Timeline Collapse

Driven to desperation by Ner'zhul's summons, the undead of Gilneas mobilized almost completely. The gates of the Greymane Wall, silent for months, were suddenly thrown open, and hundreds of thousands of Scourge poured out in a frenzy.

The former King Genn still ruled over these Gilnean "people," leading them to the aid of the Scourge's supreme master.

The Burning Wood Village front line detected this news immediately. General Garithos, responsible for the defense here, immediately organized a defense and sent a mage to Lordaeron to relay the message.

The leaders and representatives of the Alliance nations gathered once again to discuss how to respond.

Swain still represented the Valoran Federation at the meeting. The others were largely unchanged from before.

This was originally a meeting to address the movements of the Gilnean Scourge, but it eventually devolved into a debate over whether the Alliance's main force should first stop the Gilnean Scourge or eliminate the threat of Naxxramas, which had already flown to the Ghostlands.

The former proposal was put forward by the leaders, headed by the Kingdom of Lordaeron; the latter was the opinion of the kings who were not currently threatened by the Gilnean Scourge but feared the harm Naxxramas could cause. Both sides held their ground, and were almost evenly matched.

Archmage Antonidas frowned the entire time, somewhat weary of such arguments. The Alliance lacked a leader with absolute authority, so that every decision they made struggled to achieve an overwhelming majority. This made him feel that this Alliance, lacking in execution, was like a plate of loose sand.

He knew that the Valoran Federation was actually also an alliance, one composed of different beliefs, different systems, and even mutually hostile forces. But they all pledged allegiance to the same will, and would unhesitatingly execute the Supreme Commander's orders.

Both were alliances, so why was the difference so great?

At that moment, a Dalaran mage entered and handed him a note. He glanced at it, and his heart immediately surged.

It was a magical message from Northrend, sent by Rhonin. When it was sent, their expeditionary team was gathering, preparing to attack Icecrown Citadel.

Antonidas immediately realized that the Gilnean movements must be related to their actions—the Lich King was probably at his limit, so he was grasping at straws, even wanting to summon the Scourge of Lordaeron to protect him?

Upon learning this news, he stood up. The sound of arguing in the conference room immediately subsided, then fell silent. Representatives did not need to stand to speak, but the Archmage obviously had important opinions to express. They had to give the ruler of Dalaran enough respect.

"Gentlemen," Antonidas's gaze swept over these leaders and representatives, taking in their doubts, "Before the meeting, some were curious as to where Aiden had gone. Mr. Swain did not give us an accurate answer. Now, I can tell you where he went."

The gnome representative, "High Tinker" Mekkatorque, asked, "Is this news important? Does it need to be said now?"

"Very important, much more important than what we are arguing about now." Antonidas emphasized, "As early as the last meeting, he had already organized a team of elites to go to Northrend, with only one goal—to destroy the Lich King!"

"While we are now debating whether the main force should deal with Gilneas or Naxxramas, he and his people are fighting to the death in the heart of the Scourge army, against the Lich King and his minions!" Antonidas raised his voice, "This makes me feel extremely ashamed—the Valoran Federation has only been in Azeroth for half a year, and can be said to still be guests; what about us? We have lived in this world for generations, for thousands of years. But now these guests are risking their lives to save Azeroth, while we are talking and arguing in a safe conference room."

"I implore everyone, can you put aside a little bit of your self-interest and make some sacrifices for the Alliance and for our world? At this time, think about what we can do for these expeditionary heroes?"

—

What could they, who were thousands of miles away, do for the expeditionary force? If Aiden heard these words, he would hope that the Alliance would pray for them.

Pray that this bronze dragon would not become Ner'zhul's accomplice.

Aiden also possessed the ability to manipulate time. When Nozdormu stopped time from a distance, he sensed the arrival of the other party. He was struggling to break free from Nozdormu's spell, trying to restore the flow of time. Now they could not resist any attacks at all; even the lowest-level ghoul could kill them all!

Aiden forced himself to calm down, mobilizing the power of time to fight against the Eternal One, Nozdormu. But that was very difficult—the other party was the true guardian of time, and in this world, no one could compete with his divine power in the realm of time!

Nozdormu landed, and in front of his massive body, even the newly fallen Bone Lord was just a tiny speck, and the evil little mage Veigar behind him was only as tall as his toe.

"It seems Malygos failed to stop you ants." The Bronze Dragon King slowly walked forward, his dragon head lowered, and his eyes, larger than washbasins, finally fixed on Aiden, "You, the pawn of the invader? Now who else can help you, little ant?"

Aiden could even feel the other party's breath on him, but he still couldn't move.

But the other party's words revealed a message—Malygos did not come for no reason. The Blue Dragon King was obviously bewitched by Nozdormu to run to Frostwing Halls to attack them.

