Five Purifier carriers and a mothership exited warp space above Zerus.

Delta and Viper stood at the bridge of the mothership. Jean was already put into stasis. While she was already dead, she wasn’t gone. The stasis field kept her body warm and opened up opportunities for further actions.

“Executor, we have detected multiple local packs.”

The Purifier AI controlling the mothership reported.

“Primal packs of local zerg, each commanded by their own pack leader.” Delta commented, but she wasn’t worried. The Purifiers has had enough time and resource to develop their forces. Just the ships Delta had with her held tens of thousands of Purifiers. They were enough to fight a war.

The primal zerg were good, but Purifiers were robots constructed by the most advanced race in the sector for war and war only. They weren’t weaklings either.

“Locate the primal spawning pool and bring us there.”

The carriers and the mothership descended. Random squads of primal flyers, powered by their feral nature, started to attack the Purifier ships. Their actions were made futile as the mothership and the carriers burned them to ashes and recharged the plasma shield they just grazed.

Observers were deployed across the planet. While some of the more powerful pack leaders could sense cloaked units just by their instincts, most of the primal zerg didn't mutate the necessary detection abilities simply because they have never faced cloaked enemies before. Therefore, they have never had a reason to make mutations accordingly. As a result, the observers had free reign over the planet.

In just minutes, one of them sent back some good news.

The Purifier ships reached the skies of the spawning pool.

“So this...thing is supposed to bring Jean back to life?”

Viper looked at the pool from one of the windows. The primal spawning pool, also known as the first spawning pool, was a body of water filled with purple liquid. It was by no means pretty, but it contained the essence of millions of years. Basically, it could make someone god, assuming that someone could survive the process.

If Kerrigan could enter the pool as a terran ghost and emerge as the Queen of Blades, then this pool should be enough to bring Jean Turner back to life.

But unlike with Kerrigan, Jean couldn’t just be placed into the pool and then come out alive and pretty. Kerrigan was one of the most powerful individuals in the sector even before the transformation, and Jean was as normal and vulnerable as human beings get.

Some preparation had to be done. Thankfully, Delta had the necessary resource.

Inside the Purifier data web, Amanda frowned. One second she was testing the effect of a plasma blade on a hybrid. The next second she was standing in front of Dr. Narud.

“Why did you pull me out?” She asked. It was hardly a second in reality, but it felt like an hour to her. “I was making progress.”

Dr. Narud, or rather Delta, replied.

“You have been given another task.” She handed Amanda a stack of file. Amanda felt her head spin a bit before finishing the entire file. “Primal zerg essence? Used to revive human beings? Is that even possible?”

“That’s what you have to find out.” Delta, under disguise, ordered.

Amanda nodded and backed off the room. She thought about returning to her lab. The moment that thought dashed across her conscious, she found herself back inside her lab. Not raising any doubt at all, she went to work.

As she “left”, Delta tapped another key, and another Amanda appeared in front of her.

“You have been given another task…”

After acquiring Amanda’s AI, Delta made thousands of duplicants. Each one of these AIs thought they were special, and all of them were put under similar situations and ordered to approach the same topic. The only difference was that they approached the problem from different fronts. For example, in regard to hybrids, some of them experimented with using traditional weapons to take them out while others attempted “hacking” into their nerve cords and killing or disabling them.

Back to the moment. The attention of thousands of Amandas were put onto the issue of Jean. They worked hard, but most of their simulations failed to return the desirable result.

So Delta took another step.

She put all the AIs into the same environment and then used chrono boost on that environment. Chrono boost referred to the process when a protoss capital ship or nexus used their Khaydarin crystals to accelerate the time in a small area. It was energy exhausting, but its effect was worth the price.

AIs already had unbelievable efficiency inside the Purifier network. They didn't need to rest and they would never need be held back by limitation in resources. After being placed under chrono boost, these research AIs functioned faster than any other research team from any other race.

Within an hour in the outside world, they managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

A plan was given to Delta, who immediately took action. A large power field was projected by the mothership and covered the entirety of the primal spawning pool. Two hundred photon cannons, initially constructed on the mothership, were warped onto the surface of Zerus. They were reinforced by three thousand legionnaires and on thousands adepts, as well as nearly a hundred immortals and colossus.

Several primal zerg that were wondering around the field were slaughtered. Their bodies were tossed into the spawning pool and were quickly dissolved.

All of the Purifier buildings and units were placed around the spawning pool. The pool itself was corrosive and could eat away at anything that stepped in.

Several specially constructed Purifier shelled stepped into the pool. Their shells were designed to withstand the corrosion. They were able to carry the stasis field that contained Jean’s body to the planet's surface and lowered it into the pool, along with a set of devices made for this purpose and this purpose alone.

Acid like pool water that contained the essence was pushed through a set of tubes and filters. Through the peak of Purifier technology, the essence was removed from the water and then pushed into the container, which just deactivated the stasis field over Jean.

Now harmless purple essence washed over Jean’s body. At first nothing happened, and the process continued.

