Akmund stretched out his left hand and grabbed me into the palm of his hand as hard as a mouse.

The pain was so great that I could not bear it, and I could even feel the bones breaking and misalignment.

I'm going to be paralyzed now, but obviously this isn't my final treatment, and I know he's going to crush me to a pulp. But I still insisted on keeping my mouth shut and not saying a word. Yes, if there is anything more I can do for everyone, it is to show perseverance and steadfastness in my beliefs at this time. I stared at Akmund. Although his eyes were already difficult to open in pain, he still stared at him tightly, even if his eyeballs were squeezed out by him.

As long as he uses a little bit of strength, I can be a smash. But he didn't, obviously, he didn't want me to die so easily, he just punished me, maybe.

"Arthas, you've done more than I could have imagined! "At this time, Akmund has regained his original calm, I don't know how he can still talk to me calmly, but the more this happens, the more I have to show a tough side, after all, I have already strengthened my determination to fight Akmund to the end.

"Akmund, you can destroy our world, but you can't get our hearts. What you got after you killed us was also a void achievement, and you're here you lose everything, your Burning Legion, your slaves from another world, and the troops loyal to you, and you have nothing at all now..."

I wanted to keep scolding, but Akmund didn't want me to continue, so he slammed it hard and accompanied by destructive magic, a sharp pain, swept through his brain again, and then immediately after his head and below, he didn't feel it anymore, yes, that's fine, otherwise he would definitely die of the constant stimulation of the severe pain. But it didn't last long, and soon my consciousness became blurry.

I knew I was talking about his sore spots, but the price was that I was going to die, but the moment I lost consciousness, my will seemed to regain consciousness, and then the sharp pain stung me again.

The repeated pains made me realize the reality that my body could no longer support my life, and that Akmund had come back to life, leaving me in endless pain.

"Stupid and arrogant human! I'll tell you now what happens when a mortal offends God."

"Akmund!" I struggled to spat out a few words, but that's all I could say. I was tempted to put my last resistance or scold him, but for now, I couldn't seem to do it. Because the pain alone has made me unable to speak, and when my consciousness is blurred again and again, I don't have the strength to say what I want to say.

But even so, Akmund still didn't let go of me, still holding it in the palm of his hand and walking towards the tall World Tree. Yes, the World Tree, the last hope that Malfurion said, I don't know what kind of hope he said, but to be honest, I don't give hope at all, and now after several reincarnations, I just want to come to a liberation, or rather, find a place to be completely buried alone.

"Can't you give me a finish?" Perhaps after a few deaths, he became less sharp, but replied to Akmund with the same calmness, and he was also not so sharp and very calm, even mocking, for my calm grammar.

"I thought you'd be more persistent than Neozu..."Akmund said a name that made me think of something, yes, he was said to have been captured by Kil'Gardan before he became the Lich King, and then experienced the feeling that life was worse than death, maybe that was the means. "I'll give you relief, but I won't be now. Akmund said that he had restored some of my destroyed body, but I still couldn't feel the sensation below my neck, as if I wanted to detach my body and spirit, but that way I wouldn't be confused by the pain.

In this way, I was held in the palm of his hand and headed in the direction of the World Tree.

If we look back now, we seem to be acquaintances like villains and giants walking and chatting. And this also baffles other defensive people. Of course, it's not just us who are inexplicable, they are not resisting either. Similarly, Akmund did not continue to unleash his magic to attack anyone, even from a close distance.

"I hope it won't be too long..."I watched everyone below not move, and I didn't know if it was good or bad, maybe the people below didn't know either, but in this case, at least I avoided unnecessary sacrifices, and I was going to die anyway, and I didn't need to care about these things that were difficult to change, just like the realization of this final outcome. "We really lost. ”

"You've already lost. I had already won when I came to your world, or when you were determined to fight the Burning Legion, so I wouldn't let you die, or I wouldn't have let you live until now. ”

"I don't understand"

Yes, what Akmund said scratches my head. One thing I'm sure of is that it's no surprise that I've survived the Burning Legion so far. And Mavi said something similar: Akmund wasn't necessarily willing to let me die.

