Imperial Gauntlet, Final Trial

[Xornoth Sk'ar]

Xornoth moved both hands to his ears as the deafening roar shot out at the arena around him while continuing forward toward Kalladrrl and the beast itself.

His force attacks had not been forthcoming in marking the dragon and lightsabers did not seem to have a proper effect owing to the tough exterior that it possessed and thus Xornoth drew his Sith sword named Eikuesyr. With his left extended arm he applied a strong grip with the force to assist Kalladrrl's attempt to pry off a scale that was protecting the magnificent beast.

If they were successful with the attempt, Xornoth would immediately leap with the aid of the force toward the beast, taking the weapon in both hands with the goal of skewering the dragon in the exposed flesh.

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de's eyes widened as the saber simply rebounded off the scales before the blade receded back into the hilt, and found it's way to his hip. As he landed he found himself in the same area of Kalladrrl. As the dragon shrieked, Halmo'de covered his ears, to more or less avoid permanent damage, but as the stone below them became quicksand, he climbed onto the knee joint of the dragon, and applied his efforts into prying open a weak point in this dragon's impenetrable armor, pulling hard with the Force, as Kalladrrl applied Force-Assisted strength to it.

 

[Zazai Ta'Resh]

As the group of Sith worked together on a lone section of the dragon's armor, Zazai leaped towards the beast back leg. It would do them no good to bunch all together where the Dragon could concentrate its efforts. They needed to divide its attention.

The roar rattled his bones as he felt a sharp pain in his ears, feeling the warm trickle of blood dripping from his left ear as he as well climbed onto the dragon, but on its back leg to get away from the quicksand. It would be a waste of time to focus any of his energy on the outside scales. He steadied himself, despite the ringing in his ears and concentrated on the Force, willing it to pull at one of the scales on the Dragon's underside just up against the leg joint. Even if he only managed to bend the scale slightly, he would plunge his lightsaber into the gap.

He attempted to remain vigilante against the Dragon's attack, even if the loss of hearing would make it more difficult. Given his position, he would be relatively safe from the beast's tail and would likely not be the Dragon's primary target since the others attacking together would likely be more of an immediate threat.

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Anhur's lightsaber bounced off the dragons hide, All attacks so far had failed to damage to the creature, not even their lightsabers could cut through it's hide they need over means to kill it, he was puzzled for a second before the ear piercing roar was unleashed, instinctually he covered his ears immediately to protect them in some way, barely notice the floor below his feet was turning to quicksand, upon realising he climbed on one the dragons leg to pull his feet out of sand. once they were out he pushed himself away kick both his feet against the dragon as hard as he could to clear the quicksand on the dais and land on solid ground.

now safe he would try a different type of attack that must other hadn't tried, he put away his lightsaber, raised his hands, palms wide open, envision these hands around the throat of the dragon and began to squeeze his hands, choking the dragon. for his scale protected him from heat but not the physical power of telekinesis.

 

[Vash Windrider]

Vash felt nothing but resistance from the scales. Cursing the creature for being so difficult to put down. Seeming hearing the Nightbringer, or just irritated by the bugs surrounding him. The dragon unleashed a deafening roar that shook Vash to his very core. A chill of fear trembled down the spine of the Sith. That fear would quickly turn to hatred, to anger. Fueled by that fear and anger the Knight used the force still infusing his body and leaped from the center belly area of the creature to his right side. Then once more straight up as the ground turned to quicksand.

