Chapter 457

After Kerrigan cut off the communication, Jim Raynor stroked his chin, deep in thought—what exactly was going on?

Why did Sarah say there were two artifacts? The artifact we painstakingly assembled—could there really be a second one?

"Jim, we need to move fast! The artifact's charging takes a little time, and during this period, as long as we can hold our ground.

Once the alien artifact successfully activates, Kerrigan is finished, and the entire Zerg army on Char will be wiped out." Beside Jim Raynor, a man in blue space armor spoke up.

"Tychus, the situation feels a bit off! Anyway, I find it extremely strange—Sarah just said that, and you should have heard it too.

The Zerg likely have a second artifact, and a super powerful warship is probably on its way." Jim Raynor said.

Given my understanding of Sarah Kerrigan, she would never act without reason; since she said a super warship is coming,

it will definitely come, so we must prepare accordingly.

"What does it matter? Jim, I've brought half the Imperial fleet this time—just the battlecruisers number over a dozen. If their Leviathan warships dare to come, we'll blast them out of the sky with the Yamato cannon.

We will surely annihilate the Zerg in one fell swoop and completely end Sarah Kerrigan, the Blade Empress's rule." The prince of the Terran Empire, eldest son of Emperor Mengsk, spoke up.

This time, he didn't hesitate to betray his father, bringing half the Imperial fleet to find this legendary artifact, all to utterly destroy the Zerg.

The legion contains tens of thousands of soldiers, plus over a dozen capital battlecruisers, none of which are smaller than the Hyperion.

Although the Leviathan warships are somewhat larger than battlecruisers, they are still limited in size—if only one comes, it won't make much difference.

"Yeah, as long as we finish placing the artifact, we just need to wait for it to activate. Once it activates successfully, all Zerg will be reduced to ashes—no single Zerg can withstand its power."

"Alright, guys, I know—now it's at the point of no return, we have to fire. Guys, get ready for this final battle; we must win—for humanity, and for ourselves." Jim Raynor began the final war mobilization.

Jim Raynor's rebels, together with the human fleet led by the Terran Empire's crown prince, landed on the planet Khar, then swiftly launched an assault on the Zerg and successfully placed the artifact on Char.

"All SUVs, immediately begin constructing defenses—flamethrowers, machine gunners into bunkers and trenches; Thor, Valkyrie, and Viking fighters all take off, hold your positions, responsible for aerial dragons and suicide mosquitoes.

Ground forces, prepare to defend—ladies and gentlemen, as long as we hold for one hour, victory in this war is ours." Jim Raynor, in his armor, shouted loudly.

"For victory, Commander, we follow you."

Under the commander's mobilization and inspiration, human soldiers burst forth with unimaginable combat fervor; human engineering SUVs began constructing various defensive structures—anti-air artillery, earthworks, heavy machine gun emplacements—all were erected.

In the sky, dense swarms of dragons swooped toward this side, encircling the battle zone; Valkyries and even some Grim Reapers took off in succession, beginning to engage them in air combat, while ground-based anti-air artillery kept firing nonstop.

"Battle, battle, guys, hold off these Zerg."

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

Boom—boom—boom!

The brutality of this war surpassed everyone's imagination; they faced a sky-covering Zerg horde, seemingly endless.

Countless dragons took to the air, attacking human fighters; the battlecruisers hovering above the planet's surface then activated all secondary weapons besides the main cannon, providing fire support to ground troops.

"Hold the line, brothers—the artifact is almost fully charged."

The entire battlefield fell into a stalemate; even if Kerrigan ordered a full Zerg assault, the dense human defenses made it difficult to break through for a while.

"Great Empress, I don't understand why you don't deploy the suicide Zerg army—if you sent out the suicide Zerg army, you should be able to breach their defenses.

Plus the powerful Thunder Beast units—Thunder Beast units are exactly for breaking such defenses; if just one Thunder beast charges through, these humans are done.

We could even launch Zerg viruses at them, infecting them into Zerg—we have countless ways to win, Your Majesty."

She truly didn't understand why use these cockroaches, dragons, or even spike snakes, even zerglings, to attack the enemy.

Logically, at this moment, facing fortified positions, we should send Thunder Beasts or suicide Zerg to attack, then unleash the Zerg virus to infect the humans inside—this would be the fastest and most effective killing method.

Yeah! The Zerg have many ways to breach their defenses, but—I just can't! My dear.

