Darkness of a Thousand Souls

World of Warcraft, Sunwell Plateau.

This well of magic, which had nourished the High Elves for more than seven thousand years, had finally been personally turned into a portal by the High Elf prince at Fate’s turning point.

The surging energy of the Sunwell had become a gigantic toilet, and a red-skinned demon was trying to crawl out of it, his muscular upper body exposed.

He was strong, towering, and brimming with power.

Kil’jaeden the Deceiver, deputy of the Dark Titan Sargeras, leader of the Eredar, executioner who had destroyed countless worlds, defiler of all realms, creator of the Undead Scourge, and the most powerful warlock in World of Warcraft—without equal.

The deaths of the Eredar Twins were beneath notice. M’uru’s fall gave him a slight pang of regret, while the Shattered Sun Offensive’s assault enraged him.

But as long as he eliminated these weak enemies and completely absorbed all the Sunwell’s energy, he could truly descend upon this world and accomplish what neither Sargeras nor Archimonde had managed to do: destroy the newborn Titan.

"Chaos!"

"Destruction!"

"Annihilation!"

"My will cannot be defied. This world shall be destroyed!"

A voice from another world, amid the struggle between light and shadow and the clash of fel energy and Holy Light, twisted into a word that struck terror into people’s hearts:

"Darkness of a Thousand Souls!"

Countless souls wailed in agony as they launched an assault on everyone in the Shattered Sun Offensive, carried by shadow energy.

Every second brought hundreds of attacks. The elite forces of the coalition, clad in fine gear and even epic equipment, fell one after another. Even the pitifully weak blue dragon Kalecgos could not withstand many attacks, having already been gravely wounded in the earlier battle.

Death was imminent.

The Blue Dragon Orb was about to lose control.

Once it lost the Blue Dragon Orb’s protection, the pathetic coalition would not even last ten seconds. No one would be able to stop him from entering this world.

Beneath the burning sky,

Doom

Was about to descend.

Suddenly, Kil’jaeden gave a soft cry of surprise.

Darkness of a Thousand Souls was one of his favorite area-of-effect spells. Made up of countless wailing souls and twisted shadows, each soul and each shadow delivered repeated, continuous attacks.

Yet one of those attacks suddenly vanished.

Kalecgos finally gained a chance to catch his breath. The blue dragon’s gentle call echoed throughout Sunwell Plateau.

"Anveena, wake up!"

"The world needs you!"

The level 5 Time-Space Channel had remained open for only three seconds. The moment several hundredths or thousandths of Darkness of a Thousand Souls’ attacks reached the other world, it immediately closed.

The already scant Azeroth Blood was instantly depleted, leaving less than one-twentieth behind.

The agonized wails were as terrifying as the Banshee Queen’s scream, carrying the power to tear apart souls. Even as a negligible component of the entire area-of-effect skill, they still possessed legendary-level destructive power.

One-thousandth of Darkness of a Thousand Souls struck the little boy, striking his jumbled, chaotic soul.

The vast number of souls he had forcibly devoured but failed to melt together had never been stable. The frail little vessel of flesh carried hundreds of souls adrift upon a sea of suffering when suddenly, a wave splashed up.

The boat capsized.

"This… is impossible!"

The ancient evil god that had descended with such difficulty let out an unwilling roar.

Sensing the collapse of the soul aggregate, it knew full well that it had failed. Even this body was falling apart, corroded by a strange Dark Energy and no longer usable.

The only option now was to forcibly descend into another Black Sky body.

But how could it possibly accomplish that before such a powerful enemy?

Though the target was right before it, they seemed as far apart as the ends of the earth.

Moreover, the slightly plump Chinese young man had already stepped in front of Elektra.

"I will descend again!"

The little boy’s blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Old Wang, like a primordial Beast ready to devour its prey. "I will take every soul I have devoured and descend into another Black Sky body!"

"No, I will wait. I will wait for the chance to descend into the girl behind you!"

"She cannot refuse me after I have devoured so many souls. I don’t believe you can guard her forever!"

Looking at the little boy’s face, worn thin from excessive cultivation, Old Wang seemed to see a shut-in who had stayed indoors for hundreds or thousands of years.

Adorably stupid.

It seemed that growing older did not bring an accumulation of wisdom.

Only experience did.

The little boy’s body was collapsing.

Beast’s power was fading.

The souls that had been forcibly fused together through devouring were coming apart.

Old Wang only needed the simplest, most direct attack—even a poke with one finger—to completely kill Black Sky and send Beast back where it came from.

But he did not do that.

"Azeroth."

Old Wang spoke calmly. "I need another skill."

"Which one?"

"Drain Soul!"

"That will be 0.01 grams of Azeroth Blood."

As soon as the words fell, the last of the Azeroth Blood disappeared.

The four rings became engorged, and the ten spherical spaces of erectile tissue instantly turned red.

The level 4 Time-Space Channel opened.

Some unlucky bastard somewhere on some timeline in World of Warcraft lost a spell.

Old Wang raised his hand. Strange energy shot from the void into the little boy’s body, tearing at his soul.

"No!"

"What did you do to me?"

"My soul… has weakened!"

He felt the souls he had painstakingly devoured, before he could fully digest them, vanishing one after another. They turned into purple beams that flowed into Old Wang’s hand, becoming one diamond-shaped gemstone after another.

They were Soul Shards.

"What am I doing?"

Old Wang sneered. "I’m draining your soul!"

The spell continued.

Drain Soul was a warlock spell. Its effect was to extract an enemy’s soul and transform it into Soul Shards through magical power—in the early versions of World of Warcraft.

Soul Shards were a warlock’s most important spellcasting material. Whether making Soulstones, Healthstones, or summoning demons, they were indispensable. Among warlocks and demons, Soul Shards were even harder currency than gold, Mithril, or Arcane Crystals.

The quality of a Soul Shard depended on the soul drained.

In less than half a month, Beast had devoured more than five hundred souls, most of them ordinary people.

The overwhelming majority of those souls had already been digested and absorbed, becoming nourishment for Beast. But some had only been partially digested, while others had not been digested at all.

These souls were far too weak, nowhere near the humans and orcs forged by the endless wars of World of Warcraft. It took several, even over a dozen, to form the lowest-quality Soul Shard, but…

They were still rare and valuable things.

And there were enough of them.

"Thank you for your gift."

Old Wang’s face remained expressionless. "Now, get the hell back to your world!"

The last trace of soul was drained away, and the little boy collapsed.

"No!"

With an unwilling roar, the ancient evil god that had spent less than half a month in this world was kicked back home once again.

A full twenty-four Soul Shards floated before Old Wang.

With a wave of his hand, they disappeared.

"Everything should be over now."

"It is time for me to clean up the battlefield!"

Old Wang used Soul Split.

One second later, he arrived in the underground area.

Thanks to Ziyuan882 for the 100 reward!