Agni Kai (2/2)

Ash's demeanor then shifted onto a more serious note, as a red hue of energy could be seen slightly emanating from his entire body.

"Lets kick it up a notch."

...

..

And in response the air all around him was getting hotter, the temperature spiked, as the surrounding atmosphere eerily went silent.

"Is it getting hotter?"

"This must be the legendary aura of the Fire Avatar, he's able to change the surrounding temperature with only his presence."

"Such a technique exists?"

Even Ozai himself watched with interest.

Azula had a bitter expression, watching her opponent cautiously.

Suddenly, she extended both fists forward and put her all into it.

Boom!

A powerful wave of fire exploded out and headed toward his position.

Rather than dodging, Ash remained still in his position.

All eyes were trained on him, wondering what he would do.

Under everyone's gaze, the ground in front of Ash seemed to heat up as smoke emitted from it.

Before it abruptly turned into a large puddle of thick red liquid, specifically lava.

His finger waved upward, as a wall of shimmering lava rose high up and blocked the flames from reaching him.

The lava soon turned into a solid earth wall, out of his control.

"Earthbending!?"

"I thought he wasn't the avatar!?"

"What sorcery is this!?"

Ozai's expression was alarmed as he saw what just happened, 'What is the meaning of this!? Manipulating the smoke, is something I understand, but did he just manipulate Earth?'

Azula's features went from bitter to sour, 'What type of technique was that?...'

Ash was still in his original position, he remained still with one hand forward with a smile tugging on his lips.

After a few seconds of a silent stare off, he spoke, "Well if your not gonna go, don't mind if I do."

An instant later, his figure blurred as he suddenly vanished from his spot, appearing in front of a stunned Azula with his fist extended.

"Huh!?-"

Azula hurriedly waved her hand upward, creating a wall of flames, but Ash had already dashed through it, unbothered by the heat.

With a fierce aura, he launched a relentless barrage of punches, each strike aimed at Azula's defenses with pinpoint accuracy.

Boom.

Boom.

Each of his jabs sounded like explosions, crackling with the intense heat of his body, while his hooks swept through the air with the force of a raging inferno.

Azula's eyes were panicked as she blocked and dodged Ash's onslaught, but many punches were still making it through her defenses, causing bruises to appear all over.

'What the hell!? He's faster and stronger than before! Was he holding back? No, this is most likely because of the sudden aura change around him, it somehow enhances his physical constitution...'

Nevertheless with lightning-fast reflexes, she sidestepped his jabs, her movements fluid and precise as she dodged to the left and then to the right.

With a swift motion, she raised her arms into a brisk block, deflecting his hooks with her bare hands.

But Ash was undeterred, his figure unyielding as he pressed forward with unwavering resolve. Sensing an opening in Azula's defense, he executed a sudden feint, his movements calculated and precise.

With a deceptive move of lowering his body, he lured Azula into a false sense of security.

Before unleashing a powerful palm to her chest, his hand sizzling with heat.

Bam!

She clenched her teeth as her figure was sent flying back, roughly tumbling against the ground for dozens of feet.

"Ugh-" Azula slowly stood up with a groan, glancing back up she noticed Ash for some reason picked up the broom from earlier.

Her eyes widened in fear as she watched him arch back the broom over his shoulder, as if getting ready to throw a spear.

The crowd seemed perturbed at her fright of the broom, but the more skilled fire benders could sense the immense heat within it.

'Damn it!-' With no time to dodge, she watched as Ash casually launched the broom forward with a blast of flames pushing it.

In an instant it reached her position, but with Azula's swift agility she rolled to the left, dodging it.

Boom!

Having no chance to block, the broom burst out an explosion, Azula's figure was once again sent tumbling across the ground, ash burns on her face, and her fire nation uniform dirtied.

Coughing out the smoke, she slowly stood up, and watched Ash with a grim face.

Ash himself seemed indifferent to her suffering as he pointed his flaming hand out and did a circular motion with it.

But rather than it blasting out, a circle of fire remained floating, as the center was void, seemingly see through.

Even though it was just a simple circle of flames levitating beside him, everyone could feel the scorching heat from it.

Azula being the main one, could sense the upcoming attack was gonna be life threatening.

The circle of flames, slowly started to spin, before accelerating, going faster and faster.

Until even the human eye couldn't keep up.

As it's speed increased, the color of the yellow flame changed, it was slowly turning into violet purple, astounding the surrounding citizens.

"Purple fire!?"

"Was there such a thing before!?"

"Is this the next level beyond that of a mortal?"

Ozai was practically scowling as he saw this fire, 'It's hotter than my own... I must get this boy no matter the cost, for the future of the fire nation, he will definitely be a priceless asset. I was foolish to think he and Azula were equal.'

Back at the center, the circle of flames fully turned purple, and the center was being filled with the same color.

Once the circle was completely full, Ash glanced toward Azula, muttering, "Try and block this."

Pointing his finger forward, a powerful beam of energy burst forward from the circle.

It expanded in size, as the surrounding temperatures drastically increased, even burning the spectators skins from being in it's mere presence.

Zzzzz!

With a loud hum, it had already surged toward Azula's figure.

For the first time, she felt powerless as she watched the approaching flame, but her eyes seemingly glared with hatred.

"I'll die before I give up!" Azula's arms started to rotate in a circular motion, in an attempt to shoot out lightning.

Despite her anger, she skillfully guided the electric energy to the edge of her finger, toward the beam of energy, and watched as lightning exploding out of her finger tips.

Ash could only scoff, shaking his head at her foolish decision.

And not even a second later, her figure was engulfed.

Ozai's expression hardened.

But after few seconds he soon calmed down once noticing the situation.

Because right after, Azula seemed to still be standing with slight singes and charred marks on her skin, surprisingly still alive from such a powerful attack.

Ozai sighed softly, 'That boy decreased the output in the last second, saving her life. What a foolish girl, to charge head on into something like that...'

Azula's standing figure seemed to stagger as she was about to fall, but before that happened.

Ash picked up the charred broom and twirled it above his head.

Flames came forth and slowly created a tornado of fire, expanding in all directions.

Obscuring everyone's vision as he quickly grabbed Azula before she fell and blasted into the sky, leaving behind the Arena.

He could feel her struggling figure in his grasp, but he continued to fly for a few minutes, until arriving back at his estate, namely in his garden.

Landing slowly, he let her go, but strangely enough she was latched on to his body.

Ash's eye widened as Azula opened her mouth with fire rising up from her throat.

A burst of flames were about to exit her lips, however, Ash was even faster as he smacked her jaw upward and grabbed her mouth firmly with his hand.

Muffled sound of pain could be heard as the fire within Azula's mouth went out of control, burning her.

Nevertheless Ash kept her mouth shut, his unamused eyes looked down at her pained face.

And after a few seconds, the pain seemed to subside as she calmed down.

Once noticing this, he let her go, and slowly backed up, watching her inquisitively.

"*Cough**Cough*" Labored breaths could be heard as she coughed roughly, covering her mouth.

Eventually she stopped, looking toward Ash expressionlessly.

Her lips suddenly curled into a smirk, "You pass!"

Ash raised a curious brow, "I passed?"

Azula nodded, "Indeed, you seem capable enough to be my husband, and considering your battle prowess you will be a very useful asset to me."

Her previous scowl was replaced with a triumphant smile, as if her previous anger was never there.

While Ash's expression remained plain as he responded, "What makes you think I want to marry you?"

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