Make Azeroth breathtaking

Tannis was awakened by the familiar sound of explosions mixed with the shrill sound of alarms. In the instant she woke up, she found herself in the mage tower in the mage quarter of Stormwind City, where Jaina was already dressed in combat gear and standing beside her as if facing a formidable enemy.

"The theater was attacked? Who attacked it?"

Tanis immediately recognized that the spell that teleported her to the Stormwind Mage Quarter was Jaina's doing. She quickly adjusted her engineering glasses and channeled her inner energy to prepare for battle.

"I don't know, but their attack method was particularly novel—they used explosives to overturn part of the Royal Theatre, causing a terrible mess."

"...Explosion? Let me check the replay."

Tanis, who has become one of the top players in Azeroth at playing with explosions, tapped her mechanical assistant a few times, projecting an animation onto the wall of the mage tower.

"This is?"

"One of my mechanical assistant's functions is that it can retain up to half an hour of video recording, which can be used to deal with some special situations... Jaina, when did the explosion occur?"

About two minutes ago.

"Hmm, then I need to speed things up... Okay, I think I don't need to speed up anymore..."

Looking at the several flames rising in the civilian district outside the window, Tannis estimated the explosive yield in her mind, her expression changed slightly, she opened the window of the mage tower, and started her flight device against the cold night wind.

"Tannis? What are you doing? The situation outside is unclear! It's very dangerous!"

"Because Ratchet is known for its explosives, I'm worried that some people might try to pin this on Ratchet indirectly, so I have to go and check it out."

Tannis's completely nonsensical answer made Jaina pause for a moment, while at that moment, Tannis had already glided out the window and disappeared into the night.

——————————————People's District——————————————————

Beside a house that had collapsed halfway, a young human child stared blankly at his home, which was no longer safe. Just moments before the house was about to collapse, the child's father had desperately pushed his son out of the window, but lost his own last chance to survive.

Suddenly, a rough, dark hand lifted him up, and at that moment, the child, as if waking from a dream, burst into loud cries.

"Annoying."

The owner of the hand mumbled something in very broken Mandarin, grabbed the knife in his right hand, and thrust it straight at the child's neck. Under the streetlight, the silhouette of the knife made it clear that with this one cut, the child's head and body would become two separate things.

Then, the next second, the knife's owner's right hand was hit by an incendiary bomb.

"Ahhhhh!!"

The pain of the flames entering his body made Ghana involuntarily release the child and cover his wound. The instant he let go, a strangely shaped drone grabbed the child's shoulder and disappeared around the corner with lightning speed.

"Tap tap, tap tap..."

With a crisp footstep, Tennys emerged from around the corner, lightly adjusted her engineering glasses, scanned Ghana, and a mocking smile appeared on her lips. Then, she looked at the people dressed in black and wearing red face masks behind Ghana, and a hint of something indescribable flashed in her pupils behind her glasses.

"Stonemasters' Association?"

"There is no longer a Stonemasons' Guild, only the Defias Brotherhood."

The man standing next to the orc responded to Tannis's question in a slightly aged voice. Tannis, finding his voice strangely familiar, quickly sketched his facial features and voiceprint characteristics, comparing them rapidly with the past data in her mechanical assistant. About a minute later, she got her answer.

"Your son..."

"He's dead, killed by the king's henchmen, and his body was thrown into the moat. From the moment I pulled his bloated corpse out of the water, I swore that all the nobles of Stormwind would suffer a terrible death—the first one to die would be the king."

Tanis, sensing the deep hatred lingering in the old man's calm tone—the one who had once driven her horse—remained silent for a few seconds. She then flipped her wrist, and behind her, the shadows of several machines began to appear.

"Do you wish to be an enemy of the Brotherhood, Miss Tanis, the Great Tinker of Ratchet?"

Having recognized the woman before him, the old man spoke again, his tone devoid of joy or sorrow.

"Stopping your evil act of destroying the city will not only boost Stormwind's reputation, but also allow me to get closer to the higher-ups of the Stormwind Kingdom. Why not?"

As Tennyson's voice rang out, drones appeared behind her.

"Evil? Our actions are righteous!!"

Tennyson's words made the old man's voice rise—as if his soul had suddenly returned to his body.

"Before today, your actions may have been just in some sense... but now..."

Tanis pointed to the collapsed house next to her, which had been destroyed by the Defias Brotherhood, and the lifeless hand that was reaching out from the ruins.

“You no longer possess justice.”

————————————————Storm Keep——————————————————

Varian sat on the bed, comforting the trembling Anduin along with Queen Tiffin. The series of explosions had terrified the young prince, who was not yet 10 years old.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the palace door, followed by the voice of the Black Dragon Princess.

“Your Majesty, we have investigated and found that the mastermind behind this series of chaos is the remnants of the Stonemasons' Guild. Not only did they disband the guild as ordered by the Council of Nobles, but they also gathered orcs and ogres to plot against Stormwind and destroy it once again!”

"What! How dare they!"

Varian's voice rose an octave, then softened again.

"What do you think we should do, Earl Presto?"

"The soldiers are ready, eager to offer their glory to Your Majesty."

Onyxia's answer calmed Varian's racing heart a little. He cleared his throat and gave the order.

"Countess Presto! I appoint you to have full authority over the eradication of the remnants of the Stonemasons' Guild!"

"Your will."

Princess Onyxia, the black dragon, knelt gracefully outside her palace, and no one noticed the smile that appeared on her lips.

A cruel and bloody smile.

11. The Night of Weeping

"Clang! Clang! Clang!!!"

