Pre-NuTL: Knives On A Dropship

[Nefieslab]

Being briefed on the mission while already in the air, in a dropship, was not Eddard's idea of a good time. Not only did it mean that there would be no acceptable chance to question and tweak the plan but it meant that it was something of a rush job as well. If they had this planned in advance then there would have been a briefing in one of the Imperial control buildings or something.

Not while they were riding in one of the local forces' drop ships.

Right now it was himself and another Sith as the only Force sensitives to be on this mission. There was a platoon of Imperial Troopers but they weren't to be under their control it seemed. This planet, the name of which escaped Eddard for now, was split down the middle currently with the Empire on one side and the seditious elements from the 'Old Empire' on the other side.

"Alright listen up!"

Oh and there was an officer who was briefing them loudly over the sounds of the dropship as well.

"You two are going after a target of opportunity here - a pureblood Sith that command has been watching for some time. He's got quite a cult of personality on this little rock so command wants him dead and this is the first time he's been spotted by our Imperial Intelligence operatives within the OE areas of this city."

A target of opportunity huh?

The officer handed him a datapad with a rather old-looking pureblood Sith displayed on it before he handed it to his ally for this mission.

"What's our extraction look like?"

The officer nodded at the troopers.

"Them! Dropship will drop you off and they will dig in to hold a landing ground - you get in, do the job and bring yourselves and the target's head back to the landing ground and we'll extract you. Clear?"

It was clear that this operation was risky and the extraction was shaky at best.

But that wasn't what was wanted here.

"Clear!"

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn could already tell that things were not going to go well on this operation. He had entirely too little information about their target, and everything about the operation felt rushed. If there was ever a combination that was going to result and bad outcomes, it was this.

He scowled as he slipped his mask in place, checking over his equipment once more before the operation. His saber and sword were in place as well as his miscellaneous supplies and gauntlet armor. While he’s trained with blasters and the like, he’s never much taken a liking to them. So loud and ineffective.

He took several deep breaths inside his mask, before taking the datapad from his partner. The red Sith looked old, and to many this may have seemed like an advantage, but to Varyn, he thought of how difficult it was to grow old in this career and how easy it was to die early. “Be wary of an old man in a young man’s career,” he could almost hear his instructor’s voice in his head.

As the doors to the dropship retracted, he thought he saw one of the troopers sneer at him before slipping his own helmet on. Great, our backup doesn’t like us either, he thought to himself. What could get worse?

The dropship swooped down to just above the roof of one of the skyscrapers, not stopping or setting down and letting the pair of Sith jump out. He used the Force to brace himself, hitting the ground a bit harder than he wanted and rolling to dampen the impact. He waited for the sound of the engine to vanish before turning to his partner.

Quick and quiet? We’re in enemy territory so we should avoid open conflict as long as possible, he suggested, hoping his partner - who he didn’t know - wasn’t the reckless, violent, guns-blazing type.

 

[Nefieslab]

Checking his armour was resting as it should be, Eddard checked on his lightsabers, even though he almost instinctively knew that they were there and they were operational. It was always good to check regardless. Finding them to be there, he pulled up the hood on his armour and the lower-face mask made of the same material. It wasn't armour, it was just so that he couldn't be easily identified considering they were doing some wetwork against a faction that excelled at finding and killing people.

Clenching and unclenching his hands, he found his duelling gloves were just as easy and lived-in as they always were so when the dropship came in for landing, he knew he was as ready as he was likely going to be. Nodding to the officer, Eddard stood and stepped out of the open door, controlling his fall with the Force so that he landed silently and without harm.

Last thing you wanted on an op like this was to sprain your ankle or something by jumping out the door.

"Quiet yes - quick? Depends on the situation around here." he suggested with a nod, moving along to the edge of the rooftop, "Hopefully quick is an option."

He knew he had the patience to wait a day or two to kill someone at the perfect moment - he just really didn't want to.

Looking over the edge of the rooftop, he frowned slightly at the sight that greeted him. The streets were not busy - at all. This was rather odd considering that city planets like this one seldom actually slept. He stepped away from the edge.

"I see roaming groups of armed men below." he revealed to his ally, "We need to narrow down his location so I say we pick off a group before they cross over with another, push the leader for information and then silence them."

