardian and his original body, even the Old Gods would not shelter him."
That was true. Without immense power, the most useful thing Deathwing had for the Old Gods was the data from his terrifying experiments. Even if the Old Gods saved Neltharion's remnant soul, it would be better to completely extract his knowledge and give it to their subordinates for experimentation, rather than protect his remaining weak soul.
"Although Deathwing has fallen, his evil followers have not all been eradicated. Without Deathwing's protection, they will surely seek the power of the Old Gods even more frantically," Alexstrasza said solemnly. "I will rally the champions of the Red Dragonflight to purge the remaining heretics scattered across Azeroth."
"The Bronze Dragonflight will also participate," Nozdormu stated decisively.
Only Malygos remained silent for a long time, his attention fixed on the dying, broken body of Sindragosa beside him.
Arthas, of course, noticed his old friend's unusual behavior. He rode his horse to Sindragosa's side and placed his hand on Sindragosa's skull.
"Her soul is very weak, but the anger and hatred within it have also dissipated—in other words, she is free."
"I will take her home."
Malygos, who had been silent for a long time, finally uttered a short sentence.
Arthas casually created a Soul Gem, drawing Sindragosa's soul into it. The weak Sindragosa only felt a strong wave of drowsiness wash over her, and her soul quickly fell into slumber.
Arthas handed the gem containing Sindragosa's soul to Malygos, "Don't be so sad, old dragon. This gem can gradually restore her weak soul. I think, for an ancient Blue Dragon, the dissipation of the physical body does not signify the end of life."
Arcane magic, when powerful enough, can also help beings achieve immortality, and clearly, the Blue Dragonflight does not lack such methods.
Malygos's form rapidly shrunk under the shroud of magical light, gradually transforming into the middle-aged human figure with blue hair and blue eyes. He expressionlessly took the crystal from Arthas, but his careful movements still betrayed the softness within him.
This possibly strongest mage in Azeroth today retrieved a wooden staff—or rather, a branch—exuding strong vitality from his self-created pocket dimension. With gentle magic, he then embedded the gem containing his wife's soul into the tip of the staff.
"A branch of Nordrassil…" Arthas thought to himself. Sure enough, these ancient dragons, who had lived for an unknown amount of time, could casually produce something considered sacrosanct by the Kaldorei.
However, considering that the miraculous World Tree was blessed by a few of the Guardian Dragons, it was not surprising that they would secretly keep a few branches.
"Thank you."
Malygos, who had been sparing with words today, held the staff, which was incredibly precious to him, and thanked Arthas, then continued, "Although the Blue Dragonflight is currently diminished in numbers, there will still be champions from within the clan to purge Deathwing's remnants."
"I will also have people keep an eye on those cultists." Arthas, as a representative of mortals, naturally made a promise. After all, those Twilight Cultists and other individuals who worshipped the Old Gods and Deathwing had caused quite a bit of trouble in the mortal world. Resolving them early would certainly be beneficial.
However, the Alliance's current focus was on the expedition to Outland, so they temporarily couldn't spare many people to clear out those cultists. Moreover, those individuals weren't fools; after learning of Deathwing's demise, they would surely temporarily reduce their activities, and even withdraw from civilized areas for a short time, hiding in places like Silithus.
That was still within the range of the Old Gods' influence, and not yet suitable for mortals to tread.
Furthermore, regarding Deathwing's sudden death this time, Arthas completely disbelieved that the remaining two Old Gods had no involvement. But with both Neltharion and Yogg-Saron fallen, it would at least keep them quiet for a while. Whether it was to lay low or to divide the fallen's inheritance, they wouldn't cause trouble for the time being.
Archaedas also had no intention of getting involved in the hunt for Deathwing's remnants, as he had more important matters to attend to. "I need to return to Ulduar. Although the other Guardians have confirmed that the Watchers will not initiate a purge of Azeroth, I still have some questions that need answers."
After parting ways, Arthas looked at the massive crater left by Deathwing's fall. He casually summoned a naxxanar to see if they could find anything useful from Deathwing's remains, then rode Invincible, slowly disappearing into the snowstorm.