[fieldbox=Ishua Ken, green, solid, 8, book antiqua]
Looking around, a strategy began to form in the Jedi's mind, looking to his commander.
"Thrice, I want two marksmen and two spotters in each of those four watchtowers! Set up a split defensive line inside the courtyard with heavy artillery on the ramparts in case they brought some heavy vehicles. I'll draw them into the gates, after which have the men fire at the Sith as needed."
Leaving his commander to figure out the specifics, the Jedi use the Force to gently open the gates, sensing his foes as he ran into the distance, meeting his opponents halfway and closing his eyes. Sith squad leaders and captains called orders to their troops, the loud hum and squeaking of heavy tanks accompanying the infantry forces as starfighters began to deploy above the skies. Eventually the Sith could see their foe, encircling him as their elite forces aimed for his vital signs and their tanks aiming directly at him. Their leaders began to speak up, calling for the Jedi Master to surrender.
Pulling his lightsaber and igniting the green blade, the Jedi lead the enemy to his troops, igniting the battle.
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The Grand Master of the Jedi stood away from the main fray as the Clone Troopers and Naboo Defense Force began to cut down the complement of Sith Soldiers that were invading Theed. His brown robes and cloak brushed against the ground as he stood on the viewing platform on top of the waterfall, his roughspun boots rapping against the metal floor. His rugged silver beard emerged from his hood as the Jedi Sentinel closed his eyes and felt the expanse of the Living Force around him, preparing for whatever should come to him next as the great storm began to take the city, altering the battlefield.
Soon, the elderly man refused to turn around as the Sith approached him from behind, his hands resting on his back as he sensed the might of the Dark Side.
"You've become tainted, poisoned. Your master's teachings will kill you if you do not repent."
The capital of Naboo, Theed, was in dismay as the Sith Soldiers continuously added pressure onto the Clone Troopers, and the Defense Force of Naboo. Zeran, a Sith nevertheless, made his way towards towards his target. Feeling the Force itself tearing the air around him, he could almost if not feel that the Jedi was not going to falter that easily.
Approaching the man, his target, who had his back turned against Zeran, a few moments of silence echoed throughout the chaotic air. Listening to the old man, the Sith's demeanor did not change. His red, yellow and black eyes squinted ever so slightly behind the mask that covered his face.
Darth Zeran had yet to take a hold of his lightsaber. "I've come to confess.. For the sin I'm about to commit."
"The fact that your master has sent you to kill me?"
"No. You're merely an obstacle in my path, Grandmaster Ko. Like the rest of your kind."
"The Living Force surrounds you, gives you strength. It is a pity."
"Yet, its knowledge, its power, is the one thing I've embraced. Can't you feel it?"
"Poor boy. You are a fraud, and likely a pawn. You embrace chaos but not harmony that the Living Force offers you… I spill your blood with regret."
The Grand Master then turned around, pulling his lightsaber from his belt and engaging it as the yellow beam began to emerge from the hilt, the old man spreading his feet and firmly grasping his blade in his hands as he took a defensive stance, his eyes slowly opening to face his foe.
Zeran's eyes were more or less focused at the opponent before him. Pulling his lightsaber from his belt as the man before him turned around. The Sith glanced at his yellow lightsaber. Before the eyes beneath the mask gazed into the old Jedi's.
A red beam emerged from his hilt, which was tilted to the right, pointing vertically towards the surface. The terrain, the storm was growing as the battle on Theed continued in the background. Spinning the lightsaber once in his hand, he took a few steps forward. "Let me enlighten you, Grandmaster Ko."
Zeran dashed swiftly towards the defensive Jedi before him, coming in with an horizontal attack from the right, hoping to push his opponent towards the left with quite the force.
Ko deflected the strike and stepped to the side, but not before the red blade sliced away a notable piece of the railing. The yellow saber soon was thrust at the Sith Master, the Grand Master sliding in with the rain as he hoped to use the extra momentum to end the fight quickly. His form was compact, keeping his vital areas decently defended as the elderly Jedi began to harness the Force to make a small shield around his body.
The Sith was able to see the thrust coming, and was able to take a step back before he swung his saber horizontally towards the lunge, towards the enemy saber. Both sabers clashed, creating sparks, but the yellow saber was re-directed towards the surface. Using that momentum alone, Darth Zeran moved as one with the Force to make a jump, or rather leap over the Grandmaster.
Flipping over, he glanced down at him, and used his vacant hand to use the Force in order to push Ko into losing his balance, by adding pressure, as if the gravity was becoming heavy around his opponent alone. However, his use of the Force was in vain, clearly feeling the good side of it was already shielding the Grandmaster.