Using his agility the assassin once more back flipped and spun to land at the edge of the right front shoulder of the massive beast. scurrying like a monkey lizard to the dragon's back as the others would attempt to part one of the scales from the force beast. Focusing his hate and fear now the assassin reaching into the force to feel for the dragon. Feeling for it's connection and aura within the force, if it worked, the Nightbringer would start to feed on the dragon's force energy. Draining it like a leach. It was a long shot attack but Vash had little to lose at this point in the fight.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

These were turning out to be no mere insects but actual threats. The lance of dark energy managed to pierce his scales, though the damage was mitigated a good deal while doing so to keep the joint usable, if in a good amount of pain. The prying to scales also worked to a degree, as while the scales weren't able to be fully pulled off they were instead peeled back to reveal some weak points. The constricting of his throat wasn't as much of an issue, as that could affect his breath weapon he could last for a long time without air intake. Such was the power he wielded. Still, enough was enough. Pain and anger fueled his power as well. A blast of fire radiated from his form, pushing off the interlopers though not causing much damage, if any. It was just to shed them for the next act. The very air around them all shuddered with his rage, as well as the power he had just sent shooting down beneath them to bend the very core of this world to his will.

"CRETINS! How DARE you think to compare your might to mine!? If you wish to die so badly, so be it! Witness a power you mortals could NEVER hope to attain!" The rumbling grew louder, the ground beginning to to heat up as something from deep inside the planet came rushing towards them. "THE VERY RAGE OF THIS WORLD, HEARKEN TO MY CALL!! LET CHAOS DESCEND AND FEAST UPON MY OFFERED SACRIFICE! CRY OUT THE ANTHEM OF CARNAGE!!!" Everything exploded. The mountain they were in turned out to be an inactive volcano, at least until Falaghar had moved the very world itself to change that. Suddenly the Sith were flying through the air, able to cling to what stone platforms they were able to cling to, while Falaghar was flying through the air like an acrobat, showing far more dexterity than what was thought. Soon the mountain walls around them disappeared, the group being shot high from the top of the volcano with magma shooting in geisers up above them. They were so high, able to see for kilometers around them, though no landmark any would recognize could be seen. They reached the Zenith of their climb, but what goes up must go down. As they started to fall Falaghar flew around them, looking for a place to strike at his enemies. He was wounded, he was angry, and he was on guard now. The fight had just moved to a very different place, perhaps their enemy had changed somehow now as well.

The Finale​

@Rexx @Taz @Gian Greydragon @Plebometer @christhebarker @Raydo @Xorism

 

[Zazai Ta'Resh]

He was pushed back off the Dragon but the energy of his attack. The edges of his clothes were singed and smoldered, but it the attack had been meant to buy the Dragon space, and not kill.

The ground shook and rumbled as the beast's voice boomed in the chamber and then everything exploded as everything was shot upwards. Zaza clung to the platform as they shot upwards. The heat was nearly unbearable but within seconds the cooler outside air hit them as they soared into the sky.

The ascent took seemingly forever, but eventually, they began to slow as the Dragon circled around them. Zazai knew he needed to get off of his platform before it began to fall but he would have to time it perfectly. As the platform's upward momentum began to stall and during the brief handful of seconds they all hung seemingly weightless in the sky, Zazai took two steps and called on the Force as he leaped at the Dragon.

With Force guided precision he aimed for the back of the Dragon's neck. He would hit hard and immediately plunge his lightsaber downward, searching for a spot where it would take hold. With his free hand, he clung to one of the spiked protrusions coming from the Dragon.

 

[Kalladrrl]

The repulsive force of the dragon’s aura of fire sent him cascading backwards from the beast’s chest, a sweat breaking out inside his armor as the edges of his cloak smoldered. Damn dragon clearly did not understand tailoring costs for a being of Kalladrrl’s stature. He bent his knees to lower his center of gravity and increase his stability as the platform shot up around them, heat and volatile gases surrounding them and wrapping around Kalladrrl like a cloak.

Hmmmm.

He saw one Sith spring up and he followed, extending his knees with the power of the Force to shoot up into the air above Falaghar’s head, reaching out for a cruel horn to swing on and pivot his momentum to send Kalladrrl wheeling towards the dragon’s face as they flew, his left hand grabbing for his lightsaber in a reverse grip while his other hand reached for a monumental eyelid, hooking his claws in to hold it open as he deployed the energy weapon once again to burn out the creature's left eye and the tissue one meter beneath its surface.

