The seventh sister screamed just before the lightsaber sliced through body like butter, leaving Ezra frozen in horror as her screams of terror stopped abruptly.
The inquisitor's head and torso was ripped open vertically- and as she dropped to the floor, the impact caused both halfs of her body to separate, peeling off from each other with a sickening squelch.
No blood was seen as most had been vaporized by the high temperatures of the vermillion blades, but the disturbing odor of burnt meat wafted through the air.
An evidence of their brutal slaughter.
Was this the true meaning of the dark side?
"Without mercy." Ezra remembered.
"Without remorse."
He was still flabbergasted as the fallen Jedi's corpse stared at him with the same terrified expression like an accusatory stare.
No matter how much he tried, through his utter shock of the inquisitor's gruesome demise, crawled a small voice that told him that this was what he wanted.
The empire deserves no less.
But what would kanan or Ashoka say?
"The next time you hesitate like that, it'll cost you your life-," maul warned with a peculiarly gentle frustration, jolting Ezra from his thoughts.
"-Or even the lives of your friends."
Ezra's eyes widened.
He's right.
The sith would stop at nothing to wipe them out.
So why shouldn't they as well?
The imperials outnumber them a thousand to one.
Any odds of survival against the purge would be close to impossible, as any rebel would be an instant target to be fired upon.
A shoot to kill order.
A literal death sentence that would be executed by virtually anyone in the galaxy who was under the thrall of the emperor.
Through fear, loyalty or otherwise.
But he won't allow it.
He won't let them.
A strained cry echoed from the other side of the temple.
"We must hurry," Maul deactivated his lightsaber, motioning to the boy beside him.
"I fear our compatriots are in danger,"
Ezra nodded, running after the Zabrak toward the sound of battle.
———————————————————-
"I fear that we are in danger," eighth brother stated, backing away from kanan jarrus.
"Glad you noticed!" The Jedi smirked.
"Surrender."
The corelian jango jumper chuckled.
His metallic, robotic voice rattling through his mask raspily and uncomfortably. He grabbed a handful of explosive disks from his harness and swung around to gain momentum for a throw.
"No you fool!" The fifth brother hollered when he realized what his fellow inquisitor was about to do.
The jango jumper ignored him, launching the force resistant projectiles at kanan jarrus, which managed to dodge the brunt of with an impressive display of acrobatics.
The shockwave created by the bombs however, caused the ground to crack and groan.
The eighth brother giggled maniacally as he threw more and more of his incendiaries at the male Jedi, who continued his nimble streak of avoiding and ducking for cover.
Naturally, the repeated explosions took its toll on the platform, causing it to shake and split even further.
The floor below continued to crackle as former padawan tano battled the fifth brother.
The krakodelian growled at eighth brother's antics as he struggled to win a saberlock with Ashoka Tano.
"You cannot win, Lord Vader will be here soon. You will all die." The assassin snarled.
"Counting on it!" Asohka gritted her teeth.
Hearing that bout of defiance from the grey Jedi, fifth brother sneered and broke free from the clash of sabers, dashing toward the edge and activating his spinning lightsabers to prepare a hasty retreat.
However, the female togruta jumped into the air and landed on his shoulders, narrowly dodging the scarlet whirlwind of his modified weapon.
With a soft grunt, she kicked downward, pushing the weight of the fifth brother downward to the floor.
The inquisitor's weapon clattered uselessly toward the floor as he struggled escape from underneath the Jedi.
A crystal beam of light appeared right before fifth brother's eyes, humming with energy and threatening to cut him down for good.
"I'd stay put if I were you." Asohka smirked, earning rage filled glare from her prisoner.
As the slender eight brother saw his ally's humiliating defeat, he growled with frustration before turning back to his own opponent, whose sea-blue blade was poised dangerously at him.
They were losing.
Eighth brother pondered for a moment and unbuckled his entire belt of portable mines, swinging it at both Jedi and his teammate.
Fifth brother looked up and gasped in apprehension.
"He's going to kill us all-!"
Asohka too, widened her eyes in realization.
Alas, she was too far away to deliver a force attack at the treacherous inquisitor.
"Take one for the team, brother!"
The eighth brother deactivated his visor and grinned devilishly at the other inquisitor.
"My team."
Kanan, sensing an opening in the eighth brother's monologuing, rushed in to strike with his sapphire sword, but the latter leapt of the ledge just in time and activated his spinning lightsabers, remaining airborne.
With a cackle, he then tossed his string of explosives toward the three force wielders.
The impact caused the disc shaped bombs to detonate instantly, causing a chain reaction to the chagrin of the trio still on the platform.
Both Jedi and the fifth brother were consumed by the blast, and a sea of flames engulfed the battlefield, causing its collapse soon after.
———————————————————-
Through the licking of flames, came the maniacal laughter of the seemingly unscathed Jedi purger.
Admiring his handiwork, he landed on what remained of the platform, barely supported by the few remaining pillars.
"Not bad for number 8, ehh?" He chuckled.
A short groan jolted him out of his reverie, causing him to whip around with his weapon at the ready.
What he saw was grotesque at best.
The charred body of the fifth brother, spilling black blood all around him.
"T-traitor..."
The jango jumper laughed shrilly, stomping on the chest of his fellow assassin.
Through the krakodelian's pained cries, eighth brother hushed his fellow inquisitor, deactivating his crimson blade in favor of multiple silver ones which jutted out of the weapon's hilt.
"May the force be with you, fifth brother-"
The fifth brother screamed in agony as the saw diced what was left of his body, and a few excruciating moments later, he finally went limp.
Just as he was in the height of his euphoria, a familiar sound reverberated behind the surviving inquisitor.
An ominous breathing.
Cold.
Calculating.
Calm-?
The eighth brother could sense no anger from the presence behind him, making him more and more uneased.
TBC