"The Sith Lord's position...?!"
Hearing what his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, had said, Palpatine—the Dark Lord of the Sith—no longer cared how his apprentice's burned and damaged vocal cords managed to produce sound. His expression darkened in an instant, like a pool of black water without bottom, and in his eyes flared two faint yellow fires of fury.
He did not know what Darth Vader had gained from his trip to the Outer Rim Arkanis Sector, nor whether, in the region that held his homeworld Tatooine, he had once again attracted the favor of a new 'mutation' of the Force. But one thing was certain—he was deeply angered by Vader's words.
Betrayal and deceit were the instincts of the Sith.
He had believed this apprentice, who had fallen from Jedi Knight to Sith Lord, was a special case—that Vader's weakness of character would prevent him from repeating the mistakes of his Sith predecessors.
But Vader's words had slapped Palpatine across the face and shattered his slow-boiling plan to replace his apprentice without dirtying his hands.
Had those so-called rebels—who flew the banner of a state distinct from the Galactic Empire—corrupted Vader's will? Had Vader secretly made deals with outsiders behind his back? Or perhaps the entire unrest in the Outer Rim Arkanis Sector was nothing but a grand play directed by Vader himself?
Palpatine did not wish to ponder it now.
For Vader's actions reminded him of himself—of the moment he had slain his own master, Darth Plagueis, and ascended to the title of Dark Lord of the Sith.
"Very well, Vader. If you can truly accomplish what you claim, then as the Sith Code dictates, power belongs to the strong. You nearly hid this truth from me. But you should not have revealed it just now."
His attempt to control the towering black-robed giant with the Force proved useless... Was it a machine? Or some unknown species?
Without showing a trace of concern, Palpatine gave a cold, sinister smile—one of an elder who believed himself in control. "Impulsiveness. A soul laid bare. This will be your final lesson."
He tapped his fingers lightly along the handrail by the viewport, then approached Luke—who was crushed beneath the overwhelming weight of Dark Force energy. Under Vader's watchful, twitching gaze, Palpatine's withered hand pressed down upon the young Skywalker's shoulder.
"My authority cannot be denied by you and your Outer Rim friends, my most prized apprentice—!" Since their masks were already torn away, there was no need for pretense. The Dark Lord struck without hesitation.
A surge of Dark Force energy erupted!
Boom!
Zzzzzzz...
With the violent collision of the Dark Side's power, the semi-tangible wave of energy burst outward like the shockwave of a heavy aerial bomb, centered between Palpatine and Vader, clearing everything nearby in an instant!
Crash!
The Shock Trooper guards still standing in the room were thrown back, tumbling several times before slamming hard into the walls.
In the smoke and chaos, the audience chamber was reduced to ruins. Rows of conduits and circuits sparked wildly, shards of glass and scraps of high-tech furniture were scattered everywhere, and the once-mirror-smooth walls were torn apart.
He had won.
Palpatine's hand was still extended, fingers splayed. A satisfied smile spread across his face.
The clash of their Dark Force powers—perhaps tempered by Vader's restraint, for fear of harming Luke—had ended in his victory. He could feel it clearly: his darkness had struck true, sending Vader flying backward!
Crunch.
The sound of boots crushing metal shards echoed. Palpatine's expression darkened again, shifting from bright satisfaction to cold fury.
"Need a hand?"
A low metallic voice rolled through the smoke. Cloak billowing, the towering black-robed giant crossed his arms, glancing toward the pile of several-meter-wide metal slabs that had crashed into the wall—where Darth Vader lay buried.
The giant's tone was deep and resonant, carrying an icy mechanical timbre laced with arrogance.
"No need. Remember our deal—you will not harm my son. I will personally put an end to the mistakes of my past."
The air filled with the screech of stressed metal as if the walls themselves cried out. A sudden burst of Force energy blasted the armor plates embedded in the wall apart. A crimson lightsaber ignited, slicing through a warped handrail, molten sparks spraying like a forge's flame. Rivers of glowing metal streamed across the shattered floor.
"I will kill Palpatine. The Galactic Empire—I will deliver it whole to Her Majesty. And I only hope that you all can bring justice and a stable, unified order to this chaotic galaxy."
As if still familiarizing himself with his own body and power, Vader moved with a fluid grace unseen in decades, flexing his joints and neck while speaking solemnly as he passed by the towering black-robed giant.
"Hmph. What nonsense."
Hearing their conversation—one that implied they could kill him at any moment—Palpatine let out a cold snort. With no regard for fairness or restraint, he struck first, summoning the full fury of the Dark Side.
Zzzzzzz!
"Patience was your only chance for success. You are not my equal yet. Such a pity, Vader—there will be no second chance. You shall be destroyed."
Raising his shriveled arm toward Vader and that insolent black-robed giant, blinding arcs of pale Force lightning erupted from Palpatine's fingertips, piercing the air, cutting through dust, steel, and glass as they shot toward Vader.
"Patience? Palpatine—Lord Darth Sidious—this will be the last time I call you that. You are obsolete."
Crack-crack!
Vader raised his lightsaber to block, shaping the Force before him into a shimmering wall of compressed air. Torrents of lightning rained down like a violent storm, the very atmosphere wailing under the strain. The floor and ceiling burst apart repeatedly. Beneath his heavy, scarred mask, damaged by the earlier Dark Side blast, Vader's lips curled into a grin hidden within the hellish glow.
As his gaze met Palpatine's venomous yellow eyes, Vader stretched out his free hand. The Dark Side surged—flowing, reshaping, transforming.
The way the energy moved made Palpatine scream in disbelief. "Impossible! The technique of Force lightning—I never taught you that!"
"You didn't teach me," Vader replied calmly, "but someone taught you."
"Darth Plagueis!"
Palpatine spat out his master's name, teeth clenched. Fitting, he thought bitterly—that even in death, the wise Sith Lord who had mastered life and death itself would continue to cause him trouble.
"You could say that."
Vader thought briefly of the manner of his learning—not exactly the kind of 'instruction' Plagueis would have approved of.
Within the Force dimensions of the Outer Rim Arkanis Sector, after their bargain had been roughly struck, the Empress of the Sacred Selene Empire had aided him—an act that changed everything.
He remembered watching Selene's projection of consciousness ripple through the ocean of the Force, tearing apart the Dark Side's currents and extracting the soul remnants of Sith Lords past—interrogating them for knowledge. Even for Darth Vader, the sight made his spine crawl.
That was the impression the Empress Selene had left upon him most vividly.
At best, Emperor Palpatine could destroy one's body. But Selene? She could annihilate even the soul—the residual supernatural essence—leaving nothing. Even should one become a Jedi spirit, one would still end up as nothing more than another puppet in her divine hands.
Zzzzzzz!
As Palpatine's furious roar echoed, lightning erupted from Vader's palm—faster, brighter, more devastating. The shrill screams reverberated through the hall as deadly bolts of energy illuminated the darkness.
The Chosen One now demonstrated the true worth of the strongest Force talent in Jedi history. Though his time learning had been short, with a single moment of focus, his lightning exploded in all directions!
Bolts as thick as pillars struck floor and ceiling one after another. The lightning between Vader and Palpatine clashed in a circular barrier of pure, flickering energy.
Each detonation shook the very structure of the hall. The air reeked of burning circuits. The once-majestic throne room lay in ruins—walls collapsed, smoke rising, fractures spreading like webs across every surface.
The surging energy of the Dark Side scorched Vader's armor and left deep marks upon his body, but he ignored them. With a click, he released the damaged seals of his armor and tore off his dented, broken helmet.
Clang!
His healing body had not yet fully recovered; the hair upon his head was still sparse. Yet even so, traces of the young Skywalker's features shone through. Vader grinned, unfazed by Palpatine's hateful glare. Blood dripped from his lips as he roared and unleashed his full power once more.
The scales of victory began to tip.
"No! No, no!"
The shriveled, hunchbacked body of the old Sith Lord still had explosive power, but how could it possibly match the strength and endurance of the revitalized Vader—especially now that his crippled body and chronic pain had been completely healed?
Watching his own lightning pushed back toward him, Palpatine screamed in horror, wracked by the same searing pain he had so often inflicted on others.
"Vader, you can't harm me! Your son is already my apprentice! He will inherit everything from both of us! Would you kill Luke as well? Think of Padmé—"
He hissed and growled through the pain, once again reaching out toward Luke with the Force. But—
"What?!"
Nothing. In that instant of distraction, Palpatine looked down—and realized that Luke Skywalker had vanished. The only thing in his grasp was an empty Jedi cloak.
"You—!"
He turned just in time to see it: the black-robed giant had removed his cloak. The ornate, radiant gold of his full-body powered armor gleamed with blinding brilliance. And there, held effortlessly in one hand like a small bird, was the exhausted, pale-faced Luke Skywalker.
Vader roared, "Padmé's love needs no lessons from you! It was you who deceived me!"
