Death of Xavius

After the black mist dissipated, Aiden was surprised to see the three people whose screams he had heard earlier: Darion Mograine, Tirion Fordring, and Volibear were all safe on the dragons' backs, albeit with some bloodstains on them. It seemed they had indeed been attacked by Xavius, but were quickly healed.

More and more dragons gathered around them, and Aiden saw more and more familiar faces. Seeing them safe and sound, he was truly relieved.

The wind and rain continued, this terrible weather washing away the Nightmare's corruption of the world. But the rain and wind did no harm to the living beings of the world. People couldn't even feel the coldness of the raindrops on their bodies, nor were they blown off their feet by the hurricane.

This terrifying celestial phenomenon only affected the Nightmare that was polluting the world!

The 'Executor' airship and the Ethereal attack aircraft were the first to launch an attack.

The 'Executor' airship was an upgraded version of the 'Skybreaker'. Previously, the 'Skybreaker' was the main airship that destroyed the Scourge's floating fortress 'Naxxramas', and the 'Sky Piercing Cannon' it carried was a great contributor. However, the cumbersome cannon designed by the three scientists Heimerdinger, Viktor, and Ziggs had now taken a back seat. The 'Mana Railgun' carried on the 'Executor' had become the strongest firepower that could be carried on any airship!

The cutting-edge weapon that Aiden brought from Earth—the electromagnetic railgun—after a year of modification, had finally made a grand debut in the world of magic technology, becoming the most powerful cannon among the 'local specialties' of Earth!

To witness its power, Ziggs personally stayed on the Executor to supervise the firing of the Mana Railgun.

Whether in the world of magic or science, railguns are known for their long range, high accuracy, and high muzzle velocity. The Executor didn't even need to enter the Observer's line of sight to launch an attack, because the effective range of the railgun's shells had exceeded a terrifying hundred kilometers, allowing it to fire shells from beyond visual range. However, Xavius's main body had a limited attack range, so after receiving intelligence from the front, Ziggs boldly ordered the captain to move the airship closer to fire.

"Charge, start charging, quickly, quickly, quickly!" Ziggs's characteristic high-pitched Yordle voice spread throughout the airship's deck.

After the energy modification, the current railgun was charged with magic—the energy naturally changed from electricity to mana. Seventy percent of the hundreds of people on the entire Executor were working to charge the modified mana conductor.

Most of these mages were summoners from Valoran, a small number were mages who had joined the Valoran Federation, and some were mages borrowed from Dalaran.

Hearing Ziggs's order, the casters began to pour magic into the mana conductor, which was then all gathered into the energy converter through the energy circuit, turning it into pure arcane energy.

As the charging was completed, blue-purple arcane light began to light up on the two parallel rails of the Mana Railgun. After the gunners aimed, the special shell was accelerated and fired at an initial velocity of more than ten times the speed of sound.

The railgun shell accurately hit Xavius's tree trunk, and the sound of the explosion didn't travel over until several seconds later.

Aiden, being closer, saw the results immediately—Xavius's trunk, which ordinary swords, magic, and spells couldn't damage, was shattered by the explosion of the high-explosive ammunition accelerated to the extreme. One of his thick branches was almost blown into two!

Xavius let out a painful roar. He never expected his body to be damaged by ordinary shells! Even ordinary legendary weapons didn't have such power!

The effect of this shot greatly boosted morale, and as if it were a signal flare for a general attack, the Dragonflight roared and launched a brave and fearless charge against Xavius's main body!

The mages of Dalaran learned from the last lesson, and Aegwynn had become much more cautious. Although the black mist surrounding Xavius had disappeared, who knew if he had other means to entangle others?

She chose her most proficient means of attack—the spell that Anna had used to wound Archimonde in the Battle of Sunwell—'Disintegrate'!

Aegwynn emitted a pale ray that accurately struck Xavius's main trunk, freezing it completely. And when Xavius tried to move his body, it immediately cracked, disintegrated, and became a large hole!

Anna followed suit, using the same trick to attack Xavius.

The sky was filled with flying energy bullets, and angry dragon breaths ignited Xavius's dead branches. Fireballs, ice arrows, and arcane missiles weaved colorful lines in the air. Gun bullets, cannon shells, and bow and crossbow arrows drew fatal arcs. Swords, axes, and hammers all chopped at Xavius's main body.

Although Xavius couldn't move freely, he was never one to be passively beaten! He immediately retaliated—the dragon knights, in order to effectively attack Xavius, had already rushed into the range covered by his branches. He immediately launched an attack, turning his branches into countless sharp arrows and spears, stabbing fiercely at these creatures!

Not everyone was like Aiden and his group of the most powerful heroes, who could easily cope with Xavius's attacks. In just a few breaths, hundreds of dragons or the knights on their backs were pierced by the spikes and died like Remulos.

The commanders who were paying attention to the battlefield situation immediately ordered these people to retreat urgently.

Ordinary people, and even ordinary dragons, didn't have the means to effectively harm Xavius. Joining this battle would only be a waste of blood.

After the ordinary people withdrew, those who remained were the top heroes of Azeroth, and they would be the main force in killing Xavius.

Before launching another attack, Ysera said in a deep voice, "We don't have much time left."

Aiden saw that the phantom of the Emerald Dream's blueprint was becoming clearer and clearer. Soon, these phantoms would materialize, and then the two worlds would be completely merged.

And that meant that Xavius would be everywhere, becoming the true master of the world!

"Then let's fight to the death!" Broxigar raised his battle-axe, his eyes, emitting a cold light, staring straight at the twisted, towering giant tree hundreds of meters tall in front of him.

Behind them, the archmages, the Mana Railgun, the Ethereal attack aircraft, and other people and weapons that could damage Xavius's body were still attacking. Xavius's tree trunk already had many damaged areas. The Azeroth allied forces seemed to still have hope of victory.

But just then, a violent tremor came from the heavens and earth for the third time.

Everyone knew what this meant.

Aiden felt that the self in the dream and the self in reality were getting closer and closer, as if they were about to merge into one again. And the phantom of the blueprint had revealed its true colors, and the two overlapping worlds had become strange and twisted.

Even more terrifying was that after this tremor occurred, Xavius's originally tattered branches squirmed, and the roots that had plunged into the cliff's interior began to spread rapidly, as if they were fully absorbing the earth's nutrients, and the damaged wounds on his body were rapidly recovering.

All the results achieved by everyone's hard work for several hours had disappeared in just one minute.

Seeing this scene, no one would not be discouraged. Even more terrifying was that this meant that they could almost never defeat the Nightmare Lord using the methods they had just used! What's more, the time left for them in this world was already being calculated in minutes.

Was the world going to fall into the hands of the Nightmare Lord because of this?

Thinking that all living beings would become slaves of the Nightmare, polluted by negative emotions, and turned into twisted creatures crawling on the ground, everyone became desperate.

"Have we... lost after all?" Ysera thought again of the worst outcome: after mastering all the secrets of the world, Xavius would inevitably unlock the Titans' seals, release all the Old Gods, and after polluting the Titans' facilities, the Old Gods would launch the End Time, and everything in the world would be cleansed, and the Pantheon would lose control of this world.

"No, the result shouldn't be like this." Aiden tried hard to recall, why, even though the weather system and the illegal data clearing system had been activated, and the wind and rain had come, the result still hadn't changed?

Could it be because the Nightmare Lord in this world had obtained the power of Nordrassil, blessed by the Dragon Aspects, while the one in his memory had only obtained part of the power of the ordinary World Tree—Teldrassil?

Nordrassil had survived for tens of thousands of years, while Teldrassil in the original history was only a substitute that the druids had used magic to stimulate after Nordrassil withered, and it didn't have any special divine power.

