A light barrier composed of fel spells flowed across the shattered land, and an army of spellcasters, made up of countless Eredar Warlocks, constructed a defensive line with massive fel magic, completely blocking the advance of Void creatures and Void Terrors.
A scar, scorched black by fel fire, cut across the land. On the other side of this barrier, demon soldiers were pursuing a routed group of Void creatures.
Mannoroth wielded his twin-bladed glaive, his thick, elephantine limbs displaying an agility unbefitting his size. His massive body plowed a path through the battlefield, surrounded by the remains and shackles of Void creatures.
After smashing a Void Terror that tried to counterattack him into a pulp with his twin-bladed glaive, Mannoroth finally stopped, letting out a rough breath.
The continuous fighting made him feel a hint of fatigue. Although Annihilan are strong, their stamina is not endless. The demons' enduring resilience and will were no longer outstanding against these completely alien monsters, the Void creatures.
As long as they had energy and their forms were not completely destroyed, these Void creatures would not stop attacking. What was more troublesome was that even if they were dispersed by demons, as long as the Void passage remained open, these Void monsters would continuously pour out from it.
Mannoroth glanced at the distant wreckage of the Kalesh planet, which had a gaping hole, and the Void Rift at its center, feeling a jolt of unease.
He had realized that this war would become a protracted struggle far beyond their expectations. Although the Void Lord was still in slumber, they would face an endless onslaught of Void creatures until Dimensius's last ounce of strength was completely exhausted.
"Clean up the battlefield, establish the front line. Since these Void creatures want to wear us down, let's see who is the true master of this universe!"
Although the situation was not optimistic, Mannoroth did not believe they would lose this battle. He had already noticed that the Void army's offensive had gradually slowed compared to the initial waves, and the Ethereals scurrying across the battlefield had also significantly decreased.
He knew very well that these Ethereals, who had sided with the Void forces, were collecting resources from the battlefield to feed Dimensius. This indicated that the enemy's resources were also not optimistic, and to counter the Burning Legion's army, they had to utilize everything they could get.
Realizing this, Mannoroth ordered his subordinates to begin salvaging the souls and bodies of fallen demons. Even if they were to become raw materials for magical rituals or fuel for the warships' engines, they should not be plundered by the Ethereals.
Since these Ethereals were so indiscriminate in their scavenging, it meant Dimensius's condition was also very bad; otherwise, the Void Lord would have long since emerged to crush everything.
Thinking of this, a ferocious smile appeared on Mannoroth's ugly face. Perhaps this time he would have the chance to personally crush the core of a Void Lord. If so, he might directly gain the favor of the Dark Titan, perfectly replacing the missing Archimonde and becoming a Burning Legion commander on par with Kil'jaeden.
However, not long after, the exclamations of the Eredar Warlocks interrupted Mannoroth's daydream.
"What is that?"
"It seems to be approaching us... First, open the defensive barrier. Perhaps it's a weapon of those Ethereals."
Mannoroth followed the direction indicated by the noisy voices. In the Kalesh starfield, permeated with Void Power, a strange black-red nebula abruptly appeared at the edge of the starfield.
This sudden and bizarre sight instantly put Mannoroth on high alert. On a chaotic battlefield, any insignificant detail could lead to the collapse of the entire campaign, let alone such a strange object that was obviously out of place.
However, even the well-informed Eredar had never seen anything similar. They simply activated the fel crystals step by step, using the magical energy radiated by the crystals to construct a magical barrier sufficient to deal with various situations.
Yet, those black-red nebulae seemed to be frozen at the far end of a distant alien world, showing no further movement. At this moment, the next wave of Void creatures' offensive had already arrived.
After their attention was drawn by the Void Terrors, almost no one bothered to care about the strange sight far in the sky. They had realized during previous battles that the Kalesh starfield was sealed by a powerful force and they could not leave for now, thus unable to call for reinforcements.
However, the demons believed this was Dimensius's doing. They thought that once these Void creatures were completely sent back to their home, the chaos around Kalesh should return to peace.
After observing for a long time, Mannoroth found that the strange black-red cloud indeed did not intervene in the battle, so he refocused his attention on the battlefield before him.
