A Test of Skill [Closed]

[Vindictive]

Slypher entered into the dueling ring, her Sith gear on and her lightsabers equipped. She was more than ready to handle this match, regardless of who her opponent was. She was sure, however, had this been anything other than a computer generated similation, there would be a lot more people around and a lot less room to fight. In this digital world, however, they had an open desert with a cool breeze. The programming also allowed them to have their force powers to use in battle, with several other non-important people to serve as spectators, distractions, or obstacles. It was the perfect training similation.

The white doorway behind her closed as her feet entered into the warm desert soil, standing in the middle of the ring. She held her lightsabers in her hands as she waited on her opponent. She was excited, because even if they died in this world, they would still be alive in reality. It was perfect.

 

[Bubák]

Needless to say, Avreet disliked the setting of this simulation. The young assassin would have preferred something dark, cold. This was a desert during a sunny day, so not a very good chance for a Mon Cal to do something productive in such an environment. Had this been a real duel, he would have most likely retreated. While the breeze of wind made sure his skin didn't dry, the sand under his feet made visible footprints, pretty much eliminating any moment of surprise once he was in the dueling ring. The Mon Cal was a Sith though, and being a Sith meant getting over difficulties like this. At least he didn't have his cloak, which would have gotten in the way, so he deselected it before entering the simulation.

Before even stepping to the ring, he masked himself like he did thousands of times before, perfectly hiding his Force presence and signature as well as bending the light around himself to become invisible to a naked eye. The twin lightsabers hanging on his belt flew into his webbed hands and crimson beams came to life without any sound announcing it, as Avreet bended sound waes as well. His opponent stood in the middle of the ring, her left side turned facing him, but he couldn't get to her without making footprints. Not by walking, at least.

His first attack had to be devastating, surprise her and injure her. Then, he'd stand a chance. His cybernetic eye carefully calculated the distance, while the Force confirmed it and massed an appropriate ammount of energy in his legs. And then, without any warning, the assassin shot into the air, flying towards his opponent, completely invisible. Both of his arms were behind him to allow a greater backswing.

Just as he was about to land directly in front of the Sith, his lightsabers lashed out, aiming to decapitate the woman as the twin blades crossed in an X. If the woman ducked, he immediately did the exact opposite of the move, moving his arms behind again, just aiming the cut lower this time. The landing revealed his position, but it did not bother him. Avreet's arms shot out in his next attack, his lightsabers seeking to stab the woman into her stomach, slightly leaning forward to gain greater reach and make it harder for her to dodge.

 

[Vindictive]

Slypher continued to stand there, waiting for her opponent to arrive. She ignited her lightsaber immediately as she felt a small flicker in the force before it went completely silent. on alert, she continued to check her surroundings, looking for any sign of an intruder. Though she couldn't see one, she was sure one was there. Whoever it was, they were using a technique she was familiar with, and had to use several times during the acolyte tournament.

She listened carefully for any sounds that were out of the ordinary, using the force to barely blow the wind to her. Also using the force, she increased her hearing to pick up any sounds that she would otherwise not be able to hear. whoosh! There it was; the almost completely silent sound of wind rushing by a body as it soared through the air. Her mind quickly judged the trajectory as whatever the hidden object was catapulted through the air, and deemed it to be a body.

Her opponent had arrived.

Without hesitation, before her hidden foe could get any closer, she barrel-rolled out of the way to her right and unleashed a quick burst of energy towards the attacker that, if not blocked or dodged, would send them to their back, leaving a visible print in the sand below. She was sure her opponent wouldn't be able to keep up that cloaking for too long before having to focus on other force abilities. Her goal before going in for the kill was to simply wear them out, so she would remain on the defensive until her goal was achieved.

 

[Bubák]

The woman masterfully dodged his attack by rolling to her right, Avreet's attack missing her left side by mere inches as she escaped the stab. Since she could see the footprints now and knew of him, Force cloak became useless, so he stopped wasting his energy on it.

Because he was already facing her and she had to make a move in order to shoot the Force energy, it wasn't hard to block her attack with the lightsaber in his left hand. Right after the attack got blocked, he raised both of his arms and allowed the fingers on his left hand, except the thumb and the forefinger holding the lightsaber, move freely. That suggested Force lightning, but instead of a burst of energy of his own, a flash of blinding white light lightened up the whole area. Hoping it blinded the Sith for a while, he used the Force to create a copy of himself, a perfect clone.

