Chapter 240: This is the End
The Death Star's reactor core burned with devastating power. One hundred twenty-three hyperspace drive fields linked into a unified navigation matrix granted the battle station the ability to reach any point in the known galaxy.
Its superlaser possessed apocalyptic firepower, capable of obliterating planets.
With this weapon, the Separatists crushed the Republic fleet defending Coruscant. They captured Supreme Chancellor Palpatine along with numerous senators, then broadcast their ultimatum: surrender, or watch Coruscant burn.
Jedi Knights scattered across the galaxy abandoned their posts and rushed back, launching a desperate assault on the Death Star to prevent catastrophe.
Anakin joined them without hesitation. He would never allow countless innocents to die in this war.
Fierce battles erupted throughout the massive station. Using his formidable combat abilities, Anakin fought his way to the bridge where Count Dooku commanded, only to witness something that shattered his understanding.
Chancellor Palpatine sat before Count Dooku, not as hostage but as master, calmly ordering the Separatist leader to prepare the Death Star's primary weapon for firing.
"Who are you?" Anakin's voice shook with anger.
Over the years, he'd considered Palpatine a mentor and friend. The thought that this man orchestrated the war that killed billions...
"I have many titles." Palpatine dropped his Force disguise, revealing a face twisted and corrupted by decades of dark side practice. "Some call me Chancellor. Others know me as the Dark Lord of the Sith."
Anakin had trained in both light and dark aspects of the Force, finding balance between them through Raven's teachings. But he'd never seen corruption like this.
"Dark Lord of the Sith!" Fury blazed in Anakin's eyes. "So you planned everything? You allied with traitors to start the Clone Wars?"
"Yes. During the war a millennium ago, the Republic and Jedi destroyed the Sith Empire. But not all Sith died. I was a disciple of one such. You have no idea, Anakin, how deep the rot I created goes." Palpatine's smile was predatory. "Now the Republic and Jedi will become history, and the Sith will rise again."
He studied Anakin with calculating interest. "Join me. You have extraordinary talent. With Sith knowledge, you could achieve immortality."
"I'll never join you." Anakin shook his head. "You've caused too much suffering. You'll answer for it."
"Foolish boy." Palpatine's voice turned cold. "Those people don't matter. What are a few sacrifices for ultimate power?"
"You're insane."
Anakin ignited his lightsaber. There was nothing more to say.
Red-armored guards, elite soldiers explicitly trained to counter Jedi, charged at him. Anakin deflected their attacks with precise blade work, then unleashed a Force push that scattered them like toys.
Years of training under Raven, combined with the Force Engine's enhancements, had honed Anakin's abilities to their peak. He sidestepped one guard's thrust and beheaded him with a backhanded strike. Lightning erupted from his outstretched hand, killing two more.
The movements flowed together seamlessly. These elite guards might overwhelm ordinary Jedi Knights, but against Anakin, they were hopelessly outmatched.
Within moments, he'd cut through them all.
"Let me test your strength myself."
Count Dooku shed his cloak and joined the battle, his crimson blade crackling with dark energy. Their lightsabers met with an explosive clash.
Dooku's confident expression immediately shifted to shock. The recoil nearly tore the weapon from his grip. This young man was far stronger than intelligence suggested.
His only advantage was decades of combat experience, but Anakin learned with frightening speed. What began as an even duel quickly turned one-sided as the Force Engine analyzed and adapted to Dooku's fighting style.
When Dooku thrust forward again, Anakin shifted slightly and swept his blade through the Count's arm. Dooku screamed as the limb fell away. Anakin pressed his advantage and severed the Separatist leader's head in one clean stroke.
With Dooku and the guards eliminated, Anakin turned to Palpatine, gesturing at the headless corpse.
"Surrender now and face trial. Resist, and you'll end up the same way."
Palpatine laughed.
"Kill me? I'm the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Can you bear the consequences?"
