CHAYA'S ILUM QUEST (Patreon)

-Saiyan Conqueror Quest Patron Epilogue XIX-

-AGE 757, PLANET ILUM ORBIT-

“There it is. Planet Ilum.” your instructor, the Sith Lord Darth Bane's phantom says as the drop ship begins entering the white planet's atmosphere. You can feel it the moment you get close, there is a power to this world. One that runs deep, far beneath its frigid, inhospitable surface. “All these years, and it looks the same as ever.”

“You've visited this world before?” you ask, confused. “I thought that this planet was under Order control back then?”

“No. Never visited myself, although the Academy had records and scouting reports of most of the Order's planets.” he says, shaking his head. “Even after the war, too many of the Order were always present to risk discovery. If I would have gotten a chance to deprive the Order of this valuable resource, I would have. But it would seem to be to your advantage that neither I nor my successors ever had the opportunity.”
“It is fortunate. Now, let's just hope some of them remain.” you answer as the ship passes through the clouds, revealing the empty, frozen tundra below as you reminisce a moment on how you'd gotten here.

You are Chaya. Dreadzone Champion, Super Saiyan who has gone beyond mortal limits and touched on godhood, and currently seeking to complete the final trial to officially become a fully-fledged Sith Apprentice. Which is to kill a member of their opposite, the Order, claim their weapon for your own, and Bleed its Kyber Crystal heart, turning it to the Dark Side. After Raditz's betrayal, you'd sworn your full loyalty to the Sith Lord in exchange for the power to break the woman who tempted him away from you and win him back. Which is why you're here, on the Order's main planet that supplied the Kyber Crystals to the iconic weapons. Hoping at least one of their successors remain.

“Let's see.” you say, closing your eyes and focusing on your ki sense. Immediately you sense the only other organic being on the ship's powerlevel, that of the former champion, undefeated in his time Soba of Planet Yardrat. However, far below, beneath the planet's surface, you can sense them. There are others here on this world, their powers far greater than the hints of life you can find that somehow eke out a living on this frozen world. There are at least a score, perhaps more of the living beings, each one surprisingly powerful. But, as you do, suddenly you're senses are overwhelmed by a vision, one showing a potential future.

“I won't let you get away again! She can't keep you from me!” this vision you states, still wearing the dark robes you'd opted for to handle the planet's extreme cold as you face down someone who appears to be a Primal Saiyan form Raditz, the two of you staring each other down from nearby peaks, his slightly above your own. “I won't let her keep us apart!”

“You've hurt her enough! This ends today, Chaya.” Raditz says, then to your surprise draws a saber quite similar to the one Bane and Arctus wield, blade igniting and glowing violet. “This is your last chance. Back down, or I'll be forced to stop you.”
“You can't stop me.” vision-you replies confidently, drawing a crimson-bladed sword and taking the Djem So stance you and your daddy have been practicing for years under the Sith Lord Darth Bane. “My powers are stronger than ever, this time you won't escape me!”

Then the vision ends, returning you to standing in the cockpit beside the robotic pilot and the Sith phantom, you shaking your head a moment to return your focus to the present and not be distracted by visions. Precognition can help, especially when used properly in battle, but the random visions you receive sometimes are little more than distractions.  But your master notices immediately, speaking up.

“A vision? Tell me, was it of this place?” he asks, you shaking your hear.

“No, no. It was somewhere different. Unrelated.” you reply, remembering how Raditz looked as a Primal Saiyan. How powerful and awe-inspiring he looked, not even Super Saiyan 3 can pull off hair like his. “An issue for another day. But we do have dozens of them, not quite a hundred living down underground. And they're strong.”

“Strong enough to pose a threat to you?” Darth Bane asks pointedly, you again shaking your head.

“No, not really. If I were to put a number to it, their powerlevels would at least be in the seven digits.” you answer him, still feeling quite confident. “If all else fails, I can fall back on my raw power and simply overwhelm them.”

“I see.” he replies, not speaking any further on it as your pilot speaks up.

“Sixty seconds until arrival over the designated landing zone, Champion.” the pilot says, you turning to him and acknowledging him.

“Thanks. “I'll give you a call once it's over.” you reply, turning and leaving the bridge. You head out towards the hatch, cracking your neck. You look over to the light, which is still red as the ship continues getting closer to the mountain range. Then, suddenly the door starts opening, the light changing to green. You leap without hesitation, flying out of the ship and immediately feel the cold wind cut straight through the dark robe you're wearing. But you don't worry about it for long, using the icy chill to fuel your anger as you drop down towards the mountain. Flying down through the air your descent brings you to a ruined entrance, once a symbol of the Order's grandeur, now nothing more than a relic of a time long past. The doorway, broken down over centuries of disuse is blocked, covered by the broken architecture. Something that isn't a problem for you.