He doubted he needed to explain what he meant by silence.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn nodded to his partner as he snuck to the edge of the building and peered over. On the bright side, his partner didn't seem bent on getting the two of them shot out of the gate, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this felt wrong on multiple levels. The streets were clear of everyone except guards as if someone was preparing for trouble to come.

Something feels wrong, he said. It may not have been a helpful thing to point out given how vague it was, but if there was something wrong, better to say it now and prepare.

Take the turbolift to just above ground level and then climb the rest of the way, he said. He didn't fancy the idea of coming out on the ground floor where there were more likely to be guards. That meant the two of them would have to find a way from level 3 to the ground, but it beat the doors opening to gunfire.

Varyn made his way across the roof, finding the door to let them inside and going to work quickly on the lock. Breaking and entering was a necessary part of most assassinations, and that meant he had plenty of experience bypassing locks. They were inside within a moment and moving quickly to the lift, which took them to the third floor promptly.

There was no sign of anyone on the floor. The lights were out and nothing moved, allowing him to move crouched and quiet toward one of the windows. That alley, he said, pointing out the window. Wait for a two-man patrol and hit them when they turn onto the T, he suggested. The main alley was visible from the streets, but once they turned into the alley that t was perpendicular to, the pair had a better chance of eliminating their target without issue.

If I break the glass can you keep it from falling onto the alley? he asked, easing his saber off of his belt. Normally he would have had to do both by himself, but this way was much easier. Maybe working with a partner wasn't such a terrible thing.

 

[Nefieslab]

He was glad that it wasn't just him.

Eddard couldn't shake the feeling that the only people who were out on the streets were people who wanted to be out because they had some kind of a mission. His ally and himself had a mission so they were out. The troopers had a mission so they were out. But that meant that the roaming gangs of armed sentients were out with a mission as well and that? Well that didn't feel right to him but he wasn't sure why.

"Good plan." he noted simply as he narrowed his eyes, one hand close to his right lightsaber, "Keep an eye out for surveillance devices - I think... I think there's no such thing as too paranoid right now."

He really didn't like it but it was almost like the calm before the storm, when you knew that things were going to explode but you didn't quite know when it was going to happen.

As they entered the lift, Eddard used the Force to gradually move the camera inside so that it was looking at the wall of the lift and not at the two Sith. Thankfully they reached the third floor without any incidents and stepped out into the quietness that only came from an entire section of a building being perfectly silent. Moving up to the window, he placed a hand against the glass and nodded to his ally.

"On your go."

With the Force, he already had a hold on the glass so that when his ally struck it, it would shatter, but it would be still held entirely within his control. Once the break happened, he would move the glass into the building, setting it down on the floor silently before nodding as the two-man patrol approached. He would move when his ally did, dropping down to the street below with his lightsaber in his right hand - landing behind one of the men, a twi'lek male, and wrapping his left arm around his throat to choke him and bring him down to the ground as he pressed the emitter of his lightsaber to the Twi'lek's temple.

"Speak only when we ask you to or I will kill you." he whispered quietly to the Twi'lek, "Drop your pistol if you understand."

The pistol fell from the Twi'lek's limp fingers and Eddard nodded to his ally before pulling his captive closer to the wall, immersing them in shadows to help them avoid being spotted.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

The Sith assassin backed away from the window so that when he activated his saber, only a sliver of the blade would hit the window rather than extend over. He waited until his ally had a good grip on the window and thumbed his activator quickly... twice. The saber blade shot out, touched the window, and then sucked back in. The window cracked and shattered, but didn't fall.

It was only a fraction of a second and he paused for nearly a full minute to make sure that no one had seen the light. It appeared they hadn't and he slipped his hilt away, easing his short sword from its sheathe instead. They had to wait some time, but eventually a pair of guards came through. He took that as a good sign because it meant no one was going to be coming through again for at least a few minutes.

He stuck a leg out through the window, balancing on the edge before dropping down. The Force cushioned his fall and there was very little sound to alert the guards to their presence. He waited for his partner to move as well, closing in on the guard to his own right. He plunged his blade through the man's neck. Blood went everywhere and he dragged the man back around to a dumpster as the man struggled. After a moment more, the man went limp, which left only the one his partner had. No doubt, that would mean the other guard had seen what happened to the uncooperative. Well, it would happen to him as well, but the assassin wasn't going to tell him that.