Making the copy more believable, he telekinetically shielded it, so it'd be able to make footprints as well. The clone stood right in front of Avreet, but the real Mon Calamari moved to it's right side, knowing most people assumed the one on the right was the real one.

 

[Vindictive]

Her attack was blocked rather easily, then was followed by a burst of white light so bright, her eyesight fled her temporarily. Blinded by the light, she stumbled backwards before her vision hazily returned, giving her blurred images of not one, but two of her opponent. Both of them left footprints in the ground, and both of them were shielded in the force. Clever, and that was coming from someone who was able to escape a prison high out of her mind.

She regained her composure and readied herself, assuming her original stance. "Very clever, my friend," she said to her adversary. "Your mastery of the secretive and elusive force techniques is quite enjoyable." She backed away for a little bit and outstretched her hands. One hand was aimed at the version to the right, the other at the version to the left. Simultaneously, she created beams of energy that connected her to both of them. In a few moments, if they did nothing to counteract, they would begin to feel their life energy drain from their bodies. Whichever one was the fake, if it didn't move away soon enough, would vanish from plain sight, leaving her target open for another attack.

If her target was left open, and the illusion was dissipated, she would dash forward using a burst of energy and slash her lightsaber diagonally from his right shoulder to his left pelvis. She made sure to strike in a way that she could quickly repel his lightsabers should he try to attack while she struck down.

 

[Bubák]

Her words sounded honest, but that did not lower his guard or focus. As an Acolyte, he had learned how to get above such things. Both Mon Cals, the real one and the illusion, raised their lightsabers in unison and crossed them, making it impossible for the beams to reach the Sith and his copy. While the illusion did not have real lightsabers to block the attack, it's telekinetic shield Avreet has created made it look like the beam got successfully blocked, further supported by the fact his copy was just an illusion, had no life force, so draining life out of it was impossible.

In an atempt to trick his adversary again, Avreet's copy stumbled backwards as the beam hit it's lightsabers, and the real Avreet cloaked himself, making it look Slypher's attack broke his concentration and the illusion disappeared. His mind thanked the Force and Grima for the endless hours of practice and extending his Force reserves by using Force cloak whenever he could and maintaining it to exhaustion. The real Sith also bended the sound waves around himself to extinguish all sounds he and his lightsabers were making, basically disappearing from the world, mainly focusing on controlling the illusion, though keeping his left eye on the opponent.

The illusion quickly recovered from the stumble, staring at Slypher with it's ultra realistic eyes, a thing Avreet perfectioned over the years, making the eyes look very lively. "You're definitely a worthy opponent. We should meet after this and kill some Jedi together," it said with a hint of a smirk, a truly masterful manipulation of light and sound waves. Xanthus would have been proud, just as Grima. The illusion took a deep breath (or at least it looked like it) and prepared itself for the opponent, both of the lightsabers pointing at Slypher, while the real Mon Calamari prepared to launch himself at the woman in a similiar manner he did the first time, though now with a diagonal cut from upper right to lower left with both of the lightsabers.

The illusion, had the woman attacked it, would pretend not to be able to fully dodge her blow by moving backwards in several quick steps to force Slypher follow it and allow Avreet to get into her back. Getting cut in the left hand, a seering orange line burned into the wrist, the illusion would give out a pained shriek. Thanks to Avreet's telekinetic shield, the hit even offered some sort of resistance. The illusion prepared to defend itself by crossing the lightsabers, but in that moment, the real Avreet would attack Slypher from behind.

 

[Vindictive]

As the beams made contact, one of the mon cals stumbled back a bit, while the other completely disappeared. For a second, she was fooled into believing she had found the real copy. She did not follow through with her plan, however, as her adversary spoke. She smirked and nodded in response, but kept her distance. She decided that, knowing how deceitful Sith are and that there was more to this situation than meets the eye, she would take another route instead. She slowly began to walk around her target, keeping a good enough distance from him that she would be able to retaliate should he jump at her or attempt to strike.

