A creature lurked on a heavily defended platform in the void. His multiple red eyes glared and stroke fear into anyone that would dare to face him. Tentacles were around his mouth. He looked like a hybrid...or rather hybrids were made to look like him. Crimson void energy assembled around him, ripping apart everything around him. Occasionally an area of space would be ripped open. Anything in that area were just...gone. The closest void shade unit was a hundred meters away.

A xel’naga in his own field and with his maximum power was ten times more powerful than a xel’naga stuck in the material world inside an incomplete host.

It had been ten days since he was kicked out of the material world, but Amon’s anger hardly disappeared. To a xel’naga with almost infinite life span, ten days were no different from two seconds. Amon felt like it was yesterday when his complete victory was turned to a crushing defeat.

A creature sent him a communication request. Amon frowned. It was his most trusted, most capable, and only underling, Narud.

Amon had been quite disappointed toward this fellow xel’naga. He had spent countless years and endless effort to get that fool into the material world. Even if the xel’naga, with his unchallenged psionic power, almost perfect timing, and precious element of surprise, couldn’t take over the entire sector and welcome his master back with open arms, at least he should have been able to somehow contribute to his return, right? He should have done a lot more than just being outright nuked and sent back into the void without really helping Amon’s cause at all. A few hybrids were fine, but that was hardly worth the cost. Amon didn’t send Narud over so he could build a couple hundred hybrids and then be given a one way trip ticket home.

After being kicked back here, Amon needed someone to take the blame for his defeat. He needed someone to be the victim of his ultimate rage. Amon obviously wouldn’t blame himself for the disaster. Void shades were puppets, and punishing them would be the same as hitting random rocks on the side of the road. His enemy Ouros was locked up in a prison and opening it just so Amon could beat him up might open an opportunity for some shenanigans. So Amon turned to the only one he could get hold of and the only one that, partially, held the responsibility of the failure.

Physical pain didn’t satisfy Amon, but the dark god knew that, just like himself, Narud desired the material world. It was exactly why Narud joined his cause against all the other xel’naga. So he sent poor old Narud to the place closest to the material world: The platform where the void portal would be if it was to be turned on. The lesser xel’naga was forced to stand at where the one way gate might one day open up on and pray, hopelessly, for a miracle. He wanted the xel’naga to live thousands of years of his life one step away from the prosperous material world. So close, yet so far. It was the ultimate punishment Amon gave to the one that disappointed him.

And then report came. Amon groaned. He didn’t want to answer it, but he knew whatever this was this must be urgent. Narud wouldn’t risk angering him with a piece of random, unimportant news.

“My master!” Whether or not Narud held a grudge against Amon was a question the world may never know, but even if he did he had kept it well hidden. His voice radiated with both excitement and fear. “The void portal is opened from the other side! A hostile fleet has passed through the portal. It’s pushing through the defenses. They have too many ships. I need reinforcements!” He was excited because the opened portal meant a glimmer of a chance to go back to the material world. At the same time he was frightened because a fleet larger than anything he had seen before was here, and they didn’t look too friendly. His first line of defense had fell within minutes. Even as he spoke the defenders were decreasing exponentially.

“Impossible!” Amon just couldn’t wrap his mind around what happened. It was no doubt Jean, but what did she want? She had already banished him! Shouldn’t she be sitting back in her palace, enjoying the beauty of the world?

Was she really arrogant enough to think she could defeat him here in the void? Amon’s heart suddenly lightened at the idea. He thought he was hopeless, but now he was given another chance. Jean might have a fleet, but he was a xel’naga. More importantly, he was a xel’naga in his prime. The surrounding of the void provided him with endless power. His complete body could wipe out armies with several movements. A few hundred ships couldn’t stop him. Jean would pay for her arrogance with her life.

If he could take down Jean’s fleet quick enough and get to the void portal before it could be closed...he might as well be able to take over the sector after all.

Amon knew if he was to act he would need to do it quickly. He had already lost one opportunity to victory. He would not lose another.

