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((Vyrtem: +4/+4/+12 unarmed/tutaminis --taking a -9 on defense-- sacrificing offense for attunement
Mina: +3/+3 ataru))

Tutaminis 8
128+5*2
266/308 (his affinity, all of his made post counts are multiplied by two)

unarmed: 2+3/5
2+5/15

soresu 1
7+6/21 ))

Vyrtem:
Health: 4
Stamina: 4
Attunement: 27

Mina:
Health: 2
Stamina: 3
Attunement: 4-2=2

Vyrtem took a step forward and did not even turn around to face the girl. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly. Had this really gotten to be so easy? Was combat with his contemporaries now little more than a game? He had grown so much in so little time, he was interested in how much more he could learn given a lifetime of study.

Beyond that, if he had fallen this far for Valya in such a short time, he marveled at the thought of a lifetime with her. There were all sorts of stories about love. Things he'd never paid attention to. But he wondered now if it was like this for them, too. If love meant standing up in the face of evil, no matter how great, to protect what you had.

He wondered how the Sith weren't using power like this all the time. How much easier it is to be happy than angry was astonishing to him. He lamented the fact that they might never know the feeling.

All of this he thought, as he felt and heard a lightsaber blade coming at his back. He took a breath and turned around, reaching out with his bare hand and preparing to put an end to this nonsense.

"I've got you now!"

]"Vyrtem!" She tried to run forward, but that deceptively strong hand on her shoulder held her still. She heard a voice whisper behind her.

"It's all part of his plan. Be patient, child... Have faith."

22 -5 20 | 11 15

((Vyrtem: +5/+5/+12 unarmed/tutaminis
Mina: +0/+0 ataru))

Tutaminis 8
128+6*2
268/308 (his affinity, all of his made post counts are multiplied by two)

unarmed: 2+3/5
2+6/15

soresu 1
7+6/21 ))

Vyrtem:
Health: 4
Stamina: 4
Attunement: 33

Mina:
Health: 2
Stamina: 3
Attunement: 2-2=0

Vyrtem held onto the blade and didn't let go as he soaked the power into his body.

Mina's eyes got huge as she saw what he had done and failed to understand it. She hadn't been out for his show earlier. This was all new to her. First he outplays her without even activating his lightsaber, and then he somehow managed to... To catch her lightsaber? To completely violate the laws of physics? What was going on? Was this some sort of joke? She frantically looked around, her exhausted mind struggling to grasp a reality that suddenly made no sense. Vyrtem the pitiful was suddenly a God in the arena, and the crowd was cheering? Her eyes focused on her father's face, and his features were a mask of neutrality. She could read nothing there. She panicked. She pushed harder on her lightsaber, trying to push it through Vyrtem's impossible hand.

Valya stared, agape. Now that she was able to see what he was doing... What? That was... Impossible...

"Good. Now use it."Armatus was watching, excited as the boy tipped the scales of the battle in one fluid motion.

12 -4 24 4 4

((Vyrtem: +5/+5/+12 unarmed/tutaminis
Mina: +0/+0 ataru))

Tutaminis 8
128+7*2
270/308 (his affinity, all of his made post counts are multiplied by two)

unarmed: 2+3/5
2+7/15

soresu 1
7+6/21 ))

Vyrtem:
Health: 4
Stamina: 4
Attunement: 33

Mina:
Health: 2
Stamina: 3
Attunement: 0

Vyrtem grit his teeth and began to push back against Mina's grip, attempting to force her to her knees. He could end this now. She was powerless before his might, and he would make her kneel to accept her fate. His plan had worked; she was beyond exhausted. She was weak. And he was strong. His training had finally paid off, and he did not fear the might Mina Toth anymore. She was scum to scrape off his boot. He pushed with all of his might, trying to force her down with one hand, his other fist still clutching Darth Trax' lightsaber, unused. He wanted to prove that he was stronger than her. To prove that they were not even on the same level, so that she might know hopelessness. So that she might learn something from this.



Valya was still staring, unable to speak What are you doing? Vyrtem, what are you DOING? She couldn't imagine why he was prolonging this fight. He'd won already.

18 -4 16 11 1

((Vyrtem: Dark side: 100/ Light side: 50))

Tutaminis 8
128+8*2
266/308 (his affinity, all of his made post counts are multiplied by two)

unarmed: 2+3/5
2+8/15

soresu 1
7+6/21 ))

Vyrtem:
Health: 4
Stamina: 4
Attunement: 33

Mina:
Health: 2
Stamina: 3
Attunement: 0

And suddenly there was a changing of the winds. With one sudden shift of his wrist, Vyrtem snapped the lightsaber up and out of Mina's hand, sending it flipping into the air as her tired eyes failed to follow it. Vyrtem reaches up smoothly and catches it in his right hand, igniting her father's lightsaber and holding it to her neck as she falls to her knees before him.

She was dumbstruck. She couldn't believe.. She couldn't understand... She had... Lost. How could she have lost? She had been bred for this. She had been born for this... "No... No. No. Please, no. No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please don't." Her eyes filled with tears as she stared, pleadingly into Vyrtem's eyes. "Please... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.. I didn't think..."

Valya almost cheered along with the crowd as they applauded the sudden turn in events. Every one of them had expected that blade to go straight through Vyrtem. Nobody had expected that turnabout. But now Vyrtem was faced with a difficult choice... She watched his back, unable to see his eyes from her position outside the ring.

Armatus grew quiet. He watched the outcome of the battle, mindful of the young Sith's reactions to the situation.