"You're the Dark Lord of the Sith," Anakin shot back.
"Who will believe that?" Palpatine's smile was venomous. "If I die here, everyone will think I'm Chancellor Palpatine, and you're the assassin who murdered the Republic's leader."
He ignited his own lightsaber, settling into a combat stance.
"Either way, I win, Anakin. If I kill you, I seize control of the Republic, destroy the Jedi Order, and eliminate that bird who trained you. If you kill me, my pre-programmed message will broadcast the truth, that you, the Jedi, and your teacher were the real traitors behind this war."
His eyes gleamed with malice. "The galaxy will descend into chaos. Warlords will rise. Worlds will burn. No matter what happens here, I win."
"You're a monster!" Anakin roared.
They clashed with explosive force. Palpatine channeled the full might of the dark side, a power he'd claimed through ancient Sith rituals on the hidden Sith worlds. Ever since the Emperor had manifested his divine form and killed Darth Maul, Palpatine had been preparing this.
Through forbidden rites, he'd transformed himself into a vessel for the dark side itself. The price was steep; his humanity consumed, he became little more than a puppet. But the reward was godlike power.
Dark side energy flooded into Palpatine, elevating him to near-divine levels.
Their lightsabers collided again and again, each impact releasing waves of Force energy that tore apart the bridge. The battle was apocalyptic in scale.
But Palpatine couldn't fully control the terrible power he'd claimed. The Force Engine helped Anakin identify the weakness in his enemy's technique. After another brutal exchange, Palpatine's lightsaber flew from his grip. A Force storm lifted him like a rag doll and hurled him against the bulkhead.
He'd lost.
"Then everyone dies with me!"
Palpatine's scream was pure madness. He triggered the Death Star's firing sequence with a thought.
The station's primary weapon discharged, a lance of pure destruction aimed at Coruscant.
"Die! All of you, die!" Palpatine shrieked.
Ripples appeared in the space near Coruscant. The planet-killing beam struck something invisible and simply... vanished. Absorbed as if it had never existed.
"No!" Despair washed over Palpatine's face.
Every plan, ruined. He couldn't even take them down with him.
"Your conspiracy is over."
Anakin stepped forward and drove his lightsaber through Palpatine's chest.
"Even... in death..." Palpatine gasped, his expression turning ruthless. "I'll drag you down... make you the traitor..."
He gathered the last of the dark side power within him and forced it into Anakin's body. The energy surged wildly, making Anakin the most powerful Force user in recorded history and marking him with unmistakable dark-side corruption.
Anakin didn't understand what Palpatine intended until it was too late.
The blast doors burst open. Jedi Knights who'd been fighting elsewhere on the station poured onto the bridge and froze at the sight before them.
Anakin, wreathed in visible dark side energy. Chancellor Palpatine, impaled on a lightsaber and dying.
"Traitor..." Palpatine used his final breath to point at Anakin. Then he went still.
"You?" Obi-Wan stared at his former Padawan, horror and disbelief warring on his face.
The dark side energy radiating from Anakin was overwhelming, denser than anything in the Jedi records. He looked like darkness incarnate.
Master Yoda, Mace Windu, and the other Jedi Masters ignited their lightsabers and formed a circle around him.
"I'm not the traitor," Anakin said quickly. "Palpatine was the Sith Lord. He orchestrated everything."
"Right now, we see you standing over the Chancellor's body, saturated with dark side energy." Mace Windu's voice was stern. "Drop your weapon immediately, Anakin, or we'll be forced to subdue you."
"Young Skywalker, put down your lightsaber and submit to examination, you must," Master Yoda said gravely. "Surrounds this station, the Republic fleet does. Escape, there is none."
"I'm telling you the truth—"
"Surrender first," another Jedi Master interrupted. "We'll sort this out after."
"Try not to injure him," Yoda cautioned.
The Jedi Knights advanced as one.
[End of Chapter]