Loose Ends

[Darth Empyrean]

Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032
Cirqa 853 ABY

Interacting With: [member="Nilia Saavilin"] │ [member="Alexandra Feanor"] │ [member="Arekk"]
___________________________________________________

Each strike was met with Arekk’s own, a display to his own foresight in the Force. Maliphant moved with the speed of a proverbial god, and yet his assault was met with close what ifs, and glancing blows; all of which only served to increase his anger. None of them had struck, none of his attempts to end the fight early were successful, but Form Seven couldn’t help but force him to enjoy that it was taking time to end the Jedi’s life. The smallest of grins fell upon his face as he felt the pressure of a strike to his leg.

Arekk had, amidst the assault, kicked Maliphant’s shin and forcing him off balance. It tore away his power, causing a lull in his strikes as the Jedi Knight took advantage of the situation; bringing a makashi orientated strike towards his head with a brutal intent. Maliphant’s speed was his saving grace as his invisible lightsaber moved to block the strike, oriented directly towards Arekk’s stomach, as the dual phase nature of the invisible blade took its chance to display. It shot out, double in size as it moved to cut deep into the Jedi’s stomach with a cruel and unhonorable tactic, but one that fit well into a Sith’s repertoire of strategies.

Regardless, the need to create was paramount, and his free hand built the force in a massive quantity. Without his training armor weighing him down, pulling his power, the force built with an intensity that was nearly visible, a ball of pure telekinetic energy that ripped and tore at its contaminants in the cage of his fingers as he launched it towards Arekk’s stomach, exploding on contact and hopefully sending the two apart.

As it went off, the air around them exploded in a singular broken sonic boom that snapped at the ear drums, and tore at any exposed skin with an intensity that pulled hair from skin. Maliphant grimaced as it struck himself, a bruise forming on his palm at the result of the strike; an obvious display of how his own power moved far past his own endurance. He would need to condition himself far more in the future to handle how strong his powers were becoming, but that would be a thought for the future.

Maliphant sighed as he moved to stand, letting his hand pulse in pain from the assault, but ready for Arekk if he still stood.

 

[Arekk]

_______________________________________________________________________​

CORUSCANT, THE CORE WORLDS​

FIGHTING​

_______________________________________________________________________​

"The gilding on the mask had cracked to reveal the rot underneath."​

♫ // Gear: Lightsaber, Pistol, Armor // w. [member="Nilia Saavilin"], [member="Darth Maliphant"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

Their duel was over as soon as it started.

His opponent was an all too powerful master of both the Force and the art of the lightsaber, an inhumane velocity with the lightsaber gave him the final upperhand during the battle and eventually became Ar'ekk's demise. Though he managed to stay on his feet and give him some resistance at some extent, the former Jedi turned slicer eventually succumbed as he was hit in the stomach and subsequently sent flying with a massive telekinetic shockwave.

The armor was pierced right in the middle by Maliphant's invisible blades which caused him to bleed out rather quick, a small pool forming under his body seconds after falling on the ground. His eyes moved around rapidly trying to come into terms with what was going on, mind going through every single moment lived by the man until that point, the good parts and the bad ones as well.

Say what you want but he wouldn't die just yet, Alex had the choice to either retrieve Nilia or take Ar'ekk back to the ship and give him a chance to survive however he didn't have much time left so a decision would have to be made on the spot.

"I tried, Nilia. I really did." Their bond was still there, he could feel it, so reaching out to her wouldn't prove to be so difficult. "I'm sorry."

 

[Nilia Saavilin]

The Core, Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032, Undetermined Time
The Laws Of Thermodynamics | Interacting with [member="Darth Maliphant"] | [member=Arekk], [member="Alexandra Feanor"] ~ Good Thing ~ "I come on one moment, I been burning out, I been black and blue and back in my bones."
——————————————————————

She had stepped back quickly once the duel had taken hold, dark eyes wide with watching the conflict. Her first instinct was to snap at her own Master, rebuke him for trying to insinuate she'd abandon him like that, but in the end, there was too sensory overload. Nilia's mind lagged processing the swift brutality of Maliphant and the equal courage of Ar'ekk.

His words stuck with her, though. I'm going to help you.