Old man or not, the opponent was quick to react and adapt. Zeran had to commend him for that. Standing across from him, a sigh escaped from beneath his lips. Moving his lightsaber horizontally before his eyes, before his mask, he used his vacant hand to coat it with lightning from the Force. He too, was able to adapt.
He rushed in hoping to penetrate through Ko's Force field.
Blocking the strike, Force lightning went through his form and knocked him and set him off-balance as he staggered back, clearly weakened as he raised his lightsaber again, trying to keep his ground.
Zeran knew he had the advantage at that point. He started to circle around the Grandmaster. Gazing at his weary face, at the robes that represented the Jedi. Glancing at his yellow lightsaber once more. His elder was much more focused, but that alone was decreasing by the second. The jolt of Force Lightning must've shook him surprisingly. "Heh." A smirk came across Zeran's face from beneath his mask. It was only a matter of time. Only a matter of time before his soul would be washed away into the Force.
Zeran did not need to have a stance for him. He instead started to walk towards him, spinning his lightsaber more than once in his hand. When he was close enough he swiftly moved his vacant hand to create a Force Wave to push the Jedi back, and then threw his lightsaber like a boomerang. Nevertheless, it was still coated with Force Lightning.
The Force lightning ran through his body, numbing his whole being as his his lightsaber deactivated, rolling from his hand as he lay on the floor, his body shaking and quivering as the old Jedi looked his oppressor in the eye with a snarl.
"Finish it. I will become more powerful than you shall ever be."
Zeran's lightsaber returned to his hand in a swift motion, de-activating it in the process. Walking up close to the heavily injured Jedi, he looked at him like the scum he was. A condescending yet sharp expression was plastered on his face. Using Force Pull, the yellow lightsaber was in his hand.
The Sith looked at the weapon in his hand, before he moved his attention at the dying opponent by his feets. Putting his own lightsaber onto the belt around his waist, he spoke up. "That's something a Sith would say." Activating the yellow lightsaber immediately, he sliced old man Ko's throat. If anything, the Grandmaster would have to suffer a bit more as the blood in his body would decrease second by second.
De-activating the yellow lightsaber, he turned around, gazing at the heavy weather. His eyes fell on the Soldiers that were fighting one another.
The Mandalorian dreadnoughts began to take over the skies, repulsing back the Imperial Star Destroyers. Likewise, the Clone Troopers had yet to suffer any casualties, made all the more proper as Mandalorian warriors atop of Basilisk droids made various halo-drops into the crowded battlefield, beginning to eliminate various Sith Troopers and starfighters. The Sith began to call for a regrouping of their troops as they were pushed back into the citadel as Ishua, the newest of the Jedi Masters, felt a disturbance in the Force as Ko disappeared into thin air upon the killing blow, giving the order for Thrice to take over command of the ground battle as he deactivated his lightsaber, using the Force to increase his speed as he closed in on the Sith Master.
To the Sith Master, Ishua would feel… different compared to other Jedi, mainly due to the fact that he had been drawing more on the Cosmic Force than the Living Force in this conflict. His grey and black robes were drenched, looking at the empty robes and the deactivated lightsaber before snarling, the Force swirling around him.
"You did this, didn't you, Sith?"
Zeran was merely looking at the battlefield, clearly noticing how the Sith troopers were having a much harder time in penetrating through the defenses of Theed. It did not matter. What the Sith Master was sent to do, he did. The Grandmaster was dead, and it did not take long before another Jedi appeared.
This one, however, was different. How the Force was bathing around him like a tornado, but in this case, the Jedi was unharmed, or rather, the Force was on a much deeper level. Zeran knew what it was, and was rather curious, and all too much at that. His back was turned against the newly arrived opponent.
Darth Zeran was standing above Grandmaster Ko's corpse. Tilting his head slightly to the side, he gazed at man from the corner of his darkened eyes. "Yes." He acknowledged. He was indeed the man who robbed the Jedi of their Grandmaster. Moving his attention back towards the battlefield, he did not feel the need to look at the man behind him, not yet anyway.
The Jedi dropped his cloak, his fist tightening as he looked the Sith in the eyes.
"You've lost the battle. The clones are prevailing and Mandalore and the Naboo Defense Force have your crew on the run. Surrender now or fight."
"It matters not if the Confederation is being pushed back. It was merely a--" Zeran turned around, looking at the Jedi.
"Distraction.. Yes" Zeran briefly looked at the corpse by his feets, before he moved his attention back at the man before him.
"And when has the Sith ever surrendered?"
"Then come at me. The Jedi will not falter this day."
A sigh of disappointment escaped Zeran's lips. "We've accomplished what we needed, Jedi."
"However--" The Sith activated the yellow lightsaber. If there was anything that piqued his interest, then it was the Cosmic Force around his opponent. "Indulge me, Jedi." He finished, but in a provoking manner.
