The Battle of Kazmodan was defeated, Ironforge fell, and even the always friendly gnomes were lost to news, and the port of Minehir in the wetlands was burned to the ground by the undead, and the Necrons began to parade the skies at the junction of the Arathi Heights and the wetlands.

This series of bad news was like a crazy and ferocious combination punch that hit the northern Xinjiang countries dizzy.

On the way to Selsama, the last Imperial soldiers and High Elf reinforcements were ambushed by the Death Knights in the Valley of the Kings, and less than a third of them escaped, and they fled along the mountain path of Selsama all the way to the wetlands in the northwest, but at the Ogaz Pass, they ran headlong into the encirclement of the Death Lord Luminas under the wetlands.

Faced with the encirclement and suppression of the Hellfire Legion, the most elite of the Knights of the Darkblade, more than 10,000 human soldiers and thousands of High Elves who went to Kazmodan to support the dwarves finally fled back to the Arathi Heights, with only a few hundred people... This is no longer something that can be described as a sentence of heavy damage, this is completely annihilation.

And the one who led them back to the heart of the empire was one of the frontline commanders of Kazmodan, Archmage Romans from the Silvermoon Council of Quel'Salas, who had returned to Silvermoon City as if he had completely changed from a different person.

There were two more hideous scars on his handsome face, which were the marks left by the battle with the death lord Sarufar, and the left cuff of his mage's robe was empty, and his left arm had been left on the battlefield in the wetlands forever, cut off by Luminas's black rune sword himself, and the pain of blood overflowing and being slaughtered made the archmage unable to let go of it to this day.

But what's even more terrifying is the news that the archmage brought back... Messages about the commanders of the front.

Dwarven King Magni. Your Majesty Copperbeard, missing... Suspected to have died in battle.

Human Commander Danas. Tol Bain, killed in battle.

Grand Knight of the Silver Hand Knights Saidan. Da Sohan, killed in battle.

The 3,500 Silver Hand Paladins who followed Dasuohan to the front line were all killed in battle, except for the 203 who miraculously survived in the end.

The 1,500 Battle Mages and 2,500 Ranger of the High Elf Firewing Mage Legion died in the final battle of the wetlands to cover the escape of the survivors.

If the fall of Stormwind City in the ravages of the undead was only a shock to the northern nobles, then now, at this moment, they really felt fear, and the thought that the undead had advanced to the wetlands, and there was only a stone's throw away from the Arathi Heights at the entrance to the northern frontier, and some timid nobles were frightened.

In recent weeks, there has been a wave of immigration towards Kurtiras within the Human Empire in the Northern Frontier, and those who are most desperate believe that the Human Empire will not be able to stop the black undead, and that the Eastern Continent will fall sooner or later, and the island nation of Kurtilas, far from the mainland, will become the last place of existence of the Human Empire.

This turmoil caused by fear for a time caused the prices of goods to soar in the port of Bullallas, the largest city in Coultiras, and the people under the rule of the Proudmoor family, who ruled the area, complained.

But if these nobles who were anxious to avoid disaster knew that the King of the Dark Blades, who had become synonymous with fear in the Eastern Continent, had set his sights on Kul Tiras in the last few days, they didn't know how they would feel.

Of course, in the face of a strong enemy, the huge human empire naturally cannot be full of cowards who want to escape, and no matter how corrupt a ruling class is, there will always be people who will stand up and fulfill their own responsibilities and missions for the nearly 10 million residents of the entire northern Xinjiang.

"Ironforge Castle royal family representatives have arrived!"

"Representatives of the royal family of Quel'Salas have arrived!"

"The Brute Hammer Dwarves are here!"

"Stormwind Kingdom representative!"

With the clear voices of the attendants, one after another representatives entered the royal court of Alterac City, and unlike the solemn and solemn place in the past, the atmosphere of the king and the delegates in the same room was very solemn, and the foreboding feeling of impending disaster was weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.

The flags of the Seven Kingdoms and the coats of arms of the great nobles fluttered above the tall palace of the palace, and on the walls on both sides, their respective battle flags were prepared for today's foreign visitors, and the flags of some international organizations were also hung at the entrance to the palace, such as the Church of the Light, the Knights of the Silver Hand, the Dalaran Mage Association, and the Explorers Association.

