Chapter 213: War on Veldari

Year 5,152 BBY

Imperial Year - 1836

Daimon age - 1908

Imperium Population - 3.7 Quintillion

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Killik Homeworld

Aruun stared at the darkness of space from his throne room. He could sense the Federations ships that had just entered the system, and he knew that it was almost time for his grand escape. He had to admit that he doubted Daimon’s ability when it came to war. At the same time, he should have spent a few centuries building up his forces instead of rushing into war to get his revenge.

But all of that was in the past now. He was going to make one final statement to Daimon before he disappeared and slowly built up his strength on the edges of the galaxy.

Standing next to him was one of the people whom he had corrupted, a Mirialan whom he had corrupted and completely turned to the Dark side. She was very powerful in the Force, but she was still too weak to help him with Daimon.

"Get everybody ready for the final plan." Aruun said. The Mirialan woman bowed and left to gather the other corrupted Force Users and the Killik army. Aruun stayed sitting on his throne and was imagining the look on Daimon’s face when he hurt someone close to him yet again.

4 hours later

The Federation fleet had fought a grueling battle all the way to the Killik homeworld. Tens of thousands of ships were lost, yet their resolve remained strong.

Now all that was left was the Killik homeworld and killing Aruun, the person behind the galactic war. But only a few people knew the truth about the coming battle. Aruun was not going to be there when they came knocking. The only thing they will be fighting for is to eliminate the Killiks central reproduction hub to stop them from mass-producing soldiers.

Standing on the surface of the planet, Aruun stood in a massive underground facility which was practically the size of a continent and looked up, sensing the billions of troops that were about to descend over the planet. He wasn’t going to leave yet, he wanted to see what Daimon would do before he departed.

Daimon knew this, so as always he was on the first transport ship heading to the surface. As soon as he landed, he charged toward the formations of Killiks, with the Daughter, Balance Keepers, and Empyrean Guards following behind him.

The Killiks largely remained defensive and had used their numbers to hold their positions. Daimon knew that they were doing and simply continued to push, waiting for Aruun to appear on Veldari for the final showdown.

As the Federation troops piled in, the battle started to progress at a steady pace. Daimon was fighting on the front lines at first but decided to slow down and let the elite troops and Balance Keepers take over. He needed to conserve some strength in case Aruun tried to pull something random during their fight.

Meanwhile, Aruun had finished his preparations underground and was about to depart.

"Everything is ready master." said one of his corrupted Force Users.

"Good. Let’s get going and let the Federation Forces fight to their hearts content." he said chuckling. The corrupted Force User bowed and went to a control panel and pressed a button. A massive portal had opened and Aruun walked through. Once he stepped through, he was standing in the middle of a street. Traffic had completely stopped and everybody was staring at him weirdly.

Aruun looked around, and a massive smile formed on his face. "Let the slaughter begin!!" he yelled as the Killiks rushed through and started to attack any and everything they saw.

Detecting hostile forces on the planet, the alarms throughout the area started to sound, prompting all civilians to follow the protocols that had been taught to them since the Veldari Imperium was founded. Veldari security forces responded immediately, but were outnumbered and outmatched.

War droids that were built into the orbital ring structure were deployed from orbit in drop pods. These drop pods were deployed around the civilian evacuation routes to protect civilians and key areas from the Killik horde.

At the same time, Balance Keepers who were already in the city were deployed alongside the War droids and security forces to halt the advance of the Killiks. Imperial troops, Empyrean Guards, and more Balance Keepers were already rushing to the area to protect civilians as their number one priority.

2 hours passed since the initial attack started and the Killiks had gained some ground but were blocked at the major shelter entrances by layered defense lines.

Aruun was staring at one of the cathedrals where he saw a statue of Daimon standing outside. He was holding his lightsaber up and gazing up at the stars. Aruun grew angrier just looking at it and was about to rip it apart and kill all of the people hiding inside, but then 5 individuals appeared before him, dressed in pure white cloaks.

"By the will of the Emperor, we will stop you here." Said one of the Balance Keepers as they formed a Force blade in their hands. "You have transgressed upon the ancient homeworld of the Gen’Dai in an attempt to slaughter innocents because you are evil."

Hearing the world ’evil’ Aruun couldn’t help but laugh. "Hahaha. Evil? Me? I am not evil, I am just powerful, and the powerful are the ones who dictate what’s evil or not." he lashed out and released a powerful Force wave towards the Balance Keepers.

The 5 Balance Keepers held their hands and up blocked the Force wave with ease. Then they all charged forward with their Force blades. Aruun pulled out the dagger of Mortis and charged forward, exchanging blows with all 5 of the Balance Keepers.

At the same time, the Balance Keepers located at the Imperial Palace had completed their ritual and had completely managed to block the Aruun from being able to leave the planet via teleportation. What this did was block the Killiks from being able to use the Portal to go back to the other side. Instead, they were only allowed to come from the other side of the portal.

They had tried to close the portal completely, but it was extremely difficult to do. They tried to use what they knew of the Dimensional portal to try and understand how it was created, but even that didn’t help them.

Aruun, now being jumped by 5 very powerful Balance Keepers, found himself to be almost evenly matched. He was slightly stronger than the 5 of them and was able to block all of them and counterattack at the same time.

At first, he tried to block the Force blades, but they were more dangerous than he thought. One of them even managed to graze him during his fight, which made him grow even angrier that he let such weaklings land a hit on him. Instead of going into rage, he focused his anger which allowed him to gain an advantage over the 5 Balance Keepers, but not enough to kill them easily.

"Just die already!!" he screamed releasing a powerful force wave that swept across their surroundings. It shattered nearby buildings, collapsing them entirely, creating a massive cloud of smoke throughout the area.

