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Meta charged past Daella, landing on the platform that Darc had just launched from, the cliff was a bit off a drop however his Lightsaber would come in handy, although he stopped and turned to Daella. "Come on! We've got to help him!" Meta pressed the situation by pointing to the Sith gathering below. Meta returned to the cliff, awaiting Daella to arrive. He eagerly awaiting the oncoming battle, it wasn't going to be easy.
Saran shook her head as the medics came to check her out. "I'm fine. Check him" she said, motioning to @Tyr-Kyr Magnus. But as they moved past her, everything spun. The last thing she saw before passing out was the red sky.
Jedi Academy Ruins
Diana finally fell to the ground with a soft thud. She was tired, exhausted, and completely done with this fight. She could not go on. Mikhail left, likely fleeing the battlefield. She had taken quite a bit out of him and that somehow pleased the Daughter of Kiffu. She still had hope that he would turn back, she knew that he wouldn't die this day, but perhaps she had made an impact on him, perhaps for once she had done something more than just kill.
She landed on the ground with her upper body and head out of the puddle, rain continuously fell on her as the world began to fade in and out of her vision. Blood spilled from every open wound on her body, quickly pooling beneath her.
Her life began to quickly slip away, waves of pain rolling over her body. She let out a cough, blood spewing from her broken lungs and onto the ground. For a second Diana stared at the blood stain, realizing just how much she had been broken in this fight. The Jedi managed a slight shrug, and then collapsed completely onto the cold wet ground.
As her life slowly began to fade away Diana smiled. She hadn't killed anyone today.
The Force whispered to the Sith Lord even before his eyes tracked the movement on their own. It appeared the well-trained Jedi Master was giving up the high ground in a very dynamic, very aggressive, very risky aerial assault on Cameron's position. Again, the lack of reason behind dual-wielding a weapon almost perplexed the Sith Lord as he noted the rather...well...preoccupied positioning of the Princess' hands. That is, of course, unless she abruptly decided to limp wrist her grip on her weapons in mid-air in time to struggle against what was to come.
Stopping abruptly, the Sith Lord extended his free hand and manipulated the ebb and flow of the Force around Kiskla's body. Instantly, Cameron increased the intensity of the otherwise benign pressure of molecules surrounding her body to a bone-crushing level. Of course, the Sith Lord couldn't very well allow the Jedi to suffer having her body implode simply because she was eager. The very young Jedi could not go on to actually achieve greatness if she left the surface of Ossus permanently debilitated. Whether or not she realized it, she was part of a much, much larger plan. Ossus did not matter. The Republic did not matter. The Empire did not matter. Quite to the contrary of her independent, guarded thoughts, this very much was about the two of them.
Stepping to the side, Cameron left room for whatever path her searing-pain-induced body would take to the ground. "Tsk, tsk little girl."
Ella came to a stop in the tribal square. Hundreds of Ysannan were surrounding the three Jedi. Ella looked up to Aika and said, "I guess you're up, Aika." She gave the young Jedi Knight a reassuring smile before turning to look around the tribesmen. She felt nervous.
@[member="Vulpesen"]
With the Force whisper bouncing off, Karsh began to feel his first moment of discomfort. But this was only a minor set back. He would go until he was forced to leave. The planet's pressure had already start to set in. Karsh had an hour left before he would start to be rendered useless. "I admit, you are stronger than most of those I have killed," he sends, "but I am no fool, I am not weak." Karsh assumes the Soresu stance, ready to defend, deciding that this battle would be one best fought defensively. Vulpesen speeds toward him with the last statement taken as a message of "I will not surrender." Karsh, still fairly fresh blocks each attack easily from the Jedi. He takes his longer blade as an advantage and creates extra space between himself and the Jedi.
Karsh moved the entire time in almost utter silence. Not a decibel of sound emanating from him. Getting into a pattern Karsh does near the same movements over and over. This is his mistake. The first noise: a sharp intake of breath as Vulpesen's saber lands a mark, grazing the side of his right arm.
Vulpesen grinned as his blade landed a mark then continued on his assault, moving closer, as to negate the effects of the lengthy saber. As he did so, Vulpesen did his best to keep one blade against that of his opponent's at all times, attempting to keep the weapon in check. "You sith claim to know power, and yet you scurry away at the moment your chances drop south. You are no better than those I have fought in the past, indeed I will not let you compare with them in this duel!" Again, Vulpesen's words carried a harsh nature, attempting to erode away his will with a pressuring force persuade as Vulpesen closed the distance. It was a nasty tactic indeed, but he held no reservations of kindness when it came to purging the dark. He was after all, a shadow.
