Duel of the Fates (Patreon)

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Third Person P.O.V.

In Naboo, ignoring everything else happening in the planet, there are two people engaged in a fierce fight.

Darth Maul and Hector moved to a more deserted part of the palace, fighting through corridors, halls and bridges…

They move at such incredible speed that any bystander would not dare to interfere or even get closer. And that is their body… Normal people can’t even see their arms swinging their weapons. Their limbs are blur and they would look almost invisible if the weapons being held by them were not so… showy.

Both the lightsaber and the keyblade are shining and also creating sparks every their met. Every crash creates sparks that light up the combatants, creating shadows of their bodies in the surroundings.

And it seems they are getting faster. Maybe not faster, but more “reckless” in the sense of attacking with smaller and smaller breaks. The combat gets more intense with each second that passes.

Hector is adapting and getting used to fighting at an astounding speed. He was never into a real “swordmanship duel”; he got caught off guard by some feints and by how Maul always aimed at his body. Every time he defends or dodges, he loses “a turn” in the fight, and Maul continues to press.

He can barely breathe… But he is getting the gist of it. Obviously, he only survived this long because of his innate advantages.

He was hurt more than once, the dual lightsaber scratching his body, burning layers of skin and even a little of his muscles, but he instinctively knew that he didn’t have the luxury to stop to wince in pain.

He simply grits his teeth, narrows his eyes, and continues fighting. His tough body and the Horse Talisman keep him alive.

He is still not sure whether the Dog Talisman will save him if his heart is pierced or his head decapitated, but he will not bet on that.

All of Maul's attacks are aimed at killing or at least incapacitating him.

His quick reaction time saved his limbs more than once in this fight. He also doesn’t know if the Horse Talisman is strong enough to at least “reattach” a lost limb. And he thinks it is too early for him to gain a cool cybernetic prosthetic.

He is a Body Purist who desires to keep his body 100% organic. Maybe his mind will change in the future, but that is how he thinks for now.

There are some important factors that impact a duel like this. Darth Maul obviously has the advantage in Experience. Even Hector’s weak future sight - something that always gave him an edge against others -doesn’t help much because a Force User can also use Precognition, evening the odds.

But Hector already noticed where his advantage lies and is getting ready to use them…

‘I am stronger.’ He thinks. His overall status is higher than Maul’s, even if the Zarbrak uses the force to empower himself.

Hector has the Talismans on top of his body, trained by the Hercules Method. Even with the Force reinforcing Maul, he can’t compare with the sheer raw power and speed Hector has.

‘His enhancements are temporary… it comes in a small boost… He times them perfectly with his blows or defense… A testament of his experience and mastery over the Force and his own body…’

Hector’s brain is analyzing Maul with everything he has, after all, his life literally depends on that. He never thought so fast without the use of the NZT.

And the drug is something he is keeping as a last resort, because despite the danger… He is growing so much during this fight. It would be a waste to cheat.

He just doesn’t need to commit a mistake.

‘It is like I am at 1 HP… It needs to be a No-Hit Bossfight.’ He doesn’t blink; his body is fully focused on the fight while his mind works overtime. He is in the zone.

Hector starts moving with fluidity, fusing attack and defense with the spin of his arms and rotation of his wrists. After all, to keep up with Maul’s technique and his dual lightsaber, Hector can’t show openings.

Maul’s attacks with one blade while already moving the other to an incredibly quick follow-up attack. Hector meets one blade, and then, with a rotation of his arm, his Keyblade does a 360, and it goes back to meet the second blade.

With his strong muscles, he is able to forcefully kill his momentum, even when it results in a backlash on his body, and attack again.

Hector doesn’t care about his muscle fibers tearing; he has the Horse Talisman to passively heal him from those small injuries. If it is only pain, he will ignore it so that he can keep up with Maul’s incredibly aggressive fighting style.

The battle took them to an open space, a huge storeroom filled with crates and other items. Hector jumps back inside, and Maul quickly follows by aggressively slicing the doors that are closing.

With a little time ot breath, Hector finally uses his telekinesis to make some crates float and attack Maul, but the Sith made quick work of them by cutting them in half and closing the distance while Hector was busy concentrating on his telekinesis.

‘He is trained to take advantage of the moment of concentration… Like how a melee fighter would instantly dash on a magic user preparing his magic circle.’ Hector abandons the strategy

The keyblade and the lightsaber clash again with a loud sound, they stuck together while the combatants look at each other over them, like at the beginning of the fight.

“Who are you?” Maul is finally taking Hector seriously.

Not only did the guy that he thought he would kill easily survive till now… he is weird.

He is like a Jedi or Sith Lord… and at the same time nothing like them.

Maul can easily see that Hector has no formal training in the lightsaber forms. The menacing eyes that changed colors, the way he looks, and even the overwhelming style of combat scream a Sith…But it is impossible for another Sith to exist without Maul’s knowledge.

Strangely, Maul can’t feel the Force on Hector, even when he seems to be using something similar to the Force Telekinesis. He also hasn’t forgotten the eye Heatblast, so he is wary of anything strange that his enemy can pull up.

But Maul is Maul… He will not play the cautious man now. No, his plan is simply to kill Hector as fast as possible before he can show his tricks.

And surprisingly, that is exactly the right answer! Another proof of Maul’s good instincts and Battle IQ. He took the right decision even amidst uncertainty.

During the lock, Maul exchanged his hand placement quickly and spun his lightsaber to make Hector’s keyblade slide off it. The dual blade is spinning in the direction of the opponent’s neck.

Bam

But Hector released a blast of telekinetic power at Maul’s chest, sending the Sith flying in the air a little. He recovered fast, though, doing a backflip in the air and landing gracefully.

‘There is a reason I am letting one hand free…’ Hector doesn’t say anything out loud because he is busy acting. 

The same hand that attacked starts bringing crates and other objects to hit Maul while the Zarbrak was still in the air, and now that he landed, the objects are already on him.

Hector finally got enough space and time to use his telekinesis to its full extent.

Maul already needed to do another backflip to dodge a big crate that was aimed at his back. He landed in the said crate and needed to act fast to cut the other two smaller ones that tried to hit him on his sides.

A shadow looms over him, and he looks up to see a giant turbine being dropped in his head.

Boom

The turbine lands with a crash, breaking under its own weight and creating a small shockwave.

“...” Hector doesn’t relax, already preparing his next moves. Many crates and other items start floating around the area.

He doesn’t believe, not even for a second, that this attack killed Maul.

Whoosh

He was proved right in the next instant when Maul emerged from the smoke, jumping at him with his lightsaber in his hands. With some minor movements, he pushes the floating objects away and goes for a huge swing at Hector.

Hector decides to jump back and wave his hand to overwhelm Maul with every object around, throwing them all at the same time.

Maul is about to get crushed into a ball of crates, but he shows incredible acrobatics, moving his body and dodging everything he can, and cutting what he can’t. He also made the right decision by moving away from the center point of collision, so that he could have time to deal with the objects flying at him at different times.

The Sith was able to escape the trap, but he was left without “moves”. While he was busy making sure to evade this last big attack, Hector was swiftly moving, predicting his escape route and…

“!!!”

Maul's eyes widen seeing the keyblade already so close to his face, but he is still able to raise his lightsaber to defend himself.

Screeeeech 

Hector then grits his teeth hard and plants his feet on the ground. With a lot of effort, he kills his momentum, moves his torso and jerks his arms downwards. He used everything on this, simultaneously activating the Ox and Rabbit Talisman, something he was holding back till now, exactly to surprise Maul, and caught him off guard.

“!!!”

Now, Maul is exposed… Hector is in an awkward position, like a baseball player ready to hit a home run, but the ball is coming from above. His body is almost parallel to the ground.

THWACK

The keyblade hits Maul directly on his stomach, the Sith was doubled over like a shrimp, his face contorting in pain, and then he was sent flying like a bullet till he hit the ceiling.

Crack

It is unclear if that sound came from the ceiling or Maul’s bones breaking.

Hector was ready to do a follow-up, but surprisingly, Maul got out of the ceiling by propelling himself down and landing on the ground after some spins.

‘That is some grit, because there is no way he is not hurt by that…’ Hector thinks.

Maul is indeed playing tough, but with his Sith training, he has enough mental fortitude to keep fighting even with the pain. He will not lose battle power because of his injuries, no… He will get even stronger, drawing power from his anger and other negative emotions.

Voosh

“!” Hector's eyes widen seeing Darth Maul immediately dash at him to resume their battle ‘This is absolutely the Legends version.’ He concludes ‘He was not doing all that in the movies.’

The fight continues, but Hector is now using the full power of the Ox and Rabbit Talisman and abusing it, really. His fighting style changed by going back and forth with the Rabbit Talisman, moving out of reach and circling Maul to strike with the power of the Ox Talisman.

But Maul proves once again he is a good fighter, his double lightsaber giving ample reach to protect his body in all directions, but Hector moved like an annoying speedster fly. He attacks, moves back, circles, and attacks again on an opening, sometimes even feinting his attacks.

Maul is finally on his last legs, but Hector doesn’t lower his guard.

‘He is holding himself pretty well… But in this condition, that should get him.’ Hector’s attacks get stronger and stronger, pushing Maul back. He gets aggressive, giving the impression of wanting to end this fight now that he has the upper hand.

He finally stops and commits to his attacks, swinging down his keyblade at Maul. He is even holding it with his two hands to increase his attack power.

The Sith was able to stop the easily read attack, but his arms are forced back and his knees buckle every time he defends.

One… two… three… four… On the fifth blow, Maul is almost on his knees, being forced down by the pressure, blades locked once again.

Once more, they are in a contest of strength, and Hector is obviously winning. Maul has to use all his strength just to stop his own blade from hitting his face.

But the Sith is already planning his next move… he just needs to bait Hector into a false sense of security, make him confident, putting even more strength in this. Then he will give up in this struggle, side step and let Hector lose his balance, then he will strike the enemy’s stomach, cutting him at his waist and winning the battle.

It is a Maul victory… if that happened.

Hector struck first…

On an unexpected move, he opened his mouth and… spit fire at Maul.

Fooooosh

The stream of fire hit the Zarbrak ruthlessly, burning his face, eyes, and even the oxygen he was trying to breathe. His clothes catch on fire, his skin melts, his fingers lose their strength, and he drops his lightsaber…

Hector doesn’t stop, breathing fire with everything he got.

As a Star Wars fan, Hector is aware of one of the best methods to kill a Jedi, used by the Mandalorians in the past… Flamethrowers.

He waited till this moment to use it because a good Force user would be able to make a barrier. Maul was wounded, wielding his lightsaber with both hands and with his mind in his next move to win.

He didn’t have enough mental strength and focus to react to an attack from this distance, and such an unusual move was also impossible to predict. Hector even baited him into a false sense of security by using his two hands on the Keyblade, making Maul think Hector would not pull any trick with his free hand.

At best, Maul’s eyes are focused on Hector’s own eyes, ready in case he would use another heatblast, unaware that the danger would come from a little lower, and it would be impossible to deflect with his lightsaber.

Hector continues to breathe fire till Maul is struggling weakly on the ground and even then, Hector was cautious enough to pull a knife from his inventory and hit Maul’s vital points from far away.

“Dead…” he declares, finally relaxing a little.

He smiles brightly and extends his hand. Maul’s dual-bladed lightsaber flies to his hand, and his smile gets even bigger.

“Hehehehe.” The weight in his hand feels good, and he throws it in the air a little before looking carefully at the details. “Where are the buttons? Oh, here…”

Pssheew

“Hehehe! Ah, the other is here…”

Pssheew

“Now this is what I call a good loot…” He nods to himself “Wait, is there any side effect in using a lightsaber from the Dark Side?” He pauses “Meh, who cares about being corrupted?! I have a lightsaber!!!”

…………………………………………

It could be said that this battle is being fought in 4 fronts.

There are obviously two battlefields, one on the ground and the other in the air. The first being fought primarily by the gungans and the few humans of Naboo that are appearing from their hideouts, and the latter being fought by the starfleet of Naboo against the blockade.

The other is no less important, maybe the most important one, and is Padmé's advance to reach the Viceroy and capture him.

The fourth one was the less conspicuous duel between Hector and Darth Maul. He was the first to win, so now he has to make a decision…

“Thinking about the Macro game, I need to help them; that is how group battles are won.” He holds his chin between his fingers. “But who?”

If only considering importance, he should go help Padmé, but if there is a chance, the Viceroy will not give the order to stop his army, even under their power. He could reverse things and make the world a hostage.

So he should crush one of the armies to destroy the Viceroy's confidence.

He also remembers that Anakin ended up having a great importance in the movie by destroying the Mothership and deactivating the droids…

“...” He frowns and then sighs “Okay, no time to hold back and hide my power.” He hopes that he will not regret it later.

In the end, he can’t go into orbit to conveniently destroy what is controlling all droids, so he decided to help the Gungans on the planet.

And “helping” means completely crushing the opposite droids in a way that will make the enemies, who are living beings, shit their pants.

As a plus, it is gonna save the lives of the poor soldiers. In chess, there is no problem in sacrificing other pieces to take the opponent’s king… but real life is not a game. The fewer pieces sacrificed, the better.

He slowly floats and…

Boom

…breaks the sound barrier, flying through the hallways with ease and reaching outside as quickly as possible.

The day is sunny and beautiful, but the scene that he finds is not as pleasant as the wind hitting his face. Hector doesn’t waste time trying to understand the situation completely; he saw the Gungans being pushed back by the droids and started acting.

The droids' formation worked against them now because Hector was able to easily act and unleash his power without worries.

He flew low, passing the fallen Gungans and entering the formations of droids with Maul’s lightsaber in his hands.

Pshpshpshpshpshpsh

He spins it, cutting all the droids nearby in half. The power of his flight was also strong enough to disrupt the formation. He makes rounds between the battalions and even cuts vehicles, laughing all the way at how fun this is.