"When the time comes, you'll understand. ”

Is there anything else to be bored with? But Akmund obviously didn't want to explain. I didn't dig deeper, though, because I was shocked by what was about to happen.

Akmund continued to move forward, and was already in front of the Night Elf Formation, which was within range of their bows and arrows and other stone weapons, but here I was disappointed to find that there was no Night Elf garrison in the Night Elf position. Yes, Malfurion had said there was a way to defeat Akmund, but for now, everything looks like a lie... All of this is what we are paying, and the Night Elves are not sacrificing at all, and are even using the time we have gained to resist to divert themselves and flee the battlefield.

What other explanation can there be? I felt even more discouraged and angry about it. Akmund saw my mind clearly.

"I think I can answer your first question?"

"What?" I turned to Akmund. Acmund's words brought my mind back to the present, yes, I seemed to have overlooked something, like the question I asked Akmund at the beginning

"You can't get your heart, Arthas, but tell me what it means to get a heart, Gianna, or your father-son relationship, and other friendships?"

"Of course, what else?"

I looked at Akmund's question suspiciously, could it be that he had other knowledge. To this, he shook his head and said:

"That's when you're not even 30 years old now. You haven't gone through the years yet. ”

"How the years have changed?"

"Yes!" said Akmund, casting a spell on me, and soon I was in a strange place, or rather an illusion, but it was very strange. Because there's something high tech here that I've never seen before, it's another world, and here, there's a lot of smart devices and a city full of magic, which reminds me of Dalaran. But not every city in Azeroth is as bright as Dalaran, and in this brilliance there is also the freshness of the soft light.

I saw the inhabitants of this place, creatures similar to Eredar, but smiling and friendly compared to the abominable demons. Young and old, they all lived very comfortably and peacefully. But there was one person in the column, and that was Akmund beside me, who was as calm and expressionless as ever when he saw this scene. Yes, he also walked into the illusion of this place and told me about it all.

"This is my hometown of Argus. "Akmund appeared in our illusion right now, the size of me, explaining their past. "We, Ereda, were all mortals living in a world like you, and still living in a peaceful and unified country, and I was even a preeminent paladin when I was younger than you, better than any of your mortal paladins, and was infinitely favored by the Holy Light to live forever in the world. He pointed to a place, like a royal palace, and when we entered, we saw a scene like this, a place that resembled a high court of parliament, where two of the top administrators were presenting some glory to a younger Ereda. It's very similar to the honor of our promotion to the Paladin. But apparently more grand. I could see that the calmness on his calm, unwavering face, in particular, was the same as that of Akmund beside me. And the person who gave the award has obviously seen it too, but I don't dare to confirm it.

"Is that you? and Kilgardan?"

"That's right, my brother Kilgardan, who has given me the same status as him, which is to be in charge of the whole of Eredar together. ”

I looked at Kil'Gardan's excited and excited expression at the ceremony, and I could be sure that his relationship with Akmund was very deep at that time, maybe not only that, if the older brother handed over some big responsibilities to his younger brother, it obviously meant something... This clearly goes beyond brotherly affection.

"It's a pity that no one could have imagined that you would be so parting ways today. ”

I sighed for him, yes, who would have thought they would be what they are today, but for this, Akmund felt that I had nothing to be proud of him.

"At least our friendly relationship lasted hundreds of thousands of years. Our Eredar has a long lifespan, many, much longer than the Night Elves" as he said as the screen changed and changed to something else, Akmund and his brother ruled the world together, and made our Eredar thrive.

There are a lot of records in the footage, and those contents are all about some of their daily lives, which must be the memories of Akmund's heart, those peaceful appearances with Kilgardan and the rest of Ereda. At that time, Akmund's expression was obviously not the same as it is now, although most of the time he also showed a calm appearance, but his actions were more emotional. Especially in a confrontational match revealed in the illusion. Akmund also showed more powerful fighting skills and abilities than Kilgardan. And Kil'Gardan's excitement at seeing him lose to his brother already shows how close they were, and on that occasion, Akmund did show an excited expression.

