Chapter 39

I just woke up and here I have 1000 power stones and I quickly decided to add an additional chapter so that the readers would not burn me at the stake. Well, jokes aside, thank you!

Enjoy reading, and don't forget: for every 200 Power Stones you donate, I'll post an additional chapter.

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"Mai, Ty Lee, Garo, take care of the obstacles," Azula told us, as Earth Kingdom benders emerged as resistance an hour and a half later.

"Yes, Azula," Ty Lee bowed and with a smile, ran out.

Following her, Mai got up and headed out, giving a slight nod to her friend. I followed them.

"Garo, wait a second. I've thought about what you did... you did well, the right thing - our primary task now is to capture Ba Sing Se, and splitting our focus to also deal with the Avatar is unwise. But why did you go to him alone? The Avatar is very dangerous, even if he's still just a child," Azula began to raise her voice, not much older than Aang herself, "but if he enters the Avatar State, he could have destroyed you!"

"Azula, my dear, I've already faced him in battle once and understand his danger, but that's exactly why I went alone! You've already been hurt by him and haven't fully recovered yet. Mai and Ty Lee could have offered him little resistance even in his normal serious state, let alone in the Avatar State. So, I exploited his weakness - his friends. If it hadn't worked out - I think I could have escaped. Or, at the very least, held out long enough to be noticed. Besides, as far as I know, the Avatar State is costly for untrained Avatars and leaves them almost helpless afterward. Maybe I could have held out in battle long enough for the Avatar State to exhaust him. In short, I didn't go there recklessly, but ready for battle, wishing to end everything without it... for now. And I succeeded. Now, Azula, if you don't mind, I'll take care of the obstacles, or nothing will be left for me. The threat of the Avatar was there, but now we won't have excuses significant enough to justify defeat. We cannot afford to lose.

"You're... as usual, right. Go."

I quickly left the cabin and, focusing, sensed Ty Lee and Mai, as well as squads of Earth Kingdom benders on different sides of the drill.

I jumped from the cabin and immediately activated my jet of fire, speeding towards the enemies.

The girls slid down and jumped off the drill to the right side, leaving the left to me. That's where I headed, and when I was just four meters from the ground, I turned off the jet of fire and fell down, releasing fire from my feet and creating a wave of fire that spread to the sides, knocking down the benders not hidden in the trenches.

Rocks flew at me immediately, but even before they headed my way, I felt the beginning of their movement, the beginning of the earth's changes through vibrations, and easily dodged all the projectiles, then with a twist, I sent a tightly compressed jet of fire at the benders, which shattered against a stone wall erected in front of them, however...

The crack of lightning was heard by everyone, including the benders behind the wall, and the next second the wall was pierced and destroyed by lightning, which did not stop at the wall and struck further, instantly killing three more Earth Kingdom benders.

The lightning ceased from me, but at that time, I had already finished forming four explosive fireballs. A volley, and in the dust raised after the destruction of the stone wall, explosions occurred in the largest gatherings of Earth Kingdom benders. Most of the benders survived - the explosion wasn't too powerful for an earthbender, so I immediately ignited fire in my hands, and sent it across the ground, then began to pump it with oxygen, increasing the intensity and strength of the burning.

Through the sounds of burning fire, screams of Earth Kingdom benders being burned alive were heard, their flesh literally roasting to coal in moments!

Soon no one screamed, and I removed all the flames. Only charred corpses lay on the ground, burned almost to skeletons, and the earth itself was in no better condition, now literally scorched.

Here I finished.

I looked at the wall of Ba Sing Se and saw dozens of huge boulders crashing down on the drill, but they did no damage.

"As Azula said? Take care of the obstacles?" I asked myself and ran towards the wall.

I quickly reached the wall, overtaking the drill, and without stopping, jumped onto the wall. Behind me, I produced reactive flame with my hands. Though insufficient for flight, it was more than enough to press myself against the wall, and then it was just a matter of climbing with my legs! The reactive fire also provided a slight acceleration when running up the wall.

As I covered a third of this massive over one hundred meters tall wall, I felt the stone of the wall begin to change. The vibrations of the stone clearly indicated this, and there was no mistake!

I leaped from the wall, briefly increasing the amount of fire emitted from my hands. The spot where I had just been and where I was about to step sprouted with stone grips, which I overcame and continued my ascent, constantly zigzagging from side to side whenever I felt vibrations alerting me to the use of Earthbending. Meter by meter, I climbed, drawing closer to the end of the wall. And the higher I climbed, the more Earth Kingdom benders focused on me, ceasing their attack on the drill.