“Okay… but this is not efficient at all…” He finally stops and puts the lightsaber away.

It is time to get serious.

He flies down again, upside down, and arrives in the middle of the droids. His eyes ignite with a red light, and he starts spinning on himself.

Psssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

A red circle of destruction merges at the epicenter of the droids. Hector spun so fast that his attack looked like a giant red disc from a higher point of view.

The army of droids has no chance; they have the numbers, but they are simply too fragile and slow to deal with a highly superior enemy. They are just fodder for an average Jedi, so against Hector, who has highly destructive abilities, they could very well throw their weapons on the ground and deactivate themselves.

The droids are sliced easily, the ones that have some force fields are crushed by hits of telekinesis, and the vehicles receive fireballs strong enough to send them into the air.

It is such overwhelming slaughter that the Gungans stopped fighting, staring at the destruction with open mouths, not knowing if they should help or run.

Meanwhile, Hector is raining destruction with the same enjoyment of a guy who just quicksaves in a game before creating chaos without consequences.

Boom Boom

*Noooo…” The droids scream emotionlessly

“Shoot him.”

“Roger, roger.”

“I am dead…”

“I am just fresh from the factory.”

“I would be retiring today.”

Boom

“Hahahahaha! You damn clankers! Take this!” He even started flying a little farther to get some of the enemies' Starfighters that are getting too close. “Okay, finish things here. Bye!” He gets close to the Gungan general, shouts those words, and flies away as quickly as he arrived.

“...”

“.....”

“.......”

“Yousa heard da man!! Push!!” The general shouts, making all gungans scurry to obey his orders.

……………………………….

In the palace, after some effort and luck, Padmé finally has Nate Gunray exactly where she wants.

“Call off the blockade, Viceroy.” She talks with him at gunpoint, voice steady and eyes serious.

Around the throne room, her people were able to subjugate the Viceroy's entourage and destroy his guard droids.

“Foolish little queen.” Nate Gunray snorts “You shouldn’t point a gun if you are not ready to pull the trigger… and I know very well you can’t do that~” His tone is mocking and condescending

“Are you ready to bet your life on this?” She pushes the barrel of the gun between his eyes

“Do it then. Your people are under the mercy of my army, and only I can stay their hand.” The Viceroy challenges.

Padmé hesitates… What he is speaking about makes sense. Even killing them would not change anything; they would still need to fight a war outside. 

Making them surrender is the right path… The only path she can accept, the one that will save the lives of her people.

“Hehehe. It seems you finally understood your place, Queen Amidala.” Nate Gunray straightens himself confidently. “You could have saved us a lot of trouble and your people a lot of suffering if you reached this conclusion sooner.” 

He even walks out of the aim of her gun and casually strides to the control panel close to the throne.

“Now, it is your turn to surrender, and if you are still not convinced…” He chuckles maliciously “...I can show you something that will change your mind.”

Beep

He presses a button and a hologram of the battlefield floats to them… but to his surprise, the image that was shown was not of his unquestionable victory, but of a single creature trashing his army like it's his god-given right to do so.

“.......”

Everyone pauses and stares at the unbelievable sight.

“Erm… I would like to surrender now, please.” Nate Gunray turns awkwardly.

“..........”

……………………………………..

“What? I told you that I was strong… You guys need to stop staring at me weirdly all the time. At this point, you should be used to this already.” It is what Hector said after entering the throne room.

He smells like smoke because he was just in the air flying through starships and was even hit at some point. His clothes are tattered, and he looks incredibly disheveled.

“Are you okay?” Padmé asks with worry, seeing that beneath his half-destroyed clothes, there are points of his skin that are charred black.

“Yep, I am good.” He says without a care in the world, scratching the charred skin like it's dirt, revealing pink and healthy skin underneath.

He was grazed many times by Maul’s lightsaber, thanks to his strong body and Horse talisman. He ignored it until now, but the marks are still on his body. Not that a shower and a good scrub will not solve, though.

“It was a dangerous fight, and I ended up working more than I expected, but I am glad that I did. It was a learning experience…” Hector chuckles to himself “And a little fun.”

“...”

“Oh, there you go again, looking at me weirdly.” Hector rolls his eyes as he points. “By the way, call the Jedi Council and say that I have the corpse of a Sith Lord. If they don’t believe, call Qui-Gon.”

Hector, at least, wants to warn them of the existence of the Siths.

“They must know that if one appeared… another should exist.” He speaks in an unnaturally serious tone 

“I can do that.” Padmé nods “I will make a speech later, and there will be a celebration for our liberation and to thank the Gungans-

“Not interested.” Hector interrupts and turns to leave. “Call me when you have my reward or if the Jedi say that they don’t believe in you.”

“...”

“Or if the party has food…”

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