The Shadow Rises

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Darth Animus"] |

Once again Darth Animus transitioned into the unexpected, but right course of action. Realising that she had quickly figured out his double-bladed Lightsabers, he had transitioned back into holding both weapons in either hand and had resumed his assault with renewed focus. As he charged forward, gathering his powers in the dark side to increase the strength of his each blow, aiming to do the opposite of his opponent and end the duel quickly rather than through enduring an elongated duel, Darth Ayra regarded him as a trapped animal lashing out at it's predator with a focus and drive to survive. It was kill or be killed. Win or lose. Nothing inbetween, and once again, Darth Ayra nodded in her approval. There were no draws, no stalemates.

You either won, or you lost; and if you lost, you survived to learn how you lost and made sure it does not happen again.

Forced to concentrate her powers away from increasing her speed and reflexes back into the invisible layer of Force Shield that she had earlier wrapped herself in, Darth Ayra continued her evasion as Darth Animus fell back into the same patterns and transitions that he had been using beforehand. It was clear to the smaller woman that her opponent had a cunning and intelligent mind. He had realised that she had been figuring him out, using the duel to tire him out over a long period of time, and making him expend more energy than she did in order to bring on fatigue.

When she had countered Darth Animus's single blade combat style, he had transitioned into a Jar'kai variant of wielding two Lightsabers instead, and it had almost worked. When she had used the dark side to continue her evasion, he had expelled mass amounts of energy to unveil her, and when Darth Ayra had reappeared, realising again that his cunning opponent was beginning to figure him out once more, transitioned in a double-bladed Lightsaber in a masterful way. This should have given him an advantage, but how was Darth Animus to know that his opponent, who still wielded a single Lightsaber blade, had been trained to use the same type of weapon and as such compensated for his new variations quicker than before?

As she continued to evade, weaving out of a blow that surely would have cleaved her into two, Darth Ayra came to realise Darth Animus's mistake. If he had continued using two Lightsabers, instead of transitioning into a double-bladed Lightsaber, then she would have lost. There was no way that her ultimate defense would be able to cope with the intricacies that came with a style that she had never encountered before, and she would have been forced to yield. But now, as Darth Animus fell back into a style that had been working for him beforehand, the difference now that fatigue and desperation had settled in place of the calmed rage that he had exhibited before.

He was still ruthless, ferocious in his strikes, but Darth Animus was a fraction of a second slower than before, and with each swing, Darth Ayra was gaining more and more time with her evasions, so much so that she didn't even try to parry blows, or deflect them from her, for she was merely content to add feints that made her think that she was going for a counter-attack, only to pull out at the last second and move back into her evasion techniques.

Drawing on her rage to replenish her tired muscles, Darth Ayra continued to bide her time, waiting for her opponent to finally tire out so that she could administer the disarming blow that would make him yield, unaware that behind each swing that Darth Animus was sending her way remained a final strike that he was preparing to use.

 

[grammaticus]

Animus was beginning to sense the duel drawing to a close, and not in a way he found favorable. No opponent he had faced in the past had ever held out this long against his concentrated assaults, survived long enough to make him lose his unrelenting momentum. This Darth Arya was truly an enemy to be regarded with caution, but not with fear. Fear came from not understanding that which you faced, and Animus finally began to understand this woman before him. A test, not just of the Order of Shadows, but of himself. A test to see what he was capable of. She saw this as nothing but a fact finding mission, and Animus as just another subject.

Pure rage screamed through his body. He was no ones experiment. He was not some object to be looked at with mild curiosity. He was a Sith Lord, and he would let her know.

Roaring in pure rage, Animus hurled himself forward, the Dark Side energy he had been storing within himself suddenly unleashed in a pure wave of power that coursed through his body. His muscles screamed in agony as they were pushed to their limit, his attacks became faster, and his mind became clearer. He continued to roar in hatred and rage as he drove himself forward, battering through whatever got in his way, and throwing a new tactic into his assault. Using the Dark Side of the force, he began to create current of wind around his body. After a strike with his saber, he would let go of the hilt, letting it be caught up in the growing maelstrom, only to use his free hand to strike out at Darth Arya. He would catch the blade a moment later, the assault continuing without rest.

