Ask Invasion Poor Choices

[Darth Tempest]

From a distance, Tempest could only watch as Alexandria stood resolute against the onslaught. The Light flowed vibrantly to protect the Grandmaster from the storm of electricity that poured from the fingers of the Dark Lord, even as it scorched the ground and set fire to anything else caught in its path. Ribbons of violet and blue danced within the air, clashing and igniting the skylight of Ailon with flashes of lethal illumination.

It was a battle of wills and the elements - conjuring a shockwave that threatened to stagger even the Dark Lord herself. The dark cloak fluttered wildly behind her, heels digging into the planes of duracrete that formed the ground beneath her feet. By now, troopers from both sides had begun to begun to grant the pair a wide breadth, daring not to place themselves within the crosshairs of the ensuing battle.

Slowly but surely, the ribbons of lightning began to dissipate from Tempest’s fingers - the final sparks dancing within her palm. The pool on the ground began to flicker away within moments, as the Dark Lord withdrew her own concentration necessary to keep the flood maintained. For the briefest moment, silence filled the space between them, until the hoarse voice of the Grandmaster carried across the distance.

“So be it,” Tempest said in response, her own voice mechanized and distorted beyond recognition. However, the hints of exhaustion were plain to decipher. Once more, the crimson blade in her left hand sprang to life - casting an aura of crimson that surrounded the Dark Lord - while the secondary remained unignited in her offhand.

The distance to reach Alexandria wasn’t great, and Tempest wasted no time to resume her approach - attempting to move to engage the Grandmaster in melee combat for the second time. The Dark Side flowed vibrantly through her every extremity, prepared to defend herself accordingly.

As the Dark Lord moved into melee range, her body rotated to side-face - her left foot and shoulder pointing towards the Grandmaster. Her blade thrust forward with blinding speed, crimson plasma that attempted to pierce through every later of armor, flesh and bone - right down to the Jedi's lungs.

 

[Alexandria Voran]

The Force in balance was the Light. The Darkness the unyielding counterweight seeking to drag the galaxy into bleak destruction. Rarely, did the two meet so dramatically opposed. The Grandmaster and Dark Lord brining their full strength to bare. The very fabric of the Force rippling, twisting, changing. It was a power felt throughout the galaxy. A feeling of the very weave of reality shifting. Tempest and Alex stood tall but battered. Pushed to even their considerable limits.

Alex sighed as Tempest rushed forward. How long had she felt at the end of her rope? How long had she felt her journey nearing the end. The truth was Alexandria Voran was fading from the galaxy. Slowly, but no less true. Her time was coming to an end. They all could see the writing on the wall. She was as strong as ever. Yet, her desire to struggle on waned.

Tempest lashed out. Alex’s blade in her right hand pointed horizontally, knocking Tempests blade high and away with equal speed. Ever aware of her off hand saber. Two fingers on Alex’s left hand pointing out, a punch of the Force ripping towards Tempests stomach.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Tempest kept her gaze fixed upon Alexandria, eyes of animalistic yellow narrowed into thin daggers upon the Grandmaster. With every step, the Force billowed forth and clashed all around them - the willpower of titans raging across the surface of Ailon. They stood with few rivals but each other in the Force, and every ounce of strength was brought to bear against one another in that moment. The fabric of the Force quaking as the Light and Darkness lashed back at one another in a violent display.

For all of her strength, the Dark Lord could feel her own body beginning to tire with each step - sweat beading profusely behind the mask that she wore. It was the pangs of exhaustion that had finally begun to catch up with her, the hardest fight of her life approaching its climax. They both knew it.

Her fingers curled tightly around the hilt of her lightsaber, feeling as Alexandria parried the tip of her weapon high, maintaining pressure down against the bladelock to prevent any last-minute redirection of the Grandmaster’s blade. The Force gathered within her free hand at the very same time, building upon the momentum that had already been established. Targeting every molecule and droplet of moisture that floated within the air between them.

The Dark Lord saw the two fingers that lifted from Alexandria’s closed fist - and knew immediately that there would be little defense she could muster. Not without abandoning her own mounting attack. She could only brace herself for the pain and agony of taking the punch - hoping that the plates of armor she wore would absorb at least some of the kinetic blow that would send her reeling backwards.
Just as Alexandria unleashed her Force attack, the Dark Lord unleashed her own.

The space between them chilled within a fraction of a second, transforming every molecule of moisture into shards of frost. The air between them erupted in a burst frigid mist, as dozens of crystallized blades filled the space between them.

They lanced forth to strike at the Grandmaster’s center mass, attempting to pierce through her armor and collide with her chest and stomach, while stray shards would slice at her arms. Blades shard enough - and with the Force behind them - to impale through armor and flesh.
To end the fight between them once and for all.

 

[Alexandria Voran]

White sparked against ruby red. Their blades locked together...but only for a moment. She felt the Force twist again. The groaning of the Darkside working against the light. Tempest was sent reeling backwards, their blades spinning apart. As the Dark Lord stumbled, Alex worked the Force again. She set a weight on the Sith's chest, Driving downward. Hammering Tempest into the ground. Crushing the air from her lungs and the brittle constructs of her already damaged armor already. The Grandmaster did not release. She pressed and pressed, ever downward.