"I'm sure we could arrange for a good hunting after this spar. I need to whet my real saber's appetite," she said, offering her opponent the same respect of conversation, just as she had originally started. As she circled, keeping herself on guard for any surprises, an idea finally hit her; they were at a desert with sand all around them. Any number of things could be done with such a resourceful tool. Especially with telekinesis.

Using the force, but without flinching or moving a muscle so that she could disguise her next move, she created a breeze in the wind that soon picked up sand from the ground and made it into a funnel. The funnel was large enough to wholly consume a bantha, but not any bigger. Without fast reaction timing, one would be swept away and hit by the tiny pellets that the funnel spun around.

She felt as though, with this new trick up her sleeve, she would fight fire with fire and use her own illusionary techniques and cloaking abilities. Focusing on the force, she bent the light around her to make herself invisible to the naked eye, and also muffled the sound waves around her so that she was silent. With the funnel serving as a distraction and herself being invisible, she started to move around until she realized that she was still able to be sensed through the force and that her feet would leave prints. It would take a good bit of energy, but she was willing to go through it.

She tapped into her reserved pools of energy and cloaked her force presence, making her completely invisible both to the naked eye and in the force. Then, as he was distracted, she lept into the air and landed behind a dune so that her footprints wouldn't be noticed. She carefully snuck up the dune, keeping her concentration on the funnel and her invisibility, and when she had him in view on the opposite side where she was behind him, she unleashed a storm of force lightning onto her foe and the surrounding area, making it so that any surprises would be revealed and so that there was no way to escape without taking some damage.

After this move, however, she would have to rely on her lightsaber skills and physical flexibility before having enough force energy again to be able to pull off another spectacular feat. She was not going to make this easy for her opponent.

 

[Bubák]

The woman unfortunately decided to talk instead of charging, being wary of the assassin's tricks he could pull out. The illusion calmly stood there just as the real Avreet remained in place, watching the scene. What was the woman's plan? Before he could think of a way to trick her, she used telekinesis to make a sand funnel. Well, he definitely did not expect that. His own telekinesis was not on a level to pull off such stunt, but he could always try to break her sandy creation. Not right now though.

Avreet quickly hit the ground, using the fact that the funnel made quite a mess in the desert to his advantage as his body made a mark in the sand under him. He could fully focus on the illusion then, making it fly away as if caught unaware by the unexpected maneuver, but skilfully landing on it's feet. Slypher gave the illusion a little chance though, cloaking herself and hiding before unleashing Force storm. The illusion kept draining his energy even more than Force cloak though, so he simply let it disappear. Slypher would either think it was an illusion, or hopefully assume Avreet somehow avoided her attack and cloaked himself.

Luckily for the real Avreet, when using Force storm, the user had to distribute the lightning over a large area, so it was less powerful than normal Force lightning. Still, as two blue branches hit him, he cried out in pain. It hurt a lot, but pain was also his ally, temporarily lending him more power. He had to use this moment and find the woman. Mon Calamari were amphibious species able to operate in great depths, so their eyesight was adapted to it. Seeing in different wavelengths than humans and naturally having low-light vision, which allowed him to ignore concealment, he had an advantage over assassins using Force cloak. His cybernetic eye had a heat vision mode, so he simply swiveled his large eyes around to find Slypher and saw her partially covered by a dune.

The incredible power still surged through him, so he stood up, sabers at the ready, his left hand once again preparing to send a Force power in her way. Although fully visible by now, he felt stronger than before, so he attempted to use Combustion on the opponent's head. It'd start by heating it up, causing an incredible pain, then the head would explode unless she knew how to neutralize the power. She'd hardly be able to focus on staying invisible and maintaining the funnel.

 

[Vindictive]

For a second, after hearing his short, pained screams, Slypher thought she had gained the upper advantage. The thought was killed, however, when she started to feel an intense pressure building in her head. Each second, it grew more and more intense, and then heat began to build up. She knew exactly what was going on, and it would take a good bit of her concentration to suppress it. None-the-less, if she wanted to win the duel, she would have to stop it. Her concealment faded, and the funnel calmed down as she tapped into her force reserves and suppressed the pressure slowly.

