"What are we doing here?" Oli's voice held impatience and skepticism. "These are ruins..."
"Not so simple," her teacher grinned. "This fortress is one of the treasures of the past. Should have looked in here long ago."
"An unremarkable place," Ahsoka supported her friend. "Rocks, jungle, and ancient statues... what could be valuable here?"
They stood on a wide plain before a low — compared to the other temples on Yavin 4 — structure. Until recently, this was the most inaccessible place on the entire moon — the automated defense system spoke for itself. Fortunately, the approach of the Defender was enough to deactivate the outdated, but no less dangerous, cannons and the cloaking shield.
The main building was shaped like a spacious truncated four-sided pyramid. The spacious landing platform, once made of massive stone slabs, was now covered with a layer of earth and rampant vegetation, so each step was muffled by flora untouched for thousands years of neglect.
Why they had come here after Belsavis — to this Force-forgotten place deep in the operational zone of the system army under Master Unduli's command — the teacher hadn't explained. Just as he hadn't explained the reason why the Fury had followed them, delivering Master Grell and her apprentice — Ahsoka.
Lady Grell, Oli corrected herself. Calling the ancient Jedi woman, as experienced and powerful as Kira who accompanied them, "Master," Starstone's tongue wouldn't turn. Primarily because, despite their past, both girls, shining in the Force like two stars, were no longer part of the Order. And looking at them, at the aura of might surrounding them, the girl could only sadly note that if they were both in the Temple, how much they could have taught the younger generation. That Carsen girl, despite all the teacher's instructions, the practice in battles, couldn't even defeat — let alone break through her defense. According to Ahsoka — a similar situation was with Lady Grell.
The conclusion suggested itself — it seemed the Jedi of the past were taught far better than the current generation. Or perhaps, their power was born from that very Balance her master spoke of? The doctrine of the Order of Imperial Knights, which she understood intellectually but couldn't grasp.
Meanwhile, their small group reached the entrance to this "fortress," as her teacher called it. The massive doorway was blocked by a huge slab. It looked like stone, but upon closer inspection, Oli realized it was a mixture of stone and construction materials, like duracrète. Consequently — anyone who could overcome the defensive perimeter would also need the artillery power of an entire corvette to break inside.
"Seems we're not welcome here," Ahsoka remarked. Oli gave her a cautious look. If before the Togruta shone in the Force like a bright spark of Light, now... Now her Force was a bright star that had reached the peak of its life cycle. Without fluctuations, without dips: even, pure GRAY energy. The same as the teacher's when he wasn't masking himself, Lady Grell's and Kira's... Did that mean Ahsoka had learned to draw from both sides, adhering to the notorious Balance? If so, Oli envied her immensely.
"Not the point," the teacher objected. "The metal of the entry mechanism hasn't stood the test of time — unlike the stone. Well, never mind, it's not a problem."
He made a pass with his hand, and the massive stone slab flew upward as if it weighed nothing. Yes, as a youngling in telekinesis classes, she'd heard from Master Yoda that size matters not (and as a Padawan, she'd come up with an alternative explanation for that saying). But seeing it with her own eyes...
Dougan pulled a massive chunk of rock from the weeds and propped it under the entrance slab so it wouldn't crush anyone passing beneath. Only after assuring himself of the structure's safety did he step first under the vaults of the ancient building.
The first thing that caught Oli's attention was the darkness. Utter and impenetrable, it seemed to envelop each of those present. And evoked memories of the monastery on the planet Teth, where they had acted similarly. The light penetrating through the main entrance only slightly dispelled the darkness, making the massive statues inside seem even more sinister.
Then, a moment later, she heard a crackle that drew the attention of the others. Kira, who appeared a moment later from the gloom somewhere to the left, nodded toward where the noise, breaking the silence, came from.
"There was a substation there," she explained. "Water breached the wall and shorted the system. No threat of flooding, but all the electricals will have to be laid from scratch."
"Critical," the teacher shrugged. "First we'll look around, then we'll send repair crews from among the clones."
"As you wish, Emperor," the girl bowed.
