Duel: Past and Present, Both Bringing the Pain! (Judah)

[Raien Keth]

Ruusan
Chaken Settlement
Palace, Hidden Temple, Chaken Historical site.
Morning, clear skies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI5lXjuoD0U​

Force Echoes of what was and will be, one more chance to be stopped, here.​

Cycles, they came and went. Some days those cycles came full circle. So it was on Ruusan, where the betrayer began his fall to the darkside at the hands of the Dark Jedi there. A different man, a boys ideals taken and reshaped, he hunted part of that past here today.

Sandy colored small buildings, a temperate pleasant world. The site Raien Keth was approaching held great significance to him. A settlement now, where hundreds of years ago had stood nobility, and the order of the Dark Jedi. The locals knew none of this, and even after they left this place they had preserved the palace. No historians knew what it was really used for all those years ago, the court of Ruusan.

Here was something more valuable than all of that, all the darkside taint and history in the world, didn’t stand up to his own self absorbed history. There were a few force signatures that had escaped the ancient Sith’s grasp, one particular one had strong influence on his son. Whether this man was a descendant from that line, an exact match for his aura, a weird twist of fate or netherworld time, it mattered not, he would find out when he approached him, right before killing him.

Boiling black anger you could feel it a mile away, fear and cold effecting the local community, people left the street entering their homes. His mind rightly or wrongly on his lost children, their being taken from him. Tracking down this one had expended some of his time and resources, and that loathing was spilling out uncontrollably, iron will rolling forward to remove anyone unrelated to his weighty focus from view.

Nothing compared to the hatred that was building in him, nothing, it had built for decades to be thrown at a target.

Not everyone ran of course, even panicked from their own inner demons facing them, some huddled down with their loved ones, some became violent, some became still and frozen, fighting the sensation repeating in their minds to flee.

Black battle robes, lined with Rakattan runes, covering a light black armor suit, Raien’s face was masked with just red slits for eyes, glowing like the rest of his form. Further steeped in the Sith code with each and every breath, he was also rigid of motion, save the slow heavy steps of his metal braced boots, thud, thud, thud. The metronome of the end for the one he looked towards.

“I have waited longer than you can conceive for this.” Calling one man out, just one today, could he stand? [member="Judah Lesan"]

Spoiler

Have fun! Nothing special about the armor, no sub yet. We can play the influence you had on his son out or not, your call how we handle the meeting, I’ll take my cue from you. Fluid netherworld time, I left it open as you can see. Can even just call Raien nuts if you like.

 

[Judah Lesan]

There was a draw to Ruusan. Judah was a Jedi Shadow. Part of his duty was to find artifacts connected to the force, and keep them from falling into the wrong hands. One particular artifact was the Eye of the Sun. The relic had played an important role in the freeing of Ruusan from the reign of an historical Dark Lord. While it was not in circulation, and the actual location was unknown, Judah could not risk the rumor of it being seen on Ruusan to go unchecked.

This particular mission was difficult to be away from his wife for. They had just barely figured out what to do with their lives after the destruction of the world they called home. Now the Jedi Knight was off on his own again, his Jedi Starfighter the only ship he had, and his R2 unit Sparky for a companion. Judah replayed the goodbye over and over in his mind. It was a typical goodbye for the redhead and the Jedi. Katara understood the need Judah had to go, especially when it was such a draw. He tried to describe the sensation of the pull, but Judah knew the best way was to experience, and she could not as a force blind.

He was cautious. Mixing into the crowd was something he was able to do well. Unfortunately there was another force user, several, but one in particular that Judah had mixed feelings on. He was dark, very dark. The signature was that of a Sith, Judah was certain. He knew the feeling all too well. Judah was certainly glad his lightsabers were well hidden under his cloak on the small of his back. Then he heard the voice.

"Well that makes one of us," Judah replied not having a clue as to why this man seemed so intent on seeking him out directly. "I'm guessing you don't want to talk?"