The Red Sith. Where can we find him? he asked. The mask he wore eliminated any expressions and the man was left staring down cold metal.

He controls everything from the SkyLodge penthouse, the man said with a trembling voice. Guards are up there around the clock. He almost never comes out.... totally off-the-rails paranoid... maybe for a reason, he said as he glanced at the two Sith and realized that it was likely because there were actually people coming for him.

 

[Nefieslab]

Seemed that his ally had decided that killing the other was the best option. Good idea to be fair - Eddard had the one who was going to be talking so the other was nothing but a spare. Killing the spare was the best thing to do in his opinion, left them with much fewer loose ends to be tied up at the end of the mission.

And it was, indeed, best to cut the loose ends because he refused to get another chewing out for leaving people talking about the Empire killing someone.

Tightening his grip while his ally spoke to him, Eddard loosened the hold he had on his neck to let him speak. Listening intently, he frowned a little bit before nodding a little bit. At least they had some idea as to where they needed to go and how much opposition they would be facing. It was more than they had before and it was something to go off.

He nodded to his ally to make sure he agreed they were done with the man - snapping his neck when they were through with him.

Dropping the body to the side, he nodded towards the building in question. It was very large building and it looked to be a lot more modern than the others.

And they needed to get to the top.

"How do we breach? Rear entrance or through a window partway up?"

That had worked well enough the last time.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn looked at the dead bodies without so much as flinching and quickly stuffed his inside the nearby dumpster after grabbing their comlinks and tapping in. Sure, there was lots of blood, but it was still less obvious if you didn't leave the body out in the open. No doubt, his partner would follow suit and the two would be left in the silence of the alley for a brief time. He took a crouching position behind the large dumpster as he considered their next move.

The two of them were outnumbered, outgunned, and he feared they were running out of time now that the patrol had been killed. Coms being down or the like would only explain them being missing for so long. They needed to think and move quickly.

While he had an affinity for climbing, the more he thought on it, the more he wondered if they wouldn't be too exposed. The darkness would hide them better than the day, but with the number of lights around, he wasn't sure if it would be enough.

As for the back door... well, he doubted that would be unguarded. It seemed like an even worse option than climbing if he were honest. That's when it hit him. Grab the grapples off those troopers, he said, climbing halfway back into the dumpster to retrieve a blood-covered grappling device. They were quiet common amongst soldiers, after all.

We can swing from one building to the other, he said, assuming it would be much easier to ascend a nearby building than the behemoth of a mega-tower in the center of the city.

Unless his partner objected, he promptly made his way to find the next building to get inside. Perhaps things would go all right after all....

 

[Nefieslab]

Swinging across on a grapple line?

Well, it was less exposed that climbing the building as they would be on the side of it for less time before they made their entry. It was filled with less blaster bolts than taking either of the ground floor entrances as well. Well then, he supposed it was the best idea they really had considering his next suggestion would have been to get an air-speeder but they were big and noticeable.

Grabing the grapple line from the corpse he had made, he nodded to his ally with a stern expression behind his mask.

"When we impact the windows of the target building, we do the same as we did before - I hold, you breach."

It had worked well for them when they had solid footing but it would be near impossible to do the same trick by themselves while dangling along the side of the building so continued teamwork would be essential here. Moving into their jump site building, they were unopposed as they rode the lift up to one of the highest floors, one that actually had a balcony that they could step out on through a set of glass doors rather than needing to break another window.

Stepping out into the night, he nodded to his ally before firing his grapple line across the distance between the two buildings. It stuck true and he took a small breath as he made sure the grapple line was still firmly attached to his armour before stepping off the edge of the balcony.

He swung across the distance between the two buildings in silence and used the Force to slow his approach so that he stopped against the target window without slamming into it and making any noise.

He waited for his ally to make the swing.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn followed shortly after his partner, making his way up inside the adjacent building until they came to their target. From the roof, they wouldn't have to break any windows, so Varyn prepared his grapple and fired it across. It seemed to keep fine even after several aggressive pulls, so the Sith prepared for his swing. It wasn't a happy landing, but the Force cushioned him enough that he didn't break anything. He was quite close to his partner, but not right next to one another, which would make the next part even more interesting.

