Ima-Gun Di advanced at the front of his formation with a dozen clone troopers behind him, deflecting blaster fire with his lightsaber while protecting his men and systematically destroying battle droids in close proximity.
Penetrating enemy lines proved extremely costly, and they lost another quarter of their remaining force during the assault, but it achieved a tactical victory by drawing the droids' attention toward the Jedi Knight and his nine surviving clone troopers. This diversion gave the clones and Twi'leks in the defensive trenches an opportunity to eliminate large sections of the droid army with concentrated fire.
However, their success was short-lived as Hyena bombers joined the engagement, completely disregarding their own ground forces and continuously dropping explosive ordnance across the entire battlefield. Amid the constant detonations, droids, clones, and Twi'leks alike were thrown about by the devastating concussive forces.
General Ima-Gun Di lay sprawled on the ground, his face contorted in agony, his armor scorched and damaged from the bombardment. He clenched his fists and forced himself back to his feet through sheer determination. His vision was severely blurred, but he could still make out his lightsaber nearby. He reached out desperately to retrieve his weapon, though he could barely see anything clearly. He had no idea where his accompanying soldiers were located—he only knew that merely three clone troopers remained behind him while a formation of battle droids stood ahead, their blasters trained directly on his position.
Ima-Gun Di glared defiantly at the mechanical enemies and grasped his lightsaber with trembling hands. Even though he understood that requesting Republic reinforcements would be futile and that he couldn't hold out much longer, he refused to allow these droids to execute his men before his own death.
Upon hearing the distinctive charging sound of blasters preparing to fire, Ima-Gun Di allowed the Force to flow through his being, and finally...
Suddenly, before his eyes, it appeared as though all the battle droids were being torn apart by some invisible energy. Then, one by one, additional droids began exploding in rapid succession. Within mere seconds, Jedi Knight Ima-Gun Di couldn't even count the number of mechanical units being destroyed.
Then, someone came to a stop directly in front of him.
"What a satisfying warm-up exercise," Pietro said with characteristic cockiness, casually rotating his right arm and shoulder while shaking a severed B1 battle droid head up and down in his left hand before tossing it aside. Looking at the stunned and silent Jedi, he asked with playful sarcasm: "Didn't you notice those droids were about to kill you?"
Without waiting for any response, Pietro launched himself forward again, shoulder-checking a B2 super battle droid before grabbing two B1 units and hurling them to the ground as he continued his high-speed assault.
Pietro grinned with manic enthusiasm, clearly deriving genuine pleasure from combating these irritating mechanical adversaries, then rapidly charged toward another formation of droids and systematically destroyed most of them.
General Ima-Gun Di had recovered sufficient strength to provide at least minimal defensive support for his remaining forces, and he had received communication that a Republic supply convoy was en route to Ryloth.
All they needed to accomplish now was maintaining their position long enough for the rescue forces to arrive.
"Keeli, initiate immediate withdrawal and order all personnel to fall back to the base," General Ima-Gun Di commanded.
"What about him?" Syndulla asked, gesturing toward Pietro's location on the battlefield.
"I'll retrieve him," Ima-Gun Di replied with determination.
Pietro had just extracted a Twi'lek resistance fighter from a swarm of battle droids, and moments afterward he single-handedly obliterated the entire enemy formation.
"Maximoff!"
Pietro looked up and observed the alien Jedi named Ima-Gun Di approaching him with his energy blade ignited.
"We need to execute tactical withdrawal immediately," the Jedi explained urgently. "If we remain in this position, even with your extraordinary abilities, the tactical outcome will not be favorable."
Pietro stared at the Jedi with growing exhaustion as he felt overwhelming fatigue beginning to consume his enhanced physiology. Despite this mounting weakness, he steeled his resolve and forced himself to remain focused, understanding that perseverance was absolutely essential.
"Proceed with your withdrawal," Pietro declared firmly. "You and your soldiers retreat to safety—I'll maintain a holding action against their forces."
"What?" Ima-Gun Di asked in shock. "You're not planning to withdraw with us? There's an enormous numerical disparity between our forces and the droid army. Remaining here is tactically futile. Only when Republic reinforcements arrive will we have any realistic chance of mounting an effective counteroffensive."
Pietro looked directly at General Ima-Gun Di, shook his head with unwavering determination, then stated with complete confidence: "Don't worry about me. They can't even perceive my movements, much less inflict damage on me."
With that declaration, Pietro returned to the active battlefield, his velocity even greater than before. As he pushed beyond his previous speed limitations, Pietro felt increasingly severe pain throughout his muscular system, but he gritted his teeth and persevered, destroying one mechanical enemy after another. He could sense that his body was approaching absolute physical limits, particularly his arms, which experienced spasms and involuntary twitching each time he struck down another droid.
At that moment, two Republic drop ships arrived and delivered additional clone reinforcements along with critical weapons and supply resources, but Pietro understood that even with this support, the clone forces remained extremely vulnerable. The droid army could easily pursue and eliminate them during their withdrawal.
This was an outcome Pietro absolutely refused to allow, which meant it was time to either transcend his physical limitations or die in the attempt.
He felt his entire body resonate with the supernatural potential granted by his exposure to the Mind Stone's energy, and Pietro vanished from his position, leaving only deep impressions in the ground where his feet had been.
Pietro began running in an enormous circular pattern, feeling excruciating pain throughout his leg muscles. He concentrated all his remaining energy, clenched his teeth, and ignored the mounting agony. His adrenaline began surging to dangerous levels, his heart rate increased dramatically, and his breathing became labored and rapid. With each successive lap, his running velocity continued steadily increasing.
"Uh, what's that phenomenon?" asked a confused battle droid.
"Unknown. The organic appears to be executing some tactical maneuver."
"Alert: atmospheric disturbance detected. Do you register the air current?"
Indeed, the wind generated by Pietro's circular running pattern was becoming progressively stronger, and several battle droids began losing their balance and struggling to maintain stable footing.
"Warning! Environmental conditions changing rapidly!"
"Severe weather pattern forming!"
Wind and debris began sweeping across the entire area occupied by the droid forces, and as Pietro continued his superhuman circuit, the atmospheric disturbance intensified exponentially. At this point, even Pietro's blurred form was no longer visible—only a luminous object could be observed spinning at incredible velocity.
Pietro gritted his teeth and released a primal roar of exertion. The speed of his artificially generated tornado became so powerful that numerous battle droids were immediately drawn into the vortex. Even the massive AAT tanks along with several Hyena bombers and Vulture fighters could not escape the devastating suction. The entire droid army was systematically torn apart by the supernatural storm.
Ima-Gun Di, Keeli, and Syndulla, observing from their base position, were rendered completely speechless by the extraordinary display. Suddenly, they detected something coming to rest directly before their location. As the swirling dust settled around them, causing everyone to cough, Ima-Gun Di waved his hand to clear the particulate matter. The figure who materialized in front of them was none other than a visibly haggard and completely exhausted Pietro.
"I've... bought you some additional time," Pietro said weakly, his voice barely audible. "From this point forward... it's up to you."
He raised his trembling hands, coughed violently, then continued with obvious effort: "No need for gratitude. What you can do is... very simple. When I regain consciousness... you have to answer my questions."
Then he collapsed into unconsciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more than 60 chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~