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

At this level of concentration and depth of emotion, the moment had a gravity all its own, the surroundings beginning to mirror that subtly. The answer didn't come in words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1MMmP65tgQ​

Emotion, not pent up, buried, bred into layers and layers of the Sith Code resonated inside of him, his core. The betrayer took the nearest building to Judah, resonating its support so fast it couldn’t stand under the weight, the metal beam twisted and split apart. People who were inside began to run, but too late, the side of the sandy colored building shattered, collapsing, stone flying outward and splintering explosively. Stone blowback thrown everywhere including at Judah.

Thud, Thud, Thud steps continuing, approach unbroken through the dust and screams. People were already laying prone, and that was just the hello.

“Perish.”

Ruby Lightening - sacrifice made Real

Sparks of forever flew out of his free left hand, sacrifice of everything that once was or would be, arcing toward the Jedi, hitting anyone nearby Judah as they flailed around helplessly. Nothing was held back here, not when his children were involved. That was the one repeating thought on Raien Keth's mind, and this far removed out of his time, it was a hole that never could be healed. The lightening was as damaging as the regular kind, only the sensation sent out mirrored Raien's emotional state more closely, this one was pure focused hatred, loss, sacrifice, if it connected the other might be battered by that emotion like an iron pipe.

Whatever twist of fate that had brought this force signature to him, even if he was so far away from related to that other man, to merely be a distant ancestor. Judah would be extinguished with all the malice that he held for every last Jedi that took his children from him.

Edge of Truth was ignited in the right hand, those metal braced steps never stopped, pressure around them deepening to focus on Judah as the lightening concentrated. Those around the Jedi were a smoking mess, the Betrayer's eyes narrowed to red slits behind the burning sockets of his black mask, merely the beginning. Nothing would stand here when he was done!

[member="Judah Lesan"]​

 

[Judah Lesan]

Spoiler

Sorry for the delay had a business trip and moving all at the same time...

Judah watched in horror as this Sith destroyed all life around him. His anger radiated from the actions he took, from the core of his being, and Judah knew it was all directed at him. Why? Because there was another force user who held his name, and had a similar aura? This made no sense to the Jedi Knight, and yet, here he stood about ready to battle for his own life, clearly helpless to save the lives this man was bent on taking. The only thing Judah could do was take the battle away from the people.

Eyes looked to the palace. It was empty, more so a monument to history now. Energy was expended to keep an entire building from collapsing on himself, but with the rubble cast aside, Judah pressed to the ground, coursing energy to his legs, as he leaped to the top of the palace, and ignited his two sapphire blades. The Jedi Shadow lived to root out the evil of the Sith, he just had never expected it to find him so violently. Even the shadows would not keep him safe from this one.

Judah clung to his courage and resolve. The decision was made that every Jedi hated to make, but it had to be before the battle truly began. If it was required of him, Judah Lesan was prepared to kill the man before any more lives could be taken. He was a decisive Jedi, who clung to absolutes in a way most Jedi feared. Judah was walking proof that Jedi could deny gray and choose to see things as black and white, right and wrong. He smirked at the thought of being reemed by a member of the council for telling them they were wrong in a formal assembly. This was the kind of man Judah was.

The Knight also clung to the love of his wife. Preceding one of his trials, she had sent him a note reminding him the light in her heart burned brightly for him should he ever need it. It was in moments of utter darkness like these Judah clung to the light the love his [member="Katara Starkos"] gave him. Judah was prepared to do what was necessary, even if cost him everything he had.

"Killing innocents is easy, any weakling can do it," Judah pressed into the mind of the Sith. "Do you take their lives because you know mine is just out of the reach of your skill. Surely you are not so weak that you are ruled by emotion. Doesn't your code teach you to master your emotions, and harness your passions to use as a weapon. You are so weak you can't even demonstrate basic control over intangible feelings which are generated by a chemical reaction in your brain. Pathetic!"