Using the lightsaber of a Jedi against another Jedi, should be enough to have the man before the Sith come charging. This time, he'd see what this particular Jedi was made of.
Tapping into the Force, Ishua closed his eyes, sensing his foe at him using the Force to push his foe, knocking him back and forcing him to drop the Grand Master's lightsaber before gnashing his teeth, keeping the Force around him ready to be used. His eyes then flicked open, gazing upon the Sith he fought with disdain
"You bear no honor, especially not enough to bear the lightsaber of one who gave his life to preserve the ways of the Force."
Zeran felt the immense pressure from the Force, which almost surprised him. He was knocked back, but was keeping his balance. He slid back because of the push, allowing the Jedi to disarm him, or remove the yellow lightsaber from his hand. The blast radius from the Force Push had created tons of smoke, which was billowing and dissolving as quick as it came.
Once the smoke was gone, The Sith was down with one knee, whereas his palm was plastered on the surface before him. Tilting his head up, he looked at the Jedi. "The Cosmic Force.." He grinned.
Swiftly moving his hand towards the yellow lightsaber once more, he used Force Pull to have it in his grasp once more. Activating it once more, he was not going to allow his enemy to disarm him again. Dashing forward, he used the Force to push him off of the ground, leaping towards the target, he came swinging down with quite the pressure. Though before he landed the attack, he in return, used Force Push against his opponent as well.
The Jedi Consular was unavailable to avoid the attack, the blow landing across his chest and leaving a deeper wound that was going to scar. Falling on the ground, the Jedi Master used a light Force Push to knock his opponent back far enough that the Jedi had time to use Force Heal on himself to strengthen him enough for him to rise to his feet, drawing his lightsaber from his belt and activating it, the green blade glowing in the rain as the Jedi tightened his grip, taking a defensive Niman stance.
Zeran took a simple stance as well, holding the yellow lightsaber with both his hands. His grip was much more tighter, and his eyes were much more focused. The Jedi was able to push him away, and after a successful attack from the Sith. The enemy, however, was quick on his feets, already ready to go at it again, despite the injury.
Observing his stance, his green saber, Zeran attacked, though this time, it was more than once. He swung horizontally, aiming for his left shoulder, before moving his body to the right, quickly aiming for his ribs with a vertical slash, hoping to split his body in half.
He would fail, the Jedi forcefully deflecting the strike before knocking the Sith Master back, beginning to aggressively strike as he used the Force to increase the speed of his strike, aiming to- quite literally- disarm the mysterious Sith before he could do any more damage to the various forces that defended the planet.
Too much interest into the new Jedi allowed the Sith to be less on guard. He wanted to know about the Cosmic Force. However, in the process of incapacitating the Jedi, Zeran's arm, from the elbow down was sliced off by the green saber. Losing the yellow lightsaber in the process, he took a few steps away from his opponent.
The excruciating pain that followed thereafter was almost intolerable, but Zeran was a Sith, and pain was merely a weakness. "Tch.." Annoyed for a moment, the Sith Soldiers were falling back, as more than one ship from the Confederation was leaving the planet. His eyes fell on an enemy ship that was about to fly past both him and the Jedi.
His eyes merely shifting towards the yellow lightsaber, he was quick to react. Using the Force to pull the enemy ship in the direction of his enemy. His left hand, that was still intact was balled into a fist. The Force was twisted to point where the air around the ship almost changed.
It was as if the Sith was pulling down a lever that was almost immovable. Bringing the ship down immense strength, it would literally crash into or where the enemy Jedi was standing. Amidst the chaos, and allowing it to be a distraction, he used the Force a little bit more to make sure the yellow lightsaber was in back in his hand.
"I'll be seeing you again, Jedi." An annoying grin, before he turned around and the ship exploded, the Sith disappearing into the wilderness to be hidden from both the Sith and the Jedi.
While Ishua had managed to use the Force to heal the external symptoms of his wound, the Jedi Master's use of the Force had considerably weakened him. Pulling his comlink from his pocket and activating the homing beacon on the the emergency channel, the Jedi fell to the ground, lightsaber reattached to his belt, and close his eyes, losing consciousness as his wound took the better of him. He was but a few feet from the blood-stained remains of the fallen Grandmaster, one of the twelve Jedi pyres that would soon be erected in accordance with ancient tradition.
After that Eluhani Moza, being the seniormost of the remaining Jedi Masters, would take up the new role as Grandmaster. In the end, the Sith suffered heavy losses while the clones gave the Enlightenment a massive advantage on the battlefield. Although a handful of the Black Knights were killed, it was evident that there was more that the Jedi needed to do in order to be truly ready to combat the Sith forces.
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