WARCRAFT IV -- CHAPTER 1 - Rise of the Flames (Demon Campaign)

A Permanent Death to the Dead

Meanwhile, back within the dungeon fortress over the Shadowmoon ruins in the eastern region of Outland, the death knight Teron Gorefiend prepares himself for his upcoming second confrontation with Illidan and his forces. Patiently waiting inside the deepest innermost chamber of the dungeon, Teron is eager to face and kill Illidan all by himself. Sensing that Illidan and his forces have already infiltrated the dungeons, it won't be long before they reach Teron within the deepest chamber and attempt to save the imprisoned Akama. Illidan and his naga have been fighting through the demons in the dungeons and freeing the draenei prisoners. Shortly after, Illidan and his naga finally reached the innermost chamber. Illidan enters the room alone, and quickly notices Akama locked up within a magically sealed cage. Teron comes out from the shadows and directly reveals himself to Illidan. At long last, the moment that the death knight had been waiting for within the dungeons has come.

Teron: "You made it here at last, Illidan. So predictable of you, we all expected you would come."

Illidan: "Gorefiend! Just as I suspected. I knew it was you in here all along with your foul unholy presence! Your reeking stench of death! A vile creature like you has no place amongst any world!"

Teron: "Tell me something. The scar upon your chest, how does it feel? The cold embrace of death slowly taking away your life-force, and slowly consuming you within. Do not worry, Illidan, for I shall quicken up the curse of death in you. I shall finish what the champion of Ner'zhul had started. As you know, we share the same dark powers of death, and also, here in my hand is the scepter of Sargeras himself, given to me by Lord Kil'jaeden. This staff is what cause this world's destruction. If you could not beat a mere human boy, what chance do you have against me with this artifact?"

Illidan: "You are nothing more, but a pathetic restless orc ghost on a dead human flesh! I may have regrettably failed against Arthas, but you will have to suffice. You may have that staff, but I possess the powers of your creator, Gul'dan. It is fitting that I should end your damned existence with it!"

At that moment; the one-on-one battle between Illidan Stormrage and Teron Gorefiend officially begins with Illidan quickly and aggressively charging against Gorefiend. Teron isn't a physically strong and agile fighter like Illidan, and unlike the death knights of the Lich King, Gorefiend and the other death knights that were created by Gul'dan lack skills for a physical combat. However, the death knights of Gul'dan were created with greater dark magical abilities, as Teron himself is not only the first, but also the most powerful one as well. In addition to his considerably dreaded powers; Teron had been further empowered by the demonlord Kil'Jaeden, when he and the other few surviving death knights of Gul'dan renewed their pledge of allegiance to the Burning Legion after the destruction of Draenor. Teron Gorefiend now officially stands as one of the remarkably powerful agents of the Legion, and direct servant of Kil'jaeden that had been sent to end Illidan.

With Illidan's fierce attempt of slaying him off quickly; Teron immediately blasts a full powered Death Coil, which instantly harms the demon hunter. The death knight then casts his necromantic spell of raising the dead bodies of the fallen draenei warriors around the chamber into his undead skeleton minions. Empowering the skeleton warriors with his Unholy Haste spells; Teron directs his undead warriors to attack the demon hunter. Illidan battles all the skeleton minions of Teron, and defeats them with the help of his Immolation spell, which engulfs his body in flames burning all near enemies to him. Illidan is also able to evade some of the attacks upon him with his agility and elusiveness. Illidan quickly runs towards Teron and casts his Mana Burn spell upon the death knight, which sends a shadow bolt that consumes away some of Gorefiend's magical energies, as well as inflicting some damage upon the death knight. Upon directly receiving a significant harm from Illidan's spell and combat attacks; Gorefiend casts another necromantic spell upon himself known as the Unholy Armor, which is an unearthly, phantasmal armor that absorbs damage from attacks for a time being. With his spectral armor; Teron thinks onto himself that he is invincible.