Again and again, the double blades struck out, aiming to slip past the defense of the lengthy weapon, something easier to do as he stood as close as he possibly could. Whats more, he had two blades, his opponent had one. Though Vulpesen's weapon was just as long, if not longer, at least both ends of the saber staff were useful for cutting apart a sith.
"And you claim to know peace! And serenity!" The telepathic messages have a thick coating of dark Force on them. "But you know NOTHING!" With that last word Karsh manages to catch a lose strand of fabric attached to @[member="Vulpesen"]. Jumping a far distance back, Karsh takes a breather, right before running as fast as the Force would let him, to scoop the fabric of the ground. Depositing it to his robes he quickly turns around to receive more attacks from the Jedi who seems to have fully exploited his limitation with close quarters combat. His time is running out, the planetary pressure is working on him hard.
Another opening.
A deep gash in Karsh's leg.
Unable to yell in agony, Karsh draws breath in quick gasps, barely audible, but there all the same.
Balaya moved with the destruction of the temple she and Alexandra had been divided and she couldn't find the others while she moved. The sight of the thronebreaker on the ground was more then enough for her and she went ofter him. The fighting from the jedi something she would have to remedy in time but there had been none who interested her. Maybe one of the group who had went ofter the emperor but he could more then handle such bugs. She wondered where the other sith lords where, Kara or Kryos and Circe had been absent while Krag had fought. Which just showed by sector one was superior to the others. Finding the man though she crouched low and held out a hand looking at him. "And what has happened to the thronebreaker? Come on now we'll get you some restorative juices and bandaids."
Eventually, Daella Apparine and the rest of the Jedi caught up with @[member="Kaine Zambrano"]. Once Daella could clearly see the Emperor, she stopped charging forth. She looked up to see @[member="Darc Xavior Talus"] fall from the sky.
When Darc landed, the shockwave produced a quick gust of wind and debris. Daella shielded her face with her forearms as the wind blew by. Her tattered brown tunic revealed the Jedi armor she had always been wearing for the operation - with just her left shoulder pad missing.
As the air settled, Daella relaxed her arms and glared at the Emperor with cold, steel blue eyes. Her face tensed as her eyebrows narrowed. As @[member="Meta "]yelled out to her, Daella did not respond to her brethren. After several seconds of staring, Daella pulled a chain and locket from a pouch on her utility belt with her left hand.
With her yellow-bladed lightsaber still in her right hand, Daella then began gradually pick up her pace as she raced toward the Emperor. She did not take a direct path to the Emperor, but instead seemed to take a gradual curve toward him. She kept her eyes on Kaine at all times and seemed to be waiting for the Emperor to commit to either Darc or herself.
After the knock back of exerted energy, Darc slid and performed a few graceful acrobatics with somersaults and back springs until he stood next to Daella; facing the Sith. Darc flourished his emerald blade and came to an aggressive Vaapad stance with the blade at eye level pointing forward. Darc's intention was to combine strength with Daella and dual assault the Emperor.
"Fine, enjoy your time with Mr. Big, Bad, and Ugly." She scoffed as she ran off toward the temple. "And I told you I can handle myself!" She shouted back at him from a distance. She had no doubt that he would walk away from his fight, but he could be more help elsewhere. She shook her head. "That's not my concern right now." Tallia thought. "I need to get to the Temple."
@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]
As she approached, rain began to fall from the darkening sky. Silence had fallen over the area. Only the trickle of water dripping off the trees could be heard. She took a deep breath. She had recovered much of the power that she had expended with her blast of force from earlier, and she began to pick up the pace.
As she stepped out into the clearing near the ruins of the temple, her heart stopped. Blood stained the grounds around the academy. Countless bodies littered the area. The puddles of rainfall mixed with it to make a dark red pond in front of the buildings. It was horrific. Tallia had never seen so much death in one place before, even on the numerous missions she had been on as a Knight. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
"Was this really worth it?" She asked herself aloud. Again the Sith had caused her to feel emotion. First it had been fear, then anger, and now hopelessness. She winced as she stepped over bodies to head to the academy's entrance. She entered the ruins, staring at great statues of Jedi from the past. "Would they approve of what we are doing?" Her head was filled with questions.
"Is anyone out there?" Tallia called. She had lost any composure that she had previously had.
