Lured in

[Malleus]

Batuu

As it was known that the Jedi order along with some other associations frequented in helping settlements and planets rebuild themselves or defend the helpless ones some Sith decided that this would be a prime way of locating more of the rivaling order's members. Malleus's, in search of more training, blood and battle took upon himself a personal mission of finding yet another Jedi and testing what he believed was his superior might against them. Treachery was the way of the Sith and the hulking Sith Legionnaire didn't sway from it one bit. Finding out about the situation of several farming settlements on Batuu and their lack luster defenses and lack of warriors Malleus orchestrated a situation that would present a perfect stage for the Jedi to act and draw them in. He 'hired' a brutal arena warrior with a violent past promising him to have a land to rule over and people to enslave and encouraged him to take his endeavours to Batuu.

The weak farming colonies didn't have many ways of defending against the new warlord and it's band of thugs and were eventually bullied into submission and servitude to the aliens. Keeping a close eye on the situation with one of the warlord's servants reporting to him he waited for the eventual time that the word would come to the Jedi, whether by rumor or by one of the settlers sending a transmission for help to someone. And indeed the day came. Malleus was contacted by one of the oppressors of the settlement with a message that read:

''They came today, just like you predicted.
Two of them, a male and a female, both Jedi.
They waited in the village, slaughtered one of our squads that tried to take them down
Only two men escaped.
We are unsure if we can deal with this threat alone
Even if there's only two of them...
..We never faced Jedi before...''

Pleased that his elaborate scheme had bore fruit Malleus was now sitting in his ship on the way to Batuu to meet the Jedi that came to help the unfortunate settlement. If his respirator and neck guard hadn't concealed his lower face a satisfied smirk could have been seen on the pale white Zabrak's face.

 

[Malleus]

A freighter descended on the planted under the night sky, landing in a plain surrounded by a wooded area. From it a towering dark figure emerged, stomping his way out of the vessel and into the woods, his face concealed by the dark hood and his cape flowing behind him. Malleus chose to land at an unspecified area next to one of the settlements instead of landing at one of the ports held by bandits he was in cohort with.

''You have done your jobs well, rest assured that you will be able to resume your activities here soon enough.'' - he spoke through his comm link.
''Yes Lord Malleus. Are you going to be dealing with the Jedi ? Do you require support ? -the voice over the comm asked
''Stand by and be ready, in case I'm in need of your services you shall be contacted promptly. Now the village where the Jedi retreated to... where is it ? ''
''Sir it's about a mile north from your location, that's where they are assumed to have retreated since all our men around and in that area are dead or missing.''

-Click-
Malleus shut off the comm link having heard all that he needed to know to proceed. As the dark warrior made his way towards the designated location he steadied himself, focused all of his rage in a single point, making the anger and blood lust provide him focus rather than blind him like an animal. He was excited at the prospect of finally facing Jedi again in combat, of finally getting to snuff the life out of one of those who oppose the ways of the order he so whole heartedly accepted himself.

 

[Malleus]

Arriving at the village the dark figure made his way inside the settlement clearly sensing the Light sider's presence in the area. Heavy rain had started to fall on Malleus's way to the village followed by thunderous lightning, perhaps a sign of grim things to come. Probably due to sensing Malleus's presence, something the Sith did not even try to hide, the young Jedi warrior stepped outside on the streets in search of what caused this disturbance. Only to come face to face with a towering hooded Zabrak in the middle of the village.

''Luring you out was as easy as I expected.. Jedi.'' - the Sith spoke in a slightly mechanical manner due to the mask that covered the lower part of his face emphasizing the disgust when he uttered the word 'Jedi'.

Perhaps taken by surprise or inexperience the young Jedi was lifted into the air as he was choked by an unrelenting force as Malleus lifted his hand. Before the youth could properly defend and push back against the telekinetic attack however he was slammed back into a wall of one of the houses. Now at least 20 meters apart the Jedi staggered back to his knees quite swiftly as Malleus extended his hand yet again trying to grasp him with the force. This time however it would not seem to be as easy as before as the young Jedi warrior prepared for the Sith's attack and was able to push back with his own command of the force. Seeing that manhandling the man would not prove to be as easy as when he's prepared Malleus refrained from his telekinetic attack and ignited the lightsaber he held in his right hand.

