Jedi Insurgency 292

Congratulating Yon once more on his promotion to Jedi Knight, Corvus excused himself from the party, and all but teleported to the trial grounds. 

For the moment, he was in an empty training hall, sort of like those rooms in videogames where the player could reset environmental damage, or spawn in enemy types to practice certain skills/move combos. He swore the ancient Jedi must've been the original gamers. 

Inside the large cube-shaped, gun mettle colored room, he began to experiment with his new enhancements. 

To start things off, Corvus sprinted a mile. The 25% increase to speed made his movements effortless. And like a speedster hero from the comic books, he didn't feel any discomfort. Doing a few flips, and Form VII maneuvers with his lightsaber, he slowly adjusted to this speed. 

Next, he activated the trial grounds’ function of spawning things in, and created an obstacle course. In front of him was a never ending series of gates. They were metal walls that started off at 250lbs, and increased in weight by increments of 250. The point of this exercise was to test his strength. 

Running at the first gate, he gripped it from the bottom, effortlessly lifting it up. Passing on through, he met the next one, and continued on until he began struggling, he then managed to lift ten gates. Topping out at 2,500lbs, his max lift weight surpassed the average Wookiee-who lifted about 2,000lbs~-in strength. Perhaps only those rare, top tier bodybuilder Wookiees could match or surpass him. Given those furry aliens’ reputation, that meant Corvus now had the strength to tear a man limb from limb if he so chose. 

Next, he used the Mastery Token-from the SM Prestige Quest-to instantly master Form II, Makashi. 

All sorts of information flooded his mind. Angles of attack, advanced footwork, maintaining a central line, parries, a thousand tiny variances of the lunge, a killer ‘swish & flick’ move, and countless permutations. Mastering Makashi via the System was like inhaling the most superb Spice. Although Corvus didn't indulge in such habits, this high tier level of learning felt like something he could become addicted to. Unfortunately, he only had the one token. 

As for why he chose Makashi? Well, Dooku sliced & diced Anakin + Obi-Wan in a 1v2 holding his own and often coming out on top despite his advanced age. Besides, as he had noticed when choosing to finally learn [Battle Meditation], he engaged in an inordinate amount of 1v1's. Or at the very least the only people who seemed to really be able to threaten him were other melee users. And Makashi was one of the preeminent 1v1 melee techniques. Of course, a super weapon, incredible Force powers, or a shit ton of concentrated firepower could still kill him, but that was much less likely. 

Interestingly, Makashi favored single lightsaber use. Although he could use two, as he generally preferred, the parries, stabs, and footwork often worked best when using the other hand as a counterbalance. In a world without fantasy magic-aka the Force-using two blades was actually incredibly stupid. Back on Earth, any idiot asking for a quick death would charge onto the battlefield with two swords. Dooku, as a matter of fact, disdained the practice, and thought it a notion for lesser beings. In short, Makashi came from a ‘more civilized time.’

Although Ventress technically practiced Makashi with twin lightsabers, the evidence was she got her ass handed to her every time. That either pointed out that two blades didn't fit the style…or Dooku was just so much of a chad that a single blade was all he needed. 

Of course, Corvus had to copy the Master! 

Igniting his single red lightsaber, Corvus spawned in a sparring partner: Darth Malgus. 

Previously, he could only defeat the man thanks to numbers, and the buff of the [Shadow Wrath Form]. Now that he was a Council Master tier Jedi, and Form II master. Corvus wanted to give another crack at it. 

“Die, Jedi.” Malgus said in a gruff tone, lunging at him with the wild swipes of Form VII. 

Holding his blade up vertically in a flourish, Corvus maintained his central line, slowly giving ground with a parry to the right, then a feint to the left, that swiftly transitioned into a microcut aimed at the Sith's eye. 

Malgus rammed his head forward, using a telekinetic blast to shift Corvus's blade aside. 

His crimson blade hammered downward in a brutal diagonal cut, using power gathered through his shoulders, hips, and the full weight of his bulk to exercise all of his strength. 

Corvus turned his wrist, catching Malgus’s weapon, and guided the strike harmlessly past his shoulder. Malgus staggered half a step due to the sudden absence of resistance. The bald warrior attempted to land a punch, only to have his fist caught. 

Corvus felt his hand trembling due to the impact, as [Fury] greatly enhanced this Sith Maurauder to an extreme degree. And yet, 20 points to Str was not a joke! 

Raising his blade to scrape at Malgus’s kneecaps, the masked Sith twisted aside. The crimson beam of hot death missed its intended target during the upward stroke, leaving a furrow across his breastplate, leaving a glowing line across the armor before he answered with a savage backhand, sending Malgus sprawling. 

Corvus resumed his fencer's pose with one hand behind his back, and slightly dipped his weapon, positioning himself in a perfect stance to either strike or defend. 

Snarling at the taunt, Malgus charged once more, and was met with a series of lightning fast thrusts. 

Corvus's arm was like a spring as within that microsecond, he aimed at the shoulder, wrist, and beneath the ribs, hiding his intentions until the point of impact. Ultimately, he settled on the heart, where his saber had already cleaved apart a section of the breastplate. 

Malgus battered each phantom attack away, but every defense dragged him farther into Corvus’s tempo. His Form VII was a storm of fury, meeting his foe with overhead blows, vicious reversals, and sudden wrathfilled lunges. 

Yet Makashi did not encourage meeting strength with strength. Instead, Corvus invited these strikes with the casual contempt of Count Dooku, redirecting these massive commitments, and punishing the Sith for his over extensions. 

Their blades flashed again and again within an incredibly short time frame. Malgus struck high, to which Corvus parried with a minute turn of the wrist. Malgus cut low, and Corvus stepped around him and scored a wound on the back of his knee.

Malgus roared, spinning into a two-handed sweep meant to tear through Corvus’s guard, and split him in two. 

Corvus leaned away from the blade, pivoted upon his rear foot, and extended his arm with almost casual ease. 

His blade struck Malgus in the throat, ending the duel shortly after it had begun. 

Taking a deep breath, Corvus slowly exhaled. The fight had lasted less then ten minutes, and had been incredibly technical. Several times, he only came out ahead of a specific clash due to his knowledge of Juyo, Form VII. Several of Malgus’s feints were moves Corvus employed himself, and due to a similar level of strength, the Sith Lord's typical style of bum rushing opponents was not effective against him. Not only that, but he had sparred against ‘Malgus’ within the training grounds several times by now. His moveset was known inside and out. 

That is to say, although the fight was not lengthy in time, and he held the upperhand for most of it, it was closer than it appeared. The true test of skill would be to enter the holocron, and battle Ulic Qel-Droma. That memory of Exar Kun's #2 had still handily kicked Corvus's ass even with the [Shadow Wrath State]. Perhaps now that he had promoted, there might be a chance against Qel-Droma. 

Afterall, in the fight against Malgus just now, he hadn't even relied upon Shadow Reading, allowing him to catch glimpses of the future in the shadows of others. 

Closing his eyes, Corvus meditated on his fight, and further analyzed his use of Makashi. How to work the wild nature of his preferred fighting style-Juyo-into this more organized load out. It was like going from a style that preferred tricks, misdirection, and seeming ‘randomness’ full of slashes, into one that preferred stabs, parries, counters, and small, lethal taps. Basically Makashi vs Juyo was like elegance vs predation. It was quite the mental shift in gears when mostly he had fought as a hunter seeking prey. The ability to go invisible, and [Shadow Hop] complimented Juyo quite well. 

Meditating for an hour within Pause, he slowly reconciled the two styles, and then fought against a few other weaker opponents to test some theories. Once he got a sort of hang of things, there was one more thing Corvus needed to experiment on:

Force Powers. 

One of the biggest draws to him was the addition of the ‘shadow’ element to his skills. That he could seemingly bind two abilities together into something transformative. 

