Faction What's a duel among friends | The Diarchy

[Darth Reign]

Location - DSD-Dominion Training Room
Tag: Darth Hemorpheus
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Stripped from the waist up and with exertion dripping off of him, Darth Reign fended off the two sparring droids. Their electrostaffs a blur of movement.
Ever since his loss to Darth Nexion , the Dark Lord had taken to training with more vigor than he had since he was a child. Engrossing himself in both the esoteric learnings of the Dark Side, and the physical combat with the blade. Honing his mastery of Djem-so to a fine point.

Parrying the first droid's strike and knocking it off balance, Reign, with a flourish behind his back with his blade, brought it sailing horizontally through the second droid as it approached. Bisecting the mechanical duelist.
Locking his focus onto the second droid, The Dark Lord punished it with a flurry of strikes moving so fast that they seemed almost a blur, the droid barely able to keep pace.
Slashing diagonally downward from the right, Reign left his other opponent in a heap of parts and wires.

"There is no true challenge here, I need an opponent tethered to the force. One that will truly push my limits" Reign said, fighting off the frustration. He realized he could ask Nexion for a rematch, but, he would not attempt this until he knew for certain that victory was assured. No. Nexion would have to wait. Reign also wished a different sparring partner than his brother, as they had sparred against one another their entire lives. As Reign redressed in his robes, a thought struck him. A member of the Diarchy he had not yet had the opportunity to test his worth against.

"Hermorpheus. The Lord of Life will make a worthy sparring partner, with which to test the fruits of my training." Reign said with a smile as he left the training room towards the turbolifts.

Entering the Archon's lab, Reign paused, loathe to interrupt the Scientist's work. Giving him a moment, and judging a time least intrusive to the man, Reign spoke "Lord Hemorpheus, I have a request if you can find the time to indulge me. I have been immersing myself in more training and desire a fitting sparring partner which to test my newfound strength against. Would you be willing to oblige me in a friendly duel?"

 

[Darth Hemorpheus]

The Archon of Life was tending to several phials of cells he had exstra tes from himself. Looking with a scope that amplified his sight to see at microscopic, he saw those little creatures, The Midi-chloria. He had a keen interest in their movement and how they interacted in the blood cell, which was life, replicating itself. He saw that upon replication some of the cells had a higher concentration of Midi-chlorians.

It was then that The Diarch stepped in,
“Welcome, my Lord.”

He raised his naked face from the scope, in the lab he had no need for his mask, he had oxygen pumped into the room and wore a less invasive pump attached to his trachea. When The Diarch made a request to spar, Hemorpheus took off his gloves, and said,
“Certainly. I have always believed in this life that there are two ways in which souls can know one another, one is the conjugal union of lovers and the other the dueling arena. For is it not so My Lord, that in a duel you see the truth of another? Do they mask their fear of harm with agression or shirk away, trying to cradle their precious bodies and not receive a blow? Or perhaps they revel in it, come alive in the dance of kyber and steel, and find it there greatest thrill.”

He smirked,
“There I go again, waxing poetic. Let us tilt and refine these fleshen vessels into greater instruments.”

With those words he gestured with his hands to the door and levitated his helm to himself and pulled it over and attached the respirator hoses.

TAG: Darth Reign

 

[Darth Reign]

Reign smiled at the other man. He enjoyed the Archon's way with words, and pleasant demeanor. Bowing low to Hemorpheus, The Dark Lord said "Thank you my friend. And I do agree, only in the heat of battle do you see one's true self" with that, Reign turned and walked back out the door.

Heading back towards the turbo lifts, Darth Reign steeled himself for the sparring match to come. As with Nexion before him, Darth Hemorpheus was more experienced than Reign, but with the practice he had been putting himself through, he knew his own strength had increased. As he entered the training room, he shrugged off his outer robe, leaving his tunic and flowing lower robes.

As the Archon entered the training room, Darth Reign ignited his crimson blade, saluted his partner, and assumed a high form V stance. "I'm ready when you are, my lord"

Darth Hemorpheus

 

[Darth Hemorpheus]

Hemorpheus as he entered the training room, removed his tubes and mask, putting it on the bench. He called to the Force, filling hus lungs with O2, his heart rate elevating, he then drew his Lightsaber and as his eyes crackled like coals, his blood red hair slicked back like a cobra’s head, he lunged at Darth Reign , and let out a shriek, theisting and cutting with a ferocity as a red aura of mists surrounded his body. He was drawing on The Force for breath and Fury.

Archon Hemorpheus knew his Liege Lord was a Master of Djem So and thus his agressive Vaapad was meant to rob his opponet of landing those strong blows, and to perhaps land his own on The Diarch. Some would read in the onslaught by The Lord of Life as a thirst for regicide. That was the point, here in the dueling ring, no titles, no offices mattered. A saber drawn was not a light affair, and in the ring the combatants were equals, unless their prowess proved otherwise.

Hemorpheus hewed with augmented strength, it mirrored The Way of the Krayt Dragon save for the thrusts peppered between cuts. The Archon was looking for his opening, and preparing for the counter moves.

 

[Darth Reign]

Vaapad.. Darth Reign thought to himself. This was a style he had some familiarity with. Utilizing negative emotion and the Dark Side to fuel one’s strikes and power. Luckily for the Diarch, Djem-So was equally suited for defense as well as offense.

Parrying and fending off the Archon of Life’s strikes, Reign knew he had increased in power. The level of ferocity Hemorpheus was showing would have put him on the back foot before. The Dark Lord smiled at the other man “Thank you for taking this seriously, my lord” Reign said through heavy breath.