Reunited, the group continued exploring the abandoned structure. The deeper they went into the fortress's depths, the more uneasy Oli became.
At first she didn't pay it any mind, but now...
This place clearly meant a lot to the teacher. Being near him the whole time they were crawling through corridors and rooms, she eventually felt that this place was saturated with the Force. It wasn't as noticeable when you had three powerful Force adepts beside you. But as soon as she descended into one of the rooms alone...
At first she thought she'd stumbled into a abandoned storage room. But as her eyes adjusted to the dark, the girl noticed the room actually more resembled a laboratory. Numerous tables with many objects on them, shelves, again with some objects. Hard to make out in the dark.
But the Force emanating from them...
Like a monster slumbering in the depths of nonbeing, it stirred, sensing the radiation of a gifted one. Here and there, red, blue, green lights began to appear... Aggressive, sorrowful, calling, threatening... And all of them wanted to reach her.
"Easy, apprentice," a hand fell on her shoulder. "These are just artifacts."
"Wow... 'just artifacts,'" she shuddered, pointing at a pyramid glowing with an unbearably red light. "That's a Sith holocron!"
"So what?" the teacher wondered. "Just an object that's waited a long time for a Force-sensitive being to chat with. Want to talk to the keeper?"
"No way," Oli protested. "You talk to them yourselves!"
"As you wish," Dougan shrugged. "Always knew you were a coward."
"Better a live coward than a dead hero," the girl retorted, making the man laugh.
"So be it. I'll chat with the holocron keepers myself," he promised magnanimously. "If I find anything useful or interesting — I'll share. Deal?"
"Oh, so you've decided to return to my education after all?" the girl said sarcastically.
"Naturally," the man replied impassively. "The Emperor can't have an apprentice who's a weakling."
"Hey!" the girl exclaimed indignantly. "I'm not like that! And hardly anyone's your equal anyway! So don't give me that."
"Hah," the man smirked. "Convinced, I won't."
"Thank you," the girl tossed out. Looking around once more, in the light of the numerous holocrons — both Sith and clearly Jedi — she realized there weren't that many here. But enough to finally dispel her initial assumptions.
This wasn't a storage room or a laboratory.
This room was a library, workshop, repository. Underground, it reached enormous size — no less than the area of the main hall she'd just been in. Yes, there were numerous pieces of furniture — eaten by time, rotten and decayed. On numerous identical tables lay dozens of holocrons, outdated data storage devices, all sorts of lightsaber hilts and parts, armor elements.
But something else was of interest.
Along the walls of the room stood massive shelves, painfully similar to those in the Archive of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Several similar panels, but smaller, she'd seen on the teacher's ship. Yes, not all of them glowed with a soft blue color, as in the Jedi abode — exactly half shimmered with a scarlet backlight. But to find such a thing somewhere so far away...
Most of the room was in darkness, but even the echoes of light from the holocrons were enough to understand — unimaginably huge objects were there.
"Teacher, what is this anyway?"
"This is the fortress of the Hero of Tython, Oli," he said quietly. "He lived at the same time as my teacher, and the Hands. And Kira was even his apprentice. An astonishingly great man, who began his life as an ordinary Padawan. If the Jedi Order weren't so categorical about its view on educating the younger generation, his story would be passed from mouth to mouth among younglings."
"Really?" the girl snorted. "What's so special about him?"
"To start, he saved Coruscant from destruction by Sith agents. Prevented the Empire from seizing numerous superweapon projects. Stopped Darth Angral, who sought to destroy the Jedi Order by shattering Tython. In the end, he killed the Sith Emperor — Vitiate. Did a lot of things, really. The last thing I remember about him is that he created his own state — the Eternal Alliance, which all those beings — not just Jedi and Sith dissatisfied with both the Empire and the Republic — joined."
"So, you're doing everything like him?"
"Roughly. The funny thing is, Vitiate helped him with that too."
"Coincidence?"
"I don't think so," the man shook his head, examining an intricate lightsaber hilt he'd picked up from one of the tables. "Vitiate is too smart and cunning to do anything for the good of all. His plan... I don't even know what he's aiming for in the very end. But I'm not sure I'll like it."
