Lords of the Sith: Primacy

[Garza]

Darren didnt mind not having his second blade. Shorn had never seen Darren wield three blades though. Darren sidestepped the blade that lunged for his shoulder. With a shove that was not powerful. The shove was most likely a tactic to set him off. Darren allowed himself to be pushed out of the way from the blade to his knee. He was further away from the apprentice, giving him time to call upon his fathers crimson lightsaber. It activated with a pop hiss followed with the formular sound of the lighsaber hum.

Darren had in one hand his fathers red blade and the other his own white blade casting red and white lights across the room. He knew that he would look entirely different from what Shorn may have thought. He was now going to let the anger consume him, fuel his body. Darren felt a Dark shadow cast over his soul. He could feel the Darkside flow withinn his blood. Darren laughed at the mans comment about killing him with his own blade. "What if I were to kill you with your own hands?"

Darren used his mind to attack the man. To give him not doubt. Shorn only thought about how good he was, but never about what he could BE. Withe the force he filled the apprentices mind with thoughts of being powerful, being who he wanted to be. Darrens smile stretched from ear to ear. When he had filled the thoughts Darren asked "Have you ever had to fight from all around you youngling?" With that Darren used the force to rip two of the pillars that held the roof up and forced them to crash into the Sith apprentice. he followed up with calling on the white blade the belonged to him with the force.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

"So, whenever you're done being non-sensical," Mikhail said in response to the Dark Jedi's taunt about killing him with his own hands. Really? That's all he had to come back with? It didn't even make sense. Lame.

The appearance of a third lightsaber was surprising. A little saber happy, aren't we? Most Sith and Jedi only carried one blade. It required enough concentration to wield it all on its own. Two blades was even more demanding. But three? Mikhail guessed the third one was there in case of situations exactly like this.

He had little time to appreciate how they had suddenly become mirror images of each other, red and white blades humming in each of their hands. Darren's thoughts touched his, sending messages of power through the Force in... attack? Mikhail snorted in derision. The man's lack of knowledge about Mikhail's past experiences and motivation made the mental attack, if it could be called that, next to useless. Images of power flashed through Mikhail's mind, but they were not difficult to shut out.

This man did not understand Mikhail. Did not understand how he thought, or what motivated him. He fought to survive the Sith. He suvived so he could find Alexis and beg her forgiveness for all that his father had done and for not seeking her out after all these yars. With her, he could find sanctum from the bitter loneliness that ate at him. That was why Mikhail sought power. Not the power of kings and emperors that flashed through his mind. Not the ambition to conquer worlds and lay the galaxy under his rule. No, Mikhail only sought personal power, personal prowess, in order to be free of these chains the Sith had put on him. Darren Shaw did not understand him. And that was why the attack failed.

As he shut out the telepathic barrage, Mikhail heard Darren call him a youngling, or something similar. Idiot. One of the foremost Apprentices in power, Mikhail stood below Knight in name only. A year of hellish training beneath Sith taskmasters had wrought him into a terribly formidable opponent, even before he began his Apprenticeship. Further experiences on Junction, Gand, and Dac had only tempered his abilities, along with additional training when not on a mission. Shorn knew the full extent of his power. It matched Darren's. Raw power in the Force was something one was born with. Anakin Solo, the One foretold, was once considered the most powerful Force User in the Galaxy, but records told of his defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan was not stronger in the Force, but he was better trained.

Raw power was not what would decide a fight. Combat training did. And Mikhail believed he had several years of battle experience on Darren. Training in the Galactic Republic Army honed the body to respond with deadly force. Even before he'd known the Force, Mikhail had been a dangerous man. He would not be deterred now by some half-bit Dark Jedi.

Precognition blared warning inside his head. The hair on the the back of his neck stood on end. Mikhail felt Darren's power directed toward the roof. Shorn spared a glance upward and his eyes widened in alarm as two pillars fell toward him. Wielding the Dark Side, Shorn's leap to escape carried him far further than any natural human could jump. Knees bent to absorb impact as he landed just a handsbreadth way from the pillars, which collided with the floor with a tremendous crash. A spray of marble pelted Mikhail. He winced as the debris left smalls cuts along his exposed hands and face. Blood trickled from a miniature laceration on his cheek. It dribbled down to his lips. His tongue licked away the blood and he smiled malevolently.

