Arthas slowed down his invincible speed and walked up the rotating ice ladder along the edge of the Frozen Throne Tower. Amid the vortex of souls and the endless cold wind, he heard faint singing.
To be precise, it was an elegy.
An elegy for a fallen prince and a lost kingdom.
Amidst the dirges, violent winds and blizzards roared on the glaciers, and the sun's rays became pale under the filter of gloomy clouds.
The light reflected dazzling flashes on the glaciers and snow, and everything seemed to become illusory. In Alsace's eyes, the outline of a human figure gradually became clear from blur.
The two walked forward one after another on the passage leading to the top of the Frozen Throne. The figure's height and shape were almost exactly the same as Arthas.
As Alsace followed the man, he could even clearly see the snowflakes clinging to his boots and the footprints left by his boots on the snow.
But when Alsace actually walked to the place where the other party passed, the snow returned to its original state, indicating that there was no one else but him in this place of death.
The man in front was wearing black plate armor engraved with skull patterns, and his broken blue-gold cloak had been stained black with dried blood.
At Alsace's signal, Invincible entered a shadow mist with a roar and disappeared into the material world. The prince landed on the snow and followed the figure upwards.
Slowly, the figure stopped, looked up at the top of the Frozen Throne again, and slowed down a bit, but this seemingly hesitant move only lasted a few seconds.
The weapon in his hand was the magic sword held by Arthas: Frostmourne.
Arthas looked at the back of the figure who was about to reach the top of the Frozen Throne. He increased his speed and was already only a few meters behind the figure.
Just when he was about to catch up with the figure, the other figure suddenly stopped and turned back to look at Alsace.
Pale complexion, messy stubble, dry and lifeless gray hair, and... that appearance was exactly the same as Alsace.
"Alsace" showed quite complicated emotions in his eyes. Is that regret? Still excited? Or is it the exhaustion after endless killing and madness?
"Alsace" and Alsace's eyes met, but his eyes seemed not to see Alsace, but through the prince, falling on the endless road behind him.
The way he came was nowhere to be found, and all he could see was deep darkness.
"I am coming."
A familiar and hoarse voice sounded in Alsace's ears, but the voice did not sound like it was coming from someone else's mouth. Instead, it sounded like Alsace talking to himself.
After those words, everything in "Alsace", even the wind and snow around him, froze.
Alsace sighed, then slowly walked forward, raising his hand and waving towards "Alsace" who looked like his black and white reflection.
His figure was like ripples on the calm water surface. After the ripples, the shadow was like fine sand blown away by the wind, passing through Alsace's fingers and dissipating in the wind and snow.
——This is not a trick of the Lich King, but a real illusion seen by creatures in this place where reality and death meet.
Arthas watched as his other self accepted the fate of his fall, and finally chose to ascend the Frozen Throne and become one with the Lich King.
Even though he was no longer that "Alsace", when he watched his illusion take this step, he still felt mixed emotions in his heart.
Destiny is the most unpredictable script. Even the bronze dragon as an audience will eventually become a character in the play. No one has ever untied this big web.
When the illusion of "Alsace" dissipated with the wind, Alsace took a deep breath and looked up at the huge ice crystal on the top of the Frozen Throne.
It was the shadow ice from the Twisting Nether, and within it was a sinful soul sealed, which was also the cause of the orcs being seduced by the Burning Legion - Ner'zhul.
The former chief of the Shadowmoon Clan and the elder shaman of the orcs was inextricably linked to the depravity of the orcs, and he was also responsible for the destruction of Draenor, the orcs' hometown.
Before Draenor was on the verge of collapse, the old shaman obtained an artifact called the [Scepter of Sargeras]. The biggest function of this staff is to tear apart the space between the twisted void and the material universe, and open a semi-permanent portal. .
Draenor had been corrupted by evil energy and could not be saved. Ner'zhul tried to open a portal across the stars to find a new world for the orcs to invade or live in.
However, his plan ultimately failed, and it is possible that the Scepter of Sargeras falling into his hands was a trap.
