Chapter 27
The ship sailed steadily, gently rocking on the calm water's weak waves. It's quite a soothing sight. And the sensation of rocking is also calming.
"What are you doing?" asked Ty Lee, approaching me.
"Meditating. Trying to strengthen my flame, like Princess Azula's."
"Oh! How's it going?" Ty Lee sat down next to me.
I stretch out my hand forward, and a flame of red color lights up in my palm.
"Wow. Your fire is red!" she exclaimed. "Can you make other colors?"
"Not yet. At least, not now. I'm currently trying to achieve a greater power of the fire, its strength. And this naturally comes with a change in color."
The fire in my hand immediately went out.
"I see... you seem to really enjoy bending, don't you?" Ty Lee asked, looking away and staring at the water.
"Yes, I love it. I enjoy development in general. The process and the result. This applies to both bending and the body. Hey, Ty Lee, why the long face? Your joyful smile is practically the only reason I joined you, so don't deprive me of it."
Whether Ty Lee understands if I'm joking or not, her mood improved.
"Where did you live before you ended up in the circus?" she suddenly asked.
"Where... in a village. A small village. And then I set off traveling from a young age. Once stumbled upon a group of kids, went on a journey with them... and then one of them nearly killed me, and I was left to drown. That's how I ended up in your circus. You could say that for the last few years, I haven't lived anywhere. Though there was one place where I almost stayed for a year. A nice place, the conditions were simply splendid. Even found myself an interesting conversational partner there. That's where I first learned about Azula and her genius in firebending."
"It's almost like my story."
"Heh-heh-heh..." I couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey! What's so funny?" Ty Lee hit me on the shoulder, not too hard.
"No, nothing funny, just comparing our stories and thinking about how similar they are. By the way, where are we sailing to now?" I asked Ty Lee.
"We're heading to Omashu, a recently conquered Earth Kingdom city, to meet another friend of mine, Garo."
"Wow! You managed to capture Omashu? That's impressive! I've been to that city once and remember it, so it must have been quite a challenge."
"No. We hardly suffered any losses. The battle hadn't even started when that crazy king surrendered and handed over the entire city. It was an easy victory!" Azula said from behind me.
Ty Lee jumped at the surprise, but I sensed her arrival immediately.
"Is that so?" I was surprised, remembering the somewhat mad earthbender leading the city. "Well, that's out of the expected scenario."
"And how did you manage to find yourself in that city, so far from Fire Nation territories?" Azula asked.
"You heard - I traveled, was here and there. And Omashu was one of my stops. I just wanted to buy some spices - you know, I love something spicy and hot. But I had to stay longer because someone was causing trouble. So I spent three days in Omashu."
"Interesting story," Azula said. "Garo, I need a sparring partner for firebending training. You're a strong firebender, so I want you to be it."
"Oh, is that so? Can I refuse?" I asked, just in case.
"Do you want to refuse?" the princess raised an eyebrow.
"No, of course not, but I'm interested in the possibility."
"In that case, yes, if you wish, you can refuse our duel."
"Thank you. May I ask something in return?" I seized the moment.
"Hm? And what do you want to ask me?" Azula inquired.
"Only that you train more often in using lightning and allow me to be present during it."
"Why do you want that?" she squinted at me.
"I want to observe the lightning, to understand it. And you, at the moment, are the only one who can use it."
"Alright. I'll fulfill your request."
Ten minutes later, the deck was prepared for training. Everything flammable was removed, and everyone except the two of us left the deck. This time, we agreed not to use lightning, as it's an overwhelming force and defeats the purpose of firebending training.
We stood still, waiting. Waiting for the opponent to give up and attack first.
Azula attacked first. A step forward and her hand shot forward, and when it stopped, a blue fireball ripped from her hand, flying towards me.
In response, a red fire disc flew from me, effortlessly passing through the deadly charge and heading towards Azula. Simultaneously, I sent fire streams from both hands to the sides, which, like snakes, curved and rushed towards Azula from the flanks, while a sweep of my leg sent a directly targeted fire crescent at her.
The princess had not many options. The first option - a solid defense. My red flame is more powerful than the previous yellow, so it will be harder to defend against, but her blue flame is hot enough to ignite some of the surrounding air. This means she generates much more fire than the energy she puts in, allowing her to create a formidable shield against any elemental attack. Fire is not just energy and heat; it's also ionized gas. In her case, it's almost plasma. This significantly increases her combat potential, making her attacks much more dangerous, and her fire shields sufficiently tangible to even defend against earthbenders. Her fire can be considered more solid, which is useful both in attack and defense.
A solid defense would mean the battle goes to attrition. And there, she would have the advantage - with equal amounts of generated fire, she would spend much less energy! Do I have a lot of magical energy? To be honest and without exaggeration - yes, I have A Lot of energy! I don't know what played the main factor: constant training, mastering new elements, expanding the range of energies under my control, natural potential, or my meditations, or maybe all of these combined. Just at some point, comparing my powers with those of ordinary benders, even quite strong ones, I began to realize that I have much more energy than them. I would even say many times more!
But does this apply to Azula? As far as I know, she has been demonstrating talent in firebending since childhood, constantly trained, and her blue flame is direct proof of that. Plus, she can bend lightning! I had never heard of such a thing before!
So hoping for overwhelming power is not advisable. It may be possible, but it's a poor path of development, in my opinion.
The second option for her - to dodge to the side and up using jet propulsion, in which case she would avoid each attack I'm currently using, but in the air, she would become an excellent target, which would be a sin not to hit with fire clusters!
There's also a third option - to break through the frontal attack due to the advantage in fire power, trying to get close to me. On one hand, this is good
for her, as I've never demonstrated close-combat fire techniques, and she surely knows and will use them. But she's unlikely to use this method - she probably remembers the moment when we got close in battle once, and then she was significantly shaken by the explosion of a fire concentrate.
Azula went for a solid defense, surrounding herself with a fire sphere that shattered all three of my attacks. Seeing the fire sphere, I immediately formed a red fire whip in my hand. One swing and a strike!
The fire from the previous attacks had not yet dissipated when the fire sphere was torn apart by the red fire whip, which wrapped around Azula. Next, it was simple - I created a powerful fire cluster in my left hand and pulled the caught princess towards me with my right. She was simply blown through her own defense, and on the exit, she met a dense column of flame that hit her directly.
Azula was knocked back and hit the ship's railing. She didn't move, but I could feel life within her. Seems like she lost consciousness.
I hope she won't start considering me her personal enemy now? No, if the situation goes south, I'll quickly kill her, she won't be able to fend off bloodbending - she's not the Avatar, she should have enough strength!
But for now, having friendly relations only brings benefits, so as long as that's the case, I wouldn't want to lose that advantage.