Ventress combined the Jarkai Dual-Blade Style with the Makashi sword form taught by Count Dooku, each strike aimed at Solo's vital points, forcing him to make a mistake so she could pierce his body from behind.
But Solo's armor proved to be his final line of defense. Most of the lightsaber attacks were deflected outright, leaving only minor burns and dents.
Through the Force, Ventress could clearly sense Solo's exhaustion; his strength was rapidly waning.
When she noticed Solo's footsteps begin to falter slightly, a smug smile curled her lips. "Your stubborn resistance is merely delaying the inevitable."
Just then, Solo abruptly shifted his stance. He released one hand, switching to a single-handed grip on his lightsaber, leaving his free hand at his side.
With a powerful parry, he deflected Ventress's left-hand lightsaber, simultaneously stepping forward to close the distance between them.
Thinking she had seized the opportunity, Ventress swung her right-hand lightsaber viciously at Solo's neck, only to have the attack repelled by his armored forearm.
Simultaneously, Solo's blue lightsaber twisted at an impossible angle, its scorching plasma tip grazing Ventress's cheek and leaving a narrow cut.
Pain and fury instantly consumed Ventress.
She explosively channeled the Force into a powerful repulsive force, hurling Solo backward dozens of meters.
Solo slammed hard into the corridor wall, the massive impact leaving him gasping for breath. The medical droid inside his armor emitted urgent alarms.
His painkillers and bacta reserves were depleted, and the pain from burns covering his body instantly overwhelmed him.
*Damn it, I'm exhausted.*
Leaning against the wall, gasping for breath, Solo's consciousness blurred from the intense pain. The battle had lasted only a minute, yet this brief confrontation had drained him completely. He had not only relied on all the skills of his original body's owner but also the results of a month of sparring with Ahsoka.
If not for those sleepless nights of arduous training, he would already be a soul claimed by Ventress's blade.
Yet even with all that preparation, he was still no match for her.
He had devoted himself to mastering the techniques of the "Center of Being," allowing him to defend instinctively against Ventress's fluid and unpredictable assaults. But only now did he truly understand why the Sith boasted so arrogantly of the Dark Side's power.
The oppressive pressure, like a thunderstorm blotting out the sky, was suffocating.
More terrifying still was Ventress's innate affinity for the Dark Side, honed to perfection by her Dathomirian heritage. She wielded this power with terrifying mastery.
The burns covering her body throbbed faintly beneath her armor, and the medical droid emitted a piercing alarm, signaling that both the painkillers and bacta were completely depleted.
"When will those idiots finally start the ship? If they don't hurry up, this madwoman will tear me apart..."
Ventress watched Solo struggle to his feet, her irritation gradually giving way to wariness.
This had long since ceased to be a mere game of cat and mouse; it had become a life-or-death struggle that now even made her uneasy.
A dark emotion churned in her consciousness, urging her to charge forward in revenge, but she forced herself to remain calm, the words of Count Dooku echoing in her mind: "Avoid meaningless risks."
Ventress took a deep breath and once again channeled the power of the Dark Side. The Force rippled from her fingertips like the flicking tongue of a venomous snake, targeting the unsteady Solo.
But the instant she struck, he dodged with superhuman speed, the red Force blast grazing his armor and leaving a charred crater in the wall.
The two fell into another standoff.
Ventress raised her dual blades, their tips trembling slightly as she adopted a taunting posture, daring Solo to attack.
Without hesitation, Solo pushed off the ground, leaping into the air. His blue lightsaber carved an arc through the air.
Just as Solo was about to reach Ventress, her pupils suddenly contracted.
She had finally grasped the problem that had been bothering her.
This Jedi wasn't truly aligned with the pure Light Side.
At first, he emanated only the distinctive aura of the Light Side. But as the battle intensified, Ventress detected a faint, barely perceptible dark aura beyond that radiance.
Perhaps even Solo himself hadn't noticed it, but this sliver of darkness was unmistakably entwined within his Force fluctuations.
"I can sense the fear within you," Ventress hissed, her voice like a venomous snake. "It will consume you soon enough, and when that happens, you will be utterly defeated."
She raised her lightsaber, pointing it at Solo's chest. "Do you dare deny the boundless power of the Dark Side?"
"I don't deny it. That's why I fear it," Solo replied, surprising Ventress.
He slowly straightened, his voice rasping through the crack in his helmet. "But it seems you've never truly understood what the Dark Side is."
The two closed in again, their lightsabers locked in mid-air, sparks from the collision of fiery energy splattering across their armor.
"A Jedi... worthy of speaking of the Dark Side?" Ventress scoffed, pressing down with both blades, trying to overwhelm Solo's defense.
"The Dark Side is never far away," Solo said, his voice unnaturally calm. He raised his free hand and tapped his helmet lightly. "It's always here, in everyone's heart. For some reason, both Jedi and Sith have forgotten this..."
A fierce glint flashed in Ventress's eyes. Abandoning her verbal sparring with Victor, she unleashed the Dark Side's power within her. Her figure blurred as she accelerated like a specter, her two lightsabers becoming twin streaks of crimson light aimed directly at Solo's vital points.
She wanted to end this irritating battle once and for all.
Solo barely managed to parry one of the red blades with his blue lightsaber, but he couldn't defend against the second.
Ventress's blade pierced the seam in his chest armor. The fabric lining offered only a fleeting resistance before tearing easily.
The crimson blade hissed as it sank deep into Victor's body, the hilt vanishing completely. This was the Sith's favored Shiak thrust, guaranteed to ensure a swift and certain death.
Ventress exhaled in relief, preparing to withdraw her lightsaber. But then she suddenly felt her sword hand's wrist seized in an unyielding grip.
"You know, it seems I'll have to abandon some prejudices after all," Solo's voice came from beneath the helmet, carrying an unsettling calmness.
Ventress stared in shock, her gaze locked with the helmet's visor.
How could this Jedi still speak after such a fatal wound?
Before she could react, Solo's fist crashed into her face with a *whoosh*.
Pain exploded throughout her body. Ventress felt her teeth loosen, and her body flew backward uncontrollably, crashing heavily to the ground.
___
**PS**: Official Jedi ranks, in ascending order:
*Youngling*: Children undergoing basic training at the Jedi Temple.
*Padawan*: Adolescent apprentices learning under a Jedi Knight or Master, typically wearing a braided hairstyle.
*Knight*: Formal Jedi who have passed the "Jedi Trials" and can undertake missions independently.
*Master*: Those who have achieved outstanding mastery of the Force or distinguished themselves in battle, requiring recognition by the Jedi Council (e.g., Obi-Wan, Anakin(lol)).
*Jedi Grand Master*: The supreme leader of the Jedi, usually only one at a time. Officially, Yoda and Luke Skywalker have held this position.
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