"So that's why you made me and Kira go through that machine?" Oli guessed. "We're your insurance?"
"In a way," the man smiled. "My insurance, even two — in a place Vitiate would never go in his right mind."
"Where is that?"
"Too many questions off-topic, Padawan," the man cut her off. Tossing the lightsaber hilt in his hand, he handed it to the girl. "Do you know whose lightsaber this is?"
"Um... no, of course not. How would I know, I'm here for the first time."
"Well, yes, how could I have overlooked that," the teacher smirked. "This weapon once belonged to Revan. Another outstanding adept of the past."
"A Jedi?"
"He was both Jedi and Sith. He conquered the galaxy and saved it. Destroyed and rebuilt," Dougan seemed to be struck by another bout of nostalgia. "In a way, he's who I always wanted to be."
"So you have idols too?" Oli snorted. "And what's he famous for?"
"In my memory, he's the first in the last four thousand years to find the path to Balance. And achieved great strength, knowledge, power. He tried to kill the emperor, but was betrayed..."
"By whom?"
"A Sith named Lord Scourge," the teacher added with a touch of sadness. "He saw a future that showed him that the Hero of Tython would kill the Emperor, not Revan. So he became the Emperor's servant for three hundred long years..."
"That long?" Oli said, stunned. "Can anyone live that long?"
The teacher didn't get a chance to answer her.
With an elusive movement, he turned toward the far part of the room, peering into the darkness. Revan's lightsaber, the one he'd been twirling in his hand until now, was now gripped in his right palm. The purple blade now hummed as if it hadn't lain here for millennia.
"Wow," Oli shrugged. "Such an antique, and it works..."
"Quiet," he hissed at her. "Here..."
"Here, not only ancient blades are functional," Oli heard a pleasant female voice in rough Basic, coming from the depths of the archive.
As if on command, the darkness parted, and on the border of light and dark appeared three figures, one look at which was enough for Oli to activate her own lightsaber.
In the center stood a short female Zabrak with red skin and a short hairstyle of black hair adorning the short horns on her head. She was clad in a tight black-and-gold suit that flattered the beauty and slenderness of her figure. In her hands she held a lightsaber pike, alive with a pair of scarlet blades. She literally oozed the Dark Side, which grew stronger with each second. Her eyes blazed with molten aurodium, and a triumphant smile danced on her lips. It seemed a moment more, and she and the teacher would be flooded by an ocean of Darkness.
On either side of her stood two monsters. Nearly two meters tall, they were a mass of muscles at the sight of which any bodybuilder would die of envy. Their bodies outwardly resembled each other, but one — the one on the left — was cream-olive with red stripes. The second — on the contrary, crimson-red, with a gray pattern on the right side of its chest. Their bared maws muttered something like streams of growls, and in each of their hands rested huge metal swords, along whose blades ran sparkling streams of energy.
"Khem Val, Ak'gal Usar," the Zabrak female addressed the monsters. "Kill them."
Immediately after these words, the monsters rushed into the attack, dissolving into the air as they moved.
"Teacher?!" Oli shouted with panic in her voice. "What is that?"
"Those are Dashade, Oli, damn it!" he shouted. Crossing his arms over his chest, he sharply spread them apart as if trying to tear something. At the same moment, a translucent sphere appeared around him, inside which purple lightning splashed. "Run!"
* * *
As soon as she reached the upper steps of the main hall, she felt that outside the repository, things weren't smooth either.
In the semi-darkness, lightsaber blades flashed, the air was sliced by branching Lightning, pierced by clots of energy. Glancing toward the exit, the girl realized with horror that the stone propping up the slab was gone, and they were cut off from the exit.
Meanwhile, surges of Force made her flutter up the stairs to the upper floor — where Kira, Ahsoka, and Lady Grell were supposed to have gone. Oli's premonitions didn't deceive her.
They had all walked into an ambush.
Kira, surrounding herself with a Force Barrier, was holding back an incredible onslaught of purple-blue lightning that struck her, born as if from nothingness. Looking closer, the girl noticed that before Carsen, in the center of the bridge, was her opponent in a blue-black robe, similar to what the Temple Guards wore. His face was hidden by a mask more like a metal human skull. He hovered in the air half a meter high, surrounded by a sphere of energy similar to the one the teacher had protected himself with.
Following her gaze further, Starstone saw that the other two of Dougan's companions were also engaged in battle.
Their opponent — a yellow-skinned Zabrak girl, whose body was covered with strange rectangular patterns, wielded a pair of double-bladed lightsabers with virtuosity, their yellow energy strokes flashing with unimaginable frequency. She was so agile that neither Ahsoka nor Nadia could even force her to retreat, let alone seize the initiative in the fight.
It became clear there was no help to be found here. The teacher's only chance against these monsters — was herself. But he told her to run?! Why?!
The Force burned her with a cry of danger, and without thinking, the girl rolled to the side, avoiding the stroke of a scarlet blade meant to cut her in half.
"Fast scum," hissed the red-skinned Zabrak female she'd seen below. "Hutt filth, I'll finish you."
"Who are you anyway?!" Oli cried out, instantly switching to defense. Her opponent approached, fast and graceful as a predator, swiftly spinning her weapon, which seemed small and pitiful compared to her own blade. Mechanically, Oli noted that this girl's blades were less than one and a half meters — though in the Temple they were told that such length was optimal for balancing and preserving the aerodynamics of such a weapon. But the Zabrak female seemed not to care at all.
She rushed at the Padawan, emitting a fierce cry. Attacked from unexpected and peculiar angles, changing the position of her miniature scarlet blades mid-strike. Each lunge by the Sith (well, what else could she be?) could easily go into a manual on lethal efficiency — they consisted mostly of fast and powerful strikes and counterstrikes, the direction of which the opponent could only guess. Oli imagined for a moment that Troll himself would have sweated profusely to deal with such an opponent.
For now, she managed to hold back the onslaught only because the connection between her and the teacher still worked. An invisible line bound them together, allowing them to draw energy, strength, knowledge from each other. Almost always Dougan kept this channel closed, not letting her penetrate his mind further. But now... It seemed the teacher realized she was having a very hard time, so he extended a kind of helping hand.
While the Zabrak female spun her blades, maintaining speed and inertia, she fed herself with the Force, opening to it more and more. Like a mountain river, it fed Oli, helping to direct the blade, parry, and deliver counterstrikes. It seemed the master had taken control of her fight.
And then she felt another bright point added to her connection with the teacher. And another. And another...
Five minds, joined into one unbreakable harmonious system, flawlessly wove into a combat brotherhood. Each part became almost indispensable, like a cornerstone. Knowledge, feelings, emotions, the Force... all intertwined like threads from which a rope was formed.
The calm deliberation and caution of Lady Grell.
The unrestrained fury and pressure of Ahsoka.
The cold calculation of Kira.
Her own uncertainty about the outcome of the battle, which was literally immediately washed from her mind by the encouragement of the others.
"You know everything," Nadia sent to her.
"You can do it," Kira echoed, from whom she hadn't expected support at all.
"Hutt, stop spreading your thoughts through the jungle and kick this red-faced ass!" Ahsoka finally ignited a flame in the girl.
The Darkness slumbering inside her… shattered the icy bonds, breaking free like magma from the throat of a supervolcano.
The Dark Side caught her up, drawing her into a swift dance of death with her opponent, who was literally broken by the element that descended upon her in the guise of a pretty, black-haired girl.
Oli waited for the moment of the Zabrak's next attack and calculated her laughably predictable lunge. Knowing exactly where the blade would go by the trajectory of her swing, she was able to distract herself from the fight for a moment and send a worried thought along the channel that stretched to her from her teacher.
"What's happening? Who are they? How are you?"
"Everything… is fine," the answer came with a slight delay. And a second later, two organic projectiles flew out of the upper part of the main building, like cannonballs—one red and one olive-colored.