"I don't need help." The girl had breathed loosely, knowing none would hear her over the startling sounds of lightsabers clashing. She was helpless in the moment; no weapon of her own, she hadn't even gotten close to constructing a weapon such as theirs, even then, her time with training sabers was laughable. [member=Thesh] had, no doubt, beaten her in combat on more than one occasion. How was that to measure to the unknown thread of a Grandmaster, or the blade of an old friend if it came to that?

It didn't. Maliphant's prowess was something she had underestimated (A mistake she would not like to make again, truly) so she was left to clutching to the jacket around her, simply staring at Ar'ekk and the blood. It was... Jarring. Very jarring. In the deepest pits of her rage she had imagined the image, of course, but to actually see it? To actually sense his ebbing force, to practically smell the rusty tang? It was different. It was real. It was brutal.

Death, true death, was a stranger grown, "Mal?" She softly questioned, her senses redlined; the danger was not yet passed. There was more to expect here. It didn't help that, unexpectedly, she felt the chord of her link to Ar'ekk strengthen, like a pull in her gut. Her response came, soft, but cold.

"I never asked you to try."

"I didn't want this."

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra dropped to the ground with everyone focused on the fight between Arekk and Maliphant, watching it with passiveness of her own as she shadowed Nilia, standing near her with the world around them being Alexandra's cloak. This place stunk of people and darkness, something that hid her well with the other three so absorbed and as she walked closer she watched as Arekk suffered his wound. Alexandra's hand flicked forward and a dagger came from one of the holsters, finding her hand with a quick movement she placed it to the back of Nilia's throat.

Alexandra did not enjoy playing around and she stared at Maliphant's back before clearing her throat, letting the man catch onto her voice and the direction it was coming from. Nilia's last set of words would have finished before the blade found her throat and now Alexandra looked at the woman through the side of her mask, staring at the woman's eyes and shaking her head. The motion was a warning, not to try something or else find yourself in a worse situation.

It was then that she looked at Arekk and frowned, seeing the damage but knowing she could fix it if she had the time. Her eyes turned now to Maliphant and the free hand moved to grab a grenade from her side, arming it and speaking.

"I would suggest leaving the man alive, otherwise your friend here will find a blade in her throat. Try to engage me and I release the activation of the thermal detonator, and we all die." She paused, letting Maliphant choose and only then would she speak again, her voice measured and likely very familiar for Maliphant.

"Now, with all that said, you are going to allow me to retrieve my friend. I will be taking your lover as a hostage until I reach the moron on the ground's ship, at which point, after takeoff, your friend here will be placed in an escape pod and allowed to leave. If you choose to attempt any form of hinderance throughout the process, she will need some healing of her own, or we will all be blown to bits."

Alexandra did not lie, or flinch in saying that. She had suffered slower deaths, and a blast from a grenade would be plenty quick as compared to the others. She merely stared and waited for the man's reaction, or for someone to test her on the threat, to check and see if the masked woman was bluffing.

 

[Arekk]

_______________________________________________________________________​

CORUSCANT, THE CORE WORLDS​

FIGHTING​

_______________________________________________________________________​

"The gilding on the mask had cracked to reveal the rot underneath."​

♫ // Gear: Lightsaber, Pistol, Armor // w. [member="Nilia Saavilin"], [member="Darth Maliphant"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

"I hope you realize soon enough what you're doing. This is not you, the girl I met on Manaan and Eadu. I loved you, Nilia. But that wasn't strong enough to save you."

Though his vision was blurry and the pain coming from his open wound was unbearable at times, Ar'ekk did his best to conserve energies and make sure that Alexandra was okay if she decided to intervene on this "little" situation they had gotten themselves into. It looked bad and almost like Maliphant had triumphed but a glimmer of hope remained in the air, as long as there was a will then there was a way.

Crawling couldn't have been a worse idea but he had to try it anyways as he moved towards where the trio was standing in an attempt to get a better view of what was unfolding. His instructions to his Jedi friend were clear and concise, nothing could happen to Nilia as long as he lived. Facing the Sith Lord himself was already a dumb enough idea already but it was worth the shot for him, putting Alex in danger now was too stupid since he had proved himself in battle.

Powerful and lethal.

"Don't hurt her, Alex!" His voice broke while shouting, using the remainder of his energy to simply howl that command. "Go without me. Let me die and save yourself!"

Could this be the end?

