Annihilation Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

[Michael Barran]

5TH POST

-AN AGE OF STRIFE STORY-

CAIRN_ONE
RINGLEADER OF THE PELLAEONIST CLIQUE
WARDEN OF THE IMPERIAL KNIGHTS
DRUID-GRANDMASTER OF THE HIGHLAND BROTHERHOOD

Tags (Friendlies): Siyndacha Aerin Aoki-Barran Mira Sahar Simon Meinrad

Tags (OPFOR): Khaostra Devoid Marlon Sularen Erion Justeene

BORN OF BRIGHT STARS VII: DANCING WITH THE DAMNED - PART 5

Spoiler

WESTERN COURTYARD, INTERNMENT ZONE,
THE SITH CITADEL, EXEGOL (SUMMER 878 ABY)

<"Barran to Cairn Two - anything yet?!">
<"McBain to Cairn One - nout.... Bolstering positional advantage for now though.">

<Nice, always better to dominate wherever possible. Stay alert o'er there. Barran out!">
​

With fingertips taped with purpose, already a little red from inflammation by way of early use of the Click-Wave, Barran was ready for the next phase of the fight, despite the fact he was sitting back with his boots kicked up and resting on an old canteen. Everyone was in position to spring a ranged ambush, widely-dispersed amongst the rubble and the outer walls of the prison complex, so the Wanderer was quite content to conserve his strength for as long as time would allow, using his spare time to use his senses to detection effect instead. Searching the citadel and the areas around it, searching for friend and foe alike, though in taking this process a little more seriously, familiar souls began to burn out in Lord Michael's periphery.

It was in the moment he found the necromancers, bearing malformed flame in the dark corners of the citadel, poised to strike out again from the source of their power when Barran found the presence of one he recognised. One of his very first rivals since his early forays into the Imperial war effort, with a hatred between them spanning back as early as the Invasion of Lao-Mon, a very particular hatred reserved purely between the Barrans and the Howling Crags, and Michael's very own arch-rival was personally making an appearance on this occasion.

'Hahahahahahahaha! Interesting.'

Shame I forget the mask an' the Woad-paint this time though.

Form-2 an' Force-Techniques aw the way then. I'm sure the Sorcerers don't mind.
Good, I want to see how my descendent fights with sword in hand. Show me.​

And that arch-rival was none other than Khaostra Devoid, descendant of the infamous Blade Ice, who in turn was the Lord-Regent's last-surviving rival, adding to the tension between the Goidels and the Dathomiri in what was likely to boil into something altogether more destructive than any other feud of it's sort. After all, matters of feuding clans would always differ when ruling clans from entirely differing peoples crossed swords against each other, ringing ever so true in the case of the quiet war between the Goidelic Humans and the Dathomiri specifically, and for as long as Michael and Khaostra desired to eradicate each other's bloodlines completely, the chance of their simmering war becoming a run of cold proxies remained as slim as ever.

The gift of the Imprint is yours, laddie.
Your safety net wanders not, so forget not that the wandering is only for thee.

Fair point, Sinnsear.
​

'MAWITES INCOMING - OPEN FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!!!!!'

​

Heralding in the great pitched battle within the Citadel's outer boundaries, the Highlanders let loose with everything they had, unleashing blaster and disruptor trails, slugs and shoulder-mounted rockets into the advancing horde of Mawites, forcing the enemy contingent onto the back foot from the moment the very first ambushing shot was fired. A fanfare like no other, like a warlike symphonic composition that dares to add cannons into the performance, a shocking beauty that somehow drew mirth in it's effective application, though such was often the way for those who worked to make fools of their enemies at every workable opportunity. This fact in particular was taken seriously as Lord Michael called on the curved Makashi, hoping not to let hubris lead him astray as it had on Neshtab, though the acknowledgement of the fun he wished to have didn't help him much in his resistance to such temptations, as bloodlust certainly bore it's own litany of drain-circling risks on planets like Exegol.

In any case.... Just you sit back an' enjoy the show for now, auld-yin.
The swordsman's magic permeated down to my generation, rest assured.

​

 

[Tegan Starfall]

You Will Witness My Destruction!​

Post: 6
Location: Abandoned Carnival, Forbidden District Outskirts
Objective: Unstoppable!
Equipment: x2 Lightsabers | x2 Frag Grenades | Utility Belt | A-180 blaster | Defender (on Nails)
Enemies: Everyone
Allies: No One
Tags: Jand Talo | Corazona von Ascania | Darth Malum of House Marr | Dominik Borra

---

"What did you do to me, you heinous wretch?"​

It was but a moment as the Young Padawan screamed it out, Tegan wanted to tell her she made her feel like no Jedi. Anger an emotion they all buried away, tried to purge from themselves. Yet anger is what motivates most people. It was Anger that motivates the activist to act, outrage was anger by another name. Anger was a pure driving force; it could blind you if you let but if you harnessed and fueled it the right direction you could change worlds and fate. It's funny Jedi tried to purge fear as well, while fearing the anger inside them at the same time. Anger drove away fear made one fearless against the odds, the philosophy as a whole counter intuitive. Even though Tegan herself wasn't driven by fear or anger she did see the benefits of both. She herself driven by Chaos and Destruction the very depths of the deepest madness.

She so wanted to tell the Padawan the first steps to truth where being seen but before she could speak her wisdom that anger was turned to her. A large gust of wind could be felt and then for the briefest of seconds Tegan heard the flapping of canvas in the wind. Her body ravished by splinters of wood and metal cutting into her flesh and rags she was wearing. Blood pouring out as they cut deeply in her from remnants of the tent as the canvas wrapped her up making her world visually go dark. She fought back against the canvas that intwined her and wrapped around her body. With the rain pouring down the weight of the canvas was even greater as it pulled at her. She struggled and fought against it her breath becoming heavy as she fought it's suffocating embrace. Asphyxiation was a horrible way to die a death Tegan had felt many times before and it never got easier. It was better to be cut in half by a saber or mauled by a rancor. Hell, the slow digestion in a Sarlacc's acidic bowels was preferable.

Flashes of all her deaths ran past her in a fleeting moment of distress, for a moment her plans seemed to have failed. She was going to die here and have to remain in in this cruel existence longer. She would not get to see the final magnum opus of the Maw as the sun set on what they had built. Death was coming and that only meant she would rise again to have to continue to fight the never ending cycle of war in the Galaxy. As Tegan struggled and saw her time fading the Young Padawan leapt in the air with a violent and anger filled strike. As the Padawan came down with her swing the moment of death at hand once more and once to return to the cycle. Tegan's body shifted still struggling to fight free from the heavy canvas shroud, her body twisting this way and that when the Saber came down striking at Tegan's back by the way she had shifted. It came down on the upper portion the Plasma blade of blue light eating through the canvas. Hitting at the shoulders the saber burned into her skin searing flesh steam rising from the saber both from hitting flesh and because of the rain hitting the saber blade.

As the saber bit across her upper back hitting both shoulders Tegan just on instinct alone in her moment of desperation made her body Phase. She phase her body into the ground the canvas sizzling dropped to the ground and left the young Jedi standing over nothing. Almost reminiscent of those force users who became one with the force, Tegan however was not that lucky. Her curse did not allow her to become one with the force and join it fully, forced to live through endless cycles.

What was only moments as Tegan was in the ground, she felt the last of her clones go that cold feeling of being on ice as the cryo blaster struck it. Her eyes closed under the ground feeling like the warmth of the grave she dug herself out of on Rhand after Jand Talo had killed her. The slumber she so desired could not be had though and she knew it. The victory for the Jedi was not lasting, the witch was not dead she could never truly die. She slowly rose up from the ground in her phased form behind Corazona von Ascania like a monster out of one of those horror holovids. She stared at the back of the padawans skull for a second. Things around Tegan began to move in slow motion as raging gust of dark energy flowed through her. Her body began to vibrate and her eyes flared a vibrant Orange like a sun bursting as her body began to re-materialize into solid form.