Wise or not, that ought to get his attention.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

A double force choke was raised either side of him, two men pulled into the air, and slammed down, but his steps didn’t stop. This was pure rage he was drawing on, like a Sith Acolyte would have succumbed to, not one who had walked two decades on this path, Judah was right, but Raien couldn’t even hear him. The purpose drawing him to obliterate Judah Lesan at this point was beyond any sort of rational understanding, beyond even animal instinct, it was Raien Keth. Raien Keth stood on these wounds like the ground.

It did get his attention, his attention had never left Judah, everything else whether it lived or died was of no consequence. He was that rage. The Betrayer didn’t jump to meet Judah, the ground under Judah would be resonated up again, twisting to bend and mar, bursting outward in all directions. If he was still standing there by that point, it was likely going to hurt. Either way Raien was soon leaping heavily upward, boots crunching hard against the palace roof.

Another site of his contempt, the mind wipe of this palace was slowly being undone as he regained the memories of his old life, and he hated everything about the former Dark Jedi’s weakness, it only meant his use of this place was going to be a fitting. Ripping it down was a pleasure that had long been coming, two birds, one stone, both to fall.

"It'll all make sense when you're dead." Primal roar given, the emotion expelled in the move was colossal as it had been building for more than a few lifetimes, energy was wasted, momentum was wasted, every move was overkill, but that was still a lot of kill.

Throwing his weight into a two handed over head chop, wherever Judah was, whatever he was doing, Raien's saber came down heavily, attempting to cleave the man in two.

[member="Judah Lesan"]​

Spoiler

No worries take your time, post when you feel like it, never a rush with me.

 

[Judah Lesan]

The force had told Judah to leap, and leap he did. Raien Keth was anger incarnate in this moment, and Judah had no clue why. It would make sense when he no longer lived? Likely not. This man was hell bent on his destruction, and from the way he had no regard to the lives around him, it was personal, but why? Judah had never met this man before, done nothing to him. Planting his feet firmly, Judah intercepted the heavy blow which was meant to cleave him in two.

In a moment of calm, Judah held the man's blade, sending a force push to the knees of the Echani Sith. His hope was to see the warrior fall flat on his face. Judah wished to end this before any further damage could be caused. There was a nagging feeling that was not going to be possible however. This fight was going to take considerable time and energy. Judah hoped he could survive it, not for his sake, but for the sake of his wife and his son. They needed him to survive. Judah was their steady hand in the face of a broken Corellia. Judah was their rock.

"You're too angry to possibly win this fight," Judah said, which was true to a certain extent. The angry rarely won, because they never had control at that point. As long as Judah controlled the emotional dynamic of this battle, he would maintain the advantage.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

In every battle he had ever fought, despite the glaring weakness in the Betrayer since the mangling of his limbs, nobody had once, ever attacked his legs, it was almost as if the galaxy had failed to take it into account. Well finally one man had. The Echani Sith’s legs were braced, pained but heavy. As Judah threw the force push he would get a reaction of snarling pain, unfortunately they didn’t move much but a half step, just because of how heavy they were and how much Raien was digging into the ground to push.

The pain however was endured, used and thrown back into the Sith Knight’s pressure, in likelihood the extra energy pressing their locked lightsabers closer and closer to his opponent....

Worse… a force crushing was pulling at the back of Judah, only adding to the danger and pressure the opposite way. Not much thought, more instinctive fighting, trying to simply push two opposing forces together. Raien’s lightsaber, and Judah’s body. Their locked weapons cracked together, hissing and spitting as he did so.

Too angry to win was right! It wasn’t stopping, if anything this was a conduit for rage and wounds to pour out, and as such he was utterly silent behind his mask, crushed focus. Too angry win yes, to angry to crush someone to paste? That didn't take as much thought!

