03-06-2017, 03:32 AM
Kerrigan’s good hand clutched at the tanto embedded in her midsection. Briefly, she considered pulling out the metal blade, but her mind knew her biological limits better than any human could understand, and it took her only a nano-second to calculate that removing the knife would only bring her twelve seconds closer to death from loss of vital fluid.
Kerrigan raised her head to see the defiant eyes of the shaved swordmaster. She’d thought to break his spirit, and for a moment, it had seemed she had succeeded. Count on Darkshire’s weakest soldiers to give inspiration. Kerrigan realized it, then, the error she’d made at a crucial moment!
Humans were weak. They gave in to fear, anger, hatred. They fought with neither the savagery and unyielding focus of the zerg, or the more than mechanical precision and discipline of the protoss, but they retained one thing neither race held. Their spirit, their beliefs, changed on a dime, and one Terran could reinforce the power of another with just a sentence… and in the Omniverse, it seemed this power had only been amplified.
The idea that she, Sarah Kerrigan, had made a mistake burned in her heart, and the fact that the fault was hers did absolutely nothing to dissuade her from pinning it on the advancing swordsman.
Hiro Protagonist - a ridiculous name, and a ridiculous excuse for a warrior. She could somewhat excuse Strazio’s capabilities - for now, the prime was far superior to her in power - , but that this wretched little upstart would be allowed to take any credit for defeating the Queen of Blades…
Kerrigan could feel the seeds of hatred burning in her soul keenly, and her face showed her unmasked hatred in full view now, unfettered by her scraps of self-control. “You’ve made yourself a powerful enemy, trash.”
“Powerful?” Was the expected reply. “I just see some powerless bitch who just got shanked, and looks just about to fall over.”
“Sarah Kerrigan.” A second, growling response came from behind the Infested terran. It seemed Strazio had taken her back at this point, too. “There’s no point to capturing a monster like you. It’s over.”
Kerrigan’s patience had worn thin, and every bit of her being burned with the desire to go out in a blaze of hatred. It was clear the enemy had defeated her completely. Her forces could not push in. Her enemies were still in fighting condition. She was dying, even with her superior body and mind. An ascended being, brought to earth by simpering primitives.
Her cooler, zerg-based thought processes went into overdrive, though, dispersing much of her emotional instability. This was the outcome she’d expected, one of the outcomes she’d seen as a possibility from the beginning. Stormrage’s plan had never been particularly sound in the first place. Instead of cutting off Darkshire from aid and settling in for a lengthy siege, he’d attempted to push into a heavily fortified experience, blitzing a fortress that had no aid to expect. It was almost like-
Kerrigan’s eyes widened. “Of course.” She muttered to herself, her grin returning. “Well well well… I didn’t think it possible. So we were both using one another, Stormrage?” Kerrigan stated with a grin. The private discussions. The necromancy she knew didn’t originate from him. The strange rush to battle. Perhaps it was merely impatience, but Illidan seemed too intelligent for that.
No. This onslaught was meant to be as destructive to the attackers as it was the defenders. Kerrigan had been using this as a test run, to examine both her capabilities, and her future opponents. The resistance she’d meet and her rate of growth. Meanwhile, Stormrage had been using it as a massacre of what she had to assume were two equally unwanted groups.
It was genius, but Kerrigan still found herself resenting the fact she’d gone along with his plot.
Kerrigan could have screamed, but all she could manage to do was cough up blackened ichor instead.
“It… seems as though you’ve managed to leave me at death’s door.” Kerrigan stated, her face looking suddenly crestfallen. “Quite an accomplishment… for trash.” Sarah stated, noting that Strazio had once again taken on the form of a human. She couldn’t see him - in truth, her sight was growing dimmer by the second as it was - but she noticed the lack of a glow in the muddy water they fought within.
Hiro’s gaze didn't waver. Obviously, the swordsman expected some trick, and he kept walking forward, raising his katana for what Kerrigan knew to be the death blow. She circled slowly away from the samurai hacker. Her positioning had to be perfect, after all.
“I’ll… reward you appropriately… if only out of spite.” Kerrigan stated with a genuine tinge of rage to her features. “I’ll tell you… who’s banner I followed… and where they came from.”
That stopped Hiro in his tracks, and a lack of footsteps behind her told her Strazio had done the same. Kerrigan tried to find the energy to smile, but standing was already hard, and speaking bordered on impossible, so she settled for looking Hiro in the eye.
“His name is Illidan Stormrage. An elf, clad in tattoos, and filled with demonic energies… a prime. He…” Kerrigan stumbled, catching herself with her good arm, as her mouth began to leak an unpleasant black fluid. “Made his base in… Poenari castle. A place he’s… likely going to return to, for one reason or another.”
“And you’re telling us all this, why?” Hiro asked, finding the information a little dubious. “You think you can buddy up after everything you’ve done to these people, bitch? Pathetic.”
