Duel Galactic Kaggath Quarterfinals: Kyric vs Koda Fett

[Mauve du Vain]

x

The boiling lava forming the surface of the arena began to hiss and steam.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN THE THIRD ROUND?”

The hissing grew louder, the steam now rising in voluminous clouds, concealing the entire surface of the arena behind a condensation layer so thick it appeared like a sauna.

A sudden geyser of water burst from the midst of the arena and the sound of rushing water became overpowering. As the steam dissipated, it revealed that the lava had cooled and hardened, but was swiftly disappearing beneath a lake of water.

“What you are seeing is four MILLION gallons of salt water pumped into the arena. And those cages being lowered in… Yyes those are in fact mutated firaxan sharks!”

The beasts thrashed wildly before they were let loose from cages and splashed into the water.

Hoverfreighters lowered huge platforms onto the surface of the water, which floated placidly.

“BEHOLD! THE GREAT PLANET OF MANAAN AND ITS FLOATING CITIES!”

The not-Marka Ragnos announcer zoomed around on a hover pod, holding something aloft in his hands.

“AND ITS SEAS….” He snapped the vial and tossed it down into the water far below. A thick, pungent green ichor spilled out from the vial and began to pollute the surface of the arena lake. “POISONED!”

“YES, THAT’S RIGHT, THIS ROUND REPRESENTS THE BATTLE OF MANAAN AND ALL THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND DIED THERE SO LONG AGO!”

Smaller buoys bobbed in the midst of the lake, strange bundles attached to them.

“EVEN A SMALL DIP IN THE LAKE MEANS CERTAIN DEATH… BUT THERE ARE SOME ANTIDOTES, CONVENIENTLY BUOYED ACROSS THE ARENA! USE RESPONSIBLY, THERE’S ONLY FOUR!.”

Of course, the contestants could also use abilities to purge the toxins from their system too, but where was the fun in announcing that to the audience?

"FACING OFF ACROSS THE PLATFORMS, IT'S THE JEDI WONDER, KYYYYYYRIIIIIC VERSUS THE ONE. THE ONLY. KOOOOODAAAAAA FEEEEETTTT!"

“LET THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE GALACTIC KAGGATH, BEGIN!”

Kyric | Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

Mandalorian Armour | Blaster Carbine | Sunshot Pistol | Disruptor Pistol | Yossubi Gas | Kushute Grenade | Recon Droid
​

---

Being deployed into the arena, Fett began examining his new environment.

The openness of the arena provided an advantage, with freedom of greater movement and clear lines of sight. Though with the platforms floating on the water, it made for turbulent terrain. Beneath them, the acidic, poisoned water would broil whatever came into contact with it. His armour would hold, maybe, for a time. How long, Fett was less interested in finding out. If ever in that sludge pool though, the worry was the swarm of firaxan sharks - used in blood sport, there was no doubting their insatiable hunger. On top of all that, the show runners and sponsors enjoyed interfering.

At this table, every card was at play.

He tossed the spherical recon droid into the air, it whirring to life and ascending higher and panning around. With Switchblade defeated, seemingly scrapped, it was left to become a trophy from the last round. Koda would make good use of it.

"Let's make this one quick," he mused.

Raising the sunshot pistol, the bounty hunter charged the rail accelerator and sent a volley of bolts down range. Flying at speeds faster than one might expect. At first, that is.

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

Thirty minutes somehow proved to be both too much and too little time between rounds. The hyper-lethal line up left on full display shortly after the second match promised agony no matter how you cut it. Names like Koda Fett, Allyson Locke, and Mercy were practically household at this point; the sorts of people you didn't want to piss off if you liked living, really. But even the dark horses of the Kaggath promised a lethality fitting for the tournament. Fenn Stag managed to eliminate the champion of the Mandalorian Empire. Arris Windrun went even with the Jedi Hero, Creed. And that Antar guy managed to stick around like an old credchip you desperately wanted to do away with.

There were no easy fights left.

Everyone and everything spread across the poisoned waters fought desperately to win. More than victory and treasure awaited the winner. Glory incarnate, given unparalleled prominence by the endless sea of sentients across the stars watching each battle.

How many of them watched Kyric now? Who across the stars wanted to see him win? And who prayed silently for his downfall?

