Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: Aftermath

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As the others came to terms with the fact that Leah was alive and well, despite her transformed form, Luna placed both of her weapons on her back before holding out a hand for her love to take, which Leah took without delay and allowed herself to be pulled up onto her new feet.

"Okay, just... need to get used to my new weight and form." Leah commented, as she knew how to walk, given everything she had done before meeting Luna, and yet now her body felt alien, totally different from what she was expecting, since her legs were now structured differently and the dragon claws just felt weird, but it also felt right as well, and that wasn't saying anything about the new tail, her wings, or her new head, "One question: why am I a dragon?"

"Because the original Prime Evil, Tathamet, was said to be a seven headed dragon." Tyrael replied, which was just a guess on his part, since there was no reason for Leah to do something different than Diablo, but at the same time he really wasn't about to question it, because Luna was involved and that meant things were crazy, "I will be honest, I'm honestly not sure how this came to pass, but at least Diablo has been defeated... the Eternal Conflict is over."

"No, Tyrael, it is not." a voice said, where they found that Imperius marched up the stairs and leveled his weapon with Leah's chest, like he still saw her as the monster that had invaded the Heavens, while at the same time his angels stood behind him as the group turned to face the Archangel of Valor, "So long as the Prime Evil exists, and the forces of Hell still threaten the rest of creation, our battle is not over... I WILL destroy our foes."

In the next moment Imperius rushed at Leah and thrust his spear forward, where she raised a single finger and stopped the weapon it's tracks, much to the surprise of everyone that was around them since they weren't expecting such a thing, before she pushed the spear backwards and punched her foe in the chest, not damaging his armor while sending him flying into the angels that were behind him.

"I would rather you didn't try to murder me, since I just got my life back." Leah remarked, though at the same time she did have to glance at her hands for a moment, since she was surprised by the fact that she had been able to push Imperius back like that, before guessing that this was the power of the seven Evils in a single body, or seven sealed in the Black Soulstone with her being above all of them thanks to Luna's special seal, "Luna, this is a random thought, but... do you think we can, I don't know, split the Black Soulstone into smaller shards, each containing a specific Evil but none of their power, and then using the Hellforge to permanently erase the Evils?"

"My creation wasn't designed for such a thing... you would have to break it into seven smaller shards and an eighth, a core of sorts to hold their collective power." Kulle stated, because he knew the ins and outs of the soulstones by this point in time, but at the same time he didn't know everything about Luna, her power, or even the seal she had used on his creation, so his mind was open to the possibilities, "Luna's seal might be able to help you do such a thing, though with the two of us working together we should be able to remove the leaders of Hells at last... we'd have to track down Adria, to be sure she doesn't do anything stupid again. Wouldn't want to try and remove the Evils, only for her to bind them together again."

"Then let us return to Bastion's Keep and see how she's fairing... I left her in Azmodan's domain, on a spike." Luna said, since she had been so burdened by anger when Adria betrayed them, yet now that anger was finally burning away and she was feeling more like herself again, even though she knew that she could call on the chill, where she mentally labeled it as her new 'Aspect of Winter' form, "Do you want your sword back?"

"I... don't know? I think it'll be some time before I'm ready to use a weapon again." Leah answered, there was too much for her to recall and remaster, skills she had known before her mother's betrayal, and right now she was feeling like learning how to use her magical bow and arrows again would be a good start, before she held a hand out and watched as the magic formed into her bow, "Let's test this out."

Luna barely had time to say anything as Leah recalled how to use her bow and loosed an arrow, where the flaming arrow just tore through the floor in front of Imperius, as she had aimed it in front of where he was resting, blasting a large hole in the walkway and the structure that was diagonal from where she was standing.

"Hehe... oh boy, that's not what I was expecting." Leah remarked, as that was a nervous laugh, she had known that her new power was greater than what it had been before she was betrayed by Adria, but now her power was on par with Diablo's, or even stronger thanks to all the power Luna had poured into her soul to make her stronger than her father, "Luna... I think we'll need to resume our lessons... immediately."

Luna nodded, as it seemed like both of them were in need of some lessons to make sure they could control their newfound powers, though at the very least she could see that this did cause the lesser angels to reconsider their actions, since even those that followed Imperius were no longer in trying to murder Leah. With that in mind she had Leah focus on returning all of them, their group anyway, to the battlefield outside Bastion's Keep, where Leah decided to do a bit of practice first, she took some small bits of rubble and warped them from one part of the Crystal Arch to another. Interestingly enough none of them had to worry about anything, as she figured out how to make sure her spell worked as intended, allowing Luna to do what she could to help Leah master her newfound powers, but this was a good step in the right direction. Once Leah was ready to go she brought everyone together and formed a magical circle around them, where Kulle and the others watched as they were surrounded by magic before vanishing from existence, only to appear in the battlefield Azmodan's forces had been marching across previously.

