War Academy

Some things, once started, are hard to stop, especially when it comes to missions and responsibilities.

Deathwing was now facing such a situation. He kept pouring in energy, wanting to completely finish the "Cataclysm". This final part should have been easy and simple, but the reality was far from it.

He thought that the energy in the Titan Energy Orb, enough to destroy the world more than a dozen times, would definitely help him complete the Cataclysm, but when the light of the orb dimmed and the energy was almost exhausted, completely summoning the Cataclysm was still just a step away—if he didn't lack sufficient authority to pour out the energy inside in a destructive way, he wouldn't have had to guide the Cataclysm so laboriously, and could have just used the Energy Orb for a big bombing.

Aiden had been paying attention to the "System Interface", which clearly showed the progress of everything.

"Cataclysm Progress: 96%"

"Heart of Valoran Data Export: 74%"

Originally, before accessing the data of the Heart of Valoran, the Cataclysm was ready to be completed. The reason for the progress regression was because this new continent, connected to the system, recognized by the system, but not yet reflected in the data model, was added to it.

If Deathwing wanted to make the progress return to 100%, he needed to summon Valoran to this world first.

If that could be achieved, then the scene that Nozdormu had once foreseen, where Aiden used Deathwing's power to summon a strange continent, would become reality.

But with both data points not yet reaching 100%, Deathwing was almost out of energy.

The Titan Energy Orb embedded in his chest was dim, and the protective shield around him had become fragile. At least Turalyon was confident that such a defensive barrier could no longer stop it.

"Should we attack? This seems like a good opportunity to eliminate Deathwing!" Malygos, seeing the weakening and unwilling Deathwing, immediately sought Aiden's opinion.

"Please wait a moment. Don't worry, we will eliminate him. But before that, I'm afraid I have to borrow something." Aiden looked at Malygos. "That charged Focusing Iris!"

"You wouldn't be—" Malygos couldn't help but exclaim.

"It's not what you think, don't worry." Aiden smiled.

Anyone with eyes could see that Deathwing was very weak now, and the barrier between them and Deathwing was disappearing. Malygos thought that Aiden wanted the charged Focusing Iris to provide energy to Deathwing so that he could complete the spell. Even Nozdormu, who had foreseen this scene, thought so.

But why would Aiden rely on others for something he could do himself?

He walked into the barrier with the Focusing Iris in a swaggering manner. At this time, Deathwing was at a critical juncture. He was panting, looking very tired. Seeing Aiden come in, he immediately became like a cat whose tail had been trod on, vigilant and fierce.

"You can't stop me!" Deathwing roared.

More than a dozen huge tentacles suddenly grew out of the cracked wounds on his body. These fiery red tentacles were almost as thick as Deathwing's legs, so that the Destroyer looked like an incredibly twisted and deformed "Tentacle Dragon."

These tentacles crushed towards Aiden from all directions. He spread his wings of Holy Light, dodging and counterattacking:

"I'm afraid even if I did nothing, you wouldn't succeed. I told you, you won't succeed." His body burst into golden flames, and the charged Focusing Iris emitted beams of disintegration, peeling off these tentacles from Deathwing's body one by one.

Burning blood gushed from the Destroyer's wounds. After the blood landed, it squirmed and turned into disgusting slime monsters and deformed amalgamations, which surrounded Aiden from the ground.

Deathwing spewed out angry dragon breath. If he could, he would have raised his front claws and torn Aiden into pieces—but he couldn't, because he felt that he was almost about to complete the Cataclysm—indeed, the progress had now become 97%, and completing this spell seemed within reach.

Aiden flew out against the dragon breath. This dragon breath was useless to him—because Deathwing was too tired. Usually, when this Destroyer breathed fire with all his might, even fine steel would be melted into molten iron in the blink of an eye, but now the intensity was probably not even enough to melt aluminum.

Aiden, enduring the flames, struck several disintegration rays at Deathwing's chest, where the Titan Energy Orb was embedded.

Then, a special metallic sound rang out in Deathwing's chest, like the crisp sound of steel bars being cut off. Then, he lost his sense of the Titan Energy Orb. All the energy burden of guiding the Cataclysm was transferred to himself, so that he had the feeling that he would be "sucked dry" immediately.

The last three percent suddenly became like an insurmountable chasm, within sight but beyond reach.

'Titan Energy Orb!'

Deathwing exclaimed.

He lowered his head and saw that the Elementium Plate had been corroded by the disintegration rays, leaving a hole, and the Titan Energy Orb had fallen out of that hole. Aiden stood leisurely below, reaching out to catch it.

"No, you can't!" Deathwing roared.