Each swing of his twin-bladed glaive was accompanied by an earth-shattering tremor. The purple glass on the sand plains, solidified by the Void, was easily crushed under the Pit Lord's violence. The sharp, scattering fragments were as deadly as cannonballs, plowing several openings in the Void creatures' lines.
The Pit Lord's bravery also inspired the surrounding demon soldiers. They roared fanatically, shouting the name of the Legion's master, and plunged their sharp blades into the cores of the Void creatures.
Soon, Mannoroth's towering figure attracted the enemy's attention. From the storm clouds of condensed Void energy in the sky, a beast whose size was in no way inferior to his own fiercely charged out, striking Mannoroth before he could even react.
The immense impact made Mannoroth stumble. Fortunately, the Pit Lord had four legs, which helped him stabilize his body from the impact. But the Void Dragon that had pounced on him had already deeply embedded its sharp claws into his flesh. Corrosive blood instantly flowed from the wound, splashing onto the Void Dragon, causing it to let out a painful roar. Yet, even so, the Void Dragon showed no intention of letting go.
It even frantically opened its mouth to bite, attempting to tear open Mannoroth's face with its fangs.
Snapping back to his senses, Mannoroth roared, thrusting his glaive with one hand deep into the dragon's body. The intense pain made the Void Dragon twist wildly, its sharp claws leaving countless bone-deep gashes on Mannoroth's body. Even the plate armor the Pit Lord used to protect his vital areas was deeply scarred by the monster's claws.
After the twin-bladed glaive plunged into the dragon's body, Mannoroth's weapon erupted with terrifying fel rays, shooting directly through the Void Dragon. The high temperature melted the Void Dragon's flesh, emitting a pungent, burnt smell.
Most creatures would not be able to withstand such injuries, but the Void Dragon was merely a Void Terror that resembled a dragon. Even with a large hole in its body, and its bodily fluids and tissues constantly decaying, it had not completely lost its combat effectiveness.
It even spat chaotic Void flames from its massive mouth. Mannoroth, quick as a flash, clamped one hand around the dragon's neck and slammed it hard onto the ground. Under the immense impact, the sturdy glass-like ground was dented into a large crater by the dragon.
The stunning from the blunt impact temporarily stopped its breath. Just as Mannoroth seized the opportunity to utterly crush the beast with his weapon, a huge sense of danger suddenly struck him, making him quickly retract his long glaive and bat away a morningstar warhammer that nearly landed on his head.
The morningstar, its hammerhead entirely condensed from solidified Void Power, was knocked away by Mannoroth's war glaive and then landed steadily in the hand of a tall Ethereal.
"Sargadar? Heh heh, King of the Ethereals, I thought you were hiding somewhere. It truly saves me some trouble for you to come here to die."
Mannoroth recognized the armored Ethereal at a glance.
"Demon, today is your day to die."
The Ethereal King showed no fear of the Pit Lord. All he wanted to do was exterminate these ugly creatures that were disturbing his master's awakening.
Green fel flames poured out like a torrent, incinerating everything tangible they touched into ash.
After confronting Sargadar, the King of Etherials, Mannoroth, the Pit Lord, truly embodied his title 'the Destroyer' with his full power; he was not merely a demon lord who had annihilated countless civilizations, but also possessed an inherent, destructive violence.
Weaker creatures couldn't even approach the battlefield of Mannoroth and Sargadar; the demon soldiers, well aware of their master's strength, wisely kept their distance from the fully unleashed Mannoroth, focusing instead on the enemies before them, as they had no desire to become sacrifices in Mannoroth's chaotic torrent.
Sargadar, directly facing the Pit Lord's power, also felt a hint of pressure—after receiving the Void's blessing, the abundant power had given him a false sense of omnipotence, and only when confronting truly powerful enemies did he awaken from the joy of his surging strength.
Sargadar acknowledged Mannoroth's strength; he knew this demon was not the strongest entity in the Burning Legion, but as the demons' frontline commander, the power Mannoroth displayed did not exceed his expectations. He was confident he could repel Mannoroth, even if it meant paying a price.
Controlling his Void Dragon to dodge the fel rays unleashed by Mannoroth, Sargadar was still pondering how to deal with Mannoroth, who was wreaking havoc on the battlefield. Mannoroth, however, taunted him first, "What, are you so cowardly that you're worse than a beast? The beast beneath you has more courage than you!"