He gave a thumbs up to indicate he was ready, and despite them both being cast in shadow, it should have been able to be seen. He could feel the sweat begin to gather under his mask as he thought of the million ways that this could go wrong, but shoved the thought aside and tried to focus on the next task. Now was not the time to hesitate. He waited until he thought his partner had a grip on the glass, and this time, instead of pulling out his saber, he gathered the Force in his hand.

A moment later, a concentrated burst bashed through the glass, but he was fairly certain they were too high up for any guards to hear them. He just hoped his partner caught the glass.

He used his gauntlet to clear himself a handhold and hoisted himself up into the open window. He glanced back out into the darkness, wind whipping at his clothes at the height they were at. On many worlds, this would have been a tall building they'd just come from, but it was dwarfed next to the one they were now in. There was really only one way out, which left him with that nagging feeling again.

Did you get the sense the troopers have no interest in extracting us? he asked after a moment.

 

[Nefieslab]

Nodding and giving a thumbs up in return to confirm that he had seen and understood the message from his ally, he prepared himself mentally for the next part. This next part was another part where things might just go horribly wrong so it was going to require all of his focus. He pushed against the wall slightly until he was able to 'stand up' against the wall, at which point he began to move to the side, moving closer and closer to his ally and the window they would be using to enter through.

Once he was in position he knelt down and touched the glass and held it with the Force - nodding to his ally who then broke the glass. Controlling it with the Force, he caused the glass to move into the building and settle down silently on the ground to the side.

That part was over.

Thankfully it had only been part of the massive window because he honestly wasn't sure if he would have been able to stop all of it otherwise. He pulled himself in with the Force and his hands, releasing the grapple line as he did so that it didn't pull him back out. He dusted himself off a little bit before pausing at his ally's words.

He took a deep breath before admitting.

"No such thing as too paranoid." he declared quietly as the moved further into the building, "This has 'died on an operation gone wrong' written all over it."

He grimaced a little bit behind his mask.

"We might have to find our own extraction - recommend we keep the target alive long enough for him to reveal any escape measures he has in place."

A Sith in the target's position did not get to where he obviously was today without having plans A through D on hand at a moment's notice.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

And here Varyn was hoping that he was just being paranoid. Was it paranoia if they were really after you? Either way, it seemed like his partner got the same vibes, and that only put him all the more in a state of tension.

Same, he agreed. All the more reason to be alert as they moved forward. I'm guessing he'll have a speeder up top, but probably some anti-aircraft defenses as well, he said, realizing now that it was likely good they hadn't tried to take a speeder in. It also meant that the two of them would have to disable those defenses first. We'll need to eliminate those first if they're there, he said.

That left nothing except to move forward. The floor they were on appeared to be under some sort of reconstruction, which was a strange stroke of luck for them, and he decided that it was probably the extent of the luck they would receive. With his sword still in hand, he moved forward only to see a trio of guards appear from a doorway down the way. Where's that breeze coming from? What's going on here? one of them suddenly barked. They needed to address this before the men called for backup, but even Varyn wasn't sure that was possible. Particularly without any gunshots.

 

[Nefieslab]

Alright so either they were both overly paranoid people or there really was something going on here that meant they were under threat aside from the guards they already knew about. Honestly, Eddard wasn't even surprised anymore. Two of his quiet ops had been plagued by attempted betrayal and at this rate he was going to start thinking that he was cursed. Not that that would stop him from stepping into said traps and betrayals to spring them.

They often worked against the trapper if they were sprung in the right way after all.

"If we take the target with us up to the escape craft, alive, we can force him to deactivate the system controlling them and make our escape. We can kill the target en route to extraction."

Of course the time for discussing that was at an end now that it seemed they were going to be encountering guards on high alert. Cursing mentally at how attentive the enemy seemed to actually be, he got his ally's attention and issued a few hand signals to be on the same page when they attacked.

Distract.

Attack - Left.

Fast.

Brutal.

Combo - Centre.

That would mean that it would be up to him to end the guard on the right first after they were distracted, while his partner took down the one on the left before they both worked to take down the central guard. Hopefully they could do it fast enough to actually take them all down. The guards were approaching so Eddard, using a reflection through a piece of glass, used the Force to slam an open door behind them, causing them to pull their attention from the front to the back.