This time, Kerrigan did find the energy to smile. “You pathetic little worm… I’m just making sure… I pay him back for using me…” Kerrigan replied. “I’ve no interest in aiding you… but if you’ve interest in securing your… pathetic little realm… he is the head of the snake. That’s all… I have to offer you.”
Kerrigan closed her eyes for a moment, and briefly, it seemed like she was going to keel over.
Instead, her eyes burst to life, as she stood up straight once more, a Hydralisk pushing through the ground behind her. “Well… Almost.” Kerrigan said with a grin, as the zerg creature shot it’s needle spines.
A feeling of intense pain shot across Kerrigan’s body, as the spines pierced through her back, and cut through her heart like so much paper, the deadly darts rocketing out of Kerrigan’s body, and at Hiro’s face.
The ronin’s face changed to one of surprise as he reflexively dove out of the way of the attack. Even taken by surprise, though, the protagonist managed to evade the surprise attack, smirking as he did so.
“He! What a pathetic-” Hiro began to chide, but he was cut of by the satisfying sounds of Hiro’s voice catching in his throat. Kerrigan fell to the ground, feeling her motor control rapidly leaving her, even as she heard Hiro’s cry. She couldn’t see what she’d hit, but she knew she’d lined up the shot perfectly. The insipid little sycophant who had spoken up before, the man who had inspired Hiro to get up once again, had been her real target all along. Taking Hiro out would have been a useless endeavour in the first place - Strazio would have destroyed her regardless of if she succeeded, and the meddlesome ronin would have simply returned to life a little while before she did.
A rabble-rouser like that useless guardsman, on the other hand? She could silence him, and what threat he’d created, permanently, and the hydralisk spines that penetrated through the bastard’s braincase would see to that without fail.
Kerrigan’s laugh continued even as her body fell to the ground. “Yet another life… you… could have saved....” Kerrigan added with a mocking laugh. “Keep playing at… being a hero… while everyone… dies… around you…” She taunted. “In the end… you’re just a… murderer… with a sword… aren’t you?” Kerrigan asked.
She’d lost this battle, she knew, but the battle was inconsequential. The war had started, and with this fight, she’d already gained the advantage. The scars on her body were nothing, compared to the scars she’d left on this city, and while this fight had cost them so many men, and so much pain, all Kerrigan had lost were expendable troops and an easily regained life.
So it was that The Queen of Blades continued to chuckle to herself, hearing Hiro’s cry of rage, only stopping when her head was severed from her neck by a flash of steel.
Kerrigan raised her head to see the defiant eyes of the shaved swordmaster. She’d thought to break his spirit, and for a moment, it had seemed she had succeeded. Count on Darkshire’s weakest soldiers to give inspiration. Kerrigan realized it, then, the error she’d made at a crucial moment!
Humans were weak. They gave in to fear, anger, hatred. They fought with neither the savagery and unyielding focus of the zerg, or the more than mechanical precision and discipline of the protoss, but they retained one thing neither race held. Their spirit, their beliefs, changed on a dime, and one Terran could reinforce the power of another with just a sentence… and in the Omniverse, it seemed this power had only been amplified.
The idea that she, Sarah Kerrigan, had made a mistake burned in her heart, and the fact that the fault was hers did absolutely nothing to dissuade her from pinning it on the advancing swordsman.
Hiro Protagonist - a ridiculous name, and a ridiculous excuse for a warrior. She could somewhat excuse Strazio’s capabilities - for now, the prime was far superior to her in power - , but that this wretched little upstart would be allowed to take any credit for defeating the Queen of Blades…
Kerrigan could feel the seeds of hatred burning in her soul keenly, and her face showed her unmasked hatred in full view now, unfettered by her scraps of self-control. “You’ve made yourself a powerful enemy, trash.”
“Powerful?” Was the expected reply. “I just see some powerless bitch who just got shanked, and looks just about to fall over.”
“Sarah Kerrigan.” A second, growling response came from behind the Infested terran. It seemed Strazio had taken her back at this point, too. “There’s no point to capturing a monster like you. It’s over.”
Kerrigan’s patience had worn thin, and every bit of her being burned with the desire to go out in a blaze of hatred. It was clear the enemy had defeated her completely. Her forces could not push in. Her enemies were still in fighting condition. She was dying, even with her superior body and mind. An ascended being, brought to earth by simpering primitives.
Her cooler, zerg-based thought processes went into overdrive, though, dispersing much of her emotional instability. This was the outcome she’d expected, one of the outcomes she’d seen as a possibility from the beginning. Stormrage’s plan had never been particularly sound in the first place. Instead of cutting off Darkshire from aid and settling in for a lengthy siege, he’d attempted to push into a heavily fortified experience, blitzing a fortress that had no aid to expect. It was almost like-
Kerrigan’s eyes widened. “Of course.” She muttered to herself, her grin returning. “Well well well… I didn’t think it possible. So we were both using one another, Stormrage?” Kerrigan stated with a grin. The private discussions. The necromancy she knew didn’t originate from him. The strange rush to battle. Perhaps it was merely impatience, but Illidan seemed too intelligent for that.
