A/N: Alright, this section of the story hasn't been altered that much, as I quite liked it, I just added some detail, changed some of the events, and reactions to said events. So without further additions Chapter 16: True Combat! (Also this chapter contains rougher subject matter, You have been warned.)

Edit: Changed the Chapter Number. edited the event


Chapter 16: True Combat


The morning in Hiskal was bright for once, the local star able to show through the break in the clouds of the force storm. Upon reaching Hiskal early in the morning, the cold and harsh mountain air scathed the lungs of those not used to the higher altitude, though the red-clad Sith took a deep nostalgic breath. It really has been too long since I was last up here, she thought, as she went to the local guard outpost to request transit to the Waldstahl, still carrying the clothing boxes.

She found the posting woefully understaffed, with only two guardsmen present. The normal contingent would be upwards of ten to fifteen guards.

"Hello Guardsman," She smiled as she opened the door and peered through, her voice filled with energy, "I would like to request transit to Waldstahl," She continued with a bright smile, the guards just stared at her like she was mad.

"Under whose authority are you operating?" the younger of the two guards asked, following the procedure for admittance to Waldstahl.

"My own, I am Darth Imperious," She smiled, though it wasn't a cheerful smile, it was one of 'obey or die'


Captain Balakor was in the command center of Waldstahl trying to gain control of the situation. For a man who was just roughly awoken by the watch officer, he was awake, though only by adrenaline. The reports he was getting were dodgy at best. Despite this, he had given the containment order.

Grinding his teeth loudly, he needed to get Malserik up as soon as possible, this was beyond urgent. as he was going to leave, he received a transmission from the guard post at the transit terminal.

"Ugh what now?" he groaned as he looked down at the red screen and read the transmission.


Urgent!

Prepare Waldstahl for Imperious's arrival. We will brief her on the situation on the way up. She also has orders not to inform Malserik or wake him if he is asleep.


This message made Balakor wince with annoyance, as Imperious had a tendency to show up when she wasn't wanted. Then there was a guardsman that required discipline as, despite their ties to the Empire, they were loyal to Malserik first and for most. To the veteran soldier, this had trap or trick written all over it.

Though he decided to play this game. He went down to the hanger and greeted Imperious. From what she told him she just wanted to surprise Malserik with her appearance. as she handed the two boxes she was carrying off to a soldier, telling him to make sure they made it to Ruby and Weiss. The captain informed her that Malserik was not awake yet. To which her response was,

"Don't worry Balikor, I will get him up," She smiled this in a menacing way, though it was a playful menacing. To Balakor, and most who knew Imperious, she liked to play tricks on or have fun with her subordinates. Though, he relented and let Imperious have her fun.


Malserik was abruptly awoken by the opening of the door to his room. Still in the daze of sleep, analyzed the shape of the figure. After a quick rubbing of his exposed eye, the figure vanished. Unsure of what was going on, Malserik reached for his saber and his heart stopped. His saber was gone. Jumping up he heard a faint snickering, using the force to see the dark environment, though before he could detect an intruder he felt a hand cover his exposed eye and his saber being put into his right hand.

"Hello Viridian," whispered a voice Malserik knew all too well, he could only imagine the grin on her face, by the way, she sounded.

"Greeting's Imperious," Malserik spoke, his voice a mix of relieved and concerned, as her visit was unexpected, then again that's the way she operates, randomly and unexpectedly, "Don't you know it is rude to disturb someone's sleep like that?"

"You know it is rude to ignore your friends," She replied coyly as the door hissed open, and Balakor spoke into the room, "If Imperious is done annoying you, We have a situation, my lord,"

"Thank you, Captain, Imperious please go to my office I will join you there shortly," Malserik spoke as he went into the bathroom off of his bedroom, locking the door.

After about twenty minutes Malserik joined, Imperious in his study. Though he was moving quickly, he was preparing to go deal with the situation in Hiskal. As interesting as it was to see her friend scrambling she found it ridiculous that he was going out when he had two apprentices with him.

"What are you doing?" Imperious asked, crossing her arm, curious why her friend was so frantic. If the Hiskalan Guard was doing their job, he had all the time in the galaxy to respond.

"What do you mean?" Malserik snapped back, "Hiskal is under attack-"

"Send out Ruby and Weiss, surely they can handle it." Imperious spoke her voice cold and annoyed. Malserik himself stopped moving. He had doubts, they would be two to one down there. He started moving, almost dismissing the idea outright. Imperious sensed this doubt, He's protecting them, this is interesting, she thought as she watched Malserik gather some of his field equipment from inside his desk.

