Wrong us, shall we not Revenge?
He ignored his brother and the commando—he even ignored the Twi'lek who had collapsed again. They didn't matter; nothing mattered now except for his pathway to absolute power. Power was all the enticed him to the Dark Side. And nothing would stop him. He would destroy everything around him before he would accept defeat.
He leapt further into the tunnels. The darkness only lit by the colours of his blade and Phaete's blades.
Lotus rose, ready to stand by her Master's side, only to feel every bone in her body begin to ache and suddenly grow in pain. She collapsed and found herself flying far, far away, into another tunnel with no end.
He brought down the entrance in front of her, burying her alive. He wanted Phaete. If no one would pledge their allegiance to him, then everyone would die. Seth was alone, Nathaniel was right. But that only meant he was destined for greatness.
He brought his blade in an upward slash, eager to kill the traitor.
Phaete sidestepped and brought his blade facing the ground towards the crimson blade that had sought his genitals.
Growling, Seth spun about, bringing his blade to slice Phaete in half—only to be greeted by the same blade again. He found himself recalling so many years ago the fight between Revan and Malak. Yes, he thought to himself. I will be unstoppable! He let his rage pour itself around him, eager to embrace the Dark Side. He found comfort and sheer power. His eyes glowed a strong yellow as he raced against Phaete, bringing his blade high and low; swinging side to side and watching as his movements were defined by a crimson so dark and deadly that it could have been infinite blood.
Phaete found himself pressed back, his calm demeanour now one of feral instincts. He poured his own hatred into his movements, a carefully measured strike, but moving just as fast and deadly, parrying and blocking each thrust, lunge and slash that came his way.
Seth continued to power on through each strike, gathering speed as he sliced for Phaete's stomach, head, horn and leg all at once. There seemed no limit to his furor. Each time his strike came close to within a killing blow, it was harmlessly glanced away.
Phaete only continued to enrage the Sith Lord. But he knew one thing that was slowly becoming painfully obvious to any spectators as the fight continued to rage throughout the caverns, coming closer to a donut shaped chamber: Phaete was losing to Seth's onslaught.
And just as quickly as it had started, it had ended. Phaete brought his emerald blade upright to block a horizontal slash, only to feel a searing pain at his wrist. Looking down and grimacing, he saw a cauterized stub where his hand used to be. "Ugh…" he managed out of his tightly sealed lips.
Grinning wildly, Seth brought his blade high before his head. "And now, traitor," he spat, "you shall die."
Before Phaete could protest, let alone plead for his life, Seth had lopped off the poor soul's life. Only a shocked expression had found itself on his face, as his head bounced and rolled around on the worn floor.
Rising slowly—and groaning in pain—Dante looked around and found a cave-in where Lotus had previously been, and to his right, he saw the good Captain semiconscious, bleeding profusely from his back, where the armour was separated. He looked around again for his beloved, only to find her coming around, from the massive wave that Seth had unleashed in his fury. He knew there would be no turning back now; not for Seth, at least.
He went to the Captain and brought him to lean on the wall, trying to see if he could bring the man to his senses.
"What—what's happening?" He asked, his voice slurred and finding himself unable to move his legs and left hand. "My-my hand… my legs… Dante?"
"Rest, Sekula," he said calmly as his hands traced the outline of the commando's spine. "It appears that your spine has been shattered in several places." He looked sympathetically at his companion. "I don't know what I can do, Sekula."
His eyes opened wide with fear. "My spine? I can't feel my—,"
"I know, Sekula. You have some movement with your right hand. I need you to stay here; perhaps there is something in a medpac."
"Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere," he replied weak-heartedly, trying to replace his expression of grimace with a smile.
Resting one hand on the shoulder of the commando, Dante could only nod for his companion. This is not going well and we haven't even found it yet. Without rising, he sensed the presence of Rin behind him. "Can you do anything for him?" He asked her.
"I don't know. I am not that strong in healing with the Force. The only other person was," she paused.
"Who?" The Knight demanded.
"Tun."
His shoulders sagged. They had lost the only one who probably would have been able to heal the commando. He rose, looking for the medpac, hoping that perhaps there was something to help his long time friend.
He spotted the gleaming pack in front of his very eyes, covered with several limbs of the droids. He lifted it up and flipped it over, eager to see if it still functioned. The entire control panel and readout system was shattered. Their last medpac was gone. He turned around and walked towards his companions. He sensed his brother coming closer. He only had a matter of seconds before he would be forced to stop him.
"So," Sekula started, breathing in each word, "did you—did you find it?"
He looked even more sympathetically at his friend. His look told the commando the answer.
"Oh," he said weakly. Well, don't worry. I have enough fight left in me. I ain't giving up."
"No," Dante said quietly. "And we won't either." He looked at Rin as he kneeled down. "I'm going to channel the Force to you, Rin. Do whatever you can to heal him. We're getting out of this, together."
She nodded and closed her eyes as she turned the now unconscious Captain on his stomach. Pressing her hands on his back, she gasped as she felt herself showered with the Force. Her hands and body tingled as the living Force and the life force flew from her and Dante into the man they had come to know as their friend.
She felt the tingling sensation grow, as strength continued to pour into her and out of her rapidly, urging the cells to begin to heal. She felt the cells begin to race alongside the fractures, minute and major, as they began to swell in number and wrap themselves around the spine, and began to strengthen it.
They continued to race lower and lower, swelling in number and rapidly producing and branching the platelets together.
Sekula began to moan slightly, regaining some feeling in his right hand and movement in his upper torso.
"It's working," she said. "It's working! I can feel it." As quickly as she continued to concentrate, urging the cells to work, she felt herself growing faint. She felt Dante growing faint.
No, he urged through the Force. We need to continue, we can help him!
She felt herself growing faint. The cells began to slow down, no longer working their way down. They began to focus on one of the platelets, taking time to reproduce and repairing the torn muscle and bone. They began to slow. They began to still.
Rin grew weary and collapsed as she heard Dante do the same. He fell on the floor, most of his energy gone from pouring too much of himself within her. She still had strength, but she had grown tired. She used her strength and rested Sekula upright on the wall, as she turned around and saw Dante lying on the floor, weak and fighting off darkness.
They felt the dark presence standing in front of them, a silhouette that stood out in the darkened cave. His face was marred; eyes were yellow with no trace of its natural exuberance. His hair—or whatever was left of it—was a shocking white, while the Dark Side seemed to spiral around him and away from him at the same time. It was like a poisonous fume that wafted its way along the tunnel corridors, coming ever so closer towards the weakened Jedi.
And just as the crimson light rose, it vanished, along with the figure as a crackle of blue energy threw the Dark Master away and further into the tunnels, into the dark chasm that lurked at the edge of the tunnels. The only thing Rin heard was the scream of a Dark Lord and the rise of another.
She stood there, her crimson blades in hand, as if she were a bat out of hell. Lotus Xa rose, covered in dust, and caked blood on her lips and forehead, her eyes gleaming with the promise of bloodshed. She glanced at the Twi'lek and then looked back at the semiconscious man. She smiled darkly and stood triumphant; things could still work out the way she had planned. Dante seemed a much desirable—and albeit perfect—candidate. "And now," she said, her short cropped raven hair flying away from her, "you're mine, Dante!"
And in as quick as it was deliberate, she let out a primal scream as her blades descended on the tired form in front of her—
--to be deflected by the X of two sapphire blades.
"What?" She finally mustered out, in shock, as she was sent flying away by an invisible hand.
"If you want to kill him," Rin said, dark rage visible on her, "then you'll have to go through me."
"Good," she replied, wiping the blood that formed on her lower lip, "I will be looking forward to gutting you." With that, she lunged at the Twi'lek with both blades screaming for blood.
Rin brought her blades up to block the lunge, parrying both blades as she locked them one over the other with her blades. Growling, she brought herself close to Lotus, smashing her elbow across the Sith's cheek, dazing her for only a moment.
Spinning around and regaining a sense of her surroundings, Lotus only continued to grow in anger as she brought both her blades aiming high and low towards the Knight, who was forced to repeat the same manoeuvre to deflect the blades.
Rin continued to be pressed on her heels as she continued to deflect each thrust and slash towards her, while she moved deeper into the tunnels, as only the sparks and the lightsabers lit the tunnels.
Lotus brought her sabers up in a cross-slash, eager to do away with the Knight, noticing that perhaps she might have found another equal. But she knew that Dante was the key to eliminating the Twi'lek. Slashing and finding her blades brought apart, leaving her chest wide open, Lotus kicked out, knocking the air out of her foe, while spinning about to slash at the Jedi's throat and stomach.
Once more, Rin found her blades and continued to block.
As both duelists parried and feinted and slashed wherever they could find an opening, they continued to traverse through the tunnels, deeper into the spiral of the donut shaped chasm, as the center of the pathway continued to radiate darkness and a never-ending fall for anyone foolish enough to slip.
Rin slashed across the face and throat of the Sith, only to watch her blades crash and lock against those of Lotus.
They both continued to push against one another, the Force augmenting their strength as the four blades crackled with being stuck to one another.
Both Jedi's expressions were one of a grimace, as their eyes continued to lock with each other as much as their blades did.
Spinning around and attempting to slice Lotus' hands off, Rin brought herself around, only to feel Lotus mimicking the same move. As she came to a full 360 degree turn, her left elbow once more found the same spot on the Sith's face, sending her back.
Grunting, Lotus regained her composure and raced at the Jedi, bringing her lightsabers to face up and down, eager to cleave her enemy in however many pieces she could.
Anticipating it, Rin crouched, extending her right leg away from her body and let her swords fly around her, the Force guiding it, as a sapphire barrier forced Lotus to smack the blades away from her.
Leaping high into the air and behind the Twi'lek, Lotus thrust out with both blades at the Jedi's back, only to come crashing into the pair of sapphire swords.
They once more began a deadly dance of colourful blades as they moved deeper into the now red-lit room. They were coming closer to the entrance of a large tomb as now statues that stood at 30 feet highlighted the rest of the broken stairway down.