Ner'zhul did not consider Draenor's endurance. The world that was about to collapse could not bear the large number of astral portals. Those large portals similar to the [Dark Portal] eventually caused a huge explosion. .
The entire planet Draenor was torn apart in this explosion, leaving only a few broken continents floating in the endless void.
Ner'zhul was also discovered by Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, the leader of the Burning Legion because of this explosion. The leader of the Burning Legion was very angry because of the failure of the orcs to invade Azeroth.
He tore Ner'zhul's body apart with magic that was incomprehensible to mortals, and preserved his soul and gave it to Nathrezim. Endless torture awaited Ner'zhul.
Ner'zhul, who was worse than dead, begged the Demon King to give him a chance to redeem himself, so Kil'jaeden killed Ner'zhul cleanly and resurrected him in another ghost form.
"The Deceiver" sealed Ner'zhul's soul in a huge shadow ice crystal, cast it into an eternal prison, and threw him into Azeroth, allowing him to build an army of death and fight from within. Disintegration of Azeroth.
The five nathrezim came to Azeroth together as Ner'zhul's "jailers", not only to supervise Ner'zhul, but also to prepare for the Burning Legion's invasion again.
As a result, Ner'zhul called himself the "Lich King" and began to build an undead army with the help of the Dread Lord. He named it "Scavenger Legion", which means: natural disaster for all living things.
But Ner'zhul didn't really want to be a lackey of the Burning Legion. He was just forced to do so by Kil'jaeden's power.
The second-fifth son will always be the second-fifth son. After Ner'zhul gained enough strength, he began to plan to eliminate the legion's informants in the undead disaster.
The Dreadlords were also busy completing the tasks assigned by Kil'jaeden, and Ner'zhul's previous groveling performance made them completely let down their guard.
Now, Ner'zhul has learned to merge the consciousness and souls of the undead to strengthen himself. He can now spread his consciousness to almost every corner of Azeroth through the power of the shadow ice of the Frozen Throne.
This is why Kel'Thuzad, who is far away in the Eastern Kingdom, can hear the Lich King's call.
When Arthas stood in front of the Lich King Ner'zhul, he also felt a strong sense of oppression from the Lich King.
Ner'zhul's body had long been obliterated, and his soul was imprisoned in the ice. Also frozen with him was a pair of pitch-black armor.
No, it shouldn't be said to be pitch black, but that armor seemed to absorb all light and thoughts. Ordinary people would feel like their souls were being torn apart just by staring at it for a while.
"Do you think that with Frostmourne, you dare to face the power of the Lich King?!"
The whisper of Ner'zhul's soul echoed in Arthas's ears. This voice contained magic full of hatred and resentment, trying to influence Arthas's mind.
However, Arthas had long known that he would face the Lich King one day, and he had polished his mind to be as indestructible as the essence.
The Lich King's whisper was like a strong wind whistling through the mountain peaks, but it could not shake the mountain peaks in the slightest.
"Your mind is indeed strong, but can you face the darkness in your heart?"
The scene of the Frozen Throne suddenly disappeared, and Arthas was placed in a chaotic battlefield.
That was the scene where Alsace's relatives and close friends were slaughtered and desecrated by the Scourge. They fought bravely, but in the end they fell into the sea of the undead.
The butcher holding Frostmourne is Arthas himself.
"You... have failed the Holy Light..."
Uther was covered in blood and fell to the ground. The holy light failed to protect the great knight. After he fell, he turned into an agent of darkness and climbed up. The warhammer in his hand faced Yuri's comrades.
Jaina's soul was extracted from her corpse by the lich, and transformed into a mad banshee through rituals full of pain and torture.
The heads of Muradin and Brian were chopped off by the death knights of the Scourge and inserted into spears; the king of Stormwind City was hit in the heart by dark magic while defending his son and queen, and fell forever, while Tiffin The queen and Prince Anduin were also mercilessly killed by the Scourge.