"Viridian. Have faith in them," Imperious spoke her voice understanding, yet firm. She was concerned about seeing one of her best friends and allies during her rise to power being overprotective, this wasn't something the Malserik she knew was known for. "if they are as powerful as you have led me to believe, they should be able to handle the situation quickly and effectively, So have them prove it to me." Imperious voice was warm to start but she finished cold, almost sounding heartless. Malserik realized she was indeed right they needed to prove their worth in true combat. With this realization in mind, he called for Dornettz as Imperious and informed him of who the belligerent faction was and belonged to. Then she told Malserik, she brought the two cloaks he requested.


Dornettz walked down the residential corridors with orders to wake, the young Ladies. He walked into their quarters and approached the door to their bedroom. The door slid open revealing the two girls in bed, "My ladies, lord Malserik has requested you to wake up now," the butler reported loudly to make sure the girls got up, and they jumped at the sound of the Dornettz's voice.

"Morning to you too, Dornettz," Ruby groaned as Dornettz only woke them if Malserik was not available or he had other things to tend to. Though the tone of his voice sounded much more rushed and urgent.

"Thank you, Dornettz," Weiss replied calmly rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"My ladies, Lord Malserik also said to get dressed and geared up within fifteen minutes" the butler spoke calmly and properly, "He says today is your first mission in the field, so if I may wish you good luck my ladies," Dornettz spoke calmly, as he left the room. One thing Weiss had grown accustomed to was the respect the soldiers, staff, and people had regarding them. Though Ruby was still unnerved by the fact she was being called a lady, she was never one for formalities, before but she was growing used to it, and she did find it kind of nice at times.

The duo hurried to get dressed, double-checking their gear and everything. Their gear looked for the most part the same as when they first arrived, just more adjusted to fit their changing bodies. Aside from that Ruby had her paired saber split on her belt looking like two sabers. Weiss had her bent hilt lightsaber on her belt along with the lightsaber of Exar Kun just in case she was to lose her current one, despite her discomfort with the weapon.

Affixing all of their equipment the partners of red and white did a cursory glance over their appearance in the mirror. Ruby throughout her growth, let her hairstyle remain the same albeit slightly longer though like she was growing it out. Weiss's hair was trimmed cleanly to above her shoulders and it was loose with her bangs reaching down to her right eye while the cover on her right eye. Though there were some other minor other changes that were noted by the girls, as they noted they had started to take a pallor and some shading around the eyes.

Walking down the hall Ruby spoke to Weiss, asking, "So what do you thinks going on?"

"No idea, but it seems urgent" Weiss replied calmly as they walked down the very familiar red corridors of the housing and living section of Waldstahl, Weiss loved the way the place was warmly decorated with wood and metallic accents, as it felt a lot warmer than her home back on Remnant.

"That it does," Ruby replied tensing her metal right hand as they approached Malserik's study, she felt like a battle was looming overhead. Troops and staff carried about their business and duties with an added and unusual and tense haste. They entered the command and logistics area of Waldstahl to get to Malserik's study. This area of the fortress was much more metallic and rough giving the feeling of imperial architecture. Approaching the door the study, Ruby smiled and said "well here we go." as the door automatically opened.

What they saw inside was Malserik and a woman in a red and black outfit, she looked intently at both Ruby and Weiss staring into their souls. She was leaning on Malserik's desk observing them with great attention and a subtle smirk. It was apparent by her face she was impressed. Though her eyes focused quickly on Ruby. As Imperious looked at Ruby she thought That girl is special, I can feel it.

"Ruby, Weiss, please kneel before Darth Imperious," Malserik spoke calmly, though Ruby could tell he was nervous, like something was gnawing at him, If Ruby had learned one thing with her force sight ability, Malserik was a master of facades at times as he could mask his true feeling expertly. Though, as they kneeled Ruby having her right leg out front, Weiss with the left, Imperious spoke,

"Well I must say, they are quite impressive Malserik," She said smiling examining both Ruby and Weiss, her voice carried weight despite its youth. Both of the apprentices could feel, she was much more dangerous than she looked. "I can't wait to see how they handle those apprentices that Zarash and Sorvo sent." She said excitedly as she smirked at Ruby and Weiss.

"Apprentices?" they inquired at the same time.

"Yes, four apprentices were sent to cause panic in Hiskal, your mission will be to deal with them," Malserik explained calmly.

"So, dead or alive?" Weiss asked calmly concerned at what Malserik meant by 'deal with them.'

"Dead of course," Malserik replied, his voice calm and normal. Which just drew widened gazes from his apprentices whose faces both asked 'you want us to kill them?'

"They have already killed about two hundred people including some of my men," Malserik explained with disgust in his voice, he knew this would be a problem they only killed once before and that was in a fit of rage. Though he could tell by the shock of the death toll, this would be easier to convince them, so that is what he did. "We Sith are a brutal people, most back-stab to get further in life, you leave someone alive they will come back to bite you, I expect all four of their lightsabers at my feet by the end of today, Am I clear!" He said with an ordering tone, gesturing as he took his own saber off his belt and put it on the desk with a loud clack on the obsidian-like surface for emphasis.

"Yes, Master," they spoke together, disgruntled, but not completely off-put, Malserik made it clear in the past that to survive in the empire, they would have to kill. This was to be their first test. With the death toll at what it was, they needed to do this to save more lives.

"Your shuttle is in the hanger," Malserik explained calmly "Don't fail me!" he declared as they left the room.

"Be careful, you're reminding of my master, Malserik," Imperious teased playfully, She knew the girls would be okay, and if they got killed, they weren't really the prophesied ones.

"They still have a lot to learn," Malserik frowned, taking a seat at his desk as Imperious turned to face him as he did.

"They do, but I can see they will learn quickly," Imperious spoke calmly, her voice filled with confidence.


The walk to the hanger was calm as Ruby and Weiss contemplated what they were told. Ruby thought killing was unnecessary. While Weiss was disgusted by the idea ever since the Vytal festival incident with Adam. Entering the hanger they saw the shuttle it was a converted imperial dropship. As they descended the scaffold to the hanger floor, one of Malserik's Troopers intercepted them and called out to them with a loud "My ladies!"

"Yes, Sergeant?" Ruby Responded knowing the rank pips on the solder's armor.

"Lady Imperious, asked for you to get these before you left," The sergeant explained, his voice masked by his helmet, in his hand were two clothing boxes with their names in Aurebesh on the front. Opening the boxes they found folded fabric, which as they unfurled it from the box revealed cloaks like the one Ruby and Weiss had on Remnant. Though Ruby's was black with a blood-red lining and Weiss' was white with a navy blue lining. The hoods were pointed and the edges of the cloak were embroidered with an elegant design in a gold thread for Ruby and Silver for Weiss.

The girls smiled as they saw these though as they held them they noted they were both thicker and heavier than the cloaks they had on Remnant. Putting them on they realized they were tailored to fit them perfectly, and Ruby cheered, "Now we are in business!"

"That we are," Weiss smiled, walking over to the shuttle with Ruby.


Out in Hiskal, the guard had pinned the apprentices into a block of warehouses. They had blocked all transit into and out of the area. They formed a phalanx formation around the block using rapidly deployable barriers with all blasters facing inwards. They had enough firepower to decimate the building if needed, though that would only be done if ordered by Malserik himself. Though if the Apprentices tried to escape, no amount of blaster deflection could stop the amount of firepower they possessed.

Inside the warehouse, it was dark and damp. The air filled with the vile smell of burned flesh, It also smelled of blood and recently dead corpses. With this darkness came voices of the tormented as they were cut down by the distinct sound of ignited lightsabers. Outside the chatter of blasters being trained and the flashing lights of the Hiskalan Guard rang out.

"Where is Jahi!?" one of the red lightsaber-wielding apprentices asked as he decapitated one of the workers in the warehouse, his hood still raised to protect his identity, not that it really mattered.

"He's found another female he's taken a liking to!" another apprentice yelled back as she ran a crimson blade through another worker's chest.

"That's the fourth one today! Mer'tosu," the first apprentice responded. None of the other three apprentices agreed with how Jahi conducted himself, but they weren't going to try and stop him.

"You know how quickly he gets that way, Sodus," the female hissed as she ran another terrified worker through the chest. "I'm just glad it isn't me," she said in a hushed voice. she was disgusted by the actions of the Sith she and her partner were operating with for this mission.

"Where in the name of the damn emperor is Malserik!?" another apprentice yelled impatiently down, from a catwalk.