"Now, only I can deliver the Galactic Empire from divine punishment. You, a corpse playing at sorcery—you are no longer an emperor. You have failed to bring justice and peace to the galaxy!"
Vmmmmm!
Seizing the moment of Palpatine's distraction, Vader unleashed his Force lightning. The dark web of energy struck home, and the Dark Lord's twisted, withered form convulsed under the onslaught. His body went rigid, paralyzed by agony, then at last collapsed.
The power left him. His mouth fell open; his head rolled back, hood slipping away to reveal the monstrous, deathly face beneath.
"The Galactic Emperor? If this is what an emperor looks like... how could such an image ever embody imperial majesty?"
The golden-armored Imperial Guard regarded the corpse with detached disdain. The sunken eyes looked like twin graves; the rotting skin clung to bone, wrinkles deep as cracks, his breath foul and shallow.
Under the influence of Selene, the Sacred Selene Empire still valued image and form.
An officer could be handsome or ugly—but if ugly, it had to be the respectable kind, the scars of battle or the gravity of command. To be both evil and hideous? That was unacceptable—a monster from a pit, not a sovereign.
"..."
Vader gave no response to the Imperial Guard's dry remark. Barely steady on his feet, he gasped for air—then spat a mouthful of blood. His bare, pale face—still not fully recovered from his disfigurement—was ghostly white. He summoned his lightsaber through the Force, stepped to Palpatine's fallen body, and after a moment of silence—slash!—
The most valuable head in the galaxy fell.
"As Her Majesty Selene said regarding the system of military merit and noble rank—this trophy should be enough to purchase Luke and Leia's lives. To offset their sin of embracing the Jedi's decaying ideals."
Lifting Palpatine's severed head, Vader's bloodshot eyes turned toward the resplendent golden figure before him.
"Of course," the Imperial Guard replied smoothly.
As if sealing a deal, he tossed Luke gently toward Vader and took the false Emperor's head in exchange. "Such achievement—welcome aboard, Sir Vader. From this moment, you are one of the subjects of the Divine Empress."
"Your homeworld, Tatooine, shall be granted as your fief. You may also apply for assistance from the Imperial Forging Ministry to begin environmental reconstruction—turning that desert planet into a rich and beautiful garden world. You and your descendants—the House of Vader—shall dwell there, thrive there, and rise there."
"Perhaps even as Governor of the First Stellar Sector of this universe. You will have all the power you need to shape the realm of your ideals." The Imperial Guard's voice was brisk, dignified, and assured.
"Within the framework of Imperial law," he added casually.
It was no empty promise. As long as Vader did not betray them midway—and his rebellious children did not act out or violate the laws of the Sacred Selene Empire—this future was guaranteed.
Moments later, the great doors of the audience hall opened.
The sound of armored boots echoed on the gleaming floor—a measured, commanding rhythm. A tall woman in jet-black precision-forged armor, her long ponytail bound high, led a squad of the 501st Legion and the Sisters of Silence into the chamber. She raised her heavy sword in salute. "The Death Star II command center has been completely secured."
Suppressing the weariness he felt whenever near the tall woman's null-field aura, Vader spoke. "I will assume command of all Galactic Imperial forces in the Endor system. Ensure the Imperial Navy does not open fire by mistake."
"Excellent."
Exchanging a look, the Imperial Guard and the Sisters of Silence both nodded in satisfaction. "The rest—wipe out the Rebel Alliance."
There would be no negotiations. No mercy.
After all, if they had rebelled against the Galactic Empire, how could they ever submit to the Sacred Selene Empire—an order even more centralized, more hierarchical, more absolute?
...
Meanwhile—
With the death of Emperor Palpatine's body, somewhere deep within the maddened, shapeless void, a furious and icy consciousness screamed out its rage.
"Anakin! Skywalker! Vader! I will make you pay—!"
"Wait for me... I will not die! I will surpass Plagueis himself! I shall achieve immortality!"
For a long while, he raged, then calmed—gathering his scattered emotions, ready to retreat to his secret contingency within the Sith throneworld.
But then he noticed it.
In the endless dark, in the storm of madness, threads of violet-red light began to twist and weave before him—forming a hazy outline.
A figure emerged, serene and radiant, watching him with quiet amusement.
"Greetings. Should I call you Palpatine—or Darth Sidious?"
At that instant, Palpatine's mind went blank. Terror surged upward like a geyser, unstoppable, overwhelming.
"Ahhhhhh! Don't come any closer—ahhh... ssshhhhh..."
Glurp... glurp... crunch... slurp... hnnnngh...
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