The body of Ranger General Sylvanas was hung high on the outer wall of the floating castle "Naxramas". When Arthas looked over, he found that there were countless other corpses of Alliance heroes displayed as trophies. There.
In front of Arthas, it was King Tenaris, his biological father, who had been stabbed in the chest by him.
The hellish scene was enough to break the heart of any heroic soldier, but Alsace stood in the middle of the battlefield. Even though Frostmourne was still dripping with his father's blood, Alsace still did not show the slightest fear or collapse.
"Nice display, it looks like you prepared it carefully."
Arthas' face was expressionless. If just such an illusion could make him succumb to the darkness in his heart, how could it be worthy of his other identity?
"If I were just a Paladin, seeing everything I love desecrated like this, I would probably fall into uncontrollable guilt."
"But, Ner'zhul, what I have experienced and imagined is far darker than this!"
Arthas' tone was ordinary, but Ner'zhul, who was observing in the dark, sensed something fishy.
Frostmourne in the prince's hand began to emit blue light, and the eye-catching soul's brilliance flowed like a firefly, and the corner of the illusion began to gradually collapse.
Instead, there was another scene.
Half of the endless void was filled with emerald green evil flames, and the other half was filled with purple-black boundless abyss. The Lich King could not help but use his mind to explore the unfamiliar space.
…
"boom!"
The illusion maintained by the Lich King suddenly shattered. Arthas reached out to catch a broken illusion prism and watched it completely dissipate in his hands.
"Your curiosity is still so serious." Arthas put away Frostmourne, took the war hammer from his back, and walked towards the shadow ice crystal step by step.
With every step he took, the sense of oppression brought by the Lich King became stronger, but these could not stop Alsace's pace at all, and because of the snooping just now, the Lich King's own mind was traumatized.
Because he looked directly at an existence that he shouldn't look directly at, the madness and destructive will just now almost broke through his defenses.
Despite being injured, Ner'zhul's power is still beyond the mortal level. On the Frozen Throne, ordinary demigods will be crushed by him at the soul level.
But he happened to meet Alsace, a heterogeneous "Paladin". Compared with other paladins who were too hard and bright because of their belief in the Holy Light, Alsace's bright appearance was a veritable dark heart.
Where the holy light cannot shine, there will be dense shadows.
As a combination of Holy Light and Death, Arthas manipulated death and played with souls earlier than Ner'zhul. Ner'zhul's control of his weaknesses was simply wrong.
Not to mention the knowledge of darkness - Arthas knew much more about the darkness of the entire world than Ner'zhul.
He even understood Ner'zhul's weaknesses, one of which was his curiosity.
If they hadn't had a strong curiosity about the void and often used the shaman's soul ability to roam the star realm, the orcs wouldn't have been targeted by the Burning Legion so quickly.
Arthas used his high level of power to reversely invade Ner'zhul's vision and show him something of his origin.
Of course, the Lich King couldn't help but spread his soul energy to find out the truth. Naturally, Arthas turned his army around.
"Don't be too happy...Human, sooner or later you will belong to me!"
Ner'zhul's voice contained anger and resentment. He was tortured to death, and was resurrected as a ghost imprisoned in armor and ice. His world was destroyed, and Ner'zhul's hatred was the source of his power.
As the Lich King whispered, a huge arm composed of ice and shadow stretched out from the glacier, followed by the other side.
Although his body is firmly imprisoned and cannot move, this does not mean that the Lich King cannot influence matter with the power of his soul. The Frozen Throne located in the gap between the worlds is the source of his power.
"I am the only master here!"
Arthas' eyes were cold, and he held the Holy Light's Revenge tightly in his hands. Against this kind of puppet extended by the power of the Lich King, Frostmourne, which had not yet absorbed a large number of souls, could play a very small role.
The few battles just now have squandered the collected souls. As for Mal'Ganis' soul, Arthas still wants to use it for other purposes. He has no intention of wasting it on Ner'zhul.
So he decided to use the Holy Light to send this lonely ghost on its last journey.
