Week-long battle in a day! (Patreon)

Warm greetings everyone, it's us again — Shadow Portal Team!

Remember in the middle of this summer our team prepared a special series of "Zerg week" posts, where you spent a whole week getting to know the future characters of our game, the pack leaders? As we noticed, you really liked this format and we would love to repeat this experiment, but since the new year is so soon, we present you a "Zerg week" in one day! This will be the plot of the battle that you could already see in our game,  as amazing drawings, that we have prepared specially for this event. We hope that you will appreciate it, we tried hard.

So what to expect in this battle. Here you will witness how Kerrigan first met the pack leaders and what happened, with pictures, which you'll be able to enjoy fully in update 23, but you can already get a glimpse at them now!

If you don't want to spoil the battle for yourself, stop right here, the rest, get your popcorn and let's go!

It all starts when Sochus, by Sarah's order, assembled all the leaders in a single room, where they were supposed to meet Sarah. But, as usual, something went wrong immediately, before she could even get there — the most aggressive leader was once again inadequate. His name is Burh the Trumper and he's the leader of the Ultralisks, in other words, the strongest of the leaders, and yes, he was the one who caused the earthquake Sarah felt when she was still far from the meeting spot.

In the room from which the sounds of fighting were coming, Kerrigan was slightly taken aback by what was happening. The little Defiler (by Ultralisk standards) was baiting the giant and deftly dodging his strikes, while other familiar-looking Zerg were watching this and discussing the show between each other. There were 5 in the audience in total — Mutalisk, Zergling, Guardian, HYdralisk and Sochus, the latter of them hiding behind our Ghost's back.

Sarah, of course, was confused by such events and tried to stop the fight, but no one paid attention to her words. And only when the fight started growing boring, some of the leaders remembered they were supposed to do something completely different there. Sarah, noticing the right moment, shouted: «I brought you all together!». Silence set over the room. Everyone's attention was on Sarah now, even the ultralisk and the defiler forgot about their fight for a moment, to take a look at the one who dared request their presence and were rather surprised… 

It was just a small human who dared interrupt them and, as most would think, destined themselves to certain death.

The Zerg immediately disregarded her as another pitiful bug, that didn't deserve even a second of their attention, but they were very wrong. The giant roared again and rushed at the defiler, attempting to finish the fight. But Sarah decided to stop wasting time and use the fact that the leaders were used to the survival of the fittest - she lifted her arm and prepared to use her powers in her new and stronger body. She was a bit worried about how much her power has changed, but she managed to focus on the present. Moments later, Defiler was suddenly unable to move and his body froze. While he was trying to free himself from the unknown binds, Ultralisk tensed in anticipation of another trick from him, and the Guardian was the first one to notice something unusual. The psionic power was encompassing the entire room by now and everyone should have been able to feel it. Sarah easily threw the defiler against a wall without breaking a sweat, which surprised her. “Is this all because of the mutation? I'm starting to like it.” - she thought. A bit later, she tried again - “Are you ready to listen to me now?!"

Silence set in again, but the Ultralis was furious. His prey was just stolen from him and worse, it was a puny human who did it. The giant turned to Sarah, telegraphing that his target has changed. His look could scare anyone, but Sarah was stronger, she wasn't bothered by the mad fire in his eyes.

Murder... I will trample you down, leave no traces of your existence, and continue to kill you until my bloodlust is quenched! ...SOME ROACH DARES TO INTERRUPT MY FIGHT?! I'LL CRUSH YOU!!! - intimidation attempts flew from the other side of the room, but Sarah ignored them. She was eager to find out just how much stronger she was in her new form.

Survive! - the thought sent shivers down her skin, making her even more hungry for battle.

The other leaders, standing to the side, were shocked. The other leaders didn't understand why the girl was standing still and grinning when the completely overtaken by rage ultralisk prepared to attack.

I WILL KILL, TRAMPLE, BREAK EACH OF YOUR BONES, I WILL BREAK THEM UNTIL THEY STOP CRUNCHING, AND WHEN THEY STOP, I WILL GRIND THEM INTO SAND!

The ultralisk let out a ferocious roar, taking off with great speed, completely contradicting its huge mass, but the girl took a steady stance, raising her hand, starting to concentrate even more. Sochus, still standing behind Sarah, shuddered. He was terrified of the mass of muscle rushing toward them and begged his new mistress to retreat, but the Ghost was relentless. She planned to stop the ultralisk before he even reached her.

Sarah's power continued to build up around her. The tension could be felt by everyone present.

"Hah, easy as pie! I'm not dying yet!" - Sarah directed her power at the ultralisk, making him feel its full blast. The giant simply froze in place.

