Demon Core

Before Chromie arrived, the scepter fragments preserved by the red and green dragons had already been brought here.

Alexstrasza's offspring, Vaelastrasz, preserved the scepter fragment belonging to the red dragon.

This name had left an exceptionally deep impression on Aiden, or rather, on the players of the World of Warcraft in the 60s—he was Blackwing Lair's second boss, who failed to hunt down Nefarian and was instead enslaved by him.

A boss with only thirty percent health, yet he became the raid boss who killed the most players according to Blizzard's official statistics.

Aiden had experienced that era.

Vaelastrasz appeared to have little health and was easy to bully; if the battle went smoothly, his low health would allow players to defeat him in a very short time, but this was just an illusion.

In reality, most of the time, he killed all the players who attempted to defeat him in an extremely short amount of time…

Aiden wasn't sure when Vaelastrasz was ambushed and fell while chasing Nefarian, but on this timeline, this red dragon didn't have that experience.

The Shifting Sands Scepter fragment he preserved was easily collected, and Aiden and the others didn't need to go to Twilight Bastion to find Nefarian's trouble.

The green dragon's fragment was preserved by Eranikus.

Since he was killed by Ysera in the War Against the Nightmare, this fragment naturally returned to Ysera's hands.

She had already handed it over to Ysondre, asking her to bring it to Wyrmrest Temple.

Adding to the one in Chromie's hand, three-quarters had already been collected, leaving only the part belonging to the blue dragon Arygos.

Everyone believed that after the Nexus War, the Shifting Sands Scepter would be completely whole.

The Ahn'Qiraj empire hiding behind the Scarab Wall would surely face righteous judgment!

The blue dragon representative, Tyrygosa, suddenly reached out her hand, receiving a piece of magical information.

Her face lit up with joy, and she said, "A good news—Kalecgos's portal has been built!".

Aiden immediately got up: "We'll teleport over right away!".

"I'll notify Ysera!" Alexstrasza said.

She added, "Once we sisters enter the portal, Malygos in the Eye of Eternity will instantly notice.

Heroes, in order for everything to go according to plan, please open up a passage first!".

"Everything will proceed according to plan!" Aiden nodded.

This matter had already been discussed before.

Ysera and Alexstrasza would appear when the extraordinary heroes faced Malygos.

Only in this way would Malygos not be provoked, preventing him from detonating the arcane energy gathered in the Focusing Iris in advance.

And Ysera and Alexstrasza's task was to prevent Malygos from releasing that energy.

This battle mainly relied on the heroes themselves to complete!

"Facing the Blue Dragon Aspect once again, my shield will surely become your solid guardian!" Broll strode towards the portal, his bold and confident voice infecting everyone around him.

For some of the heroes who had participated in the War Against the Lich King, this wasn't their first time facing Malygos!

This time, they had more allies; they were fearless!

—

The Dragonmaw clan never intended to fly directly across thousands of kilometers from Wyrmrest Temple to the Nexus.

With the help of the blue dragons organized by Kalecgos who opposed the Nexus War, they could directly travel there through the portal.

This not only shortened the time but also caught them off guard.

When the portal at the Nexus end was completed, Tyrygosa immediately chanted a spell.

She mobilized a massive amount of magical energy, summoning a huge portal in the hall.

"Quick, enter the portal, now!" Tyrygosa maintained the energy of the portal, and the Kirin Tor mages assisted from the side, stabilizing the portal.

Aiden was the first to step in.

Space and time shifted, and he appeared in a huge and wide room.

Kalecgos in his human form stood to one side, and upon seeing him come out, he took the initiative to greet him: "Lord Aiden!".

"It's me."

As soon as he stepped out of the portal, the others came over one after another.

The Kirin Tor mages who came over one after another replaced Kalecgos in maintaining the portal, freeing him up.

"Follow me, heroes!" Malygos said loudly, "I will lead you to the Eye of Eternity!".

His expression didn't become joyful because of the heroes' arrival.

After all, what they were about to do wasn't something that the blue dragons felt honored about.

Their Dragon Aspect was mad—this was a fact that the blue dragons who joined the Dragonmaw clan had to realize.

Kalecgos knew that after the first hero crossed the portal to the Nexus, he would permanently bear the burden of a traitor.

He betrayed his Dragon Aspect, betrayed the father of all blue dragons.

However, Kalecgos's decisiveness changed Krasus's previous view of him—originally, Krasus had been wary of this blue dragon youth's appearance after learning that his daughter Anveena might have been "abducted" by Kalecgos.

He didn't expect that after truly seeing Kalecgos, Krasus discovered that the other party did indeed have some attractive qualities.

"Don't be so fast."

Aiden stopped him, "Tell me first, where is Arygos?".

Kalecgos glanced at Aiden; he already knew what the other party was thinking.

"Madrigosa, lead Lord Aiden over there!".

"Very good, we'll split into two groups.

I'll come and meet you immediately after I'm done with the matters over there!" Aiden nodded.

He went into stealth, following behind Madrigosa, heading all the way to the blue dragon prince Arygos's room.

Because the official attack hadn't been launched yet, although the people inside the Nexus were on high alert, they didn't come to check on Madrigosa.

Her status among the blue dragons was very high, and these humans, blue dragonkin, and ordinary blue dragons didn't have the guts to ask.

There were humans in the Nexus—Aiden wasn't surprised by this fact.

In fact, after the news that Malygos was preparing to launch the Nexus War came out, many mages who knew the "Spellweaver's" powerful strength and believed that his cleansing would definitely succeed actively joined the blue dragon army in order to avoid becoming a target of the cleansing.

They were mainly Dalaran mages and high elves, and there were also some high elf mages who came here from Feralas—they came from the night elf race, and similar to the self-exiled high elves, they were now not accepted by the night elves who hated magic.

Of course, there were also spellcasters of other races in the Nexus; they were all people who believed that Malygos would win, and that was why they chose to become the Spellweaver's servants, enjoying the freedom to cast spells with limitations that he bestowed.

However, halfway through the flight, the other team launched an attack.

The magic alarm instantly resounded throughout the entire Nexus.

Aiden saw countless spellcasters, dragonkin, and blue dragons frantically gathering, rushing towards the battlefield at full speed.

The attacking team's surprise attack was unexpected; they completely hadn't anticipated that the other party wouldn't fly in from afar but would instead launch an attack directly from within.

The Nexus's defense forces were immediately thrown into chaos.

"This is it, Lord Aiden."

Madrigosa slowed down and landed, arriving outside of Arygos's room.

Aiden took a look, "I'm afraid he's not in here anymore.".

"Then shall we leave?".

"Let's still go in and take a look, see if there are any valuable clues."

Aiden dispelled his invisibility, stepping into Arygos's room.

As he had just guessed, Arygos was no longer here.

Aiden cast a time-reversal spell, wanting to see if anything interesting had happened here.

Previously, he had wanted to find out the specific details about Nefarian's experiments at Wyrmrest Temple, but the Infinite Dragonflight had shielded those events.

Because the distance was too far, he couldn't break through the other party's spell.

But it was different in this room.

Even if the Infinite Dragon Aspect Murozond personally took action, Aiden firmly believed that as long as the other party wasn't present to maintain the spell, he could break through it and then obtain what he wanted to know.

Murozond was certainly not here, and Aiden's time-reversal fully played its role.

He saw Arygos's meeting with Blackmoore, learned the truth about the "Secret Keeper" Eregos's madness and death, as well as the whereabouts and usage of another Focusing Iris, and finally, the Twilight Father appeared, notifying Arygos to change the plan.

"One and a half days…" Aiden saw that Malygos originally needed three days to extract enough energy, but because Arygos took away another Focusing Iris in advance, this time was shortened by half—he carefully calculated the time, and he was afraid that today was the day the energy gathering would be completed!

This deduction made him suddenly shudder!

He retracted the spell and said to Malygos with a grave expression, "We need to join them immediately—time is running out!"

The fragment of the Scepter of the Shifting Sands held by Arygos had been fancifully tied to a shark swimming in the Endless Ocean. Even if Aiden could trace the shark's whereabouts from the past timeline, he probably wouldn't be able to obtain it. As the mastermind behind all of this, Murozond couldn't possibly not have guarded against this move of his.

Although three-quarters of the Scepter of the Shifting Sands had been collected, it seemed unlikely that there would be an opportunity to obtain the remaining quarter.

The future War of the Shifting Sands would have to consider other options—such as rescuing the three dragon heroes from the past and letting them break their own spells—or using other methods.

As the Dragon Council forces invaded the Nexus, the Cenarion Circle expedition in Silithus was suddenly subjected to a frenzied attack by the Qiraji.

The Qiraji from the three hives of Y আশraj, Rego, and Zorash all came from the Ahn'Qiraj Empire at the southern end of Silithus. However, these insects usually hid in the underground hives. Although the night elf sentinels in Silithus were monitoring their movements, there had been no intense conflict between the two sides, and they could even be considered to be at peace.

This situation had persisted for thousands of years since the last War of the Shifting Sands. The night elves stationed here had recently experienced the shocking change of losing Nordrassil's blessing, but they didn't expect another crisis to visit them.

In the past decade or so, an organization called the Twilight's Hammer had quietly risen in Silithus. The night elf sentinels had ample evidence to show that the movements of the three hives were inextricably linked to the Twilight's Hammer's secret instigation. But before this information could reach Mount Hyjal, the night elves were besieged by the Qiraji and the Twilight's Hammer cultists.

Suffering heavy losses, the night elves were unable to maintain their defense of Silithus and could only retreat in disarray to Un'Goro Crater, where they established fortresses on the treacherous mountains and held their ground, waiting for reinforcements.

Now Silithus had completely become the domain of the Twilight's Hammer and the Qiraji!

After receiving this bad news, High Priestess Tyrande of Mount Hyjal's face was filled with sorrow.

"This matter must be told to Malfurion, and to our allies!" Tyrande quickly made up her mind. The War of the Shifting Sands a thousand years ago was almost entirely completed through the cooperation of the night elves and the dragon armies. Now, the other members of the Alliance did not understand the terror of the Qiraji—perhaps Lord Aiden knew something, he always seemed somewhat omniscient and omnipotent, at least he must know the threat of the Qiraji!

Tyrande did not attend the Los Angeles conference, but she also learned the content of that meeting—a powerful Old God was lurking beneath the Ahn'Qiraj temple! The night elves knew almost nothing about this news!

After learning of the Qiraji's riots and the rise of the Twilight's Hammer, Tyrande immediately ordered her confidante, Shandris Feathermoon, to take this important news to the Dragon Council as soon as possible.

Fortunately, the portal from Mount Hyjal to Los Angeles had been opened not long ago. Shandris teleported all the way and quickly caught up with the Nexus.

And at this time, the war had already begun!

As the lair of the blue dragons, Malygos immediately received the news when the invasion alarm sounded. He sensed the invasion of mortal forces, and there were even some blue dragons leading the way for them! Discovering blue dragon traitors made him even more angry than the attack by mortals!

You must know that all blue dragons are theoretically his descendants, only with differences in blood relations. These were all his children, but some children betrayed their father, and even led their father's enemies in, trying to kill him!

Malygos was furious, and he felt more and more that launching the Nexus War was such a correct thing to do!

Before the invasion alarm sounded, Malygos discovered that the Focusing Iris had completed its charging—a day and a half earlier than he had expected. He originally thought it would take three days to complete, and all the plans were based on three days.

He originally thought this was enough, but the appearance of traitors such as Kalecgos allowed the mortal forces to enter far ahead of schedule, and after the battle, his proud blue dragon army was defeated!

Fortunately, the Focusing Iris completed its charging ahead of schedule!

Thank goodness, Titans above! It must have been the Titans who foresaw his danger and allowed him to launch the Great Cleansing in advance—if the Focusing Iris had needed more than a day to complete its charging, then everything would have been too late!

Malygos didn't know that what caused all of this was not the Titans, but his son, Arygos.

The Spellweaver teleported himself to the Eye of Eternity. He opened the Arcane Map, preparing to activate the energy of the Focusing Iris, directly remotely bombing and eliminating the previous set targets.

It was at this time that Aiden arrived here in a state of astral projection.

After realizing the conspiracy of the Old Gods, he felt frightened for a moment, as if everything would completely fail if he didn't hurry.

Because of this, he asked Matigosato carry his body forward, while he himself went into astral projection, rushing towards Malygos's location at the fastest speed.

"Hopefully, it's not too late!"

He increased his speed to the limit, rushing as fast as he could, and finally arrived at the Eye of Eternity first.

At this time, Malygos was comparing the Arcane Map, preparing to import the energy from the Focusing Iris—if he completed the import, then everything would be too late!

"Stop, Malygos!" Aiden transformed from a soul into a physical image and shouted urgently.

"It's you?" Malygos turned to look at the intruder. He and Aiden didn't have much interaction, and had only met once—that time, Aiden and the others were in Icecrown Citadel, preparing to attack and kill the Lich King, completely ending the Scourge. Malygos appeared when they were eliminating Sindragosa, the leader of the frost dragons.

Sindragosa was Malygos's consort in life, the queen of the blue dragons. For ten thousand years, Malygos had been unable to face her death, so the expedition team's actions touched the sensitive point in Malygos's heart, and he launched a frenzied attack. The heroes struggled to support themselves, so they did not suffer major casualties.

But that battle of Icecrown Citadel still failed in the end—Malygos became an accomplice to the mentally deranged Nozdormu, causing the expedition to be delayed for a moment and unable to kill the Lich King in time.

This was the second time Malygos had seen Aiden. Even if he put aside the hatred of these mortals killing Sindragosa last time, the Blue Dragon King would not have any good feelings towards Aiden—because Aiden was the one Nozdormu saw in the future who would unite with Alexstrasza to kill him!

A dangerously bright light burst out from Malygos's pupils. He stared at Aiden and questioned, "Insignificant mortal, where is Alexstrasza? Don't hide. You will surely fail in this war! No one can defeat me in my territory!"

The Blue Dragon King appeared very conceited, even arrogant, but he had the capital to be conceited. The Eye of Eternity was his kingdom. He controlled all magic. In this place, the power of his magic would be multiplied, and his enemies? Malygos could say without hesitation that even if he didn't resist, mortal spells would almost never be able to kill him!

He could make most of the enemy's magic ineffective here!

Seeing that the other party did not directly attack, Aiden breathed a sigh of relief, but he understood that now was not the time to truly relax. In fact, the real battle had not yet arrived, or rather, if his persuasion was ineffective, this war was likely to completely fail!

Either persuade Malygos, which was the best way; or delay until Alexstrasza and other Dragon Aspects arrived to stop him from activating the Focusing Iris, which was a backup plan.

"Malygos, 'Spellweaver', I did not enter here with the intention of killing you. But please give me a few minutes. If the facts cannot convince you by then, you can decide your own actions, alright?" Aiden said with his most sincere gaze. His hands were empty, he did not summon any weapons at all, and he did not emit the slightest hostility.

"Do you think I will believe your sweet words?" Malygos sneered. "Don't dream, I won't be deceived!