Diving deep into your rage, your anger, you feel the Dark Side swell within you. With it fueling you you reach out, grabbing the largest chunks of rock and toss them aside, clearing a path deeper into the once-magnificent temple. There isn't even a door anymore, yet the moment you pass under the arch and enter the antechamber feel surprisingly warm. Without the icy wind cutting straight through your so-called weatherproof robe, you feel warm again in just a few seconds. However, you then realize that it isn't simply the wind, this ruined temple's interior is somehow heated on the inside. But that makes sense, after all Bane had told you how the Order would select their weapons based off of finding a 'connection' with the right crystal, sometimes taking weeks or even months for some of their members. But you won't have that problem, as you'll be bending one that serves them to your will instead.

“Now now, don't get too hasty.” Darth Bane says as you start heading past the broken statues, the Sith phantom manifesting beside you as a specter only you can see. “Remember, do not underestimate them. In their isolation, who knows how powerful they could have become.”
“Right, right.” you reply, taking a deep, calming breath, suppressing your powerlevel while also suppressing your dark side presence, leaving you barely noticeable to other beings as you draw your hood up, blending in with the dark cave's shadows. Using the technique you'd practiced in Dreadzone's busy halls, hiding in plain sight in a space station full of your loyal fans, you slowly make your way into the seemingly-abandoned temple. Your footsteps echo slightly into the empty temple as you come to a massive spiral staircase carved from the rocks, the Ilum crystals glowing faintly with pink, blue, green, purple, and yellow light. Yet their light doesn't travel as far as you'd think, the shiny black rock of the cave walls absorbing the light instead of reflecting it. Yet even with how run down this temple entrance is, you can feel the power in the air.

“What you are feeling is a Vergence, or a nexus point in the Force's energy.” Bane's spirit says, appearing beside you again as you feel a shiver crawl up your spine. “In this place, with so many living Force-sensitive crystals growing over millennia, the very air has become imbued with its power. The beings below, bathed in this power for several generations, will no doubt be incredibly powerful. You must remain vigilant, and show no mercy. If you wish to become my apprentice, you must destroy them.”

“I won't fail.” you reply, voice a whisper as you stop stepping, instead using a whisper of ki to fly down the giant hole in the spiral staircase. You drop dozens of yards a second with no signs of slowing down, seeing countless branching paths from different landings. But the ki signatures you feel are coming from deep, deep within the cave. So you continue your descent, until suddenly everything changes. When you blink, instead of continuing your descent you suddenly see yourself writhing in agony, lightning coursing throughout your body as you scream in pain. But then, before you could see the where of it or perhaps who was attacking you, the vision ends. “Tch.”

“A vision?” Bane asks, you nodding as he floats beside you, your body still falling down deeper and deeper into the abyss below. “Guard your mind, Chaya. The living Force here will try and confuse you. Even some of the Order's own members were reportedly lost to this place. Once the Sith, thousands of years ago managed to take this place for a time. But everyone who ventured into the depths of the cave never returned.”

“You think there's something down there?” you ask softly, dropping deeper and deeper into the depths of the cave system as you harden your mind, shielding it from outside influence.

“No, it is far more likely that this Vergence itself led those it deemed 'unworthy' astray, trapping them in the labyrinth down below.” the specter says as you sense yourself getting closer to the energy signatures down below. However, now that you're closer, you can sense that three of the creatures are far, far stronger than the others. By a significant margin. “As you get closer to the center of this Vergence, it will try and influence you more and more. You must harden yourself to its influence, do not let it control you.”

“I won't be led astray. I know why I'm here.” you reply, drawing closer and closer to the level where you can sense the Order's remnants. Deeper and deeper you go into the cave's depths, falling further and further when suddenly the first ki signature starts rapidly drawing closer. So, instead of free falling directly into them, you slow yourself, touching gently down on the carved steps a half-dozen rotations of the staircase above it. You land with barely a sound, focusing your ki sense on the being just below you. Physically, the third strongest here doesn't stand a chance against your raw power, but knowing the powers they could have at their disposal, it's best not to underestimate them.

“Hey, who is that?” an unfamiliar voice calls up to you, sounding like an older woman's tone. “Is that you Thalo?”

But you remain quiet, suppressing your presence and floating down, flying down until you're a single level above her, ducking into the nearby tunnel entrance. You remain hidden as the woman keeps calling, coming up the stairs as her ire builds. Clearly thinking you're a child under her care, she threatens you with training so pitiful it almost makes you laugh, something that wouldn't even get your muscles warmed up at seventy times New Salda's gravity. But as she gets closer, you get a little further back, lurking in the shadows and waiting for your moment to strike. However, right before she comes around the corner, the woman stops, as if sensing you there. Then, without hesitation she takes off, sprinting back down the stairs.

“INTRUDER! INTRU-!!” she starts shouting, you realizing you have to silence her immediately. So you lunge, blitzing towards her at full speed. She turns, thrusting her right hand out towards you and tries to stop you with a telekinetic push. But her powers are weaker than your raw power, you charging straight through it and slamming your right fist into and through the white-haired woman's head. Splattering her insides on the wall, her body dropping lifelessly at your feet.

