Meeting Of Blade And Mind

[Insanity]

Anima's attention as he pulled himself back up was on the Twi'lek, who had begun gathering energy about himself in preparation for... what? He waited and an answer was given as he felt his body begin to feel queasy. An effective attack, in its own way. It affected the physical, yes, but it was also something that required mental vulnerability - without that mental aspect, the effects weren't as strong as they would be otherwise. And Anima's mind was strong. He concentrated on regulating his body, forcing it back to normality as he moved back. The dizziness faded, the nausea soon after... but he'd left himself open for the second attack, the telekinetic force colliding with him.

He had no choice, then. He used three short bursts to re-direct himself in the air, landing in the center of the room on one foot, the other touching down seconds after as he gathered himself, shoulders sagging a bit. Part of his charade was too much now, as he loosened the hold on his sense of 'presence'. No longer was it just a 'fringe' feeling, it was the full-blown entirety of his presence. And as the acolytes might've assumed already, he was more than he had seemed at first.

He spoke, his voice still impassive as it had been since he'd ushered his challenge. "Good... but keep trying, if you wish to know why you're marked for death." That part of his charade would continue, until the moment he chose to end it or they realized the true intent.

 

[Crystalmath]

Ichabod felt himself grabbed in flight and flung to the floor by one of the acolytes who stepped out of the way. Landing with a thud on his back, the Yaka swiftly got back to his feet. Frowning, the Acolyte looked on as his opponent leapt out of the Twi'leks attack. He spoke but Ichabod paid it little heed, he merely wanted to get some thrill out this.

They'd only been fighting for a minute or two but if his opponent refused to engage him in a proper fight something had to be done. With that, numerous clicks emanated from his synthetic left hand as split into five pieces, each attached to a finger that spread apart and pulled back down his wrist to reveal the barrel of a pistol in place inside his forearm. Twirling his lightsaber in his right hand, the Yaka once again charged at his foe.

Slashing his lightsaber from left to right, Ichabod hoped to at the least force his opponent to defend, their blades clashing would be an opening during which the Yaka used a force pull on his foe as he shoved his left knee at him the goal of which would be that his hip collided with the mechanical chunk in his kneecap as with his left cybernetic arm pulled back but aimed at the left side of his chest he fired a blast from the concealed pistol at his foe that he'd struggle to block if their lightsabers were entangled.

 

[Insanity]

Oh, Anima did defend himself when the Yaka charged again. Apparently, the supposed intelligence of the species wasn't true for all of them, even with their minds replaced with bio-mechanical ones. Lightsaber met lightsaber and Anima gathered energy in his left hand, even as the Yaka used the Force to pull Anima forward further. The gathered energy released, pummeling into the Yaka up close. It was enough to send the young acolyte straight back to where he'd rushed from.

Again, Anima waited. The Yaka was the one who didn't learn fast enough, it seemed.

 

[Crystalmath]

Flung back across the room Ichabod landed on his back, the brief moment of pain coming as a relief, though it didn't last and as he sat upright he found it hardly made up for the mockery this Sith was making of him. He had however gotten a chance to take a decent glance at his foes lightsaber and this was what he now focused on from the other side of the room, focusing on telekenetically manipulating the blade length adjustment nozzle, twisting it back, effectively switching it off before with some strain snapping it, sending the nozzle and some small shards of metal clanging to the floor.

As he raised himself with his right hand which still clutched his own saber, the concealed pistol in his left hand fired twice at the sith and Ichabod wondered if the other two would take any advantage of the possible distraction.

 

[Dinkus Mayhem]

There was a moment of reprise when the attacker addressed the acolytes, and again challenged them to find a path to victory. His words were cryptic, "if you wish to know why you're marked for death.", he had said. The more the Twi'lek considered what he was told the more confused he became, there was no reason he would be marked for death, unless simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time was a death sentence.

Dray'sek refused to believe this was the case, there was a purpose behind what he was doing. He just needed to figure out what that was.

For the time being he needed to survive and, if possible, defeat this attacker. As he waited for the prime opportunity to act, the Yaka yet again charged in. He was an impatient one, and seemingly his favorite method of solving problems was through brute force, this worked well for Dray'sek as he was not a warrior and had little desire to match blades with the attacker.