To be mocked by such a savage Annihilan, even if Sargadar knew it was a provocation, he couldn't help but feel his temper rise. His response was equally direct: the King of Etherials hurled his Morningstar Warhammer down from the sky. The Void Power surging from its head carried a reality-shattering destructive force, pulverizing everything in its path. Several demon bats, unable to dodge, were torn to shreds by the arc of the warhammer.
Mannoroth sneered, effortlessly deflecting the warhammer thrown by Sargadar, all while continuing to mock Sargadar's apparent reluctance to fight.
As a demon commander once favored by both Kil'jaeden and Archimonde, Mannoroth possessed a cunning and treachery that belied his savage and brutish appearance. Although Sargadar had received the Void's blessing, there was still a significant gap in his close-quarters combat abilities; he was currently only able to contend with Mannoroth by riding his Voidwing.
Though Mannoroth could maintain this level of exertion for a long time, he also realized that further delay would not benefit them. He needed to find a way to draw Sargadar down from the sky and then completely suppress him.
As long as Sargadar could be eliminated, setting aside the Void creatures, the Voidwraith Ethereal' morale would surely plummet. Mannoroth believed that they might then be able to push straight to the core Manaforge in one go. Even if Dimensius couldn't be killed, managing to destroy the Manaforge would be enough to give that Void Lord a hard time.
Once the Manaforge was destroyed, the enemy should lose the ability to control this space, allowing subsequent reinforcements to arrive smoothly. Sargeras would likely not miss the chance to personally execute a Void Lord.
However, the current battle was indeed in a stalemate. Although Mannoroth appeared to have a significant advantage on the front lines, this advantage could be reversed at any moment by the Void army. No matter how much the Pit Lord mocked Sargadar, he dared not deny the annihilating power of his warhammer.
He appeared to be rampaging through the enemy on the battlefield, but in reality, he was very carefully watching Sargadar's every move, worried that the warhammer might inflict severe, unignorable injuries upon him.
The number of demons slaughtered by Sargadar was not small; a mere flick of the Etherial's warhammer caused the Void itself to vibrate violently, as if the entire cosmos were trembling, and any demon caught in the energy waves emanating from the warhammer was, without exception, torn to shreds.
It was as if Sargadar was wielding not a warhammer, but a neutron star with immense gravitational pull.
Mannoroth also noticed that the Voidwing beneath Sargadar, which should have sustained extremely severe injuries, had recovered significantly under Sargadar's energy supply. From being half-dead initially, the Void Dragon had gradually become lively and vigorous, even having enough energy to breathe out concentrated Void energy as high-energy beams, cleansing the demons on the ground, all while carrying Sargadar and dodging attacks.
Mannoroth impatiently stomped the Void Terror beneath his foot into ash, watching Sargadar's movements while searching for his weaknesses.
As his gaze swept around, a smile finally appeared on Mannoroth's face—this Etherial loves to hide so much, but can your Manaforge hide?
Indeed, in the fierce battle, the scattered magic and energy had completely depleted the barrier of a Manaforge on a distant cliff. Although that Manaforge was still some distance from the battlefield, the intensity of the fighting far exceeded the redundancy for which the barrier was designed; even a small amount of escaping energy had completely consumed the Manaforge's shield.
This was also the result of the Etherials desperately pouring resources into the Manaforge for Dimensius's use; to facilitate Dimensius's resurgence, they had no remaining capacity to support additional energy consumption.
Seizing the moment the shield weakened, Mannoroth grinned, using his heavy glaive as a casting staff. The fel energy, condensed into a sphere, almost liquefied as it churned and boiled. Before Sargadar's very eyes, a fel ray, almost cataclysmic in power, sliced the entire battlefield in two like a blade, once again heavily impacting the already shattered ground.
The fragile gravitational environment could no longer sustain such tremors. Amidst the rumbling and shaking, the precarious balance of the floating island where the battle took place shattered with a roar, then was torn apart by chaotic gravity and its own weight, breaking into smaller fragments of debris and dust.
