Jean watched as her entire fleet converged upon the hostile platform. Even from aboard S101 she could see the darkness on the platform below. She could sense the stretch of the void shades even from her ship. The celestial power in her yearned to unleash destruction upon the abominations below.
Jean suppressed this urge. The power of the xel’naga was strong, but she was stronger. She controlled her power, not the other way around.
“All those planning having led you to this day.” Nova approached from behind and wrapped her arms through Jean’s waist. “You should be proud.” Nova knew how much Jean sacrificed to go from just another low level terran officer to the goddess she was today. This was why this moment was so precious.
“There is nothing to be proud of. I have a much, much bigger stage.” Jean replied. “Commence the attack.”
Nova gave out the order, and the combined fleet did their usual trick.
The bombardment continued for an hour, emptying one third of the ammunition and energy storage of the entire fleet. Considering the fleet was made up of two thousand or so ships, and all of them had been continuously firing for an entire hour with every gun they had...the result was significant.
The orbital defenses worked together with whatever void shade ships Amon had left to try to deflect the attackers, but they were greatly outnumbered and outgunned. The entirety of Amon’s fleet fell in the first ten minutes. The orbital defenses lasted longer with their digged in positions and reinforced armors, but they still fell within the next twenty. When all the defenses had quieted down, all that were left for the defenders to do was hide in their positions and hope they wouldn’t be unlucky enough to be hit in the face. Most of the time their prayers came true, but occasionally an orbital strike would land in an ok spot. Everything in that area would be reduced to basic void energy.
If the void shades had the ability to think individually they would be complaining about balance. This was not just unfair. This was cheating. Any static defense, even if it was just a single photon cannon, would be welcomed with an orbital round with no exception. Any group of enemy with a unit count larger than five would be fired upon. Any important unit, even if it was just a siege tank or an immortal, would be destroyed.
Ever since the first thirty minutes there was nothing left for the defenders to do to retaliate. A spore cannon fired back a few shots, and immediately met its end at five orbital strikes. Random marines and stalkers fired into the sky, but their shots did absolutely nothing.
When the bombing stopped, most of the static defenses were gone. Void shades knew no fear, but they still responded to the bombardment by getting into smaller groups to avoid being taken out in a few shots. This opened up opportunity for the invasion forces to sweep in and take them out one by one. The great majority of the defenders were still alive, but that was fine.
Jean had never fancied winning the fight with bombardment only. The past hour of hell was just an appetizer. It was nothing but a way for her to announce to Amon that she was here and that he should be ready to die.
“Prepare ground forces.” Jean ordered before walking out of the bridge. “I will clear a landing zone. As soon as I give you a signal, send transports to my location.” Nova nodded and watched as she left. She would tell her to be careful, but then again she knew she didn’t need to. Jean was more than capable of taking care of herself. It was her enemies that needed to be careful.
Walking to the hanger, Jean ignored the wraith beside her. Instead, she merely jumped out of the hanger door and into the void…
In the bridge, Nova facepalmed in sliight frustration. It was one thing to know she would be perfectly safe. It was another to see her in this situation, especially when she could totally sit back and still win. Even so, the small curve on her lips showed that she wasn’t as frustrated as she was proud.
The void looked dangerous, and it was indeed dangerous. The hostile environment could, painfully, kill any terran without special equipment in mere seconds. Even most protoss and zerg, without proper preparation, would simply float away toward a random direction as there was nothing they could do to control where they were going. Even if someone got the direction correct and managed to live long enough to get there, they would meet a juicy end at the hand of the platform itself. An impact this great could turn most creatures’ inside into jelly. Jumping down from a ship in space and toward a platform below seemed cool, but the visual pleasantry came with a heavy price. Jean might be the only one in this sector that could do a thing like this. Even Kerrigan couldn’t do something this reckless and be fine. Amon might be able to, but he would just punch a hole through the ground and continue falling.
In the void, Jean used her power to direct her toward the platform. Void energy tried to corrode through her body, but she simply shrugged them off. The crimson energy burned against the golden shield, creating a bright mixture of red and gold that could be seen by both sides of the battle. Ignoring the surrounding, it was actually pretty cool.
As Jean got closer and closer to the surface, a few ground units that survived the onslaught saw the bright light. Identifying Jean as an enemy, they opened fire without hesitation. Void energy, taking the form of material weapons like rifles and particle disruptors, smashed into Jean with incredible accuracy. But whatever attack it was, whether it was a missile, a laser, or a spore, it achieved nothing. If anything, it made Jean look more invincible. Anyone could walk, but very few could walk through a hail of bullets.
Jean chose a relatively stable part of the platform to make her enter. She didn’t want to land on the platform only for the ground to fall apart. She would still live, but that would just be awkward. As she fell, she could see defenses gathering beneath her. The void shades were neither stupid nor blind. In the few seconds they had already located the exact point where she would be landing and had already established defenses.
In the front a battalion of zealots ignited their dark red blades. Behind them marines, marauders, stalkers, and roaches waited patiently for their moment to shine. Hydralisks polished their spines. Siege tanks entered siege mode. Their cannon rounds would be dropped on top of Jean the second she land. Ultralisks were a short distance away from the landing zone so they could charge and use their momentum to do more damage. A distance away, a void shade battlecruiser readied its warp drive and overcharged its reactor at the same time. It had one purpose and one purpose only. When Jean arrived, it would warp onto Jean and self destruct, unleashing a hell lot of destructive energy on its target.
They couldn’t kill Jean. This was for sure, but at least they could make her life a bit harder. If they could, by any chance, injure her...then the chance of their master winning the final duel would be much higher. For this tiny glimmer of hope, every void shade unit present was willing to give their life. After all, Amon was their creator. Without Amon, they wouldn’t even exist in the first place.
Let’s just say things didn’t go as they hoped for.
Jean’s legs didn’t even budge as they made contact with the metal ground. In contrary to her ease, the ground actually sank in by an significant amount. It was like cracking a rock onto an egg. The rock was perfectly fine, but the egg cracked.
“DEATH COMES TO ALL!” A void shade high templar screamed, and the next thing he knew he was overwhelmed by a bright, golden light. That was the last thing he knew.
In space, Nova watched in awe as a bright light swept through a small spot on the platform below. When the light cleared, the redness of the area had disappeared and was replaced by a golden atmosphere. Scanners showed every single void shade unit had been, literally, wiped out. Not a trace of their existence remained. No flesh. No armor. No nothing.
Standing over the pit she just made, Jean was in her skin tight modified ghost suit. Luckily the suit was generated by her celestial power, or else this would be a very awkward moment as no armor could survive the impact to the ground. Her entire body was gold. Her eyes radiated golden energy. Her hair was blonde. Her cloth were made up of her energy.
She looked like a goddess.
Suddenly, she turned around and glanced at a direction for a brief moment before turning back. “Nova, the landing zone is clear. Send in the transports.”
On the other side, Amon signed as the void shade that acted as his eyes and ears just straight up exploded. He, logically, knew the void shades, no matter how prepared they were, couldn’t hurt Jean at all. When a figure was this powerful, numbers no longer mattered. If he was in Jean’s place he would’ve been able to slaughter the defenders as well. That being said, he couldn’t deny being slightly disappointed at the result.
The girl was more powerful than he thought.
Amon knew Jean was transformed into a xel’naga the second the process started. The bright light of the celestial energy could be seen across the void. He also knew his chances of victory was even smaller if Jean could gain the power of the xel’naga. A human Jean killed him once. What could a xel’naga Jean do? Yet attacking into thousands of ships was a quick way to get himself killed. On this platform, in the base he had spent millions of years building, he had several advantages that could benefit him in combat. Void shards harvested energy from the void and fed it into his body, making him stronger and more durable. Static defenses, to a certain point, helped the tiny fleet Amon had. Just this platform itself was built in the place in the void with the most void energy concentration. He might stand a chance if the battle took place here, but if he was to move out and attack...he might as well suicide and deny Jean the pleasure of seeing him burn.
Whether or not his decision was the better choice was never to be known, but, like it or not, he was in this position.
Switching to another void shade, Amon ordered all the void shades around to move forward toward the landing zone. He knew they would die pretty quickly, but their whole purpose was to hopefully weaken Jean. Their death could also allow Amon to observe Jean’s moves and come up with a plan to kill her in the final duel. Jean was a newly ascended xel’naga, but Amon was old, and his forces were dying. In a fair fight Amon’s chances were good.
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Behind Jean, twenty warp prisms were turned on. A thousand light beams dropped down onto the platform.
“Commander Turner, we await your command.” Selendis, in the form of a specialized legionnaire shell, greeted.
Ever since Jean’s capture of Talis on Aiur, the purifiers have started to capture elite enemy warriors based on their performs against the purifiers and turn them into purifier AIs. The female executor fell prey to this decision.
“Kill them all.”
“For the purifiers! For Nova!” Selendis screamed. Two giant yellow blades extended out of her arms. Followed by fellow legionnaires and sentinels, she charged head on into the approaching void shades.
Across the field the purifiers were met with void shades. Both sides were silent. The only sound was the sound of weapons clashing with plasma shields and armors. Both sides were fearless warriors bred for one purpose: To kill. Neither side fell back as bodies were dropped. Shattered purifier shells hit the ground. Void shades reduced into basic void energy.
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Selendis turned her blades with a speed extremely impressive for her new size. A zealot was sliced into two as soon as it made contact with the blades. A marine fired bravely and desperately, and was rewarded with a plasma blade in the head. Literally, in the head. There was neither blood nor scream as the void shade faded away.
Four zerglings launched themselves at the female purifier. The first was cut in half while it was still in the air. The second thought he got past Selendis’ blades, but his dream was broken as Selendis raised her elbow and smashed the zergling head on. The strength of the machine tossed the zergling five meters away. The beast, still barely alive, struggled to stand up, only to get stepped on by an ultralisk on the same side. The third zergling clawed and bit on her plasma shield, and was cut in half by the twin plasma blades. The fourth went for Selendis’ legs. The purifier frowned and raised her leg and stepped on the unit. The action resulted in a pleasant Splat. When she moved her leg back, the zergling was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that showed his presence was the slightly darkened floor.
Void shades continued to arrive. A siege tank entered siege mode and shelled on a mixture of void shade zealots, void shade zerglings, and purifiers. The explosion cleared away the zerglings and ripped apart most of the void shade zealots, but the steadier body and heavier armor of the sentinels and legionnaires allowed them to survive. The siege tank tried to reload, but it never got the chance. A legionnaire jumped onto the tank and sticked his blades into the vehicle and, brutally, turned it. If the impact of a several meter tall metal body landing wasn’t enough, the plasma blades finished the job.
Behind the purifier line a stream of reinforcements continued to warp into the battlefield. Instigators, adepts, and immortals provided fire support for their melee brothers. A specialized adept was especially so. Using a mixture of specialized glaive cannons and purifier physical strength, Talis cut her way through enemy after enemy.
Jean wasn’t moved by all this chaos. Instead, she was merely walking toward where Amon was. The few void shades that made a move on her evaporated before they could even get close.
A distance away fourty void shade zealots approached. Their blades yearned for the blood of their foe. Every single cell in them wanted to die for their master.
They got what they wished for.
A light beam dropped down from the sky and smashed into the center of the mass. Two third of the zealots immediately perished. A lucky few survived, but their shields were depleted and their bodies were battered. They didn’t let that stand in their way as they charged into the field, only to get slaughtered by the first enemy they met, who happened to be Selendis. The executor utilized her past experience to the furthest extent. None of the void shades could survive two seconds against her.
The entire time Jean was silent. Instead of paying attention to the battlefield in front, she glanced into a distance. She glanced at where Amon was.
The dark god returned the glance. Across the field of battle, across the place where thousands were dying, the two gods exchanged a look.
Amon signed. All of a sudden every single last void shade that could still move retreated.
“Commander, this is a tactical retreat, not a defeat.” Selendis walked up to Jean and warned. The only thing that could make the void shades to flee would be an order from their god.
“I know.” Jean replied. “Stay here and await further orders from Nova.”
“Where will you be going, commander?”
Jean’s eyes shined. “To end the war.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “At least to end this war.”
