Beyond Saving, Let's Blow It Up

Wars grand in scale and incomparably brutal were commonplace throughout the history of the Koprulu Sector, but only the battles for Aiur and Char left the deepest impression. Horrific remnants of battle covered the planets' surfaces; as far as the eye could see lay the blood-soaked corpses of Protoss, Zerg, and humans. Starships and the swarm's colossal aerial beasts had fallen from orbit, their skyscraper-sized wreckage blotting out the sky.

If anyone claimed that no interstellar war on an unprecedented scale would arise after the Brood War, it was only because they had never been to Shakuras beneath the shadows of the Void.

Shakuras, that mysterious world long hidden in darkness and isolated from worldly strife, the sacred homeworld of the Nerazim, had once again fallen into war and was nearly completely overrun.

Ever since they had taken in their kin from Aiur, the home of the Dark Templar had suffered large-scale invasions more than once. The previous two wars on Shakuras had nearly destroyed the planet, but this time, perhaps few still believed there was any hope of saving her.

Battles of every scale erupted one after another around the last major settlements, including Tamateros and New Antioch. Orange flames lit up Shakuras's sky, as though fire had burned from heaven down to the ground. The entire planet had become a vast furnace filled with death and destruction.

The Aiur swarm, led by Hybrids, poured endlessly from the Xel'Naga Gateways. Advancing ever deeper inland along the outposts established by the Dark Templar, they marched over roads carpeted with the ruins of countless cities and fragments of art treasures.

At the darkest hour, the fortifications on Tamateros's outskirts had already fallen completely. Only a small number of photon cannons, Khaydarin Crystals, and ion cannons remained operational. Fire raged through the