"No idea, Kodhass," Sodus responded as he found a woman groveling in the ground missing her right leg. He ran a blade up her back slowly bisecting her. "You'd think he would show up by now." even their masters had told them, 'terrorize Hiskal and you will draw out Malserik.' one would think even with a Jammer, Malserik would be awake and scrambling to take out the attackers on 'his city.'

Little did they know, his response was on the way. To make their first public appearances as his apprentices, Sith of white and red.


Off in the shuttle to the warehouse Ruby and Weiss had been briefed on the situation of two hundred and fifty-seven dead, three survivors missing their limbs and suffering from horrific abuse. They were informed they would have to go in via air, due to the guard phalanx.

Ruby was already fuming at these people hearing how they tortured, pillaged, and raped Hiskal last night. Weiss was disgusted that anything sentient could commit this type of atrocity, especially just to draw someone out. They both had their saber's on hand, ready to ignite them as soon as they got inside.

As they approached the warehouse they saw Malserik's troops outside, blaster pointed inward, waiting to pour bolts into any door that opened. They specifically told anyone who remained inside to take cover and hide, as if they tried to escape they may be shot. They saw the remnants of the barricades that were used to funnel the apprentices to Malserik, or in the case of today Weiss and Ruby.

As the shuttle hovered over the warehouse, the girls leaped out the side using their glyphs to slow their descent to the point of where they could just lightly tap down on the roof. Weiss landed on the north end of the warehouse's roof, while Ruby landed on the south. Weiss unlatched and opened the skylight with the force and entered quietly. While Ruby, needing to vent and not giving a damn about subtlety, ripped the skylight violently out with the force, then jumped into the newly created entrance.


As Ruby entered, she felt her stomach seize up at the stench of burned flesh and other assorted nasty smells of war. She heard the various screams and moans of those left to die by these murderers.

Ruby was disgusted and angry as she walked along the catwalk quietly reaching the control room. There, her eyes witnessed something so disgusting, so disturbing. She saw a Sith Pureblood holding a small female by the neck choking her. The Pureblood was massive and whoever he was dominating, he was using nothing but his brute strength to do it. Though by the smell he had attacked her with a lightsaber, Ruby was reminded that three other girls had suffered abuse at the hands of one of the apprentices.

This realization caused Ruby to rip both of her sabers off of her belt and ignite them. The brute seemed to take notice and release the woman letting her fall to the ground. Then turn around he revealed his face his skin was bright clay red with glowing orange eyes, tendrils hanging from his chin.

"Oh Malserik has apprentices, this is new, but you little bitch will cower before the Great Jahi!" the Sith boasted as he ignited his lightsaber, Ruby could feel the sick and repugnant feelings in this Sith's mind, she wanted to puke at the thought.

"don't worry little girl I'm only going to cut your limbs off, you're no use to me dead" he explained with a creepy smile that could unease the most willful of individuals, his words wrought with disgusting implication. With each word that came out of his mouth, Ruby was getting angrier at the fact how could anyone allow this piece of trash to live.

He charged at Ruby with his single-bladed lightsaber going with a strike for her legs, which Ruby blocked with her left lightsaber in a reverse grip. She quickly back-stepped, the next blow came up high, Ruby deflected it off to the side with her right blade, redirecting the blade into the floor causing sparks to fly. Allowing her to kick the brute back into the wall, then charge him while he was down. He countered Ruby's attack with a force push that ripped Ruby's hood back. That's when the Pureblood saw it the look in her eyes they were the yellow he knew too well.

He charged Ruby to try to get the advantage with brute strength, but the girl static blocked him. That's when he realized she was holding back. As his eyes went wide as he realized this, that's when the 'Great' Jahi knew he had to give it his all to win this fight. He back-stepped away and unleashed force lightning which his opponent deflected with her blade. she is skilled, he thought as he tried another force push, this time only to be intercepted by another force push in the opposite direction. Though in this stalemate, Jahi used it as a distraction, attacking once again with brute strength and speed utilizing every aspect of form seven, Juyo he knew. Though for every fast and strong strike she seemed to get equally faster blocking and deflecting his blade with ease. They both stepped back to reassess the situation.

Ruby deemed it was time to transition to sabers staff combat and clicked the two sabers together. As she leaped at her opponent, in her mind she wondered why she had finished this apprentice off yet, what am I doing I could have ended this by now, it was then she realized she was enjoying the fight. Back on Remnant, she always did like fighting the Grimm, it was a challenge, they were unpredictable after a while the droids Malserik pitted them up against got predictable, thus boring.

