A Good Man Dies

[Darth Evandrus]

Darth Evandrus had not set foot in a Jedi Temple since he had left Jedha since there was currently no point in forcing his way into the abandoned Lothal Jedi Temple by hook or crook at this stage... so as he marched into the Jedi Temple, the Dawn Temple, it was the first time he set foot on Jedi ground as a Sith.

He supposed it should have felt... significant. It should have had some kind of effect on him - it should have given him a revelation of something profound.

But it didn't.

As the Imperial forces swarmed the Temple, Evandrus strode onwards through the almost empty halls, towards the source of the Light Side he felt to be the strongest within the Temple. It wasn't a shock that it was a presence he was familiar with, considering he had been a Jedi in the past.

Stepping into the courtyard equipped with his standard arms and armour, Darth Evandrus stood on the opposite side of the courtyard from Jedi Master Jon Atreides. Evandrus tilted his helmeted head to one side, one lightsaber already sat comfortably in his right hand, not ignited.

"Jon." he spoke across the distance between them, "The Temple seems to be all but abandoned... and yet you remain."

Evandrus stepped forward until there was only 30 meters between the two of them in the plain courtyard. He ignited the blade in his right hand as the Force, tainted by the Dark Side, wrapped itself around him protectively.

"Is this your penance for Jedha?" He wondered aloud, "You were unable to stop Jedha's destruction, so you would stand for Splintr instead? Fitting I suppose."

He stood at the ready, his lightsaber ignited in his right hand held diagonally in front of him in a ready position and his other hand by his left hip as behind his back where his second lightsaber and his blaster pistol, currently hidden from Jon's sight with the safety on the pistol.

He was ready... was his old friend just as ready?

@Wit

 

[Jon Atreides]

Jon felt nothing but a sense of inevitability as he walked through the temple, feeling himself being pulled to a destination he couldn't quite see but could sense that he could not avoid. There was a familiarity to it, the Darkness that he had felt descend on Dawn Temple. It almost reminded him of the two he had felt aboard the Sith ship above Jedha, a similar strength and intensity. But unlike them, this one he could almost recognize.

It was already begin to dawn on him, just what, or rather who, waited for him. There weren't many beings in the Galaxy who radiated such power, and there was only one among the Sith that he had known before his eventual fall. Wyck knew them all, at one time or another they had all passed under his tutelage, but Jon was a relative newcomer to the scene. Andraste, Kravos, Jedha had been his first ever encounter with them, not so with the man who called out to him from across the courtyard. Cregan.

Eyes falling on the blade that sprang to life in the former Jedi's hand, Jon let out a sigh and the blade held in his own right hand also sprang to life. Raising his blade so that it was held in front of him mirroring Cregan's blade, Jon's left hand tightened around the grip of the blaster in his left hand, held to the side and in its customary stun setting. Dressed and armed in his standard fare, Jon was about as ready as he was going to be for this fight.

Opening himself to the Force, Jon began drawing it in, letting it calm and prepare him for what was to come. "Nothing is abandoned till one fool remembers it. I stand because it is the right thing to do. You knew that once, didn't you?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Evandrus]

"I stand in the right place only now."

He doubted he had ever been the kind of Jedi that Jon obviously was... and now it simply didn't matter because now he was Darth Evandrus, not Cregan. With their current distance, their blaster pistols would be stretched to their maximum to be accurate so Evandrus didn't draw his pistol. Instead his left hand drew his other lightsaber from behind his back.

As he was doing this however, Evandrus attacked with the Force - gripping Jon's exposed head with a clutching invisible hand. The reason he went with the shape of a hand was so that two of the talons of the phantom force were actually pushing into the Jedi's eyes. The idea was that the attack would both be crushing Jon's head and pressing at both of his eyes at the same time in one move.

The Force was still around himself around, defending himself, even as he ignited his left blade and began to move forwards to cut the distance between the two of them while Jon was dealing with his attack.

@Wit

 

[Jon Atreides]

Jon didn't make any reply to Cregan's response, or Evanrdus as he now called himself. He wondered if Wyck got mental whiplash form all the Jedi he once knew who went around under these new names, one alone was more than enough for Jon to deal with.

The moment Jon felt the pressure on his head he manipulated another thread of the Force to form a shield around his head, pushing back against Cregan's attack and holding it at bay. And while he did so, he saw Cregan ignite another blade and begin walking towards him. Raising his blaster, he fired off two hots, even as the second blade was being lit, and aimed for the shins of his left foot.