As it did Tegan leapt forward head first her Target the back of the padawans skull with her forehead. She let the pain from all the cuts and saber gash fuel her power as she propelled herself forward at a blur of speed the force aided speed. Force strength pumping through her body giving her legs the added strength as she leapt for the womans skull. Just as skin met skin and bone could feel the collision a telekinetic blast using Tegan's forehead as the focal point burst forward as the head butt would connect. This burst was controlled though normally this force headbutt as her father had coined it could crack even Mandalorian steel, Tegan's intent was not to kill the girl by obliterating her skull.

Tegan just wanted to knock her forward hard and make her feel extreme pain in her head to cause her to lose focus. With Tegan's force heightened speed and agility would then reach out with right hand and grab for the Padawans hair to stop her from Face planting into the muddied ground. In the same blurring fast motion Tegan's left hand reached out behind her, were just out of the corner of her eyes she saw projectiles flying towards her runes she had dug. She wouldn't be fast enough to stop them, she knew it and once again her plan seemed to be out of commission. Instead of stopping them she would have to take that L but she also needed to teach the soldier a god damn lesson. Her fingers went into a gun shape one more on her left hand and as they did a line of lightning began to strike down from the heavens in succession retracing the trajectory the projectiles had come from, back until they would strike it's source. Then her left hand would reach down and retrieve the red saber at her hip ignite it into red plasma with that all too familiar snap-hiss. "The Foreplay is over Kiddies! You all die now!" She screamed manically. She wasn't just calling out the two Jedi and their Soldier boy Dominik Borra . She was even including Darth Malum of House Marr , they had all intervened in her plans in someway and they were all the enemy now.

"WAR! DEATH! REBIRTH! FOREVER I AM UNSTOPPABLE!"​

 

[Eina L'lerim-Vandiir]

Lady Eina L'lerim-Vandiir
The Light of Ashla
Champion and Avatar of Ashla || Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire​

Objective: Wait till the Avatars show up and send them back to the Netherworld.
Location: Surface, Exegol
Equipment: Sverð Fyrstr (swords) | Ljósspjót (spear) | Skrúð Engill Fyrstr (armour) || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m || Current appearance
Writing With: DECEASED Aron Gowrie | Closed
Enemies/Allies: Nukth Kelga'an

[ Valkyrjan ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ["Essonian"] | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

Spoiler: story so far

Eina #1

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

FINAL ECLIPSE The Galactic Alliance will annihilate Exegol. // START: FEBUARY 1ST - END: MARCH 1ST // IT ENDS HERE. Valiens Nantaris "How vast a resolve must these people have, time and time again, to face hardship and horror and tragedy and terror, and still take up the mantle of freedom?" -...

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Gowrie #1

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

FINAL ECLIPSE The Galactic Alliance will annihilate Exegol. // START: FEBUARY 1ST - END: MARCH 1ST // IT ENDS HERE. Valiens Nantaris "How vast a resolve must these people have, time and time again, to face hardship and horror and tragedy and terror, and still take up the mantle of freedom?" -...

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Eina #2

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

"Multiple hostile forces detected in orbit!" "The High Regent has engaged with the Alliance fleet!" "Jedi are attempting to breach the upper atmosphere. Do not let them break through to the shipyards or the Citadel. The ritual must succeed at all costs!" Orders, warnings, commands. They rang...

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Gowrie #2

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium Objective: Survive (?)...

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Eina #3

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

THE EMPIRE IMPERIAL SPECIAL FORCES Enemies: Galactic Alliance | The Sith Order | Brotherhood of the Maw | Corin Trenor Allies: The Empire | Ashlan Crusade | Eternal Empire Equipment: In Bio "Why do they always talk so much?" She rhetorically asked her companion, ignoring the Jedi's remarks...

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Gowrie #3

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

O B J E C T I V E Wearing: Black Hooded Cloak Equipment: Lightsabers x2 Tag: Escape Jara And they continued their dangerous dance through the upper levels. She had recognized Niman in his style, but it was not a pure application of it, he seemed to have mixed many parts of the other forms...

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Eina #4

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

O B J E C T I V E Wearing: Black Hooded Cloak Equipment: Lightsabers x2 Tag: Escape Jara And they continued their dangerous dance through the upper levels. She had recognized Niman in his style, but it was not a pure application of it, he seemed to have mixed many parts of the other forms...

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Gowrie #4

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Exegol Lightsaber | Outfit Battlegroup Kenobi With all of her focus, Valery allowed the flames to consume the Master of Ren. To bring down the body that held so many tormented souls deep within, hoping that it would help set them free. That it would finally allow them the peace they deserved...

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Eina #5

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

F I N A L_E C L I P S E Objective I | Star Wars FINAL DAWN EXEGOL, UNKNOWN REGIONS CRIMSON LININGS VENGEANCE FLIGHT Vonreg's Flight Crimson Leader | [100] Crimson Two | [100] Crimson Three | [100] Crimson Four | [100] Crimson Five | [100] Flights 2-4 TIE/fdB Barons | 12/12...

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Gowrie #5

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

THE WARDEN LIGHTPOINT STATION || MEDITATION SPHERE PHASE II: LANDFALL BATTLEMELD ACTIVE Zark’s departure left the room empty, cold, and more clinical. More station than anything. What had been a moment was now just…a room. Asmundr drew in a deep breath, and resigned himself to his seated...

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Before leaving, Eina patiently waited for the two men to finish their conversation and decide what they wanted. Eina had time to feel the ritual wasn't fully advanced yet; and if it becomes so, the woman can be there in an instant. Which can be even more surprising and unexpected, as if the enemy already senses her. However, she was sure they felt her. After all, Eina was a light side vergence in the Force and "glow" in the Force with golden light. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage of her being an Avatar. True, as a Force Entity she was always very perceptible.

Eina never hid her presence in the Force, perhaps there was an example of this once, when they tried to infiltrate one of the Maw's bases on the planet Iol, even before the Tython attack. But because of the vergence, she had a pretty hard time trying to hide anyway.

But back to the conversation, she didn't want to be impolite, so she waited a few steps away and watched the rest of the battle unfold. However, she didn't have to wait too long, as it looked like Lord Gowrie was going to take the chance on his henchman's suggestion after all. She smiled, hoping she wasn't putting them in any unnecessary danger.

"All right, I want a minute or two and I'll open a rift. In the meantime, those who come with us can get here." she told him.

Eina began to concentrate, her hand reaching forward as she reached into the Force, she searched for a rift nearby. It was much easier to use and expand an existing one than to open a completely new one. Fortunately, there was one about twenty metres from them. She pointed to it with her head and walked a little closer. She continued to focus her strength and concentration on the Force, then made an elegant motion with her finger, as if she was barely touching something, or opening something with her fingernail, infinitely delicately. At the movement, the rift began to widen, and then a darker place appeared on the other side.

Sounds and such did not filter through the rift, which was as if someone had literally ripped the fabric of reality and made the distance between the outside and the inside disappear. In essence, something like this happened, although the reality was a bit more complex and the Netherworld also played a role.

"The rift is ready, Lord Gowrie. If you want to come, you just have to walk through it. The rift is small, it will close by itself in just a minute or two, so we have to hurry. I go ahead to secure the area." she offered.

Actually, it's partly to keep people from getting killed by something over there if they cross without Eina doing it. She looked at her companions for a moment, then stepped into the darkness with the spear in her hand.

 

[Sahar]

SAHAR|Imperial Knights|Exegol
Tags:// Michael Barran Aoki-Barran Mira Siyndacha Aerin
Opposition:// Cale Gunderson

"Shouldn't have done that." - Cale Gunderson

Shouldn't have done what? She thought to herself as she tilted her head and invited him to try, raising her hands to block the incoming force push that sent her sliding back as she dug her boots into the soil and bounced back with saber in hand to meet the Jedi scum. Sahar met him in turn, deflecting each one of his blows and answering with vicious yet precise hacks and slashes of her own. More of a butcher when it came to the art of duelling than she was elegant, Sahar's style of combat was brutal and efficient and leaned heavily on wearing the enemy down before she could slip a blow in and finish them.