On the throne of the court, the current emperor Lothar was dressed in a robe, the few remaining gray hairs on the top of his head were neatly combed, and he wore the imperial crown on his head, which was not luxurious, and was standing in front of his place, welcoming everyone who entered the court.

His Majesty the Emperor was very gentle today, and he did not have the anxiety and anger that he had some time ago.

But as everyone knows, there will be important decisions to be made at today's meeting, whether the participants want it or not.

"A lot of sad things have happened during this time."

As the doors of the court slowly closed and the meeting began, Emperor Lothar rose from his seat, looked at the people at the huge round table in front of him, and said in a calm tone:

"First the kingdom of Stormwind fell under the iron hooves of the undead, and I saw with my own eyes the hellish sight, and when the ship full of refugees docked in the town of Nanhai, I thought it was a wake-up call, a wake-up call above all of us, to tell us what had changed in the world."

The Emperor nodded to Countess Caterina, who was present on behalf of the Stormwind Kingdom, who was dressed in a plain black robe with strips of white cloth on her arms, and she responded with a sad smile.

Lothar's gaze turned to the others, resting for a moment on the eyes of each king, and at last he spoke again:

"I had hoped that the bell of this catastrophe would unite us and use all our strength to face the provocation of evil."

"But unfortunately, we didn't."

"When our dwarven friends in Ironforge call for help, we should be aware that a kingdom of important allies is suffering the same calamity as the Stormwind Kingdom, and we should do everything in our power to help them, but we... No. ”

Lothar's deep voice made the young king of Stormgard, who had just succeeded to the throne, Garin. Thorbain bowed his head in shame, he knew why His Majesty the Emperor would say such a thing.

Back in Danas. Before Torbairn, the cousin of the young king Garin, went on the expedition, the Emperor of Lothar personally invited him to have a long talk, wanting Stormgard to send more forces to follow General Danas, but King Garin refused, because many ministers in the kingdom were against large-scale troops, and they had good reasons, several major wars took place in the Arathi Heights, and the civilians of the Stormgard Kingdom were already miserable.

King Garin had thought it was the right choice, but now, after confirming his cousin, the best general in all of Stormgard, he realized... I was wrong.

"We should have persuaded our wise allies to join us in preserving all the precious forces on the side of the living, rallying around us to resist death, but... We don't. ”

Lothar's gaze briefly lingered on the present Prince of Kael'thas for a moment, and the handsome and wise High Elf Prince, although his face remained unchanged, was under the table, and his fists on his knees were also clenched tightly.

There was some regret and pain in Kael'thas eyes, the human emperor had personally gone to Quel'Thalas to ask Quel'Thalas to send world-famous magical power to help humans and dwarves, but the intricate power struggle within the Silvermoon Council made the Firewing Legion and the Far Wanderer Legion, which should have been fully dispatched, only use less than a tenth of their strength in the end.

Prince Kael'thas felt ashamed of himself, and he felt that if he had held out at the resolution meeting of Quel'Thalas, he might have been able to win more support, so that those compatriots who died in Kazmodan would not have suffered such a terrible end.

And this tragic defeat also caused the Archmage of Romance who returned to Quel'Salas to completely sever ties with the other Silvermoon Councilors, and the archmage who survived the catastrophe has firmly sided with Kael'thas side.

"We should have taken advantage of this catastrophe to inspire the courage and will of the people with a firm confrontation, and sent all the people of insight to where they should be, so that they could play their best role in their own posts, but we... No. ”

The Emperor's last words made the Grand Master of the Silver Hand Knights, who had been given the honorary surname Uther by the royal family of Lordaeron a few months earlier. The Lightbringer bowed his head in pain.

This time, there should have been two great knights heading to Kazmodan, Tirio. Ferding and Sedan. Da Sohan, but just a week before his departure, a small man named Bathras, a small man named Barthras, in the old Fording's fiefdom, secretly reported the Grand Knight Old Fording to the Knights of the Silver Hand, saying that he was abusing his power and harboring dangerous orcs.

It turned out later that it was just a delusion and slander of a despicable villain, and there was indeed an orc staying in the old Ferdin's house for a few days, but it was the son of the frostwolf chieftain who was secretly placed in the kingdom of Lordaeron and existed as a proton, Thrall.