[member="Judah Lesan"]​

 

[Judah Lesan]

Being a Niman expert, Judah had seen tactics like this before, force and saber combos designed to quickly dispatch a target. His only hope was a force barrier at this point. He would not keep it up for long, but long enough to deal with his own opponent. His life mattered, and this man was not going to take it from him. Judah found himself leaping again, only this time instead of bringing his saber to bear on the Sith, Judah again retaliated with the force, a strong push designed to make the Sith buckle under the weight of his armor and power Judah commanded with the light.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJjTUk3lI4E​

Pressure... pressure.... release with a thud. The force barrier pushed Raien back a step, and he clawed for footing against the force push coming next.... ripping up the palace roofs’ stone. The push bought Judah valuable seconds and the force grip was ended but not much more. The barrier denied him, so Raien hammered arching lightening at the barrier itself, and it flew off it in all directions, pressuring crimson red pain into the attack, a depth of loathing so great it defied reason or understanding.

Maximum lethality in each move. “See your end, and know all your life was for this moment.” To show the Betrayer his journey, his struggles all Judah had learned on his path, right before his life ended and Keth certainty grew from the experience, an Echani's eyes reading all. What had made this monster? That was a long story.

​

Pressure deepened, a mild force crush on the surround environment echoing out from the center, and that center was Judah. “You took my children from me. Denied them their potential, burning them up as fuel in the cycle. That was my right.” His right, his children, to be used as he willed, not the Jedi. With a roar, which was more a rushing of force energy and air than noise. A rushing which echoed what came next, as the stream of lightening began to ball around the barrier, striking it from all sides, crushed inward and pressured toward Judah.

The real truth of it was, nobody had been able to chink Keth’s armor in quite a while, quite a while was an understatment! This was the first opening, and it had come in a very unexpected place.

[member="Judah Lesan"]​

 

[Judah Lesan]

Judah maintained the shield, but he knew it could not hold forever, then came the Lightning. There was one move, risky, dangerous, foolish, but about the only thing that could quell the attack. Most Sith relied on their lightning too much, and Judah had learned to redirect it. His own body would be the conduit, but Raien was so angry, this might be the one attack he wouldn't see coming. Judah was going to use the man's own lightning against him. This would also mean dropping the shield, and putting his sabers back on his belt. One thing at a time.

The blades disengaged and were replaced.

"I did no such thing," he said placing his left foot forward.

His left arm came up, palm upturned and facing the Sith. His right arm was bent at the elbow, with the palm facing skyward resting just below his chest. Judah dropped the shield as he channeled the Lightning into his left palm. Pulling the energy into him, Judah then pulled his left hand to his right as he pivoted and stepped right foot forward. Judah pushed his right hand out and sent the Lightning right back at [member="Raien Keth"], hoping this time to finally gain a more offensive position in this battle.

 

[Raien Keth]

Raien’s style was all about pressure, all about dominating the momentum of the battle for Djem so to be effective. When his own pressure was turned on him, it demonstrated another weaknesses, the rooftop became unsteady, Judah's return lightening strike would have usually been blocked by the force bubble that came into being around him, but being so weak till he had the essence of the technique returned to him. The bubble gave a loud pop and sent Raien off his feet, lightening smoking from his chest as the remainder hit him squarely in the weak armor, cutting through it, a smoking hole forming through the simple Sith-trooper durasteel. More of the palace roof crumbled around them, sending stone and metal crashing into windows below.

A gloved hand caught himself on a roof pillar before he fell, one of several in the design of the roof, the pain of force lightening was an ever present thing on his body, even since his days fighting Killian for his daughter, and the reminder of that pain did nothing at all to quell his mood, if anything you might feel the pressure in the air increasing, his focus and loathing spreading outward to draw upon the wider world.

Clawing for grip and pushing himself back, it did however give Judah a good few seconds to act and use the advantage if he could! But pressure was building... you could almost feel the thickness of the air increasing.

[member="Judah Lesan"]​