Chapter 86

I was wrong. I thought I could ignore the dark side negative side effects by allowing it to wash over me like a shower of hot water but the problem with doing that on Exegol was that the whole planet was awash with the dark side. Like a rising tide, the pooling dark side that held no hold on me surrounded me instead. At first, I didn't notice but as the dark side aura became thicker with the help of the doppelgangers draining their enemies I couldn't pretend it wasn't affecting me greatly. I first noticed my abrupt emotions when a droid protecting me took a step that clicked and clacked from the metal floor causing my nerves to strain.

Anger was unnecessary building up in me for no good reason. I let it go but just like squeezing a container of liquid under water, it was soon drawn back. I could see that the dark side was invading me and I tried using my thought process that the dark side was part of the force and temper my mind with logical and emotional positivity. This would have worked on any other planet but the force, while made from the dark side was also infected by the emotions of the many Sith Eternal my doppelgangers had drained.

My logical side was being overwhelmed. Fear, anger and hate caused me to fight back, not with the knowledge I've built up over my life but with the sudden power I just obtained. My eyes flashed yellow as I used the hate to fight the pooling dark side. The newly dumped emotions fought me causing not only my mind to sieze up but my body. Thankfully, my doppelgangers weren't affected as they weren't stuck with the feelings and yet it didn't help me. My mind flashed with my history, all the things I did wrong, all the things I could have done better, even the stupid shit like stubbing my toe that happened over three hundred years ago surfaced in my mind and caused negative emotions that stunned me in my seat.

I tried to discard the thoughts as they didn't help to ponder on things like that but my thoughts were spurred on by the pooling dark side, it latched on like sticky glue. When that didn't help I turned to accept, I tried to incorporate it and better myself but it was harder than usual because the dark side was looping my hopes, losses, anger and fears so that my regrets were recycled and played in my mind.

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The many people I had killed, it didn't matter that most were from the Brotherhood of Darkness that wanted my head, my mind still questioned my actions and asked "Could they have been saved?". It didn't matter that I had set up a food empire that fed the Galaxy, my thoughts quickly asked if I could have done more.

All of these questions paralysed my thoughts which clattered my thinking and ultimately would never manifest answers. My body tensed up without me noticing and my hands gripped the handrails of my seat until they broke.

A flash of red bathed my sight, quickly followed by a blue energy shield. Darth Vader had just attacked me. Thankfully my droids were equipped with energy shields just for this purpose but I didn't think for a second that he would try to kill me. I was his only hope, he had done too much evil to be forgiven by the Jedi and without me they would hunt him down with or without the Death Star as a backup.

The reason for Vader's actions was obvious. If I was having trouble with the pooling darkside then he was drowning in it. All of his reason was turned to anger at being controlled, at first by the Jedi and their silly rules then the dark lord and now me. Darth Vader wasn't thinking straight, he lashed out and attacked me while I was at my weakest.

My droids protected me and with quick actions, they decided the best course of fighting, they fled. My droids were great killers and could hold up, adapt and strategise with the best of them but they didn't have protection against the force. They could shield against lightning and lightsabers but when it came down to being forced crushed they were completely at the mercy of the force.

They knew this and couldn't guarantee my safety while they fought, so they did the thing that would grant them the greatest chance of victory: They fled. One droid ripped me out of my seat and carried me over his shoulder while blasting from his other arms. My second droid used itself as a meat shield and interfered with Darth Vader's attacks.

The meat shield droid was doing well but with each successful block of lightsaber or redirected blaster bolt Darth Vader became ever more irritated and angry. His swings became less and his force powers became more. In the end, my second droid was crushed and flung aside, just in time to witness my first droid jump out of the cargo hold and exit into the atmosphere of Exegol. As a parting gift, my droid gave Vader a feast for the eyes by leaving flash bangs causing Darth Vader to scream like a smacked Shriek-hawk.