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Let Chaos Reign Chapter 41: Mace Windu The Master
Republic forces scrambled across their consoles trying their best to keep the massive fleet of ships and especially the ground forces organized, coordinated, and above all else in the know of what was happening around them.
Yoda tapped his cane along the floor, ears drooping down, feeling the loss of life across so many worlds. These were different from the mass suffering from the ongoing war. This was brought about by their enemy, Tobi, as he set his Sith abomination once more upon the galaxy.
This was calculated, and after several Republic officers noted along with other higher-ups, the planets weren’t chosen at random despite a surface level making it appear as such. They were all loosely connected across hyperspace lanes that led to the only target anyone could think would be worth this much effort -- Coruscant.
The absurdly durable ships that comprised the fleet never stayed for long in the battles above the planets that had been attacked. Yoda saw a feed showing clips of previous conflicts that had happened in the past three weeks.
Mandalorians helping the creature that slaughtered its way across far too many planets. They even had something no one thought they would ever see again.
Basilisk War Droids.
Most people who knew major history knew of those infamous droids. The fleet had been brought together in the hope that it would be enough to stop the ships from even letting their crews land on the planet.
“Master Yoda, I am ready alongside the forces on the planet.” Mace Windu said with the utmost seriousness. “Ensure that if the enemy doesn’t land near me that Republic forces keep their distance until I can engage it.”
He had taken the loss at Tobi’s hands harder than anyone else. Even Anakin Skywalker was put to shame by the zealousness Windu displayed in continuing his training. The man had taken it upon himself to correct what he believed were solely his mistakes.
Training himself and developing new powers in the Force and bringing them to higher levels few Jedi have ever matched.
“Good. May the Force be with you.” Yoda said with the utmost seriousness. He was in charge of the fleet, while Windu would be the one to confront the enemy should they make it past the several dozen-strong fleet. It far outstripped the fleet Windu had taken with him to end this threat the first time.
When word had spread after the fall of Ord Mantell, fleet after fleet was used to try and stop the advance. None of them succeeded. The fleets remained mostly intact. The issue was that the enemy wasn’t worried about the fleet. They were after the planets below.
Images of the infamous droids the ancient Mandalorians had used in the distant past played out before his eyes, watching countless clones, droids, and numerous cities destroyed, engulfed in fire and shadow.
Then that creature…
It’s one pale eye staring at its victims before killing them with no mercy and such brutality only a Sith could match. Tobi must be stopped. Everyone agreed on this.
But for now they would prioritize ending this threat that hoped to make its way to the heart of the Republic. None of the planets were taken over. The creature and the forces that followed it seemed more set on destroying everything in their path than conquering it.
After the fourth world, the Mandalorians had disappeared, leaving only the creature and what ships it brought with it. Each subsequent planet had more and more ships added to their defense fleets. Yet none of it mattered when they pushed through them, reeking havoc across the planet's surface, and then moved on. Their attempts to move any ships around used up more fuel than they were struggling to get more for the mid to outer-rim campaigns.
It’s why this time, with how close they were getting to Coruscant, they had to pull far more ships even when they didn’t want to. All from nearby systems. They even had quite a few from Kamino ordered to assist them. Far more than Yoda would have preferred, enough that it left a dent in the fleet's defense over the planet. With them showing they can somehow achieve victory despite being vastly outnumbered, the old Jedi was concerned should they decide to go for the clones' homeworld.
What helped him not worry too much was that any attempt on Kamino would take great losses, so much so that he didn’t believe they could achieve a victory in the war entirely if they went through with such an attack and somehow pulled it off. The losses would be far too great.
Even with many of their ships assisting them and a lack of fuel for their mid to outer-rim campaigns.
Yoda, despite the tension, was a beacon of calm for all of the men onboard. It radiated from him and washed over the numerous ships' crews that could feel the sensation. They all began to relax while still ready to fight for the Republic and push back the growing tide of darkness.
Then everyone touched by the Force felt it. The disturbance. Like a ripple that became a tsunami towering over everything ominously hanging from above.
Then came the ships. Over a dozen. All outnumbered and outgunned, yet that didn’t stop them from charging.
“Prioritize the thrusters.” Yoda ordered. A chorus of confirmations rang out to his ears across the fleet.
Salvos of missiles flew forth, crimson and azure lances exploded against shield and hull alike, and metal and fire illuminated the vast darkness of space. The ships were already taking damage, but like every other time, they shrugged it off and continued to function.
But unlike every other time, they were far more prepared. Republic intelligence had been cross-referencing footage of each battle these augmented ships partook in. They managed to get an idea of where the redundant parts were at. It took far too long, but when Republic intelligence had only so much information to go off of, it was to be expected in the end.
Yoda still felt the disturbance in the Force. His ears drooped, eyes narrowed. Everything told him something wasn’t right. He already felt this way when he learned of the Mandalorian forces after only a few planets had left the fleet.
The ships, one by one, after specific holes were punched through their hulls, began to slow down, and others became lifeless mass graves made of metal. The ships put up a fight, but there was no trickery compared to the other systems they had done such things to. They were not as aggressive as they had been before.
Then it came. A black ship that sucked in all the light no differently than the vast darkness of space around it broke free from the wreckage of a downed ship. It almost blended in, but the Force warned him of what was in that ship, combined with the fires and explosions that raged around that small black ship.
It was fast. Faster than most fighter ships.
The reflection of the fire and explosions with death all around it was distorted on its hull, washing over it. Yet the emotions Yoda sensed were what truly tipped him off.
Hand lifted and pointed desperately towards that ship. “Aim everything on that ship. Land it cannot be allowed.”
Despite the tension between the Jedi and the clones, along with the droids the clones had deep resentment for that added to the tension in the Republic, they all did as ordered.
Even when the enemy ships began to start doing significant damage against theirs, they focused what they could on that enemy vessel.
Lances of red and blue slammed into its surprisingly durable shield. A nonstop torrent that looked more like a river of blue and red washed over it. The shield held for several agonizing seconds until it finally fell.
The ship soon joined the red and blue before it detonated. A small blossom of fire was lost amidst the storm of turbo laser batteries that didn’t even stop for a second. They were not taking any chances.
Yoda’s eyes narrowed before they widened. He felt through the Force and found that the creature was somehow still alive. Then something rushed out of the flaming wreckage and through the massive swarm of turbo lasers.
Yoda’s eyes widened, realizing what it was. A massive escape pod made of phrik. Yoda calmed himself, thankful they had the foresight to make sure, despite the overwhelming amount of firepower and manpower down on the planet's surface, Windu and he had agreed that he would face the creature himself to avoid unnecessary casualties. Every time the clones and droids made any attempt to fight, it amounted to nothing but them all being destroyed.
While Yoda accepted what would come, having the utmost confidence in Mace Windu to handle this threat, Nemesis was annoyed.
The cramped phrik escape pod held Nemesis within it. The bioweapon growled at the annoyance of being stuck in this tiny pod. The escape pod shrugged everything fired at it off before slamming down into a city.
Buildings in its path were smashed, toppling over like dominoes. As soon as the pod hit solid land, a door opened with a hiss, and the massive form of Nemesis leaped out, slamming and cratering the road beneath him.
His head looked around, and whatever thoughts he had of killing and destroying his targets were replaced with finding them. Nothing.
Not a single thing moving amongst the small city it had crashed into. Minutes went by as Nemesis tried finding anything, moving across the city even among the tallest of buildings, yet none of his senses, whether natural or Nen-based, could find anyone.
Yet an old instinct that Nemesis, like any living thing, never truly lost. It had eyes on it. Someone or something was watching him, yet he couldn’t figure out where they were.
His En was flared out across multiple city blocks. Yet nothing was found. Just when he was going to move on, massive muscles flexed, and he dropped from the tallest building, and just when he was about to crater the road, an invisible force slammed into Nemesis.
His face met duracrete and went through several buildings before reorienting himself midair. His lone eye alongside En continued to scan the surroundings. Still nothing.
He rose up, a towering nightmare for many beings in the galaxy. Then a faint beep made him pause before his world turned to fire and flame. The entire block was leveled, and many buildings well out of the blast radius found themselves knocked over and crumbling apart.
Nemesis’ silhouette could be seen through the flames before leaping out of it with tongues of flame licking away at his frame, growling yet still no target. The two weapon cases on his back were scorched without any real damage to them or his favorite weapons.
His hands clenched and unclenched, ready to tear into whatever was doing this. Patience having run out some time ago, and the explosion all but telling the former Umbrella bioweapon that there was someone here to kill.
One of the containers opened and outshot the modified slugthrower. Hand catching it, and without any hesitation, a surge of aura flowed into the weapon around its payload, and he pulled the trigger. The building in front of Nemesis was turned to nothing. The street cracked and broke apart from the shockwave, and every building in a multi-block radius was toppled over.
The fire and force of the blast were shrugged off like everything to Nemesis. It didn’t care about the damage done to it. Only the carnage it desired.
Whoever had been denying Nemesis didn’t die in that blast. If anything, Nemesis did it to force them out of hiding. En allowing Nemesis to see everything around it, no signs of life, no movement beyond the crackle of fire and falling rubble.
Then, to the bioweapons surprise, a snap followed by a hiss, and the next thing Nemesis knew was a purple flash, and his weapon had been cut to pieces, his aura doing nothing to stop its destruction.
His sole eye narrowed at one of his two greatest treasures getting destroyed. Then in a flash the blade, after a second of resistance, pierced through his aura again and impacted where Nemesis' heart would be.
Mace Windu stared up at the Sith-created monster without any fear or remorse. “This is your end,” He said slowly. “No more death, and no more destruction.”
His training had proven worth every grueling hour when the creature that otherwise could somehow sense and detect people when it by all rights shouldn’t have been capable of such a thing. Not when it lacked a line of sight or any physical means through its senses to know where anyone was.
It couldn’t sense or detect Windu. Not when he had ensured he was properly trained after a great deal of research had been done. His grasp over Force Cloak and Force Concealment has become far greater than most Jedi currently alive have ever seen. If he could beat this creature, it was more than just taking a valuable asset from Tobi. It told Windu he had a chance to end the threat to the galaxy once and for all.
The reign of the Sith must never return. No matter what cost must be paid, he wouldn’t make the same mistake he had on Geonosis when he had Dooku and could have ended the war before it began.
Nemesis registered his words, and his fury exploded out. A loud roar echoed out that sent gusts of wind. Windu stared wide-eyed before dodging a massive fist using Ko. He swiftly backed away and held a hand up.
The ground cratered, one second it was there, the next it was missing several meters off the top of it. The duracrete cracked and chipped so badly it turned to dust. A rush of wind that would have broken a normal person's body rushed towards Windu, who calmly held his hand out.
His breathing was even, a tranquil pond next to a raging stormy sea. The powerful, nearly unstoppable force met Windu’s outstretched hand, and with two fingers, the powerful force just vanished. Windu looked down at his two fingers, seeing them shake lightly. He could feel the power that coursed within him wanting to be released.
Released, it shall be.
Nemesis, without any hesitation, charged him. Turning that gentle hand into a fist, Windu evaded the punch the Force had warned was coming. Sidestepping it, the fist sank into the ground like it was water. Windu slammed his fist into the monster's leg, just below the knee. The air cracked, a rush of wind, then Nemesis was off the ground spinning.
Windu’s lightsaber that embodied his constant walk between the Force and the dark side lashed out. The blade met Nemesis’ aura again, and this time he faced more resistance. Not that it mattered when it was only for two seconds.
Two seconds that Nemesis had to watch the blade sever his head and send his massive body mid-swing tumbling to the ground. Windu even moved his head to the side, avoiding the attack that came even when the creature was near its end, lopping the arm off for good measure.
A rush of wind followed by the crash that made the ground quake. The massive form of Nemesis was unmoving while Windu was still calm. All of the monster's anger and rage was turned against it, all taken and thrown right back at it.
Windu’s eyes widened at the sudden warning that came like an almost too late echo. He ducked under a tentacle that would have lopped his head off. A quick slash severed the tentacle before, to his shock, the thing got back up.
The section where it was missing an arm began to bubble and shift before the flesh knit itself and a new limb looking like a mass of nerves and muscle formed out of it with a wet squelching. Its other arm grabbed his head and unceremoniously plopped it down onto its body, shifting and adjusting it.
The cut that separated its head despite being cauterized broke the heated parts off as new flesh poured out of it like a pot boiling over. The flesh bulged before meeting together and intertwining.
Nemesis rolled its shoulder and neck, several loud, disgusting pops echoed out as it glared at Windu. He stood stoically outside of the crater, blade held at the ready.
Shatterpoint had finally shown him where he needed to hit it. Several points along its body. Unlike most sentients, the weak points were areas that were not vital parts of the body. It even showed the gaps in that invisible barrier he could barely make out with the Force.
He was getting better at it. Feeling the thing even if he couldn’t see it. Nemesis thundered across the crater, the other box opening and bringing out the modified heavy rotary blaster.
Windu’s eyes narrowed a fraction, he was familiar with both weapons. There was a reason why he went for the slugthrower when he finally struck. The weapon whirred to life, spitting out crimson death.
Windu didn’t make the mistake the other Jedi had. He didn’t bother blocking the enhanced bolts, even if he could. Instead, his hand shot out, and all that pent-up energy he had taken was released back out into the world combined with his own strength. What followed would best be described as a cataclysm that put what Nemesis did with his weapon enhanced with Nen to shame.
An entire quarter of the city was just gone. Buildings toppled and blown away, wind became thunder, and roads and any debris in the way scattered for miles. Nemesis' sole eye widened before the force slammed into the creature.
All of the blaster bolts it fired were batted aside by the power of the push. Nemesis, with a surge of aura tightening into coils across his body, withstood the attack as trenches were carved into the ground. He was sent flying back, his legs and then hips buried into the ground, digging into it without a sign of stopping.
He tried to resist and push back against the unseen force trying its best to crush him. Nemesis doesn’t get crushed, he does the crushing. With a growl and a flare of Ren fueled by Nemesis's anger and desire to harm, he finally began to slow.
Chunks of debris broke against him, and it all went ignored. The only thing his eye remained transfixed on was Mace Windu.
Something inside of Nemesis clicked. His purpose had always been to be a weapon. A hound dog sent after his master's enemies. It was simple and something that Nemesis preferred.
Bigger things like philosophy about what awaits anything after death or questioning the morals of one’s own actions were all things that Nemesis didn’t care enough to understand nor ever felt the need to.
Coming to a stop, the giant living nightmare broke through the ground, but instead of charging right at Windu like it would have, it instead did something that surprised the Jedi Master.
“Target… Found.” Its voice sounded like mountains grinding against one another.
Nemesis engaged his Nen ability. It took a long time to develop it, with Pitou helping guide him along the path.
Inevitable Pursuit was engaged.
Nemesis' eye stayed on his marked target. Already his Nen was beginning to change and shift to better match his target.
Windu noticed the disturbance in the Force, eyes narrowing in concentration. “Target… must be eliminated.”
Its last weapon whirred to life, but Windu raised his lightsaber. Vaapad took all the aggression and anger out of the creature, along with something else, something foreign, cycled it through him, and redirected it all back at it.
The enhanced blaster bolts slammed into his blade, but Windu stood strong. Instead of them getting deflected back, the instant his blade made contact with the bolts, they vanished. All the energy that comprised them drained out of them and into Windu.
Most Jedi have never done such a thing. But Windu had a close bond with his lightsaber. Enough that he genuinely felt it as an extension of himself.
The power he felt inside of him was a nonstop hurricane. It was just like before, but he remembered his training in Tutaminis, among other things.
He knew after his clash with Tobi that as he currently was, he couldn’t hope to defeat him without the man escaping or overcoming him in some form. Tutaminis in his eyes, much like Force Concealment and Force Cloak, was deemed a necessity when he saw the damage Tobi and his forces could do.
Using that same energy, Windu felt the power course through his veins, singing a song of war and death. He moved, and when he did, the world around him seemed to freeze and stutter. His blade came down like a guillotine, slashing through the weapon, facing even more resistance from the barrier that was becoming more visible the longer this fight went on and the more Windu absorbed into himself.
He still broke through it. Then the weapon fell to pieces just like the last. Then his eyes widened. A big massive fist made from tendrils and muscle fibers almost took his head.
He slid back, narrowly avoiding it. The Force almost didn’t warn him in time. Nemesis moved faster. He could react to Windu now. The fight wasn’t as easy now for the Jedi Master.
Each blow from Nemesis cracked the air, the ground quaked from each step sending tremors through everything, and despite numerous cuts across its body and losing chunks of it, he just continued undeterred.
Windu pushed himself to move faster, and so he did when several strikes got far too close. The short time since Nemesis had activated his Nen ability, he was getting stronger and faster, and his aura and body were taking more power to do any damage.
Windu didn’t miss any of this. Even with Vaapad, he was forced onto defense and found no opening to regain his advantage. He breathed in and let out a breath in spite of a fist that could topple entire buildings with ease, slamming into his blade. It was held back and stopped, all the power behind it dead in its tracks.
His lightsaber hissed and sparked against the fist pressing against his weapon like a capital ship wrestling against him. Sparks formed in the air where they struck each other multiple times. Each exchange of blows sounded like artillery salvos.
Windu moved gracefully with the stance and power of a true warrior as his blade turned into eight after images and was growing. Now his blows weren’t even breaking through the barrier. Nemesis was getting faster, even managing glancing blows that would have taken out a small army of clones and tanks. He was beginning to somehow predict where Windu was going to be.
Then shatterpoint saw it. Combined with the Force, it showed him what was to come. Multiple tendrils from the creature lashed out at him, then invisible strikes pierced through his body. Then a fist coming from above turned him to nothing but red mist.
Shatterpoint showed him what was happening. What he needed to do and where to target the monster to end this. For if he didn’t, then that vision would come to fruition. Windu realized what was happening…
His lips thinned. “You’re adapting.”
Windu’s words were true. What he didn’t know was that Nemesis’s Hatsu that had been developed was a strict yet powerful one. Inevitable pursuit had a restriction that was rather potent. Nemesis could not disengage the Nen ability once it’s used on a single target.
He had to kill Windu. In exchange, the bioweapons aura would begin to quickly adapt to whatever enemy he was fighting that ability marked. Lightsaber strikes that for a brief moment faced resistance now began to struggle to find any weak points in his aura.
His speed is becoming nearly on par with Windu's, and his aura is growing in both quality and quantity, wrapping around muscles and tendons and giving Nemesis far greater speed and power. His senses had become far sharper, capable of picking up the slightest shifting of skin or muscle, however minute. Combined with his aura leaking out across the surroundings, giving him feedback information on every subtle move the Jedi made. To the point its aura was helping it predict where Windu would be seconds before he ever moved.
Then Nemesis made its move. Numerous tendrils, whether tentacles or ribbons of nerves and muscle, sprung out. Windu managed to evade them all in a dizzying display of acrobatics.
His free hand occasionally touches the sides of them and reduces both the aura and kinetic force. Draining it all and keeping it all contained within himself. The fight had escalated with the two clashing through the city.
Windu was controlled, not letting himself do any collateral damage. Nemesis, in comparison, was a walking natural disaster. Anything that got in the way or just happened to be near him was all but obliterated. Entire buildings and city blocks destroyed.
The tendrils continued before the next adaptation came. His aura with Ren became weaponized beyond empowering his physical body. Numerous invisible tendrils struck out that Windu would surely die too.
Instead, the master Jedi found himself surprised. The unknown energy he had been absorbing into himself through Tutaminis had awoken something. Its volatile dark nature felt like a key sliding into a door that Windu never knew existed.
With its opening, he felt power flood across his body. Eyes widening when he could see the outline of a tendril, did he act. They were close to the end. Both knew it and pushed harder for it. Nemesis forced Windu’s blade to focus on its aura attacks, coming forward in a fist held above the man like the hammer of an angry god.
The fist came down with Windu incapable of moving fast enough with so many attacks coming from all directions and angles. Even with Vaapad, he couldn’t escape. Or so Nemesis had believed.
The fist came down, the air whistling far too slowly behind it. Sound itself was left in its wake, and the limb almost teleported if most sentients watched this moment.
Feeling the surge of newfound power coming from himself, Windu didn’t even hesitate. “No more.” He said calmly in complete contrast to the raging beast before him.
The same beast that was about to bring about a small apocalypse on what was left of this city and part of the tectonic plates far below.
Windu’s hand came up, not a closed fist, but an open, waiting palm. Nemesis’ one eye narrowed to a pinprick. The kill was here, but not the one the bioweapon had expected.
The fist met Windu’s palm, and in the fraction of a fraction of many more fractions of a second, Windu absorbed everything the fist would have done to him and the surroundings. The energy from before as the fight raged on was reaching its limit to how much Windu could contain within himself before it needed release.
Like containing the full and unbridled fury of a star. It couldn’t be contained for long periods and most definitely not when it had exceeded thresholds beyond what the user of Tutaminis could hold. But Windu figured out a trick to circumvent that issue.
Using the already stored energy to further boost his strength and speed, combined with Vaapad and the newly awakened power that felt similar to Nemesis’s, he absorbed all that he could while his perception of time made the universal constant slow to a crawl.
The moment before, he would have been torn asunder by all the power he was storing, he released it. Body turning intangible when several aura and physical tendrils would have speared him, putting his time sparring and learning from the Dark Woman to good use.
The attacks went right through him as if he were but a ghost. Before Nemesis could even react, Windu, who had outright eclipsed the monster in every metric right now, especially physically, took his lightsaber coated in the aura the same way Nemesis had been doing before and struck each vulnerable part of the monster's body.
His blade pierced through his aura like it didn’t even exist, cutting apart the aura and flesh with no resistance now. Nemesis was incapable of doing anything but merely moving millimeter by millimeter.
Nemesis’ body wanted to convulse, it all happened so fast that he didn’t even have time to process. He was dead from having all parts of the parasite that made Nemesis what he was destroyed. Then for added measure, his hand snapped out.
From it all the power and energy he had contained within him and even taking the remaining aura Nemesis had surrounding his falling dead body was released upon this world.
Vaapad took all the negativity, even when Nemesis was mostly dead, and combined it with Tutaminis siphoning everything the monster had left, leading to a rather lethal combination.
The mother of all force pushes erupted like a long-dormant volcano. The ground quaked as if an inconceivable seismic event occurred, the air ruptured and snapped, buffeting the land with wind so strong the sturdiest of buildings and altar average mountains would have been toppled over.
And topple they did. The entirety of the city and surrounding landscape for several miles was wiped away. Not even debris was left untouched, being grounded to dust by the power contained within the attack. Windu felt some remorse, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He had seen the footage of what Tobi’s pet monster could do and survive.
The moment the wave of telekinetic force touched the remains of the creature, it immediately was destroyed. Skin and muscle were unraveled like a tapestry, having a string plucked pulling it all apart. Then those individual pieces were shredded over and over a thousand times, then a hundred thousand, and so on.
The surge of kinetic power ploughed through everything in its path, leaving nothing untouched. Even deep beneath the dirt wasn’t unscathed. Nemesis's aura surged for a brief moment, and some call from beyond the grave flared up before whatever it was trying to do was overwhelmed.
Even post mortem Nen could not help it adapt fast enough to keep its body intact. It shattered just like fragile glass before an impossible-to-calculate hurricane. The body was utterly decimated, not even a red mist was left behind once the devastating disaster had subsided.
Windu stared at where its body had been and let out a sigh. “Master Yoda,” He said far too calmly, but he felt a hint of pride and now confidence that he could handle Tobi. “It is done.”
“Sure you are?” He asked back.
Not that he didn’t trust Master Windu. More because of what the creature had survived in the past. But with the Force and whatever this power was that Nemesis had awakened in him, he found no trace of it left…
“Send transport for me and ensure an orbital barrage is maintained over where the city had been. An orbital barrage over the course of six hours should be thorough enough.”
Just in case the creature somehow survived even when he knew it hadn’t. When it came to Tobi and his tricks, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Then the two Jedi had the surprise of their lives come in the form of an emergency contact. Both of them found it hard to breathe when word came that Kamino was under attack.
The Quiet Hand had made their move.