 

[Vash Windrider]

The dragon's aura pushed Vash off the beast, sending him hurling backward into the air. His armor was hot, the cloak chard and smoking at the fringes. The world around them exploded and then shifted. The entire world around him was then a roller coaster, a slow and agonizing ride upward and then a sudden drop. Landing on the platform he would call the force to his body and follow the other two sith, springing for the dark side spawn.

Overshooting Kalladrrl's, Vash ignited his own blade in reverse and used it to slow him and etch a line down the back of the dragon's skull. With his left hand Vash would turn his will to drawing on the power of the dragon's aura once again. It seemed to work. At least the best he could assume.

 

[Xornoth Sk'ar]

Xornoth was sent flying alongside Kalladrrl on his own stone platform after their reasonably successful attack. These platforms surged skyward until they had surpassed their ability to resist the gravitational pull of the planet and thus slowed down before tumbling back down.

At the zenith of its climb, however, Xornoth also leapt forward with the force toward the angry dragon but instead, he aimed directly for its mouth.

His hands were outstretched as he grabbed and held his lightsaber tightly, he summoned the largest blast of cyrokinesis that he could muster while hurtling toward the magnificent beast. His force attack was intended to precipitate the magma attack that the dragon was known for although if that did not come then his attack would potentially lock or freeze the dragon's jaws in place.

If the dragon was willing to feast upon him, Xornoth would go gladly, igniting his lightsaber and holding it now with both hands, ready to cut his way through the mighty beast from the inside.

 

[Eisa Nimbus]

The satisfaction over her attack successfully striking the dragon, piercing the obsidian scales enough to wound the target. Was short lived as rage swelled within the creature, evidently the combination of the remaining Sith's attacks were proving enough to infuriate the beast. The fiery haired teen's eyes narrowed as she watched an amber flash erupt from every inch of the dragon's body. Gritting her teeth, Eisa dropped down onto her knees, crouching herself into a defensive brace upon the marble pillar she was standing upon shielding her head among her arms and knees to protect herself against the wave of fire that was approaching her.

As the wall of fire passed over her, the fiery haired teen's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Something was somehow off! She could feel the wash of intense heat run over her, but that was it! She had been in close proximity to fire and on to many a occasion had been caught up in a fireball herself, she knew from experience that what she had just felt was wrong some how. Despite there being an intense radiant heat being felt, it was absent of the sting from the fine hairs that covered her skin being singed as well as the dull throbbing of her flesh in response to the thermal shock.

From her shielded posture, the teen briefly looked towards the bubbling magma below her. Similar to the fire that had just passed over all she could feel from it was a radiant heat. Despite her understanding being limited, the young teen figured that for the magma to be able to be able to melt rock and metal, the temperature to be able to do so would be significant. Which from the distance she was currently sat above the molten rock being no greater than 4 maybe 5 meters away, with the other sith being in closer proximity at points, the heat should have boil them alive from their insides. The teen's brow furrowed in confusion as she was starting to become uncertain over what she had just experienced, she wasn't sure if what had happened was real, or whether her strength in the Force had increased to the point that it would passively protect her body from her surrounding environment.

As she raised to her feet, the fiery haired teen's eyes narrowed in increasing suspicion, as she regarded the Kalladrrl who had jumped clear from his position wrapped around the dragon's leg. He was closer to the source of the fire than the teen was, and all she could pick up from her gaze was that parts of his cloak was singed. But the exposed parts of his fur remained untouched, shaking her head in confusion. For the Sith clad head to toe in hair, the teen figured that he would erupt in flames as the flammable hair made contact with the flames. Something was telling her that there was either something incredibly wrong with their surroundings or it was the the respective Sith's Force abilities that was protecting them and she was over thinking.

Then came the explosion! the ground shook, as the spires of rock were propelled upwards, the surroundings of the cave disappearing from view, streams of fiery magma erupting into the air like geysers. As the teen braced herself on the pillar she was standing upon, Eisa's eyes narrowed as her brow furrowed in thought. This was definitely wrong, it was impossible. The teen had a reputation throughout the ranks of the Order for being a touch obsessed with explosions. And there was good reason for it, her years of terror and destruction on her home world had started with one singular moment, the explosion that destroyed the bridge to the manufacturing district of the planet's capital city. It was from that point the teen had grown fascinated with explosions, and to a point somewhat disconcertingly obsessed. For over a decade she had carved a path of explosive destruction, of varying magnitudes, what she had just felt now was simply wrong.