“My master?” Narud’s hesitant words brought Amon out of his thoughts and back to the void. Amon could afford to take the time to think, but Narud knew he couldn’t. Every second he could sense his forces dying. He estimated a few more minutes before having to get into the field himself.

“My most loyal servant, mobilize all your forces and hold off the invading fleet at all cost. I am on my way.” Amon silently contacted the location of the platform near the void portal. It wouldn’t take him long to get there. Once he was there.

Yet his plan was cut off.

“What the...Ahhh!” Narud’s scream penetrated through Amon’s throne room. The stronger xel’naga frowned.

“Narud! What happened? Answer me!”

There was no response. Amon’s heart collapsed. He knew Narud would never ignore him by choice. He was either cut off or...or he might be killed. Amon tried to contact the void shards. No response either.

A few seconds ago Amon would have warped to the platform by himself and eradicate the invading fleet, but the lost of contact of Narud shed some shadow upon his confidence. Narud was weaker than Amon was, but not by that much. After all, they were of the same race. It had been a few seconds between the confident Narud and the screaming Narud. If the invaders could kill Narud in a few seconds...how long would it take them to terminate him?

Amon decided to be more cautious. This caution saved his life.“Scouts! Get in there and find out what happened!” He ordered impatiently.

A platform close to the platform near the void portal, a void shade that took the form of a phoenix darted into the empty void. It took the fighter a few minutes to reach the former Narud’s fortress.

As the phoenix arrived, Amon connected to the void shades’ eyes, giving himself a way to see the battlefield first handed without risking his own life. What he saw made him thank his caution.

The platform, once covered by countless orbital defenses, void shards, and void shades, was naked. Everything connected to the void was gone. Even the ultimate planetary defense, the corruption that transformed the environment to be deadly to any outsider, was gone.

Amon couldn’t believe his eyes. He wasn’t stupid, and he was well aware of the possibility that someone might come through the portal and try to slay him. For this reason alone he had sent one fifth of all the void shades in the void to that position. As the name suggested, the void held an almost endless amount of void energy, which meant fleets and fleets of void shades. One fifth of all the void shades was impressive, and they were dead in at most a few minutes. The phoenix kept flying, examine the situation. It was before a corpse that he finally stopped.

A giant corpse laid before a half destroyed temple. Amon could recognize it as his former servant. The xel’naga, the practical god with ultimate psionic power, was dead. He was killed in the void, so he was truly gone with no hope of returning.

Narud’s body was only one fourth the size of its former form. Even the pieces that remained were burnt. The perfect combination of psionic power and physical strength was literally ripped apart. Neither his impenetrable plasma shield, backed up by his ultimate psionic power, nor his indestructible body, could save him from meeting his end.

What could have done this? It was undoubtedly Jean, but where did she get the power to outright kill a xel’naga? More importantly, how did she get it in a few weeks?

Amon’s mind rotated. The void shard, under his command, turned over and attempted to get a full look on the attackers. He managed to do exactly that. Turning over, Amon found himself staring at a fleet.

The fleet itself wasn’t a surprise. It was the size of the fleet that made him cringe. The amount of ships could make anyone with trypophobia faint. Amon subconsciously counted the amount of capital ships and put it at 2483.

This was bad. This was really bad. Amon could crush a couple hundred ships. In fact, he wouldn’t even need his void shade forces to do that. Just the sheer power of his body could withstand the firing of those ships long enough for the xel’naga to get close enough and rip open the ships. But two thousand or so ships… That was a whole different story. Amon knew he would be blasted to pieces before he could lay his tentacles on a single enemy vessel. He could withstand a hundred Yamatos, but how about a thousand?

The combined fleet had noticed the scout. Ten mirages deviated from the fleet and moved toward the void shade. The phoenix fought back, but Amon didn’t have any more time to waste. He immediately broke off the communication and returned his conscious into his body on the platform, leaving the void shade phoenix to die.

Back in his fortress, Amon acted swiftly. As his order was passed down, every single void shade unit in the void converged toward the fortress. From the lowest zergling to the strongest mothership, Amon needed every single unit he could get his hands on. The confidence he had a few minutes ago were nowhere to be seen. The table was turned, and now he was the hunted.