Now, with a quarter of the wall left to climb, a ledge formed right in front of me, as well as a few tens of meters to the sides, trying to prevent me from reaching the top.

Well, here goes nothing!

With all my might, I pushed off the wall and flew back a few meters, aiding myself by spinning in a somersault. I emerged from under the ledge and immediately straightened out. My muscles were tense to the limit, I dulled the sensation of pain, and...

Sparks of fire ignited under my feet and clenched fists, quickly growing into a massive stream of fire, concentrated at a single point. All this happened in moments, and then... I initiated an explosion.

The explosion propelled me with enough force to fly even higher than the wall, crossing over the ledge. My hands were slightly burned, tiny vessels burst again, but the pain was barely perceptible, and while controlling my arms was uncomfortable, it was bearable. Before landing, I released a wave of fire, scattering the Earth Kingdom benders away from me and slowing my fall, making the landing softer.

As soon as I landed, I rolled, sending a jet of fire at a couple of earthbenders in front of me, seizing the moment, so to speak. I began to spin and twist, reminding myself of a breakdancer, and releasing more and more oxygen-enriched, heated, and expanded fire, then stood up and, quickly orienting myself by the sensation of blood and vibrations of the stone, began sending explosive fireballs at the enemies on one side, while the fire obscured their view, and then concentrated and began accumulating a charge of lightning. As soon as the fire cleared, rocks flew at me, and the ground started to rise in spikes. No variety at all!!!

Before the spikes could cover a third of the distance, I dodged the rocks, hearing explosions behind me, and sent the entire accumulated charge of lightning at the Earth Kingdom benders on the other side. Catch this gift!

I listened closely to my sensations and realized that I had eliminated the benders in this section of the wall, and it would take about fifteen seconds for more distant ones to reach me, so I could prepare and take care of myself.

Taking a deep breath, I enriched myself with oxygen and produced it in my lungs, focusing and closing my eyes. Behind the ledge, carefully placed by the Earth Kingdom benders at the top of the wall, I was hidden from view from the drill, so I could afford to let loose a bit...

THUMP-THUMP.

THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.

THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.

The number of beating hearts I could feel was growing every second. I sensed the blood flowing in their bodies. I felt the life coursing through their blood.

The first benders to approach me started to halt and were ready to use their bending at any moment, but...

My eyes snapped open, and with a movement of my hands in different directions, I expelled mana from myself...

And in the next few seconds, the chest cavities of the approaching Earth Kingdom geomancers on the side of their backs simply exploded, splashing out liters of blood with the life sharpened within them, and this blood flew towards me and merged into a blood orb, which I began to absorb as usual. The lives of fifteen benders!

The burns on my hands disappeared almost instantly, blood vessels in my hands and legs, nerves, all of it was restored, and a portion of the blood was absorbed by my body under my guidance as efficiently as possible. I didn't need all the blood - I simply had nowhere to put so many resources, but I had already absorbed the life within it.

Thank you, Spirit World. You are the most wonderful teacher. Though I will try my hardest never to visit you again, as you have shown me too many horrors and too often I was on the verge of total annihilation, being consumed by stronger entities from which I barely managed to escape, I still acknowledge that surviving in you, I have grown very strong! And now my limit for absorbing life is fifteen benders or roughly nineteen to twenty people. Thank you to all the spirits that I was able to kill and consume!

Coming to my senses after a minute, I felt other Earth Kingdom benders from different sectors converging on this section of the wall.

I focused and began to accumulate a charge. A few seconds later, the first lightning bolt flew in one direction, destroying a wall tower, and a few seconds after that, a second lightning bolt flew in another direction, destroying another wall tower. This wouldn't hold back the Earth Kingdom benders for long, but it seemed to me that simply creating a parapet to the side of the wall and bypassing the obstacle would be beyond their intelligence. At least, they hadn't demonstrated such cunning before, so I was very doubtful! And so, I would gain a bit of time to recover after being fully saturated with life. Now, I would need a month or two to digest all that I had absorbed. Once I had recovered, I just needed to hold this sector, and in the worst case, I could jump off the wall and land near the drill's control cabin. And there were no witnesses left of the bloodbending, so I definitely hadn't exposed myself.

And here come the first ones willing to throw their lives away!

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