However, as Akmund realizes that his thinking has gone astray, he immediately deletes the scenes he does not want to recall, and returns to the main topic:

"We have great power and magic, we have great technology and profound culture, and I am the best in all aspects, even the ship I invented can travel between stars. For us to open up wild colonies, of course we believe in peace, and teach some of the indigenous inhabitants of other planets to civilize. ”

"But why are you like this? I asked calmly, yes, now I don't see him as an enemy, but in a friend-like way, and he tries to answer my questions.

"My in-depth study of politics, economics, culture, science and technology, etc., has made me realize the narrowness and short-sightedness of other consciousnesses, and also realize that when opinions differ or even become difficult to reconcile, the harm revealed is very great, and I think that only by concentrating the will on the body of a person with a strong will and strength is the best choice. And it's not just me who knows this, but also Sargeras, who is attracted to our technology. He took note of our world. ”

"So he invaded your world and transformed you into this. ”

"No, he didn't invade us. When he appeared in front of us, we realized that it was impossible to compete with that guy on our own. So we chose to compromise and surrender to him, and in return for our loyalty to him, he also gave us more magic and power to help him conquer the creatures of one world after another as his slaves, and of course the more credit we had, the more power we wielded, until Kilgardan and I, with our respective strength and prestige, completely suppressed the other demon lords to become Sargeras's right-hand men, and Lord Sargeras still showed no wireless trust in us. ”

As the picture progresses, Akmund says, and at this time, the picture returns to the scene of Akmund and Kil'Gardan invading one world after another, here I can feel the difference between him and Kil'Gardan when they invade other worlds, yes, Akmund is very much like an ambitious servant in our world, while Kil-Gardan is more like a torturer. But even with his benevolent side, I thought he deliberately skipped a fact over me:

"I really didn't expect you to be so cowardly, to grovel in the face of a powerful enemy, don't you even have the courage to stand up to Sargeras?"

"You may think so, but the reason why I did not hesitate to surrender to Sargeras was not because I did not have the courage to confront him, but because his thoughts were completely in agreement with mine, and that the world should have yielded to a concentrated will, otherwise the world would be in chaos, and that he had more power and skill than I could match, and he was also keen to inform me, so I concluded that he was the most suitable combination of wills. ”

"But he died, at the hands of us humans. ”

"Yes, his physical body is gone, so the Burning Legion needs someone to replace him, someone who is as powerful as him, if not more powerful than him. ”

"Kil'Gardan thinks the same way, I mean, he thinks exactly the same way as you, so he thinks it's his turn to concentrate his will. ”

"Not entirely, he surrendered only because he was afraid of the might of Sargeras. If he encounters a leader stronger than Sargeras, he will surrender, and although he also wants to be the supreme will, he lacks courage and is not at all fit to lead the entire legion. Akmund was furious when he said this, and it was clear that the struggle for power after Sargeras's death was the trigger for the conflict between him and Kilgardan, perhaps but I also overlooked one detail.

"Then there is another person, the leader other than the two of you, why is he not among your Burning Legion?"

"He is the leader of the Draenei, Veron, who betrayed us as a brother and left this world with some unwilling to submit to Sargeras. Wander far away from the Burning Legion, or rather Kil Gardan—" Akmund said as he turned to Veron, the Draeni leader who had broken with Kil'Gardan. It can be seen that Kilgardan is very disappointed. "Until Kil'Gardan discovered them in the world of Draenor, and then as you realize, the orcs invaded the Draenei and then invaded your world. Akmund said calmly, as if he had no feelings for this Velon, or that he was not touched by Velon's 'betrayal', apparently he just thought that Veren had followed the path of his own faith, which was very different from the angry Kilgardan.

After that, the scene returned to Draenor, where I saw how Kil'Gardan instigated Gul'dan to betray and led the orcs to a rage... But soon this illusion disappeared and returned to reality, and the reality was that Akmund had gone under the World Tree.

Yes, I don't know what's going on outside, but I'm sure that Akmund didn't continue to attack anyone, and the Night Elves didn't put up any resistance. The position is only empty of everything.

