Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Duel Regicide: 5

She Left Behind A Legacy



.
A flashback...​
Tension growing, growing, growing, she could see it, hear it, taste it in the tension of the skin from where she sat.​
Oh the girl had resisted well, put up quite the fight even, but this was the Citadel on Lola Sayu, and odds were rigged against her. It was what made this place so exquisite: The architects had thought of just about everything. She remembered herself how difficult it was to infiltrate. Difficult, but not impossible. No, the Sith Empire's guards were more diligent than the previous owners, that much she knew.​
The Rattataki bit her lower lip and leaned forward as she sensed the pain well up. And there it was, the first snap. A shiver went down her spine when she heard the scream, so loud, so genuine, it travelled down the halls. The delight in her was palpable as she savoured every drop of misery exuded from the prisoner.​
"Oh you sing beautifully today, Filth"​
Filth, that was the name by which she had referred to Romi all this time. Ophidia set down the cup on the table next to her seat and stood up. She took a few steps towards Romi and then stopped as she squatted down to look into the Jedi's eyes as they filmed over and dimmed.​
"No no. Stay awake dear. We have more songs to sing." "I need you to stay awake for me, Filth. Just a little more."​
She pulled a small vial from her pocket and unscrewed the cork, then held it under Romi's nose. The solution was supposed to jolt the unconscious awake with a rush of adrenaline. It wouldn't dull the pain much. The cogs did not continue, but the clamps remained tight for the time being. Ophidia knew better than to release a Jedi while waking her up. No, that would only lead to an escape attempt. Until the girl was thoroughly hobbled, that would not do.​
"Come now."​
She reached out to clamp her fingers around Romi's face, impatience growing on her face. She waved the noxious solution under Romi's nose.​
"Don't make me peel that pretty face off while you sleep."​

zvNLmLv.jpg



[youtube]

The two stood and stared for what seemed a long while, neither blinking -- their shared history likely flashing before their eyes in an instant. Romi's face screwed up with incredulity.

Snap-Hiss!

The hiss-crack of her lightsaber thumbing to life drowned out the sharp intake of breath she took to compose herself after reliving Lola Sayu and the aftermath she still dealt with constantly. Taeli had it coming, but Ophidia...

Rather than taking another half second to block, Romi backpedalled on the down swipe, using the physical momentum of her retreat to roll down onto her right hip before coming around, slashing wide and level with her scarlet lightsaber. Her blonde hair shone with reflected highlights as it lashed from one shoulder to another. Her blue eyes blazed with another sort of light, one that matched the feral snarl on her face. Granted, she expected more from the assassin, and knew her responsive maneuver wouldn't dare live up to the level of swordsmanship they'd both obtained over the years -- it wouldn't be difficult for her to slink her way around it; it was only just an opening display.

Romi ducked back, rolling through a somersault, then came up on her feet.

Her blade came up in a guard high by her right ear. The light from her blade threw an iridescent sheen visible on Romi's face and bare arms.

"Ophidia..." her tone was sharp. "Here I thought i'd have to hunt you down...and yet, you just pop up. How convenient..." she smirked.

Widening her stance, her chest grew with air -- chiming in on the ebb and flow of the Force -- she drew it in as if she were shrugging on a well worn cloak; close. Then she loosened her grip on its familiar embrace. She let the current of power fall around her in a wave, sharpening her senses. At this point...Romi had become a veteran warrior who has repeatedly confronted the power of the dark side and survived...she came to develop an intimacy with violence. She wasn't the unsure Jedi Knight from several years ago.

"This is the rubber match."


Darth Ophidia Darth Ophidia
 
Last edited:
Romi Jade Romi Jade

Darth Ophidia did not like unfinished business.

Romi Jade was about as unfinished as business could be; an escaped captive, a toy shared and then left in the mud, a pet let off her leash before beint properly trained. Well, how could Ophidia do anything but hunt down this unfinished business and see it completed. After all, time and distance made the heart grow fonder.

If Ophidia had wanted this to go quickly, to be efficient, then Romi would never have known what hit her; or so Ophidia was convinced. Now, instead, she wanted it to last. She wanted to play.

Romi dodged the first swipe from overhead, and Ophidia was about to lunge forward with her other blade, whipping the point out to push her opponent back on her heels. However, in the last moment, she saw the twist of Romi's body and changed her plan. Her momentum was too far forward to step back, so she would have to improvise. So when Romi's sabre lashed out, Ophidia twisted her own body and kicked off from the ground.

As she jumped, her body curled and legs kicked to let her float near vertically over the path of the sabre as she twisted around her own axis. Some of her dark robes were sheared off and fell to the ground, smouldering. Elementary, perhaps, in the eyes of most Ataru users, Ophidia's movement it was fluid, gracefully executed, and a surprising feat of agility for someone her age.

More importantly, it was no more than it needed to be.

As Ophidia landed, she lashed out with her twinned sabres. The tips of the bloodshine blades sheared through the ground where Romi had been before she retreated into a somersault, and sending another shower of sparks scattering across the ground between them.

"The rubber match?" Ophidia hissed back "You are nothing more than a warm-up, my dear."

Ophidia smiled wryly as she turned her right shoulder to Romi, raising her sabre to shoulder height and pointing the tip at Romi's eyes. The left sabre, she held pointed down at the ground behind her, concealing the blade, but not the bloodshine glow.

"Now show me what you've learned."