For some reason, Kerrigan's eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of softness as she spoke.

Last time during the Brood War, she let Jim Raynor go, didn't kill him, but let him leave.

Why? Because although Kerrigan became Zerg, gaining Zerg cruelty and coldness, deep inside, she inherited all of Sarah Kerrigan's memories.

Every time she tries to kill Jim Raynor, a voice strains to stop her.

This time is the same—clearly, the Imperial army has arrived, along with human rangers.

If she unleashed her full power, if she restored her former Blade Empress glory, she could annihilate this force in minutes.

But she just let this army descend from the air, plant their feet, and even seize a base.

Kerrigan understands Jim Raynor is her nemesis, her only weakness, but she simply cannot overcome it.

Outside, Jim Raynor leads the human army in a death-defying resistance; they think they're holding off the Zerg's full assault, unaware that Kerrigan, Sarah Kerrigan, just gave them a vast ocean.

If she went all-in, these people wouldn't even make it to land before being drowned by the Zerg horde.

"No worries—soon our Leviathan armada will arrive; this time, I will show humanity this super Leviathan warship.

And we still have a stellar artifact—let these humans enjoy a false victory; soon we'll turn the tide." Kerrigan shook her head and spoke.

Hearing this, a large group of Zerg queens under Kerrigan were utterly confused, not understanding why the Empress would become like this.

We could easily wipe out these humans—you just need to send all the Zerg out, that's all!

But now the Zerg are Kerrigan's one-woman show—no matter what she wants to do, these queens she created must obey orders.

No one can defy Kerrigan's will.

Time quietly passed; the human legion fought desperately, while the Zerg legion went through the motions of attacking.

Finally, the Xel'naga artifact's final countdown ended—the Xel'naga artifact had completed charging.

The alien Xel'naga artifact emitted a faint blue glow, then assembled in fragments into a rectangular solid.

"Brothers! Hold steady—the artifact has been activated; now is the most critical moment." Jim Raynor said.

"Victory is within sight, warriors of the Empire." The Terran Empire's crown prince roared. As everyone watched in anticipation, the Xel'naga artifact they had painstakingly found burst forth with a powerful energy wave, originating from the human defense epicenter and radiating outward directly.

Countless attacking Zerg troops were instantly struck down; upon receiving the shockwave, they instantly turned into points of light.

The shockwave was like a tangible substance, racing toward Char; countless Zerg swarms died before this mighty artifact.

The entire Zerg population on Char fell like harvested wheat—countless Zerg armies perished, leaving only a few hiding underground to survive.

Kerrigan herself was struck by this supremely powerful artifact energy; her Zerg matter, except for a small part, was entirely purified.

When struck by this energy wave, Sarah Kerrigan's eyes showed a hint of longing, a hint of relief, and again a hint of love for her beloved.

Finally, Raynor, you have fulfilled your promise, you saved me, I am finally free, freed from this eternal nightmare.

The Blade Queen Sarah Kerrigan even opened her arms to welcome this, which for her was death, or perhaps rebirth, the energy of the Xel'naga artifact.

At this moment, for Sarah Kerrigan, nothing mattered anymore, damn ambition, damn reviving the Zerg, now I can finally rest.

A earth-shaking explosion occurred, over eighty percent of the Zerg swarm on Char was annihilated, humanity gained an unimaginable victory. For the first time in the war against the Zerg, they achieved such a great victory.

Since this terrifying race appeared in humanity's sight, humanity faced this race with more losses than wins, never achieving such a glorious great victory.

Countless human soldiers began to cheer, Jim Raynor brought his few companions to the place where the Blade Queen Sarah Kerrigan fell.

The Blade Queen did not die, the artifact's energy destroyed ninety percent of her Zerg matter.

The original hard Zerg battle carapace disappeared, replaced by smooth, tender skin like a maiden's.

Now Sarah Kerrigan has finally restored her human appearance, the only remaining Zerg trait is her hair like a whip.

"It's okay, dear, I'm here, I'm here, I'm by your side." Jim Raynor stepped forward and embraced his naked lover, speaking gently.

"Jim, Jim! Be, be careful!" Sarah Kerrigan's words were halting, because she saw a sight aiming at her head.

"Tychus, don't do that, don't do that." Jim Raynor said, using his body to completely shield Sarah Kerrigan, then one hand reached for his pistol at his waist.

"Sorry, Jim, I have to do this, this is my freedom." Tychus sighed, pointing his rifle at the Blade Queen who had reverted to human.