And the Manaforge, built upon the floating island, also collapsed in the destruction. Moments after the Manaforge's demise, the flashes of energy escaping from it almost eclipsed the battlefield, which had been covered in chaotic spells and energies.
A nearly materialized energy storm swept across the entire battlefield. The Void creatures closer to the Manaforge were engulfed by the exploding energy before they could even understand what was happening.
The massive energy storm sphere did not stop there; it continued to spread until it swallowed Mannoroth, who was laughing maniacally, followed by Sargadar in the sky.
Several Burning Legion ships that couldn't escape the explosion's range were also affected, swaying like broken kites as they plummeted to the ground, exploding into several smaller fel hemispheres on the shattered Void island.
When the purplish-black energy storm dissipated, Mannoroth still stood on the shattered land. He shook off the dust and materialized energy debris from his body, pulled his heavy glaive, used for balance, from the ground, and looked at his 'masterpiece' with satisfaction.
Sargadar had vanished in the recent explosion. Just as Mannoroth had guessed, this all-encompassing energy storm would have a significant impact on Sargadar, whereas for a physical demon like himself, as long as he could withstand the physical damage from the storm, he would be fine.
But for Etherials, as energy beings, extremely chaotic energy storms could even affect the stability of their existence. Even with the magical bandages wrapped around them, magical constructs inevitably have limited endurance and are far less resilient than Mannoroth's robust body.
After Mannoroth could no longer sense Sargadar's presence, he was about to order the destruction of other Manaforges when the space above his head suddenly vibrated unusually.
The Pit Lord looked up in horror, his heavy glaive immediately brought before him. But the Morningstar Warhammer, charged for an attack, plummeted like a meteor, raising even more dust upon impact than the energy storm had earlier.
Even Mannoroth's heavy glaive buckled under Sargadar's heavy blow. The gravitational field constructed by Void energy twisted and broke the glaive, which then smashed directly into Mannoroth's breastplate.
The thick, city-gate-like steel armor was easily torn apart, and the turbulent Void Power crushed into Mannoroth's chest, inflicting severe injuries upon the arrogant demon.
However, after delivering this blow, Sargadar had no intention of pursuing further. His figure rapidly vanished into the Void, leaving behind only several broken bandages and swirling ashes on the battlefield.
Death is an appendage of war, and as war intensifies, death will expand as rapidly as the shadow of an eclipse.
Mannoroth barely supported himself with his broken spear, thick green fel blood gushing from the nearly flayed wound on his chest.
He glanced at the broken spear and the chest plate, split in two, on his chest. Sargadar's hammer didn't inflict damage through impact; the hammerhead of that warhammer was a solidified Void black hole. Physical defense was completely useless against the black hole's tearing, and Mannoroth almost lost his life because of it.
Fortunately, Sargadar's condition also seemed dire. The exploding Manaforge had indeed affected his stability, proven by the scattered, ash-like bandages falling from him. Otherwise, after breaking Mannoroth's weapon and armor, the warhammer would have crushed his head into pieces the next second.
With the help of his adjutant, Mannoroth returned to his flagship, slumping into the commander's seat, green blood still continuously gushing from his mouth.
This injury wouldn't kill him for now; an Pit Lord's vitality was far more resilient than most demons. As long as his head hadn't been severed or smashed, these injuries could be healed with time and resources.
Moreover, Mannoroth wasn't the only one in command of the Burning Legion's army. On other fronts, the remaining fleets were still fighting. Now that Sargadar had retreated, they could easily weaken the Void's defenses until they reached Mana Furnace Omega.
What Mannoroth needed to do now was to heal his injuries as much as possible. Without his prompting, several demon priests, who had already prepared sacrifices, extracted the life force from the offerings and injected it into Mannoroth's body to heal his gruesome wounds.
However, the speed of healing was far slower than Mannoroth expected. He asked somewhat irritably, "What's going on? Why are my wounds healing so slowly?"
With the nourishment of a large number of soul fragments, this non-fatal external injury should have healed in a very short time. But Mannoroth noticed that the active life force was flowing away even faster, like water poured into a leaky bucket.
Soon, signs of decay even appeared on Mannoroth's wound. The demon priests' healing methods not only failed to cure his injuries but instead made his body even weaker.
