Chapter 23 Dark Feelings

The stats of a regular adult male was around ten points.

From his testing, anything below 15 wasn't exactly too outstanding. A Constitution below 15 points was at the level of a specially trained athlete. So was speed, strength, and all other physical stats.

The same law applied to skills as well.

Anything below 15 such as 13, 14 could only be considered good. 15 was excellent. 11 and twelve was at most above average.

But this law stopped at 15, which from Luca's understanding, was the peak of what regular humans could achieve. From sixteen upward, you began entering the realm of beyond possible.

A Marksmanship of 16 points was enough to be placed among the top three best shooters in the world back on earth if not first place.

Fifteen and below could be reached with enough time and effort by anyone. But from this level, hard work simply wouldn't cut it.

An extremely strong natural talent was required to advance even further. 16 was at the level of the best. Seventeen was already beyond human ability, entering the realm of inhuman.

18, proper low tier superhuman levels of power display.

Even a fully trained Firebender with strong physical fitness would only have these physical stats at around thirteen to fourteen. Prodigies could go one step further and those truly determined could go one point further on top of that.

So how fast would someone be at a full speed of eighteen?

It wasn't at the level of instantaneous movement within a certain range, it wasn't even at the level of a blur. But one thing was for sure, it was fast. Really fast.

"Since you won't decide, then I'll help you count …."

'Wait.....!' Tyro's eyes widened. 'What?'.

But it was too late.

Luca had already appeared before an Earthbender and swung his weapon before he could even react.

Squelch!

"Argh!"

Barely two seconds had passed, yet another arm had been severed from the body. The speed at which it took place was astounding.

One the old man had never witnessed before.

Thud! The Earthbender fell to the floor clutching his bleeding arm in pain.

Blood flowing out profusely without end.

"For every few seconds you delay, one of your own will lose a limb". Then he turned his gaze to the next one.

"I wonder if you guys can still earthbend with one arm …". He said while walking, two Firebenders previously confronting earthbenders were in his direction. Frozen in shock.

"Step aside …. All of you". And so they did, lowering their hands and moving out of the way to reveal the enemies they previously fought.

They weren't the only ones. All Firebenders immediately disengaged from their foes.

The earthbenders had their faces change drastically.

"Don't let him get close. Attack ...". Seeing a greater threat, they immediately changed focus. Luca immediately picked up the pace as he saw numerous rocks shooting towards his direction.

- Battle Instinct: 14, Blademanship: 16 -

His eyes briefly examined the directions in which the attacks emerged from.

When benders fired elemental attacks, they usually target certain areas. Head, chest, stomach, it was predictable really, especially for rookie earthbenders without proper combat training in the army.

Tyro had formed a militia out of farmers, hunters, and random earthbenders. These Earthbenders were skilled in using their elements for farming, road reconstruction and changing of small terrains.

For combat?

Not so much. Luca easily slid underneath the barrage, propped himself up and returned the favor.

With swift and agile strikes, his blade sliced out again and again, one Earthbender after another falling to the ground as they were unable to predict.

Blood flowed like endlessly as the chi infused blade was soaked again and again with each additional strike.

"Argh!"

"No … No!"

"Stay awa..... Argh!" Blood flowed, limbs were cut off. Luca's actions were too fast, his movements too agile.

'..... I'm sorry .....'. He thought to himself without stopping his actions.

Although he felt slightly remorseful, Luca knew that his current situation didn't give him much choice.

Like earlier stated, a series of complex connections had led to this very moment.

It wasn't his voluntary actions. He didn't enjoy it one bit, nor did he long for this. If he could leave this place a step earlier, then all of it could have been avoided. But that no longer mattered.

Some would say he was wrong.

Thinking there was a better way he could have gone about it. Just reveal that he wasn't Fire Nation. Easy right?

Wrong.

Luca had taken everything he could think of into consideration before he made this choice.

He knew Tyro and Haru, but they didn't know him. They didn't know his true identity, they didn't know he was a fire nation outcast, and this was the middle of a major conflict with both sides in a brutal battle. Why should they believe anything he said?

Squelch!

"Stop! Stop it you bastard!"

Tyro watched as his men fell one after another, his eyes red and his throat roaring.

"Oh my ….".

"What the hell is he ….".

".... Demon. That's a demon….".

'Demon?' Luca looked at himself. Much redder than usual.

All the slicing of limbs had gotten a great deal of blood on the uniform. Looking back, a trail of bleeding victims could be seen in his wake, looking forward, the Earth kingdom militia were all backing away.

The fear in their eyes as bright as the afternoon sun.

Luca swept his gaze towards them, moving from one to another until he landed on a young one.

'There you are ….'. Light skin, long hair, handsome face, small stature ..... Haru at the moment looked pale. The sight of everything before him was too much to take in.