Bang! Bang! Two gunshots, Jim Raynor saved his lover, but killed one of his best brothers.

But this victory was worth it, at least he saved his most beloved woman.

Jim Raynor embraced his lover and left the Zerg base, then returned to the human warship, the Crown Prince of the Terran Empire ordered part of the army to remain on Char to completely sweep away the remaining Zerg forces.

He himself brought the captured Blade Queen to an unknown planet, on the surface, Sarah Kerrigan indeed reverted to human, but her body still contained ample Zerg genes.

"Don't worry, Jim Raynor, we just need to bring Sarah to my research base, my scientists will help her remove all remaining Zerg genes, letting her return to being human." The Crown Prince of the Terran Empire said.

"You already betrayed this girl once, leaving her alone to die there, causing her to become the Blade Queen, now you have a chance to atone for your father's sins, I hope you do not act like him.

Promise me, Sarah is a pitiful girl, do not hurt her a second time, you should treat her illness, not turn her into an experimental weapon." Jim Raynor stared hard at the Crown Prince of the Terran Empire and spoke.

"Believe me, Jim, I am not my father, I will not do cruel things like him.

I promise you, I will absolutely not harm Kerrigan, if you don't believe me, you can bring your Ranger unit to my secret base."

"I will definitely go, with me here, no one can harm Sarah." Jim Raynor lifted his lover, then boarded the Terran Empire's battlecruiser.

Ground human soldiers also began cleaning the battlefield, on this planet except for some Zerg hiding underground.

Basically all were completely annihilated by the Xel'naga artifact.

After over ten hours of battle, a spatial disturbance appeared above Char.

A black, octopus-shaped creature as large as a planet suddenly appeared, this is a terrifying Leviathan warship.

"Alright, master, we have arrived, now we go down to see the Blade Queen! Whatever you want to do, I will follow behind you." Agatha said.

"Agatha, the situation seems off, this planet seems to have just experienced a battle." Luode came to the bridge of the Leviathan warship, looking at the battle-scarred planet below and spoke.

This Leviathan warship has become my private possession, the two share a strong psychic link, so Luode can clearly sense what happened outside.

My psychic power has already enveloped the entire Char planet, above there are large numbers of human troops while the Zerg army is dead and wounded everywhere.

What the hell? I haven't even arrived yet! You Blade Queen already got dealt with? Looking like this, this should be the final chapter of the human Wings of Liberty campaign, the Blade Queen has already been reverted to human by the Xel'naga artifact, though only on the surface.

The Heart of the Swarm campaign is about to begin, the true Blade Queen, also about to undergo her rebirth, reborn in the form of the primal Zerg.

Become stronger than the Zerg Overlord, able to oppose the dark Xel'naga Amon, a terrifying existence.

"What? How, how is this possible, these humans, these humans actually managed to invade Char, and, and defeated the Blade Queen! Even annihilated the Zerg forces here, this is impossible!" Queen Zerg Agatha said in disbelief, at this moment she also detected something wrong in the Zerg network.

Originally, most of the Queen Zerg and Brood Mothers in the Zerg network had died for unknown reasons.

Even the Blade Queen herself had gone offline, in the Zerg network, going offline actually means death.

"Nothing is impossible, the Blade Queen we seek was probably captured by someone." Luode said.

"Truly truly unbelievable, Char has billions of Zerg troops, these humans, even if their numbers were ten times greater, could not possibly match the Blade Queen, what exactly happened?" Agatha said.

"Could it be that your Blade Queen never wanted to fight this war in the first place, but no matter, for us this is also a good opportunity, right?" Luode looked at the leaderless Zerg below and the remnants left by the Blade Queen, a hint of a smile on his lips.

This Leviathan warship can indeed hatch large numbers of Zerg troops for itself, but after the Blade Queen's fall, Char's Zerg are now leaderless, in this situation.

Taking command of the Zerg forces myself is the best choice.

"Lord Luode, what do you mean? Taking advantage of the Blade Queen's defeat, we, we will take over the Zerg, you will become the new Zerg Overlord?" Agatha's eyes lit up and she spoke.

When the Blade Queen dies, her fellow Queen Zerg will begin fighting for power, and now possessing such terrifying power, plus the Starforge artifact, Lord Luode is the true Zerg Overlord.

"Come on, Agatha, let's take the first step, send these humans away, then take over this Zerg homeworld." Luode said. (End of Chapter)