The first literally swept away Kira's opponent, sending him flying in the same direction where her two friends were fighting the second Zabrak.
The second projectile, however, didn't have it quite so easy. According to its trajectory, it was supposed to knock Lady Grell's opponent off her feet, but the second Zabrak dodged aside with astonishing ease. Like an ancient weapon, the senseless bulk of the light-skinned Dashade returned to the huge hole in the building from which it had been launched.
And there…
Everyone present, without exception, felt what a star system experiences when its sun goes supernova.
Surrounded by an impenetrable translucent barrier—a sphere over which lightning played, vaporizing everything it touched—the teacher hovered several meters in the air.
He emitted waves of the Force around him, so powerful that the red-skinned Zabrak who had tried to retreat was instantly swept off her feet, tumbling head over heels toward her underlings. Oli felt an invisible Force pick her up, along with her three other companions, carefully delivering them all to the part of the bridge—which divided the fortress complex into two parts—where the teacher stood. He, as if he had nothing better to do, was slamming the light-skinned Dashade into the remains of the wall without even paying attention to it.
"Is everyone all right?" the teacher's voice sounded as if several people were speaking at once. His eyes glowed with a violet light. Oli, noting this fact, pointed with a cry to the fact that the durasteel plates of the man's armor were dripping down his body onto the stony floor, as if the temperature inside the sphere surrounding him was high enough to melt the strongest metal in the galaxy.
"Yes, Emperor," Kira said. She, like all the others, took a place beside the man, waiting for events to unfold. No one doubted that the battle would continue.
"Who are they?" Oli repeated her question, pointing at the four opponents. The teacher, freezing for a moment, sent the senseless Dashade toward them on a ballistic arc.
"I don't know," Dougan admitted. "But they are very strong. It seems they found this place and the knowledge gathered in it a long, long time ago. The Dashade are perfectly trained adepts of the Force. And this trio is not far behind them. It seems you're not the only ones who have lived for several thousand years."
"What?" Nadia was surprised. "Are they also the Emperor's underlings?"
"I doubt it," the man replied. "Downstairs, there are stasis units. Vitiate preferred to freeze you all in carbonite. In that case, biological processes in the body stop…"
"In stasis, the body continues to age, but is sustained by special drugs," Kira recalled. "In all the time I've known Vitiate, he only kept one prisoner that way."
"Revan," Rick finished her thought. "So the question arises—what the hell is going on."
Oli, thanks to the Battle Meld, realized that their opponents might not be as powerful in the Force as her teacher. But, if the assumption about stasis is correct—they are facing fighters who, over millennia, could have absorbed knowledge she couldn't master in a lifetime. Probably for this reason, Dougan had bound his followers together—to even the odds.
Meanwhile, a fifth joined the four opponents—the light-skinned Dashade got to his feet, announcing his presence with a heart-rending roar.
"What's the plan of action?" Ahsoka asked, twirling her snow-white blades in her hands.
"Stay behind me," the Emperor commanded. The sphere surrounding him collapsed, and he landed lightly on the ground. Clutching the blade found in the dungeon in his hand, Dougan slowly walked toward the enemy team. Exchanging glances, the four girls followed him.
They met exactly in the middle of the ancient stone bridge, separating the central part of the complex from two smaller structures. Oli felt the beings standing opposite her were literally bursting with the Dark Side of the Force. Each of them dreamed of killing her and her friends, but for some reason, they didn't attack.
The teacher leaned forward slightly. Almost immediately, the being Kira had recently fought moved toward him.
"We mean you no harm," the teacher began, but was rudely interrupted by his interlocutor.
"Then you will all die," he declared in a low, booming voice. "I am Darth Xarion, I promise you that, Jedi."
Surprise was felt in the Meld, the source of which was Kira. Oli reached out to her in the Force, but she hastily closed her mind.
"So, what can you do to me?" Oli felt Dougan relax. "You are ancient Sith shit, nothing against the power of the Unified Force."
An irritated growl came from the enemy side.