Now Ruby was up against the true opponent, one that could adapt, one that was unpredictable, one that was a monster like the ones she was so used to destroying, she didn't want it to end. She enjoyed feeling his fear, she felt the terror her opponent felt and she was savoring it. Knowing that a monster was going to face justice, she smiled, she felt the feeling she had when she first gained the use of the force. Jahi knew he was outclassed, though before she ended the duel she wanted him to know how outclassed he truly was.

Utilizing her bright red floral glyphs, she locked down his dominant saber arm in the air, as vines of thorny energy emerged from the glyph and further entangled her target. While this happened, she faded into a cloud of black and red petals with two glowing blades at either end, and they were moving so fast they were just a blur of energy.

Jahi felt the searing pain as his right arm was severed at the bicep. Before he could recover from this trauma he felt a hand grab him by the throat, looking down the right arm of the girl who held his throat he saw a smirk on her face as she said maintaining the smirk,

"Oh, the irony, the irony that I'm the one doing this, how many women have you abused, you monster?!" She asked wickedly in a yelling rage. raised him off the ground, as she could see how he lived his life, "you've lost count haven't you, then it's only fitting I do this." Ruby spoke, disgusted as her voice turned into a low growl, Ruby loved this feeling of power she held as she felt the pulse in the pureblood's neck. She looked him in the eye, as she started to chuckle at him.

Jahi was terrified as the girl was reading him like a book; though as she chuckled at him, he drew his last breath. the metal fingers under the gauntlet crushed his neck with a loud bone-shattering crack. After that was done Ruby threw his limp lifeless body to the ground like a rag doll and took the lightsaber from his severed hand. Though as she did she saw someone very familiar run over to the battered girl's side, but before she could say anything, another apprentice ambushed her. though, it seemed by the way he delayed he was letting her kill the Sith, as he was most likely a burden to their group.


At the same time as Ruby's battle, Weiss elegantly dropped down to the main floor of the warehouse behind one of the hooded apprentices, she saw the bodies lying around, to say she was disgusted was an understatement, these people were up and tortured before they were killed. Only one word went through Weiss's mind with this knowledge, unacceptable. The apprentice flipped around from hearing the crash of Ruby's entrance. He was shocked at the sight that wasn't Malserik, his blade was already ignited so he just immediately charged, a fatal decision is Weiss ignited her blue blade and deftly parried his blade out of his hand then followed up with a slash across the chest, only deep enough to destroy the heart. As he fell, the communication jammer fell to the floor off his body and Weiss made a point of stomping it to destroy it.

"You killed Sodus, you bitch!" A female voice yelled running up to Weiss, who raised her blue blade up performing a Makashi salute to entice combat between her and the lavender-skinned Twi'lek in front of her. The aggression from her opponent gave Weiss the advantage, as she dodged, deftly parried, and redirected her blade.

Weiss was in complete control of the fight. Analyzing her opponent, she noticed she over-swung on downward cuts leaving her exposed for a few milliseconds. On the next downward cut, Weiss deftly put three quick stabs on her opponent's left thigh. The damage was superficial but enough to cause pain to make her opponent's fighting style even more erratic, causing her over-swing even more. Weiss noticed another opening this time on the right shoulder. Taking advantage of this opening she did a quick precise cut that severed the arm right before the joint at the shoulder. After doing this Weiss leaped over her opponent and ran her saber through the opponent's heart from behind. Weiss was starting to get angry after doing this not because of the fact of what she was doing, it was because her opponents possessed no skill with the blade. She was enjoying the fight, she liked the challenge, it was exhilarating. She wanted to duel someone with skills like her own.

She picked up the two sabers as ordered, that's when she heard the sounds of lightsabers whirring and clashing, she looked up to the catwalk to see Ruby dueling with her second opponent of the day, a male Zaabrak. Ruby was using her saber staff style while her opponent seemed to be on the defensive and Ruby was just trying to get an opening. Until Ruby slipped up choking her hands up too much on the rear of her saber staff. This gave her opponent a direct diagonal slash through the emitter on the front blade causing it to detonate. Sending fragments that plinked off her aura.

Ruby leaned back, smirking, discarding the now dead weight on her saber as she brought out her reserve saber and engaged its blade. The next move was one of cunning on Ruby's part. As she parried her reserve blade, the one Vader gave her, and locked it in such a position if the blade were longer it would pierce his chest. That's when the blade jumped in length to double its length puncturing the apprentice's chest, killing him. As his body fell from the catwalk Ruby grabbed his saber and clipped it to her belt using the force. A contented smirk formed on her face as she affixed her sabers back to her belt.

