Cruel

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A month had passed since the battle of the Torrenis System. Around outposts, mining stations, and Colonial Planets, the Terran Empire's forces had fought hundreds of battles, large and small, along the Golden Armada's path of advance, yet they still could not stop it from moving forward.

One Imperial world after another fell. Half of the Koprulu Sector had been drawn into a prolonged war, and humanity was shrouded in boundless darkness and fear.

As if that were not enough to drive people to despair, the Protoss had arrived this time alongside an overwhelming army of Zerg.

Emperor Augustus's great Terran Empire had been driven into a desperate situation. The truth was far bloodier than the media reports suggested. The Golden Armada and the Overmind's Brood were relentlessly harvesting lives across the Koprulu Sector, massacring hundreds of millions.

The Imperial military had suffered devastating losses. Some units fighting desperately on the front lines had been depleted so severely that reinforcements could not keep pace with their casualties. The once-famous, respected warships vanished one after another into the empty depths of space, leaving only a handful of survivors to piece together their shattered fates from the captains' final reports.

Like a drowning man held beneath the surface, the Terran Empire swallowed mouthful after mouthful of water, each one hastening its death.

By late August of 2503, the Golden Armada had finally reached Helioc III, meaning that they had penetrated deep into Terran Empire territory and were about to enter the core worlds.

As the capital of the Helioc Sector and a fortified stronghold on the Terran Empire's northern frontier, Helioc III could not be surrendered to the enemy by the Imperial forces gathered there.

Terrans had settled and multiplied at Watering Hole for over a century. Since the human worlds