The next moment, however, his pale face grew paler as he saw the fire nation demon walking towards his direction.

"... No … Don't come over here ….". He uttered in fear while pushing a rock towards Luca.

It was destroyed with a single strike, doing nothing to stop the demon's advancement.

"Haru! No!". Seeing the scene unfolding, Tyro yelled at the top of his lungs. Then ignoring the pain in his left hand, he raised the right one and clenched his palm.

The surrounding earth rushed towards his arm and feet.

"Stop him!"

The warden saw him Earthbending and was shocked. He had never seen a man earthbend with one arm, not to mention a freshly cut one. The will required to ignore the immense pain in order to control the elements in his situation wasn't something an ordinary man possessed.

Perhaps, only a parent who cared greatly for his child.

No wonder the Warden was caught off guard. Because at this point, Tyro shouldn't even be capable of Earth Bending.

Jin released a stream of fire. He was late however as the earth gathered under the old man's feet and propelled him forward while hard coal engulfed his right arm.

"Get away from my son!" At this point, his hand had been completely encased in heavy coal like a large gauntlet.

Arriving at Luca's back, he raised his only arm and punched forward to stop Luca's actions.

Clang.

A loud collision emerged on the shipyard.

"Well ... Looks like you still can". Luca uttered, his gaze locked on the giant rock fist wrestling against his chi infused sword.

'..... What great strength … …'. His face under the helmet looked solemn. Luca knew how much strength was currently coursing through his veins. However, defending this strike head on was harder than he expected.

If not for the fact that the blade was infused with chi, he was sure that it would have snapped in half under that strike. Blasting right through and hitting him with it.

As expected, of a named character. Even if he was just a notable extra, his Earthbending was truly impressive.

He didn't know how much natural strength came from Tyro himself but that rock fist packed a heavy punch.

However ….

A single strike was rarely ever the deciding factor in a battle. Tyro's fist couldn't knock him away. Hence, it was his turn.

With a slight adjustment of his stance, he shifted his center of gravity and pushed the rock fist to the side.

Then ...

Whoosh! Luca leaped over the old man with agility his body naturally didn't possess.

While midair, his free left arm stretched forward, grabbing the collar of Tyro's clothes.

Tyro had barely registered what had happened when he felt a strong pulling force from behind. The next thing he knew, he found his feet off the ground and his vision spinning around.

Luca's legs touched the floor, then under everyone's eyes, he lifted a nearly 230 pound (104.33 kg) male from his position and spun him around like a yo-yo before slamming him into the ground.

Thud!

The old man's body slammed into the floor of the metal rig, bouncing a few meters away before stopping.

"I admire your resilience". Those words weren't registered.

"Father ….". The scream was, however. Tyro raised his bloody face with great difficulty only to see his son attempt and fail to attack his assailant with Earthbending.

"And I admire your son's courage to defend you. But ...". Grasping the young man, he drew his sword clearly for Tyro to see and aimed for his hand.

".... Nothing will change….".

"Enough!" Luca's blade stopped an inch away from Haru's hand.

"I ..... I yield".

"...". His words were followed with silence as Luca didn't respond. Seconds elapsed …. Until….

Thud!

"Very well". The young Haru was dropped to the floor, eyes wide and body slightly trembling.

Luca paid him no heed, turning his attention to ... Everyone else.

"Does anyone say otherwise?"

"...". His words were similarly met with silence as the earth kingdom militia all stood unmoving.

And slowly, those with weapons in their possessions dropped them to the floor. Their actions synchronized with the earthbenders who knelt to the floor with their hands in the air indicating their surrender.

"I didn't think so".

'..... It's finally over .....'. Luca thought to himself while turning to look at Tyro. He could see the complex emotions in his eyes, as if he had never expected their attack to play out like this.

The Avatar had just freed them. Yet now ….

'They have to go back into captivity again ….'. Blood dripped down from the blade as Luca made sure that nothing unexpected would happen again.

"Clear all earth in the vicinity. Then round them all up ….". The warden seemed to have regained authority as he began to give orders to his men.

Following which, he walked towards Luca, a flattering smile plastered on his face.

"Thank you for your help sir…". He uttered with a ninety-degree bow. "We never would have been able to stop these bastard's revolt on our own. Do rest assured that I will give them the strictest punishments for their actions and show no mercy ...".

"Warden .....". Luca interrupted. "Have you ever experienced what it's like to speak with a split throat?"

".... I ….". The Warden's almost choked. "What …. Whatever do you mean ….".

"I mean keep talking, and I might just give you a first class experience".

Usually, he would have been more cautious with his words. But not now.

Currently, Luca was too irritated to give a damn.

Sure enough, the cowardly warden shut his mouth immediately, not daring to utter another word.

