There was no going back.
He lifted his good hand, reached out with the Force, and the massive stone doors groaned open.
The chamber beyond was massive—an ancient circular hall filled with dark banners, statues of long-forgotten Sith lords, and flickering braziers casting shadows across the floor..
And surrounding it hundreds.
Mercenaries stood at attention along the upper balconies, rifles raised. Droids lined the walls like statues, motionless each with their ownn weapons. Dozens of Sith cultists in dark robes waited at the base of the stairs, and behind them, twelve acolytes, each draped in black and crimson, each with a lightsaber hanging at their side. And at the center of it all, standing on a raised platform beneath a colossal statue of a forgotten emperor, was Collan Eislo.
He stood with his arms behind his back, flanked by two guards, the smirk already carved deep across his face.
"Well," Collan said, his voice echoing through the chamber. "I never thought I'd see you again."
Jaden said nothing. He stood at the base of the stairs, blood running down his jaw, his breathing ragged. His eyes didn't blink. They were locked on him. Eislo.
"I must say, I'm impressed," Collan continued, descending a step. "I thought you'd learned your lesson the last time we fought. But here you are again. Bleeding. Broken. And still just a foolish child."
He sighed theatrically and shook his head.
"I assume it was you who destroyed the Oberon?" He looked almost amused. "Quite inconvenient. She was custom-built. But no matter... I have plenty more." The chamber echoed with laughter. Dozens of mercenaries and cultists chuckled from the balconies and along the walls. Collan waited for the laughter to die before speaking again.
"Tell me, Jaden, why? Why even come here?" He stepped closer now. "Did the last fight scar your pride that deeply? Did I hit a nerve you couldn't handle?"
Jaden finally spoke.
"I'm here to kill you."
His lightsaber ignited with a sharp snap-hiss, bathing the bloodied floor around him in purple light. The humming filled the air. Every weapon in the room was raised in an instant. Dozens of rifles locked onto him. The red blades of the acolytes ignited like wildfire, casting the room in an eerie red glow.
Jaden didn't move. He simply shifted his stance, settling into Form III. His feet planted. Saber held low and angled forward, body curled slightly inward to minimize his target.
He was unshaken.
Collan raised a single hand, and instantly, the others halted.
"No," he said.
He stepped down to the main floor, circling Jaden slowly. His eyes didn't leave him.
"I'm still unsure of why you've bothered to come, You've served your purpose," he said almost gently. "You delievered what I neeeded and now you will be disposed of."
Jaden's saber tightened in his hand. His knuckles whitened.
"You took the Holocron," he growled.
"Yes." Collan smiled. "I did."
"Where is it?" Jaden growled, stepping forward.
"You won't find any use for it," Collan said, his voice laced with smug satisfaction. "Satele Shan is no longer on the Holocron."
Jaden froze.
"She's been destroyed."
The words hit harder than any blade. Jaden felt the wind leave his lungs. Something inside him cracked.
"No..." he breathed.
"Oh yes," Collan said, stepping closer again. "Wiped clean. Erased. All that knowledge, her spirit, everything gone."
The ground trembled beneath Jaden's feet. His body tensed as raw fury tore through him. The Force around him shrieked. The stone cracked. Dust drifted from the ceiling. Statues rattled.
"I heard about your little Twi'lek friend too," Collan continued, his tone venomous and mocking. "What was her name again? Velea?"
Jaden's head lifted slowly.
"Yes... Velea. Beautiful, wasn't she?" Collan's grin widened. "Shame what happened to her. Must've been agonizing, dying all alone, waiting for someone to save her. But you didn't did you?"
Jaden's teeth bared. The tremors grew. Cracks split the stone floor beneath him. Dust spiraled in the air as Force pressure bled from his skin like heat. His lightsaber screamed in his grip.
"You couldn't save her," he mocked again. "Just like you couldn't save Satele."
"You couldn't save anyone..."
"ENOUGH!" Jaden roared.
The shout exploded through the hall, rattling walls, snuffing braziers, shaking the weapons from the hands of several nearby soldiers. His scream wasn't just sound, it was rage made manifest, dark side energy pulsing with such fury that even the air seemed to convulse around him.
Collan looked at him with amused curiosity.
"You want a fight?" he asked softly.
Jaden didn't answer. His saber was already raised.
Collan extended one hand to the side, palm open.
One of his guards stepped forward and placed a long, black-hilted lightsaber into his palm.