“Salth? SALTH?!” a man's voice calls from further below, you sensing another ki signature rapidly approaching. Not bothering with the stairs, leaping straight up towards you. And with only a moment to hide, you lift the body, ducking beneath it and laying her robed figure atop you. Hiding behind her, keeping your powerlevel and presence suppressed.

“Hmph, not bad.” Bane's shade whispers in your mind, you sensing the figure rising up to your level and landing beside the body as there's a familiar humming noise. One you recognize from training sessions with Darth Bane.

“S-Salth? No, no no no, what happened? Wha-?” the man asks, dropping to a knee and reaching out towards her. Then, before he knows what's happening your right arm shoots out from behind her body, you grabbing him by the throat and cutting off his air. “Glurk!”

“Die.” you whisper, grinning as you drink his terror for a moment before snappin the man's neck with your hand. His body goes limp immediately, powerlevel dropping to nothing as his life fades away. But as he falls, you hear the humming go away as well, metal clanking off the stone. Looking down, you see a metal hilt of the Order's signature weapon rolling towards you. Rising up from behind the body you drop the second onto the first, leaving them there to rot as you extend your right hand towards the hilt. With a thought you use your telekinesis to grab the weapon and pull it into your hand.

However, as your hand closes on the weapon, again your mind is sent elsewhere in another vision. You see yourself activating the weapon, except instead of activating and igniting the blade, the device instead explodes in your hand, blowing your fingers apart in a bloody blast. Your mind then returns to the present, Darth Bane's phantom looking at you in confusion.

“What is the matter? Activate the weapon, take it for yourself.” he says, you shaking your head.

“I saw a vision. If I activate this one, it will explode.” you say, the phantom's eyes widening in surprise for a moment before narrowing.

“I see. Well, best to take it along. Mission accomplished, well done Chaya.” he says, you shaking your head. Taking the weapon you use your tail to hold it to your side, like a belt.

“Not yet. We're not done until they're all gone.” you reply, taking a step forward and jumping down into the hole, sensing the strongest of the powerlevels still even further down below. “I'm not leaving any of them behind. My father made that mistake once, and that bastard haunted him and our family for decades. I will kill them all, so none are left to mourn or try avenging their deaths.”

“You've grown wiser.” Bane says, his phantom floating beside you as you drop deeper and deeper into the crystal cave. Only to, once more, see a vision of a future. This time you're holding a red crystal, feeling its pain as you begin pouring more and more energy into it, purifying the red and turning the crystal a brilliant white. Then this you in the vision recombines a metal hilt, activating the blade to see it is pure white as well before it ends once more. “Be aware, you're getting close.”

“I am. Just another vision.” you reply, shaking it off as you feel yourself drawing near the level where the remainder of the living beings are. And as you drop down, you see two of them in robes similar to the other two, not too unlike your own but a faded light brown while yours is a new black, the two drawing their weapons and igniting them. Both weapons ignite with yellow blades, the two pointing their longer hilted weapons at you.

“Halt. Who dares enter this sacred temple?” the one on your right asks, her powerlevel slightly higher than the younger man to your left's. “Where are Salth and Sehrin?”

“Back up there, keeping each other company.” you reply, pointing and looking straight up with your left hand while leveling your right down at the stronger one. Who doesn't realize what's happening until it is too late, the storm of lightning exploding from your fingertips and finding its mark.

“GYAAAAAAAAAH!!” the woman cries, body spasming as the lightning jerks her muscles about, eyes bursting as they cannot contain the current passing through her body.

“MASTER!” the man shouts, turning his attention back from her to you and unleashing his own telekinetic push. One that's far stronger than you were ready for, interrupting your lightning before it could kill the first woman and knocking you back, smashing you several feet into the stone wall of the stairwell itself. Causing part of the cave's rocky wall to shatter, burying you inside the wall itself. “Master, are you okay?”

“Duran, g-go! You must go and warn the others!” you hear the woman say, but you can't have that. So you power up, into s Super Saiyan blasting back out of the wall and dashing past both of them, cutting them off from going further into the tunnel.

“No, we can't have that.” you say, turning to face them only to see the still-smoking woman rise, holding her weapon horizontally out in front of her. Activating a SECOND blade out of the back end.

“Go. Tell the master that we are under attack.” she tells him, staring at you with her empty, smoking eye holes. “We must activate the Guardian!”

“You're going nowhere.” you say, again throwing both arms forward and unleashing a torrent of Dark Side lightning. However, this time, she actually blocks them with her sabers, the blades drawing your bolts into them as she spins it before her.

“GO DURAN! I shall hold her off as long as possible!” the woman shouts, and without another word of argument the man deactivates his weapon, sprinting down the stairs at surprising speed. But you can't have him escape either, so you end your lightning and dash forward. To which she responds by flurrying her blade, the ends spinning rapidly as she weaves the weapon defensively. But as a Super Saiyan she's simply far too slow to stop you now, you catching her weapon by the middle of the handle between her hands, hoisting it over her head and driving your left hand straight through her chest. “Gu-!”

