Bloodshot vs Kruor

Weapons
- (x1) Red-bladed Lightsaber
- (x1) Handcrafted Sith Sword sheathed over the back


The Battle of Corellia had been in the works for weeks, perhaps months. The forces of the New Republic and the New Sith Empires had been at war for years. Slowly, every system in the galaxy felt the flames of war licking at their heels. Places like Corellia, however, had the opportunity to be engulfed in the inferno. Within a few days of discovering a small band of acolytes watching over the planet, the Republic amassed a small fleet to secure what was seen as an "important historic location; a symbol for galactic prosperity". Two days ago, Imperial forces responded in kind. Yesterday, the Jedi rallied in support of their comrades. Today, the perfect storm that had been brewing finally erupted. And Kruor was here to enjoy the slaughter. Kruor had chosen a spot just outside the thickest of the battle. Far to his right, over several small hills, a small city was the centerpoint of a massive offensive orchestracted by combined Republic and Jedi forces. The sounds of explosions could be heard as they carried across the wind; the smell of burning bodies and buildings was ever present. Here, husks of burned out vehicles still gave off wispy trails of smoke and brief bursts of flame. The charred remains of combatants from both sides were no different.

Still, stragglers from both sides had remained here after the battle had moved on in an attempt to secure this piece of charred ground. Slowly, they had been picked off one by one by Jedi, Sith, and a several combatants that were unknown to Kruor. One in particular - a man encased in full body armor - had caught his eye minutes ago. Being pinned down by a Jedi apprentice and several of his Republic soldier comrades had prevented the Kissai to engage this stranger, but with several swift strokes of his lightsaber, the Sith Lord found himself freed of any engagements.

Just as he turned to see that the few soldiers left were now hiding or lying wounded on the ground, Kruor saw the armored man kill an acolyte. From the few others bodies scatted within a few feet of the man, the Sith decided that the man was foe, not friend. Rolling his head around his shoulderblades reflexively, the Sith reignited his lightsaber and took a few steps toward the man, noticing both Imperial and Republic soldiers fleeing the scene heading back to their respective command posts to presumably report that the area had been secured. Typical cannon-fodder responses.


Kruor stopped in his tracks, cocking his head as the man raised his electrostaff and reached for his blaster. Both primitive weapons, yet Kruor had enough experience in battle to understand how deadly they could be in a capable man's hands. The Kissai lowered his lightsaber and flicked the switch off. This was a tactic the Sith found useful in situations like this. Appear to let your guard down, then strike as your opponent does the same. In any case, it would merely take a flick of a finger and a wrist to ready himself again. The adrenaline still coursing through his veins was proof of that. Kruor flexed in his black leather and cloth tunic, feeling his muscles ripple across his strong skeletal frame. Chuckling, the Sith spoke.

"The bounty wouldn't be so sought after if it were easily cashed in - wouldn't you agree?"

Kruor let his eyes wander to the vanquished acolytes at the man's feet.

"Tell me... is the bounty for some wet-behind-the-ears apprentice as high as a Sith Lord, or are you just digging for scraps?"

Kruor smiled, revealing two rows of yellowed teeth that excellently matched the tint of his irises. He stood a fair distance away from the armored man, somewhere between twenty and thirty feet. There was enough distance for simple manuevering, yet not enough to make a hasty retreat. If this bounty hunter was looking to collect on Kruor's head, he'd have to be committed.

Kruor expected the shots to come as the man was speaking - when they finally erupted from the barrel of the blaster, the Kissai was more than ready to counter. The Sith Lord casually stepped forward as he reignited his lightsaber, lazily bringing his blade upward with a flick of his wrist. Twisting the blade appropriately, Kruor was able to deflect the fairly tight spread of blaster fire and send the discharges rocketing harmlessly into the dirt.

Audibly laughing as he continued to make his way toward the bounty hunter, Kruor decided to have fun with what would probably be his final kill of the day. Opting to keep things interesting, Kruor raised his empty hand - his lightsaber occupying the right hand - up for a mild burst of energy aimed at the lower portion of the bounty hunter's body. A classical 'Force Push' that was the bread-and-butter for most people adept in the ways of the Force. It was nothing a seasoned killer couldn't cope with, but Kruor decided it was only appropriate to test his foe in the same manner that he had surely been tested.

As the wave of energy flowed through his body and out of his arm in a violent surge, Kruor continued to walk forward, now letting his stance stiffen and his legs sidestep ever so slightly, beginning a slow arc that would bring him closer to his enemy without making him a relatively static target.