Recuperating from the initial two attacks the Jedi ignited his own blue lightsaber as he slowly approached his attacker. ''Where the hell did he come from ? Is he behind the bandit attacks, what possible use would the Sith have with these small villages.'' he thought to himself as he eyed his opponent. Malleus ran towards the Jedi, closing the distance between the two and started swinging when he was about 2 meters away from the target, at the blade's length. The first strike was a one handed diagonal swing from his right side to the left which the Jedi dodged by retreating backwards, the second one was a backhand slice from the position the first strike ended him in and it was aimed for the midsection, again dodged by the Jedi warrior jumping back, the third strike was a clean transition from the momentum of the first strike where Malleus grabbed his saber with both of his hands and attempted for another midsection strike. Dodging the first two there was a chance the Jedi would finally want to block, parry or meet the Sith's blade in some way this time, that's why Malleus made sure this third strike held all of the force of his body behind it and swung with both hands.

However that was not the case. The Jedi was either too smart or lucky enough to choose to dodge rather than counter this strike in any way. He even choose the optimal method of dodging Malleus as one of the intention's of the Sith's unrelenting swings was to back his opponent into a wall he previously slammed him into. However the Jedi's third dodge was his him jumping towards the wall, bouncing off of it using a leg and the power of the Force to propel himself off and over the Sith, landing a few meters behind the assailant and positioning himself in the center of the village far away enough from any walls that he could be backed into.

 

[Malleus]

Turning around with the momentum of his last swing to face the Jedi Malleus didn't waste a second as he dashed towards him a meter or so closing the distance once again and swinging for his enemy. This time their blades finally met. The Jedi blocked and deflected Malleus's attack that came from the Sith's right side, assuming another swing was coming right away the Jedi was ready to dodge, eyes locked on his opponent and his blade. Malleus indeed swung again, this time from the left side and the Jedi jumped back slightly avoiding the blade. The third strike was incoming, again from the left and again like in his first initial attack this third strike was dealt with both hands on the Sith's saber and aimed towards the Jedi's head. This time the Light Sider jumped towards the Sith and struck his blade with his own using the force of his jump and body weight to deflect the strike.

Malleus's hands and blade were knocked slightly back as the blades bounced off of eachother and the Jedi realized that how much he had to exert himself to stop this Sith's power blows when they came. Seemingly not shaken by the Jedi's attempt at defense Malleus unrelentingly swung again, diagonally with both hands from his top left down to his lower right side. The Jedi narrowly dodged once again backing off and as Malleus's blade rose up from the finishing position of the last blow the Jedi met it with it's own, able to stop it in place and lock them into a saber lock. He held tightly with both hands pushing against Malleus but the Sith swiftly let go of the hilt with his left hand, focusing all his strength into his right one to hold back the Jedi and grabbed his opponent's wrists with his large, now free, left hand. Screaming in rage and channeling the Force as much as he could, he pushed with his right hand that was holding the saber and pulled with his left one, lifting the Jedi up and throwing him away to his left. He threw the man with such force that the Jedi flew a good 3 meters before hitting the ground and rolling a meter more.

Malleus was a beast, and when he got hold of his prey he didn't let go. That was about to be painfully clear to the Jedi and any of the villagers peeking through their windows. Before the Jedi's thrown body even finished rolling Malleus was already lifting a large rock and had thrown it at him. As the warrior tried to stagger back to his feet the rock slammed into his face knocking him back down again.

It seemed the stage was set for a killing blow but before the Sith was able to run up or jump and finish the Jedi an unexpected turn of events unfolded.

Blaster fire. Three rounds shot and all three hit Malleus bringing the cloaked figure to a knee. But from where ? From who ?

Perhaps inspired by the example of the noble, selfless Jedi that came to their help and gave them hope or pushed to the edge by the ongoing fear and oppression one of the villagers was holding a blaster rifle, his hands shaking but his face dripping with a mixture of fear and determination. The blaster he probably picked up from one of the bandits the Jedi killed and now used it to try and protect his protector.

Seeing what happened the Jedi warrior sprung to his feet. The severity of the situation sinking in, he wasn't gonna allow this innocent villager, one of the people he came to protect and was now protecting him, to die at the hands of this Sith monster. Ignoring all the pain dealt to him his body went into overdrive as he yelled out, jumped and leapt forward propelling himself with the Force. Both hands firmly locked onto his saber hilt, holding it in an overhead grip as he leaped toward the downed Sith.