“Nice weapon. I think I'll take it.” you tell her as the woman's life leaves her body, claiming the double-bladed weapon for yourself. You give it a few experimental spins, then deactivate one end, leaving you with a long-handled single blade weapon. Using two blades seems like fun, but you'd have a lot of training to do first. Last thing you need is to bother your sister by accidentally cutting off a leg or something out here and calling her out.

“WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!” the one called Duran shouts, calling down into the depths as he futilely runs down the spiral stairs, reminding you he's still here. “TELL THE MASTER! ACTIVATE THE GUARDIAN!”

“So much for stealth.” Bane's phantom mutters wryly, you smirking and thinking how much more fun it is this way at him before leaping down into the hole. Super Saiyan aura blazing, your light reflects off of the crystals as you dive down, quickly catching the fleeing defender. Who senses your arrival, turning and activating both ends of his weapon as well.

“Y-You monster!” he shouts, putting his back to the wall with fear in his eyes. “You killed her!”

“And you're next.” you say, feeling yourself grinning as you drink in his terror, taking the Djem So stance with your acquired energy blade held overhead perpendicular to yourself. The man recognizes your stance, shifting is own. He lowers the left-handed end down by his feet, point at you while the other end is up over his right shoulder. No doubt planning to intercept your overhead strike. So, you oblige him, swinging your blade down at him. He sidesteps, intercepting your blade with his higher one, but quickly realizes he can't overpower you. So, instead he lets your swing go through, slightly deflecting it while swinging at you with the other end, aimed at your head as well. His counter was faster than expected, you barely pulling your blade back to block the strike in time. Swatting it aside, he fires the blade from his right again, forcing your to block back and forth, right left right in rapid succession. His attack comes with surprising speed, not worrying about power and instead focusing on attacking you as quickly as possible. Despite your power and speed advantage, knowing that you can't withstand a single blow without taking potentially-devastating damage keeps you from trying to overwhelm him like your father can to Bane with his Energy Body.

But instead you take this as a learning opportunity, focusing on defense while watching his movements. You take in his technique, watching his movements with the double blades and committing them to memory. Every attack is followed up almost instantly with the other end of the weapon from an opposite or odd angle. Overhead, downward strikes from one hand followed by an upward swing in the other, horizontal strikes in rapid succession to press your defenses backwards before pulling back a cut and turning it to a thrust followed by an upward swing with the opposite blade into an overhead spin swing into a downward strike. Which you also block, locking your blade to his. Then you hear several voices from down below, sensing another half dozen of the cave's inhabitants rushing up towards you. You have to end this quick.

“Appreciate the lesson. But now you die.” you tell him while lunging with your left hand, grabbing his weapon's haft in the middle just as you had to the woman before. Shocked, the man tries to pull away, you then impaling him through the chest with the claimed weapon. Then, releasing his weapon you pull the saber up through him, bisecting his tool and cutting up through his head, nearly splitting him clear in two. His disabled weapon deactivates, severed halves dropping. One lands on the stairs by your feet, the other bounces once, falling off into the hole. After several seconds you hear someone shout in surprise, no doubt noticing the weapon part falling past.

“D-Duran?” a woman's voice asks, sounding shocked at the weapon continues dropping.

“Everyone, be on your guard!” a man's voice calls, you sensing the second-strongest being among them. At his call you then hear several other weapons activate, you taking this moment to deactivate your captured tool, ducking away into the nearest tunnel. Powering down out of your Super Saiyan form you activate your suppressive abilities, cloaking both your powerlevel and dark side presence. You slip into the shadows, pulling your hood up and crouching, hiding your face and waiting. With your ki sense, you keep track of them, feeling the half-dozen of them approach. As they come to the corpse you hear several of them gag, one woman start crying as they see what you'd done to him. But the leader, no doubt the second-strongest doesn't waver. You sense that powerful ki walk up into the cave mouth you've hidden in, cracking your eyes open to see a blazing purple blade in the hands of a creature you haven't seen in years. One of the native creatures of New Salda, a tall, furred humanoid taller than even your dad is really standing there, sniffing at the air. No doubt trying to find you.

“What is it Mrurr?” the man's voice from earlier calls, a far older, wizened man asks, coming up behind the furred creature. Huh, seems that this creature is the physical strongest of them. “Can you smell our guest?”
“Grrrrr. Gwrrrww.” the creature grunts, lifting the blade a bit more to try and illuminate deeper into the tunnel. But after a moment the creature lets out a low growl, crouching and switching its grip on the weapon to a reverse grip. “Grrrrr!”

“Everyone, defensive formation!” the elderly man calls, raising his emerald blade up overhead in the Djem So stance with his back to the furred monstrosity. The others all form up with them, forming a ring where everyone has their blades at the ready. You can taste their fear, it so delicious that it sends a shiver up your spine. “Stay alert! They no doubt know we are here. Be ready for a surprise attack.”