Countless units of essence were forced into Jean’s body. Initially, the essence flowed around the container with no intention of entering Jean. The essence didn't recognize Jean’s body as a living being. However, as more essence was pushed into the container and none of them were allowed to leave, the essence density started to grow. Eventually, the essence were forced to go into the only option they had.

Inside the mothership, Delta suddenly tilted her head.

“What is it?”

Viper wondered, trying her best to take her eyes off the camera that showed Jean’s body in the middle of the purple midst.

“The primal zerg packs have noticed our presence, and they don’t enjoy it.” Delta’s mechanical eyes started turning as she passed down orders.

“Terminate all attackers.”

“As you wish, executor!”

Neither side tried to communicate with each other. Delta didn't feel the need to, and primal zerg weren’t exactly known for their love for peace.

Several packs started encrouching on the Purifier position. While the ground units were slower, the air forces from both races were the first to engage.

The primal zerg packs were made up of primal mutalisks and primal guardians. Unfortunately, just like the Tal’darim protoss, these primal units were limited by their social structure. The primal lived in the very definition of Darwinism. The only way for them to grow stronger was by killing other primal zerg, and all of their mutations were aimed to enhance their ability to survive.

This ensured all the primal units present were tough, but this also meant the primal zerg didn't have transports and, more importantly, capital ships.

After all, a capital ship by itself only meant a larger target.

The Purifiers, on the other hand, covered all fronts. Mirages were on the two flanks. Scouts were in front. The mothership remained over the spawning pool while the five carriers formed the main force against the zerg.

The battle turned one sided the moment it began. Another problem of the primal way of life was shown. The only order they received was to charge, and all of them charged with their top speed. Some mutalisks were faster than orders. In other words, several hundred mutalisks, the strongest in the horde, reached the Purifiers minutes before the rest of the thousands of mutalisks and guardians.

They were welcomed by a storm of projectiles. Ion cannons, anti-matter missiles, purifier beams, interceptors, and photon cannons opened fire with all the fury in the world.

The mutalisks fell like flies. Their simple mindedness prompted them to keep on moving forward, but this fearless natural only accelerated their demise. By the time the vanguards reached the Purifier fleet, they were already one fourth of their number.

They only had time to launch one wave of glaive worms before being gunned down. Mirages protected themselves with their phasing armor while scouts simply tanked the damage with their stronger shields.

By the time the last mutalisk fell, the rest of the primal fleet had finally arrived, but their best flyers were already gone.

Mirages and interceptors ravaged the rest of the mutalisks and the scouts shot the guardians out of the sky. Carriers advanced nearly unopposed. Their yellow purifier beams ripped through any defense and their photon cannons helped out the mirages with the mutalisks.

As the massacre continued in the air, the primal ground forces advanced. Several pack leaders led the charge.

Ten minutes later, these primal zerg turned and ran with their tail between their legs. Even the most stubborn pack leader had no choice but to run.

Zerglings, roaches, and hydralisks were cut open by legionnaires and adepts. Ultralisks and tyrannozors initially advanced unopposed, but that changed when dozens of immortals stepped in. When a tyrannozor somehow took another step forward in the hail of anti-matter rounds, a purification beam dropped down from the mothership and obliterated the tyrannozor, alone with dozens of primal around it.

The smell of barbeque covered the air.

The Purifier fleet managed to finish the primal fleet, if it could even be called a fleet, and returned to unload hell on the primal ground forces. Scouts and mirages dove down and used their anti-air weapons on the ground. Carriers sent out swarms of interceptors. They were insanely effective against smaller, lighter armored targets. Pack leaders, ultralisks, and roaches had more armor and could shrug off several hundred interceptors, but when there were tens of thousands of those small Purifier drones, armor started to grow less effective.

Finally, the pack leaders backed off.

Delta didn't bother to pursue. While killing all the primal could get more essence, she didn't forget Kerrigan needed the essence in these primal to return to the state of the Queen of Blades.

As the brief slaughter concluded, Jean’s resurrection was brought to a close as well.

After the first surge of essence was forced into Jean, the rest gladly followed. Gradually, a purple egg started to form around Jean. When the essence could no longer be put into Jean, Delta knew the time was now.

In a bone chilling sound, the shell started cracking. The Purifier units stood by and watched. All of a sudden, the entire egg exploded from the inside. Scraps of the shell hit the Purifiers’ platings.

A figure walked out.

Viper’s mouth hung open as she saw Jean from the eyes of one of the Purifiers. She wasn’t shocked because Jean was a zerg monster. In fact, considering the Purifiers just pumped a sea of essence into Jean, Viper would’ve felt more normal if Jean was a monster.

Instead, Jean was still the blonde, young human girl. Her hair didn't turn to snake like tentacles. A pair of spine wings didn't grow out of her back. Her fingers were still fingers. Her skin was soft and bare. The carapace the Queen of Blades had simply wasn’t there.

Jean held her fist tight.

It was good to be alive...