Igniting his lightsaber, Eddard threw it through the air towards the guard on the right, where it would sink into the unsuspecting man's chest. He would then use the Force to pull the blade through that unfortunate guard into the side of the guard in the centre.

One of them fired instinctively, hitting the floor but still getting a shot out.

Kark.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn moved quickly with his blade in hand as the signals came to a close. If they wanted this to turn out okay, they needed to get this done quickly. Something told him that they wouldn't have such an easy time getting this done quickly. He plunged his sword into the gut of the man, up under his sternum, when he heard the gunshot. It really shouldn't have been surprising, but it made the young assassin jump anyway.

Kriff! his mind seemed to scream. He slashed around to take the head off of the center man who had already been impaled, but it was too little too late. He could hear chatter in his stolen comlink that indicated they were found out and he slipped his sword away to pull his saber while he spoke. Kriff, they know we're here. We need to move. Now, he said, abandoning stealth and moving at a run now.

He burst into the turbolift, beginning to take it up as far as they could before they were caught. He was already hard at work cutting through the roof of the lift so they had an escape. They'll jam the lift soon. We'll need to be ready to move when they do, he said, cringing at the idea of having to take the stairs in a building this size. It was horridly impractical and something he'd like to avoid as much as possible.

 

[Nefieslab]

Kark.

As annoyed as he was about the fact that they now had to go loud, Eddard was nothing if not professional so he didn't spare himself more than a couple of seconds to feel annoyed about the situation before he was moving. His lightsaber flew back to his hand with the Force as he joined his ally in moving towards the turbolift.

However as he was moving he tore off a belt of three grenades from one of the dead guards, holding them in his off hand as they stepped into the lift.

If they were going loud then they needed more options than what the equipment they had brought would allow them but, thankfully, on-sight procurement was something that Sith were trained in. He could use the grenades almost as well as any trooper and had the strengths of a Force sensitive to boost his lethality with them.

"First rule of locking down a building like this." he agreed, looking up through the hole once it was created, "We can continue to climb the lift shaft rather than using the stairs - that should give us some time where they don't know exactly where we are."

Which meant it was time for them to cover some ground before the blaster bolts started flying.

"Any chance we could use the cables to get up their faster?"

As he made the suggestion the lift came to a sudden halt as the security team shut down power to the lifts - they had travelled a part distance up the building but they were still at least a dozen floors from the penthouse.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn considered their options as the lift came to a grinding halt. Eddard suggested ascending the cables, which sounded exhausting, but it might have some benefits of its own. It would keep their opponents off guard, but it might exhaust the two of them completely before they ever get to their enemy. It was worth a shot... at least to go up a few floors.

In short order, Varyn was hoisting himself up to the top of the lift, grabbing the rope and beginning the climb. He only made it about four floors up before he had to disembark, leaping to the side of the shaft and onto the very thin ledge to the door. He nearly lost his balance, reaching out and gripping the beam like his life depended on it... because it did. He wasn't afraid of heights, but a glance down revealed a fall of several thousand feet, and he'd rather not take that plunge.

Cutting now, he said, as his saber buzzed to life with that reassuring hiss-buzz of a saber blade. He plunged through the door, carving a hole before kicking it in. Their climb seemed to be a good idea as the guards seemed to have gathered four floors below and not where they'd emerged. Eight floors to go.

He made sure that his partner got through the door as well and then made all haste up the remainder of the way. They'd need to cover those eight floors before the guards figured out their prey had slipped through their grips once again. @Nefieslab

 

[Nefieslab]

Climbing the cables had seemed like such a good idea to begin with but it was beginning to hurt just to hold on by the time they had ascended four floors. His hands were only not cut to ribbons because of the touch material his gloves were made from. Seeing his ally make the jump first, Eddard gripped the cable tightly and used a little bit of the Force to steady his ally while he made the cut.

Once the cut was made, Eddard leapt forwards, managing to grab the sides of the hole and save himself from falling to his death. Pulling himself into the corridor, he nodded to his ally as they stepped into the stairwell.

"Laying some opposition."

Taking a length of the grapple line he still had in its launcher, he quickly set up a trip wire to the grenades on the stairs below them. That way any pursuit would be met with an explosion and any future pushes up the stairs would be done very slowly as the enemy took the time to check every step.

