The Price to Pay

[Lavi]

Instead of dodging it, Haar just telekinetically switched it off. It clattered to the ground as he brought his lightsaber about to deflect the lightning, making the attack useless.

He held his ground, waiting for the other to change tactics. His second lightsaber hissed in reactivation, hovering above. Waiting for its next moment.

 

[Malon]

Gareth noticed that the second lightsaber was going to be an issue, so he made a decision to put it out of commission. He immediately stopped his barrage of lightning. What could he do? The Jedi was stronger than he had anticipated. Probably fueled by some blind desire to protect the woman, though he couldn't fathom why. The Ospion women was both weak and fearful. Nothing worth protecting.

Changing his tactic, Gareth moved in and struck low at the Jedi's stomach. He could only hope his new plan worked, but he had a feeling, a dark feeling, that it would.

 

[Lavi]

The attack was easily parried, and Haar moved for yet another strike. The poised, telekinetic lightsaber flew down for another attempt at impaling the dark Jedi from above as Haar made a deft sweep with his own lightsaber, aiming to force Gareth off-balance.

 

[Malon]

Gareth quickly parried Haar's strike with his own lightsaber and then sidestepped the second, telekenetically controlled, lightsaber and brought his weapon down on it in an attempt to slice in two. He kept his Force sense trained on Haar so that he could detect even the slightest movement the Jedi Master made. He could take no chances here.

 

[Lavi]

In focusing on the lightsaber, Gareth's flank was exposed. Haar's lightsaber came upon Gareth's opposite flank, telekinetically spinning his lightsaber to make it a threat to Gareth's own attempt to slice in in half. This would bring the other in a predicament: focusing on the levitating lightsaber would allow Haar to slice Gareth in half, while there was little time to bring his blade about to counter Haar's own lightsaber.

 

[Malon]

Gareth sensed his predicament was more dire than he originally planned it to be. Reacting on his instincts, Gareth reached out with the Force and ripped the telekinetic lightsaber right of of the air and into his free hand. With his own lightsaber he wheeled back and blocked Haar's strike and then swung with his free lightsaber down at Haar's lightsaber hand.

 

[Lavi]

Seeing that his advantage was crumbling, Haar parried the first strike while leaping back to avoid the second. His concentration wavered at the wrong moment: it costed him his second lightsaber. He held a dueling pose, waiting for Gareth to make his advance. Without proper training, the other had no chance of matching him with both sabers. But the Force gave a ringing warning. Master!

Taecelle was returning into the fray, igniting and throwing her lightsaber at Gareth. She sped into very close distance, aiming an elbow at the dark Jedi's stomach.

Haar raced back into the fight, abandoning his defensive posture to protect his master. He cursed himself for not taking into account his master's stubbornness: she rarely left loose ends untied. Unlike Taecelle, Haar did not let go of his lightsaber. Rather, he held it tight, attempting to distract the dark Jedi with a powerful Djem So strike.

 

[Malon]

Excellent. This was just the moment Gareth had been searching for. Calling to the Force once more, he grabbed Taecelle's lightsaber out of the air and redirected it at Haar in mid-air, like the Jedi had done to him several moments before. With Haar's lightsaber already in motion, there was little the Jedi Master could do, but Gareth wasn't taking any chances. He charged out of Haar's range, right for Taecelle, sidestepping her elbow jab and unleashing a barrage of Force lightning on her once more.

 

[Lavi]

Haar telekinetically turned off the flying lightsaber, though it was not fast enough to avoid getting cut by the retracting blade as it flew past. He grunted from the pain the ebbed from the wound. But no rest was to be had. His master was in danger. Taking a fatigued step forward, he attempted to chop off Gareth's hand.

Taecelle, on the other hand, was not fully prepared to avoid the lightning, screaming in pain as the lightning coursed through her body. Collapsing to the floor, the former Ospion curled up into the fetal position, completely incapable of fighting back.

 

[Malon]

Gareth continued pinning down the woman with lightning coming from his left hand while he moved Haar's second lightsaber, which had taken from him moments ago, to parry Haar's rather sloppy attempt to amputate his arm. Deciding that the woman wouldn't be able to move for a few moments, Gareth kept Haar's lightsaber locked with the saber in his right hand while he unleashed another barrage of lightning on Haar with his right hand. Without his lightsaber to block it, he wondered how the Jedi Master would react.

