Sure are you Kavar? Exceptional willpower your padawan indeed has, but even for him this too much might be, and harsh your methods are.

Yes master Vandar, I have given this much thought. Malak is the finest duelist of the academy, and he has a knack for finding ways around everything, he is too much of a scoundrel.

Indeed, and making his test a test of knowledge a wise decision it might yet be. But Master Vrook? Harsh it is, harsh it is even for Malak his test to take out of Vrook's lecture.

Master Vandar!

Intended no disrespect I did Vrook! But know you when the last time was that your students in class fall asleep have not? One as brash as Malak abandon your lectures soon enough will.

Master Vrook, Master Vandar. I have confidence in my padawan. He will not give up anything. He is much too stubborn to call anything quits. Even Master Vrook's lectures.

"Ironic", Malak thought to himself. Ironic that he should die with Vrook on his mind, but he thought that for The First Apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith it was fitting that he should die remembering the one person that had given him so many lectures on the Dark Side. He was smiling, remembering how upset the masters were when they caught him spying on their conversation. Faced with death he held them no more grudge, even though the Jedi Council was one of the reasons they now had an entire galactic fleet about to attack the same Republic for which they would have one given their lives and the lives of anyone around them. His strength waning and pain flooding him, Malak was smiling remembering his days on Dantooine with Revan, causing all sorts of trouble for the Masters even though they were long past the age when mischief was tolerated. He was content to die with an image of himself and Revan as youngsters on his mind.

Revan! Malak snapped out of his reverie and darted a look towards where his friend and master lay on his knees, left hand on the ground, using all his strength to resist Nihilus' attack. Malak could feel Revan's brightness in the Force diminishing, and he realized his friend would soon be consumed by Nihilus' hunger. He could bear his own death, but he not could bear that of his brother. Content! Malak despised himself for thinking such thoughts only a moment ago.

He had to act. Closing his eyes Malak embraced the pain. He centered himself, his Force presence drifting towards Nihilus even more rapidly, though now it did so in a much calmer way, as Malak was no longer opposing it. Instead, he chose to open himself further to the Force. He let the Force flow into him like he had never done before.

How much of the Force can you absorb, Nihilus? You cannot absorb all the Force! The Force is everything.

Malak centered himself, allowing the Force to flow into him faster than Nihilus could absorb it. Malak was strong in the Force, and he knew it. For a long time he had been much stronger then Revan, but in time Revan's raw force potential seemed to increase, to the point where now Revan was almost on par with Malak. But the older student was still the strongest in the Force and he knew it. That didn't necessarily mean much, but right now it meant enough; it meant he could open himself to the Force to such an extent that he became enveloped in a faint halo. And just as soon, the halo started extending towards Nihilus, whose hunger only seemed to increase as Malak opened himself further. "Fool!" Nihilus' voice boomed in his head. "You cannot defeat me this way! It will only increase my appetite, and once I feed on your brightness, it will only make me stronger!"

Malak was no fool. I do not intend to defeat you by feeding you. I'm just curious if you can still feed with your head lying at your feet! Malak knew he wouldn't be able to sustain this much longer. Nihilus' hunger was increasing and now he was pressing his attack through the Force, and he suspected that soon it would increase to devour any amount of Force Malak could call to him. But for now the scales tipped into his favor, so the former Jedi rose to his feet.

Darth Revan felt the darkness which he was fighting with all his might ease its grip on him. It hurt too much to open his eyes, but he sensed his friend, facing Nihilus, glowing like a star through the Force. He understood immediately what was happening, and he suddenly felt the weaker. He could barely keep his eyes open and refrain from crying, let alone stand his ground. How could Malak do it? How could he channel so much power through him? He knew his friend was strong, and they had both grown even stronger since they had immersed themselves in the Dark Side – much stronger than the corrupt Jedi council would have ever permitted us. But still, it was incredible what Malak was capable of. It then dawned on Revan that Malak was not immersing himself in the Dark Side of the Force, but rather in the Force itself, in a way that was oblivious to any light or darkness. And he probably has no idea how he is doing it. If Revan could he would have smiled at the way such things came naturally to his friend. But he couldn't smile. Nihilus' grip tightened itself again on his Force presence, and he had to fight his eyes from closing from the pain. He tried to do the same as Malak, tried to channel all his powers, all his newfound powers, into himself, trying to outmatch Nihilus the same way Malak was doing.

Malak was now facing off Nihilus. His hand reached for his lightsaber as he started pacing the small distance that separated him from his fierce opponent. Nihilus in turn drew his own saber and both blades sparked to life in two dashes of deep crimson. They didn't spend time sizing each other – time was something Malak was short on, and he knew Revan was probably even shorter on it. They soon engaged in battle, and Malak realized in fear that Nihilus could match all his blows while still tugging forcefully at them. He motioned all his fear away with a shake of his head and committed himself fully to the one thing he truly excelled at.

