Listening to her explanation, Avreet occasionally nodded, though a disapproving frown formed on his face when the Acolyte expressed her wish to defeat Jedi by sword and not by word. Another brainless brute, then? Avreet gave Taeli a look that could kill, slightly doubting her teaching capability now. Was her sister pampered or taught how to be a proper Sith? Given how much the Sith Lady wished to keep her family together, he wouldn’t be surprised if her training methods were soft. “Then I'd advice you to lie down on a mattress, Lady Arcanix,” Avreet wisely replied to her remark, “That way you won’t get hurt if you fall unconscious out of boredom.”
With that, the Mon Cal unclipped the curved hilt from the belt and ignited his lightsaber with a press of a button and a characteristic hiss of superheated plasma springing to life that followed, its crimson light illuminating his figure. Veles brought the blade up vertically in front of his face, red light radiating from the lightsaber making his eyes appear to glow in the same color as the weapon, before swinging down in Makashi flourish and performing a Makashi salute, illuminating the floor now as he pointed the tip of the blade down alongside his body. “Makashi. Out of all seven forms of lightsaber combat, Makashi is the one most focused on lightsaber duels.” Taking a few steps away from Acolyte Raaf, the Mon Calamari gained some space and pointed the blade in his right hand at her, the tip aiming at the woman’s chest. “As you can see, unlike the other forms, Makashi is mostly one handed style. Other styles have you hold your lightsaber in both hands and relatively close to your body most of the time. By pointing at your opponent as I am pointing at you, you effectively gain increased range of both attack and defence. Now watch my footwork very closely.”
Planting one booted foot in front of the other, the amphibious Sith assumed the stance and with mere two steps, he advanced towards Melori, his weapon arm fully extended as it ripped through the air right next to her left arm. “I can easily close the space between us very quickly by simply placing one leg in front of another in long strides. This is important, as Makashi focuses on finding the right moment to attack, unlike the other forms that are full of senseless swinging. No, Makashi is about waiting for your opponent to make a mistake and then quickly deliver a fatal hit by suddenly closing the distance between you and your opponent by simply moving towards them. See how my arm is still fully extended? I do not need to swing the blade around, I am always ready to attack. All the energy of the lightsaber will be focused into one point as I close the distance and basically impale my opponent.” The Sith tried to explain while showing the moves.
His large eye swivelled and looked at the female Acolyte, “The best defence if either parrying the opponent’s blade, or dodging it. You can try to block and get into a saberlock, though I’d advice against it unless you’re physically strong enough. And by that I mean cybernetic augmentations are almost necessary, as you will be pushing with one hand, your opponent with two. You can use that to your advantage though; your free hand can release Force lightning or Force push at your opponent who will have a very hard time blocking it.”
One step back and he could afford to point the blade at the blonde woman again, still holding the hilt in one hand of a fully extended arm, the tip of the energy beam mere centimetres away from the Acolyte’s chest. “And this is how you dodge by getting out of your opponent’s range. It is the same thing as closing the distance between you and the enemy, only instead of advancing, you move backwards. It is quick and efficient to gain distance. Now, notice the distance between us. Opponents not using Makashi would be unable to hit my body with their lightsabers. I have much greater range and they can only attack either my weapon or my arm, unless they move closer. Now, if I need to protect my arm and lightsaber hilt,” Veles smiled and quickly moved his entire arm back before rapidly stabbing forward again. “This let my opponent swing at my lightsaber without hitting it, and I immediately moved to use this moment to attack. If they target your arm instead,” the Mon Calamari simply let his arm down, the lightsaber was now pointed towards the floor and he took another step back before raising his lightsaber again to aim at the blonde. “This saved my arm and also removed me from my opponent’s range had they decided to press their attack while my blade is not pointing at them. Very useful,” he said, watching the woman.
After speaking, Veles proceeded to flick his wrist, elegantly moving his lightsaber around in various angles, his moves relaxed and yet fast. “As you hold your arm fully extended, use primarily your wrist for moving your weapon from one area of your opponent’s body to another. It is quick, efficient, and does not require much energy at all. As you might have noticed, it allows me to deliver swift and light cuts to my enemy as well. Those are not usually lethal, but they hurt and give you an excellent way of distracting or disarming your opponent if you wish so. Now, to kill your opponent, always use stabs and jabs. Never, ever try to copy the wild sweeps of other forms that many combatants use to cut their opponent in half! Not only it is unethical, but it wastes your precious stamina. A simple stab into the head or chest will effectively kill your enemy with minimal loss of energy.” The Sith Master explained, extinguishing the blade and relaxing his right arm, though not placing the lightsaber hilt back on the belt yet.
“That means you will have an advantage when facing lightsaber wielding opponents. It is clearly superior to other lightsaber forms, though there are some weaknesses. Makashi does not address the issue of blocking blaster bolts, but do not let that fool you; with enough practice, you will be able to deflect shots just fine… especially since you’re going to use two lightsabers,” Veles winked at her, smiling. “Indeed. Being a one handed style, you will practice with both of your hands equally. It is necessary and gives you a chance of survival when one of your hands gets cut off. Once you are proficient, your Master or I will further educate you in a lightsaber technique called Jar'Kai... It usually serves to let practitioners of other styles than Makashi to use two blades at once, but in your case, it will further improve your skill with dual lightsabers. Have you ever heard of Ventress? Possibly the most famous user of this combination of Makashi and Jar'Kai. Look her up in our library.”
Darth Veles paused for a second, knowing this demonstration and all the new information might have been a bit too much for the student. “Do you have any questions so far? Something you’d like to hear again or maybe receive a more thorough explanation of some of the moves?” he asked and gave the young woman a pleasant smile.
[member="Darth Arcanix"] [member="Melori Raaf"]