After a while of silence…. "I need a few things".

"Of course. Whatever you want, just ask".

"First, no one must know of my presence here. It must not be told to any other Naval fleet officer, commander, or general that docks here. Keep my actions a secret and make sure your men don't utter a word about it to anyone".

"... That …. I understand".

'It must be due to his mission. He wants to go unnoticed'. The Warden nodded inwardly, admiring his wit on deducing the situation.

He was thinking too much.

Luca wanted the warden to put out a gag order, so others wouldn't realize something was wrong.

The Fire Nation were still searching for him in earth kingdom territory. If what he did today spread, it wouldn't just be a simply quelling of a prison riot, but a story that was hard for others to believe.

There would always be those who would take it as nothing but exaggerated feats and tall tales. But the ones would true brains and heavy suspicions would definitely put two and two together.

If word reached Ozai in any way that a member of the royal guard was seen here and now carrying an "Important Mission" assigned by Fire Lord Ozai himself, then many unwanted changes would follow.

The Fire Lord would undoubtedly investigate and discover that no such thing had ever happened.

What was an imperial firebender doing at the Colonies? Plus, when did Imperial Firebenders have such abilities?

There were hardly any Firebenders that used weapons. Imperial ones were nonexistent.

Coupled with the fact that the Fire Nation wouldn't find him after a long search, Luca knew that things would come together one way or the other.

The crime of killing and impersonating an Imperial Firebender was enough for Ozai to take his capture much more seriously. When that happened, the pressure on him would increase to greater heights.

Luca didn't expect to keep this a secret forever, but merely wanted to delay it for as long as possible.

He would be insane to increase his own difficulties by several more levels.

This was also why he had limited choices. Siding with the earth benders was impossible as revealing his identity could lead to a whole new set of troubles.

They would find out, so would the Warden and his men. Would he need to silence them right after? Yes. What about the Tyro and his militia? Also yes.

But if so, then what was the point in the first place?

Forget about whether the Earthbenders would trust him and give him time to explain, letting them know that he killed an Imperial Firebender was just adding more trouble for himself.

This information would leak into the wrong hands sooner or later. Both parties barely knew each other, there was no way they would guard his secret to death if push comes to shove.

And would the earthbenders trust him enough without revealing who he was?

No, they would not.

He was Fire Nation. That alone was enough to breed mistrust and hatred. There was every chance that Tyro and the earthbenders would try to kill him alongside the others anyway.

Too many risks would follow, so why should he put his life on the line and endanger himself just to make sure that other good people wouldn't get hurt?

Was there a better, smarter way to go about it? To make sure that nobody got hurt apart from the bad guys?

The answer to that question, Luca didn't know.

But would he gamble his life and well-being on these possibilities?

No, he would not. This was something only the avatar and his friends would do.

Why?

At that moment, his stat panel came to mind again.

....

Alignment: Lawful Evil

....

This was why.

Because Aang was the Avatar, the savior, and the Airbender who valued all life no matter how small.

Luca wasn't him. He wasn't a hero, he wasn't a saint, and his panel clearly told him ... That he wasn't even a good person.

Ever since he stepped into this world, he knew that he was no longer bound by the old rules.

The Law didn't exist anymore, and there was no one to punish him.

So despite knowing that Tyro and his militia were on the side of Justice (good on their stance of the war)

Despite knowing that they had done nothing to deserve this, he would pick up his sword and perform his actions all over again if need be.

He wouldn't kill recklessly or intentionally exploit others for his benefit. But he would never place himself in harm's way to make sure others are uninjured.

He would never place himself as a bridge to let others walk over him to get to the other side.

Because if he had to choose between the world and himself, then there was no contest. If his well being depended on the salvation or destruction of the whole world, then so be it.

As long as he was alive and well, then everything else be damned.

"And I require a sword.....". Luca uttered while looking at the weapon with slight cracks all over it.

"The best you can give me".

The memories flashed briefly through his mind as Luca gazed at the helmet in his possession.

Splash!

And so, he let It drop into the river.

Time passed.

Spirit Chi: -10

Strength filled his legs, prompting Luca to run to the boat's edge and leaped out directly.

A tremendous force erupted from his legs, sending him a great distance into the air.

Thud.

And so, he jumped from the middle of the river right onto dry land.

Luca looked at the dense vegetation before him and turned back towards the departing riverboat. The engine was still running, and the steering wheel had been jammed, making sure it would continue to go forward.

'It's been a pleasure'. The riverboat was no longer needed and could only serve one more purpose.

Leading anyone who might be on his trail in the wrong direction.

And so he stood there, watching as the ship disappeared down the river before turning around and walking.

Soon, his back also departed into the forest, unable to be seen again.

.....

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