Deep in the bowels of Chancellor Palpatine's Surgical Reconstruction Center, Dooku took quickly to the teachings of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Those teachings agreed with his sense of superiority, forced him to use it to prove his mettle against Darth Sidious's ever more malicious battle exercises. Rather than being encouraged to withhold his emotions – to sublimate them – he was told to let them flow through him, build within him, guide him, and perfect him. Now, he could channel the decades worth of anger that had built inside him into a caustic, withering series of merciless strikes against anything or anyone who dared to oppose him.
And perhaps the Dooku's favorite Sith discipline was that of Dun Möch – the utter domination of an opponent's spirit by whatever means were at hand, be they spoken taunts or flying obstacles. Secretly, the old fencing instructor relished the notion of demolishing an opponent without ever igniting a blade. At last, his preeminent intellect could be used against his foes – and only his intellect. No longer would he need to resort to violence against weak-minded fools who were not worthy of his exertions. Now they could destroy themselves. Besides, though he was strong with the Force, he was growing ever more cognizant of his advancing age and the slowing effect it had on his once-lightning reflexes. Better not to chance a fight if it could be avoided; Dooku knew not how many more engagements he could survive.
As Dooku's strength in the dark side grew exponentially, Sidious recognized that Dooku would need to sever his ties with the Jedi, lest they stumble upon the Sith accidentally. Dooku concurred. He was glad to shed his commitment to the Jedi and their strictures. Nonetheless, he felt more than a mere twinge of nostalgia regarding his tenure with them. For as obtuse, limiting, and ultimately unprofitable as their doctrines were, the Order had provided him respite from the administrative duties incumbent on the Count of Serenno. They had also allowed him a measure of glory when he led the Jedi during the Battle of Galidraan, in which the fierce Mandalorians (who had often allied themselves with the Sith throughout much of their shared histories) were all but exterminated.
But now, Dooku had his chance to avenge his own slaughter of those proud warriors. He could make amends for heeding the Jedi Council's dictates then – the first of many misguided fool's errands the Council had sanctioned in the last twenty years. He could set right the grave wrong he had perpetrated on the Mandalorians. If all went well, he might even be able to repopulate the galaxy with their race in the ultimate act of repentance.
Dooku realized he was letting his thoughts race too far ahead again. One side effect of his training in Sith techniques of domination was an increase in his already considerable devotion to the Unifying Force. Sidious challenged him to peer with dark clarity into the future, to arrange events to his liking and then work backward in time to see how those events must be brought to fruition. Once again, Dooku demonstrated unusual talent in doing this, his visions often focusing on the annihilation of the Jedi Order. If the Jedi no longer existed, perhaps they would no longer haunt his dreams.
And no matter how Dooku envisioned the Jedi meeting their end, it all started with him making his formal break with them – and soon. So he steeled himself with dark side Force disruption meditations that Darth Sidious taught him and made an appointment to meet with the Jedi Council. Many of the Council members were shocked to hear from Dooku; it had been two months since he was seen conducting his researches in the Jedi Archives.
Dooku left the Holocrons in his Sith Master's care before jetting to the Jedi Temple. His regal strides down the august hallways leading to the Council's meeting place drew innumerable stares from Younglings, Padawans, and even Jedi Knights. As Dooku passed them in his simple brown Jedi cloak, innumerable whispers and hushed voices pullulated in his wake. The Jedi Masters on his route regarded him coolly, warily, but respectfully as he wound his way to the top of the spire that housed the Council chamber.
When Dooku was bidden into the center of the Council, he was permitted a brief declamation about the corruption of the Jedi Order before some of the assembled Masters attempted to interrupt him. Dooku continued over them, his low baritone forcing the other voices down into submission as he detailed the perversion of the Jedi from a vibrant body dedicated to the defense of the ideals of the Republic into a self-serving cadaver that had decayed into a twisted, unrecognizable, putrefied mass that threatened the very principles of the Republic.
When he finished, the Council was silent. Even the members who had initially piped up to defend the Jedi against Dooku's accusations recognized the kernels of truth from which the sentiments expressed in Dooku's tirade germinated. Their impotence in the face of the Sith menace confirmed that they were unable to confront – or reveal the identity of – the direst threat to their Order. Nor could they initially stop the cowardly Neimoidians from blockading the helpless planet of Naboo. Inwardly, Dooku chortled that even now, none of the Council suspected that a nascent Sith Lord spoke in their midst.
With that, Dooku resigned his commission in the Jedi Order. Though no one was completely surprised, audible gasps still escaped the lips of half of the members of the Council. He was only the twentieth member to renounce his commission voluntarily, so the assembled Masters knew they were witnessing a historic event. Following tradition, Dooku detached the cloak from his shoulders, letting it whisper to the floor before he turned around and stepped on it once with each foot before leaving the Council chambers. The Council could only stare at the empty brown cloak, lying as if the spirit that previously inhabited it had deserted it utterly, leaving it a limp and dead hulk. Just as Dooku had described the Jedi Order.