Thick jungle air clung to Cain's dark skin as he faced Kar Vastor in the twilight beneath the canopy. Cain's golden lightsaber hummed to life.
Across from him, Kar massive silhouette heaved with labored breaths. The Korun warlord's dark skin gleamed with sweat and blood. Kar grab a spar set of armored shields from the treeline.
They were Kar's own brutal creation – part shield, part axe – and even Cain knew a lightsaber could not easily cut through that superconductive metal. Kar's lips pulled back in a feral grin, exposing needle-sharp teeth set in a face contorted with exertion.
Despite the gashes across his chest and the obvious fatigue weighing on him, Kar's presence in the Force was towering. Cain could feel the raw power radiating from the man – a primal Force strength that Jedi Master Windu had once likened to Yoda's own. Wounded and weary as he was, Kar remained a nearly unstoppable force of nature on this world.
The two warriors circled each other on the spongy, moss-carpeted ground. Massive tree trunks ringed the clearing, their roots jutting like ribs from the earth. Overhead, ribbons of orange sunlight pierced the green gloom, and motes of dust danced in the beams.
Cain tightened his grip on his lightsaber hilt, the golden-black blade casting flickering shadows on his determined face. He drew on the Force to center himself, letting its energy flow through his limbs. In his mind's eye, faint glimmers of insight appeared—shatterpoints, the hidden fault lines in Kar's defenses.
As he focused, the chaotic scene crystallized: he saw a hairline crack in one of Kar's vibroshields and the subtle limp in Kar's left leg – remnants of an earlier hit. Those were potential turning points in the battle, if he could exploit them in time.
With a hoarse roar, Kar lunged first. He moved impossibly fast for a being of his bulk, covering the distance in a heartbeat. Cain barely sidestepped as Kar's right-hand vibroshield whooshed past, cleaving a young banyan tree behind him clean in half. The severed trunk crashed to the ground. Kar followed up with a left shield swipe aimed at Cain's midsection.
Cain brought his lightsaber down to parry; sparks burst as golden plasma met the humming vibroshield's blade, scattering light. The impact numbed Cain's arms—Kar's raw physical strength was overwhelming. Cain slid backwards, absorbing the blow's momentum and using it to roll out of reach. A split second later Kar's boot smashed the spot where Cain had stood, splintering the ground.
Cain sprang onto a fallen log, gaining higher ground. He swung his saber in a wide arc, forcing Kar back with a flurry of precise strikes. Golden afterimages danced through the dim jungle as Cain pressed the offensive, testing Kar's defenses.
Kar blocked with his shields in sweeping motions, each parry accompanied by a guttural growl. The Korun's vibroshields whirled in his hands, deflecting Cain's lightsaber slashes with bursts of crackling energy.
Not even direct thrusts could penetrate; the lightsaber's plasma slid off the shield's surface without biting. Pivoting, Kar slammed one shield down like a hammer. Cain leapt aside just before the metal smashed a crater into the soil.
Lightning-quick, Kar capitalized on Cain's mid-air evasive moment. With a snarl, he thrust out his free hand and the jungle answered – thick vines uncoiled from the underbrush, snaking toward Cain's ankles. The living tendrils ensnared Cain before he landed, tightening like tentacles.
Kar Vastor's affinity with the jungle, what the Korunnai called Pelekotan ("the jungle mind"), allowed him to control the very flora to his advantage. Cain felt the vine wrap his boot and yank, throwing off his balance. In an instant, woody coils were looping around his legs and waist, constricting with creaks of tension. Kar bellowed and charged, intending to crush his vine-trapped foe.
But Cain was no ordinary Jadaii Knight; he had anticipated something like this. Drawing on calm focus, he remembered how Kar once tried the same trick on Windu – and how Windu had turned the tables. Cain exhaled and ceased resisting, instead channeling the Force into the vines around him.
At the last moment, he jerked his body with the vines' pull, flipping himself up and over just as Kar's dual shields scythed through where he'd been. The sudden maneuver, using the vines' own momentum, sent Cain vaulting above Kar's head.
In mid-air, Cain slashed downward. His blade caught the edge of Kar's right vibroshield at precisely the crack he'd sensed earlier – a shatterpoint in the weapon. The saber flared on impact, and with a burst of energy the hardened metal fractured down its length, a feat normally impossible against such material. Kar staggered, momentarily stunned that one of his precious shields had been broken in two.