The demon priests also noticed this, but they found no traces of curses or magic. The injuries caused by Sargadar were indeed purely physical annihilation, and even the residual Void Power on the wounds had dissipated.
Mannoroth clutched his wound, tearing at the spreading decay with both shock and anger. He had already discovered that the rotting flesh was rapidly spreading, even to other intact areas.
"What… what is happening?"
A wave of weakness surged through Mannoroth's body, and he could barely stand, his massive, bloated body collapsing like a pile of mud.
The demon priests frantically tried to save Mannoroth's life, but his life force was rapidly stripped away by a power they couldn't detect. Soon, the intact flesh on Mannoroth's body also began to rot and fall off, the chunks of flesh splattering like mud when they hit the ground.
In a mere few tens of seconds, the demons watched as their commander weathered into a skeleton. Mannoroth's life quickly withered like a dying candle, until even his soul fire fell silent.
The demon priests looked at each other, not knowing what had happened. Although most demons were fearless of death, because their souls would return to Argus, where, in that world transformed into a Manaforge, they used the power of the Argus World-Soul to endlessly reforge demon bodies, thereby creating a continuous army of demons.
But such a bizarre death was something they had never witnessed before. They didn't even know what had taken the life of an Pit Lord.
A priest subconsciously looked out the viewport, only to find that the previously unchanging purple starry sky outside had been thoroughly stained black-red, to the point where the starry sky enveloped by Void Power was no longer visible.
At the same time, amidst the surging black-red, the lives of a large number of injured demons rapidly vanished. No matter what methods the demons used to stop it, it was futile. What was originally a minor injury quickly escalated into a fatal one, and those already severe wounds completely eroded the demons' tough vitality in an extremely short time, turning them into scattered piles of bones.
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After Mannoroth's physical death, his soul should have returned to the Twisting Nether and awaited his resurrection on Argus.
But after breaking free from the chaos of death, Mannoroth found that his soul did not drift towards the familiar Twisting Nether, but instead plummeted rapidly through the real universe. He looked around in horror; countless souls of demons, Void creatures, and dreadlords were also being pulled by an invisible force, moving away from where they should have returned.
Like a drowning man trying to save himself, Mannoroth tried his best to break free from the pull of that power, but with only his soul remaining, he had lost the Pit Lord's unparalleled strength and robust body. Perhaps his soul was still more powerful than that of an average demon, but against the power that was pulling countless souls, he was not much stronger than an ant.
As the scene in his eyes rapidly changed, he realized where he was falling, but this only made him more terrified, because that should not be the destination for a demon's soul after death—the Shadowlands should not take in demon souls!
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Something was frantically devouring the souls vanishing from the battlefield! This was indeed a carefully planned conspiracy! He had to resist with all his might to return to the Twisting Nether—
However, Mannoroth's resistance was not only useless but also attracted the attention of the one in the Maw who was pulling the souls.
Arthas reached into the ocean of souls and pulled Mannoroth's demon soul from the torrent, "A powerful demon soul, with even enough strength to resist the Maw's pull?"
He closed his fingers, instantly crushing Mannoroth's will into fragments, and from these fragments, he extracted Mannoroth's identity.
"How ironic, Mannoroth the Destroyer is now annihilated, with no chance of resurrection."
Arthas sneered. Crushing Mannoroth's soul was no more difficult than crushing other demon souls. Although these demon souls were far more resilient than mortal souls, they were much the same in his hands. He casually scattered Mannoroth's soul fragments, allowing them to rejoin the stream of souls flowing towards the Sanctum of Domination's Soulforges.
The Shadowlands' soul characteristics were incompatible with these demon souls. To prevent the collection of too many demon souls from causing irreversible effects on the balance of the entire universe, Arthas used the Sanctum of Domination's forges to thoroughly crush these souls and re-inject them into the real universe through another channel.
And the end of that channel opened into the still-sleeping "Devourer of Worlds" Dimensius. Unbeknownst to him, this Void Lord was being injected with countless souls and powers by Arthas, rapidly pushing him towards the brink of awakening.
After crushing Mannoroth's soul and eliminating the possibility of the demon resurrecting from Argus, Arthas watched the river of souls and energy plummet towards Dimensius, a celestial body like a "black hole."
