Azshara was no match for Kil'jaeden, so naturally, she was even less likely to defeat Aiden. Since inheriting the true authority of the Titan, Aiden himself didn't know where his strength's limit lay. But at least one thing was certain: since then, everyone he had met was weaker than him!
Whether it was the Pantheon's Golganneth and Aggramar, or the Old God Y'shaarj. In fact, even the "Devourer of Worlds" Dimensius was no match for Aiden; it was mainly because the latter was too cunning, running away when he couldn't win, and Aiden had no way to restrain him for the time being.
Azshara led countless troops to attack Pandaria – Faceless Ones, Naga, and Mantid, totaling over two hundred thousand, a truly overwhelming force!
Although it wasn't impossible for Aiden to deal with them alone, it would definitely take a lot of time. He couldn't afford to linger here for too long, because he also sensed something was wrong – the Titan's system was collapsing!
As a Titan certified by the Pantheon's system, Aiden naturally couldn't fail to sense what the Old God N'Zoth could sense. This unexpected situation made him somewhat uncertain, unsure whether it was just an isolated case in Azeroth or the same for all worlds.
If it was the latter, then the consequences were unimaginable – so he had to verify it as soon as possible.
The method was very simple – the teleportation array in Pearlfin Village directly connected to Draenor, where the original Old God, Velen, was still imprisoned. Aiden could determine the situation by taking a trip there.
Now he had to wait for reinforcements, or rather, wait for someone to clean up the mess.
He didn't wait too long. In fact, just a few seconds after he blocked Queen Azshara's Frostbolt, he sensed another figure in the beam of light.
Seeing that Aiden had blocked her Frostbolt so easily, Queen Azshara was no longer as confident as before – she couldn't help but wonder if she had underestimated him.
Although she was a proud queen, she wasn't blindly arrogant. Her underwater kingdom was by no means isolated from information.
In the ten thousand years since leaving the land, Azshara had actually been paying attention to the situation on the surface. She believed she was very clear about Aiden's rise to power. Five or six years ago, his strength was not even comparable to any of the Naga guards around her. Although he later grew step by step and defeated many powerful enemies, Azshara believed that Aiden relied more on tricks and strategies than his own strength.
Even just a few months ago, when Aiden left Azeroth and disappeared into Reverse Karazhan, his own strength was far inferior to the current Azshara.
Because there was a very obvious reference point – the "God of Death" Yogg-Saron in the Battle of Ulduar. Aiden and others had gone through untold hardships, and only barely defeated Yogg-Saron with the help of artifacts and favorable timing and location.
If it were Azshara herself, if she could enter Yogg-Saron's stomach and understand his weaknesses, she could have accomplished such a thing alone.
This was enough to show that she was at least much stronger than Aiden a few months ago.
Queen Azshara didn't think that anything could make a person's strength advance by leaps and bounds in a few months, increasing their power by more than ten times. That was almost impossible.
So when Aiden appeared just now and interrupted her spell to pour the Heart of Y'shaarj into the Golden Lotus Spring, she didn't take him seriously.
In Queen Azshara's view, Aiden's strength was at most comparable to the Four Celestials she had easily defeated before – those Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Red Crane, and Black Ox, although revered as gods by the Pandaren of Pandaria, Queen Azshara had always been very clear about their background – before the War of the Ancients, the Night Elf Empire and the Pandaren Empire were allies, and Queen Azshara personally concluded the alliance with the previous generation of Pandaren emperors at that time.
The Four Celestials already existed at that time, but Azshara felt that these guys were just animal gods with a little bit of power, not worth mentioning.
The results of the previous battles further proved all of this.
But reality severely shocked Queen Azshara. She desperately hoped that what she had just seen was an illusion, or that Aiden had blocked her Frostbolt with some powerful but hidden artifact, and wasn't actually as relaxed as he seemed.
Ten seconds later, Queen Azshara was even more certain of this – if not, why wouldn't Aiden dare to come down?
"Hmph, let me personally uncover your weak side!" Queen Azshara sneered in her heart.
She raised her staff high, emitting a stream of azure water that looked like a gushing fountain, beautiful and harmless. But this was just its surface; in reality, the water contained the purest and most violent arcane energy extracted from the Well of Eternity. That power was enough to destroy everything in the mortal world!
Aiden knew that Kayle had arrived, and more reinforcements were on their way, and he no longer had any scruples in his heart. The wings of light behind him fluttered gently, and his body rushed out of the beam of light, actively flying towards the stream of water.
The Silver Judgment in his hand bloomed with the same azure holy flame. This would be a collision of water and fire. Would the water extinguish the flame or would the flame evaporate the water?
