Coruscant's morning remained tranquil. The Republic capital's upper echelons were immersed in their leisurely routines, while the rest of the city maintained relative calm.
Master Yoda began his day with meditation, as usual, but an inexplicable unease lingered, a previously overlooked disturbance now surfacing with clarity.
His meditation was interrupted by hurried footsteps. Master Mace Windu burst in, his usually composed voice tinged with rare urgency: "Master Yoda! A Sith!"
"A Sith?" Surprise flickered in Yoda's eyes. The unease during his meditation had finally found its source.
"At Royce VI, the Holonet is broadcasting it live," Windu said, gradually regaining his composure. "That... a Jedi Knight is fighting him."
"A Jedi?" Yoda repeated, puzzled. "Why would they broadcast this battle? Retrieve the feed."
Windu approached the holographic projector and made some adjustments. A holographic projection materialized.
The image showed a Jedi locked in a fierce duel with a Sith, with a Togruta girl also present.
The Jedi wielded a blue lightsaber, clad in armor, employing a fusion of Soresu and Shi-Cho forms. His blade danced like lightning, entwining with the Sith's scarlet weapon.
The Sith's combat style blended elements of Makashi and Juyo, and he openly employed dark techniques like Force Lightning, clearly aiming for a swift victory.
Yoda's gaze fell upon the Jedi's armor, his brow furrowing slightly. "Victor? But he was reported killed in action."
"Master Jorus C'baoth listed him among the fallen last week," Windu said, resting his chin in his hand. "The report stated he encountered a Dark Force user during his mission and sacrificed himself heroically."
"Strange, hmm?" Yoda observed the holographic recording. "One declared dead is now fighting the Sith."
"Perhaps it's not him?" Windu suggested. "There are other Jedi who use armor and specialize in Shi-Cho and Sorsure."
"It's Victor," Yoda said, closing his eyes and sensing the presence through the Force. "He's still alive. It's reassuring. This child has extraordinary potential."
Windu fell silent.
"Plo Koon, notify him," Yoda broke the silence. "Send him to Royce VI, Windu."
He paused. "By the time he arrives, the battle will be over, but there will be matters to attend to afterward. Have we identified the Sith yet?"
"Seth Harth," Windu said, manipulating the data pad and projecting an image onto the terminal.
"Impossible!" Yoda exclaimed, raising his voice, which was rare for him. "Hm?"
"Why?"
"Seth Harth lived nine hundred years ago," Yoda explained. "He was a Human, not a long-lived species. How could he possibly still be alive?"
"The files show that the Warrior Order sent multiple missions to Rois V to investigate him," Windu added. "They suspected he had stolen a Sith Holocron, but the investigation revealed that Seth Harth was actually his illegitimate son and had never awakened the Force."
"Did one of his descendants awaken the Force?" Yoda pondered. "But if that were the case, we would have discovered them and brought them to the Temple long ago. Perhaps... he found the secret of eternal life within the Holocron? Regardless of the outcome of this battle, we must uncover the truth."
Meanwhile, in the grand hall of Royce VIII's mansion, the confrontation between Solo and Seth Harth had reached its climax.
Solo had gambled on Seth's weakness.
Having transferred his consciousness to a new clone body, Seth hadn't yet fully adapted to the reflexes, reactions, and motor functions of his new form. These traits, which couldn't be transferred with his consciousness, had become his greatest vulnerability.
Solo unleashed the Soresu form, his blue lightsaber clashing rapidly with Seth's scarlet blade. The speed of their exchange was too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Seth's technique blended the brute force of Juyo with the precision of Makashi. Each strike, whether a slash or a thrust, targeted Solo's weak points with calculated ferocity.
Solo sidestepped a waist-level slash, sliding beneath the blade and behind Seth. His left hand summoned a second lightsaber as he attempted a backstab.
But Seth reacted swiftly, ducking and sweeping his leg. Forced to use a Force Push to repel the kick, Solo narrowly avoided the strike. Seizing the opening, he hurled a small fireball condensed from the Fire Manipulation Technique.
Seth dodged sideways, countering with a burst of Force Lightning.
Solo channeled the Force into his lightsaber, creating a flowing barrier that deflected the lightning before he redirected the energy toward a nearby table. The table shattered with a deafening crack.
Seizing the opportunity, Solo closed the distance, his lightsaber attacks faster than during their battle on Zhai Planet, pressing Seth from all angles.
Despite this relentless assault, Seth's counterattacks remained dangerously precise. If not for the modifications to Solo's clothing, he would have been killed on the spot.
Seth's thrusts were so accurate that ordinary dodges proved futile, forcing Solo into a steady retreat.
After absorbing a heavy blow, Solo leaped backward, narrowly evading Seth's incoming Force Lightning.