“Yes sir!” they all reply, moving as a single unit deeper into the tunnel towards where you're hiding. As they get closer, once more your mind is overwhelmed with another vision. One where you are kneeling before them with your arms cut off, the furry and elder alive while the rest are clearly cut down, smoking around you all in the tunnel. Then, they both swing, executing you. Only for you to return to the present, the group now almost on top of you. And with the vision fresh in your mind, you don't leap down into the midst of them and try and defeat them with your skills with a blade, as you'd planned. Instead you fully transform, tapping into your fans' devotion to you, taking on the divine power of their faith you call your People's Champion form with a roar.

“GRRRAAAAAA!!” you bellow, aura lighting up the tunnel as the force of your transformation knocks them all back into the far wall. One's sword slams into the older man's chest, bisecting the leader instantly. Then, before any of them can pull back or try to fight back you thrust both hands forward, unleashing all of your hatred and rage towards that woman who stole your Raditz from you at them. Your anger bursts forth as a storm of lightning, frying all six of them simultaneously. Or, all of them except one, the furred creature managing to bring his violet blade up and stopping himself from being electrocuted. The rest are killed in a matter of seconds, you feeling their ki vanishing as you fry them with your rage then end your attack. Their bodies drop to the ground, smoking lifeless corpses while the furry creature immediately leaps into battle. You draw and activate your captured blade, yellow energy igniting and catching his purple killing blow aimed at your neck. Your blades lock together, turning it from a skill fight to one of raw power. “Heh, nice try!”

“GRRRRWRRRWRRRR!” it snarls in your face, fangs bared as the beast tries to use its physical power to overwhelm you. Being an over seven foot tall monster, physically stronger than all but one being here, it was no doubt used to throwing its weight around. But you barely feel his power, his strength nothing compared to your own. So, smirking you start pushing back, slowly overpowering the creature several feet taller than you. Its eyes widen, the beast starting to radiate fear as its power doesn't work.

“Come on, is this all you've got?” you ask, drinking in his fear as you take one hand off your weapon hilt, continuing to overpower both his arms with your one. “I thought you would be stronger than this.”

“GRRAAAAAA!” it roars, kicking you in the chest. But the strike doesn't move you, instead knocks him clear of you. And sliding to a stop, the beast takes a different stance, both hands on the hilt as it is raised up by the beast's right side of his face, the point almost touching the cave tunnel ceilling due to the monster's height. “Gwrrrrr.”

“Come on, don't give up yet.” you reply, reaching over with your left and drawing another of the dead order members' weapons to your hand and igniting it. The pale azure blade shoots out, you holding both weapons out to your sides before switching to the dual sword Djem So stance. Left sword held out horizontally before you, right back and over your head ready for a devastating overhead blow. “We're just getting started. Now, come on. Show me what you've got!”

But instead of leaping into an attack, the monstrous beast instead deactivates its weapon. Drawing both arms back, it is almost an identical pose to the Time Patrol's blue beam technique. You realize what's about to happen and smirk, bending your knees a bit as you prepare to tank the wall of telekinetic energy. He then throws both arms forward, the force of his shock wave distorting even the air between you both. You weren't quite ready for its level of power behind the telekinetic push, the beast shoving you and the corpses out of the tunnel, sending them all falling down into the hole or rolling down the stairs, while you stop yourself over the hole, floating in the air with your weapons still drawn.

“Heh, not bad.” you reply, deactivating the weapons as you now draw your arms back, elbows bent and palms towards him. Gathering your own hate and anger before unleashing your wrath in a wave of force. “Now, let me show you REAL power! HAAAAAAAA!!”

“RRRAA-!” the beast exclaims, trying to brace himself by creating a telekinetic shield around him. But your power is far too much to withstand, shattering the beast's shield and splattering him into a furry, red mist. Killing it instantly and even destroying its weapon too. Your wave of power doesn't stop there, however, continuing back down the tunnel until it forks, your power crashing into the wall and triggering a cave in. Collapsing that tunnel by breaking the paths of several above them, rendering that area impassible for those further down.

“Easy enough.” you say, turning around to the remains that were scattered on the stairs. You see another of their weapons not only survived the impact but remained wholly intact, you grabbing it with your telekinesis and tuck it and the other normal sized hilt in your left hand into pockets sewn into the cloak's interior, keeping the longer hilted weapon in hand as you resume your descent. Dropping down another dozen or two levels, you feel that you've almost drawn level with the remaining giant powerlevel while the rest have retreated deeper into the cave network's depths. And while two dozen are fleeing deeper into the caves, the strongest one is still where you'd sensed it from before. However, as you drop down to the next level, you see an odd sight. A single, cylindrical-bodied robot with arms or legs of sorts comes to a stop, making several beeping noises before turning, rolling back down the tunnel it came from. “A guide. Neat.”

“That's probably a trap.” Bane replies dryly, you not even looking to him as you start following the droid, transformed aura lighting up the cave walls.