The kiffar gently squeezed the hilt of Resolute over and over. His thumb pressed to the flat of the single-edged blade, nothing more than a means to keep his oft-wandering mind on his current problem, as opposed to the slew awaiting him at the end of this match. He peered up from his squatting position at the beskar-clad bounty hunter standing opposite the ring.

Koda Fett.

Koda freaking Fett.

A man who forged himself into an unfeeling killing machine. No other bounty hunter across the stars boasted his long list of successful contracts. Even fewer can claim to have captured or killed as many Force Sensitives. This was a man who walked in the shadow of death. An errant promise of doom manifested like a living barrier between Kyric and the summit.

The Jedi felt himself trembling not unlike his very first battle. A primal part of his brain understood better than his thinking-mind the trouble that awaited the start of their match, but Kyric stood firm. This was another opportunity to embody courage for those without. To stand unwavering when faced with the impossible.

"FACING OFF ACROSS THE PLATFORMS, IT'S THE JEDI WONDER, KYYYYYYRIIIIIC VERSUS THE ONE. THE ONLY. KOOOOODAAAAAA FEEEEETTTT!"

“LET THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE GALACTIC KAGGATH, BEGIN!”

Kyric ran his left hand down the length of his blade and charged the weapon with a surge of emerald lightning. He pushed himself up to his feet and leaned right, only to shift his weight and dash out to his left the moment Koda opened fire. The bolts flew true in his vision, not a single fracture or shifting-image afforded to the kiffar by the Force's grace. His opponent's blaster—constructed with an anti-force element of a kind—cut through precognition, shatterpoint, and danger sense entirely.

The kiffar outpaced the first shot by a hairbreadth. He cut in toward Fett at that, the second passing directly through where Kyric should've been had he followed through with his arcing sprint. Leaping over the third, he spun in the air to avoid the fourth, landed, and sliced his blade in a falling strike that split the fifth in twain.

Feth, Kyric narrowed his eye and side-stepped another incoming bolt. He won't miss if I don't dodge. Luck ain't on my side here. He managed to cross half the distance between them in the opening salvo, but each step made avoiding the fast-flying bolts all the harder. With a deep breath, Kyric flickered and disappeared. He reappeared two dozen paces behind the bounty hunter. The Jedi stood with his back to the poisoned water. Channeling the unseen powers of the Force through him, empowered by the Nexus' endless flood of energy, the kiffar pushed his left hand forward at the beskar-clad warrior.

The water behind Kyric surged around him in a powerful wave. It crashed directly for Koda Fett like a writhing sea-monster deep from the core of Naboo.

---

Tags: Koda Fett | Mauve du Vain
Force Bonds: Bernard | Capris Halcyon | Lord Creuat
Equipment: "Aspis" Pattern Combat Shield | Resolute | Ion Pistol | Vibroknife | CryoBan Grenade x2 | Thermal Detonators x1 | Incendiary Grenade x2

 

[Koda Fett]

The recon droid's spying eye proved useful.

Kyric vanished from view in a flickering haze, disappearing. Fett could not wholly dismiss some manner of cloaking, remaining vigilant on the space in front of him with the blaster pistol raised and ready. The helmet's sensors detected nothing, not even with the rapid function cycling. It may have been a fraction too slow to rely on the sensors, with Kyric gaining that thread-fine advantage. Though as Kyric reappeared, blinking back into existence behind him, the bounty hunter snapped back around.

He continued firing, slamming his finger down on the trigger.

Paying his thanks to the melted through remains of Switchblade could wait.

Though with Jedi, telling what came next was nearly impossible. A surging wave of acidic, poisoned water was a sure surprise. It shot towards him in a blast, eating at the surface of the platform. His armour might withstand the acid but the physical force alone was going to send him hurtling through the air, skittering across the platforms at best, sinking down low into infested waters at worse.

His jetpack sparked, sprouting flames that hoisted him into the air. Though the barreling wave had not completely been evaded; acidic spray splattered against the beskar-ciridium, proving Koda right, and that awfully dense armourweave withstood the effects as well. For now. The sunshot pistol, however, was eaten up, warped and distorted in his hand until dropping it altogether became the best choice.

When it met the water's surface, the sharks came chopping. Eager for anything.

Fett came rocketing down, closing the distance and joined Kyric on a shared platform now. The roaring arc of grasping tendrils that was the fire blasting from his wrist bridged the distance, with his spare hand grasping for his blaster carbine and sending another salvo of blaster bolts towards the Jedi - this time with the yossubi gas inserted.

