=== Maximus ===
Maximus fell into fury and grief as the colossal viewport behind the dueling titans filled with the horrifying radiance of Mandalore's death throes, the blinding blue beam of the SunEater carving down through the atmosphere, and in that cataclysmic instant he knew with soul-crushing certainty that Sebastian was gone, consumed in the planetary fire along with so many others who had fought beneath the Black Templar's banner.
"Sebastian!" he roared at the top of his lungs, the cry tearing from his throat with such raw anguish and rage that it momentarily cut through even the thunder of clashing weapons and the screams of the madness around him, his transhuman voice echoing off the cracked walls of the command chamber like a challenge to the very stars.
Pain from his severed wrist throbbed in time with his twin hearts, blood still leaking despite the rapid clotting of his enhanced physiology, but the agony only fed the fire within as he whirled toward Mephiston, who remained lost in the depths of the Black Rage, the Chief Librarian's black eyes wild with primordial hatred and his force sword whipping through the air in a crimson blur while he howled the name of the Warmaster over and over as if Horus himself stood before him once more.
With a bellow of anger, Maximus hauled his thunderhammer back in a one-handed arc, the weapon's disruption field crackling violently around the massive head as he poured every ounce of his strength and grief into the strike, smashing it squarely into Mephiston's armored chest with a impact that resounded like a artillery shell.
The force lifted the Blood Angel clear off his feet and hurled him backward across the chamber floor in a tumbling heap of cracked plate and spraying blood, sending him skidding through debris and shattered consoles where he lay momentarily stunned, though the madness still twisted his features.
Not sparing another second, Maximus spun on his heel and sprinted toward Vader, his heavy boots pounding across the fractured deck plating as the duel between the Dark Lord and Sanguinius had intensified into a maelstrom of gold and crimson, the Primarch's spear flashing like divine lightning while Vader's lightsaber carved vicious arcs through the air, each collision sending shockwaves that rattled the remaining hololithic displays and showered sparks across the vast room.
The Ultramarine closed the distance, arriving just as Sanguinius brought his spear crashing downward in an overhead strike meant to bisect the Sith Lord, only for Vader to parry it. Their weapons met in an explosion of clashing energies that lit the chamber like a forge. In the same motion the Primarch whipped the spear around in a devastating reverse strike that slammed into the side of Vader's helmet with enough force to gouge a deep, glowing line through the black durasteel and send the Dark Lord staggering sideways.
Maximus seized the opening with a primal roar, smashing into Vader from the right side, his armored bulk colliding with the Sith's with bone-jarring force as he screamed his hatred against the heretic who had orchestrated the destruction of Mandalore and the death of his brothers, "For Raxor For Sebastian! For the Emperor! Die, you warp-cursed abomination!" His thunderhammer descended in a crushing overhead blow aimed to pulverize Vader's skull, but the Dark Lord reacted with terrifying speed, thrusting out his free hand and catching the weapon mid-swing with the invisible grip of the Force, halting its momentum inches from his damaged helmet.
Vader's mechanical breathing hitched for a fraction of a second as he felt the unnatural dampening effect of Maximus's blank aura bleeding into his connection with the Force, the immense power that usually flowed so effortlessly now sluggish and weakened like a river choked by a dam, much like the witch bolt he had been hit with. It forced him to exert far more effort than anticipated to hold the hammer at bay.
"Filthy cretin," Vader cursed, his voice a venomous growl distorted through the damaged vocoder, before lashing out with his crimson lightsaber in a blindingly fast horizontal slash that caught Maximus across the face, the searing plasma edge slicing through one of the helmet's lenses in a burst of molten ceramite and superheated air that scorched the skin beneath and sent a lance of white-hot agony through the Ultramarine's skull.
The pain was immense, vision blurring in his left eye as blood leaked down his face, but before Maximus could recover Vader followed up with a full-powered blast of the Force straight into his chest, a crushing telekinetic wave that hammered into the Marine's armor.
