Tirion expected to be punished for the incident, but to his surprise, Arthas, who usually had no good attitude towards the orcs, turned a blind eye to it.
He was still the Highlord of Hearthglen and a Paladin of the Silver Hand.
The Light did not abandon him for harboring an Orc; instead, Tirion felt his understanding of the Way of Light had deepened.
From that moment, this noble paladin began to ponder whether humanity's understanding of the Light was somewhat skewed, believing that this power did not originate from faith, but from conviction.
This vague idea caused Tirion to ponder day and night, and eventually, he decided to gradually transfer his authority to his young son, while he himself would live in seclusion on a farm outside Hearthglen, contemplating the true meaning of the Light.
Even Alonsus Faol was unaware of Tirion's past act of harboring an Orc; his relationship with Eitrigg was known only to Arthas.
However, Tirion himself still felt guilty about concealing the truth; whenever he felt lost, he would come to the cemetery here, both to confide in the former Archbishop and to question his own conscience.
As the matter needed to be kept secret, Tirion usually came to the cemetery alone at night, and just as he was about to leave, he sensed something unusual.
The paladin found a place to hide himself, but the overly fresh bouquet he left behind made Lothar wary, though he didn't think much of it.
After all, generally speaking, no one would come to the cemetery to mourn late at night.
When Tirion discovered that the two had opened Archbishop Faol's tomb and entered it, he believed their motives were certainly impure; whether it was malicious destruction of the Archbishop's tomb or something else, Tirion had to stop them.
So he followed Arthas and Lothar into the tomb, intending to strike first, but to his surprise, his sneak attack was blocked by Lothar.
Although he was old, Tirion was still quite confident in his strength. Lothar's ability to easily block his attack indicated that the opponent's strength was at least no worse than his own.
However, when Lothar's face appeared before him, even the resolute Tirion wavered for a moment, even wondering if he was being misled by some illusion.
"I never thought I'd be able to speak to you face-to-face, Sir," Tirion's expression was incredibly complex; he had now confirmed Lothar's undead status.
"I also never thought I'd crawl out of the grave."
"Time truly flies; it's already been over a decade," Tirion gazed at Lothar, frowning as he asked, "But... Sir, what exactly is the matter with your current state?"
Lothar had initially intended to muddle through, but facing his friend's gaze, he sighed and truthfully said, "As you can see, I was 'resurrected' as an undead."
Before Tirion could press further, Arthas interjected.
"I resurrected Lothar."
With that, he drew Frostmourne from his waist; the surrounding temperature plummeted, and even the Light in the tomb was suppressed a bit.
Tirion's face instantly changed. He stared at Arthas and whispered, "Prince Arthas, this sword—"
"Every paladin would consider it a symbol of ill omen and curse," Arthas returned the runeblade to its scabbard, and the temperature in the tomb slowly rose again.
Tirion was very puzzled. Arthas did not seem to be blinded by an evil creature. If that was the case, why would Arthas wield such a dangerous runeblade?
"If it were another knight, perhaps I wouldn't reveal the truth, but Tirion, to you, I can tell you without reservation that I came here today to resurrect Archbishop Faol."
Upon hearing the words "resurrect," Tirion's gaze flickered slightly. "Prince Arthas, the resurrection you speak of... it couldn't be..."
"That's right, it's in a state like Lothar's."
Tirion did not directly object. He said, "Arthas... what you are doing will inevitably cause an uproar, and even the Silver Hand will refuse to acknowledge your identity."
The paladin no longer used honorifics when addressing Arthas. It went without saying that Tirion was still opposed to this matter, but he had not yet shown a strong attitude.
Arthas seemed to have anticipated Tirion's reaction. He was not in a hurry to persuade Tirion. The Prince Arthas placed his hand on the Archbishop's coffin and slowly said, "Tirion, you should have already comprehended the true meaning of the Light, haven't you?"
"Powerful Light-users, through their mastery of the Light, can heal bodily wounds, dispel diseases and toxins, and even recall the souls of the deceased, performing the miracle of resurrecting the dead."
Tirion could not refute, because he knew that every word Arthas said was correct. Achieving true resurrection of the dead was not impossible, but it required extremely stringent conditions.
Firstly, the deceased's remains must be intact, and the time of death cannot be too long, otherwise the soul will instinctively move away from the body; moreover, the injuries on the deceased's body must be healed at the same time as the resurrection, otherwise, at the moment of resurrection, it is very likely that the already fragile body will not be able to retain the soul.
Furthermore, for the same individual, only one resurrection can be endured over a considerable period, this is because a mortal's soul cannot withstand the consumption during resurrection.
Even powerful Wild Gods cannot resurrect at will; when their physical bodies are slain, it also causes damage to their souls, and forced resurrection will shorten their lifespan and diminish their strength.
So they rely on the Emerald Dream to nourish their souls, and only when their souls are strong enough can they return to the material world and reshape their bodies.
However, the most crucial point is that such normal resurrection methods are ineffective for those whose lifespan has reached its end.
