For the right to rule: Zalen Zennoch Ziad vs The Almighty Emperor, Darth Moridin

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Zalen was confident in his abilities, but was he confident he could win? It would be interesting to see how one of the brightest up and comers of the Sith Empire would handle his emotions when he went up against the most Powerful Sith in the Galaxy. Was this a statement? Yes, it was. It was a statement to every Sith about what they should strive for. Everyone was content with not being the Emperor and that wasn't the Sith way. Kill the Emperor in numbers if you are so afraid, but know that one day you too will be slain in cold blood by those who bowed before you.

Zalen walked into the throne room on Drummond Kaas, he had grown up on this planet and was raised by the Sith he now called masters. He thought about the fight many times in his head; many scenarios ran in and out of his mind. He had a strategy of how to take on the Emperor, but even he did not know if it would be enough. Zalen sat down to meditate while he waited for his opponent, argueably the strongest opponent he could ever hope to face. This was all relative, because power was relative. Power isn't the source of victory, or at least not false power. True power had many faces and no one Sith had managed to claim them all as his own since the beggining of the order. If a Sith had True Power he would have no opposition and thus there would be no need for the Sith philosophy. It is an ironic contrast that plagued the Sith in mind, but was never fully realized before.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Moridin sat in his throne, undisturbed for quite a while until all of a sudden what looked to be an apprentice walked into his Throne Room. The boy walked in, and disregarded the Emperor completely and entirely, he simply stepped into the middle of the room and then began to meditate. Moridin raised an eyebrow and looked a the boy. He was almost entirely confused at what was going on. Finally after a few minutes The Dreadlord looked at the boy and spoke, his voice resounding like a torrent within the hall.

“May I help you?” The Emperor said with an air of curiosity around him.

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Zalen disregarded the Emperor's presence for a bit longer until he finally answered Darth Moridin's question, "You may, but before that as a final respect we should get formalities addressed. I am Zalen Zennoch Ziad, I was born here and raised to be a Sith. I am the apprentice of Daxton Bane whom I believe you've met before, however my quarrel with you is entirely our own. The Sith have become too complacent, none opt to challenge each other as of late and it is disturbing. I can understand waiting and gaining power over time, but the more you all sit in your chairs doing nothing to overthrow eachother, the weaker this empire becomes." Zalen paused and spoke once more, "Now my lord if you will spare me just a few more words, I would like to help you remember a time where the Sith were truely great. Darth Bane and his Rule of Two kept the Sith strong for 1000 years and manifested itself into the largest galactic empire in current history when Darth Sidious overthrew the republic and anhilated the Jedi in one fell swoop. Whats disapointing is that we no longer have this strength and cunnning. That is why I am going to not only challenge you for the right to rule, but I will also open your eyes to the weakness that dwells within these halls. It has held both of us back and now its time to see if it can last."

Zalen stood up and whistled loudly. Two fully grown Hssiss made themselves visable as the entered the throne room followed by a dozen Cannoks. "Say hello to my pets, they are quite hungry since I havent fed them yet.. Perhaps you have something that will be of their liking?" Zalen gave a serious chuckle and drew his lightsabers, "Oh and dont bother trying to influence them with the force, I have complete dominion over each of them."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

(I am on my phone so please excuse any errors)
As the myriad of beasts walked into the room Moridin couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle. He brought minions to fight the Emperor? And even worse they were beasts? The Emperor seemed entirely too amused at this situation. Hssiss were dangerous yes, their ability to cloak and hide themselves within the force made them difficult to kill...if they were given the opportunity to do so. Cannoks on the other hand were hardly a threat, they were almost entirely useless.

“I am going to teach you a lesson child.” Moridin said as he lifted his face from his palm and opened his right hand towards the apprentice. “Since apparently your Master has been lacking. When you face the Emperor for his title, you do not bring beasts to aid you.”

He folded back two fingers on his right hand his pinky and ring finger fell to his palm, and let his left rest upon his throne. “I will kill your creatures and yourself with only these three fingers.”

The Emperor Grinned, and then snapped his fingers. Almost instantly as he did so the two Hssiss heads began to turn bright red, then exploded outward in a massive wave of force and strength spilling blood and guts around the entire room.

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Zalen began to laugh loudly as he returned his lightsabers to his belt, "Cannoks go towards him now!" As the Cannoks moved towards the Emperor Zalen pulled out out a a detonator. "You know Cannoks will eat anything... I didnt pick them because they were easy to manipulate, I am not that stupid. You sorely underestimated my drive." Zalen detonated the bombs hidden inside the cannoks causing a massive explosion that caved in the throne room. Zalen still close to the entrance. jumped through the open front doorway using the force to increase his speed to make it possible for him to avoid the explosion. Zalne pulled out his lightsabers knowing that it was entirely possible that someone so strong in the force could survive such an explosion.

