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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 10:22:59 GMT -8
*Her right hand came up in a blur of motion, the lightsaber hilt flying up off her belt to land in her palm and the blue blade immediately igniting to catch and deflect the volley of blaster fire. Her left hand remained pressed against the Seed, her feet unmoving, but her wrist was deftly turning by small degrees to catch each ensuing blaster bolt.
She had Corrupted Ronan Starflare's alternate persona, she had created the Shadow of the Corruption, Darth Miros; she had, necessarily, absorbed the Jedi's knowledge, and while there were still many things beyond her capabilities, she had learned much. It wasn't difficult for her to deflect her foe's shots.
She didn't think he would have expected that to work, either. Was he giving in to his anger? Letting loose in an attempt to hurt her and her kind? She didn't know, and she wasn't one to care about light side or dark side, their philosophies meant nothing to her. All she knew was that her foe was definitely venting his anger at her without strategy.
The Sword of the Corruption grinned..*
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Dav Man'Sell
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 10:36:56 GMT -8
*Dav narrowed his eyes, weaving the shots to hit other areas of the mass of the seed, but the Guardian blocked it easily with her Corrupted Lightsaber. He wasn't worried that it didn't work.
Taught me what I needed to know. It's learnt new tricks.
He shifted his aim suddenly, pouring shots into the ceiling above the the Echo, growing great chunks out of it and triggering a fall of earth and rock on top of her.*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 10:37:21 GMT -8
*She dropped the lightsaber and raised her hand to the sky, then seemed to explode in a brilliant blue that outshone even the Corrupted blade (which had deactivated during its fall). If he'd been watching her closely, Dav would have noticed a sudden surge from the Seed through her left hand, into her body; the result was similar to her annihilation of the settlement.
The Corruption poured from her uplifted hand, striking the falling debris and stopping it momentarily in midair; as each tendril fell away, it exposed the newly-Corrupted rock it had impacted, glowing that sickly blue. The surge from the Seed died down, and then there was a sudden turmoil in the Force, as she started to bring her hand down with the intention of launching the debris towards the Jedi before her..*
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Dav Man'Sell
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 10:40:08 GMT -8
*At the moment she dropped her Lightsaber, - exactly as he expected she would - he reacted, his left-hand whipping to his waist-line in the Quick-draw techniques he'd learn't decades earlier. Within half a second, as rocks started being annihilated, he whipped out the Heavy Pistol he had tucked in the front of his belt, delivering a trio of blasts aimed at the Echo's stomach. The shots were similar to the blasts of the Y-APW -- Ionized plasma. The key difference was that where as the rifle was a rapid fire repeater, designed to get shots on target quickly, the Y-HPS he had just whipped out was virtually a Canon, with single blasts that could blow holes in ship-grade armour.*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 10:41:36 GMT -8
*She hadn't expected that; his sudden new volley had cut her attack off before she could even think of launching the pathogen at him.
The trio of shots struck her dead-center in her abdomen, knocking her off her feet and sending her tumbling backward, impacting the stone floor and coming to a halt a few meters back. She lay there, crumpled in a heap, fighting the pain caused by the ionized plasma shots, vaguely aware that there was a deep hole gouged in her stomach. It was the worst hit she had ever taken in her relatively brief life, and if she had taken it a few years ago, she would have died.
But now, she was a Guardian. The original Guardian, the one that had started it all, had been capable of withstanding tidal waves of lightning, massive cave-ins, even a shadow bomb run (performed by none other than Dav Man'Sell). The Corruption's Second Guardian was an improvement upon the old.
She glared up at the Jedi, a sudden fire in her eyes, an animal sneer twisting the stolen features of Tebana Sor..*
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Dav Man'Sell
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 10:43:25 GMT -8
*Dav barely registered, outwardly, the response, though inside he marked it as a win. He switched his aim, and opened up with both barrels on the Seed - sustained fire from the Light-repeater, burst after burst from the Heavy Blaster, pounding into its flesh. In the flashes of blue-white from his blasters, his face was highlighted in ghostly, stark shadows - and it was a face of focus. Determination.*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 10:48:26 GMT -8
*It screamed, and she screamed with it, a shriek of pain as the ionized bolts impacted. Her palms were flat on the ground, supporting her while the pain spasmed through the collective mind.. and then something changed. The Sword of the Corruption's scream turned from pain to anger, and she lifted one hand, clenched into a fist, and slammed it into the floor. A flesh-and-blood would have broken their hand doing that, but the only thing that broke was the rock she lay on. Underneath wove the veins of the Corruption, all of it flaring violently from the Jedi's onslaught, but at her touch, it seemed as if it calmed.. then went up in a flurry of blue.