Like filling a bottle with water, Arthas used the power left on the battlefield to continuously pour vast amounts of energy into the reviving Dimensius, but all this energy had been processed by him, containing terrifying binding power.
The more Dimensius consumed, the stronger these bindings became, until Dimensius's will fully awoke due to the surge in power…
It was also thanks to Sargadar's vicious strike, which severely wounded Mannoroth, who had believed himself victorious, and caused a large number of Legion soldiers to perish in the battle between Mannoroth and Sargadar.
Although the clash between the Pit Lord and the Node King was merely a microcosm of the entire vast battlefield, this battle did indeed determine the direction of the war, and the struggle between the Void and fel would intensify until both sides were consumed, becoming nourishment for Dimensius.
The battle between the Burning Legion and the Void Army would continue for some time. After Arthas guided the power of the Maw to erode both sides of the war, he was free to proceed to Dimensius's core to see how well the Void Lord had recovered.
At this time, the Netherwalker was still waiting anxiously. Although Arthas had told him that he only needed to wait, seeing the increasing amount of energy pouring into the Void Lord's ravenous Maw, an amount so vast that a mere glance made him tremble, the Netherwalker found it difficult to calm his mind.
He truly feared that Arthas might not control the situation properly, allowing Dimensius to break free. If that happened, regardless of the fate of the real universe, his homeworld Kalesh would be utterly shattered by Dimensius, with no possibility of recovery.
"What, you seem a bit restless? I thought someone who personally detonated his own homeworld wouldn't experience such emotional fluctuations."
Arthas's voice echoed behind the Netherwalker, his face illuminated a dark purple by the energy emanating from the core.
"That was a last resort… Rather than sitting by and watching Dimensius arrive and devour everything, detonating Kalesh was our only way to turn the tide."
But this method still cost the Ethereals an extremely heavy price, yet the Netherwalker always believed that as long as they had not completely perished, there was still a chance to make amends.
The Netherwalker's face, covered by bandages, no longer had organs like facial features, and it was difficult to discern any emotional changes from his face, but Arthas could sense that the Netherwalker's current mood was not as calm as his words suggested; on the contrary, the energy body symbolizing his existence was fluctuating violently.
He was simply good at and accustomed to hiding his emotions, which might also be why he was not understood by most of his people.
Arthas stopped observing the Netherwalker's reaction. He looked at Dimensius's reviving core and slowly said, "Wizards of the Entangling Coil, you should have seen enough of this farce. Let us bring this farce to an end."
"But before that, we have an uninvited guest to deal with."
Before Arthas finished speaking, a morning star warhammer suddenly tore through the space behind him, smashing towards his head.
Seeing this fatal blow, the Netherwalker immediately cried out a warning, "Watch out!"
At the same time, he mobilized the surrounding energy at the fastest speed, trying to stop the attack, but his reaction was still half a beat too slow, and the morning star warhammer landed squarely on the back of Arthas's head.
However, the expected scene of a burst skull did not occur. Arthas's neck merely sank slightly, and then he actually forced the warhammer back.
"Sargadar, this is not how a monarch treats his guests."
Golden light ignited in Arthas's eyes, and the space, previously filled with void, was instantly filled with holy light. The intense Holy Light stung even the Netherwalker, and the assailant hidden in the shadows directly faced the cleansing power of the Holy Light.
The void rift where he hid was crushed by the light, and spears and blades of condensed Holy Light pierced his body. Neither the tough bandages nor the sturdy armor could resist these lights. He was directly pinned to the ground by Arthas, and the warhammer forged from a void black hole was held in Arthas's single hand, transforming into a sky full of starlight amidst a flicker of light and shadow.
Only when Sargadar had lost the ability to resist did the Netherwalker realize what had happened. He lunged forward, grabbing the king's throat and slamming him fiercely against the wall.
"Stop, Sargadar, you will only bring destruction upon yourself—you have no idea what kind of power you have submitted to."
As the Netherwalker admonished Sargadar, he finally had a chance to clearly see how disheveled the king was. Apart from the Holy Light burns that pierced his body, left by Arthas, the bandages he used to maintain his body's stability were already largely destroyed. Now, almost half of his body was twisted and overgrown by surging void, transforming into a terrifying fiend with bared fangs and claws.
