=== Darth Vader ===
Ahsoka's green blade screamed against Vader's crimson one as sparks exploded between them, but Vader did not even appear strained. One massive black-gloved hand held his weapon steady while the other hung loosely at his side, his stance utterly immovable despite the fury behind Ahsoka's assault.
She struck again and again in rapid succession, her movements fast enough that most beings would have been carved apart within seconds, yet Vader seemed to see every strike before it came. His blade shifted only inches at a time, each movement perfectly intercepting her attacks while Obi-Wan came at him from the opposite side.
Obi-Wan lunged for Vader's helmet, aiming a thrust directly through the black lenses, but before the strike could land, Vader's free hand suddenly clenched.
Obi-Wan's lightsaber froze in midair.
The Jedi Master's eyes widened as the weapon halted mere inches from Vader's face, held completely motionless by the Force alone. Vader slowly turned his head toward him, the crimson glow reflecting across the polished black surface of his mask.
Then he moved.
With contemptuous ease, Vader batted Ahsoka's blade aside hard enough to nearly wrench the weapon from her grip before spinning and smashing his own lightsaber downward into Obi-Wan's. The impact rang through the room like artillery fire. Obi-Wan barely managed to hold the strike, his boots screeching backward across the metal floor as the sheer strength behind the blow nearly collapsed his guard entirely.
Vader pressed immediately.
Another strike crashed into Obi-Wan's blade.
Then another.
And another.
Each blow came heavier than the last, fueled by monstrous strength and bottomless hatred. Obi-Wan found himself giving ground rapidly, his arms trembling from the force of the impacts while sparks burst violently around them each time their sabers collided.
Ahsoka came at Vader again from behind, leaping high into the air and bringing her blade down toward his shoulder.
Vader twisted at the last possible second.
Her blade skimmed harmlessly across his armor while Vader slammed his own saber brutally into her guard, knocking her completely off balance before driving a devastating kick into her chest.
Ahsoka was thrown backward down an entire flight of black metal stairs, crashing hard against the landing below before rolling violently across the floor.
"Ahsoka!" Obi-Wan shouted.
Vader ignored him.
The Dark Lord simply raised one hand again as Obi-Wan attempted another strike, stopping the Jedi's blade entirely through raw telekinetic force. Obi-Wan strained against it with both hands, but the lightsaber would not move even an inch.
For a long moment Vader simply stood there staring at him.
Then the crimson blade came crashing down again.
Obi-Wan barely managed to break free in time to block, but Vader was relentless now, driving him backward out of the throne chamber entirely and into the adjoining corridors of the SunEater.
Their blades became streaks of blue and red flashing through the darkness as Vader advanced with terrifying momentum.
The corridor itself became part of the battle.
Lightsabers carved molten scars through walls and floors as both men struck with increasing ferocity. Sparks cascaded endlessly from shattered pipes and severed conduits while alarms began blaring throughout the section. Obi-Wan fought defensively, relying on precision and endurance to survive the storm battering against him, but Vader's attacks were overwhelming. Every strike carried enough force to break bones.
"You are weak!" Vader roared as he hammered another crushing blow downward. "You always were!"
Obi-Wan ducked beneath the strike before slashing low toward Vader's side, but Vader caught the attack and drove his shoulder directly into Obi-Wan's chest, sending the Jedi stumbling backward into the wall hard enough to crack the metal behind him.
Before Vader could finish him, Ahsoka returned.
She came sprinting down the corridor at full speed, vaulting off the wall and slashing simultaneously toward Vader's neck and spine with both recovered blades. Vader spun between them with astonishing speed for someone so massive, one saber intercepting her attack while his armored fist slammed directly into Obi-Wan's jaw.
The fight became chaos.
Vader moved between them effortlessly, his crimson blade constantly shifting from one opponent to the other while Obi-Wan and Ahsoka struggled desperately to maintain pressure together. At times Vader appeared almost bored, casually redirecting their attacks while forcing them backward through corridor after corridor.
"You cannot defeat me," Vader said coldly while locking blades with Obi-Wan. "The dark side has made me far beyond either of you."
Ahsoka thrust toward his side.
Without even looking, Vader caught her wrist mid-strike.
The bones immediately began to creak beneath the pressure of his grip.
Ahsoka gasped in pain as Vader squeezed harder, his mechanical hand crushing her wrist until her fingers spasmed and her lightsaber clattered uselessly across the floor.
Obi-Wan lunged to save her.
Vader's hand that still gripped his lightsaber exploded outward.
Crimson Force lightning erupted from his fingertips.
The blast struck Obi-Wan full in the chest and hurled him backward across the room. Agony ripped through his entire body as the dark side lightning coursed through him, forcing him to his knees while smoke rose from his clothing and skin.
Vader released Ahsoka suddenly.
Both Jedi looked up in confusion as the Sith Lord stepped backward into the center of a massive chamber they had unknowingly entered during the battle.
The room was circular and enormous, lined with damaged practice droids, shattered pillars, and old insignias from the Jedi Temple itself. Obi-Wan immediately felt something deeply wrong about the place. The Force here was twisted and sick, like a wound left deliberately open.
Vader slowly deactivated his lightsaber.
Enormous doors on opposite sides of the chamber suddenly groaned open before figures began to emerge from the darkness.
Master Yaddle and Sifo-Dyas emerged from one doorway while battered and beaten Jedi and younglings entered from the other.
At first glance the group appeared alive, but something about them was horribly broken. Their movements twitched unnaturally, as though invisible strings jerked at their limbs. Their eyes were bloodshot and unfocused while veins darkened the skin around them. Yet beneath the madness, Obi-Wan could still sense fragments of who they once were.
"Impossible…" Obi-Wan whispered.
Ahsoka stared in horror. "They're alive?"
"Barely," Vader replied.
The fallen Jedi slowly ignited their lightsabers.
Their hands trembled violently around the hilts.
"I found them imprisoned beneath Coruscant," Vader continued, gesturing towards Yaddle and Sifo-Dyas. "Palpatine had… uses for them." His helmet tilted slightly. "I found better ones. And these are the survivors of Order Sixty-Six." He said, gesturing towards the other group of Knights and Younglings.
"You wished to save the Jedi Order," he said, looking at Obi-Wan. "Now you may try. But whichever of you survives… will become my apprentice."
=== Sebastian ===
What had once been barren stone and windswept plains was now a continent-sized graveyard of burning wreckage, shattered walkers, cratered earth, and mountains of corpses that stretched farther than Sebastian could properly comprehend.
Smoke rolled endlessly across the horizon in black waves while artillery thundered so constantly that the planet itself seemed to tremble beneath the violence. The skies above were completely drowned beneath starships, bombers, drop craft, and burning debris falling like meteors from orbit. Everywhere Sebastian looked, there was war in its purest and ugliest form.
And still the enemy came.
The Black Templar ripped the Darksaber free from the throat of a stormtrooper officer before pivoting and driving his boot into another soldier hard enough to crush the man's chest inward. Blaster fire hammered against his armor from three different directions, detonating harmlessly against his black ceramite while he raised his heavy bolt pistol and fired twice. Two clone troopers exploded apart in sprays of blood and armor fragments as the blessed mass-reactive rounds detonated inside their bodies.
Beside him, Vulkan fought like an unstoppable force of nature.
The Primarch strode through the battlefield with Urdrakule in one hand and his plasma pistol in the other. A single swing of the thunder hammer obliterated an entire squad of advancing stormtroopers, their bodies simply ceasing to exist beneath the impact as the ground erupted around them in a violent shockwave.
Another wave of clone troopers charged toward him from behind shattered barricades, only for Vulkan's plasma pistol to roar once. The incandescent blast struck a nearby walker directly in the cockpit, melting through armor plating instantly before the vehicle detonated in a massive fireball that consumed dozens of soldiers around it.
Sebastian had long since lost count of how many enemies they had killed together. Thousands certainly. Perhaps tens of thousands. Yet despite that impossible slaughter, the Empire continued throwing more troops into the meat grinder without hesitation. Fresh landing craft screamed down from orbit constantly while new formations advanced through smoke and fire with grim determination.
At last the latest assault wave broke apart beneath the Primarch's wrath, leaving a brief lull in the fighting.
Sebastian stood amid piles of bodies, breathing heavily through his vox grille while blood, ash, and dirt coated nearly every inch of his armor. His shield was scarred from repeated impacts, and fresh scorch marks covered the black ceramite of his chestplate. Across from him Vulkan stood amidst the devastation entirely unmoved, his massive frame still radiating terrible strength as if the battle had barely even begun.
Transport ships descended through the clouds endlessly while walkers marched beside enormous armored columns that stretched for miles.
"They have no end," Sebastian growled, tightening his grip on the Darksaber. "Every time we break them, more arrive."
Vulkan followed his gaze.
"Then we continue killing them until they run out of soldiers," the Primarch answered, his deep voice carrying easily over the battlefield. "Or we take the SunEater itself and cut the head from this assault."
Sebastian looked toward the distant sky where the monstrous vessel loomed like a second moon above Mandalore. Even from here its sheer scale was horrifying. Massive guns flashed along its hull while endless waves of troop ships poured from its belly.
Vulkan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Though I do not believe that will happen today."
Before Sebastian could answer, an enormous explosion thundered nearby.
One of the Imperium's artillery batteries vanished in flame as orbital fire slammed into the emplacement, killing several crewmen instantly and sending the massive cannon tilting sideways as its stabilizer supports shattered apart.
The surviving operators shouted in panic while trying desperately to keep the gigantic weapon from collapsing entirely.
Sebastian sprinted through incoming blaster fire, shoulder-checking a clone trooper hard enough to pulverize the man before reaching the damaged artillery piece. The cannon itself was enormous, easily the length of a small building, its barrel glowing red-hot from continuous firing. One of the operators looked up at the Black Templar in desperation.
"My lord, the stabilizers are gone!"
Sebastian did not answer.
He simply slammed his shield down beside the emplacement before stepping beneath the collapsing barrel itself. Metal groaned violently as the massive weight settled onto his armored shoulder. The ground cracked beneath his boots from the strain while warning sigils flared across his visor.
Slowly the gigantic artillery cannon rose back into firing position atop the Black Templar's shoulder.
The nearby crew stared at him in disbelief.
Sebastian snarled through gritted teeth. "KEEP FIRING!"
The artillery team snapped back into motion instantly.
Shells the size of an Astartes were loaded into the cannon while Sebastian physically adjusted the barrel himself, aiming it toward descending troop carriers. The weapon fired with deafening force directly beside his head, the recoil enough to obliterate normal humans outright, yet Sebastian held firm. Massive shells screamed upward into the sky before detonating among incoming Imperial formations, turning entire squadrons of dropships into burning debris.
Again the gun fired.
Concentrated fire struck directly through the center of an incoming cruiser descending too low into the atmosphere. The vessel split apart spectacularly before crashing into the plains beyond in a mushroom cloud of flame.
Meanwhile Vulkan had already returned to battle.
The Primarch charged directly into another advancing wave of stormtroopers, and the battlefield seemed to buckle beneath his fury. Urdrakule swept sideways in a devastating arc that annihilated bodies by the dozens while his plasma pistol fired thunderous blasts capable of reducing armored vehicles into molten wreckage. Walkers collapsed around him. Gunships exploded from the sky. Entire formations broke apart as panic spread through the enemy lines at the sight of the giant slaughtering his way through them.
Yet still the Imperium line was slowly being pushed backward.
A massive shockwave rolled through orbit as reality distorted above Mandalore. Sebastian looked upward just in time to see an enormous battle barge tear itself from hyperspace directly above the warzone.
The ship was colossal.
Black armor plating covered its vast hull while cathedral-sized weapon batteries immediately began firing the instant the vessel emerged. Gigantic macro shells screamed across the void toward the Imperial fleet, each impact obliterating cruisers outright in explosions bright enough to rival the stars. Lances of energy carved through enemy formations while entire squadrons of Imperial ships vanished beneath the fury of the newcomer.
Then the battle barge opened.
Thousands upon thousands of strike craft erupted from its launch bays like a swarm unleashed. Thunderhawks, Stormravens, interceptors, and boarding craft poured into the battle immediately, slamming into Imperial formations with overwhelming aggression.
Even the SunEater staggered beneath the sudden assault as several colossal macro rounds smashed directly into its shields.
The skies screamed as hundreds of armored capsules slammed into the battlefield around Sebastian with enough force to crater the earth. Imperial troops barely had time to react before the pods exploded open.
It seemed like the entire chapter of the Salamanders had come to reinforce the dire battle.
The sons of Vulkan entered the war like living fire.
Heavy flamers unleashed torrents of burning promethium across enemy lines while thunder hammers and power fists crushed stormtroopers apart in brutal close-quarters slaughter. The Salamanders advanced, their arrival stabilizing entire sections of the Imperium front almost immediately.
One drop pod landed especially close to Sebastian, smashing into the ground hard enough to send debris flying across the battlefield.
The doors burst outward.
A massive figure strode from the smoke clad in ornate green armor blackened by countless wars. In his hands he carried the enormous thunder hammer Stormbearer, its head crackling with lightning.
The Chapter Master of the Salamanders stepped fully onto the battlefield and immediately saw Vulkan standing amidst the carnage.
For a moment the Chapter Master simply stared.
Then emotion overwhelmed even his transhuman discipline.
Tu'Shan raised Stormbearer high above his head and roared with every ounce of strength in his body.
"FOR THE PRIMARCH!"
The cry thundered across the battlefield, and the Salamanders answered.
Thousands of voices roared as one, shaking the war-torn plains of Mandalore itself while Vulkan finally turned toward his sons. For the first time since the battle had begun, Sebastian saw something change in the Primarch's expression.
Pride.
Then Vulkan lifted Urdrakule toward the burning skies.
And the sons of Nocturne charged into war beside their father for the first time in almost ten thousand years.
===
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