Finally batting away a thrust he shifted to attack. Driving down two strong overhead strikes before attacking with a flurry of diagonal and horizontal strikes, attempting to overpower his older opponent. Pressing forward the Dark Lord tried to take control of the battle.

Darth Hemorpheus

 

[Darth Hemorpheus]

TAG: Darth Reign

Lord Hemorpheus had in his Cobra advance awoken The Krayt Dragon that now was droppping as if with mighty arms and claws blows thay beat against his saber. This was Djem So’s face, one of only two forms The Book of Sith recognized as legitimate. The aim for a Darksider was to swiftly overpower an opponet and then cut them down; in contrast The Jedi seemed to prefer the acrobatic styles of combat. The goal in a duel was to obtain victory without harm to oneself and the longer a duel continued, the higher chance of injury. This had been The Achon’s experiance, his throat was bore through by a Jedi, and it had altered his life immensely. He had to use The Force, draw on “the Life that makes it grow” [1] to remain without a respirator, and that was only for a short duration outside his lab.

Hemorpheus felt the bones in his arms bruise, the beating of Lord Reign’s blade against made his muscles shake as if gelatin. The Lord of Life decided he needed to shift, he parried another stroke, and took his hilt with two hands, using Niman to be a great shield and help him fortify himself. The other key was he began to take step and drop beneath the burning hot red blade, and avoid crossing blades at all, this attempt lead him to shift to the most difficult form, Trakata. He begab to internittently shit off the emitter and his blade disappear so as not to have to endure another shaking of his skeleton. His arms and hands were precious as a Scientist.

[1] Master Yoda, Empire Strikes Back

 

[Darth Reign]

Darth Reign saw the blade of his opponent disappear as he threw another downward strike. Smiling at the other man he said “Trakata? I’m impressed Lord Hemorpheus. As opposed to withstanding my onslaught, you took away my power all together.”

Leaping backward, the Diarch gave his friend a moment to recover. They were still, after all, friends and Darth Reign would not want to impede the scientists work with damage to his limbs. “take a moment my friend.”

Darth Reign began to pace, gathering his strength to resume the duel as soon as the Archon of Life was ready.

Darth Hemorpheus

 

[Darth Hemorpheus]

The Lord of Life took a deep breath of the of the swirling air around him that found its way into his lungs. The sheer strength of Lord Reign was a testament to his right to rule according to the Sith Lords. In truth Hemorpheus would follow him even if he were not so well endowed in the might of muscle.
"My bones shake at the blows you make Reign. Truly you have the strength of Lord Bane and Malgus."
This was a high compliment from the Achon.

Taking his hilt and advancing back to the invisible circle of the duel, Hemorpheus siad,
"Trakata is effective to avoid the force of a blow as you well know. The ancient blademasters, Tulak Hord of hallowed memory taught that sabers are not meant to meet unless absolutely necessary. The concept was that your blade should dip into blood and flesh, not beat against other kyber. Alas Hord was on another level, making us who take up crimson blades seem as novices. I duel to know, he dueled to slay. I suppose that is why I am a Scientist, I seek to dissect the living, the dead I leave to Darth Nexion ."

With those words Hemorpheus poised his elogated hilt, holding it more as a Pike, and now swept at Reign, thrusting the blade in a flurry, the tip snapping at the Diarch as if the mouth of a serpent.

 

[Darth Reign]

This is what Darth Reign had hoped for when asking Hemorpheus for a duel. Leaping backwards from the Archon of life’s blade he prepared himself for the onslaught.

While Form V had excellent defense, he was hard pressed defending himself. Sweat beading on his brow, a fresh burn the result of his overconfidence.

As The Dark Lord weathered the storm, he looked for an opening in his friends attack. Searching for a place to pivot control in his favor. Locking blades with The Archon, he found just that, bringing his leg down in a sweeping motion, attempting to take the feet out from under the other duelest.

Darth Hemorpheus

 

[Darth Hemorpheus]

Hemorpheus felt his legs pulled out from underneath them, he raised it blade as tooth to protected his head as he fell, and using the back of elongated shaft he aimed, throwing it into Lord Reign's leg. The aim was to take Him down as he fell, sending them both to the floor. The Achon of Life was rather amused, to be taking this fight to the floor.

Grappling is how many sword fights ended, especially if the two combatants were evenly matched. In truth Hemorpheus was wanting to expand the test of his martial prowess. And so now the question is how the two would use their kyber blades as they joined the land of serpents.

The Achon of Life did not hold back, despite that Reign was his Superior. He began to jab his elbow, and even throw his knee at his head, hoping to do some bludgeoning. Unlike the Jedi who trained against remotes, and danced with each in complete safety, The Sith treated duels as real, what good is it to train with the notion you will come out unscathed? That is not how a real fight is. No, the point was to create the same conditions as the battlefield.

 

[Darth Reign]

If the Archon wanted a brawl, the Diarch would give it to him! The elbows from Hemorpheus landed with a resounding thud. Giving Reign some pain to focus his aggression.

Catching the knee directed at his head, Darth Reign drove an elbow down onto the limb, not hard enough to break it, but he wanted the other man to hurt. As the Dark Lord regained his footing, he drove a gloved fist into the Archon's nose, attempting to cause his eyes to water and blind him momentarily.

Despite the fact that they were friends, there would be no holding back short of killing the opponent. It was not the Sith way.

Darth Hemorpheus