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032
Cirqa 853 ABY

Interacting With: [member="Nilia Saavilin"] │ [member="Alexandra Feanor"] │ [member="Arekk"]
___________________________________________________

The Sith heard before he felt, his ears twitching at the onset of Alex’s voice. While he expected Arekk were not so foolish to have come alone without the reiteration of his Jedi Training, somewhere in Maliphant’s mind he had hoped that there would be only one that intended to harm them tonight, only one who would seek his destruction. They came for Nilia, but the truth of the matter was that they sought to kidnap his apprentice, his friend, and that which he had shared the entire night with.

A harsh, broken electrum gaze worked its way back to the form of Alex, piercing golden stare of an unknown fiery source looked her solely in the eyes, almost past Nilia. As the fear, hate, anger, and every aspect of the emotional spectrum flooded between the group, the Dark Side only grew in prowess, grew in strength until its potency was almost palpable, only to be overcome by the heartbeat of an artifact that should have never existed. Deep inside Maliphant’s body was that of the unnameable, the unknowable, its enigmatic, eldritch call pushing waves of Dark Side energy in all directions as the many stood their ground.

His words were quiet, but as The Force entered him only to be corrupted, so to did his tone of voice. An octet of pitches, all his own but all a different emotion, came out at once in a disgusting cacophony of pitches;

“D̮̗r͖o̦͕͚̫p̸̼͉.̰͔̻ ̬͎̣̟̘́Ḫ̺̩̖̹̱e̠̦̺̳̣r̩͉̰͉͙͕.̤͞”, he said. A simple message, but one that carried with it more weight than she knew.

As Arekk spoke, the unmoving Maliphant did nothing to look in his direction, but it had inspired in him something he was no fool to believe in. Without trust, with no foundation to believe in the stranger before him, his hand opened and Arekk’s semi limp body drug itself through the blood to create a trail before his throat ended in the vice grip of Maliphant’s hold, his breath heavy and drawn out. His sheer presence in the force seemed to magnify by the second, taking itself from innumerable sources as the veins in his face grew darker, and his skin began to flake at the sheer presence of power within him.

There he held the Jedi, waiting for Alex’s next move, as much as the primal urge to kill radiated off the quickly darkening Sith Lord, he made no movements. Despite all that he stood as, his admiration of Nilia overtook even the darkness that his heart was slowly losing itself to, all for her protection. With an infinite power, he still held doubts he could save her, and her life was not to be put at risk on the weight of his inadequacies.

 

[Nilia Saavilin]

The Core, Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032, Undetermined Time
The Laws Of Polarity | Interacting with [member="Darth Maliphant"] | [member="Arekk"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"] ~ The Lion & The Wolf ~ "The lion's outside of your door; the wolf's in your bed."
——————————————————————

Nilia flinched at the feeling of a weapon. A real one, not one of energy and plasma. Steel, true steel that was reliable and deadly in its purpose. There was no recognition of the woman, even if they had met before, but dark narrowed eyes focused down upon the emotionless masked visage. In truth, she had predicted this; but it made her helplessness in the situation only fuel her own reliance on the Dark Side.

She was her Master's apprentice, after all. That hateful gleam to her eyes spoke to it all the same. The Nilia of Manaan and Eadu had been killed by something far stronger and more stalwart.

That, however, didn't quite stop even the briefest of trembles shuddering through her system at the way Maliphant had sounded. She was still a novice in the realms of shadows, but this seemed an unfathomable depth, one she'd never reach without breaking entirely. Still, her gaze dropped from Alexandra to Ar'ekk in Maliphant's hands. And all she would say, even with the threat at her neck, was a simple, "Don't test him."

Was there any escape from this, or was this her fate? Those eyes, at last, fell on Maliphant, his slow-growing corruption, their eyes meeting for a brief second before, she knew, all pandemonium was to break loose in this dangerous moment. Her breath was short despite her confidence in him, hands fisted in the jacket around her shoulders almost as a self-comfort.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Arekk"] took all of ten seconds to break the whole point of her wearing a mask and with that she sighed, letting her presence in the force expand out just as Maliphant's was, the mask sliding upwards with the force as she looked out from under it. The hood and the bottom of the mask would hide her face from camera's and her red hair dropped from her hood and rested there. The familiar face that Maliphant would know would be smiling, the grenade in her second hand beeping as she continued to hold onto it.