That left her little time to deal with the ice. There were only bad choices. She could not deflect it. She could not avoid it. Only one option remained. As fast as he could, she heated the same molecules that Tempest froze. Set them vibrating together. Even Alex could not work fast enough. She was forced to choose those that would most likely kill her. Turning them to water droplets splattering her armor. Some, that same armor even deflected. Others hit home, leaving ribbons of blood streaking down her arms. Pain lacing up and down but that pressure shoving Tempest down ever mounting.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Tempest couldn’t help but groan in agony - feeling the Force slam directly into her stomach. The armor she wore did well to absorb at least some of the kinetic energy, but not nearly enough to keep her unharmed. She could feel her ribs crack and fracture from impact, the wind knocked from her lungs as she was sent sailing backwards, working to rapidly regain her footing at once.

But it didn’t prevent her icicles from making impact - piercing into the flesh of the Grandmaster and embedding deep into her skin. Not all found their mark - deflected or melted away. But some of them did. Some was all that was necessary.

The Force gathered within her - pressing back against the weight that attempted to pulverize her into dust. It was desperate and ferocious resistance, her legs shaking and threatening to buckle beneath the onslaught that the Grandmaster sought to end the fight with. It was clear that the woman would never engage the Dark Lord in saber combat - and the longer their fight drug on, the worse her odds became.

The Dark Lord drew an ounce of her concentration away from her own protection - cryokinesis gathering at her command. Rather than conjuring new weapons of frost, Tempest targetted those that had already found their mark. Those embedded into the Grandmaster’s body - motes of ice and cold from which she could draw.

Within the blink of an eye, Tempest spread her fingers apart - pouring her energies into those pre-existing icicles. Forcing them to expand and splinter in different directions like razor blades, attempting to send spikes of ice to further impale into the Grandmaster’s body. Towards her lungs, heart and legs - threatening to slice into internal organs and arteries.

It took significantly less concentration than conjuring frost from nothing, and would leave Alexandria with even less time to defend herself. The Grandmaster had melted multiple of the shards thrown, but had done nothing to address those that impaled into her flesh and armor.

Their fight was rapidly approaching its conclusion, and Tempest sought to end the struggle once and for all. Her resistance against mounting pressure remained, even as her cryokinesis sought to interrupt the channeled attack.

 

[Alexandria Voran]

The will to survive was all that separated Tempest and Alex from death. This was where their battle had led them. Alex crushing pressure seeking to crumple the Dark Lord. Turning the leader of the Sith into a broken mass. Tempest sought to do much the same. Shred Alex's body with daggers of ice. Much like the Grandmaster had attempted to fry the Sith alive. She never stopped the unyielding pressure. That fraction of Tempests split focus allowing Alex to press all the harder.

She felt Tempest work the Force and the pain in her body at much the same time. She remained in perfect control of her person. A use of the Force so ingrained in every Jedi during their training. Her own body temperature heated to melt the ice before it pierced her vital organs. The rents in her flesh growing deeper still. The blood flowing ever more steadily.

A flick of her hand sending the cyan saber towards Tempests knees. The hilt laying on the ground behind them. Tempest locked into the ever increase pressure. Alex's blood tip tapping on the ground.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Tempest could feel the pangs of exhaustion that washed over her body - each and every movement growing more taxing than the last. It was the will to survive, to triumph over her enemy, that drove the Dark Lord to continue their fight. Bringing to bear everything she was capable of mustering.

The Force billowed from her fingertips - energies crackling through the air around them. Even as Alexandria channeled warmth, the Dark Lord continued her channel of Cryokinesis - blistering cold that battled against the defense that the Grandmaster elicited. Fighting to prevent those icicles from melting away completely, leaving them embedded deep into her flesh.

Her breath was a ragged exhale - beads of sweat pouring down her brow. Her focus was split in multiple directions, and Tempest knew the sacrifices that would need to be made to push through their fight. Survival balancing on the edge of a knife.

The Grandmaster did little more than attempt to heat her internal body temperature - and it almost certainly wouldn’t remove the shards instantaneously while Tempest continuously channeled Cryokinesis. Not before the blades found their mark. Tempest poured her own focus into the attack - shattering the icicles in an attempt send a final, razor spike deep into the left side of the Grandmaster’s chest, while fragments peppered her armor. Chilling the blood that poured from her every wound and laceration.

Her own, split focus would have its consequences. Tempest knew that she couldn’t hold back the pressure that bore down on her chest - just as the Dark Lord knew that Alexandria couldn’t defend and attack at once. She accepted the injury that would almost certainly follow, feeling the weight that pressed her into the ground. She could only hope that her own attack would break the Grandmaster's focus.

Her free hand flicked down - carving her lightsaber to block the cyan blade that swung for her legs. The sole defense she had to offer, as their fight approached its finale.

 

[Alexandria Voran]

Alex did all she could prevent her body from freezing within. Pouring what strength she had left. Doing her best to maintain the crushing pressure on Tempest while barely holding on. Slowly, but surely the Grandmaster faded and began to pass into unconsciousness.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

ADMIN NOTE: As a result of a request to have this thread conclude, the outcome is considered a draw. @Valen Pelora Alex will be unconscious and MIA from the Jedi Order until you decide if she perishes or otherwise. @Altaris feel free to start new threads with Tempest following this battle.