It was like an arm wrestle; the harder she suppressed, the harder the pressure became. It became evident that she would need to think outside the box to get out of her situation. Then it occurred to her; he needed to concentrate just as much as she did to keep adding on the pressure. Using the force, while keeping her concentration, she sent out telekinetic waves that ruptured and rippled on the ground, which would cause him to break his concentration whether he had to jump to avoid being hit, or get knocked down and bounced around for a few good minutes while the ripples continued. Either or, she would be free and would be able to perform her next attack.

With him in the open, she threw out her arm and opened a channel in the force that connected with him, and would drain his life essence as long as she kept it held. She had grown accustomed to its effects, and trained her body on how to resist the backlash, so it didn't take much concentration to keep the channel open. Without hesitation, while she had the chance, she also threw her lightsaber, sending the violet blade spinning in his direction.

If everything went to plan, she would have reduced his strength and stamina to a much lower level, and will have won the upper advantage. It would only be a matter of time before the duel was hers.

 

[Bubák]

Avreet jumped up as the ground under him shook, making him break his concentration, freeing Slypher from a cooked brain and exploded head. He didn't come out as a completel loser though, as the the simulation was placed in a desert with the sun burning them both. Slypher's organism, with Avreet's help, might have been overheated. While that would not take her out, it should impair her abilities a bit. That was, of course, if someone considered it and programmed it into the simulation. Luckily for Avreet, Mon Calamari were extremely rare, so the chance of him feeling all the negative effects he normally would were not very high.

Slypher unleashed something that looked suspiciously like red Force lightning that Avreet once managed to unleash, but the amphibian knew better, especially after Force drain connected with his body. That started draining his life force, but only as long as there was nothing between him and Slypher. Again, the setting of this simulation actually helped him. Slypher was still partially covered behind the rune, so Avreet simply hit the sandy ground, breaking the connection as there was sithload of sand between him and the woman now. This move probably saved his life, as at the moment he landed, one of the woman's lightsabers flew above him like a scythe of death. It returned to the sender before the Mon Cal could get a hold of it though.

Now it was time to strike. Avreet planned to use the trick that surprised even mighty Xanthus. The Force hid his presence again, but instead of being followed by cloaking Avreet's whole body, it cloaked just his left arm, including the lightsaber, even bending the sounds the weapon made. This made his whole left arm invisible, and in it's place, Avreet created a realistic projection of the arm and the lightsaber. In the end, the Crusader looked completely normal, his hidden arm waiting to strike it's target.

Jumping to his feet, he used the quick stepping so typical for Makashi to get up the dune and finally face Slypher in a 'typical' lightsaber duel. Both of the visible arms shot forward in a jab with a very long reach, while the hidden arm with the lightsaber made a horizontal cut from left to right. The reach of Avreet's pointing lightsaber would get to Slypher if she tried to dodge by stepping back, but the cut would hurt her if she tried to dodge to aither side.

 

[Vindictive]

Her attack worked for a second, only until her opponent landed behind a hill. Her lightsaber quickly returned to her, and him landing so far away gave her time to readjust. She watched as he trudged over the hill, the immediately jabbing at her with his own lightsaber. Instinctively, she resorted to holding her lightsaber in reverse-grip, just as Lady Nightingale taught her, and held it up to deflect to the side while she dodged moving the other way.

What took her by surprise, though, was that the lightsaber she saw had no force behind her. Instead, she felt force closer to the tip. When she looked, though, she saw nothing there. She didn't even hear anything. how ****ing clever she thought to herself. She knew then if her battle was fought by the blade, she'd surely lose. Using the force, she sent a huge telekinetic blast that would throw Avreet back a few feet while she lept away, keeping a light shield of telekinetic energy.

She decided it would be best to unleash the force through herself if she had any hope of winning fairly. She would have to give her next move all she had, and leave just enough to fend off force attacks while her reserves replenished. She knew he would soon be depleted as well with all the concealment he was using. Soon, it would be left to skill with the blade.

When she connected with the force, she unleashed a storm of lightning over an area that was near unavoidable, spending enormous amounts of energy into the intensity of the shock so that it would all but kill her adversary if it hit, which would give her just the advantage she would need. She continued on the storm until she could only feel a little power left before ceasing and landing. She softly plopped on the ground, panting, and keeping her saber ready. She waited to see what had become of Avreet while she tried to recover as much strength as possible.