"... Five minutes, you couldn't keep up a ruse for five minutes?" She sighed and pushed the point of the blade against Nilia's throat, not enough to draw blood but a quick motion would plunge it into her neck if Alexandra had to. Her hand turned the blade slightly and she let the smile turn into a lopsided grin as she stared Maliphant in the eyes.

As she watched the man, her own presence continued to expand outwards. Just as Maliphant had done some growing, so had Alexandra, most notably her mind was no longer split in three and a certain dark spirit was no longer there. She also now had her children, and a new finding as well as the happiness she had wanted for years back in her hands. That happiness, that complete being, and that love she drew on made her own grip on the force surge and her grin became more and more feral as she started to bring the grenade out to the side, laughing a bit.

"Question, how many chunks will your lover here become after a blast from a Thermal Detonator. And, will you choose to protect her, or yourself... and warning, I never come with one..." She laughed a bit more and the grenade left her hand, dropping to the ground and protected by Alexandra's own grip on the force, unable to be influenced by Maliphant. Alexandra's eyes faded into the milky grey look that she fell onto in a fight, and a barrier formed around her ears, waiting for the blast.

And as it hit the ground, the blast happened. A blinding flash coupled with the a cannon like sound going off less than a few feet from all of them sounded, filling the area with enough light to bath a summer beach. The light didn't stop either, Alexandra turning and with a burst of force energy, tried to throw Nilia backwards. She had used a great deal of power for the next step though, letting Nilia go back on her own or through Alex's efforts, right as the space around her folded apart and Nilia was cast down into a patch of grass, a heavily breathing woman staring at her before that portal closed, leaving Nilia in a garden that contained a single tree, with a nexus that radiated the lightside intensely.

She would not be left there alone for long though, no alex needed to make sure she had her own card to play.

Alexandra would turn on Maliphant now, the light from the grenade still filling the area and with Alexandra's physical sight gone, she did not need to worry about it. Her body shuddered for a moment, shifting into the more animal like appearance that the Zorren could take on and with a burst of energy behind her heels, she would attempt to ram into Maliphant before he could deal with the light from the grenade, or make true on his words. Just as she had done with Nilia, Alexandra would slam into Maliphant and drag him with her through another fold in space, bringing Arekk with them as they would tumble into the very same garden she had sent Nilia too.

Had all this worked, Alexandra would attempt to remove Arekk from Maliphant's grasp as her last action before jumping away and placing herself between Maliphant, and the Tree that Nilia would have been left beside. Hopefully with Arekk in her arms now and her eyes returning to their normal state as she breathed heavily.

That had wiped out a large supply of energy, opening rifts across such a vast distance on such short notice was straining and she looked absolutely drained as she stood there. But at the same time, strands of light started peeling from the tree like vines, crawling through the air and impaling Alexandra through the chest. it curled up her spine and out to her limbs, acting like a new nervous system as she would go to lay Arekk down (had she been able to take him from Maliphant). Her hand grabbed one of the strands of light, tearing it from her body and causing blood to drop from her nose as she connected the strand to Arekk's own life force.

"There... much better..." She would say, letting her body relaxs slightly and reaching up to wipe away the blood that had been leaking from her nose now.

[member="Nilia Saavilin"]
[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032
Cirqa 853 ABY

Interacting With: [member="Nilia Saavilin"] │ [member="Alexandra Feanor"] │ [member="Arekk"]
___________________________________________________

A snarl was all Maliphant was able to produce as the grenade left her fingers and exploded; proving not to be a thermal detonator, but a flashbang of sorts that sought to disrupt him. The only issue, Maliphant had given up physical sight long ago in his slow churn towards the personification of all that was unholy in the galactic plane; doing little but destroying a sense he no longer relied on. He could feel the force drive Nilia to somewhere unknown, quickly marking the area in his mind, only to realize Alex had intended to commit the same action to him and Arekk.

He felt her slam into him, but he failed to fall, nor even jolt despite sliding. The Force kept him rigid, a titan now as he was pressed into the nexus of the Tree, a garden to show Alex’s entire ascension to her position. Maliphant looked around in the slow manner time seemed to move, realizing just where they were at, but it was a mistake. Not for Maliphant, but for Alex; and as soon as he became engulfed in the tree of life’s nexus, so too would the deep dark side engine in his soul ignite and drag all that expanded through the area into his control.

The fuel that his power relied on was the endless amounts of energy found in a Nexus, and just as Marka Ragnos’s saber could do much the same, so too did his entirety begin to darken even further as those few flakes of skin that fell from his face seemed to ignite before touching the ground, those electrum colored eyes falling to pure abysmal darkness as a black matte nature overtook all that they once were. The Force wrapped around Maliphant in the form of long winding tendrils of pure energy, each wraithing and pulsing as he took a single step forward; only to witness Alexandra moving to connect Arekk to her life force; perhaps to heal him, perhaps to protect him.

What she needed however, was to protect herself.

Wth her attention pulled away, Maliphant seemed to teleport; folding space between the two and appearing just behind her, his many voices lowering in pitch and becoming far more abysmal than they ever had before. His words felt like nails on a blackboard, tearing at the psyche with an infernal anger;

“Í͕̮ ͏̜̹̝̦̮w͕͈͙͔̪̰͈ar̝̼͙̬͎̕n̛͎̥̲̯̟̫ḙ̖̗̹̖̹̝͜d̞ ̝y͕̫̠̗ǫ̹͔u̗̤̬̝͖.͚͈̠̦̺̠”, he said quietly, but it was not his voice that enacted the threat, but his hand.

As Arekk likely looked on his horror, the dark side tendrils that wrapped around his skin, encompassed his being, able to tear apart matter in the moment of seconds, followed along his hand to wrap his palm in their eldritch power. A black coating running rampant with energy as he violently threw it at the Grandmaster’s throat, not looking to choke her, but with an immense strength of unheard of in the mortal plane, crush through it and send her flying in a single motion.

It was minor, in the grand scheme of things, unlikely to work if she had been paying attention, but for the sake of the moment it would be perfect to catch the Grandmaster off guard; though in the nexus was unlikely to take her life no matter how powerful of a blow it was. With this in mind, Maliphant seemed to rush forward to Nilia, purple flaming footsteps left in his wake as an affront to the beauty that inhabited the Garden, slowly removing the tendrils that surrounded him and kneeling towards her, a certain sadness in his expression as he moved to hold her hand;

“N͈̭̭̬̺̠͕͜il͓͎̭i̛ͅa̜͇͍,̢̘ ͟ͅI҉͓̩͖̜̜̮’̰͖̞͚̥̞̝m̛ ͓̟̹so̘̲͙r̘̰r̖͕̳͔̳̟y̹̟͙͖̞.̫̣̘͓ ̶͔͍̟̮͍̱̥A̝̤̜̞͚̲r͙e̲͇ ͍̤̲̜͡y̮͕̩̗̫͇̺ọ͕̟̝̳̙̪͡u͕̪̘̬̳̺̠ ̮̖̻̝a̬̲͉͎͈̻̬l̳r͔͇̘̮̤̪̗i̬̝͉͕̙g̰̣͞h͕̱̭͙̟ͅt̯̤̱̮?̴”, the many tones said. Unnerving, but wholesome in their intent.

 

[Arekk]

_______________________________________________________________________​

CORUSCANT, THE CORE WORLDS​

FIGHTING​

_______________________________________________________________________​

"The gilding on the mask had cracked to reveal the rot underneath."​

♫ // Gear: Lightsaber, Pistol, Armor // w. [member="Nilia Saavilin"], [member="Darth Maliphant"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

Little room to even think about not revealing Alex's true identity beneath the mask which she would eventually get rid off to confront Maliphant face-to-face. In his agony, Ar'ekk hoped that she would last longer than him as their battle was cut short due to his dettachment from the Force ever since he stepped on Lithios and zero training efforts to perfect his technique with the lightsaber. That's what a year and a half of almost relying on a blaster does to you and only he was to blame for that.

Feeling the grip of Maliphant's palm on his throat almost choking him was unnerving to say the least and combined with his open stomach wound things turned dark really quick. Grimacing in pain as he held himself by grabbing the Sith Lord's arm, Ar'ekk tried to wiggle around in an futile attempt to release himself. That wouldn't take long until Alex decided to make her next move and blind everyone in sight, him included, and back away with Nilia.

The slicer's body thumped against the durasteel platform like a sack of potatoes, holding himself in complete pain. The constant moving around abruptly had him almost out of breath and the only reason he hadn't closed his eyes and called it a goodbye was because of the healing done by Alex through the Force with her own life force.

"Ugghhh!" He exclaimed as the scuffle continued, tapping on his cybernetic's arm built-in interface and brandishing the blades that were concealed within. "If I'm dying, then I'll give them a little bit of hell before that happens."

And with that, the sharp edged daggers flew across in Maliphant's direction while he was distracted in an attempt to land a couple of hits, surely he wouldn't be expecting anything coming from a half-dead man that was practically on life support at that point.

A surprise to be sure.

 

[Nilia Saavilin]

Unknown Location, Undetermined Time
The Laws Of Cause & Effect | Interacting with [member="Darth Maliphant"] | [member="Arekk"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"] ~ The Lion & The Wolf ~ "The lion's claws are sharpened for war; the wolf's teeth are red."
——————————————————————

This really, really, really was not the night she had anticipated.

Blindness was not a friend to her, not at all. The Eadu-native felt grass, felt the light, felt all manner of confusing things. None of them, particularly good. Her hand reached first to her neck-- Not cut by that woman, 'Alex', that's good --and then another hand curled through the blades of grass. Perhaps it was nicer to simply lie here, and let the more experienced combatants handle the insanity unfolding.

A voice distracted her. It seemed so very unnatural, but they were tones that would have drawn her in easily, like they had long ago aboard her ship, "It's okay." The dark-haired apprentice mused, another hand wiping at her still-star-struck eyes, "What's happened?" She demanded then, the events occurring around her a total blur in body and mind as her young control over the Force was going haywire, unable to lock onto anything, much less the oppressive feeling of her Master.

"What do w--"

A streak of red crossed her cheek, nearly a splatter. She flinched.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032
Cirqa 853 ABY

Interacting With: [member="Nilia Saavilin"] │ [member="Alexandra Feanor"] │ [member="Arekk"]
___________________________________________________

The abomination that he was becoming seemed to hesitate, smiling at the woman as she came to her senses. The grass offered them cushion, and as he knelt down, he couldn’t help but see some peace in her despite the world they had surrounded themselves with; it drew on his power, all the hatred, fear, passion that he had let drip into his soul at the whim of The Darkstaff, hesitated at the face of Nilia Saavilin; that which calmed the behemoth that stood before them.

He looked her over to ensure her response was correct, that in fact she held no injuries. In truth, if she was injured, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to contain himself; and the danger would be ever present he could still lose himself at any moment, dragged back into the abyss of dark side emotions and power that threatened to destroy his body even now. Skin had fell to expose the faintest of muscle, his hands a mere shadow of the health they once showed; and he had only been under the immense strain of his power for only a few careless seconds at this point.

If the fight continued, Maliphant would not survive, though not necessarily from the assault of the Grandmaster or Arekk, but from his own inequity to contain all that he was.

He grimaced as certain flinges of pain began to fill his head, only to turn and look to Nilia as asked her question;

“I’m not sure, Nilia. We ne-”, he began before blood splattered across her porcelain expression, flinching before the slow onset of fear overtook her.

Maliphant didn’t understand it at first, where the blood came from. His first reaction was she had been struck by something, but as he looked her over in a desperate attempt to find a wound, none came to sight. Only then did he realize the pain that pulsed from his back, that of the dagger Arekk had shot towards him had pierced the small of his back and prodded the skin on the other side. It narrowly missed the spine, but as Maliphant’s hand moved to touch the blade that now jutted from his stomach, blood began to pour.

He attempted to speak for a moment, glancing up to Nilia in a desperate play at calming her nerves, to ensure her he would be alright, but nothing came out. It had stuck into his diaphragm, stopped his ability to speak in more than a whisper, forcing him to open his mouth in a mixture of pain and agony, though more directed at the desperate pleas he made to calm his apprentice.

Eventually, he gave up his feeble attempts, taking his blood coated hand and resting it on her neck before pulling her towards him, resting his forehead against her as he marked her with a pained smile, and the dripping of crimson essence now her expensive formal wear.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra's eyes only moved enough to see the man do just as she had, stepping out and thrusting a hand forward before Alexandra could turn and get a proper barrier up and for a split second the air was still before Alexandra's body shot through the air. Her body found its target and slammed into the sole tree that was there, her arm twisting as she collided and breaking, the left limb hanging from her shoulder now, unresponsive. Her head hit and her body knocked hard into the tree as well and for a moment, everything went dark for her.