Nihilus wasn't content with the way things were going either. He had fed on numerous Jedi and even a few Jedi Masters during the last year, mostly practicing his newfound powers. He had killed an entire tribe of Dathomiri Night-Sisters in one attack, and all his previous feedings put together had been shorter then this. Revan was slowly being eaten, and soon all that would remain would be a pile of flesh and armor, devoid of any echo of the Force. But for now he was still resisting it, putting everything he had into resisting Nihilus' attack, and apparently he had a lot in him. And Darth Malak, he was something the self-proclaimed Lord of Hunger could not fathom. Shining through the Force in a light that was neither of a Jedi nor of a Sith the young red-clad warrior was unleashing a devastating attack.

In the depth of the Trayus core the two figures were entangled in a dance of deadly crimson light. Through the Force the sight was even more astonishing as a figure of pure brightness faced off against a void that was feeding of the brightness constantly. It was a unique brightness, the serene blue light of the former Jedi Malak, entwined with the passionate crimson brilliance of the newly born Darth Malak. And to the side, watching in disbelief and trying to resist the attack that hadn't relented with the duel was the cringed form of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Malak and Nihilus were evenly matched, both in brute strength, speed and technique. Their styles were surprisingly similar, as their strong frames and powerful arms catered for an aggressive and blindingly fast form of combat, which still held more strength in its one-handed blows than most other duelists could put up with two hands. Blow after blow came down, and parry after parry came up, and neither of them seem to relent: Malak drawing more and more on the force to augment his speed and reflexes, and Nihilus feeding more and more on Malak's brightness, matching every blow, and attacking at every point. Nihilus flinched for the tiniest of moments and Malak's blade came crushing down, taking Nihilus' blade and driving it into its owner's shoulder. What had made Nihilus flinch was the sight of Revan raising himself on one knee and one foot. He should've been an empty casing long ago! No matter, the more energy they summon, the more my hunger will be satisfied.

Revan raised himself, drawing more and more on the Force. His master had once called him "The Heart of the Force", and he was determined to prove that his embrace of the dark side had only increased his brute potential. As he placed on foot on the ground, he saw Nihilus flinch and Malak drove both blades into his opponents shoulder. Hope gleamed on the horizon, hope that the pain would stop, but Nihilus dropped down, faster then even the gravitation of Malachor should have allowed, faster then Malak could push the locked blades even further into his shoulder. For a moment Malak still seemed to have a definite upper hand, towering over Nihilus who was almost kneeling in front of him, both crimson blades locked right above Nihilus' shoulder. Malak brought his second hand to the handle of this lightsaber, hoping to use his position to overpower his opponent. Enough of this! Nihilus tightened his grip on the Force presence of the two Jedi turned Sith. They had fed him more than all his previous victims together. It was time for the Lord of Hunger to use all that energy against them. "Fool!" he yelled from underneath Malak "The Force flows through you, but it does not stays with you! From me however, it cannot escape unless I unleash it!"

Nihilus' grip tightened, as Revan and Malak's turn to flinch came, Nihilus kept only hand on the hilt of his lightsaber, matching Malak's downward push, bringing his other hand in a lightning fast move and putting it dead center on Malak's chest. "What in the" Malak yelled, expecting Nihilus to draw even more on his presence. But instead of doing so, Nihilus unleashed the energy he had fed on from the two Jedi in a devastating bolt of Force Lightning that hit Malak from point blank range and sent him whirling through the air, the faint-blue halo that had encased him dissolving itself before his red armor-clad body hit the ground. The energy released would have been enough to take out a capital ship, but Malak's state of immersion in the Force had saved his life, but just barely. As he hit the ground with a thud, Nihilus had already plunged himself in the air with the agility of an Echani in a Force assisted jump that brought him directly upon Malak. Malak's reaction time was next to zero, as he didn't even waste time to moan his broken ribs, doing a back flip from the ground and from underneath Nihilus' blade, bringing him again face to face with his opponent. But he was no longer glowing with the Force, while Nihilus was as dark and abyssal as ever. The fight was over. The Lord of Hunger attacked with a direct and aggressive horizontal slash that Malak tried to parry only to have his lightsaber removed from his hands by the sheer force of the attack.

Malak's pain echoed in Revan's head through the bond the two friends share, and fear for the one that was like a brother for him and anger towards the one that wanted to hurt his brother gave him a last burst of strength. As Nihilus advanced and brought his blade around for the finishing strike, Revan raised his hand and pulled! Malak lived. As Malak was being pulled back by the weakened Revan, the lightning-fast blade missed his neck; however it severed Malak's jaw, leaving him lying on the ground unconscious. Nihilus gloated to himself, satisfied that Malak was not dead - this way he could torture him and feed on him whenever he would wish. The fact that the lightsaber had instantly cauterized the wound meant he would not die of bleeding. But now it was time to deal with the other one, the weakling that was supposed to be the Master, the one that had dared to claim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

Revan screamed in pain as Malak's jaw vaporized against the tip of Nihilus' saber and that pain flooded him through their bond. The burst of energy granted by his anger was short lived and useless. Nihilus' attention was now fully on him, as the Lord of Hunger advanced on the Dark Lord of the Sith, feeding off him, turning him into nothingness. Revan cringed and fell into a heap on the floor, Nihilus' dark shape towering above him, barely discernable through the pain that encased him and was ripping the Force from him.

In vain…all in vain…