“Probably. But at least for now it is leading me closer to the one I'm here for.” you reply, following the slow-moving robot as the rusted machine, once no doubt painted colors rolls further and further into the tunnel, taking a right at the first intersection then a left at the second. Rolling into a room that opens up into a far wider room, nearly twice the area of your dad's gravity chamber back home and three times as tall. You stop and look around, seeing the room is shaped like a giant dueling arena. At the far end of the room sits a four-armed man like the one that attacked your dad on New Salda, grey beard reaching past his belt. And while he's clearly seen better days, there's no mistaking he is still possessed of great power while there is a humanoid-looking robot in the center of the room, it holding one of the weapons in its hands.

“Greetings, Sith. Welcome, to the last stronghold of the old Order.” the elderly man says, you stepping forward into the room. “It would seem that the Light weren't the only ones to survive that monster Majin Buu's rampage.”

“So, you're the strongest one here? Should be easy enough.” you say confidently, flaring your aura up around you as you ignite one blade of the weapon. “Hit me with your best shot.”
“As much as I would have liked to fight you myself, I am far too past my prime to cross blades with you, warrior of Dark. Instead, you shall fight the greatest swordsman in the history of our order. Holodroid, activate Skywalker protocol.”
“Skywalker protocol, confirmed.” the droid answers, its limbs extending a bit, shoulders widening as it begins creating a hologram around itself. The vision of the humanoid flickers several times, then the image solidifies into that of a warrior. One wearing darker robes than the rest of the order, long, dark brown hair down to his shoulders, a couple of scars on his face and radiating with complete confidence.

“Behold, Sith. The greatest warrior of the Order! Master Skywalker!” the old man says, sounding quite smug. “I offer you this one chance to surrender, it is not too late to change course. I can sense that there is quite a bit of good in you, it would be a shame for you to fall and squander your potential.”

“And miss this fight? No way!” you reply, taking the Djem So stance with the weapon, holding it overhead. Yet the warrior's image doesn't even take a stance, activating his azure blade and simply holding it in one hand, stalking towards you. It could just be your imagination, but he seems to be getting bigger as he approaches, radiating with malice and deadly intent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_2bluVPsb0

DuelOfTheFates

You hold your stance as he stalks closer and closer, moving with purpose. Then, as he gets close raises the weapon overhead with practiced smoothness, holding the hilt in both hands then swinging the blue blade down at you faster than you'd expected. You're barely able to bring your own blade to bear in time, blocking the initial strike then the follow up from the other side, his blade looking more like an arc than a straight line from how fast it's moving. Twisting your arms back and forth, moving as fast as you ever have, you barely manage to keep up with the warrior's initial attack. He throws dozens of blows a second, forcing you fully onto the defensive. As you block the rapid-fire flurry of swings, the warrior mixing in feints and direction-shifting swings masterfully, you can't help but appreciate his incredible skill. Even Darth Bane and your father, both powerful fighters can't compare to his sheer ferocity and aggression. Unlike either of them, Daddy with his Energy Body or Bane with his Orbalesk armor to rely on for defense, this warrior doesn't leave a single exploitable opening as he keeps pushing forward. Every swing of his blade is perfect, leaving no chance for you to effectively counter. But you can't just sit on defense, with his technical skill so far above your own he'd find an opening eventually. You have to attack.

“HAAAAAA!!” you roar, stepping into your swing as the Djem So style dictates, meeting his onrushing charge with your own. Your blades clash as you compete directly, power against power as your blades lock together. Yet, despite your transformation, he's still just as strong as you are! Which is impossible, he's just a robot and you have all your fans' faith behind you! But then, as you struggle against the other warrior, you feel it. Within his weapon you can sense something, some power akin to your own radiating from it. And as you and the machine wearing the ancient warrior's face push each other, strength stalemating, you realize what it is. That weapon, the crystal inside it, once BELONGED to the warrior you see before you, bearing a small bit of his own soul within. One empowered by the faith of those here, their faith in the 'strongest' of their order to defeat their foes. You're not just fighting a machine, you're fighting the embodiment of the Order's faith in their strongest to defeat even the strongest warriors of the Sith.

Realizing this you change tactics, drawing upon your anger and letting it flow through you. But at this he merely smirks, disengaging from the lock and resuming his relentless bladework. With your rage surging throughout your body you match his aggression, neither of you moving backwards and standing less than two feet apart and swinging at full speed. Then, after trading a few hundred blows, neither of you pushing the other  back, you smirk. And activate the second blade, it extending out the other end of the weapon as you swing the reverse blade at his head. He sees it coming, deflecting the strike but you twist the weapon overhead into a right-to-left swing, blocking it and the pull cut with the reverse end and the follow up overhead with the right handed side and left horizontal strike.