Though a split second after, Ruby turned around, Weiss saw Ruby ignite her sabers again. Wondering what would cause her to re-engage her sabers, Weiss force jumped up to the catwalk and the sight she saw was sad and shocking, and her eyes went wide at the sight.

Inside the main office control room, she saw Roman Torchwick hovering over a beaten and battered Neopolitan, treating her wounds. His appearance was ragged and so was Neo's the way he was furiously working suggested something was wrong, and seeing such a thing seemed so out of character for Roman. He was acting like a friend trying to help a friend. Seeing this Ruby retracted her blades as the battered mobster yelled out, "Okay if you aren't trying to kill us could you please give me a hand here!?"


Back at Waldstahl, Malserik and Imperious had moved their discussion to the overlook, the large porch-like balcony, and the air was brisk and cold as the ever present force storms relented the mountain top snow for once allowing for the rarely used overlook to be used. Imperious was leaning on the railing looking out on the city which actually looked quite beautiful at this time of day as the light that made it through the clouds gleamed off the building. While Malserik was sitting back in a chair sipping on a drink he had on the table next to him.

"You know Malserik, you really have done a number to the city that used to be the worst place on Drommund Kaas," Imperious explained Imperious calmly looking at the City's beauty. If there was one thing Waldstahl had, it was a view. Looking out at this city, seeing this sight always made her regret her trying to convince Malserik to stay as her adviser a few years ago.

"I know, amazing what respect, happiness, and prosperity can achieve," Malserik smiled pleasantly as he took another sip from his drink, "We are one of the major centers of industry in the Empire now."

"It's sad how many people have tried to take it from you," Imperious said somberly, "Just to ruin what you have accomplished."

"Usually one attempt every three months, though this is the first time they have used this many apprentices to do so." Malserik smiled with a subtle, slightly nervous, chuckle as he stood up to join Imperious by the railing. He was feeling out into the city, trying to feel for his apprentices. He felt them as their rage was a beacon in the force. He sighed with relief at this as he continued "It's usually just one or two apprentices, never had four before."

"How's your archive project going?" Imperious asked calmly, directly inquiring about Malserik's main duty under Imperious, the secure storage, and cataloging of rare and important artifacts.

"Very well I've managed to acquire quite a few new items that are extremely valuable," Malserik spoke calmly but quietly.

"Good, we will need all we can get for the plan," Imperious replied, ominously alluding to events to come. Though that's when she and Viridian sensed a presence lurking up from the shadows and it was at this time a voice spoke out.

"And what plan would that be, darling?" A mysterious female voice spoke teasingly, causing them to turn around to see two hooded figures behind them, "yes, please tell us of this plan," the tall male figure spoke as he drew his lightsaber staff un-ignited from his belt, while the female followed suit drawing two standard sabers from her belt.

"I'm afraid you don't need to know that." Malserik replied coolly, drawing his half-circle guarded lightsaber from the back of his belt, "And why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be a civil discussion, Zarash?" Malserik Hissed back, after saying that Imperious drew her sabers off her harness.

"Oh we never planned for this to be civil, Malserik," the female said discarding her cloak as the male did the same, "We originally just wanted Hiskal from you, but Imperious's head would look great split on our walls for what you did to my sister, Ceres," Zarash, the female pureblood announced igniting her Sabers as she hissed Imperious's name.

"Oh, you're still bent up about that?" Imperious taunted in her accented voice, igniting her two bent hilt sabers into two fierce blue blades.

Malserik held his un-ignited blade up into a salute and ignited the blade then performed the salute, "I'll handle Zarash, she's too stupid to know how I fight, you take Sorvo"

"Got it!" She yelled and the fight was on.


Malserik opened with his standard form two, Makashi. Putting Zarash on the defensive as he attacked deftly to get a feel for her style to see if she had improved since five years ago. Which as he expected she had. For the former Jedi, this was no problem as he still had quite a few unseen tricks up his sleeve that very few see, let alone live to tell about.

"Your reliance on form two is laughable, Malserik," Zarash taunted verbosely. As if a prompt, Malserik demonstrated one of the features of his saber. He disengaged the main blade and engaged the second on the reverse end, showing his saber to be a short double saber. Though, this maneuver was to switch from form two to form five shien's reverse grip, something Zarash did not expect, though she did not expect the kick in the waist either.