This allowed them a chance to help Leah remaster how to walk, since walking across the snow meant that she didn't have to be worried about hurting herself if she fell, though Luna did see that Leah balanced herself with her arms out to make sure she got used to the new structure of her legs. It reminded her of when she landed in New Tristram, she had spent some time figuring out how to move her new body and mastering skills she had mastered back when she was living in Equestria, and this time around she could return the favor that Leah had given her at the time. Valla and the Nephalem decided to return to Bastion's Keep, to tell everyone else that the battle was definitely over and that the Evils had been defeated, they didn't need to know how the details about how they were betrayed and that Leah was now the Prime Evil. Tyrael and Kulle followed the pair, mostly to sate their curiosity on Leah's new form, her powers, and everything else that had been discovered so far, all while thinking about what this meant for the future of Sanctuary.

"You know, there was a spell Celestia used quite often, one that allowed her to disguise herself as an ordinary pony for some amount of time... I believe she called it a 'vestige' form or something." Luna commented, speaking as Leah struggled to get used to her new form, though at the same time she and the others gave her some clothing, mostly rags, since Imperius had burned away her clothes and Leah had only just now realized that she was in the nude, meaning they should get her some new clothing in the near future, "I used a similar spell to transform into Nightmare Moon's form once, but it didn't last long since I set the spell for only a handful of minutes... I also used the vestige spell a few times as well, to blend in with ponies and act like a normal pony for a time. Celestia usually picked a pegasus, I usually went with a unicorn or pegasus... I should be able to teach you the spell, help you take on a vestige form to avoid showing everyone your new form."

"I see. That's actually quite wonderful." Leah remarked, and it was, because it meant she could head into cities and towns without worrying about frightening anyone, she just had to learn and master the spell, though she also knew that Luna had refrained from using the spell since everyone had accepted her despite her unique form, before she thought of something they had talked about in the past, "You know, you said that you would summon Nightfell when you needed it... why don't you have it now?"

"Honestly? Don't know... I tried to summon it, but it never came." Luna answered, which had been on her mind since she tried such a thing, this was the first time her weapon had failed to come to her call, and it caused her to think about a fact she hadn't considered before this point in time, "In fact I've been thinking about it and I think it went to Nightmare Moon instead... remember how I told you how she jumped out of my body and attacked Celestia? Well, it's possible that she was sent to another world, either the same as my sister or an entirely different one, and since both Solarion and Nightfell have wills of their own... we've seen them from time to time... it's possible that Nightfell realized that I didn't need it and went to Nightmare Moon's aid. Just a guess, mind you."

Leah didn't know what to make of that fact, especially since what she had learned was that Luna's other side was dark, as in an 'evil' side of herself, so it made her wonder what sort of damage the figure could do with the weapon, before focusing on the path in front of them as they continued forward. She eventually got the hang of walking with her new legs and feet, so she no longer fell over or was threatened by such a thing, allowing them to cross the border between Bastion's Keep and the outer edge of Azmodan's realm, since his Gate was still shattered and the way was still open. This allowed them to see that the demons of Hell continued to do what the rest of the demons had done when Diablo was the Prime Evil, they seemed to acknowledge Leah's presence and bowed their heads, as if fearing that she would smite them where they stood. Leah did bring up that they needed to come up with a new title for herself, she didn't want to be known as the 'Prime Evil', giving them something to think about as Luna helped them track down the path to where Azmodan had been resting, before they killed him and sealed him in the Black Soulstone.

Sure enough they tracked down where Luna had left Adria, the bloody spike that was now soaked in her blood, and yet the witch was nowhere to be seen, causing the pair to frown for a moment as they found a trail of blood that wandered off for a time before cutting off, meaning Adria had forced herself to warp out of here.

"So, she's still alive... I guess we have some hunting to do as well." Leah commented, though part of her had been hoping for them to find her mother dead on the spike, she was still angry over being betrayed like that after all, since finding Adria dead on the spike would have allowed them to move on with their lives, and she could tell that the others sighed as they vowed to help them track the traitorous witch down.

As Luna nodded she spotted a few wisps of something, or someone, who was connected to death vanishing from the area, no doubt someone had been watching over them, it was hard to say who it might be, but she knew that things would remain interesting for some time and made her interested in what the future held in store for them.

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