The Corruption surged into her, and she pushed herself up off the ground, onto her feet. The hole in her chest was rapidly closing, filling itself in with the pathogen. She held out her hand, and the lightsaber came flying back off the ground and into her palm, the blue blade reigniting as soon as it touched her Corrupted flesh.
She gritted her teeth, shoving the Seed's pain into the back of her mind, and took a step forward. Then another.
This Jedi would soon realize that she wasn't just another Echo..*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 10:49:44 GMT -8
*Dav watched her, in his peripheral vision, taking steps gradually to the side, keeping the distance between them as he watched the counters roll down on his power-meters. Forty seconds and he'd be dry in both weapons.
And the Seed would be as good as dead.*
If the Echo is going to make a move, this is the moment.
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 10:51:40 GMT -8
*She could defeat the Jedi on her own if she had to. It was what she had been made for, after all. The Seed's pain was not hers, for even though she had nurtured it from the time it had landed on Yavin IV, she was not controlled by it. She had an independent streak now, and she could use that to her advantage.
Right now, however, that Seed was still a vital instrument of the Jedi's destruction, and it needed to be protected. So perhaps it was time for her to take on some of that pain.
She knew she could handle it.*
*Her left hand came up to her right shoulder, clenched into a fist, a brilliant blue glow emerging from it and rapidly growing stronger. Five seconds later, she flung her hand out in front of her, opening her fist at the same time, a jet of pure Corruption emerging just as her palm swung around to face the Jedi..
..and kept going.
The Second Guardian fired the jet of Corruption straight at the Seed itself, in what appeared to be a traitorous act. The pathogen splashed into the Seed, coating it, completely surrounding it.. and then it froze, and the Tebana Echo stumbled, almost falling to her knees, before slowly but surely regaining her footing, standing strong with gritted teeth.
Despite the pain, a confident smile tugged at the corner of her mouth..*
*She had essentially improvised and created her own Shield for the Seed. It wasn't yet mature enough to have created its own Dome (obviously, because otherwise this wouldn't have been a problem), so she had taken matters into her own hands. The jet of Corruption she had launched at the Seed had covered the creature, and when it had been totally immersed in the fluid, she had used her control over the pathogen to cause it to separate from the vulnerable creature, leaving just a small gap between the two, and then forced the cells of the pathogen to solidify. The ionized blasts were still striking the Corruption, but no electric current was running between the shell and the Seed contained within; instead, the current was running straight into the doppelganger holding the other end of what was essentially a Corrupted live wire.
The Seed felt no more pain striking it, just the aftereffects of the barrage.
And the Sword of the Corruption stood, inviting the hated electricity into her pain-wracked body, and did not wither before it..*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 11:47:44 GMT -8
Now that is a new trick...
*For everything he felt about the Corruption, for all the evil it represented, every danger it presented, Dav couldn't help but acknowledge, in his own mind, the ingenuity that this Echo was showing. The power with which it absorbed the damage he delivered to the Seed, and itself, was impressive, but it's sheer ingenuity. It's speed of thought. It's tactical skill. It was keeping up with him, and as much as saying it aloud would sound arrogant, he knew that the simple truth was, very few people in the Galaxy could think like he did. Could fight like he did.
He understood, fully, that that was the true strength of the Guardians. They were strong. They were fast. They had powers and skills beyond the comprehension of most beings. But the most dangerous thing about them was that they were clever.
The shell, formed by this new Guardian, sealed the Seed off from his attack. He turned, set jaw, steely eyes, determination and strength becoming of the mightiest of Jedi, focusing now on the Guardian. The Echo of Tebana Sor. The Seed, he knew, was wounded. Severely. It wouldn't recover alone, it would need the help and nursing of another, another such as the Guardian. The Light Repeater clicked over to empty in that moment, and so, needing it no longer, he cast it aside. Whipped the Heavy Pistol around. Pointed it at the Echo's face.*
"You got fast. Got smart. I'm almost impressed."