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

Koda approached behind a wave of rushing flame that spread around Kyric like a giant maw. The Jedi backpedaled, each step carrying a small burst of telekinetic energy that blew the lethal waters away long enough for the next. He sheathed his blade and reached forward with both hands, fingers clawing inward as if to take hold of the fire. A silver-blue light shone from beneath the black armorweave body glove over his collarbone and descended down the length of both arms to his hands.

The rune etched into Kyric's flesh by Capris afforded him many strengths, but by far the kiffar preferred the manipulation of flame above all else. He ripped the fire in two with the simplicity of a sheet of paper. It arched around him in a superheated ring that momentarily kept the green waters at bay.

Unfortunately, the bounty hunter was already one step ahead of him. Koda leveled his blaster rifle on Kyric who stood without his blade. The short distance between them caused by the burning ring made outright dodging any shot an impossibility. The force dampening aura enveloping Fett worsened the kiffar's odds further, but he didn't have time to lament.

Velok's words came to the forefront of Kyric's mind as the first blaster bolt erupted from the rifle.

"You face a man who's made himself into an unfeeling killing machine. Feel better than him. Be more than a Jedi; be a man. Know yourself, your body, your heart, whether you can touch the Force or not. Be simple, be strong, a living thing and not an entertainer. Come to terms with what it feels like to be beaten. Only then will you find your best chance to win."

The first blaster bolt slammed into Kyric's right shoulder. He gritted his teeth, pain lanced outward, racing down his arm and into his chest. Breathing came difficult to him, but it was merely a symptom of the pain. His left arm rose quickly and the gauntlet affixed to his left arm burst into a circular shield forged by the smiths of the legendary Sun Guard. While no individual member within their ranks matched Koda Fett's ferocity, the once great Mercenary Company knew no equal across the stars.

And it was their strength Kyric called upon now, not unlike his father when faced with the brutish Tathra Khaeus many years ago.

The shield flashed across the kiffar's body in his fighting retreat. The edges began to glow a molten orange as it absorbed the energy of each blocked shot and powered the outer ring of the shield; a plasma cutting force no different than a lightsaber.

Kyric reached the edge of the burning ring and leaped through. The fire parted around him and he landed on the other side in a back roll, his shield held in place over his back to prevent the worst of the water from contacting his body. On impact with the floor, Kyric placed his full weight behind his shoulder and bit back a scream as he forced the joint back into position.

The Jedi vaulted back to his feet to the chorus of sizzling rubber. His boots wouldn't hold for long.

In an effort to make space, he launched the magnetically tethered shield for Koda, aiming to slice through the rangefinder which adorned the bounty hunter's helmet. On the backswing, he tore his left arm downward and the shield came spinning back for the thrusters built into the man hunter's jetpack.

---

Tags: Koda Fett | Mauve du Vain
Force Bonds: Bernard | Capris Halcyon | Lord Creuat

 

[Koda Fett]

The shield connected with his rangefinder, causing a shriek of torn metal and jerking his helmeted head sideways with force. Sparks flew past his visor, systems flashed red for a moment, then cleared - losing the third-eye of the recon droid's vision, and the advanced lock systems the rangefinder provided. He recalibrated mid-turn, tracking the shield's return arc before the crowd even caught their breath.

Fett saw the second throw coming a split second before impact. The shield came screaming back for his jetpack. Clear, too clever. Koda shifted his center of mass, rolling his shoulders, and the cutting edge skimmed just beneath the thrusters with a hair's breadth of clearance. The hiss of displaced air told him how close it had come.

He didn't wait for another attack.

With feet low and shoulders tight, Fett surged forward across the platform. His boots hit herd, magnetic grips catching against the metal as it swayed underfoot above the acid below.

He closed the distance like a thunderclap. No dramatic wind-up, no flourish. Just violence. A killing machine, Velok had referred to him as, unfeeling. Yet never unthinking. A swift jab from his left gauntlet came for the shield, and his right elbow followed through towards Kyric's sternum. A shot from his jetpack blasted him up with a flying knee, and darts of yossubi gas flew from the knee-pad launchers.

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

Little metal hooks clicked into place as the shield slipped back onto the gauntlet. Kyric drew his vibroknife in the face of the hastily approaching bounty hunter and reversed his grip on the weapon, eyes locked on the emotionless T-visor up until the two bodies crashed together.