But such rash actions, such attachments... they lead to blindness, and failure.

Though Malleus was indeed hit with all three blaster rounds they hit his shoulder and torso respectively and even though he staggered sideways and fell to one knee the pain and severity of the hits were nothing deabilitating. Most of his armor took the hit and what little went through to pierce his skin was not something the hulking Zabrak couldn't ignore for a moment. Instead he took the opportunity, allowed himself to be feign weakness and held hiss wound as he was downed.
As the Jedi leaped toward him suddenly Malleus sprung to life, swinging the saber horizontally from his left to his right in a slice of blinding speed and bisecting the Jedi mid air as he lunged towards him.

The upper part of the Jedi's torso fell behind Malleus as the legs limply fell in front of the Sith lord that was now slowly and menacingly standing up on both of his feet.

 

[Malleus]

''There's a woman left...''

The Sith exclaimed as he extended his left hand toward the villager that shot at him previously, hurling the man through the air and towards himself grabbing him firmly by the neck. In a feat of superhuman strength Malleus held the man in midair with one hand squeezing on his neck harder every second. ''Attacking a member of the Sith Eternal...''

*Snap*

The man's previously twitching legs went limp and his body thumbled on the ground as the Sith released his grip. Before Malleus even had the chance to start thinking about locating the other Jedi though something caught his attention, a presence within the Force. Quickly turning he noticed a robed woman standing on the other side of the village.

Lightsaber ignited and a look of disgust and anger on her face. She must have felt the disturbance caused by the previous battle and the death of her companion and didn't make it back into the village in time. Looking over the sight in the center of the village the female Jedi warrior was overcome with grief, sadness, anger and hatred. Her friend, her companion lied dead at this disgusting Sith creature's feet, cut in half and disgraced, the other body was of an innocent villager who's wind pipe was crushed previously.

Malleus took a few steps towards the Jedi, confident that she will be dispatched with ease as was her companion but the woman hunched over and extended her hands quickly sending a wave of incredibly strong telekinetic energy through the village path. The wave was actually strong enough to lift and slam the huge Sith into a wall of one of the houses with such force that the wall broke.

''Everyone, evacuate this part of the village! I'll deal with this monster...'' She said, fuming with disgust and rage as she ran towards the downed Sith. A large stone piece of the broken wall was hurled at the Jedi from the place where Malleus crashed, the woman leaped high into the air with a sommersault over the large piece of stone and towards Malleus who was now on his feet and attempted to meet the woman's jump with a bisecting slash. A show of the Sith's actual cunning and quick thinking, hurling the stone from a downed position to force his opponent into an exact same predicament that won him the last fight.

Wanting to finish it quickly again he swung the blade but the female Jedi met it with her own landing in front of the Sith as their blades locked. Malleus pushed with his overwhelming strength attempting to push the woman back. It appeared to be working for a second before the Jedi disengaged the lock with a full rotation pivot to the Sith's left narrowly dodging the tip of his blade which was swung from his left to right in a horizontal line. Not giving it a moment's thought Malleus instantly swung again towards the woman, this time from right to left, both hands on the blade, a fast horizontal slash.

In a feat of incredible speed the woman jumped up bringing her knees closer to her chest, the blade going under her and slicing through the dangling parts of her Jedi robes and swung her blade held in one arm from her lower right side as she jumped. The Sith was hit in the lower jaw and staggered to the right with a loud mechanized scream. As the woman landed from her jump she attempted to close the distance the Sith instinctively made after being hit by performing a jumping rotating slash. Before the strike could land she and smaller object around like those pieces of a previously broken wall was sent flying back by a hunched over Malleus who's back was turned to the Jedi. The action being fueled by the Sith's sudden increase in rage and desparation and the telekinetic push not being precise but rather a wave in the general direction due to the fact that he was not facing his opponent and wanted to get her off his back as soon as possible.

 

[Malleus]

As the Jedi was pushed back she flew a good five meters and landed on her back but before the woman even hit the ground Malleus was already advancing towards her. Turning to reveal that his neck guard was destroyed in the previous attack, revealing his face and his injuries fully the Sith's armor still absorbed the brunt of the strike and what staggered him were the sparks from the saber cutting through the material and the sparks caused by the electrical discharge of his re breather as it broke.