There was something oddly familiar about this bounty hunter's tactics. In his many years fighting in the known universe - and the few fighting outside it - Kruor had faced a variety of enemies both challenging and easily beaten. This bounty hunter seemed to be cut from the same cloth as some of the more experienced enemies faced in his past. While it would take a moron to simply stand and wait for a fracture-enducing blast to hit one's knees, not many people would have seen these types of attacks enough to know how and when to evade it. Obviously, those acolytes were not the bounty hunter's first.

Something that the merc probably wasn't expecting was Kruor's own familiarity with what appeared to be a tactic engineered solely to outwit Force adepts. Instead of choosing the much more reliable and flexible blasters at his belt, the bounty hunter opted to use a traditionally outdated weapon - a common slugthrower. Instead of the usual screech of supercharged plasma racing down a blaster's barrel, an unsettling series of pop-cracks could be heard as the man pulled his trigger, keeping his hand steady in what appeared to be a stance of confidence and familiarity. A seasoned killer indeed. Kruor had faced similar weapons before, though he couldn't quite remember where. Something involving charrics...

In any case, Kruor was not about to fall for the same trick twice. He was no fool. Instead of raising his saber to block the incoming slugs, Kruor flipped the switch of his blade into the off position and let himself fall backward into the dirt, performing an expertly timed backward roll that continued long enough to evade all three shots. In a flash, the Sith was on his feet again with a reignited blade.

Enough.

A simple message broadcasted from his own consciousness and amplified through the Force. It wasn't mean to be overpowering, but only to assert the dominance of his willpower over the mercenary's. It pulsed outward, carrying with it not a wave of kinetic energy, but a less tangible source of power. Two parts mind-trick and one part... something else... this tactic was used merely to confuse and distract the Sith Lord's adversary. Again, nothing that a person familiar with facing Force adepts would be completely surprised with, yet probably a move uncommon in most bounty hunter's experiences.

As this diversionary tactic was utilized, Kruor finally sprung forward, amplifying his already tense muscles with the power of the Force. He sped toward his target with clear intent - finish this quickly. Swinging both of his arms as he went and driving his knees upward, Kruor moved in a way that would make it easier to fall to either his left or right while still maintaining his momentum. His saber was a humming, red blur in the air. His body was both darker and much more silent. A reaper coming to collect.

Kruor had anticipated another volley of slugs to be fired as he approached - the main reason he had chosen to run in that slightly awkward manner. Time seemed to slow as the Force and his own adrenaline coursed through his veins, spurring him forward much faster than would normally be possible - though not fast enough to force him to continue to carry his weight in a straight path. As his opponent loosed three more heavy slugs from their chambers, Kruor opted to take the easy way out. Bringing his left knee upward as his right foot collided with the ground, Kruor leaned into his step, allowing his entire body to sway while continuing to move. As he did this, the Sith flicked the switch of his saber yet again before stooping low and allowing his body to perform an unnaturally quick forward somersault across the fire-stained dirt.

This maneuver allowed him to narrowly escape the slugs racing from his opponent's weapon. Even while moving at such amazing speeds, Kruor could hear the whizz of the slugs and their impacts into the ground behind him. Within a few feet of reaching an arm's length away from his opponent, Kruor sprung to his feet, slowed down enough by allowing himself to simply roll unaugmented. Still carying quite a bit of forward momentum, Kruor turned this hop to his feet into a jump, arcing above and to the left of his opponent in an aerial front-flip. While in midair, Kruor activated his lightsaber as both a precaution and a scare tactic. The reaper was here, finally.

Kruor landed just outside his opponent's reach on the opposite side, turning just in time to see the new stance the bounty hunter had adopted. The mercenary was again facing him, yet this time with his baton arm outstretched toward him and a lethal looking blade poised in his other. The man conveyed a sense of elegance as well as deadliness, akin to a viper just before the strike. Considering this update for a split second, Kruor deactivated his lightsaber and firmly clipped it to his belt once again, drawing his sith sword from the sheath resting on his back in the same motion. The sword had been meticulously crafted over the course of months, perhaps over a year. There was little concept of time for the Kissai when it came to such matters - to forge a blade was to birth another child. Even looking at the polished black metal harkened back memories of ashen skies and volcanic forges where countless similar blades had been created and tempered. The blade itself swirled with the energy of the Force, screaming with the essence of fallen enemies.

Switching the blade to his right hand, Kruor felt comfortable with the weight that he now carried in his weapon. He'd been trained from birth in melee combat and found that swordfights tended to be much easier when both opponents used similar weapons - bringing a lightsaber against a vibroblade could complicate things. One opponent would be used to putting all their weight into the swing while the other would be used to simply pivoting their wrist. Besides, the sound of ringing metal was like music to the Sith Lord's ears.

Letting an eager howl escape his lips as he approached, Kruor brought his blade over his right shoulder, gripping the pommel with both hands. Tightening his grip as he got within striking distance, the Kissai brought his blade down in a diagonal slash that was simply meant to strike in the general area of his opponent's outstretched arm. He anticipated his blade to meet with baton or fellow sword, yet he wasn't able to commit to either option entirely. His slower pace allowed such a move to be flexible; with any luck, he could respond to any change in tactics handily.

Kruor hadn't anticipated the resistance of his opponent's armor - inwardly, he chastised himself for abandoning his saber in favor of the blade. He had given in to the idea that his blade would confer a special power that was usually just intimidation and fear. The blade struck his opponent higher along his arm than the Sith had anticipated, and he gritted his teeth as the magnetically sealed obsidian scraped along the man's shoulder plating. In an instant, the heavy weight of the blade began falling toward the ground on his opponent's left side.

Seeing barely a twitch from his opponent's vibro-blade wielding arm sent Kruor on the defensive. Reflexively, he allowed his body to follow the path that his blade was taking in a slow, forced somersault along the ground. As he rolled forward, the Sith felt a sharp pain sting his upper back - a superficial cut from the edge of his opponent's razor-sharp blade. It wasn't a serious wound, yet already Kruor could feel the blood matting the black tunic to his back. As his opponent presumably completed his swing with barely enough time to turn and attempt a killing blow, Kruor ended his roll a few feet behind his opponent, slightly to his left side.

Popping up quickly, Kruor turned to face the bounty hunter as he presumably spun around to meet the Sith Lord in turn. Instead of going in for the kill once again, Kruor took up a defensive stance, holding his sword by the pommel with both hands and bringing his arms into the classical Offensive stance. The tip of his blade was pointed directly at the bounty hunter, legs positioned to allow the Sith to lean his body slightly backward, relying on his bent right leg for support.

Shrugging his wound off as a minor annoyance, Kruor opted to bait his opponent rather than simply attack.

Come now, you must be faster.

The Sith allowed this thought to travel through the air once again, pounding it out of his skull with much more force than his first message. Then he added, more a command than a simple distraction,

ATTACK

In truth, Kruor had hoped that this mercenary would bend to the superior will of a Sith Lord. He had seen his earlier mental attacks break through the other's defenses with ease, yet now he felt in his opponent a steel wall blanketing his mind. As he thought about it, Kruor would've probably used rubber in place of steel... if there was enough time to pick a word. Just as Kruor had sent a wave of energy directly into his opponent's conscious thoughts, Kruor felt what was at first an increasing pressure on his temples. In an instant, his mind flashed with white brilliance and a sharp spike of pain could be felt behind his forehead. He had been completely unprepared for such a counter-attack, not even considering the possibility that this was a Force-adept. It made sense... how else could a simple bounty hunter kill so many of his fellow Sith?

After a brief shuddering along his body and a shake of his head, the Kissai looked up to his opponent with a grim determination set into his face.


"You're a lucky bastard. Deception, surprise attacks, a worthy willpower..."

Kruor chuckled.

"You'd make a decent Sith."

Just as his words escaped his lips, Kruor stuck his sword into the charred earth below him, drawing his lightsaber for what he hoped would be an easier second attempt. Still feeling a bit woozy from the mental shock he'd received, Kruor nevertheless charged his enemy, drawing both upon the Force and his pain to fuel his muscles, giving him enhanced strength and speed for what was to come.

Keeping his lightsaber high, Kruor waited until he was within striking distance of his enemy to suddenly halt his charge and swing his lightsaber - both hands gripped on its hilt - forward in a similar motion as before. He brought his lightsaber from his right side to swing savagely in an arcing strike aimed for his opponent's outstretched left arm. The combination of his own strength and the momentum his body was still carrying would see that the downward slash had more than its fair share of power backed behind it. The reach of his lightsaber blade would probably allow Kruor to hack the limb off at the shoulder if his opponent would allow it. Something told him that the bounty hunter would not.

Kruor wasn't surprised at his opponent's counter. Despite the strength that he now possessed, the Sith expected not to land a killing blow this quickly. His opponent was fresh, yet already on his toes from previous battling. As much as Kruor drew on his anger and adrenaline to fuel his fighting, he had a feeling that this mercenary was drawing on his calmness and ease in predicting his opponent's moves. Acolytes were simple to defeat. They relied only on training and learned techniques. Sith Lords, however, had had experience with variances on those old combat techniques... as well as entirely new ones.

Just as the bounty hunter's baton arm was swatted away with Kruor's lightsaber, the Sith saw his opponent drawing his blade back for a deadly strike. Instead of risking the time it took to bring his lightsaber back to the other side of his body for a blocking maneuver (as his opponent had been waiting like a wound-up spring for this opportunity), the Sith opted for a less conventional means of countering this move.