Just as he wanted to salvage everything, Aiden gently squeezed the white-gold orb, and then the flickering golden light curtain completely disappeared. Deathwing was like having his last fig leaf removed, and was immediately enraged.

Ignoring everything, he raised his front claws and swiped at Aiden. This attack still retained eighty percent of his peak power, enough to pose a massive threat to any life on this planet.

Even though he knew that doing so would likely interrupt the guidance of the "Cataclysm," how could he possibly complete it now? Even if he squeezed himself dry, he couldn't complete the final 3% of progress. Only by killing Aiden with all his might and reclaiming the Orb of Power might there be a sliver of possibility to complete the "Cataclysm."

However, this claw strike didn't achieve anything. Aiden calmly changed direction in the slowed-down flow of time, flying out through the gaps in Deathwing's claws.

"Attack!"

He issued the command in the sky.

The long-awaiting heroes finally charged down.

Deathwing finally couldn't endure it any longer. He spread his wings and pounced towards Aiden, who was retreating.

As for the Cataclysm?

The "Destroyer" had to admit that unless he killed Aiden before those guys outside stopped him, he probably would never have the chance to complete it.

Now, his heart was filled with only brutality and madness, single-mindedly wanting to kill this guy who had ruined his perfect plan.

Aiden retreated slightly, and just as Deathwing was about to slam his claws down, a mouthful of ice-blue breath sprayed over, freezing his front claws.

"Deathwing, it's time for us to settle our old and new scores!" Malygos roared. He arrived a few seconds faster than Deathwing had expected, because he had been waiting for this moment!

Ten thousand years of hatred would finally be settled today. The Aspect of Magic couldn't wait to end this Destroyer who had betrayed the oath of the Aspects, made a grave mistake, and caused harm to all his brothers and sisters, as well as his offspring.

The four Dragon Aspects stood between Deathwing and Aiden. Deathwing finally broke through the Dragon Aspects' blockade at the cost of injury, but was met head-on by a mouthful of extremely hot dragon breath. This dragon breath didn't have much of an impact on him, but it made the tentacles at his wounds extremely painful, almost instantly burning them to a crisp.

This familiar taste instantly reminded him that this was the special divine power of the black Dragon Aspect.

"Onyxia, my 'good' daughter!" Deathwing saw the culprit through the already thin curtain of fire.

It was his daughter whom he had never valued—how could he value her?

Onyxia was naive and weak, and she hadn't inherited the excellent genes from her parents in terms of biological research. Even as a political spy, she hadn't achieved anything, and instead, she had been won over by the enemy.

He favored offspring like Nefarian, who had strong research abilities and were extremely loyal to him.

He just never expected that his daughter, whom he had never valued, would give him a big surprise.

After Onyxia absorbed the power of the Earthwarder that he had poured into the Dragon Soul, she actually had the capital to hurt his body!

Deathwing, suddenly feeling betrayed and abandoned, was like a wounded beast. His eyes stared intently at Onyxia, and then he pounced towards her.

Anyone who wanted to stop him, as long as they were enemies, no matter what their previous identity was, he would never tolerate them!

"Father!" Onyxia's eyes flickered. She did indeed have many shortcomings, as Deathwing thought, but she also had a great advantage—she knew how to assess the situation and had a good understanding of her own limitations.

Of course, she knew that even if her strength was increased many times, she was no match for her father, so after breathing fire, she immediately pulled up, narrowly avoiding her father's attack.

"That was close, that was close!" Onyxia was still in shock in the sky.

But Deathwing was not so lucky. As soon as he missed his attack, he ran head-on into a beast.

This was no ordinary beast, but a giant turtle that was not much smaller than him—the Turtle God, Tortolla!

Deathwing slammed his head into the opponent's hard turtle shell, and was knocked dizzy. Then, Tortolla stretched his head out of his shell, bit him hard, and shouted triumphantly, "I've stopped you, traitor!"

This turtle could always easily pull aggro—perhaps because it was naturally the best tank—Deathwing immediately put aside the matter of chasing Aiden and fought with the giant turtle. The Dragon Aspects and other heroes surrounded him, and Deathwing was instantly submerged in a sea of people.

After such a long delay, he already understood that he would never be able to catch Aiden, let alone the fact that the other party would not be so foolish as to wait for him to catch him. He also understood that in his current state, he might not be able to defeat Aiden, who was equipped with many "top-quality artifacts."

Even if their strength was comparable, Deathwing's equipment had all been destroyed, but the other party still held the Scepter of Sargeras and the Gem, the Focusing Iris that was being charged, and a Titan Orb of Power that was not very useful, but could still provide some protection.

Not to mention the Staff of Time and the Silver Judgment.

In contrast, Deathwing had nothing left but more unwillingness.

