With the convergence drawing closer, which not only affected the border between the nine realms but apparently also a Legion-infected world, more demons found their way onto Earth.
A few weapons in the hands of Stark, Clint, Hill, Romanoff, and Captain Rogers had been enchanted with Demonslaying - inflicting holy damage and having the chance to stun a demon with every hit - as well as Crusader - which granted a small heal and increased strength for a short moment.
Iron Man and the SHIELD agents helped him with the occasional demon when he wasn't close, and Kal long thought he would grant them classes soon... but SHIELD was busy with HYDRA, and Stark was busy with being Stark.
The chat box in his vision even told the elf that the only two classes Stark had an affinity to were Hunter and Warrior... which made Kal wonder if this was supposed to be a joke. Granting Stark the specializations 'arms' and 'marksmanship' as a former weapons manufacturer could be nothing else. Too bad the exarch couldn't teach him Gnomish Engineering since Kal'thal had never learned the profession himself.
"The device Stark gave us is going on a rampage," Skye whispered in Kal's ear as the three were stalking on a rooftop in the middle of London.
According to the timeline in Kal's mind that he knew couldn't be the full truth anymore, the convergence was about to happen now - in November 2013. It had been two months since he came to the British Isles, and Erik Selvig was arrested near Stonehenge for streaking and attempted assault this morning - which was something that the elf somehow managed to remember as part of the plot.
Just as he wanted to look over to see where the signal was coming from, the strong scent of a demon hit Kal's nose. The scent brought the elf's consciousness away from reality as a veil was slowly lifted from his distracted senses.
The vision brought his mind onboard an Eredar-craft spaceship with plenty of Draenei and elves on it. He recognised most of these people as warriors of the Army of the Light thanks to their gear.
"Illidan," Kal mumbled as the vision showed him the man he managed to free from exile at the very end of the Black Temple campaign during his life on Azeroth. He had revealed the Illidari's ultimate goal: finding the 'Sargerite Keystone' to invade Legion-held worlds and eradicate the Legion from those worlds so that they could finally bring the fight to Sargeras' forces.
It helped that as Kal'thal Ravencrest, the now lightforged elf was a direct descendant of legendary Kur'talos Ravencrest. Lord Kur'talos Ravencrest was already a seasoned and respected leader of the night elf nobility when the Stormrage brothers, Shadowsong siblings, and Tyrande Whisperwind were still growing up. The legendary warrior was not only Illidan's patron but also the Lord of Black Rook Hold, one of the last bastions of resistance against the Legion's attack during the War of the Ancients.
In the games, Maiev Shadowsong - leader of the Wardens - made short work of the weakened Illidan after the raid dealt with the final boss and imprisoned his 'corpse', the remaining Demon Hunters, as well as the Sargerite Keystone which would later fall into the hands of Gul'dan and the Warden traitor Cordana Felsong.
In his world, Kal'thal managed to claim the Keystone after reporting its importance to Tyrande and Malfurion - who both helped stop Illidan from using it to break open a portal to Argus, the former homeworld of the Eredar - the ancient Draenei.
As a blood elf who lived a few years ahead of Kal'thal Ravencrest, he learned that the events of the game expansion 'Legion' still started to happen despite his night elf self having the Sargerite Keystone and his blood elf self having stopped the broken timeline of Warlords of Draenor by killing Garrosh Hellscream early during an Orcish duel of honor called Mak'gora.
But since his night elf consciousness was still living through the final events of the 'Wrath of the Lich King' expansion and the events leading to the Cataclysm and gearing up to deal with Deathwing and the forces of the Twilight Hammer, Kal'thal hadn't yet learned how the Legion still managed to enter the Tomb of Sargeras and disrupt the seal created during the War of the Ancients at the Broken Shore.
He likely would have - had he managed to enter Dalaran together with his master Lady Liadrin, but then he appeared inside the bifrost and in New Mexico instead of the sanctuary of all mages.
Illidan's existence as a reluctant hero of the alliance alone should have made the reappearance of the Legion impossible regardless, at least in the same fashion as it happened originally.
Unless Gul'dan still managed to come from another timeline and bring another version of Illidan's corpse with him - a corpse Gul'dan planned to use as a vessel for Sargeras as he hid in the Twisting Nether before breaking into Suramar's 'Nighthold' to use the pillar of creation 'Eye of Aman'thul' for his twisted purposes.
