Blizzard

So far, Onyxia’s identity had not truly been exposed. Although she had displayed magical prowess that astonished many people, it was not unusual for human nobles to study magic, and Countess Katrana Prestor had more than enough resources to improve her own magical abilities.

Moreover, Katrana Prestor had built an extensive network of connections throughout the kingdom. A great many nobles in the Stormwind Kingdom were now in the same boat as her. If Varian suddenly moved against this Countess, those nobles could hardly avoid suspecting that Your Majesty was merely looking for an excuse to deal with them.

The Stormwind Kingdom was not ruled by the King’s word alone. It was not as if whatever Varian said simply went. Beneath him were heaps of nobles controlling every branch of the kingdom’s power. If he could not persuade or control those nobles, the King’s orders might not even leave Stormwind Keep.

That was why, even after learning that Onyxia was a black dragon, Marshal Windsor had still insisted on finding the stone tablet capable of undoing Onyxia’s human transformation magic before returning. Only by making Onyxia’s identity as a black dragon indisputable could those Stormwind Kingdom nobles tied to Countess Katrana Prestor stop making excuses. Only then could this dragon-slaying battle truly begin.

As long as Onyxia maintained Katrana Prestor’s appearance, this incident could be twisted into an internal power struggle within the Stormwind Kingdom.

Now, because of Yinsen’s involvement, whether she voluntarily revealed her black dragon form to escape the inconspicuous chain in Yinsen’s hand, or waited until the chain completely restrained her and revealed her true form under Yinsen’s command, she could no longer conceal her true identity.

"Damn mage, you will suffer the wrath of the black dragon!"

Onyxia could not tolerate becoming a human mage’s mount, nor could she stand by and watch herself be captured by a magical chain. Upon hearing Yinsen’s words, she used greater power without the slightest hesitation.

Her pupils turned into golden vertical slits, and a pair of dragon wings emerged from Onyxia’s back. One wing slammed viciously into the chain, shattering the magical chain Yinsen had only recently created.

Given enough time to bind Onyxia, this item could eventually imprison her through the various magical methods contained within it. The chain itself was not particularly sturdy, however, and could easily be destroyed before it fully restrained its target. The original plan had been to beat Onyxia half to death first, then use this item to capture her.

But after Varian showed his determination to kill Onyxia, Yinsen no longer cared much about the item. Though his painstaking work had been destroyed, forcing Onyxia to reveal part of her true form meant his efforts had not been wasted.

Violent magical fluctuations stirred up a fierce wind, forcing everyone to take half a step back. Onyxia glared at Yinsen. This mage who had suddenly appeared had destroyed the plan she had painstakingly worked on for so long in a way that humiliated her.

By every measure, Yinsen was someone she had to kill. Yet that shameless mage had actually run away!

Yinsen was no idiot, much less some hot-blooded, chuunibyou teenager. His mission was to make Onyxia expose her identity as a black dragon. He had no desire to face a black dragon’s wrath head-on, even if this black dragon had yet to unleash her full strength.

"Just revealing a pair of wings lets her unleash such terrifying power. How powerful would she be after returning to dragon form?"

He had time to think about such things because, after Onyxia stopped concealing her identity as a black dragon, Bolvar no longer had any reason to keep hiding nearby and playing dead. He drew the only weapon at hand and cursed, "Shameless black dragon! You actually disguised yourself as a human noble and infiltrated Stormwind City!"

Then, without caring about anyone’s reaction, he was the first to charge at Onyxia and fight her for his life.

He had no choice. If he did not want Varian to conveniently cut him down after killing or driving off the black dragon, he had to make the proper stance clear. He also had to restore the trust he had gradually lost before Your Majesty. Even if he might die here, he had to protect the Fordragon Family’s standing in Stormwind City.

Besides Bolvar charging at Onyxia, Valeera, who had been nowhere to be seen, suddenly struck as well. The instant Onyxia revealed part of her strength, the Blood Elf who had been hiding somewhere appeared, grabbed Prince Anduin, and rushed into the Stormwind Kingdom soldiers in the shortest possible time.

"Thank you, Valeera."

Seeing his son safely rescued, Varian expressed his gratitude to the Blood Elf comrade who had fought alongside him all this time.

He then asked another comrade, Broll, to look after his son. He had hoped to have someone take Anduin out, but Jaina had already reminded him that this area had been sealed off by Yinsen. No one could leave for the moment, all to prevent Onyxia from escaping.