No. This onslaught was meant to be as destructive to the attackers as it was the defenders. Kerrigan had been using this as a test run, to examine both her capabilities, and her future opponents. The resistance she’d meet and her rate of growth. Meanwhile, Stormrage had been using it as a massacre of what she had to assume were two equally unwanted groups.
It was genius, but Kerrigan still found herself resenting the fact she’d gone along with his plot.
Kerrigan could have screamed, but all she could manage to do was cough up blackened ichor instead.
“It… seems as though you’ve managed to leave me at death’s door.” Kerrigan stated, her face looking suddenly crestfallen. “Quite an accomplishment… for trash.” Sarah stated, noting that Strazio had once again taken on the form of a human. She couldn’t see him - in truth, her sight was growing dimmer by the second as it was - but she noticed the lack of a glow in the muddy water they fought within.
Hiro’s gaze didn't waver. Obviously, the swordsman expected some trick, and he kept walking forward, raising his katana for what Kerrigan knew to be the death blow. She circled slowly away from the samurai hacker. Her positioning had to be perfect, after all.
“I’ll… reward you appropriately… if only out of spite.” Kerrigan stated with a genuine tinge of rage to her features. “I’ll tell you… who’s banner I followed… and where they came from.”
That stopped Hiro in his tracks, and a lack of footsteps behind her told her Strazio had done the same. Kerrigan tried to find the energy to smile, but standing was already hard, and speaking bordered on impossible, so she settled for looking Hiro in the eye.
“His name is Illidan Stormrage. An elf, clad in tattoos, and filled with demonic energies… a prime. He…” Kerrigan stumbled, catching herself with her good arm, as her mouth began to leak an unpleasant black fluid. “Made his base in… Poenari castle. A place he’s… likely going to return to, for one reason or another.”
“And you’re telling us all this, why?” Hiro asked, finding the information a little dubious. “You think you can buddy up after everything you’ve done to these people, bitch? Pathetic.”
This time, Kerrigan did find the energy to smile. “You pathetic little worm… I’m just making sure… I pay him back for using me…” Kerrigan replied. “I’ve no interest in aiding you… but if you’ve interest in securing your… pathetic little realm… he is the head of the snake. That’s all… I have to offer you.”
Kerrigan closed her eyes for a moment, and briefly, it seemed like she was going to keel over.
Instead, her eyes burst to life, as she stood up straight once more, a Hydralisk pushing through the ground behind her. “Well… Almost.” Kerrigan said with a grin, as the zerg creature shot it’s needle spines.
A feeling of intense pain shot across Kerrigan’s body, as the spines pierced through her back, and cut through her heart like so much paper, the deadly darts rocketing out of Kerrigan’s body, and at Hiro’s face.
The ronin’s face changed to one of surprise as he reflexively dove out of the way of the attack. Even taken by surprise, though, the protagonist managed to evade the surprise attack, smirking as he did so.
“He! What a pathetic-” Hiro began to chide, but he was cut of by the satisfying sounds of Hiro’s voice catching in his throat. Kerrigan fell to the ground, feeling her motor control rapidly leaving her, even as she heard Hiro’s cry. She couldn’t see what she’d hit, but she knew she’d lined up the shot perfectly. The insipid little sycophant who had spoken up before, the man who had inspired Hiro to get up once again, had been her real target all along. Taking Hiro out would have been a useless endeavour in the first place - Strazio would have destroyed her regardless of if she succeeded, and the meddlesome ronin would have simply returned to life a little while before she did.
A rabble-rouser like that useless guardsman, on the other hand? She could silence him, and what threat he’d created, permanently, and the hydralisk spines that penetrated through the bastard’s braincase would see to that without fail.
Kerrigan’s laugh continued even as her body fell to the ground. “Yet another life… you… could have saved....” Kerrigan added with a mocking laugh. “Keep playing at… being a hero… while everyone… dies… around you…” She taunted. “In the end… you’re just a… murderer… with a sword… aren’t you?” Kerrigan asked.
She’d lost this battle, she knew, but the battle was inconsequential. The war had started, and with this fight, she’d already gained the advantage. The scars on her body were nothing, compared to the scars she’d left on this city, and while this fight had cost them so many men, and so much pain, all Kerrigan had lost were expendable troops and an easily regained life.
So it was that The Queen of Blades continued to chuckle to herself, hearing Hiro’s cry of rage, only stopping when her head was severed from her neck by a flash of steel.
Quote:------Kerrigan is dead and will regenerate in the nexus in one week------
Any remaining zerg forces will go berserk, fighting with an increased strength and savagery, but not recognizing friend and foe. They now lack self-preservation but fight without regard for their own lives, becoming far more dangerous.
Everyone may now react as they wish.