"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.
Jaden sliced diagonally struck clean through his torso, shoulder to waist. The saber bit deep and tore through layers of fine silks and flesh, slicing straight across his midsection and out through his hip. Jaden cursed as he could feel it wasn't a lethal hit; when Collan had scrambled backwards he moved just out of his range.
Collan screamed.
The pain ripped out of his throat as he stumbled backwards, his fine robes split open, he dropped his lightsaber as he clutched at the wound, tears streaming down his face as he fell onto the ground. Jaden advanced, his chest heaving, looking positively murderous as he approached Collan with his lightsaber drawn up, poised to finish the job.
"You bastard!" Collan spat, crawling away. "You'll die for that!"
Jaden thrust forward hoping to end his life once and for all, but Collan activated the artifact again, vanishing from the flow of time, and scrambled backward. When the moment returned, he was already with his guards at the top of the steps, one hand still gripping his open wound.
"How dare you!" he screamed. "You filthy mongrel! You think this changes anything?! I'll kill you!"
Jaden didn't care.
He kept walking. He was no longer thinking, the injuries, the use of the dark side. What walked towards Collan now was more beast than man.
Five guards rushed towards him with vibroswords and stun batons, and all of them the moment they stepped to close were crushed and deformed by the force; they entire bodies exploded into a bloody misty as their bones erupted through their skin and they resembled more of a sack of meat than a person.
Jaden continued onwards to Collan his boots dragged through blood and dust. His body swayed slightly with each step, but he didn't stop. He stared at Collan with eyes that burned like a star.
That scared Collan.
No one had ever broken through his power.
Collan's hand snapped to his hip. He pulled out a massive blaster pistol, heavy and black, with glowing blue coils down its side. He gripped it in both hands and raised it toward Jaden.
"I'm ending this!" he shouted. "I hope you like it. This is a very special blaster."
He pulled the trigger.
The bolt that emerged wasn't normal. It was massive, brighter and denser than anything Jaden had ever seen. The bolt was lined with a ripple of unstable plasma, crackling with energy as it screamed through the air toward him.
Jaden moved to deflect it.
He raised his saber and angled it just right.
The bolt hit, but unlike every other bolt he'd deflected until that point, it wasn't deflected. Jaden was launched backwards, the sheer force of the blast blasting his feet off the ground. He flew across the chamber like a ragdoll, crashing through the first stone wall behind him. The impact shattered his ribs.
The second wall broke his shoulder.
The third fractured his leg and almost knocked his saber loose from his grip.
The fourth sent him bouncing across the floor before he slammed into the far wall and collapsed with a ragged cough. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he tried to move. His arm failed him. His leg refused to bend. The bolt had been redirected upwards in the final second, leaving a glowing gash in the ceiling of the temple, but the damage had been done.
He dropped to his knees.
Then fell forward. The saber lay out of reach. His vision blurred. His breath came shallow. Every bone felt broken.
Heavy boots closed in around him. Mercenaries. Cultists. Acolytes. They surrounded him in a wide circle.
"Put him with the senator... he won't have an easy death for his crimes."
That was the last thing Jaden heard before he passed out.
...
Collan screamed like a child as the medical droid dragged the gel wand over the open wound that stretched from his right shoulder down across his ribs. The acrid scent of burned flesh filled the private infirmary chamber, just off the main central chamber m. He writhed in place, hands clawing at the edge of the table, spittle forming at the corner of his mouth as the droid ignored his protests and continued the procedure.
"Pain levels exceeding tolerance," the droid noted in a dull monotone, pressing a long needle into Collan's neck before he could protest again. "Administering sedative."
"Damn you, not too much!" Collan hissed. "I need to be conscious—do you even know what I am about to do, you worthless pile of scrap?!"
Collan screamed again as the gel wand dragged across the length of his torso, his hands clenched into fists so tight his nails dug into his palms. The wound, deep and blackened from Jaden's saber, stretched from shoulder to hip and was still hurting inmensely beneath the medical droid's stabilizing gel. The table beneath him rattled with every violent spasm of pain.
"I swear to the Core, if you keep putting that gel on me—!" he shouted, his voice cracking.
"Silence is advised," the droid responded without looking at him. "Interruption will delay healing."
Across the room, behind a pane of tinted glass, two figures watched in cold silence. Senator Nyla Verris stood with her arms crossed over her chest, lips drawn in a tight line. She wore the dark cloak that all acolytes wore. Next to her was General Tyran Vox, Supreme Commander of Republic Special Projects, a veteran with graying temples and a chest full of commendations that he refuse to take off so he wore them under his cloak.. He stood with his hands behind his back as he watched the scene.
"Looks like your visionary's bleeding out," Vox muttered. "I warned you. He's reckless."
Nyla didn't look away from the table. "He wanted to prove he could fight them as he is."
"And all he proved is that he's a liability," Vox said. "The boy should've been eliminated the moment he breached the outer perimeter."
Vox exhaled slowly. "The Oberon is gone. Checkpoint Delta wiped out. Two hundred dead. Our location compromised. And yet the boy is still breathing."
"All because Collan wanted a show," Vox said. "He got one. And a scar to remember it by."
Below them, Collan shouted again, then slammed his fist against the side of the table, the sharp clang echoing against the chamber walls.
Vox turned away from the window and looked at Nyla. "We both know what we should be discussing."
Her eyes flicked toward him. "Not now."
"We're too close to pull the foundation out from under him," Nyla said. "Whether we like it or not, everything's tied to him."
Vox narrowed his eyes. "Tied too tightly for my liking."
She didn't respond.
After a moment, Vox stepped closer to the doorway. "When the opportunity presents itself," he said, "someone will need to handle Jaden properly. No more theatrics. No more near-deaths. Just an end."
Nyla remained by the window, watching as the droid carefully bandaged Collan's torso.
"Yes," she said. "When the time is right."
(AN:Short one today boys, no reason why. It's just the way it is 😬)
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