SWRPF Archive Trials of the Force Chronicles: The Blood War Of Apsolon

Unknown




As the blade of Tenku Zan began to be redirected back toward his face, the shrouded figure felt the Miraluka suddenly disengage his attack, moving into a backward spin before launching forward into a series of high and low attacks that came in slashes at the mysterious figure with considerable enhanced speed.
As they did so, the shrouded man rhythmically shifted his weight slightly with his hips in tune with the swings, veering off at minute angles as the first slashes from Zan passed around his thighs and waist, succeeding in scoring little hits there and rending off tiny pieces of cloth in the process.
When the attacks alternated high, he brought his blade up, tapping each strike away while guarding his centerline and as the Force shifted, telling him of an impending movement coming low to the ground, the figure recognized Zan moving into a floor sweep.
As the Miraluka's leg passed through in an arc towards his legs, the figure had already shifted a step backward, where, in one of his legs being cleared from the attack, he brought his leading leg up in the air to avoid the full assault.
As Zan whipped his blade around in a low horizontal slice coming in from the right, the shrouded man, instead of placing his leading foot back down, pivoted on his rear foot and rotated in a one-hundred eighty degree angle to Zan's left, just as the General's blade came whizzing in past his shrouded face when the horizontal slice had abruptly turned into an upper lunge.

The circle-cadence carried him directly behind the position of his opponent and he placed his leading foot down onto the musty floor of the shattered building, his lightsaber blade followed through with the movement, and the last foot or so of his lightsaber came within an inch of burning the top of Tenku Zan's head.

The shrouded man stood directly behind Zan with the business-end of his lightsaber pointed down on the Miraluka's skull, and it did not shake or waver so much as a hairs breadth.
All in all, from the time the lunge had come, the evasion and counterstrike of the mysterious figure had barely taken half a second.

"You're still quick, Master Zan." The figure said in its staccato voice.
It was not long after the words left his mouth when suddenly little lines had formed across the front of his cloth-stripped mask, and it fell away in peels.
Zan?s upper lunge had been evaded, but it had still come in fast enough to rend the cloth of the outer covering of his face.

The figure slowly and solemnly took his blade off the point on the top of Zan?s head and gave ground a few paces, stopping near the entrance of the building.

As the cloth fell away, the face of a man Zan had known and dueled with back at the Temple came into view.
The Force sight would tell him who it was without even turning around.

Jedi Master Lio Saitoh.




TAG: Zan

 

Scraw




As Ryu kept up the furious assault on the Wookie Master, Scraw couldn't help but notice the young man had indeed almost ceased to rely on his traditional techniques and instead opted for the unorthodox.
Scraw grunted lightly as the young man managed to land a kick against his flank and blocked a volley of sporadic swings before answering back with a well placed strike that crashed down on both of Ryu's blades, causing his wrists to momentarily buckle.
Growling, the feral Wookiee began to advance, blocking more incoming strikes and belting out one or two powerful and well placed strikes afterwards.

As he advanced, he kept the young Knight at bay with increasingly punishing swings, putting the sum of his weight behind every cut.




TAG: Ryu

 

IC: Ryu Strife

Ryu flinched, Scraw's attack were becoming harder to counter. The force he placed behind each blow was making his arms go numb, for the moment he knew he could take a few more hits, but if more like those came him way then he would not be able to properly counter. It made him angry that the wookie had so much strength in him and that he couldn't match that. But you can.... Ryu jumped back, making distance between him and Scraw, the voice had spoken again.

Let me take over and you will be stronger than ever

Ryu started to circle around Scraw, 'Will it be enough to stop him?'

More than enough...he won't stand a chance against your power heheh

Ryu charged at Scraw again swinging his lightsaber with as much force as he could managed making the wookie step back. He wouldn't be able to take down Scraw at least not without some help. 'Fine! just give me the strength NOW!'. If the voice had a face then he swear it was grinning. A strange dark energy started to surrounded Ryu, this time more thick than before.

TAG: JH

 

(Hey, Moon here! I have to apologize to everyone for diappearing like that. I'm back for good now, and it won't happen again.)

 

OCC: Good to hear. Welcome home.

 

OOC: A bit later in the evening then planned, but here.
IC: Tenku Zan

His feint turned lightning lunge almost made it. Almost. His foe had pivoted to his left just barely fast enough to avoid the strike. The same move carried his opponent in a complete circle behind him, with the heat from his lightsaber coming very close to burning off the top of Tenku's head without the blade so much as wavering a millimeter. The sign of a master.

"You're still quick, Master Zan."

As if to give proof to the statement his opponent's mask fell apart, cut by the Tenku's
strike, to reveal a familiar face to the miraluka's force sight. The great Jedi Master Lio Saitoh.

In the back of Tenku's mind, memories of training duels fought against the jedi master were replayed, making note of both changes in style and at the same time similar actions in regards to their current, or rather just finished battle. This was all mostly subconscious on Tenku's part, something that had taken him years of patience to create, just like many of his mental skills and abilities.

The heat of his enemy's blade was removed from the top of his head as the jedi master in question stepped back a few paces, stopping near the entrance.

"Likewise Master Saitoh." Tenku replied as he turned towards the jedi. "I must say, I never even remotely considered you to be the type prone to brutally slaughter his enemies. It unnerves me, to have made such an error."

Tag: JohnHunter
OOC: Not my best, but got better in the dialog I believe. Just need to get back in
character.

 

OCC: A good post, Yuul. [Face_Happy]

Saitoh
Ghost City

"Likewise Master Saitoh." Tenku replied as he turned towards the jedi. "I must say, I never even remotely considered you to be the type prone to brutally slaughter his enemies. It unnerves me, to have made such an error."

Saitoh stood facing him watching him speak, and for a few moments there was only silence.
In those moments the Force conveyed to Zan that this was almost entirely a different Saitoh than he had known in years passed.
Something was different. Out of place.

Lio Saitoh's face was worn, and not like it had been in earlier times but now so much more.
More so like an emotionless mask.
That were fairly recent scars that lined his stony face in certain places, forming what looked to be tiny canyons and cracks set in the shape of fractured webs.

Back at the Temple, Saitoh and Zan had dueled a handful of times in the past, and in all those times Saitoh had never managed to beat the Miraluka Master.
They had stalemated just a couple times, but with the rest belonging in victories to Tenku.
Something was different now though. Saitoh had just barely mananged to best Zan in a skirmish, in a way he never could before.
Memory surfaced in Zan's keen mind, telling him of the report his Master had given him just a year earlier, that Lio Saitoh had died by his hand.
But this could not be. If he had fought Hurubaas and died, how could he be here?


Saitoh heard Zan's reply like an empty echo within his ears. He kept his sharp, hawk-like eyes focused on the powerful Jedi Master standing before him and didn't move.
The outcome of the small skirmish had admittedly been as much of a suprise to him as the former.
He had expected himself to lose.
But then again, certain events which had transpired after the first Strike Team had arrived had apparently transformed his swordsmanship and polished it in a way he could not have foreseen.

But transformed swordsmanship or not, he was still at a disadvantage with Zan.
Where Zan was also a Master with the lightsaber, he was a devastating powerhouse where the Force was concerned.
Back at the Temple he had been one of the only Masters who could help with a construction crew when lifting and planting heavy duracrete pillars in a room they had been restoring.
His telekinetic abilities and likewise abilities of other natures were of an astounding quality.

The duel had been a battle he had barely managed to win. But it was merely a battle, in a war he was sure to lose.


TAG: Zan

 

IC: River

Pain?

River was suddenly aware of the cold snow, the wind, sharp as a knife against her face. And distant sounds? growls maybe? A strikingly familiar sound? lightsabers?

It hurts?

She tried to open her eyes, but found she couldn?t find the right muscles to do it. She tried to move, but it wasn?t working, at all. She tried to reach over to the Force, but found that couldn?t be done either. As that realisation dawned on her, a harsh, metallic taste filled River?s mouth. Her mind sluggishly identified it as a reaction to panic.

What happened?

River breathed in deeply and winced. It hurt, everything did. She felt the icy wind blow furiously and blinked her eyes open. The daze was broken and suddenly everything was astonishingly clear. The pain was sharp and everywhere, as if she had suffered a severe electric shock. The memories were bright, the way he had attacked. River was unable to touch the Force, no matter how hard she tried to; that was probably a reaction to whatever Ryu had used on her, but even so, River couldn?t fight off the panic.

A soft, strangled moan escaped her lips as the Jedi moved. Carefully rolling herself over, River forced herself to her knees. Her vision darkened, standing up was out of the question. Instead, the small woman crawled towards the nearest tree and rested against it, looking around. Would the others think her dead when they couldn?t sense her anymore?

Her eyes fell upon the fight just then, all thoughts of death driven away from her mind by anger and sheer frustration.

It was all about waiting now?

Tag: No one really

--------

... Jeez... I'm rusty!

 

OCC: No! That was good, Angel!

I have an emergency to deal with concerning Darth Real-Life. He's coming at me full force with a burning lightsaber, and I'm going to have to evade and slash his guts out.
I'll be busy today but I'll try to have a new post in by tomorrow. Thanks guys!