 

[Bubák]

The duel was slowly but surely beginning to frustrate him. This attack was supposed to hit her! The large fishy eyes twirled around, looking as the woman dodged his surprising trick, which he had created himself. Maybe it was not as effective as he thought it to be. He could not allow the anger to get the better of him though, so he quickly calmed down, even as the telekinetic blast hurled him several feet backwards, the Mon Calamari having not enough energy to block it and not wasting whatever he had left. He had wasted most of his Force reserves, now he had to survive and wait for his opponent to do the same while his energy replenished. He desperately needed more energy, saving the last bits to be able to defend himself against Force attacks to some degree.

Landing in the soft sand, he rolled to his right, his eyes firmly shut. He could still feel as his opponent opened herself to the Force, conjuring massive Force storm over a large area. There was no way to avoid that, but Avreet could use it to his advantage. He was going to get hurt anyway, so he used the last energy he had to use Tutaminis, hoping to absorb a portion of the powerful technique and possibly survive the devastating effect by lessening it’s power.

Blue bolts of lightning ripped through the sky, the Dark Side itself powered by Slypher’s passion. One of the branches hit Avreet’s left side, tearing his tunic apart and making the flesh a burned crisp where it hit, sending waves of pain through his entire body. It also gave Avreet enough power not to die though, energy of the Dark Side repelling what would have killed him. Gasping for air, he got up with some difficulty, holding the wounded side. He could not fight like that, the pain threatened to completely cripple him. Ripping off the rest of the ruined tunic, revealing his handsome body, muscular from all the hard years of training, dotted with dark brown markings, Avreet took the medpac on his belt and opened it, going through the medicaments. Selecting an injection filled with painkillers, he stabbed it into his wound, moaning in pain.

The drugs kicked in soon enough, he felt good enough to continue fighting. Finding Slypher through the Force took just a second, and it took only one more second to launch himself in the air, jumping to her location with his speed and reflexes enhanced by the Force. His left hand produced a blinding light again, hoping to surprise her like he did at the beginning of the duel, as he fell into the sand in front of her, immediately lunging towards her, attacking her left side with vicious and fast cuts and jabs delivered by his right lightsaber, the right lightsaber covering him and trying to keep the woman’s lightsaber busy enough. Then, Avreet suddenly let two fingers on his right hand go of the lightsaber hilt, Force pushing Slypher's weapon arm, while the weapon slashed in a downwards vertical strike, first going to hit her head. At the same time, his left wrist flicked down, suddenly changing tactic and going for Slypher’s right knee.

 

[Vindictive]

Slypher was taken by surprise after fending off and parrying a flurry of strikes from her opponent when he pushed her blade-arm back, leaving her nearly defenseless as he swung with both of his blades. It was in that moment when the adrenaline kicked in overdrive, making time and everything around her run in slow motion. It was a typical reaction to near-death experiences, and Slypher learned to use these moments to think clearly and quickly to avoid what everyone else would think is unavoidable. She noticed the blade going for her head, then the other one going for her knee. She would need to act fast, for she only had a small window of a few seconds.

Quickly, I'll have to use my blade to quickly block and push away the strike to my head. That would leave his other blade left to try and avoid, which would be nearly impossible, she thought to herself too quickly for most telepaths to be able to pick apart and translate in time. Preserve. Use what Andraste taught you, and artfully leap over the blade. Quickly, though, for you don't have time to waste. The result; still in the fight. Without a second to waste, she blocked the blade coming down on her head and pushed it up, using the force to give the shove a bit extra strength as she lept, twirled and kept her lightsaber extended, and twisted her body to avoid jumping into his other blade.

Unfortunately for her, his lightsaber skinned her leg slightly, immobilizing her for a second as she whelped in pain before jumping back a few feet to gain distance. She kept her eyes on him and kept her senses open around her, while slowly turning her pain into anger. She needed to hold him off for just a few more moments, then she would have access to her force abilities and could end the duel. Now, however, she would have to be more cautious with her leg. She could still feel the burn, fueling her anger more and more.