Jumping after his target an enraged Malleus swung at the downed Jedi who rolled over avoiding the strike, but the Sith was relentless... Continuously slashing at the ground as the woman kept rolling away and dodging the enraged Sith's assault.

Finally getting into a position to have her feet touch the ground the Jedi used this opportunity to propel herself with the force, jumping over the Sith's incoming blade from a crouching position performing a jumping roll mid air, landing on her back and quickly getting on her feet again. Predicting that the Sith would immediately turn and continue attacking again she deflected his blade with her own as she slowly started pulling back. Malleus swung two more times each being met with the Jedi's blade and deflected as she continued pulling backwards. This way the Jedi used the momentum of the great strength behind Malleus's blows to not get overwhelmed as with each time the blades clashed she pulled back a bit, which wouldn't have been the case if she was trying to advance, stand ground or even was too close to the Sith. Some strikes she deflected some dodged but she kept pulling back trying to think of an adequate approach.

Though the Jedi woman was a better duelist, as she had already displayed, dueling Malleus was quite tricky. The Sith's large build and overwhelming strength combined with his unrelenting offensive advances could prove deathly within seconds, furthermore his armor protected a great part of his body meaning that the most likely guaranteed 'death blow' would be to his head which again was literally hard to reach due to both the Sith's height and his protective maneuvers.

The Jedi dodged yet another incoming slash with a backflip thus gaining more distance between the two. Realizing that a straight forward approach would not help her in this battle she had to resort to different tactics. Jumping back once again gaining more distance she threw her lightsaber at the Sith and as the weapon flew she drew her fallen comrade's nearby lightsaber to her. Malleus deflected the strike but as soon as he did he noticed the second weapon flying towards him, aimed high at his head. Clubbing the second lightsaber away sideways the Jedi was already closing distance between them, catching her first lightsaber midway and going for a running crouch aiming low at the Sith's legs.

Realizing the danger and the speed of his opponent Malleus instinctively reacted, not by meeting her blade with his own as he usually would but by using a page out of his opponent's book and jumping over the incoming Jedi.
When Malleus turned to face her the woman was already on her feet, looking as determined as she did at the beginning of the fight and with no trace of exhaustion. ''Act all you want Jedi... I know you're on your last leg. You are going to die here, that's the reality of it... Just like that other Jedi fool.'' As Malleus goaded the Jedi he realized how lucky he was that he got to fight the Jedi separated even though it wasn't his intention. He fully intended on facing them both but now understood that his brashness and arrogance could have easily cost him his life.

 

[Malleus]

He continued his attack on the Jedi, swinging from left to right from right to left each strike being met with the Jedi's blade as she staunchly defended herself before their blades finally locked in once again. The Jedi performed a horizontal slash while Malleus met her blade with his own that was positioned vertically. Holding onto the hilt firmly with his right hand he pushed the Jedi back rapidly as she grabbed onto her own blade trying to maintain balance. Her thoughts were all over the place, she was running out of options for an approach to this specific enemy and required a moment to gather her self, a moment to think and come up with another strategy. But while the Jedi was thinking far ahead the Sith was in this very moment and had already decided on his simple plan of offense.

He grabbed the Jedi's wrist with his free left hand calling upon all his rage and allowing the Dark Side of The Force to channel through him. He pushed with both his blade and the hand gripping the Jedi's wrist upwards, pushing her saber up above her head. Swiftly he struck her with the elbow of his right hand in the face while still maintaining the blades locked. The hit to the nose from the large Sith staggered the Jedi woman and her strength fleeted for a moment allowing his grip on her wrist to be enough to keep her blade away and allow more freedom with his right hand.

He drove the hilt of his saber into the Jedi's face bloodying it and leaving the woman losing balance and falling backwards but before she could he pulled her towards himself by the wrist that he still held on and drove the crimson blade through the unfortunate woman's chest.

Falling to the ground and with life fading from her eyes Malleus turned off his blade as a smile curved on his face. He pulled his hood back on his head and headed towards the path which he came from to the village. Clicking the comm link on his glove he spoke to the bandits oppressing this place that the Jedi had driven off

''You may resume your work here men...''

The thunder still roared and the rain soaked the village grounds where laid two lifeless bodies of noble protectors as the dark malicious figure walked away proudly in the distance, his dark wet cape swaying in the winds.