Lunging forward Malserik's Viridian blade clashed with the red blades of the defender, who cross blocked the blade. As both, her blades were in use Malserik quickly swiped her legs with a kick, which caused her to tumble over. Though, she managed to avoid Malserik's blade narrowly. Using the force to blast herself away. This was to avoid Malserik's stab into the ground.

To recover Malserik switched back to the front blade, deactivating the rear blade while it was on the duracrete floor, freeing his weapon as Zarash threw a massive bolt of force lightning at Malserik, who simply extended his off-hand and absorbed it. Taking in the dark energy he returned it with interest in a direct bolt that hit Zarash directly. For most people, a strike would have fried them to a charred skeleton, but Zarash wasn't the weakest thing around. She managed to get back up but her skin lost most of its pigment along with her hair from the blast.

Malserik was impressed that she could take this kind of punishment. Noting this, it was time to take the metaphorical gloves off as he engaged the second blade on his saber as Zarash charged in. her blade contacted the half-circle guard with a wicked smile like she had won, though to her surprise, the guard was not cut, it was holding up to the blade of a lightsaber. She jumped back shocked not knowing why her blade would not cut.

"Got to love phrik alloys," Malserik taunted with a smug grin on his face, as he held his saber out in a ready stance.

"You one-eyed bastard!" Zarash yelled, charging back in as Malserik parried the saber in her right hand with his front blade and angling his parry cause his rear blade to cut the emitter off the saber in her left hand. This precise move worked allowing him to deactivate the rear blade to focus on his opponent's blade in form two. She tried brute force attacks but Malserik dodged and parried with an ever-present smile, showing he was just toying with her. In response to his taunting smile, she force pushed him back causing him to almost go over the railing. with this near success, she tried another push which Malserik countered with one of his own and force jumped acrobatically over Zarash engaging the second blade on his saber again though he re-positioned the saber so the guard was now cocked thirty degrees towards the left.

"As fun as it has been Zarash I'm done playing with you," Malserik spoke, his voice starting to sound dark with annoyance. As the guard on his saber split in two opening to a full circle and the emitters locked down and started to go around the track that was formed by the full circular guard. Zarash who was shocked by this feature leaped up unpredictably. Malserik's response involved a saber throw with the rotation set to maximum, turning his lightsaber into a whirling disk of green energy death. Zarash deflected this attack as she landed. As Malserik returned the saber to his hand the blades locked back to their default position and the guard closed up. Though it was at this point Zarash dashed in and managed to land a scathing blow slicing Malserik's eyepatch on his right eye and causing a light scratch to the flesh on his cheek and eyebrow. This caused Malserik to recoil.

Quickly switching his saber to his left hand and covering his right eye with his right hand. Now this just became dire, I need to get Zarash so Imperious is not in my line of sight, Malserik thought to himself as his hand was forced now, and he had to end this quickly to prevent any undue damage as much as he hated the idea he had to use his eye. He pushed Zarash onto the wall leaving only her in his line of sight. With that, he uncovered his right eye revealing an eye so corrupted by the dark side the skin around it was ashen and lined with blackened veins, the Sclera bloody pink tainted with dark veins, and the Iris was glowing a bright sulfuric yellow and the pupil was a bloody red. Leaping out of his gaze Malserik cursed, covering his eye again with his hand.

Zarash noted how weird Malserik was acting with his eye. She charged in only to get parried and force pushed away. Bursting back up in a force dash toward Malserik, Zarash blasted forth with a flurry of blade work. Malserik countered this by opening his blade back into the rotary mode using it as offensive shield slicing with it in ways that looked like the rotation should intersect with his body. Yet he remained unscathed, the sound of blades being rapidly ignited and extinguished as a sensor detected where Malserik's body was functioning as an interrupt preventing any self-harm.

His fighting style became erratic as he started to smile in a way that unnerved the Sith lord as now she was on the defensive. Malserik's strikes were ones of ever-growing madness as if something was racking him with pain. The onslaught of the spinning blade was too much. Zarash leaped back right into the position Malserik wanted, away from anyone and up against a wall. Malserik smiled as he uncovered his eye. As he gazed at Zarash she collapsed convulsing in pain.

Her body felt like it was on fire, burning without flame, she felt it was the force engulfing her in pain looking up into Malserik's right eye, he had a look of pity on his face like he was sad, this confused the Sith as her pain neared its end as her body disintegrated to ash.