He had failed, because Aiden had tampered with his "Cataclysm"—the most ridiculous thing was that he didn't even know where the other party had tampered with it. What exactly happened in that instant when time was stopped?

He wanted to die with a clear understanding!

Deathwing quickly understood what was happening—he sensed that the "Cataclysm" spell, which should have stopped because he had ceased injecting energy, was still continuing.

He had always believed that this spell, capable of tearing the world apart, was only mastered by him alone, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.

At least, Aiden also knew it.

A crazy and unrealistic guess arose in the "Destroyer's" heart—could Aiden be the real Destroyer? Would this human continue his unfinished mission?

The more Deathwing thought about it, the more possible it seemed.

Everyone had shifted their attention and attacks to him, and no one would believe that Aiden would destroy the world, because he had always appeared as a "Savior."

The insane Deathwing would no longer consider logic or reason; he was convinced that Aiden was another "pawn" of N'Zoth.

"Hahahahaha..." Deathwing was covered in blood, his body even more fragmented. He was besieged by countless enemies and already in a terrible state, but he still felt like a "victor."

Although he was not the victor, at least he stood on the side of the victor.

"I will witness your destruction, you ignorant reptiles! The Twilight Judgment is about to descend!"

The dragon breath spewed out by Deathwing was mixed with his burning blood. His body was twisted into strange shapes by the parasites that constantly grew and expanded within him—except for his head, which was held in place by the elementium armor, his body and limbs were constantly bulging with tumor-like protrusions. Once these tumors were attacked, scorching tentacles would emerge from them, and even his wings began to ossify.

The four Dragon Aspects personally witnessed this scene, watching their former brother completely transform into a monster—a monster even more hideous and terrifying than the "Father of Dragons," Galakrond, from tens of thousands of years ago!

"Purify him, with our divine power!" Alexstrasza almost couldn't bear to look at the black dragon.

She sensed the aura of death she hated most spreading within Deathwing's body. If there was even a sliver of possibility to save this black dragon, perhaps she would put in ten thousand times the effort, but she couldn't see even a trace of possibility.

Deathwing had completely fallen.

The Queen of the Red Dragons launched the signal for a general attack, and Deathwing was immediately submerged by even more powerful attacks.

However, his mad laughter still echoed from the intersection of various powerful attacks and spells, even as he quickly lost his wings, and his abdomen was cut open, exposing a mixture of scorching lava and parasitic viscera to the air.

This insane black dragon was about to be terminated, but it was also at this moment that Deathwing sensed that the "Cataclysm" had once again completed its channeling.

The channeler, of course, was Aiden, who was regarded as a savior by these ignorant heroes—no one knew that he was the real "Destroyer!"

"Well done, Aiden! Hehehe, show them your 'results,' let them see the true... despair!" Deathwing's voice was slurred, but his mad sneer still made the surrounding heroes shudder involuntarily.

People couldn't help but turn their eyes to the legendary hero who was far away from the battle and standing aside. At this time, he was retracting the blue magical artifact "Focusing Iris" in his hand.

Anyone with a normal IQ could understand Deathwing's subtext.

No one wanted to suspect Aiden, because he had no reason to do so. If he really wanted to destroy the world, he only needed to truly indulge Deathwing before, and he didn't need to do anything else. This crazy black dragon would naturally destroy the world.

He had no reason to defeat Deathwing and then destroy the world himself.

Through the gaps in the crowd, Aiden saw Deathwing lying on the ground, unable to get up. His head was on the ground, and the red eyes that were exposed were revealing incomparable anticipation and madness.

"Do it, do it, show them the real 'Cataclysm'!" Deathwing urged, panting heavily.

"I do want to show my results." Aiden paused and continued, "If you can hold on for a little longer, you will see that the Cataclysm can not only destroy the world, but also create miracles—"

Except for Nozdormu, almost no one knew the true meaning of this sentence, and even Deathwing was a little confused.

Now, this failed Destroyer's head was in chaos. Countless voices were intertwined in his mind, some belonging to himself, some to the former Neltharion, and some to the Old Gods.

He couldn't distinguish what these voices were saying, but he calmed down.

Aiden turned his attention back to the operation interface in front of him: "Heart of Valoran data export 100%." The next-level menu showed two options, one was "Import current system" and the other was "Undo operation."

Aiden took a deep breath and chose the former at this historic moment—Import current system.

At the moment he confirmed the operation, the entire Azeroth suddenly shook, and the heroes near the Maelstrom could clearly feel something breaking out of the ground beneath their feet.

No one knew what it was, a giant sea monster or a complete Old God? Was it an underwater volcanic eruption or some special energy tide?

No one knew.