"You know, for a cripple, you fight harder than the rest of your ilk; shame really, there's no joy in striking down an already broken man."

She struck again, batting down on the man's saber with her own repeatedly, as if toying with her food as the white light of her saber illuminated her sly arrogant visage. Finally, Sahar used her free hand to grip an oblivious alliance soldier in the midst of melee and throw him right in the path of the Jedis saber to buy herself space.

"Let's get serious now."​

 

[Valery Noble]

Exegol
Lightsaber | Outfit
Battlegroup Kenobi

​

With everything she had, Valery fought against Kyrel Ren, as he tortured her soul, and sought to control her being. But with his hatred rooted so deep within, she was losing the fight, and with every passing second, she felt herself slipping away into darkness. Into nothingness. The promise she had made Kahlil would be broken, and never again would she be able to see her daughter. The vision of their family growing would be nothing more than a memory for those she left behind.

Once that realization struck Kahlil through the remaining threads of their bond, a powerful tremor echoed through the Force. Metal railings warped around him, the remains of the durasteel door twisted and the entire room began to shake violently under the pressure of his presence in the Force. But in his moment of grief, as he demanded Kyrel to return her, faint voices called out to him.

Voices that offered their strength.

"She's not gone."

"She's still in there."​

"You can set her free. With our help."​

All at once, the freed Epicanthix souls Kyrel Ren had consumed on Panatha turned against him, as they empowered the Jedi Master and fought against the tight hold the Wrath held over Valery's soul. Black eyes began to flicker, and through the cracks, fiery orange shined at her husband, inviting him like a beacon in the dark of night. Her presence reached out to him, and for just a moment, it would feel as if her hand gently ran down her cheek to reassure him. To keep him centered and focus all of his efforts on the one thing that mattered.

Their promise to each other was not going to be broken.

You can stop him.



Kahlil Noble | Kyrel Ren ​

 

[Cale Gunderson]

PHASE 2: LANDING ON EXEGOL || CITY OUTSKIRTS

​

Allies: The Alliance, Strike Team Tano, Aleksandr Stirsea
Enemies: Brotherhood of the Maw | Sahar

“Anything else?” The Jedi remembered the days he’d have answered her barbs with his own, but somewhere between the years as a literal puppet and a lifetime away from the light he’d lost his knack for it. Sharp words and dry humor were for friends, not the enemy.

He caught the oncoming strikes where he could, and weaved away from those he couldn’t, the blue glow of his weapon painted his features, and Cale’s expression was one of grim stoicism.

One might’ve expected them to fight like opposites, that Cale would meet her blows with a gentle grace that spoke of balance and inner peace. But they were more alike than different. He met each of her strikes with those of his own, their blades casting their silhouettes in flashes of blue and white. His strikes were heavy, his parries did the job of turning away Sahar’s blade but there was no flair to them, Cale moved and fought nothing like those more rooted in tradition.

And honor was little more than an afterthought.

He thumbed the ignition on his saber and dropped out of the soldier’s path, letting the Alliance marine tumble through the sands and crawl back to their feet to rejoin the fight. Cale grumbled something under his breath, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead as his eyes looked past Sahar and to the grim citadel behind them. That was why he was here, not for her, or her dying Empire.

“Serious?” Cale called back, something dismissive in the way he spoke.

She carried herself like a capable warrior and fought like one too. Cale didn’t doubt she thought herself the most dangerous being on the battlefield, and maybe she was, but worse things swelled in the darkness behind her, things he was being kept from by her. How many might die because of that, because of her?

“You’re just in the way, kid. Serious isn’t for you.” The Jedi flicked two of his fingers against his thumb and hurled a spray of sand at Sahar's eyes. The one-armed warrior broke left, and rushed in with hopes of closing the distance, his saber springing back to life and arcing out with a heavy slash.

 

[Sahar]

SAHAR|Imperial Knights|Exegol
Tags:// Michael Barran Aoki-Barran Mira Siyndacha Aerin
Opposition:// Cale Gunderson

"I'm sure that's not the cas-"

The Kandaran was cut off by the stinging burn of sand hitting her in the eyes and obscuring her vision as she moved to furiously wipe it away, anger swelling within at what was a trademark of her own dirty fighting being used against her.

B*stard.

She caught his slash just in time, swinging her blade upwards to push it to the side as she lashed out with a kick to the chest to break the man's ribs. Sahar used that reprieve to get to her senses and wipe the rest of the sand away, standing to and facing the man once more, her sly arrogant tone replaced by a more furious one that betrayed their real feelings.

"F*cking cripple."

Sahar snarled, bringing her blade to and assuming a combat stance again, the battle raging around them being but a distant blur; all her focus and hatred was focused on just him. Anything else was secondary, and she would not suffer this slight. Not from a one-armed Jedi. ​

 

[Xiveros]

Sun Killer
​

Location: Exegol | Forbidden District
Target: Caedyn Arenais

In sync, combined as one. Pain raged throughout Xiveros' body and mind, his consciousness eclipsing into total darkness for a split second as he was struck by a rapid succession of stun bolts. Nearby hostiles began to take notice of this lapse in function, rushing in as an enraged swarm, the scent of impure blood tainted by the Nether driving Maw beasts into a frenzy; In unison, they pounced and began to tear into the plate clad figure, violently pulling at limbs and gorging themselves on open wounds.

Xiveros convulsed as he struggled to gain control over his own motor functions, watching himself be torn into and nearly eviscerated by the gnashing of broken, twisted teeth. Thick, bile-like saliva burning his skin.

"Is...this....all...?"

He choked and grunted.

"Vera...I..."

Jaws snapped around Xiveros' throat, and in an instant, a surge of unnatural strength commanded the Sith pawn to take action - his hands suddenly finding themselves free as he managed to rip away from the abominations that surrounded him; distorted appendages impulsively retaliating to pin him back in place, however they were met with a fierce defiance. Grabbing the beast chancing upon his neck, Xiveros let out an intense roar as he twisted as hard as he could, breaking the monster's spinal structure, tearing its head away in a gruesome fashion.

"I will... not fail..."

Rancid, viscous crimson covered him as he threw the now corpse of the deranged thing back at its own kin. They cowered, slinking away, yet still on guard and awaiting the opportunity to strike once more. Eyes now ablaze with the fury of a dead man - wounds bleeding the blood of a heart fighting to stay alive. For her he would.

This world didn't hold much value. And all would crumble if it meant getting his way.

"WHERE HAVE YOU RUN TO!?"

He screamed into polluted air, his voice carrying across the immediate area. Once more the threat of creatures other than himself was made apparent - his mace was made to answer their pathetic screeching. His vision picked at every motion on the battlefield as he stomped ahead, smashing through debris and foes alike as he hunted the Jedi.

"FACE ME!"

 

[Cale Gunderson]

PHASE 2: LANDING ON EXEGOL || CITY OUTSKIRTS

​

Allies: The Alliance, Strike Team Tano, Aleksandr Stirsea
Enemies: Brotherhood of the Maw | Sahar

The blades met and sparked, crackling with each strike as the two striked and blocked and struck again. For all the brutality in every strike, it was almost rhythmic, and Cale was reminded of a day on a beach where he’d learned to sleep again. The Jedi remembered his footwork well, kept himself mobile and let the force flow like a river through his mind and body.

She kicked like a landspeeder though, there was no denying that. Cale had twisted to avoid the kick but she still caught the chestplate at its edge, denting in the armor and almost certainly leaving a bruise. But Cale did not break, nor did his ribs as the Imperial created distance between them. He was starting to notice a pattern. No sooner had he found his footing the he was on her again.

Cale was relentless, surging forward with a speed that only the force could provide, angling the ignited saber for openings in her defenses. A strike went for her legs, then for an arm, another cut up at her chest, all the while blue light danced over his face with the shadows of Exegol for a partner. Never once did his gaze break from hers.

“Cripple, really?” He punctuated the question with an overhead strike that came with a viper’s speed, though any venom was saved for his words. Cale’s onslaught did not stop, it did not slow down, and in spite of all the anger that flowed out from the Imperial, it did not waiver. Darkness would not drive him back into himself, not anymore. He dropped low and kicked out to sweep her leg.