Sargadar's miserable state also made the Netherwalker realize that he must have come here to seek help from Dimensius, to help him restore the balance within his body, which had been almost completely destroyed.
After being restrained by the Netherwalker, Sargadar had also lost the ability to resist. The explosion previously triggered by Mannoroth had disrupted his body's balance, which was almost a fatal injury for an energy being, but he maintained stability by drawing power from his mount, while dealing a heavy blow to Mannoroth, he also ensured he could return to Dimensius's side.
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But he had not expected to encounter the Netherwalker and Arthas here, though the rapid deterioration of his physical state left him no time to think.
When the morning star hammer completely failed to penetrate Arthas's defenses, Sargadar himself was stunned. He hadn't expected that a weapon capable of easily slaying an Pit Lord couldn't even leave a scratch on Arthas, and the Holy Light summoned by Arthas could easily subdue him even in this darkest place.
"No… you are the one… who doesn't know what kind of monster you are associating with."
Sargadar didn't even look at the Netherwalker. In his view, the Netherwalker was merely a rebel who refused to be ruled, while Arthas was the truly unspeakable enemy.
The Netherwalker ignored him, "We were already monsters long ago, but I will never bow down to Dimensius."
The Netherwalker's words made Sargadar shift his gaze back. The Ethereal King sneered, "Is that so?"
Sargadar's laughter sent shivers down the Netherwalker's spine. He quickly released his hand, only to find that the bandages covering his hand already showed signs of scorching from excessive void energy.
"I will return to the Void, and you, you shall be buried with this dying planet."
Sargadar's body collapsed at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. He himself abandoned maintaining his body's stability, even tearing apart the remaining bandages with his own hands, and merged into Dimensius's body amidst the swirling energy currents.
As he escaped using this method, he still cast a wary glance at Arthas, only to find that Arthas seemed to be unresponsive, showing no intention of stopping him.
A certain thought suddenly flashed through Sargadar's mind, but time no longer allowed him to continue thinking. Soon, all of his consciousness dissolved into chaos within Dimensius's domain.
"He… was sucked in by Dimensius?"
The Netherwalker was somewhat surprised that Sargadar would so decisively give up his life; it was completely unlike that selfish King of Nodes.
Arthas waved his hand, dispelling the Holy Light that might further provoke Dimensius, and explained, "Although you have accepted Void Power, it seems you don't know much about creatures of the Void Lord level."
The Netherwalker shook his head. "Who can claim to know the Devourer of Worlds inside and out? Even the Precursors probably wouldn't dare say that. Every choice we make is essentially a gamble."
"Being devoured by Dimensius doesn't mean losing your life. In other words, if Dimensius thinks you still have value, he will preserve your will and turn you into his servant to work for him. Xal'atath, and other Void Lords defeated and absorbed by Dimensius, are all similar cases."
Through the energy devoured by Dimensius, Arthas had already sensed two Void Lord-level wills within Dimensius's core, but their power had almost been completely consumed by Dimensius, and they had become mere appendages of Dimensius.
"Alright—I mean, regardless, whether Sargadar is alive or dead, are we still going to stand here chatting?"
Just standing in the core of Mana Furnace Omega made the Netherwalker feel a sense of urgency, especially since he could feel the will of the Devourer of Worlds gradually reviving. They would soon face an incredibly terrifying existence.
The Netherwalker glanced at Arthas and sighed, "Now we can only hope your method truly works."
"Don't worry, while Dimensius is powerful, he's not omnipotent. Otherwise, why were you able to keep him out of the real universe at the cost of only Kalesh?"
Although Arthas's words were a bit blunt, the Netherwalker had to admit he made a lot of sense. Dimensius's power exceeded the Ethereals' imagination, so much so that even Sargadar, who had once been dedicated to resistance, chose to collude with Dimensius. But perhaps for Arthas, Dimensius was merely a troublesome enemy.
The Netherwalker suddenly remembered what Sargadar had whispered in his ear earlier: "You don't know what kind of monster you're associating with."
The bandages on his face twitched twice, but he quickly swallowed the words he wanted to say.
