“We can not face him!” Renn hissed in a hushed whisper, his thumb against the red ignition button of his lightsaber as he glanced at the stone door on the other side of the room of which was the only thing keeping the warlord out. The council room itself was quite large giving them all plenty of room to move around and entirely made of stone blocks that had all been carefully cemented together centuries ago. A massive table sat in the center, it had been made to resemble Celestia's sun as it was round in the center with wavy flares stretching out from it, usually that was were the seats would go. On the ceiling was a silver crescent moon that magically provided light in the once dark room.

Craw did not take his red eyes off the door, ignoring a somewhat panicking Renn. “What chances does he stand? Its three of us versus one of him!” The self-proclaimed king snapped at the assassin irritably.

“That is true, your Highness,” Ulrik replied gravely, he too had his lightsaber in hand but her did not look as panicked as Renn did...or perhaps he was just hiding it better. “But he did not go out and simply buy those lightsabers he has...and those are just some of the ones he has.”

Craw swallowed slightly, “Go on.”

“He's the most prolific Jedi killer in the galaxy of which we hail from, slaughtering them regardless of who they are. Masters, knights, padawans alike have met a barbaric end because of him.”

The door glowed a dark green and the sound of grating stone against stone resonated loudly throughout the room as Grievous marched in, hands behind his back; the tusk like antenna on the sides of his head shifted briefly when the door was magically shut by Chrysalis. Who wore a mocking grin on her lips directing it plainly to the three. Even going so far as to mouth the words “Bye bye.”

Grievous' golden eyes fixed on them malevolently before he moved, in one push of his mechanical legs he landed on the table, on one knee therefore bringing him closer to their level.

“King Craw, at last a proper introduction,” one arm rested casually on his knee, “I've been looking forward to meeting you.”

“Chrysalis made an excellent choice using you to do her dirty work,” Craw replied haughtily, “but what good is that going to do you hm?”

“I am not interested in Chrysalis' precious Changeling Empire nor am I concerned with Equestria's well being either,” he lowered his head threateningly, “what I want is to kill all three of you!”

Craw grinned smugly when his horn glowed blood red, his equine body adopting a more human like appearance as he rose up on his back legs, his forehooves shifted to become hands with functioning fingers and in a red flash two swords appeared. Grievous could tell they were mystically enhanced judging by the dark glowing red line that ran up the length of the blades, Craw ran them together once causing a little rain of sparks to fall to the floor.

“There is three of us, monster, and only one of you,” Renn and Ulrik simultaneously ignited their blades.

“Well then by all means,” the general stood to his full height and reached behind his to grasp two lightsabers in each hand, “allow me to even the odds.” The arms split apart to form an additional set, each lightsaber ignited one at a time, the cyborg's arms spread wide allowing them all to see just what they were up against. Exactly ten seconds passed before Ulrik made the move that would begin the battle.

He sprang over the general's head, his attack blocked by Grievous simply raising his upper left arm over his skull like head and immediately both Craw and Renn attacked. Grievous shifted to the center of the table as he crossed blades with Craw who quickly proceeded to thrust his left sword at the warlord's face, Grievous ducked and performed a complete spin...the power he put into it literally shattered one of Craw's swords. Renn nearly fell off the immense table and Ulrik was able to intercept two of the blades but the general merely swung with his lower right attempting to cut the Dark Jedi in half. Grievous' keen hearing allowed him to pick up on the sound of Craw running behind his and he lashed out with a powerful roundhouse kick, clenching his metal foot shut like a fist and brought it directly into Craw's cheek.

“Ugghh!” He went down.

Grievous had been planning to end him right then and there but fortunately for Craw his allies acted fast, launching their attacks from the side forcing Grievous to block with all four of his weapons. Craw smiled dangerously and began to stand...Grievous narrowed his eyes and raised his right foot and stomped on the table's center once. His three foes grunted as the table split in two falling downward and effectively ruining their attacks. Grievous swiftly sent a kick into Craw's mid-section that sent him crashing to the ground, it took only an aggressive shove to send Renn stumbling off, Ulrik however took a swing at the general's head of which he easily avoided but he was unable to avoid a Force push.

Grievous allowed himself to be blown back from his enemy, he allowed his feet to connected with the wall behind him embedding himself with his strong metal talons as Ulrik stepped off the destroyed table and with a single hand, lifted the two broken halves with the Force and with a grunt he threw then at the cyborg. General Grievous jumped at them carefully folding his arms over his metal chest keeping his weapons pointed upward, flying between the two huge stones and landing safely on the floor.

BANG!

The table chunks exploded into pieces behind him but he paid the event no heed as he charged at Ulrik instantly forcing him onto the defensive. Craw and Renn quickly joined, the Changeling interrupted a single green blade with his sword and Ulrik thrust forward aiming for his chest; Grievous lept back spinning a lightsaber in front of him rapidly. All three charged, the four-armed cyborg rotated his entire upper body around until it became a blur. Renn brought his blue lightsaber colliding with a green and blue blur and the consequence of that action was him staggering off to the side and loosing his footing and tumbling to the ground. Grievous slowly progressed forward until the duo dispersed, ceasing the deadly rotation he followed up with a few stabs aiming for Ulrik's legs which was easy for Ulrik to deflect but he was barely able to duck a spinning green lightsaber that would have resulted in the lose of his head.