In a flash, Kruor dove into his opponent's body, crouching down into the leap while letting his left shoulder lead, flipping the switch on his lightsaber as he went. With any luck, Kruor would be able to bring both he and his opponent into the ground in order to start a grapple that the Kissai was confident he knew a way to end quickly and with minimal chance of failure...

Or he'd offered himself up to the guillotine. Either way, it made for a good show.

Kriff.

Before Kruor could even manage to get a grip around any of his opponent's limbs or apply any of the advanced combat techniques he'd been taught in his rigorous training, the Sith found himself engulfed in a current of unfathomably painful electricity. Though he was used to similar attacks in the form of Sith Lightning administered by master and foe alike, the Kissai couldn't simply shrug off such an intense attack. The pulses coursed throughout his body, first causing his muscles to spasm, then suddenly begin to seize up.

Through sheer force of will (and hopefully a bit of desensitization), Kruor commanded his body to move. He envisioned himself rising from his opponent's grasp and killing him with a swift lightsaber blow to the head. He could feel the Force inside of his raging thoughts, like a pressure cooker building up and preparing to blow... unfortunately, not even his willpower was enough to overcome simple biology.

In the end, however, Kruor managed to jerk his body to the right, attempting to get out of his opponent's iron-tight grip. Just as he slipped out from his opponent's grasp, still almost entirely immobile, the Sith Lord felt a cut rake his back. Significantly deeper and much closer to inflicting a fatal wound, this gash immediately began to bleed, soaking his robes and matting them immediately to his quivering body. By luck, Kruor had managed to untangle himself and fall onto his opponent's right arm, saving himself from leaving his ribs ripe for the... stabbing.

Feeling his opponent's right hand trapped underneath him as he rolled onto his back, Kruor managed one of his signature desperation moves. Even as his opponent was surely readying his baton for another strike, Kruor roared in agony and rage, taking hold of his opponent wherever he could - perhaps the chest, shoulder, or arm. In an instant, Kruor's white-hot anger was conducted through his body in a fashion extremely similar to the bounty hunter's electrostaff. Lightning poured out of his fingertips, hopefully able to breach the defenses of his opponent's armor and allow the Sith time to get a killing move in.

If not, Kruor was simply leaving himself open for a finishing move.

In the back of his mind, Kruor had always known there was something different about this Umbaran. No simple mercenary could be quite as adept at killing as this one without something... different. As he was committed entirely to his attempt at neutralizing his opponent via a terrific - and terrifically desperate - lightning attack, there was absolutely nothing Kruor could do as he was suddenly thrust away from his opponent via an extremely potent bout of Force-induced energy. To an onlooker, Kruor's flight through the air may have looked comical. To him, it was a sign that this duel was not nearly as straight forward as the Sith had estimated it would be. Landing in an untidy heap on the ground, face-down, Kruor groaned as the air was expelled from his lungs.


Kruor laughed. A deep, throaty laugh with just enough malice to conjure up visions of a psychopath... a psychopath with his face firmly planted in the dirt, that is. Now relying more and more on the Force to sustain himself rather than his own adrenaline and muscular strength, Kruor shakily rose to his feet, propping himself up with his hands as he raised himself from the dirt. The throbbing pain coming from his lower back had dulled slightly, though chances were the Sith would need to attend to the wound after all this was over. As he raised his sooty and sweat-clogged face to lock eyes with his opponent, the Kissai smiled. Was that blood in the corner of his lips?

As he spoke to his opponent, the Kissai reignited his crimson-bladed lightsaber once more, half-feigning his own weakness as he shook the hilt in his hands, half actually succumbing to a wave of exhaustion. At the same time, the Sith Lord reached out with his mind, probing the dirt with the Force as an insect would with its feelers.

"You underestimate the power of the dark side. That will be your downfall."

Cliche, but effective for keeping a conversation going. During this time, the Sith was concentrating while allowing his muscles to relax a bit, regaining a bit of his lost energy in hopeful preparation. He deliberately spoke more slowly than usual to draw out this timeframe.

"You could've made an excellent Sith. Under my tutelage, perhaps we could have seen the dawn of a new Galactic Empire."

He had it. Kruor smirked once again, showing his slightly serrated teeth that were definitely stained with his own blood.

"...oh well."

Kruor suddenly jerked his left hand backward from a resting position at his side, bringing the vibrosword several feet behind his opponent up into the air and traveling at an incredible speed toward the middle of his opponent's back. With or without the vibration engaged on the blade, the sheer force of such a sharp object traveling that fast would probably be enough to puncture armor, skin, muscle and all the rest. Even if the mercenary managed to react in time, Kruor was already preparing his backup plan. Telekenisis was one of the Sith's deadliest applications of his Force powers. Unpredictable, unexpected, yet equally as deadly as anything else in his arsenal.