Collan took it slowly. He looked down at the weapon, then back up at Jaden.
"Then I'll indulge you," he said. "Let's do this the savage way you Jedi like to fight."
He ignited the blade.
Jaden didn't move. His lightsaber remained steady in his grip. He watched Collan's stance, his posture, the way he held the saber, it was almost laughable; wrong grip, he held it too toght and there was form at all. But Collan wasn't a duelist. He was a manipulator, a monster in human skin who'd never fought a battle in his life.
And yet Jaden stayed still.
Because he knew the truth.
Collan had an artifact. And the moment Jaden stepped into irs range he would activate it. He would stop time and Jaden would be at his mercy just like he was before. Except a lightsaber would do a hell of a lot more damage than a dagger.
Nine seconds.
That's what Jaden theorised was the limit was based on the previous attack. If he could do it forever then he would've killed all of them on the Eternal Horizon. He didn't. He needed to know more about the limits before he gave into his anger.
Collan saw the hesitation. He grinned, lips parting just slightly as his eyes glinted under the red haze of his blade.
"What's wrong?" he said, voice rising loud enough for all in the chamber to hear. "Is this it? All that rage... all that screaming... was it just bluster?"
Jaden stayed quiet, but the grip on his saber tightened.
"No wonder you let your little friends died," Collan said, circling slowly. "You couldn't stop me then. You can't now. All this strength, and nothing to show for it."
Jaden's fingers trembled.
A breath. A blink. Then the rage overtook him.
He roared and lunged forward, his lightsaber raised high. The dark side flooded through his veins like fire as he stepped in fast, cutting downward in a powerful arc aimed straight for Collan's throat.
But Collan didn't even flinch.
The moment Jaden's blade neared, everything around him shifted.
Time snapped to a stop.
The world froze. Jaden's body locked mid-strike, trapped in its momentum. Collan moved easily out of the way, walking calmly behind him. His expression was smug as he turned and let the moment pass.
Jaden's saber cleaved through empty air.
He whipped around and struck again—another miss.
He tried to grab him with the Force—nothing.
He hurled his saber only for it to hit nothing.
Again. Again. Again. Nothing but air.
Collan danced around each strike like a phantom. Each time Jaden committed to a motion, Collan simply vanished from that spot and reappeared somewhere new, untouched and unfazed; simply laughing at him like it was all a joke.
Jaden's breathing turned ragged.
Then the pain started.
The first slash tore across his back, he didn't even feel the lightsaber hit, the pain just suddenly appeared there. The second went deeper, across his upper arm, singeing his skin black. Jaden turned, but Collan was already gone again.
Another wound followed, his thigh this time, slicing through muscle.
"You look tired," Collan mocked, the man's voice echoing behind him. "Is this where your journey as brought you, all of it to end like this?"
Jaden growled, his chest rising and falling in unsteady rhythm. He spun with his saber in a full arc, trying to catch him mid-step. But again, Collan vanished. Then another cut. Another sting. His right bicep, then his ribs, his hips, his shoulder. Every few hits Collan would pause to mock him only to start again.
"You'll die as you lived, as nothing," Collan said with a laugh.
Jaden's jaw clenched. He reached for his belt.
There was one card left.
He rushed again, screaming, his saber dragging behind him as he surged forward. His body burned with pain, but he didn't stop. He slammed his foot down on the ground and channeled the force through it smashing it and kicking up debris. He then rushed forward and closed the gap fast, closing into a full-body lunge.
Collan saw him coming. His grin widened. Time stopped.
He slashed sideways, straight through Jaden's abdomen. The blow was clean. As soon as time resumed he would be disembowelled; Collan hoped that he'd be able to see his guts spill out, but with the intense heat produced by a lightsaber he doubted it.
"Game over..." Collan stepped back with confidence, savoring the feel of victory.
Then time resumed.
And his smile disappeared.
Because Jaden didn't fall with his midsection cut open like a tauntaun. No. His midsection just shimmered revealing it wasn't Jaden but a mere hologram that he had placed half a foot in front of him when he'd kicked up the debris.
As he wasn't injured Jadens momentum continued to carry him forward through the hologram.
Collan's eyes widened. He tried to retreat, but it was too late.
(AN: Is this a cliffhanger? It sure sounds like one. Damn is this all just that easy? Anyway I am gonna go writing my Mark in the MCU one see ya)
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