"I am the last representative of the Dark Council of the Sith Empire, head of the Sphere of Galactic Influence. You are nothing before me."
"Are you sure?" the man chuckled. "It seems I just scattered your wannabe Sith like kittens. And by themselves, they couldn't even handle two students. This isn't how I imagined the power of the Dark Side. And yes, you are in my domain. So—either serve me, or…"
"You have no right to claim anything, Jedi," Darth Xarion said with contempt. "I…"
"…pubic bone," the teacher finished his thought for him. Then, ignoring the growing indignation from his opponent, he addressed those standing behind him. "You all serve a weak and pathetic regime that, in three and a half thousand years, couldn't do anything to get you beyond the walls of this fortress. All your dreams of greatness and power are within these walls. I know each of you," he jabbed a finger toward the light-skinned Dashade. "Khem Val, servant of Tulak Hord and Darth Nox. Ak'gal Usar," he pointed at the second monster, "the last chieftain of his people."
Shifting his gaze to the Zabrak females, the man seemed to think for a moment. Then, he unerringly pointed at the Zabrak clutching a pair of double-bladed lightsabers. "Darth Simi, I presume?"
The Force tore with indignation and surprise. Oli, smirking wryly, looked mockingly at the stunned Sith girl. It seemed the teacher really did know them. Had he met them before, or was this due to his past life?
"And, the one whose presence in this gang of losers is most incomprehensible to me—Darth Hexid," Rick nodded toward the red-skinned Zabrak. She, unlike her friend, did not react to this at all. "How curious this turns out to be… Five Sith from different times gathered in a fortress stuffed with the knowledge of Jedi and Sith. And who opened the door for you here, to the abode of the Hero of Tython, Commander of the Eternal Alliance?" he clarified. "Who betrayed their former master, opening the way for the Sith to where they are forbidden to go? You, Usar, who served the Commander faithfully? Or you, Hexid? You both outlived your former Commander. And now I, the one who holds his legacy, ask—by what right are you all here?"
"Because they serve me," Xarion declared. "As did the Hero of Tython you mentioned in his time."
"That's a lie!" Kira stepped forward, calm but saturated with the Force to the limit.
"Carsen!" Hexid roared, also stepping forward. "You little piece of trash, who betrayed the Emperor! I'll spill your guts and bathe in your blood!"
"Not after I rip out your uterus and pack everything that's left of you into it," Kira growled, ready to break into a fight.
"Oh, wonderful," Dougan intoned, stopping his charge with his hand. "Now it's all clear. You," he pointed at Hexid, "infiltrated the Alliance, on the orders of your boss, Darth Xarion, right? And when the Alliance fell, you all skedaddled here, to the most protected fortress of all, where you've been gathering knowledge all this time. You want to restore the Empire?"
"Exactly," she said proudly. "It's a pity he died at the hands of the Jedi, and not mine. The Emperor's killer is unworthy of life…"
"Shut your mouth," Dougan cut her off. Looking again at the Sith standing before him, he said. "I see we won't part peacefully. You won't just give me your servants and minions, Xarion, will you? Won't you accept the dominion of one who is guided by the ghost of the Emperor himself?"
"This is heresy," the Sith growled from under his mask. "He would never have cooperated with a Jedi, and you are literally oozing the Light Side."
"Excellent," a wave of pleasure ran through the Force, the source of which was Dougan. Oli wondered for a moment if this whole conversation had been a performance designed to lure this pompous Sith into a kind of trap. "Then, there is only one thing left, Xarion."
"Oh, I can even sense what you're going to say, Jedi," he said caustically. "But you have nothing that I would want to obtain."
"Behind me is an Empire, thousands of warships, an army, and a huge amount of resources. Or did you think the ships arriving on this planet just dropped by to look at the tea? And the fighters who flooded this moon—worthless pawns? I possess more than you ever did, you dick from the Dark Council. And I declare a kaggath upon you."
"Excellent," the Sith also seemed pleased. "Like in the good old days…"
"There's nothing better than the old school," Dougan chuckled. "You and me, no one else. Fight to the death—right here on this platform. Winner takes all. If you win, my people will follow you, and everything I have is yours. If you die, I get everything you own. Including," he pointed at the beings standing behind the Sith, "your servants, or minions—I don't care who they are to you."
