Knarf lunged and caught Perce’s blade right near the hilt. It felt hot. Perce groaned as he felt his skin singe.  He kicked Knarf in the chest, using the Force to add momentum, and felt his skin repair itself immediately. He let out a loud gruff.
            The Sphere made another pass, sending volleys of fire towards Perce.  He let them hit him. They were mere needles, a tiny pinch, that his body was able to handle, even when they were more numerous.
            ‘I am going to wear you down, Knarf, and you will soon tire,’ said Perce.
            ‘Is that so?’
            Knarf came at him again.  Perce sent lightning.  Knarf caught it on his blade.  Perce sent a storm of lightning. Knarf went flying across the field, landing on his back and sliding as the lightning pushed him a little further. Perce laughed.
            ‘When I am done with you, you will be begging me to finish you off. You will plead with me and I will carve you limb from limb, kill you in front of your wife, and you will die!’
            ‘Good luck with that!’ said Knarf.  He stood up, and tapped his helmet twice with his index.
            Perce snorted. ‘That beskar isn’t going to protect you for much longer!’
            He sent more lightning as he advanced on Knarf.  He could hear the slicer gargle with pain, as the lightning danced across the armour.  Knarf bent over and touched the ground with his hands, but remained on his feet. Perce kept advancing.  Knarf stood up and raised his lightsaber, taking a wide stance.  Around him, the air began to move and the lightning began to twist like a whirlwind and all the lightning Perce was sending was gathering in the one place now.  Perce stopped, but the lightning kept dancing and twirling around Knarf’s lightsaber.  Then Knarf sent it back at Perce and the twirling lightning flew towards Perce, sending him to the ground.  He rolled and jumped up, using the Force to propel himself high into the air. He landed next to Knarf for close combat.
            Knarf was nimble and Perce assumed he was taking some risks given he had his armour.  The Sphere flew low and shot Perce enough to send him staggering back.  The Sphere took a few moments to hover between him and Knarf.
            ‘Out of my way, Sphere!’
            The Sphere did not obey.  He sighed in exasperation.  Then he noticed that Knarf was atop the Sphere, sending Force energy of some kind his way. It was weak, it wasn’t even what regular Jedi could send, and it wasn’t enough to hurt him, but it was enough to annoy him.  Perce allowed his rage to fuel him and sent a barrage of lightning that caught the Sphere more than it did Knarf.  He heard its pain and it jerked.  Knarf swayed and staggered and jumped off the Sphere’s top, onto Perce.
            Perce was ready.  He aimed his lightsaber towards Knarf’s underarms where his armour was weakest, but he missed as Knarf landed sideways, and slashed across the Mandalorian’s stomach, causing nothing more but a mere graze.
            ‘Hey!’ cried Knarf.  ‘Now I’m going to have to get that repolished.’
            ‘Oh, pity!’  Perce slashed this way and that, letting lightning flow onto his lightsaber and dance across it. He hit Knarf’s blade as it came crashing down on him and they locked blades. ‘I don’t know how your wife tolerates being married to such an arrogant and condescending krif.’ The lightning transferred to Knarf’s lightsaber, blue twisting around the orange blade, and he backed away reflexively. Perce sent another onslaught of lightning at both Knarf and the Sphere.
            The Sphere took flight, lightning still dancing across it. Perce aimed a bolt of lightning at Knarf’s leg, lifting his hand and forming a claw with it, working the dark side to corrupt it as he had on Mandalore.
            The Mando-Jedi chuckled. Perce scowled.
            ‘That tactic isn’t going to work this time,’ said Knarf. ‘I may not have regeneration skills as you do, and it might be my prosthetic, over which I have less control with the Force, but Lian is the guardian of the Crypt now, and he is a healer. Since I share power from the Crypt with Shadie, he can heal me. I mean, I still feel it, but more as just a tingle.’
            Perce grunted and Knarf burst into laughter.
            ‘You’re funny, Perce, you’re funny.’
            ‘Jokes on you, Knarf, or at least it will be when I kill you.’
            The two slicers exchanged some more attacks and parries.  Knarf twirled around and hacked at Perce.  He blocked.  Knarf did the move again, and again.  Perce blocked it every time. Then suddenly, Knarf came again, but twirling the other way and he hacked off Perce’s lightsaber hand.
            ‘AARGH!’ Perce cried out in pain, as his hand hit the ground, his lightsaber powering off as it landed next to it.  He looked at Knarf feeling much anger, knowing it was reflected through his gaze.  ‘You fool!’
            He pushed with the Force and Knarf flew a few feet back.  Perce quickly called his hand to him using his other hand and placed it on his wrist. He held it a moment, feeling the tingling of the regeneration, as the cauterised tissue began to grow back into place.  Then he let go.  He looked at Knarf who looked from the ground, back to Perce, then to his hand.  He could not see the man’s face, but this one took a few steps back. His stance gave his astonishment away, as one shoulder was kept back, as though Knarf were ready to turn away and run.  Perce took another moment before moving his hand, his fingers, turning his wrist, as though he were exercising it.  Then he used that very hand that Knarf had sliced off to call his lightsaber to it, and powered on his weapon anew.
            ‘Yeah, I might have forgotten how effective that was,’ said Knarf.
            Perce began to laugh loudly and uncontrollably. His laughter grew and echoed through the darkening field.
            ‘You cannot win, Knarf!’ he said.  ‘You can try, but you will fail every time.  I will regenerate again and again.  My limbs will always glue back or grow back.  Yours will not, that is why I have the advantage in this fight and you do not.’
            ‘I have the Sphere fighting with me,’ Knarf retorted.
            ‘Not for much longer!’ Perce cocked his head towards the other side of the arena, where he could see a group approaching.  Knarf turned his head towards it too.  Perce knew that if Shadie did not want to be captured by the Empire, she would need the Sphere to come to her aid.  This opened the door for Perce to fight Knarf with no interference from anything or anyone.
            ‘It will truly be just you and me now, Knarf! And you will die!’

Continue Reading Chapter Twelve

Read the Epilogue

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

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Three of the rancors were down, the green Togruta was riding another, and the other two were fending off the Sith as much as they were the Jedi.  They had been for the most part resistant to Relsor’s powers. He was using much of his energy to steer them into the incoming Sith.  Many Sith had been strong enough to resist the sensations of malady. Many who weren’t were down already.
            Brenum was swarmed with Sith.  Relsor sent lightning towards the onslaught but they had backed him up against one of the rancors, who was flailing its paws, attempting to grab something or someone to eat. Trylia was on the other side of the other rancors with Knarf and Talyc.  Fane kept jumping into the air while fighting his own group of Sith, aided by the old Sith master who had been accompanying them of late.
            Relsor had a flash for a moment, where he thought about letting Brenum be killed. Then he thought better of it, this was neither the place, nor the time, nor would it change anything. He had given his word, and he could leverage that in the future to allow the Jedi to leave him alone. He could take over the Empire and leave Mandalore alone. Or perhaps he could exist without bother and that would be the end of it.
            Relsor looked back at Brenum and realised he could not see him.  There was a red blur of lightsabers, and amidst them the odd flash of yellow or blue could be seen.
            ‘Shadie!  Perce!’ cried Relsor.  ‘Barrage of lightning! Now!’
            Right away, the two were by his side and the three created an immense lightning storm and great barrage. As though understanding his intent, Shadie switched her footing and changed the direction of her lightning a bit, Perce readjusted as well.  Relsor and Perce still had the power of the Crypt, even though Shadie was the Master of it now, and although her power was not shared with him, somehow he felt her connect to him momentarily. Their minds reached a place in the Force, and he understood; two masters of the Crypt still living could connect through the Force. Their connection was brief and weak, but enough to coordinate their lightning in great waves.  The Sith were swept away with every new wave they sent, like an enraged ocean crashing along the coast, its waves hitting and carrying a sea-ship offshore.  Finally, no Sith remained around the Jedi.  Brenum looked towards them.  He nodded.
            Suddenly, a Sith jumped down from one of the rancors, on top of Brenum, ready to strike him.  Relsor was by his side in no time, blocking the Sith’s staff.  He used the Force to choke his enemy dead.
            Brenum stared at him bewildered. ‘Thanks,’ he said at last.
            Relsor nodded, unable to answer. He did not deserve his thanks; he wanted him as dead as that Sith. Yet, somehow, something in Relsor prevented him from betraying his agreement. He had promised until Trylia was safe. As far as he was concerned, with all these Sith from the Empire, she was not yet safe. And even then, he could not ignore the fact that he was on the very planet where he was…what? Created? Conceived? Was he even fully Chiss? He clenched his teeth. He hated what Kromus had revealed, yet he could not ignore it.
            ‘Uh, look, sorry.’ Brenum sounded unsure.
            Relsor took a breath.  ‘No. The hate you sense in me is towards the Sith.’
            ‘Are you all right, Relsor?’ said Brenum.  ‘Only you just saved me from that Sith. That’s not like you.’
            ‘I don’t know what is like me anymore,’ Relsor admitted.  ‘I question my place in this galaxy.’  He looked at the Jedi.  ‘Ignore me.’
            He turned to regroup with the others in the battle.  Brenum took his arm, stopping him.
            ‘What was on that datapad?’ asked Brenum.
            Relsor turned his head to the side to look at Brenum.  ‘It is best if Trylia explains it to you.’ He took a beat. ‘I made a promise and she is not yet safe.’
            Brenum nodded.  The two made their way towards the cluster.  Shadie looked up into the sky; Relsor saw the Sphere approach from a vector.
            ‘There we go,’ said Shadie.  ‘As summoned, it arrives.’
            The Sphere joined the fray, shooting the Sith and creating gaps in the cluster of remaining Sith.
            Relsor lifted up his arms.  ‘Be warned!’ he called out. He used the Force to create a wave of malady.  The Jedi wavered a bit, Usharr breathed in, seemingly embracing the sensation.  Fane, who was close by, grabbed a hold of Relsor’s arm.
            ‘A bit more of a warning next time, eh!’ he said.
            Many Sith swayed where they stood, allowing the Jedi to strike them down. Alegna kept shooting from atop the rancor, while Talyc and Nriwe used the rancors as cover, shooting the Sith and creating enough chaos for the Jedi to do their work.
            Relsor looked over at Fane.  ‘One day, you and I will have to face our destiny and fight. When that day comes, remember today.’
            Relsor took off at a brisk walk.  The fight was almost over, and he could not bear to remain here any longer.  He bent low, gathering all his energy for one final blow, and put his hand to the ground and it flickered with lightning.  All who stood nearby felt it and many fell.  He looked up, the Jedi were finishing off the remaining Sith.  Relsor kept the lightning going.  It seemed the Jedi knew how to dance around it, while Shadie added her own lightning to it. The rancors roared a final time and then fell; the remaining tarentateks yelped and fell.  Alegna jumped off her rancor, landing by the Mandalorians’ side.
            Once the dust had settled, Relsor could see that all the Sith were destroyed.

Continue Reading Chapter Eleven

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

Perhaps you’ll also enjoy Stardust Destinies I: Variate Facing; fantasy action-adventure taking place in a realm strong with magic where prophecies are dictated by dragons. https://binkyproductions.com/stardustdestinies