Skirmish Into The Mouth Of The Leviathan [TSO x Mandalorian Protectors]

[Sula Skirata]

"BEAKER!"

Sula's besu'lisk was already streaking towards it. "Yes, alor'ad, I see it." she replied impatiently. Where was Shev?

"How do we kill it?!"

Sula didn't answer, her helmet was awash with noise, comms chatter, scream of the dying, shouts of orders from other squadrons as they desperately tried to coordinate their attack, all airborne resources shifting their focus to the greater threat. It made no distinction between friend and foe, all were for consumption.

Was this fear?

"SULA! HOW DO WE KILL IT?"

Akaan growled beneath her, rolling them clear of a plasma blast, before letting out a pitched scream, trying to break through to his rider, frozen in place.

"Command, This is Skirata." He said as he began pushing his engines to bombing attack speed. "Engaging."

Sula blinked, her eyes tearing from the beast and finding Shev's Y-wing diving hard. All her synapses fired at once, and she moved, taking back the controls.

"Deasyn! Leave the heads! Target its legs, we need to stop its advance concentrate your attacks on one area. If it can't move it can't reach the rest of our vode. That needs to be priority one. Besu'lisks, keep the heads busy, we need to draw fire away from the ground!"

She punched forward, rolling around another plasma beam, strafing a line of fire across the heads top, Akaan let out a scream as the jaws came round so snap shut far too close for the droids liking. Sula's eyes were on Shev's Y-wing, calculating his speed and trajectory.

"Shev!" she shouted down the comms "You are not going to have enough time to pull up!"

Daesyn Rodarch Shev Skirata Taeli Raaf

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Rationally, some part of him knew already, she was going to be as confusing to him, as her godmother was.

But in this moment, that mattered little, for whether it was through his direction or through her... actual genuine and if so strange, willingness to aid him, his position was safe, and he could focus on what mattered. Focus on who mattered.

He felt her squeeze back and he could not help the small smile that appeared on his face, as red eyes gazed down upon their hands interlinked, theirs was a relationship that could not be... considered entirely friendly. After all, they were Sith, theirs was a people who knew only rivalry and competition when it came to one another, it was all too common for them to exchange barbs and gibes, perhaps even clashing blades, rather than aid.

Yet, now, in this moment, he might have believed he had a friend in her, if this was not all some cruel ruse.

"Thank you, Lady Varanin," Malum spoke with all the gratefulness that he truly felt, still attempting to keep his mind clear, still unsure how much Quinn could read through his thoughts, through his feelings, and emotions.

He for but a moment missed the warmth of her hands, only to enjoy as they settled for a moment on his shoulders. Indeed, just as confusing as her godmother, her question though, was certainly pertinent. The panic quickly settled behind him, Elsie was competent, she was skilled, she was powerful, and just because Mia had lost track of her, did not necessarily mean anything horrible had occurred.

He had to hope that, for if he did not.

He would need to think about the fact she might be in perilous danger.

That she was in perilous danger and he was far away from her.

"Imperator, Agent Simalacrum reporting in," His eyes flicked to his ear-comlink, the one which only his Tsis'Kaar could access, the one they would access in an emergency... Olivia... the one he had assigned to guard Elsie... his blood froze, his heart stopped, no...

"The Baron de Red, receiving..." His old code name, it brought a cold comfort to the enterprise, one he so desperately needed, "Where is your and Agent Elise's current position?"

There was a moment of pause, a moment where he begged that Olivia understand what he meant.

"...I withdrew as ordered, but Agent Elise remained behind... I can transmit her last coordinates," Olivia spoke, he almost let out a sigh, their cover remained, even as agitation cut through his mind, Olivia had but one order.

To keep her safe.

Yet he could deal with that later, and from the subtle sway and pause of her words, he had every belief she knew that too.

"Do so, and stay safe, Agent, make certain all Tsis'Kaar assets are hidden," Spread the word to hunker down and dig even deeper into this world.

The Commlink shut off, nothing more needed to be said, as he confirmed that Quinn heard it all, and he followed her, trying to find a way off the Despoiler, perhaps toward the hanger, it would take some time to requisition one of the drones, but it would be their best sho-.

The coordinates came through.

And he almost hissed as his mind registered them, he felt his knees waver, he felt his eyes cloud over, darkness and desperation making themselves felt and his mind put two and two together. It was a sick game the Force played.

Putting her in the path of...

...Kaine.

Hope wavered, just because they were in the same area did not necessarily me-.

Oh, who was he kidding himself, when had the Force ever let him be so fortunate?

He stopped at the edge of the Despoiler, a thousand thoughts a second crossing his brow, as he looked down upon the destruction below. How, how could he get there?

How could he stop him?

How could he save her?

"The Familiar."

He blinked, he felt her presence in his eyes, but it was the first time she had spoken. With an idea... to assist Elsie.

Or to kill Kaine?

It mattered little, the plan would work.

He allowed a breath to flow out of his lungs, air melding in temperatures in front of him, as he willed the Force to his command, as he used all the desperation, the despair, the anger, all of it, to pick out all the elements of its presence in the air, moulding it, ordering it, dominating it. Needing it, to be exactly what he, what they needed it to be.

And as his orbs became engulfed in orange flames, out of his hands flew out a conspiracy of ravens, flying directly towards where he knew, fate and destiny had ordained him be.

Where he knew Elsie had to be.

He saw through their multiple bulbous eyes, flew over destruction, flew over battle, flew over a planet destroyed, be destroyed again. It did not matter, the wings flapped harder, flapped faster, all that mattered, all that ever mattered.

Was her.

The great Despoiler came into sight, the scene of great battle, figures, familiar and unfamiliar, figures great and alive, figures small and dead. Mia and Kaine once again engaged in battle, upon the remnant of the metallic hulk, while stood upon an even greater one, Mia joined by a great biotic hulk, a Moridini- Mandalorian as imposed as he was powerful.

Yet he had little mind for any of them.

Little mind for the great danger he was about to bring them to, for behind them all, stood a fragile thing, upon her knees, injured as blood pooled beneath her.

Elsie.

The ravens flew above them all, carrion drawn to a meal. As his vision returned to his own form, his hand fell again upon Quinn's, turning to regard her seriously, "I offer my apologies for this, but I have found them," And before she could speak before she could protest, the world was spinning, in an instant as the Force moved, from one Despoiler, they were on another. His eyes quickly adjusted to the new scene, the far more deadly scene, his birds still above them.

Letting go of her hand, offering with his eyes the most apology he could, he closed his eyes, as he pulled into his hand the hilt of a blade, and with a profound slitherine hiss, a red lightsabre was ignited, as one eye engulfed in orange was paired with one engulfed with red, revealed themselves, a gaze focused upon Mia's blue, a silent message passing between their minds, "Distraction," as an all more vocal message passed between their lips, "Lord K- Carnifex, I hope you will not protest our assistance."

Quinn Varanin Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Darth Carnifex Mia Monroe Ordo

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux has kept up a few more shots before feeling the ground rumble. "Anyone else..... By the Manda....." She saw the large creature, getting flashbacks of fighting Bryn a she took a quick breath. Then Arla left her in charge and ran to fight hand-to-hand. "What are.... Osik. This is why I stay in the karking cockpit. Alright, we try to hold this point! I want a few of you keeping an eye on that massive thing too!" She could hear the fighters and bombers above, taking a breath before focusing in on the army in front of her.

Arla Rodarch Daesyn Rodarch Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Mia Monroe Ijaat Mereel Ordo Keratel Rekali Minerva Fhirdiad Drego Ruus Sula Skirata Shev Skirata Darth Carnifex Quintessa Taeli Raaf Iuuna Talon

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia was a swirl of rage, the eyes beneath her helmet shifting from sapphire to a deep red, unknowingly feeding the Dark Lord, her need for him to suffer the driving strength behind each strike of her beskad as she and her brother moved as one, the three of them a blur, the crackling of lightsaber against beskad against lightsaber.

Where she was rage, Ordo was calm. He was War. War had no emotion. It didn't discriminate. It simply was. But Liberation? She felt all. She felt the fury of her fallen vode, She felt the pain that swirled around Elise, She felt the Yaim screaming beneath them.

"You should have killed Me on Garos, Vornskr." She spat "You'll never get an opportunity like it again."

Beneath her visor her eyes shifted recognising the shift in the force that always preceded Malum's appearance. To take in more than that, to shift her focus from the whirlwind that was Kaine was a mistake, thought he glance was enough to acknowledge his eyes...and the woman with him.

"Distraction,"

His voice shifted across her mind.

Get her out, Malum.

Darth Carnifex Darth Malum of House Marr Ordo Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Quinn Varanin

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Allies: //: Darth Carnifex //: Darth Malum of House Marr (?) //:
//: Enemies: //: Mia Monroe //: Ordo //: Elise Ahana-Gwyneira //:

Quinn closed her eyes as they traveled. She was doing her best to maintain her composure. The stress and emotional turmoil the man was feeling were starting to wear on her. Hopefully, they would find this Elise, and Malum could make her retire from her work. The woman was obviously a liability to the point that it made the Darth have to step in. Quinn meditated quietly beside him till they arrived. Her presence could be as calming as possible.

Suddenly, Quinn's composure broke. Malum's words were the only warning she received before the Force swirled around them. Quinn reached out and clutched onto Malum as they vanished, only to reappear quicker than she could have fathomed. She focused on Malum, using him to root her to the space they had just traveled to. She caught the shift in his gaze and followed it, raising an eyebrow at the words that floated through the Force.

Eyes glancing towards the woman who spoke to Carnifex, she watched curiously. There was another flurry of words as Quinn focused on the Force around them. There was a connection between the pair, one that brought suspicion to the young Echani. As much as Malum tried to hide it, his body language only told her the truth. Something was going on between the two, and Quinn couldn't fully put her finger on it, but it was suspicious enough.

Quinn pulled away and adjusted her collar. Being ripped through time and space in the blink of an eye was unsettling enough. She was curious as to who this Elise was, more so to gauge whether the woman was worth going out of her way to help Malum. If she wasn't, Malum would never hear the end of it—especially if one of these animals decided to get too rough with her.

The hilt of her blade hung from her side while her palm rested upon it. Her eyes trailed back to Malum and then to Carnifex. "You never told me I had to fight," The Princess groaned, straining a tone that would ring familiar with one of the Mandalorians.

Ordo would easily recognize the aura that the young Echani emitted, one that would bring the man back to his youth—a time when a young Jedi runaway begged for a planet of people to give their energy, their hopes, and their dreams to stop a terrible threat.

 

[Ordo]

He was the whirlwind.

And they were caught in the tempest.

The tempest began, old and familiar like a long time lover's touch or the smells of a childhood home. The blades clashed and sparked as the trio engaged in yet another rotation of the cycle. This battle, this clash of blood and bone, the collision of warring calamities, it was His place. He was made for this moment and others like it, for what blade was forged to not seek battle, what rifle was built to not be fired?

Ordo felt no hatred for the Sith King, no anger, no frivolous delusion of good fighting evil with righteous indignation. Neither did He delude Himself of being at peace like a jedi, blindly ignoring emotions that were as much a part of their Force as the peace and detachment they sought. Ordo felt the peace of a weapon utilized for its purpose, or the strom that roars through and moves on in its own time. He was as He should be. He was War.

Ordo would easily recognize the aura that the young Echani emitted, one that would bring the man back to his youth—a time when a young Jedi runaway begged for a planet of people to give their energy, their hopes, and their dreams to stop a terrible threat.

His concentration slipped. The old weakness of sentiment had not been fully removed in His forging. Only so much dross can be removed before a being is no longer more than a biological machine. Memories, old but well kept, preserved against the weathering of time. A young queen, arms wide in askance for the strength of others as they warred together against a threat that desired nothing less than their destruction. A beautiful young queen who offered a kind word and a soft hand to a scarred and battered war machine who had sought to learn His place.

A stray strike, more of a feint than a committed strike clipped a beskar pauldron before he had to return His mind in present, He would have to explore the sensation later, and seek His small friend's fate.

Beskar tore free from the remaining Graug one at a time and began forming a wall around the three and slowly climbing into a dome as they clashed. Slowly seeking to bind them together until the culmination of their age old conflict. He added strike after strike, no soft feathering dance of a young warrior seeking an opening. It was the crashing of stromfronts with the force of worlds behind them. And it all fed Him, because all things were ground in the gears of War.

Mia Monroe Darth Carnifex Quinn Varanin Darth Malum of House Marr Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Arla Rodarch Mig Gred Taeli Raaf Quintessa Ijaat Mereel

Sorry if I forgot someone.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"What pleasure would that have brought me, Liberator? Your suffering has only begun." The sacrilege that slipped past her lips caused the Dark Lord's well-maintained facade to briefly slip, the true monster hidden beneath the veil of nobility bearing it's sharpened teeth as His lips curled back in a snarl. That name had been abandoned a long time ago, it was no longer His. His daughter, Joycelyn, had briefly assumed the mantle, but it now lay alongside her in the grave.

A grave dug by Mandalorian hands.

Both of His blades flashed as they swung through the air, moving so fast the movements themselves became blurred and indistinct. He was a minister of violence, every atom of His physical body energized with the Dark Side, limbs moving autonomously and without thought. He did not need to think to attack, that wasted time. It took too long for the command to surge down from the brain and into the appropriate arm, He was now acting and reacting purely instinctively.

And while His body moved on it's own accord, His mind was free to analyze and survey. Oftentimes, a fallen weapon or Mandalorian body would fly up from the ground, soaring through the air like a missile towards one of His foes. Sometimes, the ground would buckle beneath their feet was as the molecules making up the solid metal would lose their binding energy briefly before regaining it, the platform quickly becoming pocked with patches of metal that had liquefied and then rapidly solidified again.

Dancing between both Mia and Ordo, Carnifex slammed both of His lightsabers together; the two hilts magnetically linking together. Spinning His newly made saberstaff in His hands, the Dark Lord's fighting style pivoted instantly. He was more aggressive, attacking faster and more concertedly. His anger had truly been stoked now, and it continued to burn colder and colder even as the sky above became obstructed by a dome of beskar iron. He back-flipped over an attack, landing on both feet as His eyes scanned His adversaries.

"Very good, animals, very good. Much more sporting than the rest of your kin. Let's see how long your flame will burn."

Despite the lack of natural light within the dome, His shadow had persisted beneath His feet. It was much slender than it should have been, with a very visibly feminine silhouette. His shadow now stretched out in all directions, a woman's laugh echoing over the walls as it stretched out across the ground and then began to climb the beskar walls. It would not stop until all the dome had been covered by darkness from the inside. Faces appeared in the wake of the shadow, mouths agape in a silent scream before they plunged back into the inky blackness. With saberstaff held in one hand, Carnifex stretched out the other towards Mia and Ordo and closed it into a fist.

From all about the darkness sprung forth imperceptible spears of shadow energy, spewing forth from the blackness like quarrels loosed from a crossbow. Raining down upon them.

Unrelenting.

Mia Monroe | Ordo | Elise Ahana-Gwyneira
Darth Malum of House Marr | Quinn Varanin ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"My apologies, Lady Varanin, I had not expected this either." They stated idly, never gazing away from the enemy in front of them.

There was a coldness in the air, the smell of death, neither surprising, nor unexpected, as corpses lay freshly rotting on the surface of the Despoiler on which they stood. Yet there was another feeling too, another smell, one that was barely perceptible, one which did not have obvious stimuli, yet a universal feeling all felt before the dawn of battle.

A feeling that they felt, as the nerves swirled about them every time they emerged upon the field of battle.

Those feelings of trepidation and fear, as one's strings of fate could be cut as easily as one's head.

Such fear would usually disappear as the splendour of battle gave way to its horrors when the heart quickened, and blood flowed like a deluge through one's form, as one was forced above their physical limits in the eternal war to survive.

Yet this time, it did not go away.

Swallowing their emotions, their throat was dry and raw.

Simply marvelling.

Marvelling at the speed, and power of those who were beyond them.

Or at least... beyond one of them.

"Focus!"

He blinked, the words barely more than a hissed whisper, yet, just as threatening, just as dangerous as a shout, his own voice, out of his own lips.

But he had not said it.

He had little time to ponder that question, as the giants moved, barely acknowledging their presence, giving them, but an order.

They ground their teeth, eyes snapping shut, as they felt the beskar pieces around them move, feeling her presence deep in their mind, confident, invigorated, her hands upon their shoulder, a comforting presence, so alike the so many times they had fought against each other in the depths of their mind. They did not even consider latching their hand around their amulet.

Today, he needed her.

To save Elsie.

There was a tremour in the back of their mind, their eyes opening after less than a moment of their closing. A great beskar dome, sat looming in front of them, enclosing those greatpowers in an iron cage.

Kaine... the giant of a Moridini- Mandal- Moridinizid.

Mia.

It mattered little, as they took the first formative step, feeling a quake with themselves, with their foot at its epicentre. Elsie, lay upon her knees, her bloodied, battered, broken form, an anguish of crimson tearing down his heart, she was safe.

They were but metres away, and their enemy, the great enemy, encased, entrapped, away, from the one that mattered most.

He was... without escape.

Their blazing orbs of different light turned away from Elise's form.

'An opportunity.'

They gazed upon the great beskar dome, feeling the energy contained from within, gazing through the cracks and barren holes and seeing nought but flashing lights, and a foreboding power brought out from all sides.

Could it be...

Their eyes looked towards Elise's again, there was something within them, clawing, desperate, needing, to go to her, to whisk her away from this place, to comfort her, to protect her.

Weakness, weak to the end.

They turned away from her the last time, as they felt the rumbling build up in their throat. The Force blew like the wind around him, raven locks adrift and aflight, no different from the ravens that flew above them all. Could this be their moment?

They raised their hand, a ring aglow as the flame gem felt their presence. Darkness whipped and whirled, the emotions, the feelings, the danger, the need, all that they had faced since Fiviune, since they had formed this Triumvirate, since all that had gone wrong, in the pursuit, the need, to rid the galaxy of the rule of immortal tyrants.

Passion beget strength, strength beget power, power beget victory.

Victory.

And the chains will be broken.

Each raven, flying to take up position, manifested each a Spear of Midnight Black, aimed through the narrowest margins, any weakness in the beskar wall, as they breathed in, a drake aiming to make flame.

And with a great explosion, a fire of great intensity, streamed out of his hands, as the ring glowed even greater, a blaze burning hotter, a fiery orange, rapidly turning even more powerful, a pale blue.

Encircling the dome, covering it from top to base in its scorching touch.

As the spears loosed.

They had interned themselves into a brazen bull.

And as a rogue tear fell down their face.

They would turn it into a tomb.

A burning sarcophagus filled with lambs for the slaughter.

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Quinn Varanin Darth Carnifex Mia Monroe Ordo

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

Equipment
Armor	Beskar'gam.
Melee Weapons	Copad'kal, "Ambition", personal Mandalorian Kal.
	Tar'Nau, Bes'manda Beskad.
	The Royal Dragon, lightsaber.
	Kada'yr, Mandalorian Kal.
	Iviin'cer, beskar spear.
Pistols	DXN-57 Breachlight blaster pistol.
	BH Durin Charric Blaster Pistol.
	AP-25i 'SIMP' Particle Beam Blaster.
	Mandalorian Ripper Pistol MK.II.
Other
	Auriel Combined Energy Bow.
	Mother's Root seeds [In secured bottle stored in belt.]
	Ground Mother's Root toxin [In secured bottle stored in belt.]

Darth Carnifex Mia Monroe Ordo Darth Malum of House Marr

Cyan colored text indicates an illusion.

... "... Malum?"

Elise blinked multiple times, through her tears, and reached out with the Force to confirm it. Indeed, the person standing several paces away from her was Malum Marr.

What are you...

Darth Carnifex could catch him! The Butcher King could do anything, he could certainly catch onto Malum's little game! Mia Monroe's spy. Elise Vizsla's lover. But dread only further encompassed her when she felt him through the Force... he was not himself. He was standing away from her, but she knew what color his eyes were. It was not the deep red she loved... she sensed... her influencing him.

Her chest collapsed in on itself.

She sensed the Force pulsate as Carnifex duelled the Mandalorian masters. All around her, she sensed the same concoction of Dark Side energy that Carnifex used a while back. Elise's eyes widened, as she looked towards where the three duelists were raging.

So far, Carnifex was winning. But the moment of horror only came now. Around them, a dome of Dark Side energy swallowed up the platform, trapping everyone inside. As Elise's infrared vision adjusted to the changes in light, she looked back to "Malum" in utter shock. Everything terrible that could have been happening... was happening...

Elise stirred. The blankets felt heavy on her, and the pillow was like an enticing cloud. She opened her eyes, looking at the wall of an inn through her messy hair. Memory returned to her. She had bought a room on the bottom floor of a local inn, in a distant world. It was where she and Malum had convened for a secret meeting.

She yawned, turning over as the bed creaked. She was struggling to wake up, but realized what had woken her up.

It was freezing! As if there was no heating at all in this room.

She once again opened her weary eyes. Malum was already up, wrapped up in the robe for warmth. Elise sat up, looking at him on the other side of the bed. She grabbed a heavy, fuzzy robe and put it on as she scooted towards her lover.

She wrapped one arm around him, seeking warmth. The other hand touched his face. Soft, smiling, but frigid, she tried to get some warmth from her beloved as she kissed his cheek.

"Morning! It's colder than Hoth in here..."

A weak smile came upon his face, as he wiped away the last of the tiredness from his eyes. He turned to face her.

Leaning into her, he teasingly whined at the kiss upon his cheek, as his smile transformed into a smirk.

"I would rather take the colds of Hoth, than the deserts of Tatooine." He nuzzled his nose against hers, as he wrapped his own arms around her, pulling them against each other, needing her heat against him.

Elise teared up, the intimate memory dissipating as she felt it. She felt the spears loosed, like a barrage of arrows, towards the fighters... all three fighters.

She gasped, lifting her hand from the puddle of blood. The need for secrecy was outmatched by the need to keep her mentor and her mentor's brother alive. After all, they all were here, fighting Carnifex, because of her. She grabbed his ankle, crying out.

"Stop! Please!"

She shuddered from the force of the movement, which had worked to further open one of her own spear impalings. She lurched over, heaving and spewing blood from her mouth. From the bottom of her buy'ce, the red liquid dripped from the brim of the helmet to the ground.

 

[Mia Monroe]

The dome plunged them into low light, illuminated only by the glow of the sabers, Carnifex's shifting style force Mia to shift into the defensive, deflecting His attacks before He broke away. They were in Their element, Ordo and Mia, siblings whose bond had been forged through a century of war.

Her anger pulsed at His taunt, but Her eyes moved to the shadows He created, that engulfed them. Instinct drew Her close to Ordo and She closed Her eyes, shrouding them in a protective barrier as She felt the pinpricks of darkness form. They hammered down like heavy rain on a tin roof, dissipating against it as She opened Her eyes.

"Vornskr," The air began to vibrate within the dome, crackling with energy, lightning skipping off the beskar dome, striking at seeming random spots creating superheated pools of beskar wherever it struck, a wind picked up around them with Ordo and Mia at its centre point. "You forget yourself. You forget where you are. The only reason you succeeded in your past endeavours against Our people, is because We were not here."

She smiled beneath Her helmet. the beskar dome held firm despite the force winds tearing around them as Mia poured Her fury into the storm. Lightning continuing to arc from nowhere and everywhere, each strike driven towards him as the temperature began to rise.

Mia could not allow herself to be distracted, she had to hope, that beyond the dome, Malum was doing as he promised.

That he was protecting Elise.