Zalen moved down the hall a bit waiting for his enemy to emerge like the monster that he was. "Come on now! I know youre still alive! Face me already."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Moridin didn't move from his throne, though he raised an eyebrow in surprise as the young Apprentice pulled a detonator from his sleeve. He had to give it to the boy it was a clever move and one that impressed the Emperor quite a bit, though shouting out your intentions before taking action was rather foolish. As the explosion charged towards him Moridin moved his Palm upwards. A massive piece of durasteel peeled itself up off the ground and crumpled into place before Moridin. Then the Sith made another motion and a sort barrier formed around him, the force emanating off of him in waves pushing away any shrapnel that might come his way.

The fire and concussive shock wave struck the durasteel bending and destroying it, though the metal kept the Emperor safe. As the explosion settled down Moridin looked down at this clothes. His left was was on fire and his cloak was severely scorched. The Emperor began to pat his arm, extinguishing the flame quickly.

With another smooth wave of his hand Moridin caused the durasteel barrier before him fall down. His throne remained untouched, though everything around him began to fell into pieces. The Emperor sighed and then slowly stood from his throne. As he did so the rock fell to pieces.

“Well done apprentice.” Moridin said as he brushed soot from his shoulder and began to walk towards the entrance of the Throne Room. With another wave of his hands the Emperor threw any rubble out of his way. “Come, show me what you can do with a blade.”

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Zalen wasn't suprized when Moridin survived with minimal injury. Zalen realized that shouting out his intention wasn't the brightest idea, but saying he was nervous to face such a powerful opponent was an understatement. This was only the first part of his plan however, he had another couple of phases that he had set up beforehand. Moridin wanted to challenge him with a blade, but he had other plans. "Dont be so impatient my lord, the show has just started. Lets not rush the entertainment I have prepared for you. After all, it is your final farewell present." Zalen had learned from his training that he had to make the opponent fight Zalen's fight not Moridin's fight and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Zalen wasnt to far from the courtyard now. He used a Makashi style thrust and parry combination in order to try to bring his opponent in; this would most likely work because duelists often prefer to counter after simple strikes. Zalen had great emphasis on footwork just like any skilled Makashi duelist. He moved forward only to retreat subtley after which he planned to play the defensive and make his opponent think he had control.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Moridin held no blade, nor did he make a move to draw one of retrieve any sort of weapon to counter a lightsaber. The apprentice rushed at him, baited him, struck with his lightsaber but he didn't fight back. The Emperor weaved and ducked his way through the mans lightsaber swings using the force to augment his speed and senses. The Emperor had done this many times when Facing Jedi masters, and Apprentice was far less of a challenge.

As he had said, Moridin would defeat the Apprentice would into three fingers. As he dodged another swipe of the Apprentice's blade, never moving towards him in the act or trying to push his ground The Emperor suddenly raised his index finger and thumb. He caught his index finger on his thumb and then flicked it forward.

This simple act sent out a massive wall of the force, aiming to throw the boy against the wall.

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Zalen was thrown against the wall with just the flick of a finger. This was truely impressive, a sign of true mastery of the force, something that Zalen was yet to achieve. "I suppose Im not as strong in the force as you at this moment, but I am stronger. There are many different means of strength and I am the strongest!" Zalen held his hand up and used the force to collapse the roof. He did this multiple times causing three different places in the roof between Moridin and himself.

Zalen stood up and escaped around the corner heading for the court yard hoping that Moridin would follow.

Zalen entered the courtyard where he had a Rancor chained up. He used the force to break the chains and free his rancor. He used the force to hop onto its head where he waited for the monster Darth Moridin to come for him. He had his lightsabers ready for an assault.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Again The Emperor dodged and weaved his way through the debris, using a combination of the force and natural agility to safely stay away from the rubble. He scolded himself for allowing another one of his palaces to get wrecked, first on Byss and now on Dromund Kaas. He would have to set up some sort of Arena for these duels in the future, especially if a Master were to challenge him again.

Slowly Moridin made his way out towards the court yard, and when he finally made it he raised an eyebrow once again. This time it was less in shock and more in pure straight annoyance. “I have the worst fucking guards.”

The Emperor spoke to himself as he looked upon the Rancor. The young man was riding atop it, aiming to use the beast as a mount the Emperor assumed. He raised his hand again, point his index and middle-finger towards the beast. A dark sort of power seemed to erupt around him, filling the air. The beast began to roar, loudly. Moridin just stood there, the tips of his fingers became blackened, and then they recoiled slightly.

A wave of pure unadulterated darkness erupted forward from his fingertips, it ran in a direct b-line directly towards the Rancor's massive form.