But Kal's reminiscence was broken when a Naaru descended next to the Illidan in his vision… and blessed the Prime Demon Hunter, ridding him of his fel influence and granting him the blessing of the Light to become the Chosen One.
'Child of Light… Child of Light and Shadows… Child of Light… Child of Light and Shadows…'
A voice kept whispering the same two names in the vision as a lightforged Illidan took up his weapons to deal devastating damage to the Burning Legion… but that Illidan eventually seemed to snap out of a sort of trance.
And when he did, he turned his anger toward the Naaru Xe'ra who blessed him. In a fit of pure rage Illidan managed to destroy the Naaru and rid himself of the light's blessing as he once more drank felblood to become a demon hunter - but they lost in a giant war that ended the efforts of the forces of Azeroth.
And everyone was once more angry at Illidan. Had he not killed the Naaru and defied his own fate as the Chosen One by not embracing his light powers, they would have won… or so the majority argued.
Kal was confused the more he learned.
None of this should be possible. Grand Magistrix Elisande, leader of the 'Highborne', now known as 'Nightborne', in Suramar… She had already rejoined the Alliance under Kal's insistence of reaching out to the hidden society before the Cataclysm.
The Nightwell, the Highborne's well of power similar to the blood elf's Sunwell, was simply too easy to corrupt. Elisande had no choice but to ally with the demons in the game. But with Illidan alive and potentially being one of the most talented sorcerers ever born, Kal saw to it that the resource would not remain unused and up for grabs for the demons.
Illidan and Elisande had even fallen in love, as far as Kal'thal Theron knew. Before his mission to find the Naaru in Shattrath, Kal'thal Ravencrest had been on a journey to Suramar himself and rumors such as the leaders of two such powerful forces like the Nightborne and the Illidari hooking up were hard to ignore even for him.
Despite not hearing about the exploits of his night elven self after the Cataclysm, Kal'thal Theron had even heard that Elisande was expecting a child before the events of Legion were kicked into gear by the unknown hand.
If only Kal'thal hadn't needed to come to the Outlands… he could have learned the skills of the Spellblade class under Captain Aluriel of Suramar. Illidan had promised him in a letter that the master swordswoman was a worthy master for someone of his own talents. In not just swordplay but also magic. Illidan had refused to teach him despite the demon hunter's own prodigious achievements in the Arcane Arts.
— — —
"Kal?" Ava asked from beside him as she gently shook her savior. The elf's vision immediately stopped.
"I smell it. Follow me," Kal ordered and used Shadowstep to appear a few buildings over as the two women tried their best to stay in pursuit.
Once he left the city limits and entered a forest east of London, Kal narrowed his eyes. The smell didn't stop becoming stronger. This wasn't a lesser demon anymore.
[Skill used: Sprint]
A barely visible elf shot through the forest at a speed that even Captain America couldn't hope to reach - Ava and Skye even less. But he no longer cared about waiting on them. Something big managed to get here.
After finally reaching a clearing where green smoke was faintly visible to Kal's otherworldly eyesight, Kal finally slowed down.
Actual fel imps and satyr were gathering in the clearing as they pooled their blood together in a basin. From it, a giant dreadlord was slowly pushing its way through the surface of the foul ichor.
Grey skin sticking to grotesquely shaped muscles. Gigantic green bat wings. Two giant horns on his head that were brimming with fel energies... this was not just a simple dreadlord. Kal was seeing the summoning of a leader of the so-called Nathrezim.
The lightforged elf turned solemn immediately. He equipped his full paladin set with the giant greatsword and used every spell in his arsenal to stop the spell from bringing the dreadlord over to this world in full.
[Skills used: Blessing of Summer, Retribution Aura, Avenging Wrath: Bloody Fire, Holy Wrath, Consecration, Seal of Blood, Judgment, Final Verdict]
The full might of Kal's wings brimming with the energies of the Holy Light immediately had all the lesser demons screeching in pain. Once the effect of Consecration landed on the ground, most imps had already disintegrated in a giant radius around the high exarch.
The dreadlord, still not fully summoned to this world, could only see in fury how his minions were slowly taken care of as an ethereal golden hammer smashed into his head and he barely managed to catch the giant golden sword of the Final Verdict skill with one of his hands that was slowly but surely turning useless.