She didn't breath, she didn't move, she was immobile while Maliphant went to Nilia. Her eyes remained open but stared off as her body slumped over, blood falling from several gashes due to the strain cutting through her skin when he had sent her flying. Her chest certainly contained a broken rib or two and it seemed to just rest in that upright position.

For a few long moments, it would look as if Alexandra was actually dead until one looked into the force and watched the strands of the tree continued to work around her body, invading her body and coating her bones like a muscular system. They carried the broken arm, not quite fixing it but numbing the pain and protecting it from further harm. The ribs were placed back in their right place, fixed together for now by those strands of the force and the rest of her body being consumed by it. The tree felt like it was Alexandra herself, not just a Nexus focal point, and Alexandra would stir after Arekk's newest strike, looking through her golden eyes.

She coughed, a large amount of blood being purged from her throat and her body stood, almost inhumanely at first as her legs and right arm pushed her into a more wolf like stance, but eventually, the bones slid back into place, placing her back in the human state that looked far more inviting. Her eyes returned to Maliphant as she stumbled a bit, dizzy and off balanced as she could not use her left arm to balance herself out for now.

"Damn that hurt..." She straightened up, breathing just as heavily as before and looking at the man with daggers pincushioning him and sighing, knowing that kind of damage was something that could not be held off without some form of treatment, and dark side healing would only be temporary. She was certain the man would not die, or if he did he would have some way to sustain himself, but if he did die for some reason, in her garden.

"Hey, Lover-girl, I suggest keeping him still. I do hope you can trust me based on the facts." She didn't explain, her voice hoarse and rough before, reaching to her left arm, letting the strands materialize into the real world, and Alexandra looked like a martinet for a few seconds. Dozens of strands came off her, some connecting to the tree, but most vanishing into the sky, connected to the force itself. And like her, t,he tree itself had hundreds of those same strands reaching out into the blue sky above. A quick yank of her hand forward brought a strand tearing itself from her body and she coughed again, blood filling her mouth and her body dropping to its knees now as she smiled a bit.

The hood had come down, the mask sent flying and the face of the Jedi master could be seen without obstruction, fresh wounds bleeding more profusely as she did this and the blood she coughed up staining her lips and chin as she smiled. She then simply reached out, and without going so much as a meter near the two, it would connect itself to Maliphant and she would relax, sitting there on her knees and breathing slowly.

"He can draw out the knives, his wounds will heal and he won't die... No one dies in my home." She breathed slowly and let the force do its work on Arekk and Maliphant, had the latter not stopped her from doing this, or Nilia having stopped her from such. Her eyes turned to Arekk and sighed, a sadness in them as well as sympathy for the situation, knowing Arekk just wanted to save Nilia from this man, but from what Alexandra had seen, the girl was where she thought she belonged for now.

"You two..." She said, still hoping that there would be no actions taken of the hostile kind, those that would force her to react as the force continued to draw into her, building up like a bomb and making her presence in the force continuously brighter while she knelt there. "I hope you realize the facts here. Had I been any other Jedi, or especially any Sith, I would not be trying to help that man..." She looked directly at Maliphant and coughed again, almost falling over into the grass as she hunched forward and had to support herself with her right hand.

"Try to think about that in regards to your future... this path you are on, it's only going to end in one of your deaths..." She stared at the two best she could and smiled, imparting on Maliphant a series of memories, the career Alexandra had had as a sith, ending in her betrayal and trial. The removal of her arms and being cast into the Netherworld, left there to witness the truth of the Sith's end goal. How love and care for those she loved were tossed aside in interest of power gains and greed.

"Perhaps you can learn as I did, a bit quicker." She paused and a grin filled her lips again. "Now, please stop trying to kill eachother, I think we have had enough tonight and it is clear you have chosen your path young woman..." She tried to look at Nilia, her vision going blurry and forcing her to rely on Daeda's, the wolf having jumped through the second fold in space with her and Maliphant earlier.

[member="Arekk"] [member="Darth Maliphant"] [member="Nilia Saavilin"]

 

[Arekk]

_______________________________________________________________________​

CORUSCANT, THE CORE WORLDS​

GIVING UP​

_______________________________________________________________________​

"The gilding on the mask had cracked to reveal the rot underneath."​

♫ // Gear: Lightsaber, Pistol, Armor // w. [member="Nilia Saavilin"], [member="Darth Maliphant"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

The slicer's last stand managed to drain all the energy that was left within him to finally give up and lay against the cold ground, eyes looking at the polluted sky of what once was his home. It was ironic that he could possibly die where he was born, allegedly, and where his adoptive family died as well. The circle was almost complete if you looked at it but he knew that dying wasn't something bound to happen just yet.