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

A wave of pure darkside energy hit the rancor dislodging every bone in it's body and downing it for good. Zalen hopped down in disapointment, "So quick to ruin the fun... You didnt even want to play. I took the trouble of killing all of your guards, who might I add were comparable in strength to a normal apprentice just for you to kill my rancor with your fingers. I am so very displeased... It seems I have no more aces in the hole so I think I will take you up on that lightsaber duel offer. A shame though, that rancor was truely beautiful." Zalen threw his lightsaber at the emperor using telekenisis while he sped in using force speed. Knowing the Emperor wouldn't be hit by a simple saber throw, he used a combination attack. The emperor would likely try to stop Zalen with one hand while disarming the saber throw using the force with his other free hand, but Zalen prepared a spinning kick followed by a low thrust with his shoto.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Moridin smirked as the boy threw a lightsaber, a common tactic among both the Sith and the Jedi. Most people would have deflected it, or sent it along another path but Moridin had other ideas. He would finish this little fight in the next few seconds, and he would do so quite harshly.

As the boy charged at him the Emperor called upon the force, he opened his palm. He called the whirling lightsaber to his hand, catching it and gripping it tightly. Then in the next instance the Dreadlord seemed to flash to the side, he moved ever so slightly to the left, and as the boy came at him with a kick and a lightsaber Moridin raised his left hand. Like a viper his hand struck forward and gripped towards the Apprentice's leg, as soon as his hand latched on he would snap the bone in half.

At the same time he brought up the lightsaber to block the apprentice's shoto.

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Moridin caught Zalen's lightsaber just as Zalen suspected, but going into the attack he disregarded this possibility even though he found that it would be an extremely likely outcome. His frontal lightsaber attacked was blocked with expert prescision by the Sith Master; Moridin was also able to stop the extremely speedy kick by grabbing at Zalen's leg. Zalen used his natural athletism, force enhanced reflexes, and Echani style hand to hand combat training, he was able to use his planted foot to launch his body into a rapid spin. The spin was elegant with the kicking leg crossing over the extended arm that was began to rotate off of Moridin's parry.

Zalen jumped and flipped backward retreating just a bit. He unignited his Shoto and held his finger up for just a second, "Hold on Emperor, I need to do something real quick before we continue." Without some regard to the Emperor, he visually measured his distance from the beginning of the courtyard and stepped backwards slowly counting his steps. After a certain number of steps, Zalen knealt down and removed quite a few loose tiles in the center of the courtyard. After the tiles were removed he began to dig; he unearthed weapons owned by the guards he had previously killed. He set aside two blaster rifles, a thermal detonator, and a saberstaff(long handled lightsbaer, not double bladed) which had been previously owned by an Elite Force Adept Sith Guard. "Ah! Here it is. I will be with in in just a second my lord." He put his shoto away on his belt, and picked up the saberstaff. He ignighted it and was now ready for round two with Darth Moridin.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Moridin let go of the apprentice while he wildly spun away, not being sure exactly how he had escaped his much stronger grip. The Emperor did not move to quell the child as he dug through the courtyard. He could take any number of weapons, any number of creatures and he would still end this fight with every bone in his body broken. As he dug out more weapons Moridin looked to the lightsaber in his palm, he stared at the weapon with disgust and then disengaged it.

A second later The Emperor crushed the weapon in his palm, bending the hilt and breaking its inside into dust. He let the now broken lightsaber fall onto the ground besides him. Moridin seemed to vibrate slightly, the force filling every single inch of him.

His right hand began to spark with red lightning, the air began to smell of burnt ozone as sparks of lightning bounced to the floor and wall around Moridin. The Dreadlord peered at the apprentice, then moved. In almost an instant the Emperor found himself standing behind the boy, moving in the blink of an eye using intense amounts of the force.

As soon as he appeared behind the boy Moridin reached out with his sparking palm. He grabbed for the apprentice's spine, his palm moving like a viper.

 

[Zalen Zennoch Ziad]

Zalen held the Saberstaff strongly as his opponent made it a point to destroy his lightsaber with relative ease. With blinding speed and tremendous raw force power, the Emperor flanked him using force speed. This was dangerous because now Moridin was being serious. As he was being flanked, Zalen lunged the extremely long blunt end of the Saberstaff backwards to fend off his opponent for just a moment which would allow him to escape. With this being said, at the same time Moridin was closing in for a strike to Zalen's back which would be absolutely devestating and potentially lethal. The blunt end of the saberstaff was ultimately unable to create enough distance between them before Moridin's strike had landed. Moridin was just too quick. With a clutch on Zalen, Moridin had already won the fight, but there were no measureable ends to what the Dark Lord desired to do with a helpless opponent. Zalen screamed briefly, "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!" He clenched his teeth and began to make some noises that were hardly able to be put together as words; he said something along the lines of, "What are you going to do now? Prove your strength by killing me? Or will you wait until I come back stronger than ever? Take out a threat before in manifests itself or keep the oppportunity to engage it when it is at it's strongest?"