Smoke rose in hissing waves from the kiffar's boots as his feet slid further apart, his weight pivoting from his front to back foot to slow Koda's momentum. It wasn't enough to stop the bounty hunter from beating the shield aside via a well-placed jab on the outside. The elbow flew into the opening with equal parts precision and force. Kyric drove the pommel of his vibroknife upward and caught the bounty hunter by the forearm with enough force to divert the strike from his sternum to his right pec. The beskar left a hastily darkening bruise where it impacted, and for a split-second, Kyric thought his lung collapsed from the stabbing pain.

The Jedi Knight doubled back with the force of Koda's onslaught. He twisted his hips and turned his body 90° a fraction of a second before the thrusters burned to life. Kyric dragged his shield into position, eating the darts, then the knee, only for the shield to fly up and over the Jedi Knight. He followed through with the strike and vaulted backward. The shield shrunk back down to gauntlet form and his armored left hand planted firmly into the poisoned water. Hit booted foot arched heavenward as Kyric attempted to deliver a rising heel kick directly to the bounty hunter's chin guard.

Kyric landed and threw the knife at Fett's visor. His sword once more sprung from the loop at his hip; now devoid of its trigger-sheath after it sunk beneath the lava in round two. Only the approach of one of the arena's many hazards stopped the kiffar from dashing forward. Instead, he jumped back again and landed atop the shark poised to strike the Jedi Knight from behind.

"Lend me yer strength, friend."

Silver-blue starlight descended from the Kiffar's one-eye to color the shark's beady black orbs the very same. It pivoted immediately into an arching circle around Koda, moving quickly over the flooded platform.

---

Tags: Koda Fett | Mauve du Vain

 

[Koda Fett]

In the midst of the close quartered scuffle, Fett was precise and robotic with no wasted effort. Kyric misaligned those assaults with a freedom of movement that belonged solely to the Jedi.

He could barely register the heel of the boot before it connected with the lip of his helmet, his head snapping backwards with a loud crack as Fett stumbled with his balance thrown off. Beneath the helmet, a low and modulated groan of irritation sounded as he went to a knee with his hand planted in front of him. The poisoned waters began to lap at the edges, coming over the platform, as it became clear the weight of two people were too much for them. Designed to sink, to entertain as the fighters scrambled for safety. His armour held, for now.

The vibroknife came sailing towards him, slicing through the air as if it was a thrown javelin that was bound to crash into his faceplate. Fett lurched his helmet head forwards, the knife connecting with the brow and clattering against the platform after bouncing off. Koda rose up onto his feet then, seeing Kyric had taken off onto a shark. In the moment of reprieve, Koda merely observed before acting once again.

Once more, the would-be Mandalorian propelled himself into the air. He unholstered the disruptor pistol and aimed not for Kyric, but the shark beneath him with the intent to vaporise it completely. Should Kyric leap up into the air, Koda waited with his whipcord launcher at the ready to ensnare the Jedi and drag him through the poisoned pool.

Kyric

 

[Razmir Tezhyn]

Je'ames the Duro hit the button which lowered the freighter's cargo ramp right as the dingy, beat-up freighter approached the Kaggath arena. He watched his two underlings carefully move their packages into position.

"Je'ames, this is a waste of good product," one of the underlings complained.

"We receive the decs, we take care of business. Just toss it, capisce?" Je'ames replied.

With some grumbling protests the underlings moved the large stack of packages right onto the edge of the loading ramp. Then they waited until the freighter made a low-pass above the arena battlegrounds. The freighter flew a slow circle. The underlings began to toss the cargo in large chunks. Dozens of neatly wrapped packages fell free, then burst mid-air to scatter glitterstim over the dueling grounds.

Glitterstim was a potent variety of the drug family "spice" that was mined on Kessel. It gave the user a brief, yet pleasurable, telepathic boost and heightened mental state.

Once they were done, the freighter left the air space again. In its wake, a translucent blue cloud that sparked with harmless blue electricity covered the 'Seas of Manaan'. The cloud rolled over the waters, potentially engulfing everyone. Not even the first few rows of onlookers were spared the telepathic hallucinogenic's effects.