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Amon knew ordering the void shades to stand and fight would mean they would be sacrificed pointlessly. Jean wasn’t even fighting. The only trade they would have was to be with replaceable robots that could be produced by the thousands. Instead of wasting them, Amon sent them to defend the void shards. As long as the void shards stood, he would still have a chance of victory. He knew Jean would be coming here to take him down herself. The girl would never miss another feast of celestial essence. If he could take her by surprise and kill her, then there was still some hope.
His thoughts were proven almost immediately. Amon could sense void shades standing guard around her being taken out one by one as Jean got closer and closer to his position. He got ready and started to count down.
Five. A zealot was reduced to ashes.
Four. An immortal fired futilely, but the phase cannon shots seemed to have just disappeared. Slightly frowned, Jean held her right hand into a fist, and the immortal exploded.
Three. A high templar tried to feed back Jean, only to get evaporated as he tried to ignite Jean’s celestial xel’naga energy.
Two. A thor fired. A thor died.
One. A carrier turned its head and aimed at Jean before smashing down on her. Jean waved her hand, and a giant layer of golden energy appeared in front of the dropping carrier. As soon as the tip of the ship met the energy, it melted. The entire carrier didn’t even slow down as it fell into the celestial energy and just evaporated.
Zero. Jean was standing in front of Amon.
A casual 1.8 meters tall, Jean seemed like an ant in comparison to Amon, who was the size of at least a dozen battlecruisers combined. Nothing about her, except her lit up eyes, suggested how strong she really was. Yet this girl just massacred an army made up of the best among the sector.
Amon’s every muscles tensed up. His psionic energy amplified. A determined look appeared on his face. It was do or die. Victory or Death. There was no other choice except…
“I surrender!” Amon waved his claws, more than two, up. “Let me live, and I will be your servant. Whatever it is that you desire, I will help you get it.”
Jean nodded. “Of course, but how should I know you will not turn on me later?”
“The ancient xel’naga have a way to control other xel’naga. Let me show you.” Amon held one hand out to Jean, and the next thing Jean knew he was smashing down on her. In a shocking turn of events, the ground she was standing on was reduced to nothing as Amon slammed his giant arms on it.
“Is she dead?” Sensing no resistance, Amon frowned and held his claws up. The attack was so successful it was too good to be true. He knew he had done a lotto prepare for this moment. He had purposefully ordered the void shades around him to stand and fight so they could be slaughtered and, hopefully, Jean could be made arrogant. He even promised a surrender to lower Jean’s guards. Still, they was no resistance at all. Was he just lucky enough to kill Jean before she could channel her inner energy to fight back?
It was possible, but…
The dark god’s doubt was answered by a burning feeling in his neck. Turning around, he saw Jean trying to jamm a giant, golden, one meter long blade into his neck. The blade seemed puny compared to the size of its target, but Amon could feel his life was threatened by that weapon. What in the name of the void was she doing?
Xel’naga didn’t use weapons. Their standard fighting techniques included a total of two styles: Blasting each other with their energies or hitting each other with their celestial bodies. Jean’s usage of a…”celestial blade”...was strange.
And yet effective. Amon could sense a burning wound on his neck.
Jean glanced at the fried psi amplifier attached on her arm and frowned. She had suddenly came up with a strange but practical idea. If she could find a way to concentrate her already powerful celestial energy into the form of a blade, it should be enough to break through enemy xel’naga. She was correct in that the blade was able to break through the defenses, but a normal protoss psionic amplifier struggled in terms of holding the power of god. One hit and it was already fried.
Dropping the now useless weapon, Jean took out another amplifier from her watch. Even if one amplifier could only sustain one hit, she still had enough for hours.
Seeing Jean ignite her weapon, Amon shook all doubt away. Now was not the time for science. Void energy poured onto the wound on his neck and mended the opening. With the backing of void shards and thus almost an unlimited amount of void energy, Amon fought with brute force, directing a wave of void energy onto Jean.
The xel’naga was a powerful race with a high power scale, but wherever there was a group there would always be a difference in power level. For example, Narud and Ouros were weaker than Amon. This difference could be the result of a number of reasons. It could be due to the power of the creature before they were ascended. Age and experience also mattered, so did the amount of energy the individuals had to work with.