Though Maximus's null field dissipated much of the unholy energy, scattering it into harmless ripples that crackled across his plate, the residual force was still enough to lift him off his feet and hurl him backward violently, causing him to drop the thunderhammer with a resounding clang as his body smashed through a row of tactical consoles in a shower of sparks, shattered glass, and twisted metal, pain exploding through his ribs and spine from the impact.
Vader barely had time to savor the strike before blocking another ferocious blow from Sanguinius, the Primarch's spear thrusting forward in a series of blinding combinations that forced the Dark Lord onto the defensive, their duel once again consuming the center of the chamber in a whirlwind of superhuman speed and power.
Seizing the momentary advantage, Vader extended his hand toward the fallen thunderhammer, wrenching it from the deck with the Force and hurling it back at the fallen Ultramarine.
The massive weapon spun through the air, its disruption field screaming, and struck the Ultramarine square in the chestplate just as he was trying to rise, the impact driving the air from his lungs and sending a brutal shockwave through his body that rattled his gene-enhanced organs and plunged him into merciful unconsciousness, his scarred form collapsing amid the wreckage as darkness claimed him.
=== Vader ===
Vader's crimson lightsaber wove a lethal web of dark side fury against the Great Angel's blinding spear strikes that came like golden lightning from the heavens.
Through the Force, he felt the tide turning against him with every passing second, the Angel's power was immense, a radiant beacon of the Emperor's will that clashed violently against his own somewhat corrupted might, each collision sending shockwaves through the floor.
His body, a ruined amalgam of flesh and machine, ached from the relentless exchange, yet the hatred burning in his yellow eye and mechanical red optic fueled him onward, a deep-seated loathing for these interlopers who had brought nothing but endless war to the galaxy he once sought to save. He parried another thrust aimed at his throat, countering with a spinning slash that forced Sanguinius to twist aside, when suddenly a new presence slammed into his awareness.
Vulkan had arrived. The Primarch of the Salamanders pushed through the ranks of frozen Blood Angels, his massive frame shouldering aside Astartes still pinned under the residual pressure of Vader's earlier Force assault, their armored bodies groaning as the Lord of Drakes advanced like an unstoppable force of nature forged in the fires of Nocturne.
Vader sensed the newcomer's gaze sweep the chamber, briefly noting the ongoing struggle between Mephiston and Dante where the Chapter Master held his maddened brother in check through grief-stricken mastery, before Vulkan locked onto the central duel with grim resolve.
The Salamander Primarch charged without hesitation, bellowing a deep warcry that reverberated through the chamber like the awakening of an ancient volcano, his legendary thunderhammer Urdrakule raised high as he closed the distance in thunderous strides.
Vader twisted away from Sanguinius's latest spear thrust at the last possible instant, guided by the precognitive warnings of the Force, just as the massive hammer descended in a devastating overhead arc meant to crush him into oblivion.
Urdrakule slammed into the reinforced deck instead cratering the metal deeply and sending a spiderweb of fractures racing outward in a violent explosion of blue lightning, molten sparks, and shockwaves that rattled the entire SunEater and burst nearby consoles into flames.
Now Vader found himself trapped in a nightmare melee against two Primarchs, their combined presence pressing down upon him like twin mountains of might that made even his Force / Warp-tainted strength feel insufficient, the odds shifting against him. He knew deep in his scarred soul he could not overcome the two Primarch's.
The duel erupted into a brutal, unrelenting symphony of destruction, Sanguinius darting in with angelic speed from one flank to deliver rapid thrusts and sweeping arcs of his spear that targeted Vader's throat, joints, and midsection in a golden blur, while Vulkan hammered from the opposite side with earth-shaking blows of Urdrakule that forced the Dark Lord into desperate leaps, spins, and deflections.
Vader fought back with every ounce of his dark mastery, his lightsaber moving like a crimson storm as he caught Sanguinius with a Force-amplified kick to the torso that sent the Angel sliding backward across the deck with screeching boots, crumpled wing feathers trailing behind him, before whipping his blade in a vicious upward slash that carved a deep, searing molten line across Vulkan's pauldron and drew a hiss of superheated blood.
He followed with a telekinetic blast that hammered into Vulkan's side like a collapsing building, staggering the giant momentarily.
Yet no matter how fiercely he pressed or how cunningly he exploited momentary openings, slashing low to force Vulkan into a defensive pivot before unleashing a Force push that nearly unbalanced Sanguinius mid-flight, the two Primarchs coordinated with instinctive, gene-forged synergy that wore him down relentlessly.
Sanguinius feinted high with his spear to draw Vader's lightsaber upward in a ringing parry that showered sparks across the room, creating the fatal opening for Vulkan to step forward with unstoppable momentum and deliver a full-powered strike with Urdrakule.
The thunderhammer's massive head blazed with disruptive energy as it connected squarely with the side of Vader's helmet in a detonation of sound and force, the impact smashing the black durasteel clean off in a violent spray of shattered components, sparks, and scorched wiring.
Agony lanced through Vader's ruined face as the blow lifted him clear off his feet, hurling his armored body across the chamber through debris and ruined consoles before he crashed heavily to the blood-slicked floor in a broken heap, his lightsaber spinning uselessly from his grasp as darkness edged into his vision and the bitter taste of final defeat settled over the once-unstoppable Dark Lord.
He lay broken on the blood-slicked floor, yet through the haze of pain and encroaching darkness he forced himself upward on trembling hands, pushing to his knees with a guttural mechanical growl while his yellow eye locked onto Sanguinius looming above him like a golden angel of judgement, the Primarch's spear raised for a killing blow that would end the long nightmare of his existence.
In that desperate heartbeat, fueled by a final surge of defiance and the dark side's lingering fury, Vader lashed out with the Force, summoning every remnant of his waning power to hurl a massive jagged piece of shattered console debris through the already weakened viewport in a violent telekinetic explosion that shattered the armored glass and sent it spiraling into the cold vacuum of space.
Immediately decompression alarms howled as air ripped through the chamber and loose debris began to fly toward the breach. The sudden chaos served as his salvation.
He released his crushing Force grip on the Blood Angels in the same instant, allowing the Astartes to stagger and roar back into motion while he snatched up his fallen lightsaber as he staggered toward a hidden maintenance conduit he had long prepared for contingencies, slipping into the narrow secret side passage amid the swirling pandemonium of rushing air, shouting warriors, and collapsing structures just as Sanguinius and Vulkan turned toward the blast shields as they locked into place.
His escape through the winding bowels of the SunEater was a torturous hobble of pain and determination, each labored step sending fresh jolts through his limbs and torn flesh while the station's alarms blared and distant explosions from the planetary destruction below vibrated the walls.
His mechanical breathing grew ragged as his systems strained to keep him functional despite the catastrophic damage inflicted by the two Primarchs.
The corridors blurred into a haze of emergency lighting and flickering shadows until he rounded a final junction and froze at the sight of a solitary figure waiting at the end of the long, dimly lit hallway.
Nira.
Vader tried to straighten to his full imposing height, drawing upon old pride and the remnants of his dark aura, but his body betrayed him completely, collapsing against the cold metal wall with a heavy clang of damaged armor as fresh pain lanced through his chest and his vision swam with warning runes from failing implants.
As Nira began to walk closer, Vader's voice emerged as a distorted rasp through his damaged vocoder, laced with bitter resignation.
"Are you here to finish what the Primarchs started?" he asked, the words heavy with the weight of inevitable defeat. She paused only briefly before replying softly, her tone carrying genuine regret that cut deeper than any blade.
"I am so sorry it came to this, Anakin. I did everything I could. Everything."
Vader scoffed weakly, a sound that turned into a pained cough as he pushed himself off the wall with one final surge of defiance, igniting his lightsaber once more with a violent snap-hiss.
"Then defend yourself."