As he landed, he immediately executed a backflip to dodge the lightning, simultaneously channeling the Force. Every table, chair, utensil, and dish in the hall levitated and hurtled toward Seth.
Seth cleaved through some of the debris, then vaulted onto a table and charged straight at Solo.
Ahsoka leaped up, her lightsaber arcing upward to intercept the attack. At the same moment, Solo swung his blade, crossing paths with Ahsoka's green lightsaber and channeling the Force to repel Seth.
Ahsoka followed with a direct strike at Seth's head, only to be sent flying by a Force Push.
Solo steadied Ahsoka, frustration burning in his heart. Though the battle thrilled him, Seth's tenacity far exceeded his expectations.
The fight remained evenly matched, but Solo's reserves of the Force were finite, and Seth's millennia of experience gave him a massive advantage.
If they couldn't end the battle in a minute or two, the tide would inevitably turn against them. Retreat was no longer an option.
They couldn't retreat. They had to fight until the very end.
Only by fighting to the bitter end could they break the deadlock. Those who couldn't overcome adversity would achieve nothing. Adversity itself was the path to victory.
Solo spun his lightsaber and charged back into the fray.
The Super Bear Type III protective armor, molded to his form, gleamed coldly under the lights. Made of a composite of steel and bronze fibers, the armor panels were backed by an always-active deflector shield generator.
The crisp clangs of colliding lightsabers echoed incessantly. Seth's strikes remained precise and powerful, his blade repeatedly striking Solo's armor with metallic clangs, yet he couldn't breach the defenses.
Realizing his conventional attacks were ineffective, Seth shifted his focus to the joints and gaps in the armor, as well as Solo's head. He singed Solo's hair several times and nearly struck his eyes once.
Solo executed a swift Shii-Cho assault, combining it with Ataru's leaping techniques to dart around Seth. A thrust nearly pierced Seth's chest.
He considered trying his untested technique—a variant based on instantaneous movement. Though he'd studied all the literature on matter teleportation and developed a preliminary theory, he'd never verified it in combat.
This wasn't the time for experiments. He had to defeat Seth using his existing skills.
"You've angered me!" Seth roared, raising his hand in a threatening gesture.
Solo immediately assumed the Soresu defensive stance, his eyes locked warily on his opponent.
At the edge of the hall, blasters stolen from the royal guards soared through the air, and several more weapons rolled out from the cracks in the walls.
Seth clenched his fist, and all the blasters fired simultaneously. Energy blasts of varying power and speed shot toward Solo from all directions.
Instead of retreating, Ahsoka advanced, her lightsaber whirling as she deflected the blasts. But with attacks coming from every angle, many still struck Solo.
"Master—!"
Unfazed, Solo's deflector shield instantly lit up with a pale blue aura. Dozens of light weapon shots struck in quick succession, causing violent fluctuations in the shield, but it held.
This was the advantage of the Super Bear Type III armor. Though not as powerful as the Battle Fortress's heavy shields, it was more than sufficient to withstand sustained light weapon fire.
At the same time, Solo danced his lightsaber, using Soresu's precise parries to deflect stray shots away from the civilians hiding behind furniture.
Just as he was fully occupied deflecting the energy blasts, Seth's right-hand lightsaber suddenly vanished. In the next instant, it hurtled toward him on a bizarre trajectory.
Solo bent backward, the lightsaber whistling past his head. But before he could straighten up, a searing pain erupted throughout his body. The impact of Force Lightning hurled him backward.
The fabric-lined armor of the Super Bear III model couldn't fully withstand the Dark Side energy's assault. Electricity seeped through the armor's seams, causing a tingling numbness to spread throughout his body.
Seth had deliberately used the blaster to pin Solo down, then thrown his lightsaber to draw attention, before unleashing Force Lightning. He had executed all three attacks nearly simultaneously!
Solo's speed and reflexes couldn't keep up with the onslaught. He crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony.
Seth gave him no chance to recover, unleashing another barrage of blaster fire.
The deflector shield held firm, deflecting most of the attacks. However, a more powerful energy blast struck the joint seam of his armor, sending a searing pain through his right thigh and knocking his left-hand lightsaber from its perch.
"Pain is a lie. Only the Force remains."
Solo silently recited the Tenacity Technique incantation, forcing down the agony as he charged forward.
Seth recalled his lightsaber, preparing to defend, but saw Solo collapse halfway through his charge. Simultaneously, the lightsaber he had lost earlier suddenly shot out from behind him.
The energy blast that had struck the hilt earlier, made of beskar steel, hadn't damaged the lightsaber's function.
Seth blocked the incoming lightsaber in surprise. In that instant, Solo activated his grappling arm. The device instantly latched onto Seth's arm, and its powerful pull propelled Solo forward at a speed too fast for Seth to perceive.
Before Seth could react, Solo executed the Iron-Cutting Slash. The green lightsaber sliced precisely through the air, completely severing his torso from his lower body.
An expression of disbelief froze on Seth's face as his two halves crashed heavily to the ground.
"Huff... huff..."
Solo gasped for breath, the burning pain in his right thigh causing sweat to bead on his forehead. His body trembled slightly from the residual energy of the Force Lightning, but the Super Bear Mark III armor had absorbed most of the lethal damage. "I won..."
He struggled to steady himself, about to recall his left-hand lightsaber, when a bizarre dark silhouette rose from Seth's corpse and lunged directly at his head.
The scene before him shifted abruptly. Solo found himself standing on the edge of a cliff, gazing down at an endless ocean.
"Is this your inner world? A reflection of your soul?" Seth's voice echoed as his figure materialized before Solo. "Every rational being's soul reflects a corresponding vision."
"You didn't come here to negotiate," Solo scoffed. "You need my body, and time's running out."
"Hahaha! What a clever Jedi!" Seth roared with laughter. "Your body far surpasses those custom-made clones. It's a complete Force-sensitive physique. Though your midi-chlorian count is low, with your body, I can confront him and merge with him!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Solo frowned. "Confront whom? What do you mean by 'merge'?"
"I'll tell you everything if you surrender voluntarily," Seth said, crossing his arms. "I have plenty of experience dealing with minds."
"Experience? Against those mentally crippled clones?" Solo sneered, raising his hand. Several lightsaber projections materialized instantly, piercing Seth's astral form. "Back on Zheii, you genuinely frightened me. I almost thought you were the true Sith Lord. I barely escaped. But now, you're nothing but a trapped beast lashing out in its death throes. Tell me, what did you mean by your opening words? Who's the Jedi traitor protecting you?"
"A traitor? In the Jedi Order?" Seth suddenly burst into laughter. "He betrayed me! He used me as a pawn to threaten the Warrior Order, even throwing those Shadows at me like dogs to hunt!"
"So it was..."
"You guessed right, Jedi!"
"What about your initial words?"
"Hahaha! Why would I tell you?" Seth's figure began to fade. "Go ahead and hunt for the traitor in your Warrior Order—if you can manage it!"
"I thought you wanted to drag more people down with you."
"You don't understand anything," Seth's voice sharpened. "I'll survive! Even if I can't possess you, I still have three clones! I can—"
"Three clones?" Solo sneered. "Did you think I hired mercenaries to bomb the estate on a whim? It was specifically to prevent you from transferring your consciousness. You might think they're hidden safely, but it's useless. I brought a Matukada Force-sensitive with me. Your unrestrained Dark Force aura can be sensed kilometers away, and your clones must radiate the same aura. Sheldon will take care of them."
"You're utterly mistaken!" Seth roared, attempting to initiate the consciousness transfer ritual. "I'll transfer to my clone right now—"
"It's useless," Solo said, shaking his head. "Even if you succeed in transferring your consciousness, I'll find you. Even if I don't, the entire galaxy will hunt you down. You're not Darth Andeddu; you can't cross galaxies to possess a clone.
I've already exposed you to the entire galaxy. No matter what, you've lost."
"Damn hybrid! Why can't I sense my clone?"
"I've already answered that. Goodbye, Seth Harth." Solo raised his hand, and the holographic form of a lightsaber activated before Seth's disembodied head. "You were an interesting opponent."
The moment the lightsaber pierced his soul, Seth's figure completely dissipated.
Ahsoka watched Seth's soul leave his body, feeling intense waves of the Dark Side. Only after confirming that the dark presence had been completely eradicated did she breathe a sigh of relief and quickly approach Solo.
"Master, are you alright?" Ahsoka steadied Solo, her gaze sweeping over the impact marks and energy residue on his Super Bear III armor.
"I'll live," Solo said, leaning against her. He grimaced at the searing pain in his right thigh. "Thanks to this armor. Those blows would have killed me otherwise."
He patted the composite armor plate on his chest. "How's Sheldon holding up?"
"Communications just reported that all the clones in the subterranean level have been destroyed, and the Mandalorian forces suffered minimal casualties," Ahsoka replied. "Seth... is he... dealt with?"
"Dealt with," Solo nodded, his gaze turning to Seth's corpse. "At least he can't threaten the galaxy anymore."
A fleeting surge of victory filled Solo's thoughts, but he remained vigilant against complacency.
After this battle, what awaited him was a far more complex reality: the Jedi Order's stance, the hunt for traitors, and the increasingly dire situation of the Clone War.
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