Shorn snorted softly, though the sound was lost behind his helmet. Friends, was that what they were? The Sith were a strange kind, only united by a common enemy. Mikhail gasped as dark side energy flowed into him. He had not asked for it, nor had he wanted it. The purging of the lightside had scoured his soul. The reinvigoration of the Dark Side was like dumping acid onto his heart. Power. Strength. Vitality. Shorn remembered why he was so addicted to it now.
The Thronebreaker seemed to stand taller, exhaustion leaving him in the wake of the Dark Side's might. But in the back of his mind, he could still hear Diana's voice. "I know," it whispered. The inner demons were not yet done with him, it appeared. Whatever illusion of peace she had given him was gone now, ripped from him by this war.
He looked down at his fingers. Blue arcs of electricity laced around them. He pressed them into his wound and let loose a spark. Behind clenched teeth he groaned. The lightning seared his flesh closed, cauterizing the wound and stopping the bleeding. He could fight, for now.
Darc slammed into the ground nearby, unleashing a wave of energy that knocked Shorn off of his feet. He collapsed into the mud, rain falling heavily upon his armor. Then a hand appeared above him. Balaya Zambrano. He never remembered meeting the, uh, woman, but... Mikhail accepted the hand and rose back to his feet. Hastily, he rubbed away the grime on his visor and looked around, turning his back so that he, Balaya, and Kaine stood back to back, forming a triangle.
He saw Marek closing in, lightsaber lit, vengeance in his eyes. More Jedi were flooding in. He gripped his dagger tightly in his cybernetic hand, while lightning danced around the other.
"I am Sith," he said once more. It was a pronouncement of his own self-judgement. Part of him wanted this... to die fighting on some world no one would care about in thirty years; fighting for a cause he didn't believe in. He knew he deserved it more than most. Mostly, he just wanted this struggle eating him up inside to be over.
Pale blue eyes grew hard as ice. "Kaine, nostalgia much?"
Kaine managed to keep his footing as Darc created, using his left hand to shield his eyes as a wall of dust and dirt exploded over him. When it settled he smiled darkly as he realized the other Jedi had arrived, and created quite the impressive stand off. He also realized that Balaya had come to join her Master in fighting the Jedi, and let loose a small chuckle. "Just like Concord Dawn..." was all that he said to Mikhail as the one known as Daella rushed in at Kaine from an arced curve, while also aware that Darc was also beginning his assault. Igniting his crimson saber in his left hand he watched closely as the two approached from both sides of him, before suddenly his body began to shake and shimmer before Kaine suddenly split into four separate Kaines. Three of them were illusion copies, and one of them was the real Kaine, but each one was a very lifelike copy with only minimal differences from the real Kaine. Two of the copies lunged towards Darc, while the real Kaine and another copy lunged at Daella with hellish fury.
The copy of Kaine going at Daella swung his lightsaber around towards her form, while the real Kaine unleashed a burst of Sith lightning from his right hand towards the Jedi Knight. The other two copies would do the same thing against Darc, but neither of them would be able to do anything.
Iella moved as the others did. The shockwave pushed her off her feet momentarily but this gave her and the others a brief distraction to move into position. They should not move as one to the emperor, but position around him effectively surrounding him and breaking the line of his now defenses. She could see more Sith arrive and moved to take up the left position. Since Iella was wearing the taozin lecklace, the Sith would not be able to sense her presence. Hidden for the moment, she saw the Emporer, split in to more, she knew this not physically possible even for him, they had to be more Sith tricks. Always with tricks, why can they fight like nobles, cowards, she thought in disgust.
The Emporer unleash his lightning toward Daella, Iella summon the energy already prepared within her stomach, the tight knot of energy always ready for her now. She raised her hand and sent her shock wave toward the Emperor and the other Sith, the wave traveled rapidly toward them, picking up small debris and dust, this wave that can destroy the walls of a cave, the strength of it powerful the smaller trees nearby bent and snapped. When the Wall would hit them, they would be knocked flying.
Balaya looked at the sith as she stood tall next to him and turned to look. She didn't know all of her masters friends but she could admit to a few thing one was she hadn't been in a fight like this with her master before. The coups didn't count he hadn't been at one and she had tried to kill him at the other. Now though her hands slid in a cross under her armpits and produced two coiled whips as she let them free. The snap hisses as the crimson blades snaked and came about coiling before her while she stalked around seeing Meta and Daella. Her whips went back as she lashed them forward and sneered.