Turning her gaze towards the now flying dragon. The fiery haired teen defiantly glared at the beast, as she clipped her deactivated light saber to her belt. Once again the air around the teen darkened as her body was enshrouded in a thick black aura of corrupted energy as she dug down into the deeply routed anger and pain within her very core. Wisps of dark energy rippled between her two hands as she drew upon and concentrated every ounce of the Force that she could muster and bend to her will. Slowly the black aura around her traveled and concentrated into the space between her open hands forming a orb of darkened crackling energy, pouring every element of her own volatile nature into the concentrated sphere. Fueling it with pockets of concentrated and pent up energy, before slowly pulling her hands away, elongating the sphere into a volatile shard of black energy that crackled with wildly.

If this truly was what the teen suspected to be an illusion, she would use that realisation to display what her years of experiences playing with explosives and blowing things up had taught her! Taking a deep breath the young teen focused her gaze on the Dragon, narrowing her eyes as she tracked its movements, like a hunter stalking her prey she marked where the beast would be. Drawing her arm backwards Eisa aimed the freshly created spear of crackling dark energies. With a guttural snarl the teen lunged her arm forwards, throwing her physical strength behind casting the bolt of pure concentrated volatile energies towards the beast's chest. As soon as the shard of energy would impact and possibly breach the scales as it had done beforehand the manipulated and volatile energies would implode in on itself before erupting into an rapidly expanding sphere of dark energies that would hopefully tear through the beast or in the very least inflict significant harm from the sudden change in pressure.

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de careened through the air along with the other Sith, his clothes singed, but little more than that. As Falaghar came back into view, Hal turned his body to him, and reached out to him with the force, and utilized it like a pull rope, not to pull Falaghar to him, but the contrary, as he flew overhead to deal with the others.

Aiming himself at the damaged scales, Halmo'de lined up, and waited to the very last minute to activate the two meter long blade, and jamming it inward at an angle, along the bone of the dragon's wounded limb.

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Anhur was forced onto a single knee as the ground below him shot into the air, the robes and cloak where sang and burned along edges. the power of the creature was unbelievable, too unbelievable no creature with the power of force could do something like that without preparation or the help of a nexus, earlier in trials he believed a room was illusion could this be an illusion it would explain it's power and how suddenly appeared in the mountain. if so he was in no danger of being physical.

Emboldened by his revelation, Anhur turned to face the dragon, he put his hands together, spread his leg wide and pulled them towards his abdomen, a blue semi-transparent sphere appeared in the palms of his hand growing to the size of a basketball, then he unleashed the ball of Force energy. Aiming the force burst at the ribcage of the dragon, how to crush its ribs with force of it.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Many of the Sith were more than willing to keep up the offensive, though perhaps they didn't recognize the change in the Dragon's demeanor. It hadn't come in to attack yet, it was circling, waiting for an opening. It was on the defensive, poised to strike in case attacked, and so when the variety of Sith came in themselves to attack him he was prepared for their assault. Even with the Force to bolster their movement, the Sith would still take a few seconds to go from their positions to where Falaghar was circling the debris field. Plenty of time for him to react.

He would start by whipping his tail around, the thick, wiry appendage covered in tough scales to make it akin to a wrecking ball. Being airborne, it wouldn't take much to adjust as the Sith were making their way to him to allow the tail to come up and swat the two Sith ( @Raydo @Taz ) who were going for the back of his neck and skull. Seemingly committed to their attacks, they would have maybe a second to react to the incoming tail whip. It would connect with bone-shattering force, making the two fly away broken and battered into the rest of the debris field. The other two Sith that launched for his face ( @Rexx @Xorism ) Would have to contend with the dragon's claws shooting to grab them from their intended trajectories. The second they were grabbed the dragon would squeeze as hard as he could, digging his obsidian claws into their forms with as much force as he could muster before slamming this hands together in a vicious clap, smashing the two bodies together before letting them fall into the debris field. This would happen at the same time as the tail swipe, giving these other two Sith just a second to react to the grab as it was coming from below the both of them, difficult to detect but not impossible.