In this case, Amon had an advantage in terms of energy. Unfortunately, even the strongest energy didn’t matter if it couldn’t hit the enemy. In this case, Jean easily dodged the attacks. A thousand times larger than his enemy, Amon’s action seemed so clumsy. All Jean had to do was jump around, and Amon would be wasting his energy in futile.
Jumping up into the air once more, Jean suddenly felt the sky darkening. She looked up and saw a giant claw smashing down. Instead of flinching and missing the best time to escape, Jean raised her arm and poured her energy into the fifth psi blade. Amon saw the glimmer of gold and tried to catch himself, but the momentum of something of his size was way too great, and across a distance this small, there was nothing he could do but just smash into the blades.
Amon’s body was covered by his energy, but here’s the thing. Amon and Jean had a similar amount of energy, but Amon’s power was scattered over his entire body. Jean, however, briefly focused all her strength on a single point, establishing superior power over a small area, therefore breaking through.
Amon screamed as a hole was opened up in his limb, but he wasn’t worried. Pulling his claws back, red void energy covered the wound. A second later the claw was as good as new.
“You can’t win.” Feeling the infinite power from within, Amon announced. “My power is reinforced every second, and your power is limited. This is a fight you are destined to lose!”
As if it was a signal, Amon suddenly felt the void energy transport line breaking off. The endless void energy reserve was gone. Sensing the new emptiness in his body, the god screamed. This time it wasn’t from pain. It was from fear. Fear of death.
“What have you done!” His question was met with Jean’s emotionless cold eyes.
As Jean was coming here to face Amon, she noticed Nova had sent the purifier forces to go after the void shards. Nova didn’t necessarily know they were feeding Amon energy, but she did know Amon built those shards, and whatever her enemy wanted to build, she would destroy. The void shades fought hard, but they were faced with enemies both on the ground and from orbit. Usually Amon would give out orders, whether it was to deploy reinforcements or anything else, but this time he was too distracted with his fight with Jean. It was when the void shards were down that he finally realized what was going on.
It was too late. Amon knew it. As he stared at the powerful figure of Jean Turner, he knew his end was here and now.
This was the day the god was slain.
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Standing over the now essence-less corpse of Amon, Jean felt her watch buzz. She tapped it, and a projection popped up.
It was the projection she saw when she first arrived here.
Name: Jean Turner
Dimension: Starcraft
Current location: The Void.
Mission: Terminate Amon, the dark god. (Complete)
Return to the Hub (Yes/No)
PS 1. Choosing No will delay the return by ten days.
PS 2. Rewards will be given after you return to the Hub.
PS 3. If you return, everything in your ownership will be automatically returned to your watch.
Jean glanced at the universe and, without any hesitation, pressed Yes.
One moment the void was filled. The next moment it was empty.
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The war between Jean Turner and Amon was known as the End War, for it had ended the lives of so many people. No one knew how the war ended as no one came back from the void to tell the tale. All the people of Koprulu sector knew was that the purifiers that ravaged their homeland and slaughtered their people were gone. They weren’t killed. They weren’t banished. They weren’t defeated. They just...left.
As time passed, the swarm remained quiet. Still with an intact military and having survived the purifier onslaught, the swarm was capable of taking over the neighbouring planets that were now empty. Yet the swarm made no move. Reason? Maybe only the queen of blades knew.
On the planet of Zerus, Dehaka watched as the local inhabitants slaughtered each other. Jean had took most of the essence from the planet, but it didn’t matter. As the local beasts fought, the stronger would emerge. They would evolve and generate essence once more. Give them a few decades, and a brand new race of primal zerg would be reborn. Only this time, he would be their leader. Glancing down on a barely repaired psi blade, Dehaka smiled. This time, he would merge physical strength and technology. This time, he would be unstoppable.
The protoss were completely wiped out in the purifier onslaught. There were no survivors.
In a corner of the sector, three terran ships aimlessly drifted through space. They were tired and frightened, but they were alive, and that was all it mattered. Maybe one day the survivors of these three ships would reach a habitable planet and turn it into a brand new terran world. After all, that was how human being arrived at Korpulu sector.
The xel’naga were gone. All their essence were absorbed by one person, and that person have left the universe. In the end, the infinite cycle was broken.
How ironic.
END OF SEASON 1.