While the zerg fleet was engaging the Tal’darim in the air, they weren’t holding back on the ground either.

Hundreds of drop pods unloaded nearly twenty thousand elite zerg units around the Tal’darim position. After what happened on Monlyth, Kerrigan learned her lesson. Instead of toying with her prey, she smashed down with an iron fist. She was planning on taking out the Tal’darim defenders and get to the artifact as quickly as possible.

The Tal’darim pulled all their units back to around the temple and gave up the rest of the planet, and the zerg didn’t hesitate to set up hatcheries and mining bases while their forces engaged the Tal’darim.

The protoss were outnumbered by over seven to one. They have lost all their vanguards during the attack on the terran base. Nyon pulled back all his wrathwalkers, ascendants, and elite supplicant forces. Those were still fighting were relatively weak.

Still, they held back the zerg with immense sacrifice. Even as their bodies were ripped apart by zerg claws, the zealots used their last dying breath to stick their bane blades into the zerg in front of them. Slayers tried their best to blink out of danger and fire their particle disruptors as many times as possible.

Meanwhile, a blood hunter arrived at the entrance to the temple. Nine other blood hunters and twenty supplicant zealots followed him.

“Zealots, secure the entrance.” The leading blood hunter ordered. The zealots obeyed and formed two lines in front of the several dozen meter tall gate as the blood hunters entered.

A few minutes passed before one of the zealots suddenly saw something from a distance away. At first he didn’t see what it was, but the figures were approaching quickly, and he wasn’t blind.

“Terran dropships. To arms!”

All the zealots ignited their weapons. There was nothing they could do against the transport themselves, but they were ready to slaughter anyone that got out.

Unfortunately, they never had a chance to play it fair.

Eight vikings dove down. One of the zealots swung his blade in excitement, but instead of turning into assault mode, these fighters unloaded sixteen lanzer torpedoes into the two lines of Tal’darim zealots.

Explosions ripped the elite ground forces apart. As the elite guards of the Sixth Ascendant of the Tal’darim, these warriors were experienced, well armed, and determined. Unfortunately, none of them allowed the zealots to jump into the air and cut open the fighters with their swords.

Five dropships landed on the ground while the vikings patrolled in the air. Jean and her 74 Warden units walked out.

One of the supplicant zealots survived. It was the leading supplicant zealot. His shield was gone and so was one of his arms. He tried to charge forward while swinging the left arm he had left, but his attempt was shut down by a single bullet to the head. Without being halted by the plasma shield, the single round penetrated the protoss’ bare skin.

The Warden units spread out and made sure all the Tal’darim were down before Jean walked out of one of the transports.

“Return to the Hyperion and wait for further orders.”

As she walked out, Jean ordered through the comm. This place was unsafe. She could take cover and use the terrain to her advantage in the temple, but out here in the open if the terran were under attack they would have nowhere to run. The Tal’darim and the Swarm were killing each other in the outer flanks and every protoss was either sent into the front line or brought back to prepare for evacuation, which meant it was unlikely for them to come here. Nonetheless, Jean was a carefully person. If the Tal’darim or the swarm decided to send a strike team here, she didn’t want to lose the dropships and the vikings. As sad as it sounded, the eight vikings were her only air combatants. She couldn’t afford to lose them.

“Yes sir.” One of the pilots hesitated. “Take care, sir. If you need any help, give us a call, and we will be here ASAP.”

In this world, it was extremely rare for commanders to care about their men. Someone as nice as Jean attracted respect from her men.

“Copy that.” Jean replied quietly before turning to the Warden channel. “Advance.”

Warden units entered the temple. Marauders were in the front. Marines covered the sides and the back. Warden reapers scouted ahead with the impressive mobility they received from their jetpacks. Jean was in the center. As she walked, she tapped a key on her helmet.

A mechanical voice rang in her armor.

“Combat Assistant A001 online. Awaiting instructions now.”

“Proceed with the standard protocol.”

One of the benefits of not having any emotion at all was the ability to see everything. Without arrogance or pride, Jean could easily see and deal with problems that would’ve been otherwise ignored. She knew she was inexperienced in the art of combat, so she discovered a way to deal with it.

Terran bodies were weak. That was a fact. She wasn’t psionically capable either. Things like infestation could enhance her body and make her a powerful combatant, but the price was losing her mind.

Jean frowned upon the idea of exchanging her own conscious for power. If she gained power but was no longer herself, she would have lost everything.

She turned her eyes to what she did best: Programming. The Warden units gave her an idea. If she could program Warden Command Units that could analyze the situation and come up with the ideal way to counter the actions done by the enemies, then why couldn’t she program an AI to help herself in combat?

Thus came the Warden Combat Assistant. An AI installed in her personal armor that was linked to the Warden security network and controlled most of the functions on her armor, the Combat Assistant could make her much more capable in the field.

Meanwhile, in a large open space at the center of the temple, the leading blood hunter watched as four blood hunters loaded the artifact piece into a cart. He suddenly turned to the direction of the entrance.

