"You must be confident and have great trust in your abilities to dare say such things in the face of being outnumbered." the black knight responds.
"Wouldn't be my first time."
The grip around your sabre tightens and you can feel your men growing impatient. You have prepared them to fight with force sensitive people but not being outnumbered like that from them.
"Rip them apart." the enemy commands and his knights start charging at you.
The Crimson Company opens fire, taking two of them down until they hastily raise their shields to protect themselves. Step by step the knights gain more ground, without your men being able to do anything against it.
"On my signal, throw everything you have at them. Draw your swords after you emptied your magazines and follow me." You order calmly.
After assuring that everyone in the company was ready for what you had in mind, you ignite your red blade and jump right behind their wall of shields, landing steady on your feet but encompassed by enemies. The knights were all more than surprised by your bold action and even their leader tilted his head in confusion. But in this situation, you had the advantage, because the space usable was limited and with your shoto blade it was easy for you to slice through them. The knight's lances couldn't reach you without risking wounding their own men so you just slaughtered your way through. Quickly their ranks cracked open a little which gave the waiting Crimson Company the opening they needed so desperately. Commander Leo and his men threw every bullet they had left at the enemy, killing a lot more than before. The disoriented knights tried to regain a formation, but you kept slicing the vital points of them until they caged you in a circle of shields, with only one knight remaining inside to face you. In the back of your mind, you knew that your men were waiting for your support and tried their best to hold on.
"Let's get this over with." you taunt the knight but he doesn't respond.
You turn your handle around and get into the defensive stand of your sword technique. Your defensive stand consists of two major things. First the blade of your Lightsabre points outwards and the handle is just below your eye so that the blade covers what it can of your body. The second thing is your empty other hand. It crosses your other arm so that your wrists are on the same height, hiding the lower part of your face with only your yellow glowing eyes visible. In this stance you have better chances when it comes to deflecting or and countering close combat weapons. The major concept behind it is that you will block, whatever hit comes from your opponent, with your sabre and counter in the same motion with a force ability out of your empty hand. So now you are imprisoned in a wall of shields and one knight in front of you, while the Crimson Company stands their ground against the knights. The sound of metal colliding signals you that they have drawn their swords and are now in close combat.
"Good." you say in a sinister and evil tone, every time you hear a scream full of pain.
Your first so calm opponent begins to get impatient and rashly attacks you, exactly what you were waiting for. The knight tried to stab you with his lance frontally. Swiftly your body evades the blade and your empty hand wraps around the staff of the lance. Seeing this your opponent raises his shield with the intention of hitting your stomach with its lower edge. Your head ducks under the strike of his shield and with your hand you strike his knee, at the same moment you run some force lightning though him, causing the knight to scream out loudly in pain. To finish him off, you jump on his shoulders and ram your blade into his neck. While your opponent falls to the ground lifeless, you jump out of the ring. In the air you throw your Lightsabre, taking down four more of them. As you find your stance back by the Crimson Company you see only nine men remaining. Enraged you force push the knights back creating a moment to catch a breath for your men.
"Status!" you command getting ready for combat again.
"They got red 4 but the doc says he's going to make it!" commander Leo replies panting.
"Contact the admiral!"
"Red 6 already tried, Lord (S/N). We can't reach through." commander Leo states.
"Then I will have to do it by myself."
"We will not leave your side, even the depths of hell could not hold us back Lord (S/N)!" the commander yells while the Crimson Company begins to pick themselves up.
"Thats what I wanted to hear. Let us take all of them with us." you exclaim, grabbing your beskar sword from your back.
"Foolishness only leads to suffering." the black knight says, "Allow me to show you what suffering follows yours!"
He places himself in front of the remaining knights and draws his own blade. Behind them you see their reinforcements rushing to their aid. Now facing about 60 knights you take your offensive stand and get ready for combat.
"Stop it at once!"
You hear an anonymous voice shouting. Then a knight in white armour appeared between the two fronts, instantly deescalating the situation as far as possible.
"They are not here to conquer, so let them be!" he shouts to the black one.
"This is holy ground for us Knights of Zakuul, how could you let them set foot here?" he responded.
"You remember the message our Lord left behind for us?" The white knight asked.
"You really think he is the one?"
"I have seen his badge and witnessed his skill. We also received word from our Mandalorian friends that they now have a new clan head. I believe that he is the one."
"We have no valid proof that he is the Lords successor!"
"I am indeed Darth Vitiates apprentice and successor." you interrupt their chatter.
"That is for us to decide, kid!" the black knight yelled at you.
The grip around your blade tightened as you heard him say that word, but you needed to restrain yourself from action since the situation would not allow you to carelessly slaughter around.
"Follow us inside the temple." the white one commanded.
"What about our wounded?" commander Leo interrupted.
"We will allow you to treat him inside and also give you the necessary things. View it as a kind of apology for this one's rude behaviour." the white one said nodding at his black armoured comrade.
Sceptically you order your men to follow him but also to keep up their guards at any time. Your new won friends lead you through their halls. It was a big cave, carved out of the stone, the pillars all had Knights in armour carved into them and were at least 20 meters (65 ft.) high.
"These are our holy halls of Zakuul, where we live, train and the place we call home." the white knight starts to explain.
"Don't get any funny ideas!" his companion warns you, staring directly into your hatred filled eyes.
"Valkorion or as you might know him Lord Vitiate or the eternal emperor, was once one of us. A champion of the knights until he became the man you know. We then fought alongside the immortal emperor till his death." your guide paused for a second, you could see that the story gets to him quite hard. "After that the knights got decimated pretty hard and we were forced to go back to Zakuul, where we lie waiting for the one Lord Vitiate would send to us."
He then started to muster you and your men, while the black knight was always ready to strike you down at any moment.
"And you don't believe that I was send by him, Lord Vitiate." you intermit.
"I believe you. Still there seem to be some doubts lying with other people here." the white knight says pointing to the other one.
Then the black knight tries to speak up: "The oath says that he will-"
"The oath orders us to stay hidden until he arrives." the white one cuts him off, "But when he arrives, we shall obey him!"
"Yes Grandmaster."
"Lord Vitiate should've given you a fitting name as a Sith Lord, tell me."
"I am Lord (S/N), apprentice of the great Vitiate, Emperor of Nathema and head of the Jin Clan of Mandalore." you say proudly.
"Indeed, you must be the one he sent." the Grandmaster said and fell to his knee, bowing to you, "I greet the new Lord of the Knights of Zakuul, Lord (S/N)."
All around you, you see the other knights falling to their knees, even the black knight.
"I am Grandmaster David Garel and the man in black armour is the second in command is Daxon Kang. We will serve you with our all, Lord (S/N)."
"From today onwards I shall lead you and together we will achieve the glory your order of knights once held!" you reply to all of them.
As the grandmaster lifts himself from the ground, the rest of follow his example. The crowd began to scatter, and Daxon offered you a tour through the halls, which you accepted. Before you walked away you spoke with the Crimson Company to give them their orders.
"Try to reach the admiral again and let him know we'll be staying here for a little while."
"Yes Lord (S/N)!" the Company answers.
"Are you done chatting over there?" Daxon said from the corner.
"Is that the manner you should speak to your Lord?" commander Leo asked furiously.
"Stop it, both of you!" you order, "He will show me around, keep me informed."
Daxon then begins with showing you sleeping halls and the fields which the order harvests.
"So the order of Zakuul is autonomous?" you say surprised.
"We are. We also have our own ships they are near the training grounds." the black knight says.
You can already feel his hidden thoughts as he yearns for a sparring between the two of you.
"How about a spar there?" you suggest boldly.
"If that is what the Lord wishes for." Daxon says with an ironic tone under his voice.
The black knight leads you to the training grounds, where you come across two young knights training. He goes up to them and snatches their sword and their lance.
"You prefer a sword or a lance?" he asked despite knowing the answer.
"A sword."
He looks at the wooden weapon and throws it at you with great speed.
With your lighting reflexes you easily caught the training weapon and you knew that he was trying to test you from the very first moment.
"What is our philosophy?" he asked as he turned to the two younger knights.
"The Force is an instrument to find power. The Limit only lies within ourselves, as no aspect should be hidden. The knowledge we acquire, we share, and the power we gain serves along with that of our brothers." on responds with corrected posture.
"Correct!" he praises the student.
"All of you are sensitive for the force?", you ask curiously.
"Yes, we are Lord (S/N)." the other young knight responds.
"Now shall we get started?" Daxon said and turned back to you.
You nod and get into your defensive stance, patiently waiting for him to make the first move. Daxon then started with a straight stab to your chest, which you blocked easily. With your wooden blade pointing down, you strike your opponent's head with the handle instead. After your first hit you try to strike his head again by rotating the blade and he was barely able to avoid it. In his next wave Daxon tried to strike you from above, but you put your blade in the way. He tried to push you further down but in one rush you pushed his lance upwards for a second, granting you a slight opening. His arms were high up and with your free hand you force pushed him across the floor. Merciless you chase after the knight and swing your sword at him from above, but Daxon got up quickly and placed himself behind you. With a confident smile he again launches the tip of his lance at you. Swiftly you swing the blade of your sword to around your back, leading the lance away from you and in the next motion hit goes straight upwards. In a hasty jump backwards, your opponent loses his balance and falls to the ground.
"Impressive movement." you compliment him, holding the tip of your sword into his face.
"I must admit your swordsmanship isn't half bad. Who taught you?" Daxon asked.
"I created and taught it myself."
First, he looked surprised but then Daxon goes down on one knee and says: "I have witnessed your strength on my own body. I acknowledge you as the new lord of the Zakuul Knights and swear an oath to my everlasting loyalty to you, Lord (S/N)."
"Lord (S/N)! Lord (S/N)!" one of your men starts yelling in panic.
"What is it Valorous?" you ask.
"We got through to admiral Rayse. He said that a message from Nathema reached them. Apparently the Droid Army arrived. They are currently ready to start a large-scale invasion on Nathema and a messenger gave us 3 rotations to settle if this will be a peaceful or bloody one!" the communication officer informs you.
"Get the admiral and tell him to prepare for our leave immediately! I will not waste another second!"
"At once Lord (S/N)!"