 

[Bubák]

Once again, Slypher jumped back, and once again, Avreet quickly closed the distance between them. Knowing her injured leg would make it slightly harder for her to dodge and turn, the Mon Calamari walked around her, like a predator waiting to strike it's prey, trying to make it look like he wanted to get to her back. Then he attacked, this time focusing on keeping her lightsaber busy with his left lightsaber, the cybernetically enhanced strength allowing him to overpower her and keep her weapon down, while his right arm shot forward, the lightsaber aimed at her chest in a massive stab. Instead of going through with the move, he allowed the lightsaber to go before it got close, letting the still ignited weapon fly out of his fist, which produced another blinding flash of light as it continued, slightly upwards towards her face.

At the same time, his right leg kicked out, flying up between her legs, as Avreet could lean on the lightsaber blocking Slypher's weapon. If the kick hit, it would most likely deliver a devastating damage, considering it could decapitate people if the Mon Cal tried hard enough.

 

[Vindictive]

As the duel continued, her opponent not giving any leeway with his strikes, Slypher fended him off as best she could, but he kept knocking her weapon arm back. The more she was refused, the angrier she became. Her strikes became harder and harder, then she noticed the lightsaber coming for her chest and his foot rearing back for a kick. Before she could allow the move to go on any further, she barrel-rolled away from his left lightsaber, artfully diving between his other saber and leg before either could make contact. She stood without hesitation, making sure he couldn't use that time to surprise her, and then instantaneously swung her lightsaber at his waist. On top of that, she used the force to boost her speed in the strike, making it too fast to dodge in time.

She only needed to hold him off a little longer, than her force abilities would be back to full strength. The powers she used while her reserves were down were cheap in cost, therefore didn't entirely halt the return of her force strength. She was going to win this duel, that much she was certain of. She wasn't going to let herself lose that easily.

 

[Bubák]

The woman skilfully managed to dodge his attacks, then even swung her blade at him. The attack was too fast to be humanly possibly, she had to be using Force speed. Using his free right hand, he caught Slypher's fists holding the lightsaber before it could strike him. The large webbed hand firmly held the woman's hand with the weapon, not letting go. At the same time, he used Force speed too, and Avreet's lightsaber in his left hand, nicely pointing down after his previous attempt to block her lightsaber, simply swung up towards her extended arm holding the lightsaber. This cut was meant to sever her arm at the shoulder, then continue it's way and diagonally cleave through her head.

 

[Vindictive]

Her hand was caught with speed almost as blinding as hers, but it didn't matter. Her reserves had replenished enough for her to make another move that could seal the duel. She saw his free saber move to sever her captured arm and head, and could feel the force being used behind the move. Without any delay, she reached out with her free hand and sent a force blast that would repel the strike and possibly even toss that lightsaber out of his hand if he were surprised enough, making it easier to win.

Next, she would swipe his feet from under him with her own foot while he was caught off guard, which would knock him to the ground. While he was down, rather than going for the typical Sith kill move, she would slice at his other lightsaber arm, making an attempt to sever it at the elbow, then proceed to unleash yet another massive storm of lightning on him. The difference this time was that he was right there, meaning he would take at least 90% of the blow, while the remaining 10% would be spent striking the surrounding area to keep him from escaping. If he managed to escape this move, she would question why he wasn't a Crusader already (wink wink).

 

[Bubák]

The lightsaber flew from his left hand somewhere behind him, but the Mon Calamari did not bother with retrieving it since he fell on his back. He had managed to telekinetically get the lightsaber he had thrown at Slypher earlier, now being able to defend himself against her by twisting his wrist up, blocking her blade from severing his whole arm. Hoping it surprised her or distracted her enough, Avreet released a wave of the Force towards her left leg, which would distract her and surely made her lose her balance a little bit, possibly placing most of her weight on her right leg. In that moment, Avreet's left leg kicked Slypher's right knee, the strenght of the kick and the fact she had to shift her weight not to fall allowing the Mon Cal to literally break her right leg. Whether that worked or not, Avreet drew his short phrik dagger out of the sheathe in his right boot, using the Force to pull it into his left hand, then immediately reversing the flow of the Force and hurling it at Slypher's torso as a projectile.

 

[Vindictive]

It all happened so fast. Even if it was a simulation, and when your simulated avatar "died," you wake up in your bacta tank and return to reality. But because your consciousness is thrown into a semi-different reality, you still feel the pain. And the pain is unforgettable. She knew she had been beaten when her left leg was pushed out from under her, causing her to shift on her right leg to keep balance as her strike was deflected. She watched the inevitable as he drew a small dagger nearly too fast to follow, then sent it as a projectile into her gut. She gasped for breath, trying to control the shock as the endorphins kicked into overddrive to kill the pain.