“Try harder."

 

[Tu'teggacha]

Location: Otherspace
Tags: Keilara Kala'myr

​

Fear. Anger. Pain. Hatred. The Dark Side of the Force thrived on negative emotions, and the Taskmaster's mind swirled with them. He was afraid because his greatest enemy had followed him beyond the galaxy itself. He was angry because his plains had been foiled. He felt the pain of losing his favored servants, his sanctum, his comfortable position within the Brotherhood. And he hated Mercy, hated her for everything she had taken from him in this shadow war....

... hated her because he had failed to break her, failed to kill her, failed to escape her.

Tu'teggacha poured all of his malice into this attack, turning his tendrils of mental energy into spears, seeking to pierce and to shred rather than to reshape. Ordinarily he worked on minds like a surgeon, scraping away the undesirable pieces, implanting the grafts he desired. But that strategy had failed against Mercy. He had only ever managed to shift around the personalities inside her divided mind, never to reshape them. Now he sought only to overwhelm, to destroy.

But that wasn't working either. Somehow, despite all his power, she was still resisting.

"Impossible!" the Ebruchi burbled, sweat beading on his rubbery brow. He could not understand what Mercy was telling him, could not comprehend how any part of The Mongrel had survived the slave-soldier's death. He found it far more likely that Mercy had simply gone insane when her lover had been killed. Her mind was already so fractured, home to so many different personalities, that she had surely just invented another one to replace her lost companion.

And yet she was pushing back against him somehow, using his own mental tendrils against him.

It wasn't the first time his enemies had tried to turn his gifts back on him, though. Tu'teggacha had nearly been driven mad during the failed Silver Jedi invasion of Lao-mon, when Imperial agents sent to assassinate him had struck him with a hallucinogenic grenade. He had relived the worst moments of his childhood in a drug-addled haze, barely escaping with his life and his sanity. Telepaths had later seized on the same thread, trying to exploit his vulnerabilities.

So he had learned to protect himself against his own techniques, make his mind a fortress.

With a heavy, rubbery sigh, the Taskmaster dropped his mental assault on Mercy before it could be fully reflected. "I finally understand," he spat at her, contempt dripping from every word. "I understand why I could not reshape you, make you into a useful weapon. Your mind is too fractured to ever be put back together - all those different identities scurrying around inside. You are a broken thing, a mad dog who cannot be tamed... only put down."

"And if there truly is a fragment of The Mongrel hiding in your mind..."

"... then I will rip it out, and it will serve me again!"

She was too strong - or too insane - for him to overwhelm directly, but perhaps he could take away her hope. If he caused her to succumb to despair, her mental defenses would weaken, and he might be better able to slice into her mind with his telepathic knives. So Tu'teggacha looked past her, through the portal that her ally was still holding open - her only way back to Realspace. There was the Omni-Drone that he had enslaved, forcing it to operate Omni's hypergates.

"I have learned to build a failsafe into all my newer creations," the Ebruchi cackled, his facial tentacles splaying out in his species' horrific equivalent of a smile. Then he reached out with the Force, seeking the hidden runes he'd ordered the smiths of Mar'Zambul to build into The Manifold's metal shell. With a slice of his telepathic energies, he activated those runes, severing the host of spirits from their corporeal form. "I will steal your last hope!" he howled.

But though he did not know it yet, Tu'teggacha was making a terrible mistake.

 

[The Manifold]

Holding open this dark portal, this wound in Realspace, went against every fiber of The Manifold's being. They had been programmed to bring order, to facilitate the rigid digital laws of the Droid God, and this dimensional rip was a violation of that carefully-calculated perfection. But Omni was gone. Dead, vanished, ascended to some higher reality, it did not matter; the Great Architect had abandoned the galaxy one way or another, and enforcing Its mandates was like offering food to a corpse. The Manifold's only purpose now was revenge... and for that, they would violate even their most fundamental directives.

So they held the gateway open, straining with all their might to prevent this injury to reality from healing. They had to, because they alone could. Much as the Omni-Drone wanted to destroy Tu'teggacha personally, they could not both maintain the portal and pass through it - and Mercy did not have the technomantic power to sustain the rift. They had only one option - to trust her to kill their shared enemy, and to make sure she had a way back out of the nightmare realm where he had chosen to hide. So they held on with all their might, all their concentration, totally unaware of the progress of the battle raging beyond.

They only realized what was happening when their armor, the Maw's imprisoning shell, began to burn.

Of course, the drone realized, calculating the most logical conclusion. The Taskmaster built a failsafe. A kill switch, just in case we rebelled. The switch had never been used before, even after The Manifold's escape, because Tu'teggacha had to be quite close by in order to trigger it. But now he had triggered it, his dark, oily presence activating runes that could unravel the Omni-Drone's cohesion. The Manifold was so named because they were made up of manifold souls, countless different organic spirits pressed together into one composite being. But now all those spirits began to separate, to come loose from each other.

There was nothing they could do to stop it. Omni could have. Omni would have. But Omni was gone.

"Our Strength: Failing," The Manifold grated out. Runes blazed along their metal skin, and their chassis began to melt, the dark plates forged by the Gundanbard master smiths turned to slag by the power of the Sith magic embedded in them. Beneath the shell, their conduits were exposed: shimmering purple-teal veins that contained the energy of dozens and dozens of mortal souls. Those souls had already begun to assert themselves since the Droid God's vanishing, filling the drone's consciousness with organic emotions: anger, vengefulness, despair. Those sensations intensified as their bonds broke.

Soon they would all come apart, rushing back to the Netherworld, to their natural, intended afterlife.

In the darkness of the Taskmaster's underground sanctum, The Manifold swiftly melted, its corporeal body running like candle wax as it sank to the floor. In less than a minute they would be nothing more than a pool of molten metal on the ground. They had lost bodies before, but there had always been someone to put them into a new shell - Omni Itself, or the dark mystics of the Maw that had imitated the Droid God's rites. Now there was no one left. The Droid God was gone. The Brotherhood was dying. This time there was no preserving the last of the digital angels that had nearly reshaped all of reality.

Well, almost the last. The crystal containing Freedom glimmered in the hot metal. It did not break.

It was always destined to end this way, The Manifold knew. They had known this ever since they had seen Omni's paradise falling apart in Its absence, and discovered that there was no way to save it. But unlike fallen Oblivion, The Manifold could have a purpose to their destruction... if they were brave enough to choose it. "Our Ending: A Gift," The Manifold told Mercy. "Our Power: Now Yours." With the last of their fading strength, they expelled the souls that composed them in a rush, like forcing out their own blood. And those souls - so many people, gathered by Omni in his awful necro-digital forges - rushed to Mercy's side.

In the last moment before their mind came apart, The Manifold felt one final mortal emotion.

Hope.

---------------------------------
​

Hold on just a little longer. Stay strong, my love!

Kallan held on. In the darkness, amid the horrible images that Tu'teggacha sent into the mind he shared, he held tight to his wife. He helped to block out the pain and the heartache. He fought to replace those dire memories with bright and joyful ones - all of the good things that they'd been through together since their consciousnesses had been joined. And there were good times. Mercy recognized them. She saw all the positives, all the hope and love and happiness they had found in spite of everything. Together, they all held on. They weathered the storm. They did not let the mind-breaker break them.

They even began to push back, climbing Tu'teggacha's mental tendrils, reaching for his mind to attack it.

When the Ebruchi broke off his telepathic assault, Kallan finally fell back, sagging against Keilara. He was sweaty, exhausted, and pale... but he was certain they had won. The Taskmaster was no physical combatant. Without his guards, and with his mental attack a failure, he had no way to overcome Mercy - a hardened combat veteran of the Second Great Hyperspace War. Now Mercy could strike him down and finish this, deliver them all from the nightmare of their shadow war. It was over... or so he thought. Kallan felt the surge of dark energy as Tu'teggacha launched one final gambit - against The Manifold!