Could it be because of this that Xavius had become so tyrannical?

Aiden felt that the compatibility between himself and the soul in the dream was getting higher and higher. This fusion was becoming irreversible, and he could even clearly 'see' the actions of himself in the dream. This further reminded him that the final moment when the Nightmare Lord would control the entire world was getting closer and closer.

What to do?

Hard attack?

No, that won't win.

He himself rejected this method first.

These violent storms failed to kill Xavius, there must be other reasons!

Now that they are facing desperation, Aiden tried to piously seek help from the Earth Mother, the Sky Father, the Sun God, and the Moon God, etc., the primitive gods mentioned in the blueprint system.

Since the gods are the embodiment of all things, omniscient and omnipresent, then He must have heard his voice, right?

But he didn't get any response.

Aiden couldn't help but have a guess: Was he thinking wrong?

"The Will of the World"—could the key to defeating the Nightmare King be something else?

He looked up and saw the surrounding faces of bewilderment, fear, and confusion.

Perhaps in a few tens of minutes, or perhaps in a dozen minutes, everyone, all living beings, would become slaves of the Nightmare King.

No one is willing to do so, and perhaps no living being is willing to do so.

At this moment, Aiden suddenly realized—the will of the world has never been the Earth Mother, the Sky Father, or the Sun God and Moon God, but the collection of the common thoughts of all living beings in the world!

Now the heroes in front of Xavius, no matter how strong they are, cannot fight against Xavius, who represents the nightmare of the world.

Only when everyone, all living beings, unite and form one will can they defeat him!

After realizing this, Aiden no longer resisted the fusion of the soul in the dream with himself.

Instead, he took the initiative to start merging this soul.

His body in reality became illusory, so much so that even though he was standing next to several heroes, standing on Alexstrasza's back, people felt that he was actually very far away from them.

At the same time, Aiden's body in the Emerald Dream also underwent the same change.

Even though he was by their side, people felt that they could never reach him.

Aiden's changes attracted the attention of the people around him.

At this moment, his voice came out, reaching the will of every living being in the world:

"Please believe me, please help me!"

Everyone knew that this was the voice that spread throughout the world during the first impact of the nightmare on reality, the deafening voice.

"Please believe me, please help me." Only when every living being opens their hearts to Aiden can he gather the will of the world.

Every living being heard Aiden's intention from this voice, and all the living beings who were panicking and uneasy under the terrifying nightmare of the Nightmare King seemed to have found a reliance.

The first ray of power came from Aiden's side.

He knew it was the first hero he summoned, and she still trusted him unconditionally.

After that, countless forces gathered on him through this mysterious belief.

Under the infusion of this power, Aiden's whole body began to glow, like another dazzling sun.

The people present all opened their hearts to Aiden.

He felt an unprecedented powerful force, as if he could turn fantasy into reality with just a thought.

He seemed to have become a true god, omnipotent!

A pile of divine weapons were taken by him in the air to his front, and then holy light wings spread out behind him.

With a flap of the wings of light, he flew towards Xavius's main body.

Aiden's changes attracted the attention of everyone, and as he rushed towards Xavius, his every move affected people's hearts—this would be the last hope to save Azeroth.

If it didn't succeed, then everyone would become slaves of the Nightmare King.

When Xavius saw Aiden rushing over, he immediately tried his best to intercept him.

There were only the last ten minutes left before the dream merged with reality.

He would soon become the master of the world.

Perhaps even N'Zoth would have to look at his face then.

That was the deepest thought in his heart for ten thousand years.

Seeing that it was about to be realized, how could he allow someone to destroy it?

Countless branches on Xavius's body turned into weapons and stabbed fiercely at Aiden who was rushing over.

Xavius believed that no one could break through such a siege!

But when these sharp thorns and tentacles, comparable to divine weapons, were about to reach him, a strong holy light suddenly burst out from Aiden's body.