*He steadied his hand.*
"But not quite."
*He whipped it down, pouring a burst of brilliant Blue-white into the hand, into the tendril tethered there, aiming to blast that connection away from the Seed.
The Blaster fired once, then clicked over to empty.*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 11:50:26 GMT -8
*She just barely turned her wrist, just enough to catch the single bolt on the lightsaber blade and send it away into the ceiling.*
"I'm not looking for your admiration, Dav."
*The tether began to writhe, twisting and burning with a vibrant blue before detaching itself from her wrist and merging smoothly with the shell around the Seed. The liquid pathogen refroze, forming another level on the shell, another added layer of protection.
More importantly, it freed her to deal with the Jedi herself.*
"I'm looking for your fall."
*Her hand came forward, fingers splayed, palm toward the Jedi, firing yet another jet of raw Corruption, and this time she aimed it at her foe..*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 11:52:31 GMT -8
*Dav smiled tightly at himself. That's what it came to.
Him versus Her.*
It was always coming down to this.
*He spread himself, the Blaster dropping to the ground by his feet, his eyes watching the blazing blue blade. And then she moved, flinging her hand toward him, sending the tendrils out at him. He barely moved. Not at first. To begin with, he was still as anything, as if awaiting his fate.
And then, he moved. Suddenly, darted forward, shortening the distance, and twisted, right shoulder dropping back, as his left hand came up from his side. And the drowning blue of the Corruption was joined in the room, by brilliant purple, announced by that characteristic Snap-hiss.
One of the Corrupted Lightsabers. His Lightsaber.
He slashed up through the tentacle, and let his twist begin a turn, a spin that brought him away from it and then, back in towards the Echo. In his other hand, a second purple blade leapt to life, and he carved across at the Echo's face with a slice propelled by his spin, one that would also sweep down to remove the left arm if she didn't defend. As he spun, he swept the other blade up, over, and down, before dropping his left shoulder and thrusting it up in a stab aimed at punching through her ribs just below her arm pit, passing under the defence which would strongest defend the slash from his right hand*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 12:53:00 GMT -8
*Her stolen lightsaber came up in front of her to catch his right-hand blade, blue meeting purple in a clash of sparks. At the same time, her left hand came around, aiming towards the Jedi's feet, but not before twitching slightly, an almost imperceptible motion of the wrist.
The heavy pistol he had discarded just moments ago came flying up through the air, launching itself towards the Jedi. As it was now, it would strike him in the small of his back, but she was counting on him to complete his spin so that the projectile was aimed at his left wrist; he would have to move his hand or block it somehow, and either way the strike at her vulnerable side would lose momentum or be abandoned.
She knew better, though; she knew he could find some way around the minor problem she had presented him with. Which is why she launched a Force shove at the Jedi's feet just before his saber blade could impale her, at the same time as she grasped herself in the Force and flung herself backwards. She could hope that the attack would knock him off-balance, but she doubted it; it was mainly to give him something to focus on, while the simulated recoil was just enough to put her out of harm's way.
For the moment..*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 15:40:46 GMT -8
*By some twist of foul luck, the Blaster, propelled by the Force, was a threat. Had the attack gone as intended - the strike to the Saber hand as it thrust in - it wouldn't have been enough to save the Echo from a debilitating wound. In stark contrast to the thought Dav had just had, the Echo's defence was weak. She was still getting used to fighting with the Force. Still getting used to her individual streak.
But as luck would have it, the blaster deflected off of a broken, upturned, shadow shrouded slab of ancient stone, spinning upward off of it's original path and, just as Dav's blade came into contact with the defending Lightsaber, it struck him hard in the face, and Dav could feel his Nose break, blood pouring from it and warming his top lip and chin.
The strike did what any blow to the face would to any being - it caused him to falter, just a step or two. His blade-locked weapon still remained pressed against her own blade, but his thrust to her ribs slipped wide, in what would simply strike a shallow flesh wound across her back, deeper at the side of her body closest to him by merely a quarter of an inch.