"Ready."

He started up the stairs again, catching up to his ally as they ascended steadily up towards the penthouse. As they approached they would both be able to sense the Dark Side from above them - their target was deeply entrenched in the Dark Side even if he wasn't as powerful as a Sith Lord or something similar. Stacking up on one side of the door to the penthouse level, he nodded to his ally and signalled to him.

On your go.

He already had his lightsaber in hand but he resisted the temptation to draw on the Force since their target might feel it.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Varyn kept watch while his partner set his trap, quickly scanning around their surroundings for any signs of enemies. So far, despite some of their bad luck, nothing had gone catastrophically wrong... yet. He was sure that would change soon, but if they could kill their target and get out alive, Varyn would count it as a win.

He stacked up on the other side of the door, reaching out with his feelings for any indication of what they were up against. Unfortunately, all he felt was the overwhelming darkness inside. It was both alluring and putrid all at the same time. The Sith assassin - despite being a Sith in name - didn't care for the Darkness, but he'd touched it enough to know what incredible powers it offered.

He gave a countdown on his fingers before smashing his fist against the controls, letting the door slide open. And it wasn't locked, which struck the assassin as odd. He wondered what type of trap that meant they were walking into. He moved quickly to one side of the room as his saber sprung to life. As soon as the two were inside the room, the doors snapped shut and the Red Sith turned to look at them. He'd been looking out the window, and it was clear he wasn't concerned about the appearance of the pair.

To the sides of the room, two massive droids that had to stand at least 7 feet tall with four bladed arms stood guard as if they were ready to leap at a moment's notice. You dare invade my plans? You thought that I had no means to protect myself? My soldiers will be here in moments and you two fools will both die.

 

[Nefieslab]

The Darkness was something that called to the Sith but, to Eddard? It was a deeply personal thing. The Darkness that beckoned him to grow stronger was not the same as the Darkness that surrounded the Pureblood in the penthouse. The Darkness was far larger than that - large enough to give each and every Sith their own specialised version of itself.

So while Eddard embraced the Darkness as it presented itself to him, he knew well enough that the Darkness around the pureblood would have nothing but ill-intent for him.

Which meant it fitted right in with everything else in this building right now.

The door not being locked was just a sign that things were going to go from bad to worse and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it except spring whatever trap was going on. His lightsaber ignited and he slapped the door panel to lock the doors behind them to hinder any reinforcements for the pureblood.

It limited their own escape options but it beat being surrounded.

When your assassination target didn't look concerned to find himself confronted by two armed Sith, that was when you knew that things were about to get properly dangerous. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of the droids.

They were... horrifying to be honest and he could tell that everything about them was designed to make them appear as horrifying as possible. Truly, they were a Sith design.

He wanted one of their lower face plates though - they'd make for great half-masks.

Sharing a glance with his ally, Eddard didn't really care to speak to their target if he was being entirely honest with himself. Reaching out with the Force, he seized hold of one of the bladed limbs of one of the droids, pulling the blade downward in a motion to cut through both of the pureblood's legs. The droid would be unable to charge or leap forwards with his grip holding one of it's limbs in one direction but he had his lightsaber at the ready just in case it did manage it.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

It seemed that despite his age, the old Red Sith was still spry. No doubt the Force helped with that, and he leapt back, bringing a saber hilt to life in his hand. The other droid charged forward, ready to swipe down with one of its four blades on Eddard. Thwip-thwipe. It tried to take his head off in a clean blow.

Varyn leapt forward, saber in hand and caught the falling blade, giving his ally time to dodge and continue to focus on the droid he was attacking, but another pair of bladed arms swung around to try to cut the young assassin in half. He leapt back, quickly realizing that fighting these droids one to one was probably not the best idea. They were designed to kill Sith, he was guessing, which meant that the pair of Sith would no doubt be overwhelmed on their own.

The back! he shouted, hoping his partner would hit the creature in the back. Or perhaps if they took off the head, it wouldn't be able to distinguish friend from foe anymore.

Varyn jumped backwards, avoiding one more blade as his own saber caught a second. No doubt this barrage would overwhelm him soon without either help or retreat, but the young assassin was fully on the defensive now, letting his blade move fluidly to bat aside one attack after the other as he retreated.