Landing behind Kar, Cain quickly sliced through the vines that had entangled him. Freed, he pressed his advantage. He thrust his free hand forward, releasing a powerful Force push. The telekinetic blast caught Kar squarely and sent the huge man skidding back. Kar dug in his heels, plowing twin furrows in the soft earth, and roared in defiance. Though visibly winded and wounded, Kar's indomitable will refused to let him fall.
He tossed aside the sundered half of his broken shield and raised his remaining one defensively. The jungle seemed to darken around him as he drew deeply on its primal energy to fuel himself. Cain could feel the surge in the Force as Kar summoned what remained of his strength – even attempting to knit together his injuries using the jungle's life force.
Blood from a gash on Kar's shoulder slowed to a trickle, and his stance steadied, hinting that he was tapping the Force to sustain himself. Cain's eyes narrowed; he realized Kar's inner darkness and the darkness of Haruun Kal were feeding each other, bolstering the warrior beyond normal limits.
The duel raged on, both combatants now tiring. Cain and Kar exchanged furious blows amid the towering trees. Cain spun and struck from multiple angles, his blade flashing. Kar parried and counterattacked with savage ferocity. A backhand blow from Kar's shield nearly knocked Cain's lightsaber from his grasp, numbing his wrist.
In retaliation, Cain dropped low and swept his leg in a Force-augmented kick, actually managing to buckle Kar's injured knee for a moment. Kar hissed in pain and drove an elbow toward Cain's head, barely missing as Cain rolled clear. Both men were now slick with sweat and breathing hard in the humid air.
The very ground around them was scarred with scorch marks, fallen trees, and churned mud. Nearby, a gigantic akk dog lay unconscious – one of Kar's ferocious pet beasts had joined earlier in the fray only to be subdued by Anakin and Ahsoka combined efforts. Its scaled hide still smoked from where Cain's blade had grazed it, a testament to the battle's intensity.
Cain pushed forward, determined to end the fight. He reached reached inward with the force on his shatterpoint sense once more. Through the Force, Kar appeared like a spiderweb of cracks – fatigue and accumulated wounds creating fractures in his otherwise unyielding form. There, fleetingly, Cain perceived the critical moment:
Kar's next overhead smash would overextend him, exposing his left flank entirely. Summoning the Force, Cain positioned himself and waited calmly for that instant. With a furious roar, Kar obliged – he raised his heavy shield high and brought it down with all his remaining might in an attempt to crush Cain where he stood.
At that moment, time seemed to slow. Cain sidestepped the crashing shield by a hair's breadth. In the same fluid motion he reversed his grip and struck with his lightsaber's pommel, channeling a precise burst of Force energy into Kar's unprotected side. The blow landed exactly on an old scar at Kar's ribcage – one of the weak points Cain had sensed earlier.
A concussive pulse rippled from Cain's pommel into Kar's body. Kar's eyes widened in shock and pain as something inside him finally gave. The towering Korun stumbled forward past Cain, his shield dropping from nerveless fingers. He remained upright for a heartbeat, wobbling, his body finally betraying his indomitable spirit. Then Kar collapsed to his knees and fell forward onto the jungle floor with a thud, sending up a small cloud of dust.
Cain stood over the fallen warrior, chest heaving and saber casting light over Kar's prone form. Kar made one last attempt to rise—planting a hand on the ground, muscles straining—only for his strength to fail at last. Exhaustion and accumulated injuries had overtaken him.
Seeing that his opponent was utterly spent, Cain deactivated his lightsaber. The sudden quiet was deafening; only the distant cries of jungle creatures and the crackle of burning foliage broke the silence. Cain's heart pounded in his ears as he surveyed the area for any further threats. Finding none, he clipped his lightsaber to his belt.
Despite the adrenaline still coursing through him, Cain felt a surge of respect and empathy for the defeated warrior. Kar Vastor had pushed him to the brink in a way few ever had. "It's over," Cain said softly, half to himself and half to Kar. The jungle had gone still around them, as if even the wildlife acknowledged that the duel had reached its climax.
Cain closed his eyes for a moment, offering a silent acknowledgement and gratefulness in the Force to it for allowing him to meet such a great Warrior and live. When he opened them, he saw Kar watching him through weary, half-lidded eyes. There was no fear there—only defiance slowly giving way to acceptance. Cain gave the Korun a small bow of respect. He would not strike down a helpless opponent; mercy was the Jadaii way, and Cain sensed that Kar's fate lay along a different path now.