He felt a tug on the lightsaber in his left hand, he tightened his fingers. Cimmerian strength flooded Mikhail's hands and he gripped down hard on the hilt. If lightsabers could be ripped away so easily in a fight between Force Users, it would be done all the time. There were reasons it was not. Futility was one of them.

"I don't think so," Mikhail said, eyes wide with the excitement of the fight. "Stop playing games. Meet me blade to blade."

 

[Garza]

Daren was not just some two-bit Dark Jedi. He was trained in the Sith military for some time. With his past he knew that he was equal or possibly even more or less experienced than the Sith. Darren laughed out loud with his voice echoing in the cavern of a room. "Fight you blade to blade? I accept." With those words Darren let the crimson blade float out of his hand. to be hovering just in front of Darren. he smiled as he drew his Sith blade from the sheath. He held his own white lightsaber and Sith sword followed by his fathers floating blade. "if you would care to know...." Darren said as he walked forward. he knew that the apprentice had never seen something like this before. it took alot of training to do something as such. he was great full of the teaching that he had received from Daxton before he hated his guts.

Darren had accepted that he might not get his other lightsaber back at this precise moment. But he will get it in time. he used his fathers blade and swiped the blade across the chest. he would know that it would be blocked or battered aside. and he would let it be. with that he pointed his sword forward and launched a torrent of purple lightning from the tip of the Sith sword. What he may not know is that Since Darren created the blade with his own bare hands that only his lightning could pass through it if he allowed. if and when the apprentice used lighting or reflected his Darren force powers upon him, The blade would absorb it.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Mikhail raised an eyebrow in response to the Dark Jedi wielding three blades at once. Now it was just getting absurd. The amount of concentration expended on using two blades at once was immense, using two while having a third in a telekinetic grip was ridiculous.

"Darren's sooo cool, he has four sabers," Mikhail mimicked in a high-pitched fanboy voice. "Making up for something?" He smirked.

Telekinetic lightsaber combat was not unheard of. Mikhail had never fought an opponent who utilized the tactic. Probably because most people who did were already dead, he thought. Killed because of a simple reason. Concentration. To divide concentration in so many ways left one open to attack. And as a Makashi practitioner, Mikhail was always looking for that opening. Always.

The Dark Jedi's red lightsaber struck toward Mikhail in a horizontal stroke at Shorn's chest. It was an interesting maneuver, since it did not move for the midsection disembowlment typical in lightsaber combat, the target area known as Cho Sun. But, like trying to rip an opponent's lightsaber out of their hand with telekinesis, there were reasons it was not done. Firstly, because blocking a blow aimed at the high level chest was absurdly easy. It was predictable, a horizonal swing could be seen coming for miles. And it failed.

With minimal effort, Mikhail raised his off hand and deflected the blow with the white lightsaber. He was preparing for a counter attack with his own crimson blade, but the Dark Jedi suddenly pointed his Sith Saber at Mikhail. Mikhail's eyes widened in horror. A crackling stream of purple lighting jetted forth and struck Mikhail in the chest, it sent him backward and onto one knee, muscles convulsing violently as pain seared through his body. He let out a cry of agony. Suddenly, he was back in Hodlin, the training camp. Pain. Pain everywhere. The Sith teachers wouldn't stop. Wouldn't stop tormenting him. He couldn't breath. Lightning crackled along his body. So much agony. Must. Survive. Darkness flooded Mikhail, memories of hatred for the Sith teachers gave him newfound power, fueling his muscles with Dark Side energy. He raised his crimson saber inch by inch until it connected with the lightning in a spray of sparks.

Anger roared through Mikhail's eyes, a gale of ice wind. Cold and terrible to behold. He stood, smoke curling off him in ribbons from his ruined clothes. The stench of burning flesh was nauseating and he felt his stomach do a flip. Gritting his teeth, Mikhail held his crimson blade aloft as the stream of lightning still crackled into it.

"When I said...Blade...To Blade...this....Is not....What I meant," He gritted out through clenched teeth. Snarling, Shorn grabbed the man in the Force and began to squeeze, constricting the airways around the throat and cutting off the carotid arteries. The brain's blood vessels would dilate and in a matter of seconds Darren Shaw would be unconscious. A few more and he would be dead. He wanted to play games? Shorn would play games. His sabers stood in position, ready to parry any desperate attacks.