These Jedi, it appeared, were overcome with their own form of vengeance and bloodlust. Call it what they may, they were consumed with a zealotry that would justify any atrocity in the name of the greater good. Shorn saw that fire burning within them and gritted his teeth. The good were few and far between, and he might have just killed one of their best. His heart sank at the thought, but as he looked at the incoming attacks, he knew what he had to do. No one would ever call Mikhail Shorn selfless.
He reached out a hand and countered Iella's shockwave with one of his own. The two collided, but few could put themselves in the Thronebreaker's league when it came to telekinesis. Iella was not one of them.
His shockwave rolled over hers, dissipating it with the sheer amount of Force energy, and continued on, barreling toward her. With Kaine engaging both Daella and Darc simultaneously, any area-of-effect attack would prove detrimental to the Emperor. So he refrained, and focused on that telekinetic blast, guiding it toward Iella, before unleashing a follow up. A pouch at his belt burst open and fifty phrik ball bearings zipped through the air in a cloud, propelled with flesh-piercing speed right for Iella.
When @[member="Kaine Zambrano"] split into four clones, Daella’s eyes widened. The grip to her lightsaber tightened. She tensed up her body in anticipation of an attack. She still kept just her right hand on her lightsaber.
As one of the clones charged toward Daella, the Jedi Knight decided to deal with it as she normally did. It was a gamble - Daella likely knew it - and possibly just chose to defend against the most life threatening situation should it be real. She swung her lightsaber out toward the Kaine clone engaging in melee. Yet, her lightsaber phased through the illusion’s lightsaber.
“Gah,” uttered Daella with a shocked face - likely her realization of the consequences of her choice.
Just a second after her attempt to block the illusion’s attack, Kaine’s Sith lightning made contact with Daella’s body. Her muscles involuntarily contracted in pain as Daella clenched her teeth. Just a long groan followed with, “Nnnnnngh,” which was likely just a yell in pain blocked by a closed mouth.
The Force flowed through the Jedi’s body, though. She managed to forcefully bend her right arm to reposition her lightsaber between herself and Kaine. Following that, the Force allowed for Daella to channel the deadly lightsaber into her lightsaber and to the ground.
With her body no longer being lit up, it would be apparent that tendrils of smoke emanated from her body. Her metal armor charred cloth near it - yet it still maintained its shape. Luckily for her, she wore gloves while holding both a metal lightsaber hilt and locket. Yet it was certain with Daella labored breathing moments after the attack that the Sith lightning managed to cause great pain for the moment.
Yet as soon as Daella had a second to breath, she outstretched her left hand to wherever the Emperor would be after @[member="Iella E`ron"]'s attack. She released the locket . The metal necklace handed by her fingers. Its design was distinctive. One familiar with @[member="Karin Dorn"] would know that it could only be from the Sith Lady.
With a slow, dry voice, Daella claimed, “This is nothing compared to Karin Dorn.”
After she said that, Daella jerked her right shoulder up. Her arm swung up - and thus did her lightsaber. With a loud hiss, it clashed momentarily with the whips of @[member="Balaya Zambrano"]. The coils of the whip wrapped around the lightsaber for a second as Daella dragged the tip down - avoiding injury from the Sith's attack. Then, Daella retracted her lightsaber blade before Balaya could use the opportunity to leave her weaponless. Her eyes remained on the Emperor as she did so.
"AHHHHH" Saki ran itno the fight letting the shockwaves crash on her own fury as she came in like a wrecking ball to smash into the thronebreaker. A day of fighting and now as the thrill of battle came to her she slashed the yellow saber in a large underhand strike going towards his shoulder. Her boot came up behind it to follow up the attack and then the third as her other boot came up to strike into his groin. Her speed augmented by her touching of the darkside and the thrill of the fight. That inner darkness fueling the teachings of Darron wraith until she was in a loop of fighting.
An illusion was casted. One that Darc knew too well since he has used it before. The only weakness to such a spell was perception. Darc attuned himself to the Force to amplify his sight to follow the Emperor's Force signature. Given that it was indeed an illusion, the Emperor presence would be the only one shining in the fray of copies. He saw the two illusion attack him knowing that they were false and quickly tumbled towards the bright beacon that was the Emperor. He quickly flicked a hand to put a dark Force barrier between Daella and Kaine as Darc came in swinging his emerald blade wherever he could get the Emperor.