Akmund saw my disappointment and continued to ridicule me. In other ways.

"By the way, I can tell a secret. This is the origin of your humanity: your ancestors were ancient stone dwarves, cursed by the ancient gods who sealed them beneath here. It's slowly becoming like this. But apparently you do not like your Creator, and even hate him more than we of the Burning Legion. ”

"Even if that's true, you don't have to hit me anymore. "I'm numb to hearing this, yes, if the most powerful mortal force of the moment. That is, the Night Elves are already afraid of the terrifying power of Akmund, so who can I give it to if I go to boost morale... Wait, I seem to have thought of something. Who has more power? Elder gods? Yes, that's right. So I picked up some spirits and tried to warn Akmund of a reality, or a reason to give up our world. "It is said that the Elder Gods are very powerful, even more powerful than your leader Sargeras, and they are sealed away in our world, if you think they are freed. Is it up to you to handle it?"

"You know a lot, but in fact the Elder Gods are not one, but five, if the five Elder Gods are together, Lord Sargeras is obviously difficult to fight, but it is no problem to deal with one or two. ”

"Now that you've lost Sargeras, do you expect you to be able to fight against any of them?"

I threaten Akmund, and although I know very little about the Elder Gods, I am sure that fighting the Elder Gods with Akmund's strength is no different from my bare hands against a dragon with combat experience.

"Of course not, but in a while it will do. ”

"I don't understand. I said without thinking, but after looking at his eyes on the big tree, I seemed to understand something, it turned out that he had not come here to engrave his name on this tree, but to get it completely, to get the power behind it.

"The World Tree is not just a big tree, or a spiritual pillar of the Night Elves, but there is infinite power hidden underneath, and if I can get him, I will have the same power as Sargeras and even become an existence beyond him. I gave up everything, even Kil'Gardan and I turned against each other, because of it, whoever gets its power will become a god-like being, and now no one can stop me. ”

As he spoke, Akmund unleashed a powerful spell from his right hand that pierced through the World Tree, watching it gradually dry up and then wither, and the power that Akmund exuded was even stronger, proving that he was right, he was absorbing his power, and it was an incomparably powerful force. Yes, I can feel that he is stronger, more powerful than can be imagined, and he is immersed in it and enjoying the greater power he has added.

"Akmund, do you really think that after gaining the power of the World Tree, you can fight against the Elder Gods, perhaps the World Tree is the seal that seals the Elder Gods. If all five of them show up at the same time, you're dead. "Whether it was out of jealousy, or perhaps out of reason, or faith, I once again 'reminded' Akmund. He explained to me something else, and yes, it surprised me.

"Arthas, do you know why I give you a chance again and again?"

"Do you want me to help you fight against the Elder Gods!"

My statement caused him to laugh, and yes, I was a little overwhelmed. And in fact, it is not my insignificant strength that seems to be favored by Akmund, but...

"It's your spirit, much like when I was a teenager. "If I were you, I would still do everything I could to stop what I was doing now, so I wanted to see how much more mental power you could do to prevent me from gaining the power of your world." ”

I was very surprised to hear this, I didn't expect him to think about how to play me at this time. Yes, maybe I have the same personality as him, allowing him to find some good memories of his past... Of course, there are other possibilities, which is to make a hypothesis, to go back to that old time, and he goes back to that old time, and he goes against Sargeras, what will he be like? Yes, he imagined me as himself, what would he be like when he fought against an invincible enemy in a difficult situation. Maybe this is also a very heavy knot in his heart that is pressing him hard... It's a funny guess, but I'd like to make sure.

"Akmund, do you regret it easily, regret that you can't go back to the past, back to the old days. If you were of the same personality as I was at the time, did you ever feel frustrated at abandoning the righteousness of your Light, or did you use your companions and your own people as pure tools of use in the first place?"

My words made Akmund a little angry, even angry, that it surpassed the fact that I had just smashed him in the face with the hilt of my sword, and the tremors so great that the stones around him were suspended, and if I were to be on the ground, I would surely be in the air. Of course, it may be that he is calm and has not fully grasped the newly acquired power, but one thing I am right I said is that I have reached his heart.