 

[Sirella Valkner]

@[member="Kiara Alanna Decoix"]

As Kiara moved across the room to stand with Reyven Samoth, Sirella sauntered after her.

“Didn't think you could just interfere like that, did you?” she said, looking the other woman up and down. “My old Apprentice may not be everyone's first choice for Empress, or Dark Lord or whatever, but she's the one in the throne.” Her fingers flicked, a gesture of summoning that had something to do with the Sith Magic she had woven into the small army of reanimated dead behind her. The smoke demon lurched forward alongside the corpses. They passed Sirella, fanning out, and converged on Kiara from all directions. The weight of the Sith Magic sat heavy on the witch's shoulders, consuming her Force reserves at a prodigious rate, but only for a moment. Sith spells were self-sustaining; the smoke demons and undead might well outlive her. Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut had been preserved over the centuries for a reason. By her teachers, at least. The spell was one of the most powerful and taxing she could perform.

But its results could last for a long, long time. The zombies swarmed Kiara, but the smoke demon hung back, waiting for its orders.

OOC: YAY! I didn't think I'd be able to use my undead army!

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Chaos was such a pretty sight. Moments ago, she wanted nothing more to be in the midst of it all, now however, she appreciated watching from the side-lines. Each battle had its own mark of power. It leaked from all of them, pulsating through the force and she bathed in all its glory, the darkness was great but here was still a small flicker of light in the room.

Spencer.

Licking her lips she sought the girl out with her eyes once more. Everyone had their pets, Spencer was Ashin's pet and as her pet, it was important that she survived. It wouldn't be long before someone would attempt to strike her down. Dancing between fights Anaya made her way to Spencer, stopping less than a foot before her and extending a hand. A gesture of peace, of protection.

Come. Watch with me. Learn.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer took a step back as the Twi’lek moved towards her. Fear shot through the girl’s body as she knew how lethal the red woman was. Suddenly, her hand was offered and Spencer looked at it for a moment. Of course she didn’t know what the Twi’lek would be up too, but if she was close to Ashin then Spencer shouldn’t be too scared. Her headache grew more intense as she stood there, there was nothing more she could do and if she was alone she’d probably end up dead.

Nodding, Spencer took the sign of peace and too the Twi’lek’s hand grasping it slightly tight, her fear was obvious. The Padawan had never been in this sort of situation, nor would she ever have wished it upon herself. Her eyes glanced towards Ashin as the woman was attacked, her hear skipped a beat as she wanted to rush in and help. Spencer had learned healing from her Master on Tython, but knowing her place and remembering the teachings she had learned, she couldn’t interfere.

Ashin…

 

[Tal Lom]

Tal had came in sometime as the fight started, the fight between his master Darth Voracitos and the new Empress, he stayed far to the back, doing nothing yet watching he had not interest in the petty fights, just the fight that involved his master. It was funny, that something about the man, inspired Tal, fat and greedy as he was, Voracitos was much more than that, and Tal could only hope to become as poweful and influential as him one day, though hopefully not as fat.
He began to take mental notes of all who were fighting, learning what their strengths were. He wanted to ensure that if he should have to fight any of them he could at least know what to expect. and It seemed that no one was free to fight him, which was just fine with him.

 

[Darth Voracitos]

The fat man laughed in delight, watching as his enemy drew a more unorthodox weapon upon him. The strain he caused in the Empress was an absolute indulgence, a treat atop his six course meal. He felt as bit by bit a small part of Ashin instead became part of him, stealing her essence in her struggle to resist. She was a powerful force user indeed, and no doubt knew many things that Voracitos would love to pry from her, which made the exhilaration all the more satisfying. She swung the pillar towards him diagonally, taking her metaphor within her head (of which he did not hear) quite literally.

But his knees would not buckle or give way so easily to such a blunt attack. To be honest, he expected more of a refute, and this was a bit disappointing. Though it served her purpose nonetheless, in disrupting his thievery of her life force. The minor distraction would be split and disintegrated, in a powerful kinetic attack against the pillar, augmented in such a way to resemble Darth Apparatus. The pillar destroyed, it left a small imprint upon the Darth's mind, as a certain symbolism he did not enjoy ignited a certain type of fury. A Pillar destroyed. Was he not, the Pillar of Knowledge? Had she, by proxy symbolically foretold his down fall, to be caused, by himself? He gritted his teeth, as an unfamiliar rage seeped into his psyche.

"How dare you say such things?" His contorted face spat forcibly through clenching teeth. She had not the power of such prophecy! He would not allow her to, and thus he brought his lightsaber to hand, and charged augmented by Rage, and Speed that both appeared and were unnatural to the fat man's physic. Normally he wasn't a lightsaber person, but right now there was an increasing rage within him, and more times than not the best way to express rage was through a lightsaber. Green tentacles of electricity licked their way around his deadly weapon, whipping about and prepared to sear flesh and bone, his envy embodied into his weapon, charged with his jealousy, and greed. She would know his hunger, his Gluttony.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya drew Spencer close and turned to watch the battle beneath them. A small smile appeared on her lips as she felt the fear rolling off her. Very un-jedi like, her attachment to Ashin was a weakness and the fear for the Dark Lord's life was somewhat unsettling. "Relax Spencer, no one is going to hurt you."

She reached to Spencer's mind, gently scanning its surface. There is much fear in you, Jedi. Have faith in your master, do not fear for her life. She will prevail. If she doesn't, I will make sure you get out of here alive.

 

[Carbon]

Entering the Palace [Citadel for those who are nitpicky]
@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

Emberli had his lips set into an unseen, if determined, line as he walked forward, Mandalorian Assault Rifle in hands. The ancient weapon was known for being overpowered by rifle standards, and suffered from a smaller power pack because of it. It was a worthy trade off for him.

The drop pods, disgorging armed and armored crew members from their confines, set up a defensive cordon as the gunships swooped in low to let out their cargo of Supercommandos. Those same Supercommandos began to storm the castle, as it were, under fire from the insides.

Sure Mandalorians fell, but one didn't say no to just under 8,000 soldiers who cordoned off the perimeter of the Citadel and then collapsed inward.

Resistance was expected, met, and overwhelmed. Sith forces would no doubt be mobilizing from bases nearby to attack the Mandalorians; but they'd hold.

There was no other choice.

Walking into the palace, Sith and Mandalorian's fighting around him, Emberli lets a bit of a grin grace his lips as he approaches the throne room.

Momentarily he's perplexed, looking at the assembled people who fought each other for... some ungodly reason. He'd expected to find Ashin fighting, yes, but the rest of them? Ridiculous. Sith would never make sense to him.

"...well, seems I'm a little late to the party.", he comments blandly.

It was no grand entrance, but he had to arrive at some point.

 

[Kiara Alanna Decoix]

As Kiara awaited the either man to move, she felt the force shift as she turned her head to notice the lady plant sith working her way over to Kiara. Kiara smiled slightly before igniting her second lightsaber each out pointed at a different person. Her original saber being still pointed at Asemeir but as Kiara felt the familiar embrace of Sith Magic being used she smiled even harder. It seemed like everyone these days likened themselves to be a sorcerer but like Bane said so many years ago only a few had true talent for it. As the rose and clawed there way of the ground, a black and aura began to glow around Kiara. She wrapped herself within her force shield but she didn't intend to allow them to land an attack on me.

She crouched low in her Ataru stance before sending the blade that was once pointed at Asemir to spin around the group of undead. She was controlling it with the force to allow it to keep spinning around them in a circle but growing smaller each rotation. However, this was only the preparation as she began to sing under her breath boosting her concentration she leaped across the room in the middle of the room. Suddenly, as her hand slammed into the ground dozens of dark sided tendrils began to burst free from the ground enjoying eating the undead.

Kiara allowed the spell to run entirely free as it would be taxing to control it and besides her tendrils were feeding her and she'd allow it to feed her till she was full and then some. Using her 'army' as a new source of energy, she sliced her way toward Sirella once a path clear the force augmented her strength and speed with caused her to seeming fly at Sirella.

The light saber in her left hand would spin down diagonally in a slash meaning to slash from neck to torso diagonally, and her last saber would be arcing around the group one last time to stop horizontally behind Sirella so if she back up or even leaned back to avoid her blade she'd impale herself with the other.

"I hope you didn't think I was a novice did you?" She said smiling so warmily that greatly contrasted the darkness within her.