What was worse was while she was distracted, he kicked her leg square in the knee, pushing it beyond its limit and forcing it to snap the wrong way. She let out a blood curdling scream, a typical reaction to pain of that magnitude, and fell to the ground. She held her gut to try and halt the bleeding a little. Slowly, she rose to her knees, sobbing and shrieking with each movement, before looking at Avreet with a burning anger she hadn't felt since the day her village was burned before her eyes.

She reached out with her free arm, coughing up a little blood, and then allowed her barriers to fall and connect directly to the force. She saw it before her eyes, while she still had a little life left in the simulation, a swirling vortex of blue light, similar to the appearance of the light in a lightsaber blade. Nothing but peace and calm emitted from it. In the physical world of the simulation, ripples of force energy could be felt coming from her body, calm feelings.

Then, suddenly, the white core of the vortex darkened until it became black while the blue glow around it shifted from purple, to blood red. The feelings of calm and peace turned into anger and chaos. She opened her eyes and looked directly at Avreet. The ripples of force energy, which looked like heat waves coming from her body, slowly encompassed her adversary, which would lift him in mid-air. She would then start to clench her fist slowly, crushing him through the force. Even if he did manage to break hold of the incredibly strong telekinetic grip, the heat waves around him would intensify until he either dried out, spontaneously combusted, and something else. He would have to work hard to make it out of this one.

If he couldn't escape either and had to endure the crushing, his bones would snap and crack painfully. If he managed to survive, he would have to force himself out of the simulation or wait for the server to time out. If not, he would return to the real galaxy, and everything would be normal. Either or, she was not going to make it easy. She would go out with a fight. she at least hoped to find his crushed body before leaving the simulation.

Once she woke, whatever the outcome, she found her adversary worthy of her respect. He was resourceful and tact. She knew he would make for a great crusader and master in the future. Perhaps she would meet him and go on a mission with him some time. Who knew. Once everything was done, she collapsed and closed her eyes. Her digital self faded away in pixels and Slypher woke. she exited the bacta tank, dried off, put her normal clothes back on, and left the simulation room. She would definitely never forget that duel.

 

[Bubák]

Avreet knew he had won the duel the moment Slypher did not dodge or deflect the short blade. The shock and surprise that momentarily took over her was enough for Avreet to kick out and shatter her right knee, making her fall. That would have been enough for any ordinary opponent, but the woman was a Sith, not some Dark Jedi. She knew she was going to die, but she wanted to take Avreet with her. Before the Mon Cal retrieved his lightsabers, the vortex opened up behind him, something he had never seen before. What was that power?!

Slypher's waves of energy lifted him into the air, the heat baking him as his adversary's empowered Force energy began to crush him. The painkillers still worked, mercifully making the pain bearable, but he knew he had to kill the woman if he wanted to live. The waves wouldn't allow Avreet's telekinetically guided lightsabers get to the woman. Force lightning or any other ranged Force power was out of option, as the woman might have absorbed the energy and used it to kill him faster. Avreet's right eye noticed the weapon that delivered the killing blow was still in the woman's chest.

Painfully extending his right arm and telekinetically pushing the blade further in Slypher's body, he thanked the Force for reinforced skeleton, giving him a little bit more time before being crushed. The wound on his side started to hurt like Void though, his whole body succumbing to the incredible heat Slypher generated. His skin was dry, slowly becoming a crust. Avreet quickly focused his mind on the dagger, heating it up with Combustion. It was slow, painfully slow, but he projected the heat he felt into the dagger, making it hotter and hotter inside... until it exploded. The hot shards of the dagger ripped through Slypher's insides, devastating her vital organs. It was finally over.

Avreet fell to the sand, half dead. Luckily, he did not have to wait long, as the death of one of the participants ended the simulation. When he woke up in the real world, he felt like a Star Destroyer landed on him, his body burning as in fever. While having no permanent damage, this was the first time he came so close to death, and as such, he would do his best to remember the whole duel, learning from his mistakes.