Illidan: "Let me ask you, Teron! Does a filthy living corpse like yourself, ever experience fear?!"

Illidan uses his ultimate spell of Metamorphosis, and transforms himself into a powerful demon. Magically mutating into a dark fiery monstrous demon imbued with such terrible chaotic powers; Teron Gorefiend instantly felt astounded yet horrified upon directly seeing the powers of Illidan. Inside the magically locked prison; Akama is amazed upon barely witnessing the battle between Illidan and Teron. With the powerful chaotic attacks of the demonic mutation of Illidan; the dark spectral invincibility armor of Gorefiend easily breaks, as he then receives such seriously painful damage from the heavy devastating attacks of the demon hunter. Going on against a demonically empowered enemy; Teron Gorefiend desperately casts another Death Coil spell on Illidan, which was futile as it did little harm on the demon hunter. Illidan sends another bolt of Mana Burn upon Teron that burnt out the last of the energies of the death knight and inflicted a great harm on him.

Teron: "No! But, my powers... The scepter has failed... How?!"

Illidan: "Die, fool!"

Teron Gorefiend has been severely harmed and weakened in his fight with Illidan. An inevitable defeat is upon Teron, as Illidan has the overall upper hand in their battle. The nearly dying death knight now stands merely defenseless against the fiercely mighty demon hunter. Illidan viciously strikes down Teron Gorefiend with his warblades as a last killing blow upon the death knight. The dark unholy essence and powers of Gorefiend have completely dissipated as he is now vanquished.

The once cunning, fearsome, and powerful Teron Gorefiend is now gone. Having existed as an orc warlock of the Shadow Council in life, and then resurrected by Gul'dan as the first death knight to the old Horde, Teron Gorefiend has been permanently slain by the demon hunter Illidan Stormrage. Using a magical fire spell, Illidan burns out all the remains of the undead human knight corpse that the ghost of Gorefiend had inhabited all this time. Illidan also takes the Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras given to Teron by Kil'jaeden, and completely destroys it into pieces. Kil'jaeden has lost one of his majorly powerful agents. The death of Teron Gorefiend and the destruction of the Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras is a huge loss for the forces of the Legion. Sensing the defeat of Gorefiend by the hands of Illidan, Mephistroth and Kazzak discuss about their current situation and what they could expect next from their enemies while making the preparations needed to the gateway in Hellfire Peninsula.

Mephistroth: "It seemed that Illidan is stronger than I thought. Despite all what is happening in his body from the curse of the dark runeblade, he still possesses much strength and powers within him. Quite remarkable that even with the staff of the great lord, Gorefiend still could not defeat Illidan. At this time, Illidan and his lackeys already know about our planned invasion of Zangarmarsh, and they will try to catch on and cease our forces, but it matters not now, Kazzak. Our plans are already in motion. We still have the advantage in this war. Azgoth and Kargath will take care of everything. By the time that Illidan and his forces reached the swamplands, it will be already too late for them."

Kazzak: "Our enemies will try their best to stop us nonetheless. One of these days, Illidan will lead his army here in this region and attack our stronghold. By then, I shall be waiting for his arrival. It is time that someone else should face Illidan, someone whom he has never fought before, someone who can actually stand against him and that someone is me! I will face him when he comes in here and I shall claim the honor of taking him down! Unlike Gorefiend, I'll make sure that I don't lose!"

Mephistroth: "We shall see by then. For now, we have to focus in getting all things prepared here. It is just a matter of time now before Azgoth and Kargath conquer Zangarmarsh. Once they claim the fountain shrine of the naga, everything will go on smoothly. By then, our victory will be assured and we will no longer have any problems with Illidan and his forces. The Legion shall retake these lands. As you know, reclaiming Outland is a very important key for our upcoming bigger plans."

Kazzak: "Yes. Lord Kil'jaeden expects us to win this war against Illidan, and we will not fail him."