However, why would Nozdormu do this?

Invader? Aiden's heart was filled with doubts. Didn't Kirin Tor tell him that he could boldly change history without worrying about the Bronze Dragons' pursuit? Didn't he say that he had cooperation with the Infinite Dragonflight's Murozond?

The current situation clearly did not look like cooperation!

"It's time to correct this mistake," Nozdormu's erect pupils radiated a dangerous light. He summoned a giant hourglass, inside which flowed golden sands of time. "You should not exist in this world!"

Apart from Rhonin, Vereesa, Mograine, and Saurfang, who were originally heroes of Azeroth, Aiden and everyone around him felt that they were being bound by countless threads, about to be dragged away.

Aiden had felt this power in the River of Time—these were the countless entangled causal threads in that river, and it was rejecting them.

He could not let Nozdormu succeed!

This was the only thought in Aiden's mind. If the Bronze Dragon King succeeded, then all of them would be expelled from this world, and facing them would be an unknown fate—perhaps appearing in the Twisting Nether, or perhaps being directly annihilated, or some other tragic outcome. No one had been subjected to the judgment of time, and Aiden did not want to be the first batch of verifiers!

Only the power of time could resist the shackles of time!

His time was frozen, but his thoughts were not. He forced himself into a meditative state, and he only thought of one way—to borrow the power of the River of Time to fight against Nozdormu!

But was there enough time? He didn't know how much time he needed to touch the River of Time. Perhaps by then, Nozdormu would have already completed the spell. He seemed incomparably anxious, but this emotion troubled him, preventing him from calming down and entering meditation.

'Time… is there enough time?'

A flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, and he immediately captured this thought—now his time was stopped. But Nozdormu could still move freely.

If they each had a timer next to them. He was still stuck at 4:30:04 PM, while Nozdormu's time stream was still moving forward, now at 4:31 PM, and still continuing. Even if Nozdormu completed the spell, he would have to restore Aiden and the Valoran heroes' time stream to the same point in time as him before he could launch an attack!

His time was stopped, which was tantamount to him having infinite time!

This was a completely new realization, and he knew that his understanding of time had taken a big step forward!

Aiden was no longer worried about Nozdormu, and he quickly calmed down, entering the non-material world at a speed faster than ever before, heading towards the golden River of Time. His speed was a hundred times faster than the last time he entered. This was a subjective feeling; in fact, there was no concept of distance and time in the mental space, and all distances were distances of thought. He knew that he was getting closer and closer to the truth of time, which was why he felt that his speed had increased dramatically.

He finally entered the River of Time and, from countless threads of cause and effect, located the point in time at the Frozen Throne.

In his imagination, there was a pile of golden sands of time blocked by an invisible force, not flowing with the current. Artificial disturbance made the originally calm River of Time unstable, as if it contained some dangerous power.

He reached out with his nonexistent hand and gently fiddled with it, opening the valve that was blocking them. Sure enough, the blocked sand resumed flowing, following the current, filling the original void at a faster speed, and merging with other sands of time. The timeline returned to normal.

At the same time, the heroes outside immediately regained their freedom.

Mograine's Ashbringer continued to slash, and Sejuani's flail also fell accordingly. However, the two targets they attacked were fully prepared during the paused time and successfully avoided a certain death.

Nozdormu's appearance made them wary of each other. Broxigar and Dath'Remar retreated, and the heroes around Aiden did not immediately pursue.

But the threads of cause and effect that had locked the Valoran heroes had disappeared, as if they never existed. Only the astonished Nozdormu and Aiden, who had untied them, were sure that they had existed.

The Bronze Dragon Aspect was furious. He roared at Aiden: "It really is you, destroyer of time!"

Aiden pursed his lips. If he hadn't used the stopped time to enter the River of Time and let time flow back, he and the heroes around him would have faced unimaginable and tragic fates. Nozdormu was the culprit!

This madman!

No wonder he would kill himself in the future!

Aiden recalled the scene he had 'seen' in the River of Time and retorted without showing any weakness: "Nozdormu, it was clearly you who forcibly stopped the River of Time! I restored the threads of cause and effect that you disrupted inside. Who is the destroyer after all?"

At this moment, Aiden had no sympathy for Nozdormu at all. He only had one thought—he deserved to go mad! If you don't court death, you won't die!

"That's because of you! You don't belong to this world!" Nozdormu roared, "You are invaders! You have offended the timeline guarded by the Bronze Dragonflight! Damn it!" The timeline was the private domain guarded by the Bronze Dragonflight for generations, and he would never allow anyone to compete for its sovereignty. That would be a declaration of war!

"Then there's nothing to say!" Aiden felt resentful in his heart. He wanted to do something, something beneficial to this world, but he found that there were so many obstacles—Malygos, Nozdormu, these two future madmen were completely unreasonable!