Kyric Koda Fett

 

[Kyric]

The knife clattered uselessly off the beskar-brow and disappeared beneath the water. Kyric should've seen that coming. Fett rose into the air after, and drew another of his weapons from his belt. He leveled it on the shark. The kiffar cursed, activated the shield once more, and whipped it at the Bounty Hunter, the throw aimed for the pistol in hand. Fett still had ample time to pull the trigger, which he did with impunity. It blasted the shark in the head and vaporized the things in seconds.

Kyric fell forward as the shark faded into memory and his momentum carried him onward. He drew in a deep breath and envisioned himself on another nearby platform, this one decidedly not flooded and rapidly sinking. He flickered out of existence and reappeared on a platform some twenty meters away. From the Jedi's new position, he spotted Koda hovering nearby.

"These platforms suck," Kyric groaned, images of his prior duel came to mind. Metal sank beneath the superheated surface alongside some of the kiffar's belongings.

Overhead, the freighter released its psychedelic payload into the arena. Kyric knew the product upon seeing it. His earliest memories back home on Denon were spent in a drug den owned by one of many slum lords spread throughout the Suicide Slums. Glitterstim was a favorite among those in need of something stronger than spice, but less lethal that Death Sticks. Absorption via skin-contact and the lungs promised to strengthen the high, and perhaps even its effects on the Force, but Kyric didn't want to brave an inebriated fight.

Streams of a powerful wind erupted around the Jedi Knight in a defensive aura. It buffeted the oncoming Glitterstim and blew it away with little trouble. Kyric maintained his concentration, honing it to its explosion point, before it spread out around him in a much larger radius. Though the wind would not overcome the force-dampening bubble around Koda, it drew the water up into its circuit, forming a monsoon of the tainted water.

Kyric stepped forward and slashed the empty space ahead of him and the wind answered. A cutting force flew through the gale, carrying with it a splattering of the toxin aimed to soak Fett in the caustic liquid.

---

Tags: Koda Fett | Razmir Tezhyn | Mauve du Vain

 

[Koda Fett]

The sound of the whirring engines stole his attention, pivoting mid-air to face it with the Jedi at a comfortable distance. Before Fett could recognise it himself, his helmet's scanners identified the descending substance as glitterstim. Either some sponsor had a trick up their sleeve with the introduction of it or the showrunners had grown disinterested with the trivial matters of gladiatorial blood sport. In either case, Fett pressed a button on his gauntlet and sealed his armour tight.

Beneath the helmet, his gaze narrowed. Surging forwards and closing the distance with the intent to re-engage with his blaster, firing mid-motion. Streaking red bolts armed with yossubi gas tore through the infected air. Yet, Kyric tapped into the Force and began to whirl the air and poisoned water around him. It forced Fett to stop, coming to a sudden halt and to maintain distance. Kyric unleashed it, however. It came as an all-encompassing wave and crashed into the Mandalorian. His armoured form disappeared behind the wave and when it settled, crashing down and sending the platforms rocking about the newly made waves, he was nowhere to be seen. Seemingly knocked beneath the waters.

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

Screaming red bolts tore through the storm, forcing Kyric to retreat. His blade flashed out twice more, carving the bolts from the air like pesky bugs. One segment of fiery energy deflected off Resolute, where it glanced the kiffar's left side.

The wind died down not long after Fett descended beneath the waves. Roiling waters slowed to a lazy current around the platform and the poisoned liquid fell like a soft rain for a few heartbeats. Kyric reached out with his gauntleted left hand and summoned the shield back from where it floated atop the water. No longer did the outermost ring of the device glow with cutting-force. Pocked metal marred the bottom of the Aspis, and when the hooks reattached to the locking mechanism, the magnetic-tether sparked and died out.

Kyric retracted the shield, then expanded it again with a huff. The most basic function of the device still worked, but no longer would it return remotely. He shook his head and searched the surrounding waters for the Bounty Hunter. Though the kiffar hadn't faced a hunter of Fett's caliber before, the Jedi was by no means unfamiliar with the craft.

Darth Solipsis' bounties ensured that.

Mandalorian or not, Fett carried his beskar well. He flew with no less certainty than those Kyric faced firsthand. For countless generations the secrets of the beskar'gam have not only survived, but thrived in this war torn galaxy. Its legend no less grand than the lightsaber. The kiffar didn't doubt the helmet to be vacuum sealed. The question was how long the rest of Fett survived underneath the diseased waters.