Queen Azshara was full of confidence. She was full of confidence in her magic, and even more full of confidence in the power of the Well of Eternity. She seemed to have already seen the scene of Aiden's sword breaking and his death. Because even a strong person like Kil'jaeden would not be able to withstand the huge power of this stream of water. The best way was to avoid it, or perhaps escape the spell's lock-on range.
Fight head-on?
That was courting death!
But reality ruthlessly crushed her thoughts.
Silver Judgment slashed straight down, the light and flame dividing the water into two halves, while the holy flame splashed downwards, part towards Queen Azshara, and the rest covering her surroundings.
"Ah—" Queen Azshara let out a short scream.
She had not expected Aiden to be able to break one of her strongest spells, and even more did not expect that he would have the strength to counterattack. Even though she hurriedly cast a defensive spell, she was still splashed by some of the holy flame on her body. The pain of burning the soul made her unable to restrain herself from screaming.
The surrounding guards suffered even more. Their defensive means and strength were far inferior to Queen Azshara, and the destructive power of the holy flame was far beyond their imagination. Even a little bit of spark was almost melted by the holy flame.
For a time, the area around the Golden Lotus Spring was filled with the screams of the Naga.
Aiden landed on the ground, his target aimed at Queen Azshara and the Heart of Y'shaarj, while the surrounding enemies rushed over frantically under the orders of their leader.
These Naga, Mantid, and Faceless Ones were naturally incomparably powerful in front of ordinary people, but in front of Aiden, they didn't even have the qualifications to be cannon fodder. He casually swung a few swords and killed a large number of enemies. These suicidal charges of minions did not delay him in the slightest.
"Don't let him get the heart!" Queen Azshara screamed.
The other evil god minions were obviously very clear about this point. Several very powerful Faceless One overseers and Mantid, as well as the strongest Naga elites around Queen Azshara, immediately rushed towards Aiden.
Queen Azshara came to the box shrouded in the giant beam of light, wanting to forcibly push the heart into the spring while others were holding back Aiden.
As long as Y'shaarj was resurrected, she would be able to turn defeat into victory immediately!
This would also be her only way to win. Even though the beam of light shone on her body, making her whole body feel like it was being cut by countless sharp knives, she still gritted her teeth and reached out, preparing to overturn the box.
"Stop!"
A voice of rebuke came from above her.
Queen Azshara raised her head and saw a female angel in golden armor pouncing down. The other party was also holding a burning sword like the one in Aiden's hand.
The Naga Queen immediately recognized that this must be Aiden's most capable assistant and hero – the "Judgment Angel" Kayle!
Azshara was furious. She couldn't deal with Aiden, so couldn't she deal with a hero under his command?
This Kayle was only about as strong as her maid Vasj, but she dared to come and provoke her, the supreme queen!
But this time, Queen Azshara misjudged again – when she left Azeroth with Aiden a few months ago, Kayle's strength was indeed not much higher than Madam Vasj, and even far inferior to Queen Azshara. However, after returning to the Eternal Kingdom, her strength completely recovered and she was already a true god – although her power was suppressed to a certain extent after leaving the scope of the Eternal Kingdom, she was absolutely not to be underestimated.
After engaging, Queen Azshara suffered a hidden loss again. Only then did she truly know that Kayle's strength was actually not much weaker than her!
A great melee suddenly unfolded in Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
Yesterday, the Four August Celestials were defeated by Queen Azshara. Today, at the Golden Lotus Spring, Shadowpan Master and Pandaren leader Taran Zhu was also easily defeated by her. The entire Azeroth seemed to be helpless against her – of course, part of the reason was that most of the Alliance's high-end power was concentrated in the Battle of Mount Hyjal and against the "Devourer of Worlds" Dimensius, and there was no extra power to send here.
But now, with the return of Aiden, Queen Azshara's good days were finally over.
She had an army of 200,000, but when facing the enemies in front of her, she was unable to use her strength!
Moreover, more and more reinforcements from the enemy were constantly arriving. Although they were all powerful heroes and lacked a large ground force for advancement, the situation had become very unfavorable to her.
At this time, Azshara eagerly called out to her master N'Zoth, wanting to get its guidance, but the answer she got was – "Delay as much as possible!"
Victory or defeat didn't matter, or rather, N'Zoth had already determined that she couldn't win.
Before Aiden's return, Azshara's actions were still crucial, but now N'Zoth no longer needed the Naga Queen to unlock its seal by resurrecting Y'shaarj, because the Titan's seal was collapsing on its own, and it would soon be truly free!