"I will fight Nozdormu, you go and destroy the Lich King!" Aiden stared coldly at the Bronze Dragon Aspect. He didn't know if he could resist the opponent's divine power, but he had to try, because they had no retreat. Just like what he said when he asked Kassadin to destroy the teleportation array.

Fight with your back to the river, fight to the death!

Nozdormu shouted: "You really think you can stop me? Ridiculous reptile! History must return to its original track!"

He waved his huge dragon claw violently, and a golden portal immediately appeared in front of him. His reinforcements were constantly coming out—but that was not the Bronze Dragonflight, but an enemy that was, in a sense, more terrifying to them than the Bronze Dragons!

The first to walk through the golden portal was an orc, or rather, an orc death knight.

Varok Saurfang rubbed his eyes hard, but the orc in front of him still shocked him. This undead looked exactly like his son, Dranosh Saurfang, except for being a Scourge!

The orc death knight grinned, revealing an evil smile: "That's right, it's me. Join us, Father, let us serve the Scourge together! Look, Uncle is also here! Come over, and we will be reunited!"

Even Broxigar couldn't understand the scene in front of him. He asked: "Are you Varok's son, Dranosh Saurfang?"

"Yes, I am your nephew, Uncle! In the Scourge, they call me 'Dranosh Saurfang the Deathbringer'!" Dranosh Saurfang stood next to Broxigar and replied.

"This is great!" Broxigar smiled.

But Varok's face was full of grief and bitterness. He couldn't understand what he saw at all.

Aiden patted him on the shoulder and whispered: "This is Dranosh from another timeline. Your son is still in the Horde. He is still a pure orc."

Varok cheered up, "Thank you, my friend!"

Aiden nodded and then said to everyone: "Everyone who comes out of this portal is from another timeline. You may see your loved ones and friends, but I hope you can realize that they only appear in the wrong time and space. This is Nozdormu's act of forcibly disrupting the timeline, we must be clear about this! Remember, don't show mercy! Otherwise, the people around you may really become like that in the future!"

The second one to come out was a dark ranger, and many people recognized her.

Vereesa cried out in a lost voice: "Sylvanas, is that you!"

The Forsaken Queen showed a faint smile, but her eyes bloomed with a strange red light, which was a characteristic of the undead. Her light gray skin was also in stark contrast to Vereesa's healthy and smooth skin.

"It's me, my sister!" She gave this cruel answer.

Vereesa dropped the arrow in her hand to the ground. She hugged Rhonin's shoulder tightly and buried her head in his chest, sobbing, daring not to face this cruel scene.

Aiden's heart was also heavy. The Bronze Dragon Aspect was blocking the way, and they couldn't easily attack. Who knew what kind of characters would come out of that portal?

The first two were just the close relatives of the Azeroth heroes present, but the third one was even more unacceptable.

Because that was Mograine himself. Death Knight Mograine!

He held the corrupted Ashbringer in his hand and looked mockingly at the paladin who looked just like him: "Look, look, look, a fool who is infinitely attached to life! Let me tell you, only death is the true meaning of life!"

Mograine clenched his Ashbringer, the warm touch suppressing the unease in his heart. No one would be calm when they saw their corrupted self, and he was no exception.

"I will personally set you free!" the paladin responded.

The fourth to appear was the lich Kel'Thuzad, who had already died at the hands of Kael'thas in this world.

And the fifth was—the Lich King, Arthas! Wearing the Helm of Domination and wielding Frostmourne, he made a playful voice: "A group of pathetic souls, just right, my Frostmourne is very hungry..."

Rhonin felt a bit bitter in his mouth. What exactly happened on the other timeline? Arthas, Mograine, Dranosh Saurfang, Sylvanas, one after another, he couldn't understand at all.

Five Scourge heroes, plus Broxigar and Dath'Remar, guarded the Frozen Throne.

"You are becoming an accomplice to the Scourge, Nozdormu!" Aiden shouted angrily.

"I'm just returning history to its original track!" Nozdormu laughed madly, "Are you scared? But it's not over yet!"

Several more figures walked out of the portal. Aiden thought they were still Scourge heroes, but these were not—what he saw was Thrall being enslaved, Garrosh Hellscream being corrupted by the Sha, Jaina with white hair, and the brutal gladiator Varian, as well as the blood elf prince Kael'thas!

The golden portal finally disappeared.

Although Aiden's side still had the advantage in terms of numbers, in terms of strength, they couldn't even achieve a balance of power. What's more, it was very worrying how much combat power several Azeroth heroes would be able to exert, being affected by familiar relatives and friends.

The balance of power has been reversed. Now, apart from fighting to the death, they have no way out!