With a burst of effort he lunged forward in a clumsy, injured charge that carried more symbolism than true threat. His broken form made the attack pitifully slow, allowing Nira to simply sidestep with graceful ease, causing him to stumble past her and crash into the opposite wall once again before sliding slowly down its surface to sit heavily on the ground, his lightsaber deactivating and rolling from his weakening fingers with a final metallic clatter.
"Oh Anakin," Nira whispered, her voice breaking as she beheld her once-closest friend and brother reduced to this shattered remnant, slowly approaching and sliding down the wall to sit beside him in a quiet gesture of shared mourning that bridged the chasm of years and betrayals.
"How did it all come to this, Nira?" he asked, his voice fracturing slightly through the vocoder as he twisted his head to look at her through his single remaining yellow eye, the mechanical red optic flickering erratically.
She pulled back her hood, revealing her pale skin adorned with intricate black tattoos.
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me."
She turned her head to look at him.
Their eyes met.
"You wouldn't let go. You hated them so much that you stopped seeing everything else. You hated the Astartes. You hated what happened to your mother. You hated what happened to the Jedi. You hated every loss, every failure, every betrayal. Eventually all you could see was the hatred."
Vader looked away.
"The Astartes aren't blameless," she continued. "They did what they always do. They made war. They brought a different world into this galaxy and everything changed because of it. Maybe things would have been different if they had never arrived. Maybe not. I don't know."
She lowered her gaze.
"But I've fought beside them for years now. I've lived beside them. I've watched them bleed and die. They did their best, Anakin. They really did."
Vader laid his head back against the cold wall, a single tear escaping from the corner of his scarred eye as the weight of it all pressed down upon his failing spirit. "No more lies," he murmured.
Nira nodded. "No more lies."
"What happened to Padmé?" The question was barely audible.
Nira closed her eyes.
"She died giving birth."
Vader stared at the floor. "And my children?"
"They're safe."
"May I see them?" he asked, and she finally withdrew a small holoprojector, activating it to display a shimmering image of his children that filled the narrow corridor with soft light.
As Vader gazed upon them, the seething hatred that had sustained him slowly bled from his eye, the yellow corruption fading as it shifted back toward a weary, human blue, the sight cracking the last armor around his soul.
Anakin Skywalker looked at his children, and for the first time in many months, the darkness loosened its grip.
Without his hatred sustaining him, however, something else began to happen.
His strength started leaving him.
He looked toward Nira. "Without my hatred..." he whispered. "I'll die."
"I know." She said with tears in her eyes.
He continued staring at the hologram.
"They're beautiful."
Weakness overtook him rapidly then, and he collapsed sideways into her lap as she caught him in her arms, holding him close.
"My children, Nira," he gasped, tears now flowing freely from his restored blue eye.
"Please don't let the Imperium turn them into killing machines. Don't let them be raised inside their war machine."
She nodded through her own gathering tears, her green eyes glistening as she assured him, "I won't. I promise."
He gripped her hand with the last vestiges of his strength as his fingers weakly found her hand.
To her surprise, he looked afraid.
"Nira..."
"Yes?"
"I'm scared."
The confession broke her heart. After everything, after all the wars, after all the bloodshed.
Just a frightened man facing the unknown.
"Don't be," she replied softly, rocking him gently.
"You'll see Padmé again." His blue eye searched hers desperately.
"Is that really true? Will she even accept me after what I've done?" Nira pulled him closer as his life ebbed.
"Padmé will be waiting for you with open arms."
For a moment he simply stared at her before relief slowly entered his expression.
The fear began to fade. The pain began to fade. Everything began to fade.
He squeezed her hand one final time.
"Nira..."
She lowered her head closer.
"I'm sorry."
The words were barely a whisper.
"For all of it."
Then his hand went still.
And the light left his eye.
Nira held him there for a long moment amid the distant rumble of the dying station, pulling his broken form even tighter against her as quiet sobs wracked her body.
She gently rocked him back and forth, tears streamed down her tattooed cheeks, mourning the man who had once been her brother.
===
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