The destruction of the Psi Destroyer allowed the Swarm to secure the majority of Augustgrad. In accordance to Valerian’s request, the Swarm deliberately avoided any civilian centers where those who failed to evacuate the city in time were hiding. Zagara’s Brood, Stukov and DuGalle’s Army and Dehaka’s Pack were securing each of the sectors surrounding the Imperial Sector where the palace was located.
The leaders gathered for one last meeting before the final blow was dealt to Arcturus. The plan was for Kerrigan to spearhead the attack from within the Imperial Sector while securing entry for Dehaka, Stukov, DuGalle, and Zagara from the entrances into the sector. Once all groups entered the sector, everyone would push against the palace.
DuGalle had something to say, “Four years ago, myself and Alexei led a siege against this very city. To think that I would be doing the same thing four years later except this time, Mengsk will not escape.”
“I know what you mean, Gerard. Last time we were here, we crippled Mengsk’s core nuclear capabilities to make our attack easier,” Stukov said.
“That reminds me, why didn’t you take out his Physics Labs as well? Both resources were in the same general area so I can’t imagine you not having time to deal with both. It would have made your conquest of Augustgrad much easier.”
Stukov and DuGalle blinked. Stukov was the first to respond, “In hindsight, I’m not really sure. Perhaps our desire to stick to our strict agenda may have influenced our decision. Though we might have prevented a few unnecessary deaths if we were more flexible with the schedule.”
DuGalle spoke next, hoping to avoid discussing the awkward subject, “What’s done is done. We cannot dwell on lives that could have been spared. Let us focus on the here and now, Our plan has already been formulated and it’s the best we have.”
The time had come for the Swarm to make its move. Kerrigan contacted the Hyperion. “It is time,” she said.
<”Yes, I thank you and Sweetie for giving us enough time to evacuate everyone from the city. Those who would not were placed into underground shelters until the invasion ends,”> Valerian said. <I only ask that you avoid those shelters in your attack.>
“Alright, just stay out of my way.” Kerrigan returned her focus to getting her forces ready for the final battle against Arcturus.
Arcturus knew that Kerrigan was coming for him now. Because of this, he called upon every elite unit in his arsenal to protect his palace. While he did put up a brave front, he also noticed that his hands were shaking; whether from fear or anticipation, he didn’t care. He would do whatever it took to destroy the biggest threat to his life today. He would not accept defeat no matter what. He turned on the intercom that would broadcast his words in every direction of the palace. <”Kerrigan, Sweetie, the die is cast. This is the last day your Swarm darkens the sky of any planet. Korhal will endure, as will I,”> he said.
“Nice quote. I’ll engrave it on your tombstone,” Kerrigan responded. She turned her attention to her allies. “Sweetie, Izsha, Zagara, Stukov, DuGalle, Dehaka. All my Broodmothers, all my Queens, hear me. The time for planning and deliberation is past. Now we tear them down. Attack, and do not stop until they are all dead.”
Sweetie and Kerrigan each set up hive clusters in separate locations to collect their own resources.
Arcturus taunted Kerrigan by claiming that she was surrounded by the Dominion elite while she implied about his cowardice by rhetorically asking how many bodies he would hide behind.
Arcturus also had something to say to Sweetie, “Sweetie Drops, I always knew you were a wild card. What I don’t understand is why you would choose to become a monster alongside the Queen of Blades.”
“There are forces in this Universe that you would never understand, and you never will. You were always too blinded by your delusions of grandeur that you couldn’t see the end of the Universe even when it was staring at you right in your face. You couldn’t even see that you were being used by Narud to fund his project to end all of creation. Your paranoia has made you so easy to manipulate.
“Why did I become like this?” she added, pointing to herself. “Because I wanted the best chance I was going to get when the true threat came knocking. If eliminating you means improving my chances against the Hybrid armies, then so be it.”
While Sweetie was setting up to bring all of her strains to bear against the Dominion, Kerrigan struck first, tearing down a Dominion outpost next to her hive cluster.
While the outpost was being leveled, Kerrigan sensed someone familiar approaching her location. Izsha warned her of a Battlecruiser that was inbound on her location. Kerrigan recognized the Hyperion as it entered the city, bombarding a heavily defended Dominion outpost. “Jim?” Kerrigan asked.
“Let’s finish the job,” Raynor said.
“I didn’t think you would come back.”
“We’re both tied up in whatever happens here today. We do it together.”
“Jim, thank you.”
“Thank me later. It’s time you put your war-face on.”
Raynor landed the Hyperion while deploying some SCVs to set up his own base. It wouldn’t be long before Arcturus noticed Raynor and sent his forces after him.
Arcturus put a lot of pressure on the hive clusters and Raynor’s base. To aid in the defense, Sweetie sent a number of her Swarm Hosts to help defend Raynor while sending a number of her Scyllas to defend Kerrigan’s hive cluster, leaving a few to defend her own.
Sweetie spawned a number of Mutalisks and mutated half of them into Blight Dragons to provide adequate air defense once Arcturus began sending ships against them.
Shortly after Raynor sent his own group against the Dominion, Arcturus called on the services of a group of ships called the Sky Fury Squadron to attack the Hyperion. When they arrived at Raynor’s base, it was discovered that the squadron was composed of elite Vikings and Banshees. Sweetie’s Blight Dragons tore into the Banshees and Vikings that refused to land while the rest were left to a more gruesome fate when they came under attack from Locusts that shapeshifted into Zealots and Marauders.