Ordo Darth Carnifex Darth Malum of House Marr Quinn Varanin Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Ordo]

Ordo's body moved with the instincual motions of a warrior. One of the few beings He knew that could match the Sith King in simple saber combat, He gained a step and returned it hundreds of times in mere moments. Their battle simply feeding them each in their own ways. Darth Carnifex fed on the anger, hate and frustrations around him and Ordo fed on the extension of the conflict. The simple act of waging War bolstered His strength, added endurance and fed Him power in quantity. And He feasted greedily.

The gale force winds began as the spears of invisible dark energy collided with the barrier from Mia Monroe His bound sister. And He smirked at Carnifex through the tempest. With a thought the beskar dome, slowly turning orange from the heat of their exchange and Carinex's power, began extending spikes from its walls behind The Sith and strove to follow His movements. Just like spike traps from a Sith tomb the hot metal would extend and retract as if They were locked in a domain of super heated death.

"More." Ordo said though His words were likely torn away by the winds, "Keep coming."

Darth Malum of House Marr Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Quinn Varanin

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I succeed regardless of you, Liberator. I am a doom upon your people. All of your beastly kind will carry their fear of me through what wasting generations remain, for I am the scourge." No whirling gale, however frightful, could diminish the rumbling boom of the Dark Lord's proclamation; voice like the breaking of ice and the rending of stars. He'd stopped fighting, His blade held down low as power surged through Him and around Him. Sparks of scarlet lightning danced through the air, striking the beskar dome again and again. Wherever they struck, the metal superheated and began to melt; bolstered by the heat already coursing through it.

Each spike that dove for His body was likewise struck, the tip melting away like wax as unendurable heat lanced through the metal down to it's very base. The inner walls of the dome were sagging, metal starting to slough off and congeal near the edges where the dome met the metal platform below. "You will scrape along in this meager existence of yours, Liberator, fighting futilely to preserve what little of your people remain. My strength is unending, my legions infinite, and I have the patience of all the stars. Destroy my despoilers in the air, scatter my Graug upon the ground, reclaim your infinitesimal world; ruined as it is. It matters not, I will never stop hunting your kind."

The heat tightly bound within the walls was suddenly thrust downward into the metal throne platform, which was made of less resilient material. It began to super-heat rapidly as well, a glowing wave of red-hot heat spreading out from the epicenter within the dome. The ground beneath their feet became softer, less stable, and eventually began to cave in on itself.

"Kill as many as you like, I will replenish them again and again."

Mia Monroe | Ordo | Elise Ahana-Gwyneira
Darth Malum of House Marr | Quinn Varanin ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

They grinned into the flames, watching the dome congeal and ooze from without, as well as within, hoping, the smoke caused, trapped within, worked their effect, worked their way to their lungs, made it impossible to breathe as oxygen gave way to black oily tar, rising up, hoping to be let free by the air outside.

Instead.

Trapped within, trapped within the tomb of their own creation.

They may have been immortal.

Yet even immortals needed to breathe.

Something was working across them, tearing through them, they felt it in their heart, in their soul, in their mind, but they suppressed it, ignored it, furthering the flames, a flamethrower becoming a pure torrent of wildfire, where flames licked the metal, they now pushed further, pushing deeper, the molecular structure of the beskar, his flames became hotter, a blue-white flame, turning a darker blue, a flame more passionate, a flame greater than the plasma of a blaster, the blade of a lightsabre.

They gazed freely into the flames, staring deeply, unblinking into a fire that could blind them, the beskar dome, became a veritable half sun, as it melted inward, as it shrunk, pushing closer.

They had them.

Victory was theirs.

They felt pain at the back of their head.

They felt clawing upon their ankle, a voice familiar, one that brought out as many mixed and contradictory emotions as did everything in this present situation.

Eyes, one a blazing orange, another a bloody red, stared down upon the bloodied husk of... obst-, girlf-, distr-, compa-, confu-, lov-.

A headache broke out across their mind, a voice screaming into the void unheard, as eyes stared down upon... theirs.

Haunting.

Haunting red eyes.