~ No! ~ Kallan shouted, his eyes full of fear as he leaned heavily on his wife. Before his despairing gaze, The Manifold came undone, sinking into a pool of slag. Without the Omni-Drone's aid, the portal back to Realspace swirled shut. They were trapped in Otherspace now, trapped in the cold and dark, in this alien and unnatural place where nothing wholesome could grow. Nearby, in the arms of the caretaker droid, the twins cried out. They could feel the finality of this moment, the horror of being cut off from the realm where they belonged. Had they come so far only for their revenge to trap them forever?

But that was when the souls began to swirl around Mercy. Kallan could feel them - people from long ago, trapped for so long within the drone that they had forgotten their own names. But they remembered what it was like to hope and to fear, to love and to hate... and they remembered the last command they had obeyed when they had been part of The Manifold. They became a glowing aura around Mercy, and they lent her their combined power. ~ The power to go with them to where they belong, ~ Kallan whispered. ~ The power to reach the Netherworld. To reach Asher. ~ He hadn't truly believed it was possible, but now...

~ Finish this, ~ he told Mercy, standing tall beside the love of his life, full of hope and vengeance.

~ Finish him, and we can all go where we belong... to be together again. ~

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Jem Fossk]

On route to throne room
Solo arc

Somewhere in Jem's blood was a royal line. She found that ironic as she sloshed her way through filth under her father's former home. A sewage system brought her down and under the main conflict. She moved through the filth without feeling it, towards the steel structure that had been her twisted version of inheritance.

One day this will all be yours.

The irony continued to grate her as she cut her way through a service door. If things had just been a little different, this could have been Epoch. She would have had a home. She would have known her people-- had a family.

There would be no reason to burn her father's legacy down.

Heat bit painfully at her skin as she kicked the cut out metal into the hall beyond. She stepped into the quiet length and let her senses overtake her. There were no bodies moving above her below her. They would all be drawn to the front, towards the blood lust her father had awakened in them.

Even she could feel the alluring call of darkness beat through her. Kill. Kill. Kil-- Serenity. Jem stiffened under brush of Asmundr Varobalder , her skin flushing unseen in the darkness as she pulled back. He didn't need to feel that-- none of them needed to feel that.

Jem locked the burden of the darkness away from them and reentered her thoughts on her heart, racing loudly in the empty space.

Daughter. She could practically feel his grin inside her mind, as she always had since the day she had betrayed him. Your people need you. Here.

"Oh shut up." She took off running.

 

[Cynthia Alucard]

Commodore Cynthia Alucard
Objective One: Star Wars, Phase 2
Actions: Send out her Battlegroup into battle and assist the rest of the Alliance forces

Spoiler: Fleet Strength and Action:

(Flag Ship) Strict Justice Hydian-class Tactical Carrie
Guiding Light Hydian-class Tactical Carrie
Terrible Star CR-37 FarStar-Type Corellian Carrier
Cruel Justice CR-37 FarStar-Type Corellian Carrier
Painful Verdict CR-37 FarStar-Type Corellian Carrier
10x Starbird-class Patrol Ship
36x Squadrons SS01 X-wing Space Superiority Starfighter (6 Squadrons to Assist as Cover for B-Wings)
12x Squadrons B-wing Assault Starfighter (Strafing the Surface of Maw Ground Forces)

|| Grand Shepherd Burtch | Marlon Sularen ||​

Cynthia focused intently on the holo-map in front of her, the situation was a rather peculiar one but with present options available she felt the walls closing in all around. Several reports began to fill her data-pad, and with most of her Comm Officers relying on different messages from other parts of her battlegroup Cynthia found herself mostly alone. Alone as she felt the ship shudder with impacts of heavy weapon fire slamming into their shields. Warning blared across her data-pad as news came across that their molecular shields were nearing critical failure. Focusing firing on the Command ship? Well. Cyn nearly blushed at the affection being tossed her ship’s way. Regardless the issue of one of their main shields failing was a bit concerning but even when they failed, the ship had enough armour and backup shielding to last.

And by then our Molecular shields should have had enough time to recharge. Cyn was a bit more concerned with their response to her bombers that she had sent down to the surface. She really couldn’t afford her chance to score easy points with Alliance ground command, so her options were clear. Push in and protect my bombers, or recall and retreat further back. Neither appealed to her, as either would show recklessness or cowardness in her after-action report.

“Order the battle-group to withdraw further back, even if that means we’ll be out of effective operational range of our B-Wings.” Cynthia ordered. All but one nodded and quickly went off to relay her new orders. One remained and held out his data-slate with alarming reports but Cynthia only needed to read the first line to know what was wrong. That and her Carrier shook far more aggressively, her Molecular shielding had failed and went into its recharging phase before it could be engaged once again.

“Divert all power from our weapon systems to our shielding, have emergency crews ready to seal off any breaches and vulnerable areas softened by the enemy attacks.” Cyn ordered, the last Comm Officer didn’t even bother to nod or salute, he simply took off to relay her next orders to the rest of her ship.

She trusted the bulkheads and backup shielding to give the Strict Justice enough time to recharge the Molecular shields in time. Cyn had read the stress reports of these Carriers and found them more than adequate to handle capital ship barrages. And once we move further out of range our shields will be back up and more than compensate for the damage being thrown at us. Cyn though silently admitted that the repair shipyard Dockmasters would not be too pleased with what became of her Carrier.

Though with harsh shake, alarms wailing and more reports of repair crews attempting to minimize the damage, a single thought of doubt rose into Cyn’s mind. But she carefully tossed the idea out of her mind, her Imperial upbringing did not allow for such things to cloud her judgment. Fear was for the dead, grief for the survivors, and dignity to those who kept moving. Carefully she unclenched her hands that held her arms tightly behind her back and released them to her sides. Tension finally escaped her shoulders even as she steadied herself with her now free hands, as a particularly nasty barrage nearly shook her off her feet.
​

 

[Marrow]

Forbidden District Outskirts - Airfield
Writing With: Thelma Goth​

Whatever he had done had worked. He had felt it work.

The whelp had more tricks up her sleeve, however. Tricks that interrupted his efforts.

That drew an angry snarl from the Sangnir. For a moment it looked as if he might leap back into the fray, injured or not, but then he sniffed deeply and began to withdraw. He never said a word, but his gaze stayed fixed on the prey.

He would consume her, in time. He just had to learn what her ilk could do, first.

 

[Damian Du Couteau]

Damian Du Couteau, Senator of Empress Teta
Objective Two: Shadow and Bone
Actions: Talk to new Cell Mate
Outfit (Cape-less)

Damian wanted to chuckle at the absurdity of it all, but he couldn’t risk further pain to his abdomen nor his throat. Besides I’m afraid of how it’ll come off as, a bit cruel and too nihilistic for my taste. The young Du Couteau heir shifted his weight back against the metal wall to give his body a form of a crutch to lean against for the moment. They weren’t escaping this very moment, and planning for one would be much easier with as little pain as possible. Though my plan initially was to wait for them to come get me, but instead they delivered another prisoner.

“Well as you can see the Galaxy rewarded me for voting in that way.” Damian remarked, he wasn’t going to litigate their last meeting together. As it was far too divisive and contentious for Damian’s liking, but if the other Senator wanted to remind him of it, then at least Damian could die as he lived, arguing policy and optics. Though being capeless would be a rather tragic thing to bookend my story on.

“But you are correct Senator Organa, I heard the Mawites talk about their last stand against the Alliance on Exegol whenever I remained conscious long enough.” Damian answered, it was a rather sad state of affairs that he had little knowledge to help either of them get a better handle of their situation.

“If I were to guess we’d be used as sacrifices to inspire further fear into the Alliance instead of bargaining chips, but then again maybe they just want mindless torture to appease their own sadistic pleasure.” Damian offered his opinion as he slowly slid down the wall to sit on the ground. His legs ached from the mere act of standing, that fact worried Damian greatly, but he kept his face facing directly ahead of him. He couldn’t allow Senator Organa to see through his façade and catch a glimpse of dread or even fear, Damian could pretend long enough to find his real courage. Hopefully before I’ll need it.