"You're just a mortal! a mortal who has only lived for more than 20 years, you have never experienced the vicissitudes of life, let alone the change and betrayal of human nature..."

Akmund eagerly replied to my judgment, and turned his head to continue absorbing the power of the World Tree, but I didn't think so, I only needed an answer to one question.

"No, I'm just asking you, will you be later?"

My words once again caused Akmund to give up his strength and turn his head to look at me, to which Akmund fell into deep thought again, and after a long time, he gave me a deep contemplative reply:

"I can't go back, kid. Once you've done something like this, there's no going back. ”

After Akmund finished speaking, he ignored me and returned to his main topic, which was to absorb the power of the World Tree. In turn, I realized something through this sentence, such as what he said that I can't go back, and let me remember what I remembered. Maybe it's in the future I know, the future after I gradually become the Lich King, after I've done all kinds of hurtful things, maybe at that time I can appreciate the weight of what Akmund said about not turning back. Now that I think about it, I have been able to get to this point without repeating the mistakes of Akmund, and I am already a favor from God...

And so on, at this moment, I also realized something, like some memories, which is what should have happened in this moment. Akmund World Tree. Yes, it will be the end of Akmund. The Night Elves said that the hope of defeating Akmund in the end was the World Tree, when he absorbed the power of the World Tree.

Of course, I had to hide this awareness, but fortunately, Akmund was already immersed in absorbing the power of the World Tree and didn't care about me at all.

While I don't have to worry about Akmund discovering my consciousness, I'm still wondering what the Night Elves used to destroy Akmund. And Akmund's power is getting stronger and stronger. There is no strength to compete with him anymore.

I thought so, and it was at this time that I noticed that there seemed to be a soul power added to it, I don't know what it was, it seemed to be a single soul form, somewhat similar to the creatures in the Emerald Dream Realm.

They were also absorbed by Akmund, and I was surprised that with Acmund's prudence and strength, he did not find anything like that. Of course I'm not going to remind him to go.

With the absorption of power, Akmund also became huge, and I was even overwhelmed by his palm, completely unable to see everything, but when my vision was overwhelmed, I found more and more such souls floating towards Akmund, and I was even more convinced that the end of Akmund was today, yes, Malfurion and the Night Elves wanted to use this way to defeat Akmund. At this twilight, the sunset is about to set.

My gaze then drowned out in the palm of his hand, but soon followed by the faint sound of a trumpet in the distance. A loud explosion ensued, and after the burning palms of my hands and the screams of Akmund's pain, I realized that Malfurion's plan had succeeded. He let go of his palm. He looked at me suspiciously and angrily, trying to get me to give him an explanation, or to give him a way to save him.

And in this regard, I will only tell him a cruel reality at this time:

"Any idea how Sargeras was defeated by Khadgar?" I smirked, yes, I'm not sure, but that's probably the reason. "That is, he should not have a meaningless relationship with humans, and don't talk nonsense to cover your defenses. ”

I smirked, yes, as if he were as innocent as a deceived human, and in turn I smiled maliciously like a demon.

Yes, I knew what the result would be, after recognizing my meanness. Enraged, Akmund tried to smash me with the palm of his hand with all his might, but perhaps Heaven didn't give him that much time. His body exploded, and when his fingers were about to make contact with me, his body went on to become huge, and he turned into powder.

I was not crushed by him, but I was also overwhelmed by his massive explosion. And the power released by Akmund also caused an explosion around it, and the huge force instantly ignited the entire World Tree, causing it to cause a huge explosion, affecting the entire mountain and the surrounding more than ten kilometers, and the trees within it were also instantly turned into ashes. The smoke and dust from the same explosion spread far wider, even encompassing the entire Hyjal region.

Although a force seemed to protect me from it, I fell freely without the support of Akmund's palm. And Akmund's power gradually receded in me, and the end of my own death was inevitable after all. But it doesn't matter anymore, I've managed to hold Akmund back and buy him precious time, which means that I've defeated the gods who want to destroy us in my own way, and that's more than enough for me...