He already felt the energy beginning to drain from him, but he ignored it, pushing himself forward. It was now or never, and he had to end this.

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Darth Animus"] |

A raw potent unleashment of the dark side, which announced Darth Animus to all his enemies, shook the Order of Shadows to it's foundations. Taken by surprise at the sudden wave of Force energy that hit her, Darth Ayra was lifted off her feet into the wall behind, and this time it was she who hit it hard.

CRACK!

Red lines blurred Darth Ayra's vision, followed by the familiar wet sensation of blood trailing down the back of her head, along her neck and down her back in thick, red drops. She could taste it in her mouth too, probably from an involuntarily desire to bite down and grit her teeth as she was suddenly hit, without thought for her unfortunate tongue and bits of cheek that were in the way of them. Tears welled in her eyes from the pain, but she did not whimper, instead unleashing her own cry of agony that shook her body as much as being hit by a Force Wave and the wall that had followed. If not for the Force Shield she had made earlier, Darth Ayra knew that she would have been knocked out cold before she had even hit the wall, let alone the sudden impact as her skull cracked against it's base.

Having torn through her defenses, Darth Animus was down upon his fallen opponent in quick succession. Literal wind swept off his body as he ran towards her, causing her long hair to rise in the currents as he charged right at her. Head bowed, Darth Ayra smiled as a thin trail of blood escaped the corners of her mouth down to her chin and cheeks. She was enjoying this.

BANG!

Giving into the power of the dark side as Darth Animus had done, desperate to win and not lose herself, Darth Ayra unleashed all the energy that she had been holding in for much of the duel. Dropping her Lightsaber, the weapon useless to her against such a foe, the Sith lifted her gaze up to Darth Animus with unrelenting, pure hatred as Force Lightning flowed through her body, lighting up her synapses, so powerful that through her layers of skin and muscle the raw potent power of the dark side lit up her antimony, showcasing the lines of veins, sinew and bone that encompassed her physical vessel.

Screaming in a mixture of agony and hate, the pent up fury of the Sith Lord flowed through her, setting her surroundings on fire as Sith lightning traveled upwards to meet Darth Animus' charge with all the seething fury of a true follower of the dark side. Such was the power of her attack that the Lightsaber which she had dropped was caught in it's maelstrom and was torn asunder, the last evidence of the Jedi Knight that had been Ella Nova destroyed by the power of Darth Ayra.

 

[grammaticus]

He came to a halt, his attack dying down as quickly as it had begun as Darth Arya responded to his assault. It did not help, as Sith lightning, arcing beneath the woman's very skin shot out at him from dozens of different directions. He slashed his sabers in a flurry of attacks around him, blocking a few bolts of lightning, though a large strike blasted through his hastily thrown up defense, scoring a hit on his chest. Animus was sent flying through the air, lightning continuing to pour into his body as he shot through a pillar, shattering it and throwing up a cloud of debris around him as he hit the ground.

He lay prone for a few moments, sparks of lightning still shooting across his armor as he slowly began to push himself back to his feet. His left arm hung loosely at his side, broken on impact from the assault, the saber in his hand crushed under a fallen stone. His helmet was cracked, revealing his right eye to Darth Arya, blood vessels popped giving it a crimson appearance as he began to stumble forward. He ignited the blade in his right hand again, grimacing against the pain screaming across his body as he moved closer to his foe.

He would never surrender to this Sith before him, even if it meant his death. Spitting blood out of his mouth and through a crack in his helmet, Animus raised his remaining saber and began to launch sloppy attacks against Darth Arya, his body barely able to remain standing, yet his mind pushing it beyond its limits. You either won, or you died , and Darth Animus had no intention of dying this day.

Ignoring the pain that tried to dominate his body, Animus drove himself onward.

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Darth Animus"] |

As Sith lightning coursed through her body, out through her outstretched arms and out into the Order of Shadows, Darth Ayra felt the power of the dark side threatening to literally burst out of her in an orchestra of fury, hate and death. As the lightning threatened to literally deform her and expose the Sith Lord that rested beneath the facade of Ella Nova did Darth Ayra finally relent. As a follower of the dark side, she had skirted between the realms of sanity and insanity many times. She thought herself going insane on Sojourn as the equally relentless parasites that guarded Freedon Nadd's tomb continued to eat at her skin; when Pandeima had transplanted all her skin from her body, so as to remove the Blood Mark that had been placed on her by an enemy; and when Taeli Raaf had almost killed her as the Galactic Alliance had taken Coruscant back away from the One Sith.