Sensing his moment of opportunity he waited until the Yaka had committed fully to the attack, forcing the attacker to focus on his movements and assault. Just as the Yaka fired his weapon Dray'sek let loose with his own attack, hoping that the attacker would be too distracted to sense a flanking assault from behind.

His hand raised, he unleashed a volley of lightning from his fingertips. As the purple tendrils of energy arced towards the opponent he hoped that they would strike true and bring him to his knees.

 

[HunterOrdo]

Mordred was perplexed.. It was not a feeling he was used to, or one he enjoyed. He was right in his assumption of the opponent being more then he appeared. From the feeling he gave off now, he was probably a Crusader. Now the only question was, why would a Crusader try and kill three acolytes?

He would gain nothing from it, so what could he be doing? Was he testing them? Testing their limits and abilities? It was.. intriguing. Even when he disliked someone, Mordred was always polite as he was raised to be. There was no reason for someone to wish him dead... or at least he thought so.

The stupid little worm, the one that had cost them an early victory still had not learned. He could see why someone would want him dead, he was a fool. Pushed back, he charges. Pushed back, he charges. This time, however, instead of undercutting the fool, the Twi'lek was using him as an opening to unleash a force of lightning at the Crusade. Would it work? He highly doubted it.

The Crusader sent a blast of force at the robotic fool once again.. but Mordred supposed he could help the Twi'lek. He was not as stupid as the other one. He would use the same tactic as before, with the Crusaders attention on the fool, Mordred slammed two burst of force at the sides of the Crusader to pin him only for a few moments so that the lightning could do its work.

 

[Insanity]

There was no reaction from Anima as his silver lightsaber faded from sight, nor did he react to hearing metal fall away from the hilt. He continued to hold it. And he continued to watch, his senses alert. When the Yaka fired again, from range now, he simply moved aside... then felt walls close in from his sides as before. Ah, now the masked one was becoming involved again. Yet, to what end was too apparent. The air in the room had partially super-heated, crackled. It was all the warning he needed as the electricity collided with him, pulled towards his gauntleted hands... and went no further. Instead, the electricity seemed to be pulled into both hands, gauntlets glowing as it arced around them. And when the volley ended, he tapped into his expanded senses that encompassed the entire room.

The air tightened around each of the acolytes, as well as Anima. And when he redirected the volley of electricity back out, it encompassed the room itself for a few short moments. Enough to catch the acolytes off-guard and force them to defend. Enough to distract the masked one, particularly. He waited until the surge ended, before speaking again, though this time it would be directed to those of the three that had withstood the electricity. "For a first step... it was horrible. For a beginning? It can be forged better. So, consider this test a partial failure or a partial success. My name is Anima and I shall be the one to teach you. You've succeeded in giving me a headache."

 

[Crystalmath]

Ichabod had watched him do this before, the man absorbed an attack and redirected it like a more advanced Tutaminis than what he'd seen in action before and so, Ichabod prepared himself for an attack, focusing his energies on forming another barrier of the force. The assault came on more powerful then he expected, the force lightening crackled briefly around the Sith before spreading out, encompassing the entire room in shivering blue light.

Ichabod yelped at the unexpected power behind it, as though the strength behind the Twi-lek's lightning had been amplified ten-fold by the man. Ichabod shivered slightly as he focused on maintaining the wall that protected him from the assault, what appeared as a swirling mass of winds before him, twisting the lightening, shooting it back up and away whenever it lurched out to strike at him. The last time Force lightening had been used against him Ichabod had to spend hours repairing his broken cybernetic arm, which was dull and he would not allow it to happen again if he could. Eventually the attack died down and Ichabod glowered at the man with obvious displeasure at all that had transpired as he spoke, announcing he was their teacher.

Once his speech was done, Ichabod slouched against a wall and rest his head in his hands. He'd figured it would be something like this, 'Anima' hadn't even properly tried to attack any of them, the big issue was Ichabod found himself finally beginning to get riled up for a proper fight just as this apparent 'fight' ended and now he'd have to plant his mounting aggression elsewhere. He slouched in silence, waiting for someone else to say something.

