Chapter 40

Chen walked outside Varrick's house, the latter waving his hands. Asami smiled gently and waved her hand back, before giving her back to Varrick, who called his assistant. 

"You've been silent. What were you thinking about?" Asami asked Chen.  

Chen turned to Asami and smiled at her question. She caught him. During the meeting with Varrick, he'd been thinking of a plan to kill Unalaq — the perfect place and time.  Asami, despite being busy making a deal, could tell something was with him. 

"I was thinking about eating something." He lied as he easy as he could breathe. Well, he wasn't totally lying. He'd been hungry, and he was thinking of what to eat after forming the plan. 

"You're hungry?" Concerned, she asked him.  

"Yes," He nodded. 

"Let's attend the festival. The chiefs of the tribes would give their words, and you know." Asami nodded. 

"I know, I know." Chen lifted his head. 

It was night. No, it's not like it was night. Here, in the south pole, the day and the night last 6 months. The sky was so cloudy that it was dark. 

-x-X-x-  

Chen found himself sitting at one of the many tables that were around. The food looked hot and delicious. It was seafood. Although he preferred sweets and fruits, it appealed to him to see something to eat. 

Unalaq, the chief of the northern tribe, opened his mouth to speak. Everyone gave him attention, except for one man. 

Chen opened his mouth to eat. Unalaq paused for a second, before speaking. 

"The Glacier Spirits Festival. It is a celebration to connect the strengthen the bounds between the two water tribes. But originally, it was a celebration between people and spirits. The way people are doing now is pissing off the spirits. It's very unfortunate to see how the two worlds became distinct…" 

'This man talks too big, too much.' Chen opened his mouth, eating a piece of cooked fish. 'He is so hypocritical. All he wants is to force his views. The only reason spirits are angry was because he's manipulating them. That's all.' 

Chen resisted the urge to punch Korra's uncle. But every dog and its day. Chen decided not to pay attention to the useless speech. After all, it was coming from so soon-to-be a dead man. 

Once Unalaq finished his speech, everyone started talking, as if he said nothing. 

Unalaq kept a stiff expression. He moved his eyes left and right to the hungry people. He then looked at Korra, who'd been the only one to care. 

Chen then looked at Asami. 

He had a guess about what would happen next. 

Some angry spirit would attack. 

'I need to protect this one.' 

Asami stopped shoving the noodles into her mouth. She lifted her head and looked at Chen. 

"What? You are staring too long." 

"Nothing. You just look cute when you eat like that." 

Smiling, she reached her finger to the bowl, tracing it on the sauce. She then moved it to Chen's cheek. 

"That's for creeping me out. Geez, you stared too long that I taught I was eating wrong." 

"No. Not all." He shook his head. Feeling the sauce on his cheek, he thought of paying her back. He pretended to look behind her, and he said, surprised. "Behind you." 

"Huh? Hey, nothing behind me." Asami turned her face, and she filled her cheeks with air, flushing red. 

Chen traced his finger on her cheek, rubbing a bit of sauce off it. Seeing that she opened her eyes widely at his behaviour, he chuckled. 

"Someone wants to play food wars." She smirked devilishly at him, her hair floating a bit. She just boosted herself with Chi so that he wouldn't be able to dodge. 

"Behind you!" Chen yelled, his eyes wide open. 

Behind Asami and heading at them was a large dark spirit. 

"Not gonna fall for it twice," she replied, smirking. 

Chen put his hands under the large table. With his power boosted in an instant, he threw it above everyone's head. He held Asami, who looked up in disbelief and bent her down. 

Above them, the table was broken. A large purple silhouette emerged. It was dark purple, and it had 4 red eyes. As for its height, it looked about 4-5 meters. 

"A Dark spirit!" yelled Unalaq. "Everyone, hide immediately." 

Asami and Chen lifted their heads. 

"You weren't joking?" Asami said. 

"You're seriously asking. Do you think I paid this dark spirit to play a prank on you?" Chen clicked his tongue. "Stay behind. It's so fast." 

"I know. If not for using that technique, I wouldn't see it coming." Asami stood up. 

"Tenzin, do something. It's a spirit, your thing!" Korra said, turning to her spiritual mentor. 

The dark spirit looked left and right. Tenzin came to the scene. 

"Dark spirit, why are you angry?" he asked. 

Answering his question with an action, the dark spirit lifted its large hand and slammed down. Tenzin moved his hands and span. An air tornado surrounded his lower half and lifted him. The fist of the dark spirit landed, and it created a large impact that cracked the ground. 

Korra, on the other hand, didn't stay silent. She jumped up and double kicked, sending two fire blasts from her foot. They hit the spirit. Although they didn't do much damage, they appeared to hurt the spirit. It was very little damage. Yet it made the spirit angrier. It headed toward Korra, who stomped on the ground. The earth rose, creating a wall in front of the Avatar. The spirit, however, was so agile that it avoided the wall and appeared behind Korra. 

It then jumped on her. Its speed was so high that it was impossible to dodge. Korra joined her hands together, using one of Chen's techniques. A blue aura surrounded her, and sparks of lighting danced around her body. The darkness of the night was eliminated by the light from the lightning armour. 