((Vyrtem chose the light side, +41 light side points))

Vyrtem's jaw dropped, and everyone in the stadium was deathly silent. His eyes went from the smoking lightsaber to Mina's corpse and back again. What had-

The crowd didn't even move. Nobody did. Even Darth Capulus had been caught off guard. Stunned silent.

"Valya... Get behind me."

Vyrtem had his eyes on the only person in the entire arena who was moving.

Baron Toth. One of the most influential and powerful names in the Sith Empire. Was pacing their way, a horrible aura following him.

Valya refused Vyrtem's order, shrugging past him as he helplessly watched her walk in front of him to face the Baron. "I have something of yours, Baron." She held out the lightsaber to the Sith walking her way, his burning yellow eyes boring holes in her own.

Vyrtem tried to get in front of her, but he found an arm on his shoulder. Darth Armatus was stopping him. Vyrtem watched the disaster developing in slow motion. He was about to lose her all over again...

The Baron stopped before Valya, dressed in regal robes decorated in the finest crimson and gold, his hands dressed in long black gloves and his platinum blonde hair immaculately styled, swept back regally from his smooth, high brow. He drew a long breath and let it out slowly, raising his hand to Valya.

Vyrtem needed to stop this. He needed to-

The librarian merely held the boy's shoulder, keeping him locked in place.

As the Sith raised his hand, Valya held out and placed the black and crimson saber into the Baron's palm.

The Sith examined the lightsaber hilt, as if checking for scratches on its immaculate finish. He ran his thumb over the activation button softly, gingerly, as if stroking it. "You just ended the life of my fourteen year old daughter. The heir to my name, and the inheritor of my estate. You, a commoner, struck down a Sith, and you used her father's saber to do it." The man swallowed, blinking slowly.

Vyrtem watched as horror gnawed at his gut, petrified, unbridled horror at what was about to happen to Valya. But Valya stood strong. Back straight, head held high, she wasn't backing down from the man. The monster.

"You killed my only daughter. You killed a Sith Lord's only child, and you have the spine to stand before him and demand his attention... He looked down at the lightsaber once more. "On this day, you murdered a man's helpless daughter with his own blade... And on this day, he thanks you for your service to the Empire. Keep this blade. I have no use for a weapon handled by a traitor. The very sight of it sickens me."

The man turned to Armatus "This is the boy of which you spoke? He shows incredible promise. You were right about him."

And then to Vyrtem "I only hope that you will fight for our Empire as dearly as you fought for that girl here, today, boy. With an army of soldiers like you, we could sweep the Republic out of the galaxy in months."

He looked down at the corpse of his daughter and turned away as if he had looked upon some foul creature unbefitting his gaze.

"Keep as close an eye on everything that you love, Vyrtem, as you do on this girl. Lest they change before your very eyes into something unrecognizable."

The Baron swept his cloak and turned to walk away, leaving his child to rot on the stones.

Vyrtem Vayne. He would remember that name.

It was the next morning, and Vyrtem and Valya had slept in. They had no desire to leave his bed, let alone the room, and so they didn't. Valya didn't have to work, and Vyrtem's training was, at this point, self-paced, so they had no responsibilities to attend to. They simply focused on being there and talking to each other about anything and everything.

They talked about Valya's homelife; how her parents had both been Imperial service workers, and how she had gotten her job with the Academy at fifteen. She had worked and lived at the Academy for four years, which made her two years older than Vyrtem. She had made few friends among the actual Sith at the academy, most of them thinking of her as some sore of background fixture designed to dispense weapons and tools and to never be acknowledged as a person. She had made a few friends among the service workers, though, and they had always managed to get along without bothering the students, spending their time doing what she referred to as 'normal people things.' Her friends enjoyed watching shows on the holodecks and hanging out playing games or what have you. She said that the most contact she had had with the Sith outside of work was that occasionally they would be practicing in the sands outside her apartment and she'd watch them working on lightsaber forms where the other Sith were not watching.

She said that she'd always thought lightsaber combat was entertaining to watch, and that she'd spent many afternoons watching Sith practice and hone their skills.

Vyrtem told her about his life up to now; a life spent in school, learning about histories and solar systems, abilities and strategies, preparing for life as a Sith Initiate. How, even in school, he'd had few friends, always being a little hothead with a chip on his shoulder. How, when he'd come to the Korriban Academy, everything had changed. He got put in his place, and learned what the schools had never taught him; namely, how to live a life worth licing. Vyrtem also told her in detail about his training the last few weeks, since she was interested in how he'd spontaneously developed superpowers.

He was halfway home before he sensed someone watching him. When he looked behind him, though, he saw nothing. He turned back to head home and was met by the sight of Temyr and his posse.

Vyrtem almost groaned. He didn't have time for this. He tried to press past them, but Temyr punched him in the nose, while Lemu and another cronie grabbed Vyrtem's arms and pinned them behind him. They kicked the backs of his knees and forced him down. The next thing Vyrtem knew, there was a vibroknife at his throat, in Temyr's hand.

Vyrtem glared up at Temyr, waiting.

"You messed up, Vyrtem. You messed up, and you're going to pay." The knife pressed against Vyrtem's neck, drawing blood "But first, I'm going to make you suffer. You'd better watch out, because I'm never going to stop until you and your wench are both dead. Mark my words; you will suffer, and then you will die." Temyr slashed the knife across Vyrtem's chest, slicing through his shirt and cleaving down to his ribcage. A thin line of blood began to seep from Vyrtem's left shoulder to his xyphoid before another was cut perpendicular to it, leaving a bloody 'x' on his chest which began to pour blood as Temyr watched. The zabrak grabbed Vyrtem's head and kneed him in the face.

The wounded Vyrtem hit the floor as the others walked away, leaving him to bleed.