Suddenly someone exclaimed: "Look, the Maelstrom!"

The Maelstrom, the gigantic vortex in the sea formed by the explosion of the Well of Eternity, was undergoing some incredible changes. Previously, Deathwing's Cataclysm had caused magical tides to spread outwards from the Maelstrom, resulting in tsunamis hundreds of meters high radiating from its center across the Great Sea. But now, huge bubbles were rising from the center of the Maelstrom!

This was simply impossible. Anything that fell into the Maelstrom never resurfaced, not even bubbles. For ten thousand years, no one had ever heard of anything coming out of the Maelstrom.

But now it was happening.

Alexstrasza couldn't help but ask Nozdormu beside her, "What exactly is down there? Can you reveal it now?"

"A surprise. I believe you wouldn't like spoilers," Nozdormu said, unusually playful.

Before long, people noticed an even greater change: the flow of the Maelstrom slowed down, and the seemingly bottomless vortex was quickly being filled in. If nothing unexpected happened, this spectacle would likely disappear.

But this was a good thing. None of the fleets traveling between the continents liked the Maelstrom. Usually it was fine, but if they were unlucky enough to encounter a large storm and were blown off course, accidentally sailing near the vortex, it would be a tragedy of ship destruction and death, and such tragedies had happened more than once or twice.

As they had hoped, the Maelstrom completely calmed down soon after. The "Maelstrom" itself officially became a historical term, existing only in people's memories from now on.

"Is this the surprise?" Alexstrasza glanced at the Dragon of Time. She wasn't very interested in such a "surprise."

"Don't be impatient, this is just an appetizer."

As they spoke, the water near the Maelstrom suddenly rose, as if a bulge had formed on the sea's surface, as if something was about to break out from beneath. This was even more shocking than the disappearance of the Maelstrom, so much so that people cried out in alarm.

"Don't panic, everything is normal!" Aiden reassured everyone loudly.

"Your Excellency, what exactly is it, under the sea?"

"Yes, we can't help but panic."

Aiden said, "It's a new world, a new era."

"Could it be—" Some of Valoran's heroes suddenly understood, their faces filled with joy, and they conveyed this emotion to everyone around them.

"Kayle, is it, tell me, is it true?" Someone couldn't get an answer from Aiden and turned to Kayle.

If the upcoming event didn't need to be kept secret, Kayle would basically be in the know.

Kayle nodded in response to the expectant gazes of the surrounding heroes. Although she didn't speak, it was enough for them to confirm.

In an instant, cheers erupted on the islands and reefs near the Maelstrom. People ran around spreading the news, and soon everyone knew that the homeland of the Valoran Federation's people and heroes—the continent of Valoran—was about to appear in this world!

Without a doubt, the location of its appearance was under their feet, in the center of the Great Sea!

This was definitely the most incredible miracle. Throughout history, no one except the Creator Titans had ever been able to do such a thing—even the Titans only reshaped worlds, rather than summoning another world from countless dimensions away out of thin air.

This was simply sensational!

Now, these heroes who participated in the battle to end Deathwing were about to witness this scene with their own eyes.

The fragmented words around him were enough for Deathwing to understand everything. Now he was on his last breath, and the power from the Old Gods was rapidly receding, so much so that his will was much clearer.

He glanced through the celebrating crowd and saw Aiden, who was still standing where he had once guided the Cataclysm. The other party was also looking at him.

He saw Aiden mouth a string of words. Although he couldn't read lips, he understood what Aiden meant to say:

"Thank you for the 'Cataclysm' you initiated!"

Deathwing still refused to believe at this moment that this purely destructive spell could summon another continent to this world.

Although he was not proficient in summoning spells, he also knew that even those forces that roamed the Twisting Nether—most typically the Burning Legion—could not directly summon a continent.

Summoning powerful spells, summoning tens of thousands of demons, summoning meteor showers, summoning spaceships and fortresses… all of these were nothing compared to summoning a continent.

Could Aiden really succeed?

As he was dying, he saw the rising sea level gradually replaced by a layer of translucent projection.

He was very familiar with this scene. During the War of the Nightmare less than two years ago, when the Nightmare Lord Xavius forcibly merged reality and dreams, such a scene also occurred.

He saw that the projection was a vast complex of buildings constructed of obsidian, a style of architecture that had never appeared in Azeroth. These magnificent buildings had long staircases, covered with various crystals full of magical energy, which immediately reminded him of his own Earth Shrine—Deepholm was also a place with many magic crystals.

This was an imposing and solemn building.

He heard more than a dozen voices of surprise calling out its name—

"Look, it's the War Academy!"

"This is the War Academy?" Rhonin in the crowd had a glint in his eyes.