Anduin could not leave either. Varian could only entrust his son to companions he trusted, because he would not have much attention to spare for Anduin’s safety next. He was going to charge in and fight Onyxia for his life.

"Die, evil black dragon!"

The customary roar of a righteous hero echoed through the space. Wielding twin swords, Varian charged the black dragon almost at the exact moment Bolvar reached Onyxia.

Unlike Bolvar’s lone charge, Varian’s assault was like a horn sounding the attack. The Stormwind City soldiers, who had previously been dumbfounded and somewhat unclear on what had happened, followed their King and charged toward Onyxia.

Marshal Windsor was among them. Before coming here, the Marshal of the Stormwind Kingdom had received a full set of equipment from Jaina. His own gear had been left behind in Blackrock Depths, and Yinsen had not wasted time searching for the Marshal’s original armor and weapons when rescuing him.

Fortunately, as a neutral trade port, Theramore could find almost any resource, so finding Windsor a set of equipment had been no trouble. At this moment, the Marshal who had been badly deceived by Onyxia unleashed nearly all of his Combat Power… then was blasted away by a bolt of lightning cast by Onyxia.

In the original story, after exposing Onyxia’s true identity, Marshal Windsor had been killed by a single bolt of lightning.

It seemed he was fated to be struck by lightning once. This time, however, the lightning did not take his life. An all-out strike fueled by rage was on an entirely different level from a hastily cast lightning bolt released while distracted by being surrounded. After Windsor was sent flying, he lay there for only a while before getting back up and rejoining the group beating up Onyxia.

In fact, Onyxia’s refusal to return to her black dragon form also spared her from the predicament of being attacked everywhere across her body. In her current half-human, half-dragon state, she could handle attacks coming from multiple directions quite well.

Furthermore, her "size" was not large, so only a few people could truly surround her. Among them, only Bolvar and Varian could hold their ground, but even they found it difficult to inflict any fatal harm on the Black Dragon Princess.

"Weak and pitiful humans, all your efforts to return before me are utterly meaningless. The Stormwind Kingdom is destined to be completely destroyed by me!"

While using the wand in her hand to block Bolvar’s heavy strike, Onyxia casually punched the weapon from Varian’s hand away. Elemeni spun through the air several times before landing in the distance. The Blood Elf Valeera picked it up and threw it back into Varian’s hand after he dodged one of Onyxia’s Arcane Missiles.

Real combat naturally did not follow any fixed routine like clearing a dungeon in a game. Onyxia would not stubbornly focus only on the Warriors before her. She naturally understood that the greatest threats to her were not those two annoying men, but the few mages standing motionless in the distance.

Although Yinsen had not launched any actual attacks, he had already drawn enough hatred earlier. Even while being surrounded and attacked, Onyxia would still occasionally cast her gaze toward him.

Besides him, the mage who drew Onyxia’s attention was Jaina Proudmoore.

Since the battle began, Jaina had remained quietly motionless, looking as though she were about to "remain neutral" again. Yinsen, however, knew that she was mobilizing her Arcane Energy to analyze his Mirror Dimension.

Jaina had good reason to do so. To kill a black dragon, the Arcane Energy stored within her body alone was absolutely insufficient. She needed to draw upon external Arcane Energy or summon other Elemental Energy. Only then could she cast spells powerful enough to deal sufficiently serious damage to the black dragon Onyxia.

That required her to remain in the Mirror Dimension while still being able to connect to the outside world. This was no easy task. Even Jaina, who possessed exceptional talent in spatial teleportation, could not accomplish it in such a short time.

As for why Onyxia could cast magic freely, with none of her spells affected except teleportation-based Blink, it was because she was a black dragon. The magical power within her was immensely deep.

"I am going to cast Blizzard. Do not obstruct the Elemental Energy I summon."

With Jaina’s sudden warning, arcane radiance flashed around her body, while a gigantic Magic Array condensed from Arcane Energy appeared beneath her feet. She discovered that casting this spell in this space was countless times more difficult than usual.

Nevertheless, Jaina ultimately succeeded in casting the spell. Vast amounts of Frost Energy appeared from nowhere above the Mirror Dimension, then transformed into meteor-like clusters of energy that rained down upon Onyxia in wave after wave.