In space, sixty scourges kamikazed into a mothership. The plasma shield popped, and half of the ship was immediately consumed by the plasma metamorphosis of the suicide bombers. Luckily the mothership was basically empty, so all the losses were a couple crew members. Still, this was the first mothership to fall, and if there was the first there would be the second.

Selendis observed the space battle, worried. The stalling in space was falling apart. The advantage her plan created was practically gone. Yet from what she sensed through the khala the battle on the ground wasn’t going well either. Her people was decreasing every second. She could literally feel it.

Drawing in a sharp breathe, Selendis touched her head. At the distance from the mothership she was in to the planet of Char she could sense what was going on in the mind of every protoss in combat. She could feel the pain, the hurt, and the hopelessness of her brothers and sisters below. What hurt more than the pain was the knowledge of knowing there was nothing she could do.

Since a long time ago Selendis didn’t know whether or not she could complete her mission, but she knew she needed to try. The will of Amon couldn’t be challenged.

Suddenly, a dark voice rose from around her. Selendis knew who it was. She immediately kneeled down to her master.

“Selendis, my most loyal follower.” Amon’s voice echoed through the bridge. All the crew members in the bridge kneeled as well to show their ultimate obedience.

“My master, how may I serve you?”

Amon wasted no time. “Gather the remaining forces and warp back to Aiur.”

“What?” Selendis asked in shock. Her red eyes faltered. “Artanis and thousands of our warriors are still on Char! We can win this battle. We can deliver the queen of blades to you…”

“No you can’t.” Amon cut her off. “The swarm has the expedition forces surrounded. Artanis is a lost cause. I have already pulled back my hybrids. If the Golden Armada remain in its current position it will fall as well. Warp the Golden Armada back to Aiur now.” He demanded.

Selendis struggled. “But Artanis…we can still warp them back.”

“A thousand or so warriors are not worthy risking the entire armada. Leave them. As for Kerrigan’s essence, I have made progress in other fronts.” The words were as cold as ever. The dark god wasn’t hesitant in abandoning Artanis and what was left of the protoss forces on Char to the zerg. As Artanis’ apprentice, Selendis wanted to resist that order, but Amon’s will kicked in. All she could form were obedient words.

“As you wish, my master. Pilot, warp back to Aiur.”

“Jean, the Golden Armada is retreating. Our ships weren’t in position to stop them.” A broodmother reported. In space, the rest of the blue fleet still intact blinked and warped away, leaving the field of battle to the swarm.

“Pity. A few more minutes and we could’ve stopped them from leaving forever.” A queen said in spite.

“Order the fleet to move on Char and bombard any remaining protoss forces. Focus your fire on the group of protoss in combat with our queen.” Jean opened her eyes and stood up. “Meanwhile, I have something else to attend to.” She walked out of the cave.

The queens exchanged glances, but they didn’t object. Jean wasn’t a part of the swarm, and she wasn’t a part of the chain of command, which meant the queens didn’t have control over her actions.

At this point most of the protoss forces left were gone. Units warped onto zerg leviathans were separated and overran. Scattered forces on Char were crushed. The only protoss survivors left for now were those with Artanis, and even they were dying swiftly.

On the burning ground of the planet, a high templar rained down a psionic storm on a group of zerg hydralisks. The hydralisks were fried instantly, but they were quickly replaced by another group of fresh reinforcements. The exhausted templar was penetrated by several spines and fell. As the templar fell, a gap was opened in the protoss flank. Zerglings used that chance to get behind the protoss formations and strike from behind.

A squad of zealots tried to hold the line, but they were focus fired down by hydralisk spines. They lost their lives before they could even make contact with the zerglings.

The protoss line was falling apart, and that was when the Golden Armada in the air warped away. Without any warning, it just left, and with it left the last hope for a protoss victory.

Everyone in the field knew it. Zerg growled and sped up their attack even more. Protoss fought on, but their styles were getting more and more desperate. They fell one by one.

“Can you sense it, templar? You have been abandoned.” Kerrigan commented as she deflected Artanis’ blades. “Your master had abandoned you to me just like Mengsk abandoned me to the zerg. Speaking of, I believe Jean killed Mengsk, but what can you do to Amon?” She was going all over the place, and she had the right to do so.