Amidst the scattered firelight, the urgent tolling of the Stormwind Cathedral's bells utterly roused Stormwind from its slumber. Soldiers in the barracks, at the piercing whistles of their officers, scrambled from their warm beds, donned their armor, and rushed to the assembly point. Commoners, clutching their children, grabbed some food and water, hastily picked up a few clothes, and hid in the cellars, locking the doors behind them. Nobles lowered the protective iron gates of their mansions, sending their servants to the sentries within, while they themselves led their families into the best-defended rooms of their estates.

"Damn it! Why are the bells of the Cathedral of Light ringing so early?!"

The moment he heard the bells, Basil realized how dire the situation had become. Before launching tonight's attack, he had been assured that the bells of Storm Cathedral would not ring for at least three hours!

"Boss, what do we do?"

A Defias thug kicked aside the body of a sentry he had stabbed in the back and looked toward Basil, who had led them through the secret passage to take over the outpost.

"We have no choice but to retreat; we can't accomplish anything tonight!"

Basil made a decisive choice. Although tonight's actions had exposed part of Defias's forces lying in ambush in Stormwind, as long as...

Before Basil could lead the way back into the secret passage, two enormous fireballs rose up in the civilian district and the trading district respectively, and for a moment it was as if two dim new stars had appeared in the sky!

"....head!!"

Although far from the epicenter, the slight tremors transmitted through the stone floor and the location of the fireball still alerted the Defias Brotherhood members present to what had happened—the Defias had converted a vacant area at the junction of Stormwind's underground tunnels and waterways into an armory containing high-explosive gunpowder—and it was all blown up!

"....It's over...."

Basil stared blankly at the fireball rising in the distance, his heart churning like a stormy sea. To avoid missing a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he had naively trusted "someone who had helped him for a long time," launching a revenge campaign against the royal family without contacting VanCleef. This not only exposed Defias's whereabouts in Stormwind but also caused the complete loss of all the supplies Defias had accumulated over years using underground passages in Stormwind!

"Boss! Boss! The soldiers are here! Let's go!!"

Baqir took a deep breath, forcing himself to regain his composure. Yes, he had to leave now, and he had to ensure that as many of his brothers as possible escaped, as long as they were alive...

"Splash!"

The sword blade emerging from the secret passage shattered Bakis's last hope—the secret passage of Stormwind—which had been repaired by the Stonemasons' Guild but before the map could be presented to the Vryon royal family, had been stained with blood. Theoretically, only the Defias Brotherhood controlled the entrance and exit of the secret passage, and now Stormwind guards appeared.

"Basil's Red! In the name of the King! You are to be arrested on multiple charges, including colluding with orcs, plotting to destroy Stormwind, and murdering nobles! Now! Lay down your weapons!!"

"...Hehehehe, hahahahaha!!"

In an instant, Basil, having sorted out the whole story in his mind, laughed bitterly. To the astonishment of the other Defias thugs, he dropped his weapon with a clatter.

"You can capture me, you can kill me, but you can't kill the Defias Brotherhood! Victory belongs to—the Brotherhood!!!"

--------------the next day--------------------

"Oh no..."

Standing on a high point, Tannis looked at the once bustling trade district and sighed, a sound that was hard to tell whether it was heartache or helplessness.

Thanks to Countess Prestor's brilliant command, almost all members of the Defias Brotherhood who attempted to incite riots in various areas of Stormwind were killed or captured within an hour. However, after realizing that escape was hopeless, the ruthless Brotherhood members ignited a large amount of high-explosive gunpowder hidden underground, causing devastating damage to the civilian and trading districts. Currently, the Cathedral of Light, the royal family, and the Council of Nobles have dispatched personnel to rescue the injured civilians.

Yes, that's what the official Stormwind report says, and that seems to be the case, but Tannis, who knows Countess Prestor's identity and the Defias Brotherhood's objectives, obviously doesn't think so.

'The Defias Brotherhood, which originally had a chance to win the support of the lower classes and some disgruntled nobles, has been completely forced to the opposite side of the Stormwind Kingdom. It's truly the work of an evil dragon. To achieve her goals, she has killed so many humans without batting an eye, as if... no, in her eyes we were nothing more than ants...'

"Tannis, what are you thinking about?"

Jaina, leaning on her staff, walked to her side; the events of the previous night had kept her awake all night.

"I suddenly thought of a question. Imagine two evil nobles. One noble enjoys sowing discord and revels in watching conflicts erupt between commoners and nobles. Every plan she devises causes numerous civilian casualties. The other noble resides in his laboratory, researching various organisms and attempting to uncover the secrets of life through live experiments. Each experiment he conducts kills several lives. Which noble is truly more wicked?"

"Naturally, it's the last one."

Jaina's unwavering answer caused Tennys's pupils to contract slightly, and then Tennys laughed.

"Ah, yes, that's the one."

——————————————Endless Sea————————————————————

"asshole!!!"

Less than three days after Basil was captured, VanCleef learned of the news through very special channels, which enraged him—he knew very well that this meant Defias's reputation among the common people of Stormwind was completely ruined!

“Anger won’t solve anything, Mr. Van Cleef.”

Sidney sat in his chair, looking up at Van Cleef, who was pounding his fists against the wall.

“That’s right…Stenny, do you have anyone suitable to introduce me to? I don’t need their money.”

After calming himself down, VanCleef looked at Sdenney—the goblin engineer from the venture capital firm. He had figured it out: since his reputation was already ruined, it didn't matter if it got any worse. He had no other purpose than to destroy Stormwind and make the Vrynn royal family apologize to his dead brothers!

“Of course…of course, as long as you have the money, venture capital firms are always ready to serve you, Mr. Van Cleef….”

12. Logosh, head to Ashenvale

"Today, the next training I'm going to give you is real combat training."