Aiur.

The defenders were at their last moments.

The rest of Amon’s forces were near the last standing void shard. Once that shard falls, Amon would receive no additional life. When that happens, any attack done to the body would be permanent and irreversible. It wouldn’t take long for that body to fall. When it does, Amon would be back to the eternal prison.

Amon’s followers would defend their master until their last breathe. It wouldn’t matter if their sacrifice was completely futile.

The Daelaam were the first line of defense. Most of the feral were already gone in the first few days of battle. Those that survived were too few to really matter and were mixed in other defenders. The tal’darim were half hearted. If they could leave the planet alive they would’ve be gone already. Unfortunately the last ascendant that tried to flee in his ship was blasted out of the sky by a Yamato cannon. There were less than a dozen hybrids left. Hybrids were labeled as top priority, which meant they were treated the same as a group of immortals or an archon. Whenever they appeared on the battlefield they would be met with enough orbital bombardment to kill the hybrid immediately.

Selendis was still leading the pointless struggle. Her spirit was low, but she was still fighting. She would fight until her last breath for her master.

Glancing through the battered Daelaam, the scattered feral, the desperate tal’darim, and the random hybrids, Selendis knew no amount of devotion or courage could save them. Courage might be able to make them fight harder, be able to make them take out a few dozen more enemies, but in the end they would die. It was a fact, and nothing could change that.

Turning away, she didn’t even bother with usual war cries or brave encouragements. Instead, she just signed and turned to the obviously advantageous attackers.

A sea of yellow was surrounding the void shard and its lonely defenders. Yesterday the purifiers have overwhelmed most of the planet and have reduced the territory of the defenders back to just miles within the last void shard. Even Amon’s body was surrounded by the yellow robots. Selendis counted at least two thousand sentinels and at least a hundred legionnaires. That was over ten times the number of the defenders.

Her eyes rested on a legionnaire for a few seconds. Taller and stronger than normal sentinels, they were the finest soldiers of the purifiers. Perhaps they didn’t have earth shattering firepower, but they made up for it with a larger size, larger blades, heavier armors, and stronger shields. Just a dozen of them could take down a high templar. Selendis encountered them before. A few days ago she, and a squad of elite zealots, were ambushed by twenty legionnaires. It was bloody. She lived, which was obvious by her presence here, but her missing right arm showed the strength of the legionnaires.

“Executor.” A zealot walked up. The past confidence was nowhere to be seen. “What are they waiting for?” He was talking about the purifiers.

Selendis didn’t respond. It didn’t matter what the purifiers want to do. The ending was already decided. Maybe they just wanted the survivors to suffer in fear. She thought darkly.

Suddenly the female executor looked up. Her psi energy screamed warning.

In orbit, three tactical nukes left the hanger of a battlecruiser and flew toward the void shard.

“Fall back!” Selendis screamed desperately. She knew about these special terran weapons and the amount of damage they could do. Even a carrier couldn’t withstand multiple tactical nukes. The fact that the defenders were forced into a small area didn’t help with evading the missiles either. Now she knew what the purifiers were waiting for. They were waiting for the nukes to thin down the horde.

Daelaam zealots exchanged looks in desperation. Where could they go? Outside? They could barely hold back the purifier sentinels in defensive formation. Counterattacking into ten times the enemy sounded brave, but in reality it was just pure stupidity. Inside? It would only make them more clamped up and maximize the damage. None of the zealots did anything as the nukes came down. If they were in range, well, too bad. If they survived, they would just give their lives for their master a few minutes later.

The first tactical nuke hit the ground and, with no delay, exploded. Thousands of degrees of heat swept through the defenders in range and melted everything in its way. Even the hybrids perished.

In real combat the nukes weren’t as effective because they could be easily detected and therefore intercepted by their enemies. Even if interception failed the defenders could always spread out and minimize the damage done. But in this case there was nothing the defenders could do. The Daelaam had no choice but to stay where they were and take the full impact of the blast.

Before the smoke from the first nuke cleared, the second missile hit the floor, and then the third. When the smoke cleared, most of the defenders were reduced to ashes.

Selendis was one of the lucky, or rather unlucky, survivors. She was near the edge of one of the missiles, and her plasma shield blinked heavily to deflect the blast. The shockwave knocked her over, but she was majorly fine. Standing up with one arm, she looked through the wreckage. Those that survived the hits as well were rare. Very rare. She counted a few dozen zealots and two hybrids left.

That was when she heard the sentinels moving.

“Forward.” The leading legionnaire ordered, and thousands of purifiers charged toward the several dozen survivors…It was hardly a fair fight.

Amon signed as he felt the last strand of life disappearing. The last thing keeping him in this world was gone. Looking up, he felt every ship in the fleet in orbit charging their weapons. His exile was at hand.

“Jean!” The dark god screamed in utter hatred. He was furious. Thousands of years of planning, all ruined by one girl. “Listen to me, human! One day I will return! When I do, everything about you will burned! Your allies! Your people! Your descendants! Everything and everyone you love with perish in my fury!” His voice pierced the stars, warning the entire planet of the god’s hatred.

He had no idea Jean wasn’t even in orbit. In fact, the only person near the planet still alive that had the ability to think independently was Nova. Obviously the ghost didn’t appreciate Amon’s threat.

“All batteries take aim.” Her voice was colder than ever. Amon was on his death bed, and he was still playing tough?

The purifier fleet, now over 700 ships, readied everything they had. From the purifier beam of motherships to orbital strikes of carriers. From resonance coils of tempests to ion cannons of phoenixes. Everything in the purifier arsenal felt the fury of their commander, and they responded correspondingly. The Warden fleet took part as well. Nearly 500 battlecruisers charged up their Yamato cannons. Vikings and wraiths left the capital ship hangers and dove toward the enormously obvious target on the surface of the planet.

Firepower enough to destroy half a planet took aim at the god.

The first round of missiles and torpedoes ripped open the first layer of armor and made way for further attacks. Hundreds of orange Yamato cannons and blue orbital strikes followed. It got even tougher when the ten purifier motherships in orbit each turned on their purification beam. Ten blue rays dropped down from the sky and hit Amon in the face. Unlike other projectiles, these purification beams didn’t just hit once and disappear. Instead, they kept on burning through their target.

Amon screamed as his body melted, but there was literally nothing he could do. His body wasn’t complete, which meant it was useless in combat. Everyone loyal to him were dead or dying. Every last trace of void energy Amon had control over had been turned to void shade units. Everything single card he had had been used. There was nothing he could do but sit back and enjoy the barbeque.

The torture went on for ten minutes. For the entirety of ten minutes the dark god was burned through and melted down. When the firing ended, there was nothing left.

As the host was gone, so was Amon’s last influence in the material world.

In the void, a xel’naga screamed.