"Ready for such an unequal exchange?" the Sith grinned, accumulating the Force within himself.
"The main thing is that you don't chicken out," the teacher replied.
"No mercy?"
"None," the Sith grinned.
The brief glance Oli gave Dougan, trying to understand in her head how he could just stake everything like that, preparing to fight in tattered armor, almost cost her her life. Without any warning, Xarion lunged forward, drawing a Light Blade from his armor, which he immediately brought down on Dougan, trying to burn his face off with one blow. The latter stood without flinching, only at the last moment before the strike throwing his minions back with a Force Wave, and, dodging the enemy's sword, activated his own blade. The unplanned maneuver threw him off balance, messing up his coordination, and his sword, having parried the strike of the scarlet blade, returned to a defensive position unforgivably slowly.
And in that second, which he needed to regain control of the duel, he was more vulnerable than ever before. His opponent also felt this, raised his sword high, swinging at his head and forcing him to duck, and with a reverse strike at his legs, forced the teacher to jump before he could take a more stable stance. The teacher avoided the fatal blow, but the landing was very clumsy. And a new blow rained down on him. The wrong position forced him to merely block the blade instead of deflecting it. The enemy's blow was so powerful that Dougan was forced to retreat.
The Sith moved closer, intent on finishing him off, and pressed Dougan with a new series of fast and swift thrusts, which seemed to make up his unknown fencing style. The teacher, which was new for Oli, switched to a purely defensive stance. There was none of the swiftness and fury he had used in the battle with Sora Bulq. Instead, the man used only Niman. And, to the surprise of everyone present, this was enough to freeze in place and stop the enemy who was rapidly slashing at everything around.
"Your Force is insignificant, man!" the Sith triumphed, delivering a slashing blow from above. The teacher stood motionless, like a statue, only parrying the ubiquitous scarlet blade.
For a brief moment, Oli noticed a gap in the enemy's defense, but the teacher, who undoubtedly saw the same thing, did not wish to use such a loophole.
Darth Xarion straightened to his full height, and the girl realized with horror that he had been hiding his true physical strength until now. He towered over the teacher by a whole head. And he used this advantage like never before.
The air around the duelists hissed; with his long sword, the giant described a pattern around the teacher's body. The Sith roared triumphantly when he managed to cut Dougan's breastplate to pieces with the tip of his weapon.
And he…
It seemed that he wasn't reacting to what was happening at all, fighting on autopilot, like a droid. There was no virtuoso technique, no cunning thrusts. Absolutely nothing. The teacher was demonstrating absolutely mediocre skills. It felt as if all the Force he possessed had left him at once. And only his perfect knowledge of Niman saved him from complete collapse.
This was also seen from the opposite side. From the smiles and grins of the four Sith, Oli understood that they thought the teacher had run out of steam in the first phase of the confrontation. And now, any minute, he would fall.
However, the wielder of the violet blade managed to surprise everyone.
As if stirring, he neutralized the enemy's frenzied attack and delivered half a dozen deadly blows to the chest and stomach. But instead of falling dead, the big guy kept advancing. His robes seemed not to have met the teacher's weapon. He nearly knocked him off his feet, threatening to trample him with his heavy boots, but at the last second the master managed to dodge and retreat.
The Sith, without slowing down, rushed at Dougan by inertia. He, spinning on his axis, avoided meeting the enemy, simultaneously delivering a slashing blow to his back.
And again, the enemy remained unharmed. Oli noticed the teacher frown, peering at the figure of his enemy. Something incomprehensible was happening—she had seen with her own eyes that the violet blade had struck Darth Xarion more than once, but he continued the fight as if nothing was the matter.
The Sith, meanwhile, spun on his heels and struck with an invisible wave of the dark side. The teacher, without removing the mask of concentration from his face, surrounded himself with a Force Barrier, over the surface of which all the enemy's energy spread. However, the force of the enemy's attack was such that the teacher was dragged back several meters.
