**Chapter 485**
**Sacrifice**
**Scene 1**
**Lower Levels – Jedi Temple, Coruscant**
Nhon Arto collapsed with a choked gasp, his blue lightsaber clattering to the stone floor. The ancient device — the black cube the infiltrator had activated — was devouring the Force itself. It pulled at everything living, draining strength, will, and life from those nearby.
Dagon felt it like a black hole in his chest. Every breath was a battle. His vision blurred, but he forced himself to move. With his black armored arm, he grabbed Nhon by the collar and dragged the unconscious Master back toward the exit.
"Hold on, old man," Dagon growled through gritted teeth.
He reached the heavy door and slammed his armored fist against the emergency seal. The door slammed shut with a resounding *clang*, locking the worst of the drain inside the chamber. Dagon leaned against it for a moment, breathing hard, blood trickling from his nose.
*Girls, can you hear me?* he tried through the bond, reaching out with everything he had left.
Nothing. Only silence. The device was absorbing thoughts, emotions, the very essence of the Force around it. The bond was severed.
Dagon pushed off the door, staggering toward the center of the chamber where the cube pulsed with malevolent energy. His steps were heavy, each one sending fresh pain through his broken body.
*Time to see if this worked… similar to Ruusan.*
**Scene 2**
Bones cracked. Organs ruptured. Every step closer to the device felt like walking through molten glass. Blood leaked from Dagon's nose and the corners of his eyes, dripping down his face in crimson rivulets. His remaining natural eye burned, the red star flickering weakly as the drain intensified.
Yet he kept moving.
He could feel the ancient horror inside the cube — a twisted echo of the old Thought Bomb, designed not just to destroy Force users, but to consume the Force itself in a localized singularity. If left unchecked, it would spread, devouring the Temple and everything within it.
Dagon stopped a few meters away, his black armored arm raised. The Shield of Wrath pulsed with desperate power.
"If you are feeling disheartened, that you are somehow not enough… set your heart ablaze," he whispered, voice raw. "Dry your eyes and look ahead. No matter how devastated you may be by your own weakness or uselessness… set your heart ablaze. Grit your teeth and look straight ahead. Even if you stop and crouch down, time won't wait for you… or snuggle you and grieve along with you. Go ahead and live with your head held high! Set your heart ablaze, go beyond your limits!"
His voice rose into a roar that shook the chamber.
"I am Starkiller! Wrath Shield!"
The black armored arm ignited with crimson flames. The runes on the Shield of Wrath blazed like miniature suns. Dagon poured every ounce of his remaining life force, rage, love, and unbreakable will into the technique.
**Blood Sacrifice!**
A dragon of pure dark fire erupted from his body — massive, roaring, ancient. The Demon Dragon Emperor's power manifested fully, wrapping around the cube in a blazing vortex. The flames burned not just matter, but the very concept of the device's existence. The cube screamed — a high-pitched, living wail — as its singularity collapsed in on itself.
Dagon's body convulsed. More bones snapped. Blood poured from his mouth, nose, and eyes. His vision darkened at the edges.
But he held on.
The dragon roared one final time, consuming the device in a blinding explosion of red and black fire. The drain on the Force vanished instantly.
Dagon collapsed to his knees, then fell forward onto the cold stone floor. His body was broken beyond repair. The black armored arm flickered, its runes dimming.
*It's done…*
**Scene 3**
**Upper Levels – Jedi Temple**
A wave of brilliant light ignited around the entire Jedi Temple. From the lower levels, a massive tree of peach blossoms erupted upward, its glowing pink petals cracking through stone and durasteel as it reached all the way to the tallest spire. The tree pulsed with life and healing energy, spreading calm and restoration throughout the building.
Jedi and clones who had collapsed from the Force drain began to regain consciousness. Gasps and murmurs filled the halls as people helped each other to their feet.
Ahsoka Tano sat up suddenly, clutching her head. "What… happened?"
She reached through the bond instinctively — and froze.
Dagon's lifeforce was flickering in the dark. Weak. Fading.
"No…" she whispered, horror flooding her. "Dagon!"
The other girls felt it at the same time. Panic spread through their bonds like wildfire. Shin Wren was already running toward the lower levels, Erictia and the rest close behind. Tears streamed down their faces as they felt him slipping away.
In the Council Chamber, Yoda's eyes snapped open. "A great sacrifice, there was…"
The Temple, once on the brink of annihilation, now bloomed with impossible life — a final gift from a man who had burned everything he had to save it.
But at what cost?