There was a limit to what Falaghar could handle, however, so perhaps the Sith attacking his face and head directly were a sacrifice so that the others could land their blows. The Sith who went for a non-head target ( @Gian Greydragon ) would find no opposition to his flight as the Dragon had focused on the others coming in more directly. His strike would land true, the lightsaber burying deep and causing the dragon great pain, though it would happen a moment after the creature's own attacks would finish. A few moments after this the other Force attacks from the distant Sith ( @Plebometer @christhebarker ) would strike as well, the explosion of dark energy and the ball of force wreaking havoc on the body of the beast. Scales were cracked or falling off, molten blood was pouring from the wounds, and with a great cry Falaghar would fly up and off into the sky above them. Any thoughts on the draconic creature's retreat were dashed, though, as it turned around and flew in a dive down at the Sith. It's mouth was open, summoning what power it had left. This would be it's final attack, a do or die move, and the remaining Sith would have seconds and about 20 meters to do something about the incoming final strike. It seemed this trial was about over, for good or for bad.

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Having landed his strike, Hal was more or less connected to the dragon at this point, what will a 2meter long lightsaber blade being slammed through his front limb. Hal's blade receded, as he clawed his way up to the back of the Dragon's neck in the time it took him to feign a retreat. As Hal made his way, he ignited his secondary lightsaber at shoto length and flung it in an arc, aiming to force it down the dragon's throat before whatever last ditch attack it would attempt.

 

[Eisa Nimbus]

A wry smile crossed the fiery haired Sith's as her Force attack hit home, the impact combined with a secondary Force attack unleashed by Anhur had slammed into the dragon's chest shattering the obisidion plate armor formed by the creature's scales, allowing the life juices of the beast to pour from his body. The sight was, exquisite to the young Sith, whose primary focus had been to wreck havac and have fun whilst doing so. A light cackle escaped her lips as the dragon flapped his wings ascending higher away from the Sith, the teen had played enough video games to know what was coming from this final boss. It was the final attack, the last ditch attack out of desperation. It was as they said do or die! "He's on the ropes!" Eisa called out, her voice carrying with a predatory guttural tone. "Light the Fracker UP!!!" she snared as she watched the beast coil round in preparation for a dive bombing attack, her hand reaching down to the side of her waist, tearing the webbing that held her grenades away from the belt of her armor.

The beast was no more than roughly 20 meters above her now, which would give fifteen maybe twenty seconds tops until the beast's attack came down to bare on them. It was going to be tight!. Without hesitating the teen started mentally counting down as she started to pour what corrupted energies she had within her into the grenades, over charging the contained explosive compounds. "20... 19... 18... 17...." Eisa counted aloud as the energies continued to pour, whilst her free hand shifted towards her blaster, her thumb disengaging the safety as she withdrew it from the holster. "15... 14.... 13....12...." she continued whilst she leveled her blaster upwards towards the dragon's face, whilst she finished pouring energies into the now super charged frag grenades and proceeded to cast the bound grenades upwards towards the dragon's open maw. Knowing that once the fragmentations had been over charged there was ten seconds untill the contained explosives reached critical mass.

Squeezing the trigger in quick succession the teen unleashed four over charged shots towards the upper side of the dragon's head, aiming indiscriminantly at the various features. Her intent was was to simply pepper the beast with shots to keep it's focus occupied. "9... 8....7....6...." Eisa continued before summoning a light burst of energy into her legs to allow her to jump clear of the descending platform, the aim of her blaster moving to track the beast whilst it continued with it's dive bomb attack and the teen moving away out of its path. Firing off another four over charged shots that would rain down upon the already wounded chest.