The enemy extended his hand and sent a powerful discharge of Force Lightning, gathering all his monstrous strength in the blink of an eye. Oli saw the lush vegetation covering the stone bridge literally vaporize if streams of energy passed near it.
The teacher put his hands forward, continuing to hold the Barrier, which was noticeably melting in the Force, unable to cope with the power of the attack. The teacher also understood this, who instantly opened his protective bubble from all sides except the front, thereby strengthening the forward part of his defense. It seemed that was all the enemy needed. He slowly walked forward, increasing the pressure on Dougan.
Dougan, unable to withstand all this pressure, dove down like a fish, moving out of the line of attack. At the same time, his blade came to life, and in that same second, violet energy furiously attacked the Sith's legs. It seemed the teacher intended to deprive him of his limbs, thereby reducing the opponent's mobility. But again, the attacks did not cause a single injury to the enemy.
This made one begin to fear for Dougan's health and life. Perhaps for the first time, he had met an opponent equal to him in strength. Skillfully wielding the Force, an order of magnitude more than the Emperor himself. This seemed incredible, but the fact, as they say, was obvious. Whatever her mentor did, it did not bring success.
Darth Xarion brought his lightsaber down on the man, and he raised his own to block the enemy's weapon at the point of intersection. But the attack turned out to be a diversion, and at the last moment the Sith pulled his blade from the trajectory and elbowed the man in the ribs. The blow knocked the Emperor off his feet and sent him sprawling to the ground. The hilt of the lightsaber rolled away, and the violet blade went out.
The enemy triumphantly raised his blade, lowering its tip onto Dougan's body. He, without losing his composure for a second, raised his hands above his head, forming another protective barrier. It seemed that even this would not stop the Sith, as his weapon pressed against the teacher's defense. The Sith leaned in with his weight, trying to force the weapon through the translucent film, but it was to no avail. Then he freed one hand and, drawing on the Force, began to douse the teacher's defense with Force Lightning, which was already making his eyes sting.
However, despite the fact that his defense was beginning to give way, the teacher did not lose his cool. He was grinning at something, and literally a moment later it became clear what.
The teacher released the accumulated energy of the Light Side from himself, having lowered his shield a moment earlier. Like a giant battering ram, it knocked the weapon from the Sith's hands, which quickly disappeared over the bridge's parapet. And the body of the Sith himself was thrown a good hundred meters upward, after which it rapidly plummeted down, following the sword.
The next second, the teacher got to his feet. Slightly staggering, he leaned over the railing, positioning himself sideways to both sides watching the conflict. Despite the jubilation of his supporters, he still radiated anxiety and alertness in the Battle Meld, which was completely incomprehensible to Oli.
He had won, hadn't he?! What was he afraid…
As if out of nowhere, the figure of the defeated Sith appeared right behind Dougan, raising a blade for a killing blow. Oli tried to shout to warn him, but Dougan handled it himself.
He spun on his heels, calmly grabbing the enemy's blade. And, it seemed, he clearly hadn't expected that.
Because the teacher didn't scream in pain, as he should have, the moment his flesh touched the pure energy. On the contrary, he was grinning, looking his enemy straight in the eye.
"Tutaminis," he explained for everyone. "Surprised, you bastard?"
And after that, before anyone—even Darth Xarion—could do anything, the teacher, placing his free hand on his belt and grabbing one of his swords, pressed it against the enemy's lower jaw, simultaneously pressing the activation button.
With a characteristic hiss, the yellow blade powered up, burned through the armored elements of the mask, incinerating the flesh, bones, and brains of Darth Xarion.
And a moment later, when the teacher's weapon went out, the giant's corpse collapsed to its knees, then fell onto its side, finally ceasing all movement.
"So," the man, hanging the weapon of his defeated opponent on his belt, stepped over his corpse, approaching the four stunned Sith minions. "You are all witnesses. Questions?"
The answer was dead silence and four figures, filled with bewilderment and doom, kneeling before the Emperor.
* * *