Malserik frowned at the pile of ash in front of him, he cursed his eye. Why just why do I have to have a power like this, one I cannot turn off, I have to hide it, conceal it lest it affects anyone I care about, again. Also, why does it have to make them suffer, I wanted power but every time I use it I'm reminded of what kind of a monster I could be. Damn this eye. Malserik thought as extinguished his saber and examined his weapon, the one thing he kept from his days as a Jedi. The crystals he used were ones his father gave him on a necklace and it was the one thing he was allowed to keep as a Jedi so he honored his family by making the necklace into his saber. A saber, which to the Jedi was unnecessarily complicated, and unnecessary in general. After his moment, he returned it back to his belt once again thank you Sturmkreig, for a weapon you remind me who I am. I am a man who can't stand suffering yet I inflict it, by the force, I am weak.


As the battle between Malserik and Zarash kicked up, Sorvo and Ceres were just getting started. Sorvo heard the rumors of what Ceres could do, but little did he know she could actually turn invisible for a short time. Her strikes were precise and true something the brute of a Sith barely understood. To him, she was attacking in two places at once. She was cloaking herself in the force to sow fear and disorder. In the confusion of her strikes, Ceres cut Sorvo's saber staff in two functional lightsabers.

He started to decipher a pattern from her attacks. Figuring this he managed to predict where she was going to come from. Seeing her blue blades being parried away made Sorvo smile as he felt he was getting the advantage. Little did he know how powerful Imperious's force pushes were, Flying through the air Sorvo used the force to pulse him forward to stop the motion he was in. his blades held out in an X to static block, Ceres's incoming attack little did he know she knew how to split the block hitting the inside of the lower half of the x she rotated the sabers apart allowing her to snap a kick to his stomach.

Though, as Sorvo recovered, Ceres realized this duel wasn't going to be won by her conventional means. Standing there for a few seconds in a ready stance connecting the hilts to form a pseudo S curve saber staff. as she took the blade in her right hand positioned her left hand above the blade and charged with force lightning. The already lively blue blades were now imbued with lightning. Sorvo didn't know the trick his opponent was using so he readied a block. Which is exactly what imperious wanted, she smirked as she came in for the attack run for as she leaped up in a whirlwind-like blade attack as her blade contacted Sorvo's off-hand blade.

The lightning from Imperious's blades channeled down Sorvo's crimson blade into the hilt of his offhand saber overloading its circuitry, disabling it for the time being. Eliminating his blade, Ceres moved in for a follow-up strike only to be pushed back with a massive force push. She landed on her feet and slid back into a sprinter's start position with her lightsaber in front of her. Bolting forward, Imperious engaged in a flurry of attacks and parries that would look like blurs of blue and red energy to the normal eye. Sparks flew off the energy blades as they collided this continued for what seemed like minutes until Imperious could find an opening in Sorvo's defense. Expertly abusing this opening, she impaled her saber staff through Sorvo's chest ending him.

Withdrawing the blade, she deactivated them as she sensed Zarash was dispatched as well then remounted them on her harness. Turning around, she saw Malserik with his right hand covering his right eye, that's when she noticed the cut eye patch and the pile of ash that was in front of Malserik. In her mind, all she could say was What did he do to her, and what is up with his eye?

Malserik took out his first aid kit and quickly bandaged his cursed eye as the Hiskalan Guard of Waldstahl came to report. After they took both of their reports and Malserik's eye was covered again, he heard his Holocom bleeping on his belt. Taking it off, he saw a Small projection of Ruby and Weiss, who both reported in synchronization,

"Threats eliminated, master," Malserik smiled as he heard this as the communication, and then they continued with, "Also we found two more people from Remnant that require our assistance." This made Malserik smile, as it could be the other two from the 'Team PRWN' the girls mentioned so much. Sadly this was not the case.


A/N, and with that, the first bit of true combat in the Star Wars universe has taken place. As for the Changes I made, I wanted the Hiskalan Guard to react more realistically, penning the Sith into an area. I also wanted to make Malserik a bit more caring along with making Imperious a bit more 'Interesting' and the one to get Ruby and Weiss their new cloaks. I also wanted to change how Ruby and Weiss acted in their duels a bit. That's really all I can think of adding, in this A/N.

So next chapter will be the continue where this one left off.

With that, I would like so thank everyone for reading. I hope everyone is enjoying the story. With that, everyone have fun, stay safe and may the force be with you!

Blitzing Raptor