This was another such moment. She desperately wanted to end the life of Darth Animus now, to destroy him and end his Order of Shadows before it had even begun. Yet, despite her instincts, a smarter and more honed mind prevailed. Before she completely used up all her pent up energies, which she had been saving throughout their Lightsaber duel, Darth Ayra dissipated the lightning, and with it the ethereal blue currents that had lit up her entire body died down with it, as if a beast that had risen it's snout at the prospect of a feast had now been put away as it's master starved it from the satisfaction of a kill.

"I yield," Darth Ayra shouted as a fist curled itself into a ball to push herself back up onto her feet. Every cell in her body felt like it was on fire. Her bones felt like that at any moment they would be too brittle to support her weight and break piece by tiny piece. Blood gushed out of the open wound at the back of her head, where she had hit the wall. Everything felt dizzy, and her synpases were blurred by streaks of red light that filtered in and out through the darkness of the room, where pieces of wall and floor had caught on fire as she had unleashed lightning across the room.

As she staggered onto her feet, Darth Ayra lifted her hand to the back of her head, and felt the blood that had matted itself into her hair and clothes. She lifted her hand to her face to see dark red clinging onto her fingers. It was a deep wound that would need to be treated quickly. For now, she struggled to keep herself up right, keeping her gaze upon Darth Animus as he staggered one handed towards her.

 

[grammaticus]

Animus came to a halt the moment Darth Arya yielded the duel, the blade in his hand deactivating as he pushed himself backwards. The duel was over, though he could hardly call it a victory. Looking down at his broken left arm, he gave a grunt of pain as he gripped his arm, setting the bone from where it had lain at an odd angle within. Stars danced across the edge of his vision from the pain, but he would be able to use the arm against if he needed to. Clipping the lightsaber to his hip, he approached Darth Arya slowly, his eyes watching her warily.

"Have you learned what you wanted to, from this little...engagement?" He spoke the words with venom as he looked down at the woman, resisting the urge to close his hands around her throat and feel the life drain from her body. However, the Order of Shadows still needed her alive for the moment, as she could provide them with resources they desperately needed. Turning away, Animus walked across the battle ground to where the book he had been given earlier had been tossed aside, reaching down to pick it up. Most of the cover was burnt from a stray bolt of Sith lightning at some point during the battle. Running his hand across its surface, Animus turned back to Darth Arya, a look of questioning in his gaze.

"What did you expect to gain from this event?" He spoke even as the chamber around the two Sith burned and crumbled from their duel, chunks of the ceiling collapsing down, and fire spreading across the floor where it touched anything except stone. It would take time to repair the damage that was done, and yet, Darth Animus couldn't bring himself to be furious at the Sith. He was curious now what she would do.

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Darth Animus"] |

[flash]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27dfqU_NyeE[/flash]​

​

Steadying herself, with help from the Force, Darth Ayra ripped her sleeve off her right arm and used it to create a makeshift knot around her head, applying considerable pressure to help stop the bleeding. When she tightened the knot she felt very urge to yell out in pain, but refrained from doing so, less it come across as weakness and her opponent see it as an opportunity to kill her instead. She was sure that if she had maintained her assault, Darth Animus would be dead now. She had weakened him, and driven him into a fatigued state where he had been forced to unleash all his power upon her. Despite that, he had been overwhelmed, driven to a point where the only thing keeping him moving was sheer will, and that wouldn't have been enough for him to survive.

There she stood bloodied, and every part of her being ached from considerable pain. Darth Ayra expected nothing else from fighting another who dared claim the title of Darth. Yet, she still felt that despite her injuries she had not only bettered Darth Animus but had spared his life so that she could later use him to become the Dark Lord of the Sith, the rightful holder to the legacy of the dark side. She took a moment to concentrate, so as to allow the dark side to clear her vision, to driven away the red lines and dizziness that scarred her vision so that she could look upon Darth Animus clearly. When she felt the concussion and it's affects beginning to subside, Darth Ayra begun to speak.