@Sirella

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Ashin looked past the lumbering, oncoming Sith Master as Emberli Garrett and a goodly number of Mandalorian Supercommandos entered the chamber. Her lip twisted in a sneer as she gestured, and her fallen lightsabre snapped back into her hand. The sky-blue blade ignited, and she met his lightning-enhanced strike with a simple, powerful block which locked their blades. She set her feet, strengthening her connection to the stone, strengthening her immobility. Although she had noticed his nascent control of the energies that made up Force Drain, only now did she realize that he had been actively draining portions of her power. The oversight infuriated her.

She stood her ground against him, his lightning flickering past their locked blades to scorch her skin. Her left hand detached from the electrum-plated lightsabre, drew back as if preparing for a telekinetic blast, then hooked into claws. A ribbon of yellow light passed around and through their lightsabres to latch onto his chest. This was full Force Drain, intending to leach away his very life.

"How do I dare?" She spoke through clenched teeth. "I dare because I am the best."

 

[Sirella Valkner]

Sirella laughed at the foolish woman. It didn’t matter that she killed a few mindless corpses, their bodies were already shambling back up to intercept her. Torso’s missing their legs pulled themselves across the ground while hands used the fingers to crawl inch by inch. One poor corpse rotten past any semblance of being, walked a mere skeletal husk toward the woman. Sirella’s smile never faded as she approached her with her lightsaber. “Fool,” she said activating the seeds around her. The planets began to grow, alarmingly fast. They entwined, wrapped, and finally grew in front of Sirella making a wall. Small pods grew and burst releasing toxic necrotizing fasciitis spores into the air powered by alchemy.

At her side the Smoke demon stood, waiting for its chance to devour. The vines attacked Kiara, attempting to bind and slow her as undead minions ran and shambled over to her to continue their attack. "Easy now," Sirella said to the Dark Side manifestation next to her. The Ethereal monster seemed to quiver with excitement. Sirella mumbled words of power to herself concentrating her magics for when the woman burst through, or navigated around, her wall of vegetation.

 

[Asemir]

The plant Sith known as Sirella moved to engage Kiara before she could interrupt the duel between Reyven and Asemir, which was just as well to the Forgotten. If the fight ended sooner with Sirella's help, he wasn't going to argue. Sending a brief thanks to the plant-Sith via the Force, Asemir waited for Reyven to act.

@[member="Reyven Samoth"]

 

[Darth Voracitos]

His lightsaber clashed with hers and the lightning that had slithered its way around his blade met with hers in an intense saber lock. He put all his strength and weight behind his push to disengage the lock but still she did not move. To be honest, somewhere buried beneath the rage of this strange power granted to him from afar, he admired her ability to resist this much from him. He began to remove his fatigue in order to press harder against her, and his increased strain to push sent his lightning haywire, even connecting with his own skin; though it would all stop suddenly.

He felt her rear back slightly, and in a moment he could taste victory. He pressed in harder to take a taste but he got more than what he bargained for. A look of utter surprise filled the fat Sith, and the cackling lightning essentially vanished, along with his strength, and he felt the fatigue he had removed just moments before return and disintegrate his physical strength. He absently saw the beam of yellow meet with his chest, and instantly recognized the hunger it left, as the hunger he kept within him. He fell to a knee, his weapon barely saber locked at this point, feeling as he started to catch up to his age, which had only been sustained through his near continuous use of Force Drain upon his subjects to sustain himself to youth. He felt as his own weight began to collapse on him.

The fear of losing power though, was great enough it reinstalled the furry of Apparatus, the constant flame of hatred and resentment, and then the fat man’s face, gradually losing its radiance from before gain a look of determined rage. He did not see the Mandalorians nor did he care, his vision was ultimately upon his opponent. Despite his destructive weight, and diminishing force power, he heaved his massive frame back from its kneeling position. He would kneel to no one, that didn't serve him first.

"I dare because I am the best."

"Then you had better find your own tricks!" He snarled as he unleashed from himself a massive wave of the force. Ash went up everywhere as he forced everything away from him. His tattoos glowed brighter with his continued usage of his temporary gift. Rage infected his eyes as only his enemy was focused within his vision, everything else blocked by a red glare. Through the force, a swarm of darkness swirled around him quickly as his health was gradually replenished. He gave out a hacking cough, with beads of sweat upon his brow, as the years of ailments that should have killed him began to return to haunt him when his strength was being stolen. Though he didn't know it, it wouldn't be long before he would crash.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The impact threw her back like a rag doll, with bruising force, but she knew what was behind her. She spun in midair, controlling the tumble by willing her feet into the direction of her throne and her flight. Her feet struck the base of the throne, and for an impossible instant she was standing sideways, parallel to the floor. That split-second instant ended as her knees bent forcibly, absorbing the power of the impact. Something twinged in her left knee, a pulled muscle perhaps. A bad sign -- but then again, at these levels, anything that connected was bound to do damage.

She straightened her legs convulsively, all in the instant of impact, and flipped up into the air, back toward Voracitos. She accelerated in midair as she arced down, and struck the stone floor with fist and bended knee. Her body slammed into and through the polished stone surface, creating a hemispherical shockwave of her own. A knee-high ring of rippling, broken stone emanated out from her, intending to throw Voracitos off his feet or knock him down.

She rose and lunged through the broken stone, lightsabre feinting low for his knees, then high for his neck. It was a classic ploy; move alongside him, try to outflank him, and attempt to fake him out while passing.

 

[Garza]

Darren was about to respond to the man when he was feeling the fingers of the force wrap around his neck and squeeze. he would have to stop attacking with the force lighting to counter the choking. he flashed back to when he first felt his father choking him as a child. The moment he learned that he had the force. He felt the same feeling of the crushing of his wind pipe, and he was not going to allow that again. Darren swung his white lightsaber at Shorn and with the red lightsaber he stabbed at his stomach. With Darren still using the lightning he felt himself weakening every second that he held it. Maylee. thats all he thought about. His mothers name. He would get her back. Even if it was at the expense of this Sith apprentice.

 

[Reyven Samoth]

His head turned to the far wall behind the throne as he was taunted by the apparent lightning rod. "No, I don't think I'll move until the real fight is to begin. Still you have your orders, dog, come make me heel. The master mustn't be disobeyed." He gripped at the knocked-aside stone and sent it flying towards the far wall with enough force to knock the wall open to the outside, exposing everyone inside to the elements and the view of the battle taking place outside. That combined with the words of the Mandalore's entrance made him chuckle.

"So the would-be Empress has allied herself with the enemy. The question is, are the Mandalorians only here until Ashin tells them to leave and as a result we should make her Empress because of how impressive that feat was, or did she bring about this destruction in order to have someone here to kill off those who weren't loyal enough? And what makes the Mandalore so loyal? Or is he loyal at all and just planning on taking advantage of the greed of the 'Empress' to make a strike at our heart?" He chuckled as he looked at the discarded gun for a moment, lifting it up, pointing it at the one who had so carelessly discarded it, and caused it to erupt with a spark of electricity, sending lightning, shrapnel, and whatever bullets and grenades were remaining in it in the direction of his armored opponent.

He was definitely glad to have an ally in this situation, though. Left him with extra strategies that wouldn't be normally available. It reminded him of a similar attempt he'd made so long ago. He laced out tendrils of the Force, letting himself sense everything going on within the area. He could feel every death in the region below, drawing the energies into himself. He reached out above and below the Citadel, half-meditative in state as he readied himself for what needed to be done.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Mikhail was forced to release the choke hold he had over Darren, who attacked with both lightsabers, while still keeping up a steady stream of lightning. To expend such an amount of concentration and energy would surely be draining. No mere Knight could keep up such an expenditure without a cost. Such were the rules of nature. For every strength there was a weakness. Shaw's was speed.

With blurring movements, Shorn moved to parry the incoming attacks with his 'borrowed' white lightsaber. The thrust was a mistake. If the Dark Jedi had attacked Shorn with both lightsabers in horizontal strikes from different directions, Mikhail would have had to stop blocking the lightning in order to parry with his crimson saber. Shaw did not, however, and it was an opening. Mikhail's Makashi exploited openings. Relentlessly. Ruthlessly. Immediately. Mikhail countered the thrust first, moving his blade in a circular motion that caught the thrust, then pushed it into Shaw's own incoming slash. They collided with an electric crackle.

Taking advantage of having tied up all three weapons while freeing up one of his own, Mikhail moved in to end the fight. He lashed out with an immediate riposte, stepping into Darren's guard as his white saber speared toward Darren's side. He followed up by pushing his crimson saber, busy blocking lightning, closer to Darren. By stepping into the man's guard, Mikhail made it a thing of simplicity to redirect the lightning into Darren's face. Which he promptly did.

Most people thought that fights could last hours. They watched too many holovids. Most fights ended in a few minutes. If not seconds.