You focus everything on your bladework with the exotic style, not going into any overly-complex figures. But with the second blade your own attacks' speed double as well, slowly but surely starting to push him back. You gain ground against him, first a foot, then two, then a yard, pushing him back into the center of the room. However, as you regain even footing, he finds an opening in your technique. From your overhead right swing to the left uppercut-style swing, he twists his wrists, flicking his blade through the center of your own weapon between your hands and cutting it clean in two. Immediately your left-handed half deactivates, the man kicking you square in the face with his right boot and knocking you backwards several feet. But as you flip back you toss the remaining weapon half at his head, yellow blade spinning but he easily evades it. Then as you land, using your telekinesis you grab two of the other blades from within your robe, activating the blue weapons in both hands simultaneously as you rise and take the dual-blade Djem So stance.

“Hmph. Is my one blade too tough for you to keep up with?” he taunts, giving you a smug grin. “Perhaps I should only fight with one arm too?”

“Keep talking. You do just as much damage with your words as your blades.” you reply, the man unphased by your taunt. He simply starts walking back towards you as he had before, blade held only in his right hand. His confidence hasn't wavered in the slightest, still stalking towards you like a predator hunting its prey. But you're no longer afraid. You just can't let him build momentum, his fighting style far too aggressive to let him start the attack. So, you instead draw upon your hatred and charge, swinging with a horizontal slash with the left blade into an overhead chop with your right, followed by a left thrust into spinning right backfist swing as he deflects your blow out past your body. With two blades on the attack you actually manage to push him onto the defensive this time, yet after more than a dozen seconds and nearly a thousand strikes, increasing the complexity of your combinations by the second, still don't manage to break through his defenses. You feel your frustration building, but don't let it control you. Instead you channel that anger throughout your body, using that to empower you even further. Making your arms swing faster, strikes even more precise and dangerous. Yet he defends against it all, slowly stopping you from pushing him any further back when you've nearly backed him to the chair the so-called master sits on. Close enough to even hear him muttering to himself.

“Impossible. No one could beat him, not even me.” you overhear, allowing yourself to feel smug satisfaction for a split-second. Which is all your foe needed, lunging into your guard and cutting through your left hand's hilt. Destroying and deactivating the weapon. Immediately the ancient master presses the attack, switching from his more defensive maneuvers into his aggressive style once more. And with only a single blade, he again starts to push you back.

“DAMMIT!” you think to yourself, the ferocity of the combat actually starting to cause your arms to ache. Despite all your training, all the effort you've undergone to strengthen your arms for sword on sword combat, you have never fought someone at this intensity for this long, either having tagged your training partner with a 'lethal' blow or been tagged yourself. So, as he swings again you step into it, again clashing blades and engaging in a battle of raw power. But he isn't interested, taking his left hand off the weapon and drawing it back, no doubt preparing to launch a powerful telekinetic blast at you. So you do the same, drawing your left back and gathering your anger before throwing it forward. Your powers strike each other's, neither of you having a clear edge for several seconds until the pressure grows too much, exploding outwards and blasting you both back and away while also shattering the floor beneath where you'd been standing. You're thrown back all the way to the hallway, landing in a roll to get back up to your feet while the robot lands back-first into the base of the master's chair, cracking it and the hologram projection of the warrior you'd fought before. However, you also notice the back of the chair the old master was sitting on is shattered as well, sensing that he'd been knocked through it from his ki on the other side and smirk. Of course the robot couldn't use those powers, it was the old man. Channeling his own strength into and through the machine, empowering it to fight you. With this knowledge in hand you smirk, rising up to your feet and deactivating your weapon before tucking it back away inside your cloak. You won't need it any more.

“What are you doing?” Bane's shade suddenly asks, appearing beside you. “Now is your chance to strike!”

“Exactly.” you reply, gathering up all your anger, all your hate and launching it through your hands at the machine as a storm of lightning. Which he blocks easily with his saber as his warrior visage returns, you smirking. With his blade occupied you walk forward, pouring more and more power into your lightning while also gathering your ki into your eyes. Then, while still maintaining your lightning fire your Guided Eye Beams through it, striking the machine warrior straight through its own. Piercing straight through it, the stone seat, and the fallen master on the other side, still down on the ground. The robot's hologram fades away as the light leaves its eyes, sword deactivating as your lightning starts frying the droid. Its body spasms as it malfunctions, the electricity overloading its circuits. Even causing the hologram projector to bug out for several seconds, flashing into dozens of different beings you don't recognize before there's a small explosion in its chest and the machine falls limp to the ground. Ending your lightning you leap over the broken seat, finding the old master is still alive, clutching at the wounds in his chest. “And now for you.”

He coughs up blood, energy dropping by the second but from him you feel no fear. As his eyes raise to meet yours you see he's still defiant, then smirks. Immediately you sense that you're in danger, leaping back up over the broken chair away from him. And not a moment too soon, as with a final shout he unleashes a wave of destructive telekinetic energy so strong that it disintegrates his very body, turning him to ash. Only to collapse the cave around him as well, sealing off the path down to where the rest of them are no doubt hiding. The cave in continues rumbling for several seconds, bringing down part of that wall as well, forcing you back further. However, as the wall comes down you reach out, grabbing the weapon the droid used and pulling it to your hand an instant before the rocks crush its remains.