Before he could fully recover, her Force Push struck his feet, lifting him off the dirt and flinging him backward a few feet, flipping him forward so as he would land prone and upon his stomach. He crashed down hard, chest and face hitting first, adding to the bloodied nose with what was likely a grazed chin. He responded, quickly, pushing away with both fists - both still gripping Lightsabers - with Force-Enhanced Strength, literally throwing himself up to his feet again. He dropped back into a low defensive stance, both Blades held ready with the hilts by his hips, left foot and blade forward, right foot and blade back. He lifted his left hand slowly, dabbing the base of his nose against the back of his left hand, leaving a smear of blood across the skin and arm-hair there. He could feel his healing factor setting in already, the musculature tightening and swelling slightly, forcing the bone back into place and setting it.
He narrowed his eyes as he watched her land.*
"Lucky shot."
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 18, 2013 15:43:25 GMT -8
*She winced slightly as she landed, the shallow flesh wound stinging her and making her let out a muted hiss of pain.. but past that, she ignored it, put it out of her mind. It would take more than that to bring her down... And unfortunately, she had no doubt that the Hated One had much more waiting for her.*
"Let me guess.."
*She twirled the stolen blade in her right hand, her left hand clenching into a fist yet again, emitting that deathly blue glow. She knew she couldn't match him in a saber fight, and she honestly hadn't expected her stunt to work just now.
So, the Sword of the Corruption would have to rely on fighting with the Corruption.. not with the sword.
The irony was not lost on her.*
"..You won't let it happen again."
*She raised her hand and opened it, launching a blob of the Corruption.. Then she thrust her hand forward again, and again, at slightly different angles. The first shot was aimed right at him, the second and third were aimed at the ground on either side of him. It was the same technique she had used to take down the settlement before.
Even if they didn't hit him, she could still surround him with the pathogen, and if she could stall, he would be consumed..*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 18, 2013 15:45:03 GMT -8
*Dav moved off the spot, headed straight at 'her'. His tight thumb twitched, triggering one of the Saber settings, the Dual-Phase blade losing half it's length and doubling in width. The Purple bladed Lightsaber swept up, catching the first blast of Corruption on the blade, and then the Jedi leapt, covering the last three metres and half-second of space between them in the air, using the flight of his leap to give power to his attack, a thrusting stab from his Left Lightsaber at the Echo's right shoulder.*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 19, 2013 17:56:28 GMT -8
*Her right arm came up and around, the Corrupted blade sweeping up from her center line to parry his thrust off to the side. Almost simultaneously, her left arm came back to avoid being severed by her own blade, then came forward again, gesturing in a violent shove towards his chest.. launching yet another mass of Corruption at the leaping Jedi, at almost point-blank range. He could bring his righthand blade around and take her arm off, but it wouldn't kill her and it wouldn't touch her center of mass.
More importantly, she had learned from the Critokian's mistake: leaping left you vulnerable to attacks while you were midair. It made you unable to move out of the way like you could on the ground.. and now the Jedi would learn this as well.*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 20, 2013 3:22:20 GMT -8
*Where as the Corruption's thoughts were right, leaping was a dangerous tactic to use, it was mistaken in two key points at this stage.
First, Dav was Battlemaster, and an expert Ataru user; he knew every detail of making acrobatic attacks. The Corruption would teach him nothing new about fighting today.
The second mistake was in thinking that the attack he made, the half-second of flight - if that - gave the Corruption enough time to make both movements. The echo made a good effort, but Dav was already upon the Echo by the moment it had withdrawn it's hand and swept it's blade across. He couldn't blame it for it's mistake - things from the perspective of the Corruption, he knew, were a little different to normal perceptions of reality, and Lightsaber combat was not it's usual technique. It's defence succeeded, of course, but only just - the Jedi was on top of it in the moment that his Lightsaber was contacted with hers. The defence against his left Saber was effective, and it was blocked safely. Dav's right Lightsaber was down low and in, not in any-great position to make an attack with, but the arm itself was a little freer to move, and as he reached the Echo, the same moment her hand shifted forward again to strike out with the Corruption, he snapped his elbow across, striking her wrist with it and shifting her aim, sending her own blast off over his left shoulder.