Once the annoyance was dealt with, Sweetie continued building up her attack force by adding Zerglings and Roaches into it. Once fully nourished, the Zerglings multiplied into hundreds and pushed against the base north of Raynor’s base. Metal became stone and stone was clawed apart. Zerglings feasted on the biomass of Dominion infantry to fuel their division.
Once the entrenched position was cleared, Stukov and DuGalle began sending their infested infantry into the district.
Arcturus called on Alpha Squadron, a number of elite Battlecruisers to attack Raynor. The ships sunk quickly when met with the metal-rending claws of Sweetie’s Blight Dragons.
Since Arcturus was relying using his ships to defend him, Sweetie mutated half of her many Zerglings into Banelings. Within seconds, the skies around Sweetie were green with the glow of flying Banelings.
While Sweetie attacked the north, Kerrigan focused her attacks in the east. After spawning numerous Ultralisks and Hydralisks, with an air force of Brood Lords and Mutalisks to bring up the rear, Kerrigan pushed her forces into an entrenched position east of her hive cluster, allowing Zagara to take her Brood into the city upon the collapse of the entrenchment.
Arcturus spoke once again over the intercom, sounding desperate, “You thought you were so clever, Sweetie. You may have destroyed the Odin beyond salvage, but my Mjolnir Squadron more than makes up for it in terms of firepower.”
With a large number of elite Thor approaching, Sweetie quickly predicted their route and timed their arrival with the deployment of a number of Nuclear Missiles that landed in the targeted area. None of the Thors survived the Nuclear Storm. “You were saying?” Sweetie quipped.
Arcturus spoke in fury, “When I wipe your Swarm out, I will make sure that every trace of the Kel-Morian Combine is wiped from existence for creating that damnable device.”
Shortly after Sweetie single-handedly obliterated Mjolnir Squadron, Kerrigan destroyed the last entrenched position and allowed Dehaka’s pack into the district.
In preparation for attacking the palace gates, Sweetie spawned three of her colossal Ultralisks. She sent the Ultralisks at the palace base while timing the attack with a combined wave of Kerrigan’s Swarm, Zagara’s Brood, Dehaka’s Pack, Stukov and DuGalle’s Army and Raynor’s Raiders. The palace defenses stood no chance against those numbers, even as Arcturus deployed a number of drop pods in a last ditch effort to keep Kerrigan and Sweetie out of the palace.
Kerrigan ordered Zagara to take command of the Swarm while she and Sweetie entered the palace, Raynor wasn’t far behind.
Gunfire erupted from within the palace as Kerrigan and Sweetie ascended the towering structure, taking out every guard that tried to kill them. Sweetie impaled many guards with her devastating tentacles before teleporting beside a Viking and kicking it into a distant wall, taking out any guards in the craft’s path. Kerrigan used her psionic power and hurled more guards in every direction.
Arcturus watched the devastation occur and knew nothing was stopping the Zerg duo. He pulled out a small box and opened it, revealing a trigger and a cigar.
Kerrigan forced open the door to Arcturus’ room. Arcturus turned around with his cigar in his mouth and got out of his seat. He grinned, “Hello, Kerrigan. I’ve been waiting for you. I know your friend is right behind you. Bring her in, I insist.”
Sweetie accepted the invitation and entered the room with a shit-eating grin.
“I’m surprised you haven’t tried to escape,” Kerrigan said.
“Escape?” Arcturus chuckled. “My dear, you’ve got it all wrong.”
Arcturus lifted the cover on the trigger before part of the floor opened up and the Xel’naga artifact rose from the hole. Positioning his thumb over the button, he pressed it.
...Or he would if a flash of red light that briefly appeared before Arcturus’ eyes didn’t cut his hand off.
Once his nerves caught up to the situation he found himself in, an agonizing level of pain overtook Arcturus’ mind, he couldn’t suppress his screams of agony as he clutched the stub where his hand used to be.
Before Kerrigan could ask what happened, the shadows in the room shifted and revealed a familiar aquamarine unicorn standing to Arcturus’ right side.
Suppressing his pain as best as he could with his anger, he used his remaining hand to reach for the trigger.
...Which was prevented when a bullet pierced his right hand, adding to Arcturus’ unbearable agony. When he looked at the doorway, he saw a familiar black CMC suit with a skull painted on the visor.
In that moment, Arcturus could feel the weight of his sins beginning to crush his spirit before Kerrigan rushed Arcturus and pressed him against a wall while stabbing his shoulders with her wings. “You can never suffer enough for all the lives you’ve ruined, Arcturus,” she said.
“I made you into a monster, Kerrigan.”
“You made us all into monsters.”
Kerrigan placed a hand on Arcturus’ face and infused a large amount of psionic power directly into him before he began hyperventilating and felt his body being torn apart by Kerrigan’s power. The energy became too much for his body to bear and he exploded violently, taking the entire room with him.
Raynor, Sweetie and Lyra took shelter outside the room before the blast. Once the damage was done, the three of them approached Kerrigan.
Kerrigan thanked the three of them for all of the support they had given her before she levitated herself back to the Leviathan.
Before Sweetie could follow, Lyra ran up to her and gave her a strong hug with a passionate kiss to celebrate their brief reunion. Sweetie promised to visit her often while helping Kerrigan hunt down Amon.
Despite how happy she felt in that moment, Lyra had a strange feeling that matters around her would get a lot more interesting soon.