“Hmm, an admirable attempt.” Bane says in a moment of surprising respect for his enemy. “Were you anyone else, his sacrifice may have worked. Let's finish this.”

“Hold on. Don't you feel that?” you ask, holding up the weapon in your hand. From within it you sense that same power as before, yet as you study it, you can sense something else too. A powerful anger, one that you've not sensed from the other weapons. And a power within that rage, not too unlike your own. “This is the one.”

“Of all the crystals you've obtained, this one calls out to you? The one you got from a robot?” Darth Bane asks, you sitting cross legged on the ground and holding the weapon in both hands.

“You can sense it, can't you? This one, it's power. It's different.” you ask, looking the weapon over as you look for a way to disassemble it. But the Sith Lord, seeing what you're doing puts a hand on your shoulder.

“That's not the way. I shall show you how to disassemble this weapon.” he says, sitting across from you and taking out his hook-handled weapon. Then, closing his eyes, you watch as he simply starts disassembling the weapon, the pieces all separating at once and revealing a blood-red crystal within. “See? Do not think of 'how' to disassemble it. But that it must be disassembled. That you must get to the crystal within.”

“I understand.” you reply, closing your eyes. You focus on the weapon before you, envisioning the tool coming apart, exposing whatever crystal lies inside. You can feel it in your mind, sensing the feel of the weapon's exterior as it comes apart to reveal the bright light within. Only for you to open your eyes, seeing the brilliant blue crystal within floating in the air. “I did it!”

“Yes. But now the easy part is over.” Bane says, you reaching out and taking the crystal, allowing the other pieces to fall to the ground as it floats above your hands. The gem feels warm to the touch, but not only that you can sense power within it. A great power, not just the faith the Order's remnants have in its previous owner but one that is [i]alive[/i]. Shocked, you look up the the dark lord, who gives you a small smile. “Yes, I can see that you sense it now. The Kyber crystals are living conduits of the Force. Ones naturally aligned to the Light. But we of the Dark Side follow a different path. For you to become Sith, to truly call yourself my apprentice, you must conquer it. You must overcome the crystal's nature, dominating it and forcing it to serve you instead. Infuse this crystal with all your pain, all your anger and hatred to bend it to your will, corrupting the crystal to align it with the Dark side and bleed with unbridled crimson power.”

“Infuse it...” you mutter, pondering the dark master's words as you gaze into the crystal. And with a thought allow your anger to rise, diving into the memories of discovering your Radi'd betrayed you. Over and over you play the scene of finding him with another woman, then add in the rage you'd felt discovering Tanya's betrayal. How she'd driven her saw into your face, trying to kill you the same day she'd called to cheer you on. The day of your battle with Soba the first time, when that bastard Time Patroller Trunks had cut your tail off, scarring you for life and taking your Oozaru form and the chance of ever obtaining the Primal form like King Vegeta or your future self's Apex form away from you. You dive into every painful memory you can remember, letting your anger, your hate, your pain, all of it build up inside you. You feel your emotions swell to a breaking point, then with a snarl thrust all of them into the crystal itself. You put everything into it, your surging emotions causing the ground beneath you to crack from the pressure of all of your emotions. The crystal tries resisting, yet from deep in its core suddenly you sense something else. A darkness within that crystal as well, a rage and pain near a match for your own rising up as well to resist your efforts. But as it tries to resist you again force yourself to remember Raditz telling you he never wanted to see you again, how you were dead to him and feel your anger surge, driving it deep into the blue gem's core. The rock doesn't want to give up, but as you keep increasing the pressure suddenly a vision fills your mind. One of you wielding a red blade, drawing it to use on that bitch who stole your Raditz away. Only for him to jump between you as you swing, taking a blow meant for her instead. You watch in horror as that you actually KILLS Raditz, collapsing to your knees and trying to hold him, but even in his final moments pushes you away. Then, in your despair turn your weapon on yourself, driving it through your heart and killing yourself.

“You think some stupid vision'll stop me?! I'LL SHOW YOU!!” you snarl, using your anger at the crystal trying to make you even consider that you could ever even consider hurting Radi and turning it back, swinging that anger it caused to rise within you like a hammer back into it. And, as you do, feel something within the gemstone suddenly [i]snap[/i]. Before your eyes, you watch as the crystal starts turning blood red, the blue coloration being absorbed by the red from the outside. You feel the stone cry out in pain, then it's 'voice' is consumed by an anger mirroring your own and power explodes from it. The crystal begins to radiate with crimson light, bright enough that it lights up the entire giant room.

“Well done, my apprentice.” Darth Bane says, looking you in the eyes with something akin to pride, the same sort of expression your father'd give when he saw you accomplish something just without the love you could always see in him for you. “From this day forth, you will be Darth... Vitalia.”

You did it.

-Saiyan Conqueror Quest Patron Epilogue XIX End-