He almost really turned into a sun, and the blazing holy light drowned all attacks that intended to harm him, and the power from time allowed Aiden to dodge one step ahead before all the attacks arrived.

The thousands of branches failed to stop Aiden's progress at all.

The divine weapons around his body waved automatically under his mental control.

With the power of the entire world, even a piece of rotten wood could break bricks and stones, let alone legendary weapons?

Everyone stared dumbfounded as the radiant him rushed out of a path, until he broke through to Xavius's trunk.

"No, no!" Xavius shouted in horror.

He was unwilling to fail like this, just a few minutes before success!

He condensed all his power and turned it into a dark energy that gathered the negative emotions of all living beings and attacked Aiden.

Aiden manipulated the holy energy weapons around him, the Sword of Forgiveness, the Silver Hand Judgement, the Sword of the Guardian of Order, the Ashbringer... These weapons all bloomed with incomparably powerful holy light, blocking the ball of energy.

"Now is the time, this is the moment."

Aiden's heart was extremely calm.

His two hands were holding the Oak Axe and the Dark Destroyer respectively.

He held up these two legendary axes and summoned the true power of nature to bless them.

A pale and thick lightning bolt cut through the sky and struck directly on the two axes.

Aiden felt an unprecedented powerful force at this moment.

He drove this force and slashed fiercely at Xavius's trunk.

"Boom!"

The thunder in the sky and the sound of the two legendary battle axes chopping on Xavius's trunk mixed together.

"Save me—Master, save me!" Xavius let out his last desperate cry.

His trunk was completely cut off and fell into the sea, and then the wrath of nature descended, igniting the originally hard black dead wood.

The trunk was burned to ashes almost in the blink of an eye, and only black dust floated into the sea.

Even the roots that had plunged into the cliff were burned to ashes in the holy fire.

When the dust settled, the storm suddenly stopped, and the sun re-pierced the dark clouds and shone on the earth, and everything returned to calm.

And in the dream, Aiden used the dead branches from Xavius's body to find the Nightmare King lurking in the dream and killed him in the same way.

The shadow let out a desperate scream, calling out to his master before he died.

But he didn't get any response.

His master abandoned him ruthlessly.

As Xavius in the dream and reality died at the same time, the nightmare that enveloped the world finally disappeared.

And Aiden had one last thing to do: before the power of all the living beings in the world that was blessed on him disappeared, he had to separate the soon-to-be-merged reality and dream again.

"Blueprint system self-check..."

"System virus has been cleared, source of corruption has been destroyed."

"Guardian authority restarting... Restart completed."

"Reversing the execution of illegal programs... Reversed."

"Repairing the blueprint... Repaired."

"System error has been repaired."

"Withdrawing temporary authorization..."

The Titan device inside G'Hanir automatically emitted a system voice.

As the forced fusion of the dream and the system was terminated, the two worlds began to separate.

The real world and the dream world both began to experience obvious earthquakes, but this time no one would worry that they would become servants of the Nightmare King again.

From the void, it could be seen that the blueprint virtual image that originally enveloped the entire Azeroth gradually dimmed until it completely disappeared.

Elune's incarnation stood on the moon where she had taken Aiden, and she watched this scene, muttering to herself:

"It succeeded."

"The success that was taken for granted."

"The success that has been replayed countless times."

When the two worlds were completely separated, Aiden broke away from the dream.

He only felt a slight daze, and found that he had returned to the real world.

He was on Alexstrasza's back, and the Red Dragon Queen was carrying them back to land.

The power of all the living beings in the world that had just been blessed on him had disappeared without a trace.

He spread out his palm, and a section of ink-black dead branches caught his eye.

Xavius had completely died, and the scars he had brought to the world had also completely disappeared in the storm created by the Celestial Defense System.

This dead branch was the last proof of the terrible disaster he had brought.

"We won."

He smiled.

"Yes, we won."

Everyone responded with a smile.