Fordin didn't do anything wrong, but because of some disgusting struggles within the Silver Hand and Lordaeron, Fordin was imprisoned for nearly a week, missing the time to go to the Kazmodan front with Dasohan, and if Fedin was by his side when Dasohan was killed, maybe Dasohan wouldn't...

"We made a mistake, guys."

Lothar didn't want to blame anyone, he knew very well that the insults and accusations would only make the situation worse when the disaster had already happened, but he didn't want to "play games" with the king and the nobles anymore, whether they wanted to or not, and with the undead knocking at any moment, Lothar had already made a final choice.

"In the face of the raging undead, the Holy Arathas Empire must truly twist into a rope in order to see the hope of victory, we must remove internal barriers, and we must truly unite spiritually."

The Emperor's fist slammed into the table in front of him, and the sound caused everyone to look up at him, and Lothar took a deep breath and announced to the crowd in front of him:

"With the divine rights bestowed by the Emperor's Elected Emperor and bloodline, I declare! From this day forward, the Holy Araso Empire is at war! All kingdoms must dispatch at least two-thirds of their standing armies to the Arathi Heights within one month, and these armies will be under my personal command and those of my chosen commanders. ”

"The Knights of the Silver Hand, from today onwards, all qualified male and female young men and women over the age of 16 in the Seven Kingdoms will be recruited to form the Silver Hand Reserve Knights, and all the current official knights will cancel their vacations and rush to the battlefield of Arathi within 15 days!"

"From today onwards, the Holy Light Church must shift its focus to the production of holy water and protective scrolls, in previous battles, it has been proven that holy water can cause devastating damage to low-level undead, and protective scrolls can also protect paladins and high-level undead from being infected by evil plagues."

"The Council of Six in Dalaran must also select qualified mages to join the battle mage sequence from today, and in 1 month, I hope to see a magical force that can decide the battle on the battlefield of Arathi Heights!"

Lothar's voice echoed in the court, and the solemn and stern order made some nobles tremble, and it was only today that they really saw the terrible majesty of the emperor in Lothar, which could mobilize the royal power of nearly 10 million people with a single sentence.

"And you, dwarven friends from Ironforge and Eagle's Nest."

In silence, Lothar's gaze turned to Moella, who was sitting at the end of the round table. Princess Copperbeard, as well as the High Lord of Furstad, and Prince Kael'thas said to the representatives of the dwarves and elves:

"It's a sad thing to see what happened at the Railroad Fort, and I know that the Copperbeard Dwarves have suffered terrible losses, but I still hope that Copperbeard will be able to use his power to join the Empire's war sequence with the Hammer Dwarves and the Quel'Thalas... I don't know if I'll be able to defeat the undead..."

Lothar took a deep breath and looked at them, his fist waving in the air:

"But I can be sure that no one will be able to cross our lines and hurt your people until I, the Emperor of the Holy Arathor Empire, die on the battlefield!"

The Emperor's voice grew louder and louder, and he turned his head to look at the human kings with different expressions, and finally the gentle and supportive gaze of the old Archbishop of the Holy Light, Ao, who stood up with the support of the Grand Knight Uther, and leaned slightly towards Lothar, and said to the others in a weak tone like an old man:

"Holy Light Church, obey Your Majesty's orders."

This weak voice, like a real hammer, hammered into the hearts of everyone present, and Lothar could not help but clench his fists, he looked at the others, and shouted in an almost roaring tone:

"I implore everyone to give their own efforts for the survival of Northern Xinjiang, who is willing to dedicate themselves to this great cause with me! Who is willing to sacrifice everything with me for the burning of the true spiritual fire of the Empire? Stand out! ”

"Stand up and stand with me! Let the undead see, they will never be able to destroy us. ”

The emperor's roar echoed through the court, and with the double encouragement of shame and excitement, Garin. His Majesty Thorbairn was the first to stand up and hold out his hand towards the Emperor, then the Admiral of Kul Tiras, then the Countess of Stormwind, then the Archmage of Dalaran, then the Prince of Gilneth, and finally, the calm-faced King Terenus.

When the hands of the seven humans, the hands of the two dwarves, and the hands of the elves were tightly clenched, the true Iron Alliance, under the weight of death, was completely revived.