Once the daggers reached their designed target Ar'ekk couldn't help himself but feel a bit of relief that Maliphant would go away with a little reminder of what had transpired this evening, marks ingrained on his skin that would remain for who knows how long and everytime he touched them or even decided to look at them would take the Sith Lord back to this very same night.

It was inevitable.

"It's never too late." A faint voice could be heard through the bond that kept Ar'ekk and Nilia connected and which should remain unless she decided otherwise. Deep inside she would know that power will consume everything she cares and loves for and that soon enough she would realize that. "You have chosen your path now but remember it can change if you want to. That's what I did when I fell to the claws of darkness and someone pulled me away. You know where you can find me."

Be that a visit through the Force or a simple talk, he would be there for her forever. As long as there was a glimmer of hope, feeling that there was always a choice even in the darkest moments regardless of what she became, there was a possibility to come back.

After keeping up his strength for so long, the former Jedi turned slicer ultimately fainted and was at the mercy of anyone. He had given up on fighting after throwing the daggers Maliphant's way and knew that Alexandra would come for him unless someone had different plans.

 

[Nilia Saavilin]

Unknown Location, Undetermined Time
The Laws Of Relativity | Interacting with [member="Darth Maliphant"] | [member="Arekk"], [member="Alexandra Feanor"] ~ The Lion & The Wolf ~ "And what a monstrous sight he makes, mocking man's best friend."
——————————————————————

Nilia simply sat there, propped up by shaken arms, and did nothing to stop whatever it was Feanor was attempting. It seemed to be beneficial in some regard, so it couldn't hurt any more than all of this already had.

There was still that blazing anger within her, though. An unchained cataclysm of the Dark Side that had certainly festered there for a long, long time. Now it was close to unleashed, boiling under the surface of her fair, almost sickly skin. Her adrenaline pumped endlessly as dark, almost glassy eyes looked from Feanor to Ar'ekk, then to her master, nearby, "Understood." She murmured in response to the Grandmaster, half-heartedly, the entire event having taken quite a bit out of her, as well.

A hand reached up and brushed the red away. It only smeared, leaving an ugly remnant, a shadow, of where it had lain. Her gaze more properly affixed to Ar'ekk, this girl was lost. Lost in the sea she'd willingly thrown herself in. There was no response to his words, his offers, beyond that near-empty stare.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Coruscant, Entertainment District 8032
Cirqa 853 ABY

Interacting With: [member="Nilia Saavilin"] │ [member="Alexandra Feanor"] │ [member="Arekk"]
___________________________________________________

If Nilia had offered resistance, shown any signs of contempt for what Alexandra was doing, he would have stopped the use of the healing; but with his apprentice forming an anchor, he slowly brought himself down from the extreme levels of The Dark Side that he had subjected himself to. The damage however, had been dealt, and Maliphant now looked to be far worse for wear despite taking no actual strikes during the entire fight, albeit one.

Clenching his jaw, he moved a hand to his back, gripping the dagger with a focused, pained expression. He let out the smallest of whimpers, ripping it from his flesh and letting blood spill out onto the flower beds nearby before he collapsed next to Nilia, the force essence imparted by the Grandmaster slowly offering him the healing he so desperately began to require; wounds far greater than the dagger in his back now visible. Wretched, twisted, broken skin that had fallen from him at the raw strength he had forced through his body to keep up with the Grandmaster and Arekk for even a few minutes, a lesson that would stick with him for some time.

Maliphant simply wasn’t strong enough to take advantage of his own power, and his training armor would be what would save him from overexertion in the future. His breath was shallow as he moved to sit, leaning against Nilia just slightly for the support she offered, though his exhaustion was obvious. After stepping away from his reserves of energy, he held not an ounce of the strength he seemed to before, visually or otherwise, just the exhausted tenor of a man left to deal with the consequences of his own actions.

“Next time…”, Maliphant forced himself to speak as the wounds desperately attempted to close.

“I won’t let him live. Be smart… Alex, don’t let him come back.”, he said with an angry tone, despite the overarching debilitation of exhaustion in his voice.

“Send us back.”