“The guards wouldn’t happen to have forgotten to lock your cell? Or maybe even left you something to use to break the lock.” Damian asked, his ears hadn't picked up the sounds of heavy footsteps, he still had more time to regain more of his strength. “If not, then perhaps we can play dead and catch our guards by surprise when they check up on us.” He added as he strained to keep out the tone of desperation from his voice.
​

|| Alicio Organa ||​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom
Mongrel's Shadow and his widow; Matriarch of the Scar Hounds Tribe; Guardian of Mongrel's armour and sword​

Objective: Rescue the twins and find her way to Asher
Location: Secret Prison Facility, Exegol
Equipment: FS-18-UP2 Assault Rifle | 2x Sunfury Pistol | Light Armour | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | 2x Vibrodagger | 2x Riftblades | Promise of Freedom | Ring of Wishes and Dreams || Cloaking Device | 5x ASBF Probe Droid || OPBC-01m
Writing With: The Manifold | Tu'teggacha | The Mongrel and Kallan | Closed

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

Spoiler: story so far

Mercy/Keilara #1

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

FINAL ECLIPSE The Galactic Alliance will annihilate Exegol. // START: FEBUARY 1ST - END: MARCH 1ST // IT ENDS HERE. Valiens Nantaris "How vast a resolve must these people have, time and time again, to face hardship and horror and tragedy and terror, and still take up the mantle of freedom?" -...

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Tut #1

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Final Eclipse Shadow & Bone N. Kelga'an, Banshee-Actual The Empire Third Sector Defence Forces First Anaxsi Free Brigade -- Second TodHusars Regiment 'Banshee' Company IV Berzingue From Anaxes Ultimate Sprint -- Part I Interacting with: Aron Gowrie Eina L'lerim-Vandiir 878, Donnager...

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Manifold #1

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Final Eclipse Shadow & Bone N. Kelga'an, Banshee-Actual The Empire Third Sector Defence Forces First Anaxsi Free Brigade -- Second TodHusars Regiment 'Banshee' Company IV Berzingue From Anaxes Ultimate Sprint -- Part I Interacting with: Aron Gowrie Eina L'lerim-Vandiir 878, Donnager...

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Mercy/Keilara #2

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

"Multiple hostile forces detected in orbit!" "The High Regent has engaged with the Alliance fleet!" "Jedi are attempting to breach the upper atmosphere. Do not let them break through to the shipyards or the Citadel. The ritual must succeed at all costs!" Orders, warnings, commands. They rang...

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Manifold #2

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Arage Bao Valery Noble Cynthia Alucard Henna Sarratt Asmundr Varobalder Kahlil Noble Grand Shepherd Burtch Kyrel Ren Marlon Sularen Y'sanne Stradd 12x Noble Edition Y-Wings (Gold Squadron) Then Gold Squadron had not had much time to get to know their new commander during the trip out to...

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Tut #2

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Arage Bao Valery Noble Cynthia Alucard Henna Sarratt Asmundr Varobalder Kahlil Noble Grand Shepherd Burtch Kyrel Ren Marlon Sularen Y'sanne Stradd 12x Noble Edition Y-Wings (Gold Squadron) Then Gold Squadron had not had much time to get to know their new commander during the trip out to...

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Mercy/Keilara #3

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Engaging: Sisserith Nearby Allies: Jasper Kai'el BB-610 Minerva Fhirdiad Tren Chaar Shar Sieu [ armor ] [ lightsaber ] [ blaster pistol ] [ drengr of the ragnarok ] Kahlil Noble had told him to be aware of his emotions. With the adrenaline feeding into his blood, it was hard to be aware of...

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Manifold #3

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium Objective: Survive (?)...

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Tut #3

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium Objective: Survive (?)...

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Mercy #4

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

THE EMPIRE IMPERIAL SPECIAL FORCES Enemies: Galactic Alliance | The Sith Order | Brotherhood of the Maw | Corin Trenor Allies: The Empire | Ashlan Crusade | Eternal Empire Equipment: In Bio "Why do they always talk so much?" She rhetorically asked her companion, ignoring the Jedi's remarks...

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Manifold #4

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Cordé Sabo It should have hurt. It didn't. Even as the sharp edge cleaved into her wrist Verin couldn't feel anything. Not over the waves of pain roiling through her. That was bad news, but Verin didn't say anything about it. There was no need to worry Cordé even more. The poor girl seemed...

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Tut #4

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Cordé Sabo It should have hurt. It didn't. Even as the sharp edge cleaved into her wrist Verin couldn't feel anything. Not over the waves of pain roiling through her. That was bad news, but Verin didn't say anything about it. There was no need to worry Cordé even more. The poor girl seemed...

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Mercy #5

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

______________________________________________________________ D U L C E T TASK FORCE NULL | EXEGOL | ????? ______________________________________________________________ fa-play fa-pause “I'm not worried." Cordé argued. Her words were tense and hard, but her voice was soft. " Because...

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Tut #5

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Location: Sith Citadel Objective: Escort the Dark Lord │ Salvage Artifacts Direct Engagement: Nathan Bloodscrawl What he could hit, she could catch. Quintessa’s chakrams came back fast, but it was nothing that the Aspiring Sith couldn’t react to, not only through her attunement to the weapons...

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Manifold #5

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Location: Sith Citadel Objective: Escort the Dark Lord │ Salvage Artifacts Direct Engagement: Nathan Bloodscrawl What he could hit, she could catch. Quintessa’s chakrams came back fast, but it was nothing that the Aspiring Sith couldn’t react to, not only through her attunement to the weapons...

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Mercy #6

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

Location: Sith Citadel Objective: Escort the Dark Lord │ Salvage Artifacts Direct Engagement: Nathan Bloodscrawl What he could hit, she could catch. Quintessa’s chakrams came back fast, but it was nothing that the Aspiring Sith couldn’t react to, not only through her attunement to the weapons...

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Tut #6

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

THE WARDEN LIGHTPOINT STATION || MEDITATION SPHERE PHASE II: LANDFALL BATTLEMELD ACTIVE Zark’s departure left the room empty, cold, and more clinical. More station than anything. What had been a moment was now just…a room. Asmundr drew in a deep breath, and resigned himself to his seated...

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Mercy #7

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

THE WARDEN LIGHTPOINT STATION || MEDITATION SPHERE PHASE II: LANDFALL BATTLEMELD ACTIVE Zark’s departure left the room empty, cold, and more clinical. More station than anything. What had been a moment was now just…a room. Asmundr drew in a deep breath, and resigned himself to his seated...

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Tut #7

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

5TH POST -AN AGE OF STRIFE STORY- CAIRN_ONE RINGLEADER OF THE PELLAEONIST CLIQUE WARDEN OF THE IMPERIAL KNIGHTS DRUID-GRANDMASTER OF THE HIGHLAND BROTHERHOOD Tags (Friendlies): Siyndacha Aerin Aoki Mira Sahar Simon Meinrad Tags (OPFOR): Khaostra Devoid Marlon Sularen Erion Justeene...

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Manifold #6

Annihilation - Final Eclipse | GA Annihilation of Exegol

5TH POST -AN AGE OF STRIFE STORY- CAIRN_ONE RINGLEADER OF THE PELLAEONIST CLIQUE WARDEN OF THE IMPERIAL KNIGHTS DRUID-GRANDMASTER OF THE HIGHLAND BROTHERHOOD Tags (Friendlies): Siyndacha Aerin Aoki Mira Sahar Simon Meinrad Tags (OPFOR): Khaostra Devoid Marlon Sularen Erion Justeene...

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~ Mercy ~
This is how I thought about our old memories together, how I recalled the old memories we spent together in that life. It made it all that much more painful. In the nearly year and a half since Asher died, every day has been agony because he wasn't with me, because I was alone. It reminded me more of the pain and the absence. Even though there were good, happy memories, they were only fuel for a few minutes, only to be replaced by even greater emptiness and pain. And even more fatigue. All it took was for this worm to die. After that, there was really nothing else…

When I attacked back, Tu'teggacha suddenly cut off the connection between us. My head was pounding with pain, and I was gasping for air. I laughed bitterly and hatefully at his words. He still hadn't learned, he was still too sure of his own strength and abilities. That was a mistake. Not for me, for him. This was the way I was able to overcome it. I warned him from the very first day, when I knew nothing but the desire to be free and anger and hatred. Towards everyone, because they locked me up and kept me in chains for almost fifteen years. But…

"I am and have been a useful weapon. Just not yours. You never learn, Taskmaster, and in your overconfidence, you never heeded the warning signs!" I continued to snarl.

At least that's what Asher thought, he thought that without me he wouldn't have had anything, that without me he would have lost everything much earlier. I always felt that was an exaggeration, I was just one of his spies, even if he was the best. The biggest mistake Taskmaster made was when he returned me to Asher and didn't keep me for himself, or when he didn't kill Ziare, when he was unable to break her.

"I said that I would never be a slave, that I would not serve anyone except of my own free will. That was one of my first words to you, Taskmaster! And my loyalty was Asher's, always from the first moment. Not yours, not Maw's, his. He "tamed me", he did not want to change me, but inspired me, I was suitable for him, I became the best because of his trust. While you… your power ends where you can still rule the weak. And I was never weak." I told him.

I laughed again, bitterly but soberly. Ironically, it took multiple personalities for me to not be crazy or insane and to be able to keep my sanity.

"He is no longer the weak person you first met. Kallan has changed and evolved a lot…we've all done what you haven't. We learned from our mistakes. He learned from Asher's mistakes… If you want him, if you want Kallan, you have to kill me first because I won't let you hurt him. And the twins won't let you hurt one of their fathers." I continued.

But, sadly, Tu'teggacha also seemed to be learning. I don't know what he did, but the gate began to close behind us. He was wrong, Manifold wasn't my only chance, he was only there to keep me alive and the twins to get to Asher. The other plan was for me to kill myself once Kallan was strong enough to control the body on his own. Now with the ring it worked and Keilara was able to create a physical copy of herself. If Tu'teggacha dies and there is no way to enter the Nether, then I may die too. And they can live the life they deserve.

But I wanted Asher to see the twins. He loved them so much. Just because of this, despair appeared on my face for a moment, although Tu'teggacha couldn't see it anyway because of the helmet. Although maybe he felt it in the Force, I don't know. The gate closed and the twins started to cry too...

But then the souls appeared and I felt Freedom and her crystal come to join them. Here they were around me like a beacon, and I heard Manifold's voice again. We will be taken to the Nether as soon as this is over. I looked at Tu'teggacha and stood up from the ground. It was difficult to stand on my feet, I felt dizzy and nauseous, and I felt weak. But I was still better than him, especially in physical combat. He had nowhere to run. I would have gladly tortured him slowly, let him suffer as we did. But there was no time for that. I don't know how long the souls can stay here. And I heard Kallan's voice too.

"A quick death is too great a reward for you, Tu'teggacha. But unfortunately, there is no time to torture you and make you suffer the way we suffered from you. I wanted to see life run out from your eyes as I plunge the dagger into your stomach and slowly pull up to your heart. You don't deserve a quick death... but unfortunately I have no other option, I don't know how long the souls will stay here." I told him hatefully.

I switched from blaster mode to shotgun mode while walking, the one Ziare used to almost kill Asher the first time we met, sealing our fate forever. Slugs can cause massive destruction. I approached him, and when I arrived, I held the weapon to his head. If he looked at me, I touched his forehead with the barrel of the rifle, if he tried to run away, I tried to kick him to the ground and pointed the rifle at the back of his head.

"Your reign is now over, Taskmaster. You no longer harm or control anyone!" after my hateful words I pull the trigger to end all of this so I can end the shadow war between the two of us.

After all, I hoped Asher was waiting for me… but there was uncertainty; I was afraid that too much time had passed for him in the past year and a half and he didn't even remember me anymore...

… there was a soft click as I pulled the trigger…

~ Keilara ~
~ Mercy seems to have listened to you and learned what you told her. ~ I tried to smile at Kallan.

After all, Kallan had told him to think about these things and remember them. Although I didn't know it could be so painful for him. Because you know this can never happen again. In light of this, even the pleasant memories were incredibly painful. The darkness began to pass, and I held Kallan as he held me. She seemed to be getting the better of Taskmaster. I don't know if he expected those memories to be there or not. But anyway, when Mercy tried to fight back, the monster let us go.

I also felt incredibly tired and often gasped for "air" so that I could release my strength again and not be surrounded by darkness. I happily hugged Kallan too, I didn't want to let him go. I was afraid it wasn't over yet. Although now we had a better chance in a physical fight. In other words, Mercy had a better chance. I also felt another attack, although it did not reach us. It returned to Realspace and I even felt the gate close and the twins started to get scared and cry. Even though they were much more advanced, it scared them and me too.

I tried to hug Kallan reassuringly, but I cried too, it couldn't end like this. And then I also sensed the incoming souls as they came from Manifold. And they could take us where we wanted to go. We are not stuck here in this place. That is, it is possible not. When Kallan started telling Mercy to kill Tu'teggacha, I hugged her once more, trying to hug her and the twins with positive feelings to calm them down. There was no darkness now, only what the place generated. And revenge…

… but I also felt the hope from Kallan, now he believed in what Mercy and I believed. Now we were very close, only Tu'teggacha standing in our way to achieve what we had fought so much for, suffered so much for and waited so long for. It wasn't too far. But I was still worried about Kallan the most at this moment.

~ Now, one last time, you have to hold on, don't let the hate consume you. You've lasted so long, stay yourself in this last minute, please. ~ I beseech him.

~ Freedom ~
Out in Realspace, the crystal fell to the ground, Manifold disappeared and all the souls left with it. And Freedom would have been left alone, but she felt where the others were going and felt their call. And Freedom was a Force user, the only one among the personalities who was able to use the Force. She felt the hope that Manifold felt. She reached into the Force and "stepped out" of the crystal. She was a similar soul to those who formed Manifold. She held out her hand and the crystal rose.

It was still capable of holding one or more souls. If the souls being released now decided that they still wanted to be a Manifold, an Omni drone, then they had the opportunity. If no one, then… then this might be perfect for Tu'teggacha to do to him what he wanted to do to them. They rip it out of circles and leave it to suffer. Freedom believed that Manifold would have supported this decision.

Freedom also flew after the other souls, and the crystal with her. She joined the others around Mercy. She also saw Kallan through the Force, to whom she nodded. While Mercy was busy talking to the green monster, Freedom was talking to and asked the souls about what they wanted. Would they like to regroup as Manifold in the Netherworld and try to restore Oblivion together...

… or they wish to rest in peace and use the crystal to imprison Tu'teggacha's soul for eternity. It was their decision, Freedom left it up to them. Be that as it may, this was the first time they had to make a decision on their own. A stepping stone to their new life, be it a soul or being a drone in the future. Whatever they decided, Freedom accepted.

Once Mercy pulls the trigger, Freedom will decide in the spirit of the soul's decision. She doesn't do anything because she'll need the crystal in the Netherworld, or else she'll try to capture Tu'teggacha's soul.

 

[Nyaeli]

Location: Exegol
Attani Implant: Link!
Tag: Capris Halcyon Rhemti Totriddiam

Nyaeli felt something familiar approaching. Her corrupted eyes turned to the source, and rather quickly, she realized just who was coming for her. Not long ago, she had encountered the two Padawans along the border with the Alliance, but this time their Master, Kahlil Noble , was missing. His interference, as well as the uncontrollable Drengir, had made it impossible for their battle to reach a satisfying conclusion.

This time it would be different.

Glad you could make it.​

Her voice reached out to both Padawans through the Force - as a whisper of the mind. Nyaeli patted the top of Voxyn's head and stepped away from the statues that concealed her body. She could already see the two Jedi approaching, and this time she didn't feel like playing games with them. This was going to end with either their demise or her own.