Because in the short time he and Arthas had been talking, a vast will, comparable to a cosmic star, was pouring in from another dimension. The energy within the Manaforge was twisted and converged by this seemingly omnipotent will, forming a vortex, a singularity, swallowed whole by the awakened Void God.
His form gradually solidified within the surging ocean of energy. The dark purple Void Sea was stirred by his will, and amidst the churning waves, a blurry shadow rose majestically.
The matter of the real universe was melted into armor and shackles, and extinguished stars adorned a crown, floating behind the purple giant's head. As the echoes of the Void collided in the surrounding space, the Devourer of Worlds returned to reality.
"I have awakened! This world will eventually be devoured by me!"
After his consciousness descended into a body in the real world, Dimensius's words echoed continuously through space. The Netherwalker had already opened a Void Barrier before the Devourer of Worlds fully awakened, hoping to resist the pressure from Dimensius, but only now did he realize something: everything here was Dimensius himself. What he saw was merely a shadow of Dimensius, an image projected onto his vision.
And Dimensius also noticed the Netherwalker, this little insect. He had already read the Netherwalker's origin from Sargadar's memories. For this wizard who had once exiled him with Kalesh, he didn't mind showing him the true power of the Void.
The giant hand reached for the Netherwalker at a seemingly extremely slow speed, but in just the blink of an eye, the Netherwalker found the enormous palm right before him.
Space and distance had become Dimensius's playthings here. His every movement, every breath, made real space tremble. Physical distance was meaningless to Dimensius; he simply reached out, grabbed, like picking up an insect from the ground.
For the insect, it couldn't feel the hand approaching. All it could perceive was the nearing shadow, and the giant hand that seemed to crush it in an instant.
And the Netherwalker understood that he was now that insect. He struggled under Dimensius's pressure to look at Arthas, and in the fastest speech of his life, he said, "If you can really restrain him, you'd better be quick!"
"Hmm?"
A questioning hum came from Dimensius's mouth. He looked at his hand, which was trying to crush the Netherwalker, and found that his palm, condensed from pure Void energy, suddenly had several runes that did not belong to him.
"Your spirit seems well. The souls of demons and the Arcane energy of the Ethereals must have satisfied you."
Arthas had vanished from beside the Netherwalker. His body, no larger than the Netherwalker's, now stood unsupported before Dimensius. In his hand, he held several runes, each identical to those on Dimensius's palm.
Dimensius scrutinized the being before him. His newly awakened consciousness suddenly became somewhat confused. "You… an Eternal? No… there's also the aura of those damned Titans—what exactly are you?!"
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A simple gaze was enough for Dimensius to notice Arthas's peculiarity, and also to realize Arthas's danger. After a brief moment of confusion, he erupted almost without hesitation, a roar of Void Power emanating from his body, powerful enough to extinguish stars.
But soon, these roaring energies calmed down, no longer under Dimensius's control. And around the singularity at Dimensius's chest core, golden and blue runes lit up one after another, forming tight connections and shackles between them, instantly suppressing Dimensius's power.
Dimensius immediately understood the source of these powers. This ancient, almost primordial runic power was the specialty of the highest beings in the Shadowlands, and he had never imagined he would encounter such power in the real world.
But he was not a fish to be slaughtered. While Arthas's runes suppressed Dimensius, this Void Lord also unleashed even greater authority and power, forcefully shattering and damaging those runes one by one.
However, Arthas had long anticipated that the power of a few external runes alone could not completely curb Dimensius's actions. But if even the power Dimensius manipulated was mixed with the spells he had laid, how could Dimensius possibly resist the erosion of the runes?
When Dimensius mobilized more power to counter Arthas's seal, he suddenly realized that every bit of energy he drew from the real world was adding more and heavier burdens upon himself. As his power to resist Arthas gradually increased, the "plague" that had already integrated into his body finally bared its claws, beginning to frantically destroy Dimensius's form.
Thus, once Dimensius used his power to resist Arthas, his body would suffer extremely severe damage, preventing him from countering Arthas's restrictions. But if he didn't resist Arthas, the runes Arthas had imprinted on him would, sooner or later, gradually strip away all of his authority.
From the moment Arthas's plan was complete, it was no longer him fighting Dimensius, but Dimensius himself.