“No..Selendis!” Artanis whispered as the betrayal. He tried to call the executor in the armada via the khala, but there was no response. The khala was effective, but it had a range limit. The lack of response meant only one thing: the Golden Armada was gone. The mind control effect forced him to obey Amon, but his logic told him he was betrayed.

Didn’t matter. Betrayed or not, he would die for his god.

“Kerrigan…It’s you!” The hierarch looked at Kerrigan with endless hatred. It was her! If she wasn’t so tricky and deceptive, his people would still be alive. If she wasn’t so powerful, Amon would easily destroy the world. Why? Why would she reject an end to this infinite cycle? This cycle had brought pain and nothing but pain. After this day Kerrigan’s swarm would be the prime obstacle to Amon’s victory.

Unless he could end her now.

Kerrigan looked at Artanis with a somewhat sympathetic look. He had lost everything. His homeworld. His ally. His friends. And now even his own people had betrayed him. Artanis couldn’t blame Amon, who was the true cause of his misery, so he had no choice but to direct his hatred on her. It was pathetic, but Kerrigan wouldn’t let her sympathy getting in her way.

Artanis looked at a fellow high templar, and the khala allowed the latter to understand Artanis’ will. Neither side hesitated. Neither side faltered. Neither one of them had a single sense of doubt as they ignited their bodies, forming a temporal surge of extremely powerful psionic energy. The two surges of energies met, and a large red body formed in the middle.

As Artanis’ form faded away, his gaze was set on his sole enemy, the queen of blades. All he could think of was how much easier it would be for Amon. If the archon he formed could kill Kerrigan, then Amon might be able to take over the swarm. Despite all odds, Amon still have a chance to end everything. If all went well, the endless cycle of eternal agony would end very soon.

“For Amon!” Upon realizing they were abandoned and that their leader was merging into an archon, what was left of the survivors made a last suicidal charge. They didn’t let the disadvantages they were in get in their way, and as a reward to their bravery they were immediately slaughtered by the overwhelming zerg forces.

Hearing the screams of the protoss leftovers, Kerrigan’s attention was drawn to the archon Artanis formed. The power of archons depended on the strength of the high templars they were formed with, and Artanis was surely one of the strongest templars ever alive. The one he merged with wasn’t weak either. The product of two strong could only lead to someone stronger.

“Die!” Consumed by anger and hatred and knowing that his time was limited, Artanis wasted no time in words. A surge of psionic blast from the archon struck toward Kerrigan. The queen of blades formed a shield between herself and the attack. The psionic blast hit the shield and was paused for a few seconds before showing signs of pushing through. Kerrigan immediately pushed her arms out, adding her own psi energy to the fray to push Artanis back. The two stood in a stalemate for a while.

If the two could fight fairly it would be a question about how would come on top. Artanis, or the archon he formed, was stronger than the queen of blades, but he was on a timer. If Kerrigan could hold for a while, she would win out and Artanis would’ve melted himself, but if he couldn’t… However, battles were never fair. Kerrigan had an army. Artanis didn’t.

Kerrigan was never one to play fairly. If she did she wouldn’t have betrayed Fenix and Raynor on Char. She had no mental burden in ordering her units to come to her aid in this duel.

At a single command, all the zerg units unleashed everything they had on the big ball of red energy. Zerglings charged into plasma shields and were melted just so they could decrease the archon’s psionic power by a negligible amount. Banelings gave their lives to weaken Artanis’ shield. Ranged units opened fire with all their might. Yet their effect was minimal.

An ultralisk charged toward the archon. It’s giant kaisar blades slashed down on the red ball of psionic energy. The archon couldn’t dodge the hit, for he was stuck in the psionic duel with Kerrigan. He could only take the full impact of a god knew how heavy ultralisk crashing into him.

Kaisar blades clashed with the shield. As soon as it made contact, the blades melted away from extreme heat. After all plasma shields were thousands of degrees Celcius. As the blade melted, the archon’s psionic energy storage decreased sharply. Maintaining plasma shield required a large amount of psi energy.

And yet as soon as Artanis’ attention was diverted away to restore his shield, the queen struck. A burst of psionic energy swept through the air and pushed past the balance point. Artanis turned his attention back to Kerrigan and restored his psionic input, but then the zerg units hit again…

Ten minutes later, the archon, composed partly of the supreme leader of the Daelaam, perished.

The zerg was victorious.