“What?” A fellow blood hunter hissed. He didn’t use any address because he and the blood hunter leading this party were of equal rank. That blood hunter was only the leader because he happened to be the one beside Nyon when he gave the order to retrieve the artifact.

“The warriors at the door are gone.”

The second blood hunter held a straight face. He knew how difficult it was to be a supplicant of someone as powerful as Nyon, and the fact that twenty supplicant zealots were gone in seconds meant they were facing an enemy with incredible power.

“What is your command?”

“We will hold our ground and guard the artifact. Meanwhile, I will request for reinforcements from our master.” Asking for help was shameful, but losing a piece of god’s artifact is worse.

“My queen, overseers have located the Xel’naga shrine! It appears like Tal’darim forces are inside it. Shall we send landing parties?”

Inside Kerrigan’s throne room, a broodmother suggested. The Swarm had the advantage in numbers. The more units they could send on to the ground and the more points of contact there were, the better it was for them. If they could send out a large amount of drop pods into the center of the Tal’darim lines, they might take heavy losses, but they would allow the zerg to break through much quicker. Plus, a boarding party could prevent the Tal’darim from evacuating the artifact as easily.

Kerrigan silently closed her eyes, and for a moment she shared the sight of the overseer closest to the Xel’naga shrine.

She spotted twenty Tal’darim zealots in front of the entrance. They seemed to be elite, but to someone like her it was just a matter of a few extra seconds.

“If I may, my queen, may I speak my doubt.”

“Go on.”

“Our overseers have spotted at least a thousand elite Tal’darim warriors, along with three giant walkers capable of immense destructive potential. If they are sent into battle, our losses will be amplified, but the Tal’darim commander chose to hide them.” The broodmother paused and waved her claws. “He might be preparing for some trickery. I suggest we take caution.”

“Your tactical mindset is on point, Zagara, but you have failed to consider factors outside the tactical ones.”

“I don’t understand, my queen.”

“What do you know of the Tal’darim social structure?”

“Not much, my queen.”

Kerrigan was in a good mood. “The Tal’darim have a rigid command structure known as the Chain of Ascension. The Highlord is at the top of the chain. The First Ascendant is slightly lower. The Second Ascendant is lower than the First. Ascendants can rise in the chain by defeating those above.” She smirked. “It’s to ensure only the strongest shall lead the Tal’darim. Such a foolish tradition. Countless elite warriors, died at the hands of their own people.”

“Indeed, yet I don’t understand how that is important.”

Kerrigan sighed. Zagara was one of her most trusted lieutenants. Her viciousness intrigued her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as intelligent as Kerrigan had hoped. “The power of Ascendants lies in two things. Combat ability and supplicant army. If an Ascendant loses his supplicant army, he will be challenged and he will lose.”

Zagara wasn’t hopelessly dumb. After all, she was literally bred for war. “I understand. The Tal’darim commander wants to preserve his forces.” She twisted her body in satisfaction. “The selfishness of the protoss will cost them their precious artifact!”

“Correct. Zagara, prepare to send…”

Suddenly, she stopped. Zagara realized something and connected onto another overseer relatively close to the shrine.

She saw five terran dropships and eight fighters approaching the shrine. The twenty zealots were instantly obliterated. The fighters and the dropships departed, but not without leaving a small terran strike team behind.

“Raynor!” Kerrigan held her teeth tight. She could still remember the last time when the man took the first artifact away from her. It was a blow to the head.

She wouldn’t let that happen again.

At first she didn’t mind hunting down Raynor and his rag tagged forces. She knew he, unlike the Tal’darim, wasn’t burdened by the duty to protect the artifact and could escape whenever he needed to. Chasing after him would be a futile attempt.

But now the man was really taking his chances. Did he really think she was still the pathetic ghost agent that once slept with him? She was a changed woman, and just because she spared Raynor during the Brood War didn’t mean she still cared about him.

If she needed to, she could blast Raynor to pieces without raising an eyebrow.

“Deploy the drop pods. Surround the shrine and wait for further orders. Kill anything that comes out.” Kerrigan turned around and walked out of the throne room.

“My queen?”

“Prepare my drop pod. This time, I will get things done myself.”

“Sixth Ascendant has answered my request. In his wisdom, he has decided to forgive our sins and has agreed to personally lead an army to come to our aid.”

Suddenly, the sound of gauss rifles echoed through the empty temple. The deep groan of a blood hunter came in through the communication device.

“It’s the sentry. The attackers are terran, and they have reached the gate.”

One of the blood hunters realized. They posed four sentries at four key paths to the room the artifact was in. Their job was to delay, weaken, or even slaughter potential enemies that tried to come here with their cloaking ability and the element of surprise. The sound they just heard was the sound of one of the sentries dying. “They must have brought detection.”

“Doesn’t matter.” The first blood hunter swung his scythe. “Prepare for battle. The Forged will slaughter them to the last.”

Blood hunters were generally used as assassins, but that was by no means saying they could only fight enemies who couldn’t retaliate. When necessary, they could charge against a hail of bullets into an army of enemies as well as every other zealot or ascendant. Whether or not they could survive the process was another thing.