"Husss!" 

Hissing, the spirit jumped away from Korra. Parts of its body seemed to vanish. 

The lightning harmed the dark spirit. 

Chen then remembered the words Tenzin had said. Light the candle to eliminate the dark. Dark spirits can be fought with Yang attribute energies. They may be strong, but they have a weakness. 

Korra breathed in relief as she stared at the spirit, her eyes were wide open. It seemed she had accepted her death for a second there. 

"It would be a good time to test this." Chen opened his hands, and two fires danced around them. At a high speed, he dashed at the spirit that seemed to regain its balance. As he stopped in front of it, he shot the fire and made it circle the spirit. It was a simple yellow flame. But it started changing. It started glowing up in white. 

The spirit turned its head, looking at the light flame. The purple layer that covered it cracked, turning into dust that flew out of its body. It started shrinking. In its place, a white transparent spirit appeared. It turned its head and moved around. 

[Ding, Neutralising a dark spirit]

[+30.000 exp] [+30.000 accumilated exp] 

Chen almost opened his eyes widely when he saw much this dark spirit had given him. It was not half bad for his current level. 

Chen activated his thermal vision as he stared at the spirit. He couldn't see any heat signal at all. He tried to do something else. It was his electrical sense, which seemed to work. 

He could tell that one spirit coming his way. 

One of them attacked Korra's father, a 2 meters tall buffed man. 

He stomped and created a wall of ice, but it shattered once the spirit hit it. 

Korra jumped and rolled to the ground. She extended her fingers, releasing a lightning bolt that attacked the spirit's arm. The spirit turned its eyes to the Avatar. With a challenging look, Korra stared at it. 

"Stay away from my father!" Her eyes glowed up in white colour. Wasn't this the Avatar State? He thought that Korra didn't have access to it yet. No. She seemed clueless that she was unleashing a very strong power that dwarfed Chen's Chi. 

But all of the sudden, two water streams surrounded the spirits. They glowed up in white colour, just like Chen's light flame. The spirit looked around. The same thing that happened to the previous spirit happened to the current one. It lost its dark aura and turned into a light spirit. When everyone turned their heads, they saw Unalaq using his waterbending to change the spirit's attribute. 

Chen was 100% sure that it was Unalaq who'd turned the spirits into dark ones.

On the other side, Korra had a tornado surrounding her feet. It was made of air. A fire created a ring around, and a few rocks flew from the ground. They compressed and circled around her. A lightning armour then surrounded her. It was way stronger and brighter than the one Chen could use. 

"Korra, your father is fine. Calm down." Unalaq said, extending his hand to the avatar. 

Korra turned her head. Seeing that her father was okay and looking at her with concern, she breathed in relief. The white glow that surrounded her eyes vanished. She landed slowly on her feet as she lost her lightning aura, and the fire around her vanished. 

"What did just happen?" Korra asked. 

Tonraq, Korra's father, didn't answer her. Instead, he walked toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

"Are you alright?" he asked. 

"I think so." She put her hand on her head. "Actually, I feel a bit lightheaded." 

Unalaq walked toward her. "You will get used to it. It's the avatar state. Your fear toward your father had activated it." 

"What was that?" she asked. "The spirits attacked us all of the sudden." 

 Unalaq put his hands behind his back. "The spirits are angry because of the festival and how nonspiritual the south became. Things will only grow worse until every spirit become dark and end up humanity." 

His words fell like a bomb to everyone's ears, except for Chen. He wanted to clap for Unalaq for being such a manipulative bastard. 

"How could this be? Is there a way to stop it?" 

"Actually, there is. You are the Avatar, a bridge between the human world and the spirit world." He said. "There is a portal you should open. By doing so, the spirits would be happy. It's in the centre of the south pole." 

Everyone turned their head in the south direction. 

In the sky, thick clouds circled. In their centre, there was a green light, surrounded by lightning and thunder. 

"Hey, she's not going," Tenzin said, putting his hands behind his back. "I'm her mentor, and I know she is not ready for that." 

"Huh?" Korra turned to Tenzin. "You don't tell me what to do anymore. What have you been doing when spirits were attacking? Asking why were they angry? You gotta be kidding me. You know what, my uncle seems to know more about spirits than you. I'll choose him as my spiritual mentor from now on. "

The Avatar was frustrated. Seeing her spiritual mentor helpless against the spirits made her reconsider her choices. 

Well, he couldn't blame her. 

When it came to spirits, Tenzin was a failure, but he was very knowledgeable. 

Tenzin lowered his head. He joined his hands together, bowed down, and said. "It was an honour to serve you, Avatar." 

Chen walked to Korra, "I'll come with you." 

"Mr Chen," Unalaq spoke. "You seem to be a spiritual person. But I advise against it. This is a task for the Avatar." 

"Oh trust me. I know more about the south portals than you do." Chen replied. 

If he went with Korra, then he would have a good chance to end the apocalypse before it started. 

"Very well," Unalaq said, seeming unprovoked. "You know how to deal with spirits, so having you around should come with a benefit." 

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