Ordinarily, he wouldn't recommend getting as close and intimate with the Corruption as this. But he was the best there was at what he did. He was the one that got to bend and break the rules from time to time.
As soon as his deflection of her blast happened, he snapped his elbow up and out, ramming it home into her jaw. Next, he whipped that same arm out, in what he hoped would be a strike to her temple with the butt of his right handed Lightsaber, the point of it's blade now down beneath his left arm. He followed up this strike to the side of the head, all things going to plan, with a slash across the chest with the stubby, broad-bladed Lightsaber in that same hand.*
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Post by The Corruption on Jun 20, 2013 8:21:25 GMT -8
*She sneered at the deflection of the blast, and before she had time to do anything else, the expression was knocked from her face by an elbow to the jaw. As with Dav less than a minute ago, the strike did what any blow to the face would do to any being: it caused her to falter. And in that moment, as his saber hilt was flying towards her temple, something changed..
..and everything stopped.*
*She didn't get the opportunity to retaliate, nor the chance to try to move out of the way. It wouldn't have worked anyway; her reflexes seemed to be sadly lacking in comparison to this Jedi. She wouldn't have been able to react in time.
Luckily -- and unfortunately -- for her, something else did. Luckily, because it meant her life was saved. Unfortunately, because the free will she had been steadily developing was squelched.
Her eyes clouded over, the blue of her irises deepening and expanding until her eyes were covered by the sickly color of the pathogen.. Only it was so much more.
The same had happened on Helska, when Dav had fought against the Rundas Echo. When the entire field of Corrupted ice had shone with a deeper blue, when another voice had been added to the collective. Only, that was wrong. It wasn't an addition to the collective...
It was the collective.*
*The saber hilt made contact with her temple.*
[[She is not yours to take.]]
*Where she faltered, it stepped in. The Harbinger, the voice of the collective, the "hive mind" of the pathogen itself. It had controlled Rundas in a time of need, and it did so now with its Second Guardian.*
*A raw, uncontrolled explosion of the Force erupted from her, violently shoving everything around her away. The discarded blaster flew against the wall, the protective shell around the Seed spiderwebbed with cracks and stress lines, the debris was sent rocketing away, and the smaller rocks were simply destroyed. And Dav was right in front of the very heart of it.
The glancing blow to the temple was all he would manage. The slash to her chest wouldn't be happening.
No plan ever survives contact with the enemy..*
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Post by Dav Man'Sell on Jun 20, 2013 12:42:43 GMT -8
*The Force impacted with the Jedi hard, and in that moment, he was firmly lifted off of his feet, thrown back across the room, and crashed, hard, into the far wall of the chamber in which they were in.
The Jedi Master dropped, hard, to the dirt covered floor. A billow of dust raised up around him, and stonework fell on top of him. His Lightsabers died out, leaving only the dull glow of the Seed, and the harsh shadows caused by the lights on the discarded blasters, to illuminate the impact point and large indent from his impact with the wall.
A cough, and gradually, the Jedi heaved himself up to his hands and knees. He swept up his Lightsabers again, and into his hands. His Force Sense could feel it now. Feel her, and what had taken over. A sensation he knew well. He looked up, his eyes locking with hers, those, now, complete pools of blue.*
"I wondered when you would show yourself."
*He pulled himself to his feet. His stance held him low, a Lightsaber in each hand on each side. He depressed the activation matrix, and the purple blades again sprung to life, returning to their normal lengths. He worked his shoulders, his mouth pressed tight, working out the aches and stiffness his impact with the wall had caused. He took a deep breath, and as he exhaled, he swept through a flourish - his elbows out and up high to start with the blades crossing in front of him, point down, before sweeping through, looping either side on him with his arms crossed in front of him, before the blades again passed across the front of him, to loop back on their native sides. He dropped back, right foot falling behind, turning to face left-on, and falling into a traditional Soresu opening stance - his left hand Ligthsaber, was held horizontal, forming a line between him and the Echo. His right blade was back, hand up past his right ear, the blade itself pointing, past his face, at the Corruption.*
"So come on. The mind of the Collective, the body of a Guardian. Do you think you're good enough?"
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