The exact text of the quest read:

‘…breathe the essence of shadows into your own abilities, alter them with new effects, and unlock new combinations of existing skills. Such as [Shadow Heal], [Shadow Force Lightning] or a combo such as [Shadow Force Lightning Shield], etc, with endless permutations.’

Focusing upon his known abilities, he held out a hand, and moments later, a sparkling beam of [Shadow Force Lightning] burst onto the scene. Then, using regular [Force Lightning], he saw that the draw upon his FP bar was about the same. The only seeming difference was that his shadow ability was darker? 

‘Hmm, let's try this.’

Spawning in a group of soldiers flanked by a stationary Darth-level Sith, he unleashed [Force Lightning], respawned them, then did it again with the newer ability. 

Upon asking the Sith the difference, he learnt that [Shadow Force Lightning] had induced blindness, actively sapped him of his energy, and he heard whispers in his head. Testing this against a Jedi Master, he got the same results! This was big news. Although he didn't steal the energy for his own use-like what his base Jedi Shadow class let him do-the fact he could lower visibility, and knock the energy out of them, even when they were blocking was such a cancerous technique! It was absolutely filthy! 

Next, he tried something else. [Force Lightning Slow] shot out of his fingertips next. Traditionally, [Slow] was a red orb about the size of a basketball. It exploded affecting about the area of an artillery shell's radius. However when paired with this stream of lightning, it became a massive AOE attack! 

Additionally, what really had Corvus foaming at the mouth, was that this combined ability only counted as one attack. Meaning if he cast [Slow] with his left hand, and [Lightning] with his right, that would cost ‘2 points’ on his FP bar. By combining them, not only did it take on new effects, but it cost less energy to cast! Truly diabolical! 

Next, he surrounded himself on all sides with six Sith. Just as they were about to slash down on him, he exploded with a [Shadow Repulse Lightning]. A mass wave of stormy darkness disintegrated them. In the distance, some extras barely survived, flying around like they were in some hurricane. 

Grinning to himself, Corvus then ran a gauntlet of tests. 

After much experimentarion, it appeared he could string together three abilities at once, such as [Shadow: Push + Lightning + Repulse] or [Shadow: Force Barrier + Energy Resistance + Valor]. He felt that there was a chance to go even further, but it would require either some sort of enlightenment, or further training. Which, given his Force Enlightenment feat, was only a matter of time. That said, spamming many group of three Shadow abilities at once left him feeling somewhat exhausted. His body was a conduit interacting with the Force, and even though he had insane regeneration due to his game body, that was still a lot of power to funnel. 

With a Int of 20, he could easily cast 20 high tier Force powers. Regen that shortly thereafter, then do it again. Upon the third iteration, he started to get cramped fingers, and stinging eyes. By the fourth refill, his bones ached, and breathing started to hurt. He could go even further, but it was clear that there was a price for exercising such exquisite power. 

Lastly, his [Shadow Hop] & [Shadow Wrath State] received an upgrade. 

Previously, [Shadow Hop] was a short teleportation that cost twice as much as any regular ability. However, now when combined with say [Shadow Hop Lightning Valor], he could travel a distance of several miles in an instant at the cost of a normal ability. 

Likewise, [Shadow Wrath Lightning Valor] didn't leave him completely drained and dry within 15 minutes. The buffed version could last up to an hour. 

Of course, for brevities sake, he would continue to simply call them [Shadow Hop] or [Shadow Wrath State] to keep it short. 

Finally, he had touched upon the threshold of the [Shadow Wrath State], much like when he had first called upon this-then-experimental ability. Back then, against the duel with Maul, the entire environment had been pulled into a sort of shadowy domain. Corvus felt like he could do this for an extremely short amount of time, but was on the cusp of something great. 

Staring at his twin red and blue lightsabers, he channeled [Shadow] into the kyber crystals. Black light fell upon his white cloak, and the training room trembled under his power. 

Tython had given him so much, yet it could not keep him. The galaxy was begging for his return. They cried out for his name. They cried out for a savior. For:

Revan.