Author's Note: Twenty Eight! Got some Sith vs Sith action today! Man, maybe Darth Bane was on to something when he developed the Sith Rule of Two...
Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.
Chapter Twenty-Eight - Only A Sith Deals in Absolutes
"Lady Rose." Trentyn appeared to be rather entertained as the Sith Lord stepped in between the fight to shield her lost husband. He raised a hand to further show his attitude. "It's a bit odd when the wife has to step in to save her husband. I'm sure the two of you have adventures like this all the time...Aincrad was quite the life-changing experience for you, after all."
He then looked down to a flustered Kirito clutching on to a side wound, cauterized, but still in pain. Trentyn turned again to gaze back at Asuna. "Oh wait, I'm sorry, you can't remember any of your adventures with him, can you? Is he even your friend in the Real World? How do you even know he's telling the truth?!"
Asuna's eyes were starting to flicker, with the lids twitching in anger as the gold of her pupils shone through Trentyn's laughing façade. Kirito was, for only a moment, actually scared for both of their lives once he went down in his injury. Now, though, he was mainly scared to see Asuna lose her sanity the moment the fire lit in her eyes. He knew Trentyn was going to die now, he just had no idea what to expect.
Darth Rosario slowly charged forward up the steps to confront her lesser, but as she did, a powerful telepathy took control of the rocks Kirito ripped from the ceiling earlier, and followed her up. One by one, Asuna sent the broken rocks flying toward Trentyn, and each were met by a cut from one of his blades.
She finally approached her enemy, and tried cutting down his center as the Sith opposition blocked her strike with a cross block. Trentyn twirled around to build his momentum, then sent both of his lightsabers swinging for Asuna's side, but the nimble Form-II specialist deflected them with ease, and created more space between the two foes.
Asuna knew what had to be done to get the best of Darth Trentyn. She allowed him to make the next strike, then brought her blade quickly up to block his off handed attack. She used the power in her arms to not only block his in-coming attacks, but also to push him back more to try and knock him off balance. He came in constantly trying to beat her down like a worker hammering a nail into the ground, but when he brought that much power, Asuna simply stepped out of the way and let his follow through fly past her body.
She did catch up on one strike, however, and just as his right hand came down with impressive force, he pulled back, and swung at her with his left. Asuna kicked the handle out of his right hand, and sliced the left down with a swift cut from her saber.
Trentyn used his free hands to push her back to the center of the room, then launched himself at her while grabbing his only remaining weapon with the Force. Asuna tried powering up a bout of Force lightning, but Trentyn came in too hot, and blocked her attack to the right with his saber. He used his free hand to grab her by the neck with telepathy, and launched her to the other half of the room's center circle. She flew through a pile of bones, and just as she turned to power on her defenses, Trentyn stood over her to bring the hammer down.
"You're unhinged." He said with tension in his voice. "Your rage has left you unbalanced. You finally get the chance to fight me again, and you're not looking up to the task."
His eyes darted around the room as he noticed Kirito climbing up the steps to his own safety, then they returned to a slightly struggling Asuna.
"You let your beloved apprentice fall to my blade. You stood and watched as I stabbed your pathetic fiancé in the side. I may die by your hand, tonight, but as of right now, he may too."
"AGH!" Asuna yelled a battle cry filled with visceral hate, and sent a shockwave of dark air and bones flying through the room from her feet. Trentyn flipped back through the debris, and landed on two feet as Asuna charged up and sprinted for his body. They locked blades again, but Trentyn was taking the role of defender as Asuna bashed and hacked her way to his core.
"I've followed you throughout the galaxy on missions and battles to study your every move." Trentyn was starting to take things serious as well. "The very eye you took from me was replaced with a tool used to study your downfall. I know all your strengths and weaknesses. I know you as a glorious fighter, Darth Rosario! DO YOU KNOW ME!?"
"I KNOW YOU'RE A SECOND-RATE FIGHTER COMPARED TO YOUR EMPEROR!" Asuna swung her blade over his head, and slammed it back down on him as he blocked the attack for her to carry on.
"I also know that if he chose me as his apprentice over his best friend and lead combat developer, then that really says more about your fighting skills than anything else."
"LIES!" Trentyn howled with anger as the room shook first from repeated quakes by the Shock Drum, but again as now Trentyn was releasing his anger onto the battlefield. He held his weapon down, and shot a concentrated column of Force lightning for Asuna, who used her own open hand to catch it, and charged her own power to match his pace.
Both Sith Warriors stood in a shaking room of black and blue as lightning flew everywhere, and as the yellow in both their eyes glowed through the dark of the cave, more and more rocks fell from the ceiling to crush the ground down below.
Then the ground stopped moving, and both enemies stopped their concentrated attack to notice the Shock Drum had ceased its relentless battering of the cave.
"What!?" Trentyn yelled out as he looked around the hall. "Why did it stop!?"
"Kirito." Asuna noticed the boy was no longer in the room with them, and saw he managed to take one of his lightsabers into the chamber with the Shock Drum, most likely beating it with a single blow.
She also noticed Kirito's other weapon was not down there with him. Asuna started off with a nimble sprint toward Trentyn on the other side of the room, but as he saw her approaching, the mighty Sith enemy shot out an even more powerful attack of electric energy to take her down, stun or kill.
Asuna never changed her determined expression, and tossed her curved lightsaber to the side as the lightning attack from Trentyn's hands followed it like a lightning rod in a thunder storm. She leapt heroically into the air, flipping over a now befuddled Trentyn as she collected all her concentration at the spot Kirito laid over before he left for the device.
As she landed, Asuna kept her body facing away from Trentyn, but reached back and extended a hand toward the Sith Marauder. Before he could turn around, Kirito's remaining left lightsaber shot across the room, and sliced Trentyn's body into two pieces, severing his torso from his trembling legs. She caught the lightsaber after the strike.
Asuna listened to the sad man whimper in pain, then placed Kirito's weapon at her side, retrieving her own from the edge of the arena using her telepathy. She stuck the point under his now shivering chin, and locked her copper beaten eyes firmly with his.
"Darth Trentyn." A chill left her voice that would have even quelled Mustafar. "I told you it would happen by my blade."
Asuna verified that her lightsaber would be the one to take his life, and severed his head from the broken torso of Darth Trentyn with a light flick of her wrist. She put her weapon aside, and ran for the corridor now covered in rock and ruin, and used all the Force power she could to clear out just enough of an entrance to find her missing Kirito.
Asuna emerged to find a very bizarre sight as she entered the chamber with the broken Shock Drum. Kirito sat down passively next to the control console as the machine before her held no marks, lacerations, or bruises. Kirito chose instead to disarm the bomb, much like Leafa before him, which left a very odd taste in Asuna's mouth.
"You're alive. And you chose not to destroy the Shock Drum."
"I am, and I didn't." Kirito was holding onto his side, but a soft smile assured Asuna that the defeated boy would somehow be alright. "The Republic made this for a reason, and Sugu chose to keep it alive for some greater purpose. I'm sure it'll be important to either faction somewhere down the road."
"Yea." She rolled her eyes. "Like allowing the faction your fighting against threaten each other with treason."
Kirito let Asuna help him up, and put and arm around her shoulders while the Sith Lady carried him to the exit of the cave. "Congrats on beating your rival, too! What I saw from it was a pretty brutal fight."
"Yea, lots of emotion..." Asuna kept her eyes away from Kirito, and tried to quell her once wild emotions back to their stoic state from before. She used her compassion for Kirito to overpower Trentyn, but was it because she saw him as her up and coming apprentice, or was it something more. Could they really be a loving husband and wife in some other world?
Klein sat on the edge of a very tense conference meeting between members of the Republic leadership aboard a command cruiser. Master Amun-din, Agil, and Chrysheight commanded most of the discussion, but several other Jedi and Commanders from the faction voiced their opinions now and again as they each developed a plan to win the war.
"Use the Bounty Hunter to get us into Korriban! They probably expect us to his Dromund Kaas first anyway. We'll have the element of surprise!"
"No!" Yelled out another voice. "Make her tell us what she was doing invading Coruscant in the first place! She should pay for taking the lives of Republic soldiers at the casino fight!"
"We need to find Kirito." Master Agil interjected. "The first business we'll be asking the captive is the whereabouts of the player Kirito."
"If he's even still alive." Chrysheight kept a finger underneath his chin. "If we find Kirito, then we'll probably be able to find Asuna as well. We can get our boy back, and take out the Empire's Wrath all in one."
"You were just planning on using Kirito as bait to get Asuna all along?" Silica asked out with uncertainty hanging on her voice. "But you said they were really close in the real world! Does he know he's betraying her too?"
"I don't believe so." Amun-din looked at Chrysheight. "From what I gathered, Master Chrysheight told Kirito to try and turn the Wrath to our side. He thinks she can be saved from my brother's mind control." She then turned to Silica with unapologetic eyes.
"Kirito is not a member of the Republic, either way. He is no Jedi, or Sith. He holds no allegiance to anyone. It's best if we use him where we can, and carry on with our own goals."
"Your own goals." Klein had heard enough from the ground, and finally stood. "Look, when I found out I was brainwashed into fighting a war for the Republic, that was pretty shocking news, no small thanks to Kirito for feeding me the red pill on that one. But you come in here claiming that our minds are erased, yet we still have our free will. Say what you want to about your brother. He knows what he's doing to his men, even if they are mindless killing machines."
Amun-din was taken back by Klein's rage, and had no reply while Silica stepped up to confront her even more. "For that matter, do you even know what it's like to fight a war with no cause, then you find out that half the enemy side is actually made up of your best friends in the real world? You can't remember their names, their faces, their laughs, the moments you shared. It's too much to handle when it all comes at you at once..."
"Klein and Silica are right." Agil stepped in to try and mediate between the Master and the smugglers. "And that includes Kirito. He said it himself, we're all his friends. Then he risks his life to get to the other side of the war, and tries to save his girl? There has to be an easier way to win this game than using the two of them like pawns."
Silence fell over the hall, and all the faces lowered, while Chrysheight's sat up just a hair above the rest to study the demeanor of the room. No person took the time to form a reply, but an unlikely pair of guards joined the conversation with a surprise guest of all things.
"That idiot Klein's right. Apparently, we're all friends in the real world, so we need to stick together."
Everyone turned dramatically as Lisbeth was set inside a chair at the end of the table. Her hands were still locked, but her eyes looked rather calm as she carried on in her thoughts. "Asuna is really powerful, but she can be reasoned with. Give me time ta talk with her, and maybe send in your smuggler friends to play with Kirito. If you really want to beat Emperor Lusac, you're going to need them on your side. Double-crossing them isn't the best way to do that."
"Hmm..." Agil sounded intrigued. "You want us to release you, then send you and the Smugglers back into Imperial space to try and unite the forces? That might be the boldest thing I've ever heard in this game so far."
Lisbeth judged Agil's smile, and realized he was complimenting her as she leaned back casually. "Hey, your Republic dweebs aren't the only ones who can string up diplomatic solutions. Not all aggression from our side."
"Ha!" Chrysheight sound even more entertained now. "Smuggling in the bounty hunter back to her own side, then rescue the bride and groom from their honeymoon! I like it!" He powered on the command table, and moved around a few map icons while he finished his idea. "The three of us can wait with the fleet, and once you give us the others, we'll attack either Korriban or Dromund Kaas on your orders."
Everyone was slowly starting to fall in to agreement, even though Amun-din still kept a controlled, calculating emotion around her.
"Can you find where Asuna is, currently?" Amun-din asked Lisbeth. "We have no way of reaching out to Kirigaya."
"Psh!" Lisbeth waved a hand after the guards came in to release her binds. "I know this galaxy like the back of my hand, and I developed trackers to locate all my friends. Just get me a good ship, and we'll be off."
"Well, the Salamander is still on Coruscant, so we'd have to take the Pina." Silica sounded a little sad for Klein's sake, but the cocky smuggler just gave his smaller companion a nod.
"Bah! Let's save my beast for the final fight. You're ship's better for stealth. We can use it to get Lisbeth over to Asuna."
Everyone nodded, and cheered rambunctiously, all while Chrysheight stood from his chair, and clapped his hands together to signify the start of their operation.
"Then it's decided! May the Force be with us all!"
Lisbeth had to keep her laugh to herself as she found the closing remarks to be a bit cheesy, but as she stood, a softly smiling Klein greeted he with a wink.
"Hey, thanks for the idea. I knew you bounty hunters weren't all that bad."
"Hmph." Lisbeth kept walking as a flair of red took her face. "Just let me take a nap on the way to the love birds, and we won't have to see each other that much for the rest of the trip."
Silica awkwardly followed a laughing Klein and angry Lisbeth, but Amun-din lingered back at the table as the rest of the commanding officers dispersed to their own scenes. She found it ironic that Lisbeth boasted of using tracking devices to find her friends, because the device that she used to keep an eye on Kirito across the galaxy seemed to be far more technologically advanced.
The Grand Jedi Master, and lead creative developer for Immortal Gaming had a plan for finding the missing Kirito and Asuna, and whether the others saw them as friends or not, the two of them were still hand-picked by her father to win this game, which means her brother would try to find them too. If Lusac was so worried about losing this war though, Amanda had every right to defend her faction from the two heroes of Aincrad as well.
Trentyn is dead, and the Republic is going to use Lisbeth to find Kirito and Asuna. Amun-din seems like she's trying to care for the trapped heroes, but something's off about her methods...
Until Next Time!