Twilight Council. Aiur.

Hierarch Artanis tapped his forehead as he listened to the complaints and doubts of half the council. After the Aiur protoss took shelter on Shakuras, the Conclave was replaced by the Twilight Council. It not only included the Nerazim protoss but also a number of younger, more open minded protoss that advocated for change. In most cases, Artanis trusted the Twlight Council to stand by him.

Unfortunately, this time the council was completely divided. After Artanis released the recording Delta showed him, even the most radical protoss questioned him and what he was suggesting. To most of the protoss in the council, they have relied on their nerve cord their entire life. They couldn’t imagine what they would be without their nerve cords. For millions of years, anyone that questioned the Khala was deemed a heretic and persecuted. This was how the Nerazim protoss formed. After Artanis suggested that the Khala might be compromised, a few zealots almost drew their blades. The rest were slightly calmer, but the emphasis was on “slightly”.

Mohandar of the Nerazim protoss walked up behind Artanis. Several centuries old, Mohandar was a close friend to both Hierarch Artanis and former Matriarch Raszagal. He was also the teacher of now Matriarch Vorazun. With Vorazun being on Shakuras leading the bulk of the Nerazim, he was stationed here to remain as a bridge between the Khalai and the Nerazim. He glanced down at the Twilight Council with somewhat annoyance.

“It’s ironic that the Khala, designed to unite your people, is in fact dividing it.”

“I have no choice.” Artanis replied slowly. “What that Purifier showed me...it was real, and if the information we are given is true, the Daelaam is in great danger. I cannot turn a blind eye against an impending threat.”

“And you think you can convince your people to do what our ancestors did thousands of years ago?”

“I must try.” Artanis sighed. “We must act soon. If the Purifier is right, we don’t have much time.”

Truth to be told, if Artanis was given some more time, perhaps he could turn the Daelaam against Amon. But what’s done is done. By warning the Daelaam, Delta had a chance to turn them to her side, but it also warned Amon that his plan didn't go undetected. In other words, he must strike as soon as possible.

In high orbit of the planet, a carrier pilot suddenly groaned as he clutched onto his head. A surge of red energy appeared at the tip of his nerve cord and started advancing toward the rest of his body. As the void energy moved, it ate away at the templar’s mind. Realizing something was off, the templar tried to shout a warning through the Khala, but nothing came through. Desperate but not paralyzed, he reached for his backup comm.

“This is high templar Jisad....” His voice slowly went quieter and quieter.

“Templar? State your request.” A Khalai was on the other side.

The comm remained silent for two seconds.

“Forgive me, brother, it’s nothing.”

Without waiting for a response, Jisad shut off the comm. The void energy has already consumed his brain and completely turned him. Within half a minute, his entire body was covered by red. His ordinary psionic energy was turned to void energy.

The zealot at the other end of the emergency comm frowned. He thought about it for a few seconds, wondering if he should report this, but that was when he felt something off with his nerve cord...

All across Aiur, Khalai protoss were corrupted. Pilots. Zealots. Phase Smiths. Every single protoss with a nerve cord found their very being under siege.

Inside the Twilight Council, Artanis hit the ground, groaning. Amon’s corruption couldn’t be completely deflected by the willpower of the victims, but it could be delayed. The stronger the protoss was mentally, the longer they could maintain their selves. Unfortunately, by longer, it was no more than a few minutes. As the head of the Daelaam, Artanis didn't exactly lack willpower.

Mohander knelt down beside him. His eyes shined in worry. “Hierarch? Artanis? What’s wrong?” He glanced around the council and realized every single Khalai protoss was down. The relatively few Nerazim looked at each other in confusion.

Unfortunately, not every protoss was as strong as Artanis was. Within seconds, a dozen Daelaam rose again, covered in red. Most of them were zealots, but two high templars fell victim as well.

“Templars! Are you alright?” The Nerazim looked at each other, not knowing what to do. If they were facing Tal’darim, they would’ve struck already, but these zealots and templars were their brothers and sisters just moments ago.

Mohandar, as highest ranking official standing, slowly approached the corrupted Khalai. He didn't know what happened. All he knew was those Khalai templar were covered by the familiar void energy. This shouldn’t be happening. Something was terribly wrong. He turned around to the dark templars. “Alert Matriarch Vorazun and all the Nerazim on this planet…”

Before he could finish, all the Khalai templars charged toward him with crimson blades ignited.

“Stay back!” Taken by surprise, the elderly protoss wasn’t completely defenseless. His warp blade was ignited and skillfully deflected all of the void blades, but that wasn’t the end. All around, countless templar stood back up. They didn't hesitate to strike their weapons toward the Nerazim.

The Nerazim were taken by surprise. They were also outnumbered from the very beginning. Dozens of them fell in just seconds. The rest resisted, but they were gradually overwhelmed.

Mohandar’s eyes were filled with rage. He turned to the entrance of the council.

“Guards!”

Twenty zealots charged in. Only problem: They were also wielding red blades.

Another dark templar screamed and collapsed. Mohendar knew he must do something. He waved his hand and, with most of his void energy, sent the majority of the Khalai in the room into a void prison. This ability was similar to a stasis field in that those imprisoned were frozen for a while. This gave Mohendar the opportunity to blink to beside Artanis. At the heat of the moment, he knew he needed to take the leader of the Daelaam out of danger. Only then could he move to resolve whatever caused this atrocity to happen.

“Artanis!” He said loudly, glancing around the council. A couple Nerazim held back the few Khalai that weren’t imprisoned by Mohendar. “Can you hear me?”

Artanis nodded.

“Praise Adun! Now, listen to me…Uh!”

A crimson void blade pierced through Mohendar’s chest. The elder dark templar stared at Artanis in disbelief.

Artanis looked up. When his head was lowered, Mohendar couldn’t see it, but now, he saw Artanis’ eyes were shining in red light...just like all those corrupted Khalai.

The hierarch’s voice was low.

“Amon’s wrath will consume the sector, and we, the Firstborn, will be his blade…”

Mohendar’s body started fading away as his mind sank into an endless pit of darkness.

When Artanis walked out of the council, the game was already over.

The entirety of the Golden Armada fell in just minutes. 1,200 ships turned from blue to red in an astonishing speed. There was a number of Nerazim personnel and vessels on Aiur. They were immediately targeted by the Golden Armada. Orbital cannons and corrupted templar decimated the ground targets while phoenixes and scouts gunned down Nerazim ships in the ports. Their killing was made insanely efficient via coordination of the Khala. When the dust settled, not a single Nerazim notified Shakuras of what happened here.

A command was relayed to Artanis. The rogue hierarch walked to an open field covered by the power field of a pylon. A few phase smiths have already modified the pylon so their power field could be used to transport non-protoss personnel.

He didn't have to wait long. Dozens of light beams dropped down from the sky and into the power field. When the dust cleared, Artanis found himself facing over thirty hybrids. One of the hybrids was in front of the others. It was obviously stronger, larger, faster, and more importantly, more intelligent, than the rest.

“Artanis...my name is Narud, and by orders of Amon, I am here to oversee the Golden Armada and ensure it can carry out my master’s wish.” The hybrid spoke slowly.

Narud’s former body, that of Dr. Emil Narud, was destroyed on the Moebius platform. This forced Narud to enter the material world in a less elegant meat suit. He took control of one of the last hybrids he had and joined the Golden Armada with whatever was left of his hybrid legion.

“Amon’s will is my decree.” Artanis bowed.

“Very well.” Narud nodded. “Ready your armada.”

“Gladly, but where shall we strike?”

Narud response was full of hatred.

“The terran world...of Umoja.”

Although it might seem otherwise, Narud was a seasoned military commander. Millions of years old, he has more experience with war than any other player in the sector. This experience was hardly demonstrated when he stood against Delta and the Purifiers, where his forces were simply outnumbered and outgunned. No amount of tactical skill could save him when his enemy could simply walk over his fleet and burn his fortress to dust. This time, with the backing of the Golden Armada, Narud was finally able to demonstrate his capabilities.

First, he sent out observers and scanned everything within a decent radius of the planet. He knew the Purifiers knew about Amon’s plan and were actively trying to stop him. They even warned the Daelaam. There was more than enough reason to suspect they kept an eye on Aiur.

Just like he suspected, Khalai observers located hundreds of Purifier observers. Instead of having these observers shot down, Narud had the best of the Khalai phase smiths hack into the control system of those observers and make it look like everything was normal.

Then, Narud made sure the Golden Armada could be in the perfect position. He ordered a squad of Aiur avengers to travel to Umoja in a modified covert vessel. Aiur avengers were Khalai templar who embraced the darkness and the void energy in an attempt to retake the glory of the old protoss empire. They were similar to dark templars except they had nerve cords. Unfortunately, this difference made them pawns of Amon.

The squad of avengers acted carefully and away from Umojan patrols. Their job wasn’t to sabotage Umojan defenses. It was too risky. Instead, they planted down a series of location beacons near Umoja. They also confirmed all the coordinates. Everything they did was to make sure the Golden Armada could jump in as close to the Umojans as possible and take them by complete surprise.

Communication was an important part of war. The Khala had a limited range and Umoja was half the sector away from Aiur. This meant those fighting on Umoja couldn’t be connected to those back on Aiur. This might be a weakness abused by the enemies of the Golden Armada, so Narud ordered the construction of a highway of phase arrays between the two planets. All of these arrays were constructed on deserted, uninhabited planets and were protected by a sea of static defenses.

All the preparation took several days. Meanwhile, to make sure the Golden Armada could focus on the front, Artanis took the bulk of the Golden Armada to Shakuras and struck the Nerazim Fleet with full element of surprise. The Nerazim Fleet was almost wiped out. Hundreds of void rays burned in orbit. Finally, Vorazun and her shadow guards led an assault on the Golden Armada ships from the inside. They laid waste to a handful of carriers that pursued too close and managed to cover the retreat of a portion of the Nerazim people. Unfortunately, most of the Nerazim still perished when the Golden Armada literally burned Shakuras to the ground. Vorazun made it out after losing almost all of her elite guards.

At the end of the day, when the Golden Armada was ready to set sail for Umoja, Narud has made sure everything was on his side.

He didn't manage to play everyone in the sector against each other by being a fool.