That was the moment Kyric knew to be the most dangerous. He lifted Resolute to his chest where the blade hung perpendicular to the Jedi's body. He took a deep breath, expanding his senses around himself in search of danger.

Sharks swam rapidly through the water in search of a meal. Perhaps one like Koda Fett himself. But the yosubi gas made seeking him an impossibility, even fed with the Nexus' strength.

---

Tags: Koda Fett | Mauve du Vain

 

[Koda Fett]

Platforms rolled with the settling waves, coming to an eventual stillness once the water reached the walls of the arena and lapped back in turn. Yet, the beasts housed within seemed to embark on a sudden frenzy, their fins rippling through the waters to converge on the one position - the cartridges containing the yossubi gas removed him from the Force, making it difficult to track Fett now unseen, but this was as much of a tell-tale sign as any.

Beneath the murky, moss-green waters, something stirred. It was a flurry of frantic splashes, primal and guttural growls that began the slaughter. It was not a quick affair, either. The sound of muffled blaster shots cried out, then breached the surface as one thoomed after the other. Once the bolts stopped coming, blood floated up as a marker of death. A beat, a pause, before the Mandalorian was the one that emerged. Worse for wear, yet alive.

He reached for a platform, pulling himself up and out. The armourweave, let alone the beskar, was tough and could withstand a share of damage. He could thank Munin for that. But in that frenzy, there was a clear tear in the left arm. Some new scratches on the armour's paint, too. Down there, he felt their teeth shattered against it. Fett, lurched forwards and heaving, reached across his frame and tore what tattered remains were left of the side cloak, tossing it to the wind. His blaster hung from his hip.

Fett needed an antidote and quickly. The showrunners would never opt for a slow-coming death in an arena. Seeing the crate which housed it, there remained but one problem.

Kyric stood between him and it.

"Hrrn," he groaned, low and muffled.

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

Surprised by the lack of outright violence, Kyric scanned the Bounty Hunter's damaged frame. The beskar held strong. The armorweave less so, torn across Fett's bicep and coated with the liquid toxin. A winning position. Empowered by the very battlefield chosen for the tournament, the Jedi felt confident he could outlast a poisoned opponent. But where was the challenge? This was an opponent unlike any other—a true test of skill in every sense of the word.

Kyric followed Fett's gaze to the antidote buoyed behind him. The Hunter's sole lifeline. Win or lose, there would be no advancing without it. The kiffar wrenched the antidote from its perch with a telekinetic command and yanked it over the water to his left hand. A cursory glance revealed a viscous blue liquid contained by a stimpack. He looked back to Fett and tossed it the remainder of the way, guided precisely to his opponent.

"It wouldn't be the real deal if yer poisoned, Fett." Kyric shifted his feet into a wider stance and fell into a lower crouch. He held Resolute's hilt across his chest, shoulder forward, blade perpendicular to his forward-leaning frame. His single eye watched patiently for Fett to inject the antidote, allowing his opponent a few precious seconds to collect himself for good measure.

Feel better than him.

Kyric released a deep breath, his lips curled up into a smile. Space folded inward on the swordsman and he blinked forward across the water. Resolute whistled downward for the weakened bicep in one decisive cut meant to cripple the arm entirely.

---

Tag: Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

Fett was particular. His own code, his own sense of honour. It existed somewhere, buried beneath the stain of all his crimes. Some could claim to have experienced it first-hand, when his actions were fueled beyond a desire for more credits. Some would claim that if not for the pursuit of credits, it was to fan the flames of his own monumental ego. In either case, there was one truth: he had his own rules, and to accept the antidote was in breach of them.

It was an unavoidable, however. The other crates were shattered with their contents left to spill out into the lake and sink into the depths. He accepted this out of desperation and as he plunged the needle into his exposed flesh, Fett accepted defeat. He could blame the constraints of the tournament. It did inhibit him, somewhat, and a battle in such conditions might have never been accepted outside of the arena. In the end, Kyric wanted to win more than Koda ever did. That's what decided this outcome.

He moved through the motions as he had a thousand times before and it was boring. It made him complacent. By the time Fett realised the threat Kyric presented, it was too late. Too many Jedi were simple, predictable foes of late. It warped his perception.

As Kyric disappeared and reappeared in a midst of a swing, the so-called Mandalorian reached for the arm that held the blade to stop it.

"You win," he said, even with fight fresh in his voice.

Kyric