 

[Dinkus Mayhem]

Just as suddenly as the fighting began, the fighting came to a halt. The attacker abruptly announced that this was all a test, and that he found them less than impressive.

He announced his name to be Anima, and by his words he intended to train the acolytes present. Dray'sek was practical, he would not turn away the offer to train under a Sith who obviously was more powerful than he.

Apparently the Yaka didn't seem so convinced. Dray'sek, even though not fully trained could feel the anger rolling off the man. There was power there, it just needed to be refined and controlled. With luck both of them would make it through this initial training and find a place for themselves in the Order.

Odd found it a bit odd that he would be training with him actually, after having tried to throw him to the wolves so to speak there may be a few moments of tension between the two, but he would deal with that later. For now he simply looked at this being, Anima, and waited. He had nothing to say, Anima would most likely know more about him that he wanted, so introductions at this point were pointless.

 

[HunterOrdo]

The lightning shot our around the room. Luckily, it seemed he was just distributing power from the Twi'leks attack and since it was spread out each bolt held far less power then it would normally have. For the first time, Mordred used his orange lightsaber flicking it up to catch the bolt of lightning with the orange blade.

He probably could have dodged it, or even absorbed it given its weakened power state, but the lightsaber seemed to be the simplest solution. He listened quietly as the Sith explained his actions, so Mordred was right. He was not trying to kill them. He supposed he could use this man, it would not be the first time he had to do so.

A headache? Mordred managed to leave the battle with no damage whatsoever, he was not even touched, so he would consider this a partial success. He had used his 'allies' effectively.

Mordred bowed at his waist "I am honored." He said politely.

 

[Insanity]

Anima looked at all three acolytes, each having dealt with the electricity in their own ways. Each stood, watching. Until the masked one bowed, claiming to be honored. The Crusader remained silent for a moment, considering the masked on before he spoke. "Honored... A curious word, to use. Also, quite hollow without truth behind it." His eyes moved from Mordred to the simmering Yaka, considering the youth quietly. His face remained impassive as he looked at the Twi'lek following a short pause. Then he turned to look at the masked one. "you're the one of the three that I have no assessment of. That's something I had not expected to be. As such, I want you to fight me with no restraint. To limit yourself to any degree would prove detrimental to yourself and your purpose."

Moving carefully, Anima placed the disabled lightsaber hilt onto the waist of his armor, strapping it there and letting a magnetic-lock hold it still. From his other side, he lifted a second hilt, its design similar to the other hilt. Then he motioned for the acolyte to begin.

 

[Dinkus Mayhem]

As Dray'sek listened to his new instructor challenge the masked one to another round of fighting he briefly wondered if it would be considered rude to simply leave the room, let the two men have their fun play their games.

Any Sith would be incomplete without knowledge of how to utilize his most basic weapon, the lightsaber, but that didn't mean that Dray'sek enjoyed such studies. His focus has always been on the various applications of the Dark Side of the Force, in particular those aspects of the Dark Side which were used countless centuries ago.

The mysteries of alchemy and Sith magic have always intrigued him, and he desired to do little more than delve into the rarer powers of that time. To be able to support an army of warriors through his abilities or to counter the might of a powerful Jedi through the use of the Force rather than blade, that was his dream.

That though inspired an idea in the Twi'lek's mind. He had read at one point that the Sith and Jedi of old could influence the results of a battle, that had captured his imagination ever since.

Having greatly desired to attempt this, and eventually master the technique, Dray'sek saw this as an opportunity to experiment. Since he had nothing else to do at the moment, he decided he would attempt to have an impact upon the fight. Even though he doubted he would be able to do anything at all, it would give him a chance to learn.

As the two men readied themselves for combat, Dray'sek found for himself a nice out of the way corner and stood silently and focused his entire being on the fight that was to come. He allowed the Dark Side to flow through him, in no way gathering it's power but allowing it to absorb his desires and vision as to how the fight should resolve itself. He would then send that energy to the masked one, as he was the less powerful of the two, and hope to see his efforts impact the fight in some way.