Ulrik swiped up and then down, Grievous literally used both left arm blades to intercept it, the X shape ensnaring Ulrik's own. A blast courtesy of Craw's spiraling horn connected with Grievous' back that forced him to deactivate his lightsabers and sent him rolling along the floor, his metal body banging loudly against the stone. He was still on one knee, barely reactivating his lightsabers in time to counter Ulrik, pushing back up and swiping with his upper right and stabbing with his lower left he ducked to avoid a swing from Craw nimbly darting around the king, his lightsabers whirling about rhythmically stunning Craw at their speed. The general quickly grabbed Renn by the throat, glaring at the Dark Jedi he lept up and used his right leg to fling him into Craw barreling him over.

Grievous noticed Ulrik rather easily and observed what he was about to do next...the warlord tossed all four of his active lightsabers in the air and seized Ulrik's arms with two hands each.

CRACK!

Grievous headbutted the man into near unconsciousness, but then he felt a searing agony in his stomach! Ulrik looked down to find three of his enemy's blades embedded in him and piercing him through, a series of choking noises emitted from the Dark Jedi attempted to scream. Grievous rotated his upper right hand before bringing the green blade over his left shoulder-

VMM!

That single swing decapitated and ended the life of Ulrik. His head bounced once and rolled until it met the wall. The lightsabers withdrew from the headless corpse and it fell with a dull 'thud,' Grievous saw Ulrik's weapon fly into the waiting hand of Renn, who let loose the loudest enraged battle yell he could and ran full speed at the victorious Kaleesh. Four blades met two blades as they exchanged blows throughout the council room Renn's savage hits driving even Grievous back but only for about a minute or so until he was able to launch a counter attack. A single saber gripped with his foot and rotating himself on a single hand, Renn blocked the lightsaber that was gripped in Grievous' taloned foot but the other three humming blades forced him to jump back and it was just in those seconds that allowed Grievous to make the move that would finish off Renn.

The Dark Jedi looked up in time to witness the general standing on two feet again...with only three lightsabers!?

But then he noticed it. The handle of a lightsaber protruding from his chest. That was the last thing he saw before whatever flicker of life remained in him was snuffed out, his own weapons dropping loosely from his useless hands as Grievous pulled out his blade and stepped back enough to relish at seeing Renn fall face first onto the cold and unforgiving stone floor.

'Impossible!' Craw stood, slack jawed, but regardless he ran at Grievous.

'Fool.' The general thought sourly, almost amused as he swung another lightsaber; the single attack severing Craw's sword like paper but before Grievous could do anything more the king made a wise decision to fly back. His wings buzzing loudly, his eyes wide as he realized his mistake.

'Unstoppable...' He landed, hiding his fear well. Grievous' stance became relaxed and he did the most surprising thing of all:He deactivated his lightsabers! His arms recombined and he returned the inactive weapons to his waist. Craw looked at him with a grin when he saw the general bring a single finger towards himself.

A silent way of saying “Come on!”

'Let's see how good you are without your glowing little toys!'

Grievous would have smiled if he had lips as Craw was playing right into it, he actually thought he now had the advantage but that was FAR from the truth. Grievous wanted to make him suffer, make him realize just how weak and pathetic he truly was.

Craw sent both fists plowing into Grievous' chest plate, he felt a shooting pain in his fists and his forearms felt somewhat numb. He grunted when he felt a metal backhand smack him across the face nearly breaking his jaw, he hadn't even seen Grievous move. Rolling onto his back he saw the terrifying warlord looming over him, blotting out the light but as it shone behind him Craw thought he almost looked like a god. The Kaleesh hauled him to his hooves and sent a fist smashing mercilessly into Craw's stomach doubling him over but Grievous relentlessly brought his knee cracking up into Craw's jaw snapping his head back violently. A swipe from the bared metal fingers staggered the Changeling, his world spinning; a vicious kick to his spine sent him sprawling to the floor. Grievous silently gripped each of the king's wings and placed a foot on his back.

“NO WAI-AAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” A shrill howl of pain escaped Craw's fanged jaws as his wings were torn from his body, dark green blood oozing down his back in little rivers. Grievous tossed the useless things aside and walked forward, his gold eyes shining with dark malice and sadistic glee. He rotated his upper body repeatedly delivering punches to Craw's face, cracking a cheek bone and sending him slamming face first against the wall. Craw felt the general grab him by the head.

“WAIT I SURREN-”

BRAK!

Grievous wordlessly bashed Craw's fear ridden face into the wall, denting it and creating various cracks to appear, and he repeated this violent action...twenty four times. By the the time he'd finished green blood, mucus, and salty tears cascaded down his broken and swollen face; whimpering and spluttering like a baby. Craw let out a gurgling wail as Grievous firmly gripped him by the horn...an agony the likes that Craw had never felt in his entire long life raced through him as Grievous bent and tore the horn from his head. Without his magic he reverted to his true equine form. A loud and anguished scream of pure pain echoing in the room and obviously resonating very well outside it as well. It was time to end it.

General Grievous held the huge horn tightly and thrust it upward skewering Craw through the jaw and out the head. He gurgled and began thrashing pathetically until Grievous took hold of his head. One hand covering the mouth while the other firmly held the back of his head. A sicking crack and the former King of the Changelings, Craw, fell to the floor. Next Chapter: Goodbye Estimated time remaining: 5 Minutes