So... familiar.

Why do you torment us?!

They raised their free hand, pointing it down toward the Moridinizi- the Moridinizi-... the Moridinizi-...? The Mandalorian.

Hesitation gripped them as the voice grew louder within their head, a voice so familiar, yet a voice... unable to...

Lightning coiled around their fingers, lightning with no thunder, as the flames poured still out of the free hand, as the carrion circled still, new pairs of dark spears formed seemingly out of the smoke that rose from the beskar below, as a new salvo prepared to be launched.

They were reinvigorated, they knew exactly what they needed to do, the distraction, the mistake, would be ended, here and now.

"Malum."

He took in a deep breath,

As he felt himself centre.

The voice from the back of his mind.

As he felt the spears form, as he felt the torrent of flames pour, as he felt the lightning swirl.

As he felt the orange leave his eyes.

"The phylactery remains, you are not ready to usurp his cause."

Her voice spoke through his mind, her voice guided him still, gave him good council and advice even now.

His eyes adrift, his throat parched, unable to gaze upon what he created, as he found himself staring down upon...

His Elsie...

He... was about to...

She... did not want...

He felt the pinpricks in his eyes, yet adrenaline poured through and kept him still.

Horror built up within him.

He had not been... controlled.

He had fought her.

He had... wanted... this.

The flames ceased, the spears fell as the ravens disappeared.

The lightning remained, curled around his fingers, pointed downwards, and red eyes met red.

Weakness...

...Distraction...

...Betrayal.

Red eyes.

Red eyes.

He opened the bond he so rarely did, her presence... his...

He felt the Force pour through it, he stole, as the lightning her lightning so brilliantly, so purely white, became something else entirely.

As red, as his eyes.

As red as their eyes.

He blinked.

And the lightning was gone.

What had he... thought to do?

What had he... wanted to do?

The tears fell freely now, as the weight upon his chest, upon his heart grew, he breathed in, he breathed out. In an instant, wave, after wave of darkness spilled out of him. Covering the Despoiler entirely, darkness to make them all blind, he fell upon his knees.

His arms cradled her, he felt the blood upon her skin, and he...

He wept.

"I am sorry." He whispered.

And within a moment.

Time and space bent around them.

And they were gone.

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira Mia Monroe Ordo Darth Carnifex Quinn Varanin

 

[Ordo]

Darth Carnifex Mia Monroe @Everyone

The spikes melted as they neared Carnifex. The dome was wilting faster and faster as the hurricane winds began escaping sending shrapnel into the air instead of scouring The Sith Lord to the bone. Ordo met Carnifex blade to blade once more the light from the strikes casting each in flashes of brilliant light even while cast in the orange-red glow from molten beskar. They had Him. It was a battle of attrition now. Only a matter of time. It had taken death and learning at the feet of unfathomable beings to finally understand how powerful They could become. So crippled Their thinking had been before. So limited.

"I've missed this, Kaine." He spoke and drove the words at the Sith Lord.

And then.

The floor started to break apart from the center. Ordo's lips peeled back from His teeth behind the T-shaped visor but reacted quickly. The molten walls of Beskar began to turn around them, cooling then slightly before He raised an armored hand and brought it down in a dashing motion.

"Mia." Was all He needed to say. She would know.

The entire platform broke apart. The walls turned back into flickering molten beskar sand and spun out and away as they, all three, began to fall.

 

[Mia Monroe]

She felt them leave, she felt Elise' pain, Malum's rage and despair...and then they were gone. Relief washed over here, knowing he would get her somewhere safe, that she could focus entirely on the battle before her.

"When dealing with a scourge, it is best to do so at its source, Vornskr. We will wipe you from this existence. We will always be there to stand in your way."

Even with the warning, Mia could not stop the lurch in her stomach as gravity pulled them down, the damaged despoiler tipping away from them to crash into the battlefield below. The maelstrom dropped and she grabbed Kaine in the force, pulling herself towards him bringing them back to blows, the three of them dropping with increasing speed, force and fire growing around them as they dropped like a comet.

Ordo Darth Carnifex