The 5 Balance Keepers still pressed the attack, ignoring the smoke and utilizing the Force to sense where Aruun was at. From there they continued their battle, breaking almost everything around them. The other Balance Keepers who had just arrived had reinforced the bunkers and started to push the Killiks back to the where the portal was located.

One the other side of the portal, Federation forces had made it to the underground facility and were fighting their way to the portal. Daimon had remained on the surface and gave out the last few orders before he left.

Once he was done, he Force teleported along with the Daughter to finally get rid of Aruun.

The five Balance Keepers were beginning to understand what they were truly up against. Aruun wasn’t fighting like a person who wanted to win the fight. He fought like he wanted to caus as much destruction as possible while his enemies were forced to protect everything around them.

Every time he swung the Dagger of Mortis, he did so at an angle that would send the strike into a building. Ever Force wave he released was aimed at the evacuation routes. The Balance Keepers had to split their focus between fighting him and shielding civilians who were still running toward the shelters.

"He’s drawing us toward the cathedral district," said the eldest of the five. "He’s hunting for the largest shelter."

"Then we make sure he doesn’t reach it," replied the Balance Keeper beside her. He thrust his Force blade forward, forcing Aruun to retreat several steps.

Aruun smiled as he caught the strike with the Dagger, "You are all so predictable. Daimon’s little shepherds, guarding his flock. Tell me, how many of you will die defending people who will be forgotten in a hundred years?"

"None," the Balance Keeper answered. "Because the Emperor’s people are never forgotten."

She spun and drove her palm into his chest, releasing a concentrated burst of Force energy. Aruun was thrown backward through the wall of a nearby building, the structure collapsing around him.

For a moment, there was silence among the rubble. Then the debris exploded outward and Aruun emerged with blood running down the side of his face. His smile was gone.

"Enough of this," he growled.

The air around him began to darken. Shadows pulled in from the surrounding ruins and flowed toward his body. The Dagger of Mortis began to pulse in his hand, its blade drinking the light from the street until the entire district dimmed as though a storm cloud had settled over it.

"Back," the eldest Balance Keeper ordered. "All of you, fall back to the shelter line."

They retreated in unison, but not fast enough. Aruun lunged forward in a blur and drove the dagger toward the nearest one. The Balance Keeper managed to twist away, but the blade caught his side, and the wound didn’t bleed. Instead, the flesh around it turned gray and brittle, the corruption spreading outward along his ribs.

He gritted his teeth and slammed his Force blade into the ground, a burst of white light pushing the creeping darkness back from his body. Another Balance Keeper rushed to his side and began to channel healing energy into him.

"Don’t let it touch you again," the eldest warned. "The blade is more than a weapon. It feeds on the Force itself."

Aruun laughed. "Now you understand. Every moment you resist me only makes me stronger. Your Emperor’s gift to his children, his precious Force, is just more fuel for me."

He raised his free hand, and the rubble around him lifted into the air. Chunks of durasteel and stone orbited before he sent them flying toward the Balance Keepers in a barrage. Two of them stepped forward and caught the debris in a Force barrier, the pieces coming to a halt mere meters from their faces.

Behind them, the sirens continued to wail, and the last stragglers were being herded into the shelter entrances by War droids and Imperial troops. The Killiks pressed against the defense lines further down the avenue, but the layered formations of Empyrean Guards and Balance Keepers held firm. Not a single one had reached the cathedral district yet.

Aruun noticed this, and his frustration deepened. He had expected the planet to crumble under the surprise. He had imagined himself standing in the burning ruins of Daimon’s sacred world within the hour, but instead he was fighting five zealots in the street while the rest of the city slipped steadily beyond his reach.

Taking a look at the Balance Keepers one more time, Aruun decided to try and run away and separate them from the area. As they saw him running away, they were about to chase him, but the eldest stopped them. "The Emperor has already arrived on the planet. Our job to hold him done. Now let’s go and stop the Killiks themselves." the group nodded and went in the opposite direction Aruun.

Aruun noticed them not following and decided to stop running. "Those damned Balance Keepers." he cursed as he turned around and decided to walk to where his army was. He wanted to catch his breath since he had been fighting for about two hours straight.

But as he was walking, he felt a presence behind him, so he quickly swung his dagger, expecting somebody to be there, but there was no one. Then he turned back around only for his face to hit a solid object. But when he looked up, he found out that it was not an object.

A/N: Insert William Dafoe meme

"Hello there," Daimon said before he grabbed his head and slammed it into his knee, then kicked him down the street. The Daughter who was on the other end of the street had stood in his path and had punched him back towards Daimon.

Aruun tumbled across the broken pavement, rolling twice before he caught himself with a burst of Force energy and skidded to a stop. The Dagger of Mortis was still clutched in his hand. He spat blood onto the street and pushed himself up, his eyes darting between the two figures standing at opposite ends of the street.

Daimon lowered his knee and rolled his shoulder, unhurried. The Daughter stood on the other end with her fist still extended, her expression carrying a decade’s worth of pain and anger.

"You," Aruun hissed. "How are you here? You were supposed to be on my homeworld, drowning in the blood of my children."

"Your children are being dealt with." Daimon began walking forward. "Did you really think I wouldn’t see this coming? I’m grateful, in a way. You did me the favor of walking into the one place in the galaxy I didn’t have to chase you across."

Aruun tried to reach for the portal’s connection, for the thread he had left behind in the underground facility, but it snapped against a wall he couldn’t see. He felt it then, truly felt it. The entire planet was pressing against him. Every stone, every street, every breath of air was saturated with Daimon’s Force energy, and it recognized him as an intruder.