41 Chapter 41

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Leaping upwards, I assist myself with a jet of fire. I direct it at one of the earthbenders we're facing and stop maintaining the fire in a dense stream, losing the sense of thrust immediately. However, the fire bursts out in a raging firestorm, engulfing the earthbender. I sense he's still alive and not particularly discomforted. Landing on the ground, I release a bit of earthbending through my legs, feeling the vibrations this way. I could have gone without using any bending at all and simply relied on tactile contact with the ground, but in battle, that seems impractical to me, and besides, I much prefer wearing shoes to the prospect of walking barefoot.

The opponent I covered with the firestorm protected himself with a stone wall. To my left is another earthbender, and behind me approaches a wave of earth transformed by their bending. The changes in the earth's vibrations make this easy to sense.

I leap to the left and close in on the opponent, who sends a square boulder at me. I duck and sweep, creating a flame blade on my leg that cuts off the opponent's legs, and then I have to straighten up and leap back a few meters with jet propulsion, dodging attacks from two Dai Li agents.

In flight, I start to accumulate an electric charge. I land and extend my hands with my index and middle fingers together. A lightning bolt tears away, but misses my opponents and continues on... only to find an obstacle in the backs of two other earthbender masters, who, a moment later, are swept away by a wave of bright blue fire that they couldn't defend against due to my lightning. I dodge a boulder that flies close, threatening to take off half my head. And another, and another. Finally, seizing the moment, I send a volley of explosive fireballs at the earthbenders.

Numerous explosions follow, and I sense the death of one of the earthbenders, then I see a flash of blue fire and feel the life force of the second earthbender cut short.

Focusing, I sense Azula standing next to me, ready to launch into another attack, as well as thirteen more earthbenders that have surrounded us.

"Azula, stay put, don't leave my side!" I shouted to her, so she could hear me even through the roar of flames burning around us.

Without waiting for Azula's response, I begin to release huge streams of fire from my hands in all directions, which immediately start to swirl, forming a fire tornado, and continuously feeding and inflating this fiery calamity with oxygen, making it look truly terrifying. Azula and I are at the center of this firestorm, which completely covers the earthbenders, as well as tens of square meters of ground around us.

It takes a tremendous amount of energy to create this newly improvised technique on the fly. Through the earth, I can feel the Dai Li have each surrounded themselves with one-and-a-half-meter walls, completely protecting themselves from the fire, but...

The fire starts to turn blue, and I feel that controlling the element has become easier. Turning around, I see that Azula has also joined in the technique and has taken part of the control, sharing it between us, and infusing her own strength, making the fire much hotter!

And since I no longer have to spend all my strength controlling the fire... I can afford to be a little tricky...

A small concentration and a willful effort create hundreds of tiny defects in the Dai Li's defense, and the stone walls, which had withstood the monstrous temperature and pressure of this firestorm, were instantly destroyed, and the earthbenders were quickly deprived of their lives as their bodies were almost instantly incinerated. The temperature of the fire in this storm must now be approaching two thousand degrees, while a human body burns, if memory serves, already at twelve hundred, though it takes almost an hour for that...

The flame subsided, and Azula and I stood amidst scorched and molten earth, on a small island. I was breathing heavily, actively producing oxygen in my lungs, drenched in sweat, and close to exhaustion, spending the last drops of energy on recovering my breath. Azula was in a better condition than me, not having spent all her energy on this technique, but also slightly dropped her shoulders and breathed more heavily.

"They... were... stronger... than... previous... opponents..." I said, taking several breaths after each word.

"Agreed. But we managed. Now it's unlikely anyone will interfere, and by the end of the week, the army will already be in the city," Azula said, feeling much better.

Yes, there were many earthbending masters here. They wielded their element on a completely different level than all the previous earthbenders I had encountered. Maybe Bumi could do better, but our fight with him was very brief, and I simply didn't give him a chance to do much. But the power he showed when he dropped a multi-ton stone statue on me... Here, their power was clearly less than Bumi's, but they demonstrated many more tricks and acted in concert. They didn't just throw stones; they hid and struck from under the ground, pressed with columns and cliffs, tried to impale us on stone spikes, moved across the terrain at high speed on their strange footwear, as I felt, made of earth, and their earth gloves were a dangerous weapon! They manipulated earth much more skillfully, diversely, and expertly than the earthbenders I had seen before, though it was noticeable that they were overly confident.

Forty-seven mages of such caliber were a very big challenge, and if Azula hadn't come with me, I wouldn't have managed... not using all the elements and bending, but only lightning and fire.

"How are you holding up?" Azula asked, turning to me.

"Uh-huh. Still holding on, just almost out of strength," I replied, meaning magical strength, at least, "so I need to rest."

"Let's go. I'll help you get to the drill, and you can rest in the medical section there."

"Yes, that would be simply wonderful. And be careful, I think I have a crack in my right hand."

"Alright."

Azula took my left hand and slung it over her shoulders, then helped me walk, which was really hard for me, as I was incredibly tired. I hadn't fully recovered from the last time, after holding back the wall, in terms of rest, not just magical reserves.

We headed back to the drill, and I felt the remnants of life force I had stolen from the mages on the wall being used to bring my body to an acceptable state. Soon, I felt the crack in my hand almost healed, and within fifteen minutes, there was no trace of it left. The remnants went towards overall physical recovery. Fatigue slowly faded, bruises healed; after all, with such a number of opponents, especially professionals, I was hit several times. That's how I got the crack in my hand, and bruises were just a trifle in comparison.

We slowly walked towards the drill, which was also coming to meet us. Soon, Fire Nation soldiers came out to meet us, who picked me up and helped me go to the medical section for examination, while Azula went to the control cabin.

I was greeted by a young man who turned out to be the doctor on this machine. He led me to his section.

In the medical part, they quickly examined me, said that overall I was healthy and just overworked, so I should rest. They gave me something to eat and told me to go to sleep.

Lying in bed, of which there were about a dozen here, though I was the only one lying in them, I looked at the ceiling and wanted to fall asleep, but sleep didn't come, so I wanted to talk, and the doctor became my target.

"Hey, what's your name?" I asked, not getting up from bed and not moving.

"Pai Sho, sir Garo," he answered me.

"Oh, you already know my name."

"Of course, sir Garo. Everyone here knows you, though not just here. Lately, you've been talked about a lot among the soldiers and benders. Especially among the latter."

"Why is that all of a sudden?" I asked, finally turning to my interlocutor, who was now brewing himself some tea.

"Well, they say you're one of the two geniuses of your generation. Like Princess Azula. She's long been considered a genius of firebending, but you managed to surpass her in combat. However, you gained your fame for something else. They say you mastered the lightning technique in the shortest time and can use it without any preparation. Rumors spread. Everyone also knows that you managed to stand alone against the Avatar in the city of Omashu. All this gave you the nickname Genius of Lightning," he said with a smirk.

"Yes, indeed, sounds very funny, especially from my side, heh..."

"Sorry, sir Garo, I'm not laughing because of your nickname. Just... you see, somehow it turned out that I'm acquainted, well with someone well, with someone briefly, with three of the most famous geniuses of the world, each of approximately the same generation. Now I'm acquainted with you, briefly met Princess Azula when she came here for her friend - Miss Ty Lee. That's when I had a few words with the princess."

"Really... not everyone is so lucky in life. And the third one? Who is it?" I asked, remembering who else is known in the world besides me and Azula.

"Oh, sir Garo, you won't believe it!" Pai Sho quietly began to drink his hot tea from the mug, looking at me with eyes that held both fear and admiration. "I am acquainted, and dare I hope, very well acquainted, with none other than Joe, known also as Chimamin Monsta! - he said proudly. - And most importantly, I am one of the few from the Fire Nation who survived after meeting him and, as far as I know, the only one he spared."

"Is that so..." I said, recalling similar cases and all my encounters with people from the Fire Nation when I might have left someone alive, and moreover, spared someone. I just don't remember any such battle... "And what? What did you do that he spared you?"

"Um... you see, I'm not exactly proud to tell this... all my comrades that day were killed by him, and a few days later they took me from there, wanted to send me to another facility, but I used those few connections and left for military medical school, I studied there almost the full term, but dropped out because I wanted to join the soldiers, where I finished my training, they still let me do it, and, after a short practice, I came here."

"And yet, what did you do?" I asked, searching my memory for all the facilities I had visited in my life where I had wiped out the entire staff. Only one picture flashed in my mind, but... I didn't leave anyone alive there... or...

"I gave Chimamin Monsta a cup of water..." he said quietly...

"The first one!..." I whispered involuntarily, overwhelmed by memories.

However, this stream of memories was interrupted by the sound of a broken cup with tea spilled on the floor.

I looked at the doctor and saw his pale face, wide-open eyes, and chest rising much more frequently than usual from rapid breathing.

"Wh-wh-what did you say, sir G-garo?" he asked, as if afraid of his own question and even more terrified of the possible answer.

"Me?" I asked loudly, "Nothing, Pai Sho, nothing. You know, you really were lucky. To meet him and to survive after that. It seems that cup of water meant a lot to him. Alright, I'll try to sleep after all."

"Y-yes, sweet dreams, sir Garo."

With those words, Pai Sho left the compartment and, as I felt, just slid down the metal wall, now sitting on the floor.

"What a meeting..." I said to myself and closed my eyes.

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