Because mortals do not have a direct connection between their souls and the Emerald Dream like Wild Gods, allowing them to receive nourishment and protection, thus becoming 'immortal' in a sense. A mortal's soul will weaken along with the decay of their body, unless they are an individual with powerful magic who can forcibly suppress this weakening, or even completely transform themselves into a soul state without dissipating.
Tirion was unsure if the Archbishop possessed such power to make his soul never perish, but he knew that Arthas's actions were against common sense and quite dangerous.
Because the "resurrection" Arthas spoke of was not a true resurrection in the conventional sense, but rather the binding of a soul within a shell, creating an undead form primarily driven by the soul but also possessing a physical body.
After being transformed into undead, necromantic energy and dark magic, which are difficult for normal souls to absorb and utilize, become quite easy to draw upon, and the undead can sustain their existence by absorbing these dark energies.
High-ranking undead like Lothar can even, by their very presence, increase the intensity of dark energy in a given area, as their ability to attract and absorb these energies far surpasses that of ordinary undead cannon fodder.
However, Tirion, as a paladin, found it difficult to accept Arthas's approach, because during the Second Orcish Wars, some Warlocks of the Horde used this method to send the souls of fallen Orc Warlocks into the bodies of human knights.
This was the birth of the first generation of Death Knights, but their combat style was no different from when they were alive, as they were spellcasters and could directly use spells.
However, warriors like Lothar, who were previously unfamiliar with magic, when transformed into Death Knights, used runes to rationally mobilize death energy, forming a new combat style.
"Tirion, just as you believe, even among the orcs there are noble ones. In my opinion, power is indistinguishable; it only depends on its wielder. Even dark magic can fight for justice!"
With that, a powerful burst of Holy Light erupted from Arthas's hand, forming a solid barrier that trapped Tirion within it. Lothar, seeing this, quickly dodged to avoid being affected.
For Tirion, such high-intensity Holy Light merely temporarily overwhelmed his own mastery of the Light, rendering him unable to channel its power. But for an undead like Lothar, it was simply a terrifying beam of destruction.
Under Arthas's Holy Light, Tirion was surprised to find that he could hardly control this level of Holy Light energy, and because of the excessively high purity of the Holy Light, the weakness in his body due to old age even began to gradually disappear.
—This was both a blessing and a cage.
Tirion was forced to accept the benefits the Holy Light brought him, yet he could not stop Arthas's subsequent actions. He could only watch as Arthas plunged Frostmourne into the center of the magic circle.
Under the illumination of the Holy Light, another entirely opposite dark death energy rapidly gathered. The dark materials Arthas had cast down quickly transformed into liquid under this energy surge, flowing into the patterns on the stone bricks.
Due to the concentration of Holy Light around Tirion, the Holy Light energy in the tomb was inevitably drawn away, leaving no interference from Holy Light energy except for the spot where Tirion stood.
However, this attempt to control two forces simultaneously made Arthas extremely cautious. Although his physique had long surpassed that of ordinary people, if a violent collision of energies occurred, the outcome would certainly not be good.
This was also why he initially intended to have Lothar help him suppress the Holy Light, but now, due to Tirion's intervention, the original plan was disrupted.
"Wait—Arthas!"
A dark shockwave spread out, forcefully pushing back Tirion's next words. Lothar raised his hand to block in front of him, and Arthas himself also retreated a step due to the force of the shockwave.
The ripple-like death and darkness gradually faded, and the once gleaming tomb instantly dimmed. Just as the Holy Light blessing Tirion received ended, he strode to Arthas's side, placed a large hand on the Prince Arthas's shoulder, and was about to question Arthas when a dull scraping sound echoed.
Arthas narrowed his eyes, staring at the stone coffin in the center of the tomb. A slightly withered hand propped open the edge of the coffin lid, slowly pushing it open.
Archbishop Faol, somewhat gaunt but still retaining his appearance from life, sat up from the stone coffin like an old man who had just woken up. His lowered eyelids opened the moment he sat upright, and the soul flames burning in his eyes proved that Arthas's ritual had succeeded.
Pure death energy surged from the Archbishop's body, but that tidal wave of deathly intent quickly receded, replaced by the pure Holy Light energy that Tirion was incredibly familiar with.
The Archbishop calmly looked at the three people before him and said in a hoarse voice, "The Light never treats the world with narrowness or prejudice."
Tirion's eyes widened, and even Lothar looked at Archbishop Faol in disbelief. He had thought Arthas intended to turn the Archbishop into a powerful Lich, but the current situation was completely unexpected.
—The Archbishop, resurrected as an undead, was still protected by the Light.
Only Arthas's face showed a smile. He had never intended to make Tirion agree with his actions through words, so he chose a somewhat radical approach, because when the Archbishop revived, he would use the actual situation to silence Tirion.
"Long time no see, Arthas, Lothar, and Tirion. I never thought so many familiar faces would be here to greet me when this old man crawled out of his coffin."
Arthas put away Frostmourne and bowed to Archbishop Faol, "Welcome back, Archbishop."