A crimson blade ignited by her side, and with the corrupted beast joining her, Nyaeli stepped in the path between the two rows of statues, waiting for the Padawans to do the same.

"Let's finish what we started, shall we?"

 

[Kyrel Ren]

Location: Lightpoint station, observation deck
Allies: Maw
Enemies: Jedi, Sith, Valery Noble Kahlil Noble


The Master of Ren was determined to consume Valery from the inside. The great Devourer had sought to live again through his own worst enemy for so many years. Slowly he could feel his power grow continuously as he started to eat at her soul bit by bit. The sadistic satisfaction came when he had seen Kahlil try to demand his wife back. Kyrel through Valery would give Kahlil a sadistic grin as if Kyrel was determined to rip away everything that was Valery only to make her his own. To gain everything from her knowledge to her very face which he would go on to continue plunging the galaxy into a living hell of his own making.

From within though he heard the voices of the billions of Epicanthix he had consumed. Many still alive as they sought to aid Valery through the Force in finally stopping the dreaded World Eater once and for all. Kyrel’s dark consciousness would lash out at Valery in response. “You can’t stop me! I own all of you… All of you belong to me!” He would shout at all the voices from within. “She is not alone…” He would hear a soft voice finally speak and amongst the darkness of all the souls he would see a bright blue light shine from within. The unexpected enemy of his Jedi Mother had returned to aid the lost souls and Valery for her ultimate battle of control for her own soul and her very body.

The ghost would speak with an air of serenity for even she did not hold anger towards her very son. “The Force is stronger than the Shadow my son. Even you cannot hope to win.” She said as she touched Valery’s mind. Together with the souls of the lost Epicanthix they would slowly erode Kyrel’s dark hold over the Jedi Master. Kyrel would lash out violently as he felt himself start to slip away. “No… No, it’s not fair… The shadow is everywhere. I am eternal… I am the world eater!!! The Devourer of worlds!” He would shout in a voice that showed his hint of fear mixed with rage. “No, my son for the Force is far stronger than fear, nor rage. I will show you just how strong…” All around Valery’s soul was there a bright radiance that would grow around and slowly the shroud of darkness would find himself surrounded by a blinding light that would make him cower.

Valery would start to fight back against Kyrel and it was clear that the souls of the lost that Kyrel had taken would be his undoing. His mother most of all sent to aid the Jedi Master in her time of need granting her the extra strength she needed to finally end him once and for all. And through it all Kyrel saw Valery’s intent to end it all. A slight smirk would grace his lips as he found himself slowly being overtaken by the light. “I’ll live again! She will never be rid of me… Even if it’s the last thing I do.” Kyrel would say back triumphantly hoping that even in his darkest hour he could find comfort knowing it would all end on his terms one way or another.

The voices would offer another boost of strength with Miran Kyrel telling Valery. “The Force will be with you…. Always.” As inside her Valery was at last given the final push needed to throw down Kyrel from fully consuming her, and before Kyrel could even defy it all he found himself at last overpowered and himself consumed by the burning light. “No… I am shadow…” He would defiantly said as the light tried to shred his being to pieces. Pieces of his dark soul would attempt to try and find some relief by forcefully embedding himself deep into Valery. Kyrel could do nothing but scream and rage against the light. Attempting to spread the darkness further into waves to fight against the light. Drawing upon his rage he would dig deep into Valery’s own psyche. It was clear that Kyrel was losing, but he would be damned if his own mother and the souls he had eaten would stop him. It would take something far stronger than the Force to fully end him. Something he had often lacked in his entire life.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

He sank deeper. Every moment, every sneer and snarl that turned Valery's face into something almost unrecognizable, he kept sinking. She was gone. His demand, it didn't fall on her ears. They weren't her ears. They weren't her. It wasn't her. It was a monster. She was gone. And all he could feel was rage. Rage and sorrow. Every part of him wanted to tear him apart. Tear Kyrel limb from limn, shatter every part of his mind and body.

But it was Valery's face. The walkway shattered, metal screeching as it folded and twisted unnaturally. He wasn't in control. He was just angry.

"She's not gone."

"Give her back."

"She's still in there."​

Something happened within Kyrel. Within Valery. He wasn't focused on that. He took another shaky step forward before the Force around him finally found focus. He raised his blackened hand.

"You can set her free. With our help."​

You can stop him.

He blinked. Then lowered his hand. Chuckled. All at once the drowning feeling he had was gone. Just the warmth of her touch on his cheek. He reached his hand up to touch the feeling on his skin. She wasn't gone. Then he finally felt them. All around them, fighting against the darkness Kyrel was exuding. Someone else was fighting.

".. You'll help me?"

"You helped us."​

Kahlil glanced to the hilt of his saber. Over the steel he'd cleansed. It'd been the last time he faced Kyrel with Valery. In that fight, he'd fully intended to drag Kyrel down and stop him, even at the cost of his own life. Valery had saved him then. He closed his eyes. Let his fear, his rage, let it all drain away. Let the warmth of the Light return to his heart and soul. Not just his. All around him the souls of those once devoured shifted and moved. Coalesced into the blade in his hand.

It'd be enough. The blade it made couldn't hurt Valery, just the dark soul within her. A part of him wanted that. Erase this evil.

Part of him was already filled with shame that he was so willing to abandon his convictions. The relief that Valery was back, the stillness of the waters around him. He couldn't face Valery if he truly let himself fall that far into his own hate.

“No… I am shadow…”

The Jedi Master stared down into Valery's eyes then. Valery's, Kyrel's. He could see them both there.

"No."

He brought the blade down. Not to cut his wife, not to cut out the monster within her. But to cut Kyrel from the dark hell he'd been dragged into the day he was brought back to life.

"You're free."

Valery Noble | Kyrel Ren

 

[Valery Noble]

Exegol
Lightsaber | Outfit
Battlegroup Kenobi

​

The freed souls of the Epicanthix fought hard to resist the monster who had consumed Valery, but they weren't alone — another presence joined the fray to banish Kyrel from the woman's body. Valery hadn't met the woman before, but something about her presence seemed familiar. As she spoke, her suspicions were confirmed, and Valery was able to fight back with a new source of strength. But even empowered by the Epicanthix and with Kyrel's own mother trying to stop him, she couldn't take control. Kyrel's rage only grew within her, and the fire in her eyes was starting to flicker.

Only one person could truly save her.

Years ago now, they had stumbled into each other on New Cov, while he was looking to learn more about the Jedi and Valery was searching for the remnants of her old Enclave. It was one of the most difficult steps she had to take in order to move forward, and he had supported her through it all. Even when she left for a long meditative retreat right after their first meeting, he was understanding, and supportive, and waited for her return even though there was no certainty about it. Since then, not a day had gone by where he wouldn't be there for her, yet he had never made her feel like she was too weak to stand on her own feet.

No matter what happened, he was always there when she did need him, and this would not be an exception.

With her touch soothing his mind, the Epicanthix souls supporting him in his greatest moment of need, and all of his anger and hatred for the man who had nearly taken his wife washing away, Kahlil stepped forward. A blade manifested itself, created by the people who came to his aid, and with their strength as well as his own, he brought the weapon down.

"You're free."​

Black eyes turned orange, and Valery gasped for air as Kyrel's presence was removed from her body. She was weakened and stumbled forward into Kahlil's arms, but she was finally herself again. Her own arms slipped around him, pulling him into a tight embrace, and for a long moment, she just stood there with him.

"I love you," she whispered, as she slowly pulled back and looked up into his eyes. "I knew you'd do it." She flashed him the smile he always loved to see, and pushed herself up on her toes, her hands reaching to cup his cheeks, just so she could pull him into a kiss. The fight with Kyrel was over, they were hurt but not broken, and while there was still something important to do, she needed just one moment with him alone.

"What do you say? Ready to get into the chamber and end this?" She lowered her hands to take his, and gently squeezed them while she looked over her shoulder at the chamber. Lightpoint station was ready to be used, and even though they had lost some of their strength, her determination couldn't be stronger.

Kahlil Noble | Kyrel Ren ​