"How is a paladin in this weak world?" The dreadlord screamed in Eredun, the language of the Burning Legion. "Cease your useless struggle, mortal! I, Lord Tichondrius, The Darkener shall deliver endless terror upon this realm!"
The demon's massive arm swiped in Kal's direction but was stopped in place when Kal parried it with a well placed Crusader Strike. Tichondrius screamed in pain when the momentum of his swing was stopped by holy energies breaking apart the bones in his arm.
"Tichondrius? Didn't Illidan annihilate you in Felwood?" Kal calmly asked, speaking in Eredun himself. He never stopped swinging his blade to inflict deep wounds upon the four story-tall demon. "Did your soul reform in the Twisting Nether so that you may be killed once more?"
"You are not of this world! Who are you!? Reveal your name, elf!" Tichondrius shouted while enduring the agony of Kal'thal releasing his full prowess of the Holy Light on the dreadlord whose summoning wasn't yet finished - which meant the demon wasn't even close to its original full power.
"You may call me the end for the Legion," Kal offered in response without revealing anything of substance to the dying dreadlord.
Tichondrius had tried using his powers to inflict the curse of the 'Carrion Plague' upon Kal and everything else in his line of sight, but the spell had no effect on Kal'thal with a Sacred Shield active. Even the 'Seeker Swarm' the dreadlord sent out was immediately devoured by the continued use of Consecrate at the hands of the elf. The Blood Bulwark he had active - same as the day the Destroyer attacked, stopped the dreadlord from spreading any kind of spell into the distance.
In a final attempt to deal any kind of damage to the one who stopped his invasion, Tichondrius used up his remaining connection to the Twisting Nether to douse his surroundings in the 'Flames of Argus', but without a care for Tichondrius' feelings on this matter, the High Exarch cast 'Divine Shield' and ignored everything the demon tried sending his way.
"You cannot stop the Legion. You cannot stop Him!" Tichondrius defiantly spat as another limb fell off of its carcass. By now, the demon accepted its fate and turned off its pain receptors. As a being that survived being pieced together soul piece by soul piece in the Twisting Nether, nothing could be worse anymore in terms of pain, but just enduring it was mindless.
"Sargeras? Or the Jailer?" Kal asked with the golden greatsword in his hand pointed at the demon's forehead.
"You know of the Shadowlands? Then you must know your fate is already set in stone," Tichondrius drawled with a sneer despite its own impending doom.
"So he is real… Sylvanas' warning was true," Kal mumbled to himself in Thalassian. He had a feeling it would be, but it was probably part of a later expansion since the original Earth soul had only played WoW until Battle for Azeroth and hadn't learned what the following expansions would entail since most of the original Warcraft plotlines had already been put into the game.
Sylvanas, despite not turning into a banshee and leading the undead for the Horde, later even becoming their war chief… She had warned Kal'thal Theron after he had saved her from getting turned after Arthas betrayed her. Someone wanted to turn her once more later on, but she had to choose to so on her own free will. To gain the power to deal with the Lich King with her own hands.
She had refused and gone into seclusion after the events of Burning Crusade because she feared the blowback for her refusal would involve her people or her sisters… and she didn't want to implicate anyone in these machinations… She had only briefly joined the Blood Elves in Northrend when they started a campaign on Naxxramas and Silvermoon City couldn't afford to send the current Ranger-General under Kal's uncle Regent Lor'themar.
Her last words to Kal'thal, who had time and time proven to have incredible foresight, were 'beware of the jailer', and he had never found out what that meant.
"I was taught a spell that hurts more than it does damage for your kind. I hope you like it," Kal'thal mumbled as he stopped attacking now that Tichondrius had given up.
His area of effect from Consecration was still dealing with demon blood close to him, and he was impervious to all the attacks Tichondrius could throw at him with its connection to the Twisting Nether severed, the elf judged.
[Skill used: Purifying Exorcism]
The dreadlord once more started wailing in horror.
In a last ditch effort, Tichondrius moved all of his fel energies to cast 'Burning Soul' on the paladin in front of him before shattering into golden particles of light and leaving only two items behind.
But Kal couldn't pick them up because the effect of the demon's last ditch effort was wreaking havoc on his soul and he fainted in soul-tearing pain.