No Second Guessing

[Lord Ghoul]

@[member="Zaiden James-Greyson"]

Two things prevented Mikhail from being killed outright. The first was that the dagger was not embedded near his heart, but in his shoulder. OOC:

Spoiler

The dagger, deflected from its target of Shorn's chest, plunged deep into the Sith Lord's shoulder, sliding easily in.

Thus rendering the inevitability of heart or lung failure null and void. Second, Mikhail was still using tutaminis. No matter how much energy Zaiden poured in, he would not be able to actually override the tutaminis unless he tried a different method of attack or broke Mikhail's concentrate, which the hand around his throat had a good chance of doing.

Of course, none of this took into account that Mikhail was also shooting lightning...right out of his fingertips....at point blank range... into Zaiden's face.

The fact of the matter was that both were using tutaminis and both were shooting lightning. In the end it came down to the simple facts. Zaiden was a Knight who specialized in Force Cloak and shadows. Mikhail was a Sith Lord, a Master, who had three primary abilities, two of which were Force Lightning and Tutaminis. All the facts were against Zaiden and it was only a matter of time before he fell. He could either die, or surrender himself to Shorn's mercy.

The flood of lightning coursed through the blade embedded in Mikhail's shoulder. The stench of burning flesh filled the air and Shorn felt his muscles shudder. Zaiden was cooking him. He could feel the blood boiling and searing inside him. But Mikhail was pouring lightning right into Zaiden's face. If one of them was going to go first, it wouldn't be Mikhail. The Sith Lord continued to channel the searing lightning through his body, absorbing the energy and converting it back into lightning which zapped right into Zaiden's face. Mikhail hung on grimly.

 

[Matreya]

Giving the absolute last of his strength, Zaiden hurled one final massive bolt of energy into the dagger. With the amount of electricity coursing inside of his opponent, Zaiden hoped one final burst would be enough to knock the man unconscious, as Zaiden did himself. With so little energy, Zaiden was lucky he didn't die.

But, merely milliseconds into his rest he was brought awake again. The lightning was keeping him awake, hanging by the tips of his fingers from the edge of the abyss.

God's please... just black out already...Zaiden thought to himself, no longer even screaming as he silently prayed to those he hadn't believed in since long before the announcement of his name in the Val'hallan prophecy. He couldn't, even if he had the energy, his throat was scorched dry and blistering. He would need major healing to not require a breathing apparatus.

@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Lightning burned into his shoulder, searing flesh and sending up such an acrid stench that Mikhail felt ready to vomit. But he knew that out of the two of them, Zaiden would be receiving the worst of it. Mikhail would come out with a burnt up shoulder, Zaiden? Zaiden would have his face burned off. But Mikhail had had enough of this perpetual loop. The waiting game was over.

Shorn left his grip on the dagger embedded in Zaiden's armpit and reached up, screaming in pain, to pull the neuranium dagger from his own shoulder. Then his lightning intensified to such a degree that it should blast Zaiden away from him, creating space and severing the continuous loop of tutaminis and lightning conversion. @[member="Zaiden James-Greyson"]

 

[Matreya]

Zaiden was done. Being fried wasn't the best way to lose, but he lost. He knew this when he was flung to the side, through a wall, where he couldn't even make a sound. Simply he fell unconscious. Zaiden's face would be scarred, he would need an entire new arm, as well as multiple stitches everywhere. And that was just in the short term, the long term consequences were unseen as of yet.

But when Zaiden awoke, it wouldn't be regret he felt. No, that would be the glimmer of a returned psyche. He had wounded one of the greatest Telekinetic masters in history, hopefully bad enough to lose the arm in it's entirety as a remembrance. But even if the wound wasn't THAT bad, muscles would be broken and bruised, if he retained full control it was solely through divine influence...if Zaiden could talk again after what he was through though, it would be utterly unbelievable.

If Mikhail were to listen closely, he would hear a soft beeping, indicating a tracking beacon. He had previously admitted to the probability he would lose.

(Up to you if you decide to take it a step further. As said, death is a nono. But if you feel Zaiden hasn't taken enough *shrug*)
@[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Shorn figured that after getting a full blast of lightning to the face, Zaiden was either dead or dying. Sneering at where the body lay, he turned and began to limp away. He needed medical attention of his own. Even gods could bleed.