"3...2...1...." the fiery haired teen concluded as her body went into free fall, her mind channeling and refocusing her concentration in the Force to allow her to guide her descent towards the surface below her, or if needs be. Propel herself further from the dragon. All the while waiting for the four overcharged frag grenades to detonate as they reached critical mass, Whether the banded grenades would fall clean into the path of the dragon's open maw or not, the resulting explosions would rain countless shards of metal upon the dragon, the over charged explosives propelling the fragments at a greater velocity to what would be expected, increasing the penetrating potential of the of countless razor sharp fragments.

 

[Vash Windrider]

Vash never seen it coming, perhaps he should have but he didn't. He was already past the dragon's ears and moving to attack the neck by the time the tail came in. The scaled wrecking swung in at the Knight's ribs, folding him un-naturally around the sphere limb. Before he could react he was swatted away like a bug. His body wracked in pain, blood choking his throat and nasal passages. As the tail snapped him away, Vash's fight was done. He would crash into one of the large floating chunks of debris and clung to it.

 

[Zazai Ta'Resh]

Zazai instantly rolled away from the tail towards the opposite side of the dragon's neck. As he began to slide off the dragon, he plunged his lightsaber down, slowing himself as the blade bit into the damaged scales, hopefully causing a wound down the side of the dragon's neck.

The Dragon was all but defeated, but that didn't stop the more foolish of the Sith from throwing explosives while they were still in harms way on the Dragon. Whether it was from sheer stupidity or an attempt to kill her own allies when the end of the battle was in sight would be a question for another day and made little difference. He coiled his legs and kicked off the side of the Dragon away from the would-be blast and out of the Dragon's path.

He struggled to grab ahold of a large chunk of the platform that had broken off as they all began to fall. This had been the second time he had been attacked by his own kind in cowardly attempts to seize glory during the event. Revenge could come later. He knew began to look ways to survive the fall as his own platform began to dip.

 

[Kalladrrl]

A cyclopean claw reached out to grab him from the air as he flew to execute his maneuver, and Kalladrrl reached back to his cloak, pulling it more taut in a swift action that helped it catch the air as they all fell, countering the trajectory of the dragon's powerful grip as he dove through the air to wrap his limbs around the dragon's arm for a second to change his momentum as he pushed off with his arms and legs to spring away from the dragon, a bold move considering the height of it all.

Or was this just some more damn Force witchery? The mysteries of what was possible eluded the Wookiee but if this was some kind of trick perhaps he could turn whatever illusory power that aided the beast against it. As he pushed off, several of the other's attacks landed amidst its flesh, causing it to cry out in vicious, spiteful hatred as it flew up, propelling Kall back first towards the distressed platform. His shoulders landed and he heard the cracking in his armor, But Kalladrrl rolled his body with the energy of his fall, bracing his legs and pushing up with one arm as Falaghar began his devastating final attack run. Kalladrrl used what time he had to gather the Force to his right hand and step up with the other. As the dragon dive bombed, the Commander lashed out with his hand like he was throwing a javelin, sucking the heat out of a point of air and freezing the vapor into an icy spear. Kalladrrl continued to remove the heat as the spear flew, growing it into a vicious weapon but also suffusing it with further icy energy, like the inky darkness of the cold of space as it flew; if it struck it would sap a great deal of Falaghar’s heat in an instant, wounding the mighty creature or opening it to further attack from others, as he had done so far in the Champions’ final trial against the vicious dragon.

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Anhur smiled when both Eisa and his attack struck true, it was heavily wounded but he wouldn't rush to attack the creature, it was at it's most dangerous now not caring for its own life. he remained on his platform watching the dragon fly high up before diving bomb as last-ditch effort to kill any of them. Eisa caught his attention as it began it's dive, spotting the bandolier of grenades she had in her hand, he knew what she was going to do, he pulled out his thunder slug from its holster and tracked the bandolier of grenades and fire at them just as they entered the mouth of dragon.