 

[Lavi]

Haar gritted in pain from the Force lightning, unintentionally tapping into the dark side to use the pain to fuel his strength, breaking the deadlock. A push of the Force redirected the Lightning away.

Pangs of pain ebbed from the wound, accented by the lightning. Haar winced as he endured it. His vision was getting shaky: the damage from the lightsaber wound was worse than he originally thought. Haar wearily eyed his opponent, leveling the blade of his lightsaber to the other's eyes.

Not yet. There was still strength left to fight.

 

[Malon]

Gareth felt the dark taint in the Jedi and grinned. He also could sense a faltering in the Jedi's resolve. The Master still wanted to fight, but his physical strength was wanning. Whirling the stolen lightsaber in his left hand, he struck at Haar, knowing full well the Jedi would parry it. However, in its shadow was the blood-shine blade of Gareth's, aimed to deal a decisive blow to Haar's shoulder.

 

[Lavi]

Calling the lightsaber of Taecelle to hand, Haar blocked both attacks, aiming a kick at Gareth to counter. The maneuver was a strain on his body, though, and Haar grunted in pain.

Taecelle is in no shape to continue fighting, and the wound sustained could have been avoided if she wasn't being so stubborn. The pain was sapping away the strength necessary to continue fighting, but to turn to the dark side... Protecting Master Taecelle is of utmost priority.

Haar wearily watched Gareth, holding his lightsaber upright. It was becoming more difficult to use Djem So techniques, so Haar reverted to a Shii Cho stance.

 

[Malon]

Now both fighters held two lightsabers, though the Jedi was weakening fast. Gareth didn't need the Force to see that. He felt the dark side growing ever stronger in the Jedi Master. Perhaps using it once was tempting the Jedi. That's when an unusual occurrence happened.

The Force showed him cracks, faults in its energy, flowing between the Jedi Master and the woman on the ground. If he wasn't locked in combat, he would've smacked himself for not seeing it sooner. The woman had the power to push the Jedi over the edge, to make him loose focus. The Jedi Master had already done most of the work for him by disarming her, and she was only a few feet behind Gareth, sprawled out on the ground.

Gareth took a moment to consider his options. Fighting the Jedi could result in victory, considering the Master's fatigue. Then again, this was a member of the Jedi Council he was dealing with. Turning the Jedi to the dark side would be useless. He needed a kill and attacking the woman while the Jedi was alive would only fuel the latter's rage.

At this point, the Jedi had taken a Shi-Cho stance. Gareth knew his Djem So should be enough to deal with a form like that. Coming up with a plan, Gareth summoned the Force as it again took the form of lightning. This time, however, the lightning coated his lightsabers as he charged in and began to swing his two lightsabers at the Jedi. Forks of lightning shot off at the Jedi with each swing, making them far more deadly than before.

 

[Lavi]

It took all of his training and experience to ward off the attacks with both of his lightsabers. The other's powerful strikes were sapping his energy further, being unable to use the full strength of his preferred form. Haar knew he was in danger of dying. But he couldn't go on the offensive. Not yet.

 

[Malon]

Gareth was getting frustrated. No matter how weak the Jedi Master seemed to get, he just kept trying. He decided that it was time to bring the fight to an end. Mustering up what dark power he could find, he poured all of his rage and frustration into a single, large Force wave hoping to send the Jedi to the ground and end it with the next strike.

 

[Lavi]

The great wave threw Haar off balance, though he didn't fight the momentum. It was too strenuous to attempt. He just went with the flow, doing his best to make his footwork match the forceful push. If he was not gravely injured, his footwork would have been perfect, but the Jedi stumbled a little from fatigue.

 

[Malon]

Gareth saw the Jedi stumble, and charged. Using Haar's stolen lightsaber, he tossed it like a disc, using the Force to guide its path. He then used his now free hand and gestured towards a nearby light pole, ripping it from its foundations and sending it crashing down on the Jedi. He then angled his lightsaber in a Djem So opening stance and began to walk forward, in case the Jedi escaped.

 

[Lavi]

Haar swatted the lightsaber aside, wrestling control over it with the Force. But he noticed the pole too late, being knocked over by the makeshift projectile despite being able to slice it in half with his second saber. He struggled to return to his feet, though his wound prevented him from being able to do so quickly.

 

[Malon]

Gareth was not about to let the opportunity go to waste. He swung his crimson lightsaber over his head and brought it down on the Jedi, who was still attempting to get up, a move that would decapitate him if he didn't block it first.