"WHAAAAT???"
"What is this?"
"Why can't I move?!" - the ultralisk shouted louder than ever. Everyone's eyes were focused on him, who was exerting all his strength, but still couldn't budge.
"W-what??? Did she...???"
"Why did he stop? This has never happened before? He couldn't just calm down, could he??? No, his eyes are still burning with rage!"
"She... What?! He succumbed to her? What's going on here? What... Who is she?!"
"How is this even possible? That girl stopped him?!" - this and much more through the pack leaders' minds at that moment. They couldn't believe their eyes, a creature capable of challenging even Mistress herself existed and it was a lowly terran.
"This terran isn't like any of her kind, she's completely different, I've never seen anything like this before!" - the guardian managed to throw in his two cents.

While the pack leaders were discussing Sarah's cheeky feat, she smiled contentedly. You could even say she was intoxicated by her newfound power. The way she stopped her opponent excited her. After all, it was much easier for her than she had imagined. Thoughts of revenge on Mengsk filled her at that moment. It seemed to her that her dream was closer than ever. Unable to quell her euphoria, she continued to stand unwaveringly, attracting everyone's gazes. Mistress's words that she could gain even more power by gathering essences echoed in her head, and she became incredibly interested in what power she could gain. The smile on her face was even more contented, and she completely forgot about her surroundings. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't hide it.

But another roar from Burh the Trumper brought her back to reality.

"KILL!!! CRUSH! DESTROY! I WAS CREATED TO DESTROY!"
"I WILL KILL YOU EVEN IF THAT KILLS ME!!! EVEN IF MY BODY DOESN'T LISTEN TO ME, I'M UNSTOPPABLE! I'M THE STRONGEST, I WILL KILL YOU!!!" - he shouted deafeningly.

The audience had more and more questions. Who is she, where did she come from, what is she doing here, and, of course, why? And it was getting harder to find a logical answer to any of them.

The mutalisk surprised Sarah and spoke Terran to her: "Look, you can't beat him that easily. In this state, the ultralisk hears no one and understands nothing, only succumbs to anger. This will last until he releases all the anger that has accumulated in him." 

The girl was stunned to hear her native tongue in such a place. Where did the mutalisk learn it? Who is she? But no answer came…

But that wasn't enough still. The girl got used to and ignored the tension of holding down the ultralisk, she wanted more.

"Hmm... what if... I need to try. I have an idea, and we'll deal with you later." - Sarah mumbled quietly. She closed her eyes, trying to find a way to improvise. She wasn't fully sure whether anything would come out of it, but she would give it her best. The audience was also confused but watched even more attentively than before.
"I have to get him under control... I need to get rid of this rage...". The idea had merit, but making it a reality was rather difficult.
"He's not as simple as I thought... He is not only strong but also mentally protected! I just felt like creating chaos, as if it was me who wanted to! What a barrier... Well, anyways, any protection can be broken!"

Sarah increased her pressure on the ultralisk. His body became heavy, heavy enough, to almost make him bend his knees before Sarah. He knew that if he fell, it would be the end. He would never get up... He just couldn't lose, so he fought for the rest of his life. 

"Don't fight it, baby, let's just get this over with." - someone's voice pierced Burh's consciousness…

Still holding down the ultralisk, for the safety of everyone around, she looked him in the eyes, which were no longer filled with rage.

"So, are you ready now? Let's try again." - Sarah closed her eyes, returning to the giant's mind. She still felt the same rage, but now the ultralisk was more amenable to her influence. She suppressed him, dispersing the rage and clearing his mind.
"How... you did it... what did you do to me? Nobody... No one has ever been able to quell my anger..." - the ultralisk breathed heavily.

After catching a breath, Sarah picked a moment when everyone was focused on her and spoke: "Listen up! I just want you to listen to me. If you're ready, I'd like to tell you why I'm here... Then you can decide what you want to do. If you keep biting each other's throats, I won't care."

"You proved your might... We will listen to you, human..."

Wow, that was something, wasn't it? Well, that's the end of the week-long battle, huh? But there are good news folks! An update is just around the corner! And today we refreshed our memory a little bit by recalling the plot of the battle and looking at the awesome artwork we've specially prepared for such a momentous occasion. We strongly believe that you enjoyed this format and the material that our team prepared for you, dear patrons. Your activity was unreal, thank you for the endless support. 

We also want to congratulate everyone on the upcoming holidays and of course, we wish you to spend it with your family, friends and loved ones! See you in update 23.

Respectfully yours,
Shadow Portal.