"The Sith that we will conspire together against, and the Empire they have created, was built not upon the ideals of the dark side but through a bastardization of what it means to follow the path of the dark side. What you and I plot to takeover is not an Empire built upon these beliefs, but is a mimicry of the Republic. It takes over and conquers worlds, it governs, holds law and order, and the Sith act much like the Jedi do. They enforce the idealism that forged the Sith Empire into what it is today."

"Their methods differ, but do not be mistaken. The Sith Order of today is a bastardization of the Jedi Order. They are like despot warlords, or generals on a campaign for domination that will undoubtedly fail because they do not follow the ways of the dark side. All their titles, their ranks, and their lofty positions in the Empire were ALLOCATED to them, not earned. Only the strong are meant to have power, but you will not find one Sith among them who had to kill another for their place, or had to defeat a rival to take power, or faced a test where their credentials were truly tested. The man that claims to be the Dark Lord of the Sith, their beloved Emperor, did not even have to kill for it. He was merely allocated it by name and reputation alone."

"But you and I have faced each other in combat. We have bled together. The dark side flows through us both, feeding our emotions, allowing us to feel this moment and it is through feeling that we better understand the Force. I landed on this world weaker than what I became after our fight. Either of us could have killed the other, I sensed it, you sensed it, and we both pulled out as we stood together on the precipice of that death because we came to an understanding that we could not have reached if not for this necessary near death experience."

Swallowing hard, Darth Ayra lifted the cowl of her tattered and singed robe over her bloodied head, concealing her face from view. "How many Sith do you reckon met together in secret, like we have, and entered agreements with each other that created the Sith Empire? You gave me a place in this Order of Shadows as a Lord but I did not accept it. I took my place in this organisation. I earned it. Through strength, I gain power."

 

[grammaticus]

"And through power, I gain Victory." Animus nodded his head as he walked across the length of the room, coming to a small table, one of the few objects in the room to miraculously survive their duel. He placed to book down on the table with reverence as he thought, his mind racing over the words he was hearing spoken to him, even as the blood still roared in his ears from their duel. She spoke of many things he had thought of before himself. The realization that the Sith Empire was not truly Sith was partly the reason he had gone on to form the Order of Shadows in the first place.

Turning back to Darth Arya, Darth Animus began to walk towards her, his cloak trailing behind him slightly, the end burning slightly still from the lightning attack he had survived. He came to stand before Darth Arya, looking down at her, and regarding her with guarded neutrality. She spoke many truths, but he knew that she would not reveal herself fully to him. For every word she spoke to him, there was another she carefully hid. Her agenda remained a guarded secret from him, and yet she clearly knew his. Such an imbalance of power was dangerous in this galaxy, especially among Sith such as themselves. He had no doubt if he showed even a moments hesitation or sign of weakness now or in the future, he would be long dead before he could rectify the situation.

He had fought this woman, and though she had come out slightly ahead in the end, there had been moments during the duel where he had nearly killed her himself. They had tested the other, bled the other, and learned some of the hidden truths kept close to the chest. From now on Darth Animus would watch her actions, prepare himself for the next time they crossed blades. He was sure it would happen, the only question is whether it would be in a 'sparring' match such as this, or in a true life or death struggle.

"The Order of Shadows welcomes you, Darth Arya." Turning, Darth Animus began to make his way out of the room. At the entrance to the chamber, he turned to look back at Darth Arya, rage burning wildly in his eyes as he stared her down. "Should you ever challenge me again, there will be no yielding."

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Darth Animus"] |

Darth Ayra followed her quarry as he retrieved the book she had given him. When he turned to walk away, his words still hanging in the air, she gave a silent nod. Turning her gaze to the room her eyes fell onto the remnants of her Lightsaber. It had belonged to her during her days as a Jedi Knight, and a reminder of what she had been. It had been destroyed in a fight between two Sith Lords, so it was an approiate end to her weapon, she felt. Knowing that she would have to construct another, Darth Ayra left the Order of Shadows and returned to the Initium to set a course for the home.