All the while he patiently watched Cregan and continued gathering the Force, having at long last learned to be less impulsive and wait for the right moment to make his move.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Evandrus]

His attack resisted and two blaster bolts heading his way.

Moving into a graceful side step to the right to avoid the blasts to his left foot, Evandrus circled to the right slightly more before moving again. He had kept up the pressure on Jon's head and he continued to do so even as he pushed himself forwards from slight to the right, both lightsabers up in front of himself as he crossed ten of the meters between himself and Jon, leaving himself 20 meters from the Jedi.

His attack to crush the skull continued with the invisible hand gripping the shield around Jon's head instead, his lightsabers were ready to defend and his remaining focus with the Force was gathering it tighter to himself, building it up as a stronger reactive measure for now.

As soon as he was 20 meters away from Jon, provided he was not defending himself, Evandrus would let loose a stream of red Force lightning at Jon's lower legs. At the same time, the Force hand that was now grabbing onto the Force shield around Jon's head twisted, using it's grip on the shield to twist the man's head and neck upwards and to the left in an effort to snap the Jedi Master's neck while he was defending himself from the lightning attack, though he was prepared to cease the hand should he need to defend himself in another way.

@Wit

 

[Jon Atreides]

Jon watched as Cregan evaded his attacks and finally released the Force he had been gathering. He reached out and pulled at the very air around the Sith Lord, snapping it shut around him in a ball that would begin to attempt crushing and suffocating him. Jon would attempt to hold the attack as Evandrus would move, maintaining the pressure around him.

As for the attack against his own head, he would react on feeling his head being pulled, and strengthen his defensive shield to act in an opposite direction to Evandrus's attack to try and hold his head in place. As for the lightning, if Jon's own attack was able to distract Evandrus from making the attack then Jon could focus on his one attack and defense on the Sith Lord, otherwise he would twist his lightsaber downwards in front of him to catch the the Dark Side energy.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Evandrus]

Evandrus felt Jon snapping an orb around him and so he didn't actually go through with the planned lightning. Instead he used the Force like a wedge, with a sharpened edge, to force a seam along the sphere, which the wedge then expanded outwards from, breaking the sphere open in half and away from him like a nut being cracked open. He didn't break stride, charging forwards with both lightsabers in front of his body.

As he was approaching, Evandrus' grip on Jon's shield twisted in the same direction as Jon's counter - adding the momentum and strength of them both into twisting the man's head to snap the neck. He had been hoping Jon would counter with an opposing Force movement rather than a Force technique to hold himself in place. That meant his own change in movement direction was all but instant and Jon would need to stop the momentum of his own Force technique added to Evandrus' own.

At the same time, the distance would be crossed and Evandrus would keep his left saber across his body defensively even as he slashed out with his right saber at Jon's left arm at the elbow. At the same time he would use a quick burst of the Force, quick as a flash, to squeeze the barrel of Jon's blaster closed - he was still prepared to defend with his other lightsaber if needs be however or to abandon the move against the blaster.

It was time they fought as Jedi and Sith - not just mystic to mystic.

@Wit

 

[Darth Evandrus]

Maybe Evandrus' change in attack to the neck had been too quick? Or maybe Jon's own attack too involved or distracting? In the end he supposed it didn't much matter.

Jon's neck snapped under Evandrus' attack and the Jedi Master began to fall to the ground, already dead. Dropping his lightsabers, Evandrus crossed the distance and physically caught Jon as he fell. He looked down at his friend as he held him in his arms.

This was the first time he had actually killed a Jedi and, naturally, it was his friend. Staring down at his dead friend, Evandrus felt a lump form in his throat.

"For what its worth?" He whispered to Jon even as he could almost feel himself slipping deeper into the Dark Side, "I'm so sorry."

Closing the Jedi's eyes with his fingers, Evandrus collected both of his lightsabers and Jon's as well. Staring down at the Jedi, he let him down onto the ground before setting fire to his body with the Force. He stared as the flames claimed his old friend before he turned away.

Jon's would not be the only body to be a foundation. The Empire would grow - he would see to it personally.

(OOC: Its been roughly 65 hours since my last post and it is my understanding that there's no report and an extension hasn't been requested. Based on this, I've posted an autohit from an inherently lethal attack. If needs be I can remove this post but otherwise I think the fight is done?)