Ophidia lunged, fierce but in perfect balance, thrusting the tip of her blade toward Romi's eyes to elicit a reaction. With a passing step, she brought the left foot forward, switching sides, retracting the right sabre to guard her centre, and bringing the left sabre up to intercept Romi's sabre from underneath. Each motion so smooth it appeared slow, yet struck with unforeseen speed.
 
She Left Behind A Legacy
Ophidia said:
"The rubber match?" Ophidia hissed back "You are nothing more than a warm-up, my dear."

She glanced over, catching the the aroma of burnt material flailing about the air before settling off on the side -- the trail of magma stretching to engulf it completely before fading altogether. Her eyes worked back through a series of clicks, until her gaze fell on the pale assassin.

There was but a brief period of nothing, with the unseen anxiety welling up behind it -- the tension was there.

Her left shoulder gently gave, tugging the rest of her upper body with it as she leaned away from the lunging blade. Her face grew warm with an iridescent sheen as the weapon hissed at her and withdrew. She hit the ignition switch, her wrist rotated deftly, sweeping her arm through a downturn parry while thumbing her blade to life at the last minute to slap Ophidias second blade out wide and into an overextension.

Romi's autopilot kicked in, silent and focused. There was nothing more worth saying anyway.

She bent a bit at the knee, before propelling herself into the air. Jade vaulted above the Rattataki and flipped over her head, bearing down with her scarlet saber as she traced an infinity symbol through the air, before landing in a crouch on the other side.

---

Darth Ophidia Darth Ophidia
 
Romi had grown considerably since last Ophidia fought her. Oh the girl was always talented, but last they had crossed blades, she had not yet flowered. She had been determined on the outside, but insecure in her own ability. Whether she knew it or not, the dark side had made Romi stronger than ever before. If only the fools she had entrusted with such a promising young acolyte had made sure to keep her.

Well, if one wanted something done right.

One ought to do it oneself.

Ophidia's smirk turned to an outright cackle when Romi managed to flick her blade out into an over-extension, but Ophidia was quick to reel the blade back in. It was the nature of Makashi to keep control of one's blades. And as she did, Romi jumped overhead with her own aerial assault. The Rattataki was forced to defend herself with one blade as she stepped and pivoted under Romi's jump and attack.

At the end of Romi's attack, Ophidia used the sabre Romi had first pushed into an overextention to beat the back of Romi's own attack to knock the blade away, just as Ophidia let it slide off her parry.

She immediately riposted with the blade she had parried with, presenting the tip, then taking a small step forward and extending her body for range and control. It was not the deepest thrust, nor was it set for a mortal wound, not yet. Rather, she aimed to debilitate Romi's arm by thrusting at her shoulder and upper arm. Her motion transitioned as swiftly as a viper's strike, flicking out then back again in a single motion.

Romi Jade Romi Jade
 
She Left Behind A Legacy
Crouched, her lightsaber wouldn't get there in time; barely

Her body moved instead, on improvisation -- she rolled with it, accepting it for what it was.

A subtle bend at the waist, she shifted her weight, and tensed her thigh after planting her foot to pull her frame just a minute degree off the path of the assassins hissing tip -- she could feel the hum of the plasma fang rustling against her jacket arm.

She followed through with a whirl, she dropped her right knee down and back, pivoting away and along the floor from one knee pad to the next. In her rotation, her blade flashed past below her corkscrewing body, so close that the sting of its heat brushed against the thinsuit armor covered leg as she spun down low, swiping across at her knees. Then she came up and around in a rush, arm pumping and slashing, at a diagonal angle.

And then she bore on, right up to the Sith Lord. Jumping back to her feet, she knew Ophidia possessed tricks, abilities, and weapons she could not anticipate, and so she went on the offensive immediately, charging ahead and launching a series of thrusts and slices.

She pondered on when she had been battling the poison that sapped her strength and defied Coren's best efforts to help her. She knew things could have been worse but she had survived. Her strength in the Force had sustained her, and in combat she allowed it to race through her.

Her mind flashed between Jedi Master and Shadow Hand and back again.

The crashing of saber against saber, and determined shuffling of feet would have drowned out anything else -- She was silent. Amateurs gave speeches; professionals got on with the job.

Darth Ophidia Darth Ophidia
 
Last edited:
Ophidia retracted her front leg in response to Romi's retaliation against her knees, drawing herself back for just long enough to let the blade pass by, inches under her sole. The Rattataki stepped forward at an angle and pivoted out to the side with a lean to avoid Romi's diagonal strike. Again, the footwork of Makashi put Ophidia just out of harm's way.

But Romi kept the pressure coming with a series of slashes and stabs to push the Sith back.

Ophidia responded with a series of parries, deflecting the thrusts to the sides and intercepting the slices in ways that conserved Ophidia's energy, but potentially drained her opponent's stamina. With each parry, she made sure to cover herself with her second sabre, making certain angles harder to attack and thereby the defence easier to maintain.

It took an experienced fencer to control her defensive lines in such a manner.

Then, suddenly, rather than parry as she had, Ophidia ducked and fell into a swift backwards roll. It would appear as though the Sith was on the brink of defeat, but as she came right-side up, the sabres whipped out and extended twice as long. They did not thrust, but slashed outward in two different trajectories, one high, one low, before returning to their normal size.

Ophidia dared to think it would put the Jedi in the air as the Pale Assassin gathered the Force inside her and unleashed it in a torrent of pale blue lightning.

Romi Jade Romi Jade
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom