[POV QUI GON JIN]
Due to our prolonged exchange of judgmental blows, I noticed that our opponent was becoming increasingly impatient and careless.
After parrying another series of our attacks, he managed to push us back.
He landed several meters in front of us and, locking his eyes onto us, struck first, accelerating to such a speed that I could barely follow him with my eyes, most likely hoping to throw me off my rhythm.
Instead of meeting my saber, however, he leaped over me, completely bypassing me, and attacked Obi-Wan, who, caught off guard by the situation, barely managed to parry his blade at the last possible moment, preventing it from taking his head off.
I immediately changed the direction of my attack, striking at his back, but he had already knocked Obi-Wan’s lightsaber aside and parried my blade literally only a few centimeters from his face.
In the light of our lightsabers, I could see the anger growing in his eyes, along with the hatred that seemed to be trying to throw me off balance.
I pushed him backward because he was clearly a warrior who based his fighting style on agility, so I would never be able to outpace him.
I had to outsmart him.
I struck from the side immediately after forcing him back, hoping that, thrown off balance, he would make a mistake.
However, he regained his balance instantly, performing a quick backward roll and, the moment he landed, smoothly parried Obi-Wan’s attack as he rejoined our assault.
Obi-Wan attacked with a ferocity that surprised even me, considering that Soresu was the form he usually preferred.
Seeing the opportunity, I immediately joined him, increasing the pressure on the presumed Sith.
The man, despite putting up significant resistance, slowly began to retreat, clearly finding himself under increasing pressure.
Suddenly, he leaped backward and struck us with the Force at the same time.
We managed to resist it, but it still held us back for several seconds.
During that time, he opened a door, threw us a provocative glance, and disappeared into the darkness beyond it.
I looked at Obi-Wan.
He merely nodded to let me know he was ready, and without a moment’s hesitation, we ran after him into the darkness.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Obi-Wan gripping the hilt of his lightsaber more and more tightly, a clear sign that he was beginning to lose his composure.
It should not have filled me with confidence about the rest of this fight, but I had trained him for so many years and knew that I could entrust him with my life.
I devoted one hundred percent of my attention to the threat before me, trusting his judgment and believing that he would not allow those emotions to affect his fighting.
After all, I had not lied to the Jedi Council.
He was ready to undertake the Trials of Knighthood.
There was very little more I could teach him.
When we passed through the doorway, we found ourselves inside what appeared to be part of a reactor, with long bridges suspended over a bottomless abyss that, at first glance, looked neither particularly durable nor suited for our battle.
Seeing that the Zabrak was retreating, we pressed forward, attacking him from both sides.
He parried our attacks and launched himself from the platform onto one of the bridges.
We jumped after him, immediately resuming our assault.
Because of where we were fighting, the battle noticeably slowed down and changed from a contest of raw power into a technical exchange of blows.
Every time our opponent tried to use the Force to throw something at us or collapse one of the bridges, we stopped him, unwilling to damage the reactor that powered the entire city.
The Sith also clearly had no wish to die, because he likewise restrained himself from using the Force excessively.
As a result, our battle became almost entirely a technical duel of swordsmanship.
We fought while leaping from bridge to bridge when, suddenly, the warrior closed the distance and struck Obi-Wan in the stomach with a spinning kick.
I watched his figure fall from the bridge.
I could not take my attention off my opponent, so I did not know whether, in a moment, I would feel his death through the Force, or whether he had fallen into the shaft and died.
For the first time during this fight, my emotions were shaken.
I immediately pressed forward violently and struck him with all the strength I could gather, sending him flying several meters away.
He slammed into the bridge below with such force that the entire structure visibly shook and bent under the tremendous impact, while he himself stumbled and rolled across it to disperse the remaining force of the blow.
I threw a quick glance toward Obi-Wan and saw that he was already pulling himself back onto the platform.
I calmed down immediately and leaped after my opponent.
Regaining control of my emotions, I deliberately prolonged every exchange of blows to give Obi-Wan time to recover and rejoin me.
Normally, not wanting to endanger my Padawan, I should have tried to defeat him on my own.
However, I had not forgotten what Anakin had told me.
I had no intention of dying yet, not when I could witness the true Chosen One who was destined to bring balance to the Force.
And influence the course of history.
I could see more and more clearly that our red-and-black, horned friend was clearly trying to lure me to a specific place.
If I had to guess, this was exactly the situation Anakin had warned me about.
Had I not been warned, I would most likely have continued pressing the attack, trusting in my own abilities.
But Anakin had made me realize something I normally never would have noticed.
When had I become so proud and so convinced of my own abilities?
What gave me that strange confidence that I could defeat him on my own?
And then it struck me.
I had believed that his dark side had no influence over my mind.
But it did.
It was not taking control of me.
It was merely amplifying my pride, trying to use my own flaws to lure me into a trap.
A cold sweat broke out across my forehead.
For the first time, I felt truly violated.
If even I could be so vulnerable to its influence, then what protected the rest of the Order from its corruption?
That thought began echoing through my mind, refusing to let me focus on the fight.
What if I was not the only one vulnerable to it?
What if the influence of the dark side was far subtler than we had ever imagined?
I pushed those thoughts aside for later.
I could not afford the luxury of distraction, not against an opponent like this.
The moment I felt Obi-Wan’s presence drawing close to me once again, I resumed my advance.
We leaped onto an elevator moving upward.
The confined space transformed our battle into a technical duel in which we were evenly matched.
I struck from the side.
He blocked.
He attacked from below.
I parried.
And so we became locked in an endless exchange of blows, each of us restraining the full extent of our power.
Obi-Wan managed to catch up to us by leaping from bridge to bridge.
Then I noticed that the Sith was glancing behind himself more and more often, as if checking how much farther he had to go.
A barely noticeable grimace appeared on his face.
He was leading us somewhere specific.
The elevator we were riding reached one of the bridges.
Our dark side user pushed me back with the Force and immediately turned, sprinting toward the far end of the bridge.
Without a moment’s hesitation, we ran after him.
After several seconds of running, I spotted the first force fields ahead of us.
In an instant, Anakin’s words came back to me.
This had to be the place he had been talking about.
I slowed down and waited for Obi-Wan.
Only after he had caught up with me did we cross the first barrier together.
I saw not only my Padawan’s surprised expression, but also the unmistakable shock on our enemy’s face.
For the first time since the beginning of the duel, his confidence visibly disappeared.
Clearly, he had not expected me to understand his plan and deliberately refuse to separate from Obi-Wan.
While we waited for the force field to open, I sat down and began to meditate, clearing my mind of the terrifying thoughts that had haunted me ever since I realized the influence of the dark side on my mind.
Only one thing mattered now.
Defeating our opponent.
I had no time for such reflections.
The force fields disappeared, and we managed to pass through the next barriers.
The presumed Sith also made it through.
I could see that he was desperately trying to come up with a new plan to defeat us.
A few seconds before the last barrier opened, I stood up, ignited the lightsaber I had deactivated during meditation, and once again assumed my fighting stance.
Obi-Wan also tensed.
The moment the barrier dropped, we charged.
I attacked from the right, supporting myself with my left hand, while Obi-Wan struck from the left.
We launched our assault, overwhelming him with attacks from both sides.
Once again, he began to retreat.
In his eyes, I could see growing anger and hatred.
It seemed as though they were spilling out with every strike he made.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan surged forward, unleashing a series of lightning-fast cuts from the left.
I immediately joined him, striking from above.
Our opponent spun his double-bladed lightsaber with unbelievable speed, stopping both blades at the same time.
Bursts of light reflected from the reactor’s metal walls.
We did not give him even a moment to breathe.
Obi-Wan followed with another thrust.
The Sith leaned aside by only a few centimeters, and I seized the opportunity, delivering a powerful slash from the right.
Instead of blocking, he pushed off the ground and spun through the air.
My blade sliced through nothing but empty space.
He landed on the opposite side of the shaft.
For a fraction of a second, he stood still, then leaped straight between us.
His lightsaber became a crimson whirlwind.
One blade forced Obi-Wan to take a step back, while the other immediately came at me.
I parried it literally only centimeters from my face.
Sparks flew in every direction.
Without letting up the pressure, I kicked him in the side.
I expected it to throw him off balance.
Instead, he used the force of my kick to perform another spin, landing several meters away.
Perfect…
I could not stop myself from admiring our enemy’s fighting style.
He seemed born for combat.
Obi-Wan did not allow him a moment to recover.
He immediately closed the distance, unleashing a series of rapid strikes characteristic of Soresu, though far more aggressive than usual.
I joined him.
For the next several seconds, we no longer fought as individuals.
We fought as one.
Whenever I attacked from above, Obi-Wan struck from below.
Whenever he forced our opponent into a block, I immediately exploited the opening he exposed.
Our enemy began to retreat.
For the first time since the duel had begun.
His breathing quickened.
His movements remained incredibly precise, yet I could see that he was increasingly forced to respond to our attacks instead of dictating the pace of the battle himself.
Then…
He stopped retreating.
For a brief instant, he left a small opening in his defense.
Obi-Wan moved first.
I struck almost simultaneously.
That was exactly what he had been waiting for.
With one lightning-fast motion, he deactivated one blade of his lightsaber.
He spun the hilt around his body.
The second crimson blade ignited from the opposite end, cutting through the air in a wide arc.
Only then did I understand…
It had been a trap from the very beginning.
Suddenly, I felt a searing pain that almost completely robbed me of my senses.
For a split second, it felt as though my entire left arm were melting.
Instinctively, I threw myself backward, barely managing to keep my balance as I retreated from the fight.
Only then did I look down.
My left arm was gone.
Where, only a moment earlier, it had held my lightsaber, there was now nothing but a perfectly cauterized stump left by a lightsaber blade.
For a moment, my heart stopped.
Had Obi-Wan not intercepted the next strike…
I would not have lost an arm.
I could be gutted in half like an animal.
…..
Autor Note
I didn’t expect the fight scene to be so difficult to write; if you notice any errors or inconsistencies, please let me know.
Facts about reactors 😅😅😅
1.
A reactor can level an entire city if something goes seriously wrong.
The biggest ships and facilities use incredibly powerful reactors.
If one of them goes critical, the resulting explosion can wipe out an entire city.
That’s one of the reasons Jedi try not to throw people around with the Force while fighting near one.
2.
Reactor complexes are basically giant mazes.
They’re full of maintenance bridges, force fields, blast doors, cooling systems, service tunnels, and moving platforms.
Getting around them isn’t easy, especially in the middle of a lightsaber duel.
3.
Even Jedi and Sith have to hold back near a reactor.
Using too much Force could damage the cooling systems or power conduits.
If the reactor becomes unstable, nobody wins.
That’s why fights in places like this often turn into technical lightsaber duels instead of raw displays of power.
4.
One reactor can power an entire city.
On many worlds, a single massive reactor supplies electricity to shields, elevators, communications, factories, and countless other systems.
Destroying it could shut down an entire capital.
5.
Those narrow bridges aren’t there by accident.
They were built so engineers and droids can reach every part of the reactor without shutting it down.
They make perfect maintenance routes…
and unfortunately, maybe not they also make perfect places for a lightsaber duel.
😊
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Deej Stone (: