42 Battle on Kyoshi Island Part 3

Pov Aang:

- Aang, you took your time. - Said a woman in armor with a painted face.

- Avatar Kyoshi... Sorry for the delay.

- You have a lot to do if you want to learn how to master your power. - Kyoshi looked impatient.

- How do you know that?

- We're connected, all your doubts and worries are visible to the Avatars of the past.

- As you know, I need help with my Avatar status, I almost put my friends in danger because of this power.

Kyoshi walked around Aang, studying him intently, looking somewhat disappointed.

- You can't master the Avatar state just by talking to me. I know very well that you believed you could contain the Avatar State as simply as you bend air. - Kyoshi didn't hide his annoyance. - Being the Avatar has many layers, being a guardian, a general, a mediator and a leader. All these roles can only be played through power, the concept of absolute power.

- So... I have to train?

- Not just train, but master the four elements and control each of them with mastery. The more you master the elements, the easier it will be to control and enjoy the potential of your Avatar state.

I was impressed; this meant that my duty to end this war was even further away than I had imagined. Just mastering the other three elements could cost me years of practice.

- Controlling the Avatar State allows you to access the memories of your predecessors, giving you access to knowledge from different times and techniques lost in the past. - Kyoshi continues. - When you have full access to the Avatar State, you'll be able to wield the power of a 1000 Benders.

I was worried because the way Kyoshi described the Avatar state was as if he was talking about a weapon, and that made me uncomfortable.

Kyoshi realized from the look on his reincarnation's face that he didn't like the idea of the Avatar State being a weapon and internally regretted that his current reincarnation was an air nomad.

- I understand that you don't like that kind of power, but it's the only way you can face it on an equal footing.

- Face who?

- The celestial dragons.

- Celestial dragons? Who are they? Why should I be afraid of them? - He couldn't hide the fact that he was afraid, because the nation of fire alone was enough to be frightening.

- They are the main rulers of the spirit world, extremely territorial and powerful. - Kyoshi warned. - All of them, without exception, have a great personal feud with past Avatars, to the point where dozens have been killed by them.

- Why is that? Why do they hate us? Can't we just talk peacefully?

Kyoshi sighed, because he had tried talking in the past, but the Celestial Dragons have a great grudge that has remained bitter for thousands of years.

- To be honest, Aang, I don't even know the origin of this deadly rivalry. - Kyoshi confessed. - I tried to discover the truth through past lives, but unfortunately, the greater the distance between the Avatars, the more difficult the connection, if not impossible. I've researched the memories of my predecessors, but everything about the spirit world is very vague, with little information, including the isolation of the Wastelands and the Eclipse War.

I had a bad feeling about this Eclipse War, I could clearly feel my soul trembling with a kind of regret and sadness.

The veteran avatar looked at her reincarnation and felt her soul trembling, something she also felt but didn't show.

- I don't understand, aren't those dragons in the spirit world? - I asked, feeling a bad feeling.

- Fate is crueler than it seems, Aang, and two celestial dragons are currently on the mortal plane. - Kyoshi didn't hide how worried she was. - One of them is an ally of the Fire Nation, and the other is the murderer of my predecessor, Avatar Kuruk.

- Why are the dragons helping the Fire Nation? - I asked fearfully.

- The universe has aligned several destinies on a single path, and you will inevitably have to face them.

- I don't want war! I didn't ask to be the Avatar, I wanted to live a normal life as an ordinary boy. - I begged, trying to deny that the fate of wars and tragedies was the complete opposite of what I believed in.

- IT WAS THIS MENTALITY THAT CAUSED THE AIR NOMADS TO SUFFER EXTERMINATION! - shouted Kyoshi, raising his enormous power to intimidate Aang. - If you want to protect what's left of the world, you have to abandon this pacifist thinking or there will be more consequences.

I bit my lip hard, I didn't want to follow a path of death and destruction, all I had left of my home was just what I learned in those good times, discarding that is the same as killing the culture of the air forever.

- You can't say you know what the future will be like.

- Believe me, I know. The universe has been sending many signals that great events are coming soon. - Kyoshi approached and placed two fingers of his hand on Aang's forehead, causing a small light to emit.

Suddenly, my mind began to ache, an excruciating pain that made me cry out in pain, but which faded as images began to enter my mind.

I saw a shower of fireballs falling from the sky onto people who were running frantically, people who seemed to be from the Water Tribe. I was practically in the middle of what looked like a war, but what scared me was seeing the moon turn red, which made me feel like a part of me had been ripped away.

My vision blurred and I found myself in ancient ruins, the place was deserted, but there was a feeling of death and loneliness. A huge shadow took over my vision and a huge roar, shrouded in death, made me fall to the ground in terror.

My vision blurred again, now I saw myself in a large space with a gigantic leafless tree, a huge sense of darkness was behind me, when I turned around I saw a large black creature with red features trapped inside the giant tree, seeming to laugh psychopathically. I got up from the ground in fear, but noticed a golden light behind me. When I turned around, I saw a well-built man with red eyes and golden hair staring at me sternly.

Before I knew it, I was back with Kyoshi, but the veteran warrior looked extremely worried, as if her worst nightmares had come true.

- She's here... - whispered Kyoshi, looking seriously at Aang with an air of fighting spirit.

I was hyperventilating, the visions were too intense, especially the three where I was clearly present, but the last two were much scarier.

- The Fire Nation followed you to this island. - Kyoshi said seriously. - Listen, the Northern Water Tribe is in great danger, if you don't intervene and act like a true Avatar, another race of Benders could die, and this time it will be forever.

- My friends! - I was really scared, I didn't want to put anyone in danger because of me. - I have to go back!

- If you want to protect your friends, you won't have a chance of getting out alive. - Kyoshi entered his Avatar state. - One of the Celestial Dragons is on the island. You wanted to know the power of the Avatar state, so I'm going to open your eyes to the real power.

A great light covered Kyoshi and I felt my body energized by a great power, something completely absurd from what I had experienced in my life.

***

Pov Aki:

I was watching the silly battle that Zhao had started with the Kyoshi warriors. It may not seem like it, but I've met this Avatar in the past, our paths crossed due to an anomaly that unbalanced the world hundreds of years ago. A man called Yun fell into the spirit world because of a spirit that was corrupted by darkness.

At the time, I was patrolling and chasing a spirit called Father Glowworm, a spirit who was a victim of the Eclipse War. The biggest problem for us celestial dragons is that dark energy has the ability to hide its energy signal, which made my hunt difficult at the time, not to mention that Katsu was pregnant and I didn't want to be too far away for the birth of my grandson Jun.

The real surprise was that Yun had literally devoured the spirit, absorbing the essence of darkness into his soul and corrupting it completely. When I was finally able to go to the mortal world to hunt the boy down, I was surprised to discover that Avatar Kyoshi had eliminated him.

Although Kyoshi had practically stolen my hunt, I was curious about his power, since Glowworm was more powerful than the miserable Avatar Kuruk. My disappointment was that defeating Yun was nothing more than pure luck, so it was quite disappointing to face her, but since she had done me a favor, I decided not to kill her.

Now, hundreds of years later, I was on an island named after her and I could feel the energy of this generation's Avatar, pathetic by the way, but I hoped that Kyoshi would show up.

My friend Tizo was standing next to me, looking as disinterested as I was in the battle going on. Many soldiers were trying to take down the women in armor, but one of them alone was easily worth 5 to 8 soldiers.

The strongest on the island, not counting the Avatar of course, were a girl and a boy in female armor, both of whom seemed to be in sync, fighting as if they were a single warrior. It was interesting, because although I enjoy hand-to-hand combat due to my individual draconic ability from my nebula, fighting humans is quite limiting.

If I were to compare, the girl who seemed to be the leader would be worth at least 20 to 30 soldiers and the boy next to her at least 10, but it seemed that this particular one was evolving quickly, if he was a bender he would certainly be a genius.

I could even awaken the elemental power of both of them, but I'm not the best when it comes to subtlety, it would be easier for me to kill them both if I tried to awaken their powers.

- At this rate, we could win this battle. - said Sokka smiling at Suki, taking down a firebender with ease.

- Don't let your guard down, those two are still watching us. - Suki looked at the albino woman and the scarred man next to her. At first, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors was amazed by the woman's height and build, but she didn't have time to be distracted while her home was under attack.

Tizo realized that he was being watched and imagined that he would be targeted by the two warriors within seconds. Although he hated to see his soldiers beaten, he was even more worried about Aki killing and injuring allies in the crossfire.

- I'm going to finish these two off, don't move. - Tizo broke away from Aki and stretched out his arms in preparation for a real fight.

- I'm not interested in these two, I want the bigger prize. - I whispered with a subtle smile as I felt a repeated increase in the Avatar's power.

A person who could bend fire and air appeared in the sky, flying at a speed no one could normally keep up with. This person landed in the middle of the confrontation, drawing the attention of all the combatants and, without warning, the Fire Nation soldiers were sucked into a tornado of fire, killing them quickly.

When the smoke cleared, a woman could be seen wearing battle armor and makeup characteristic of the island they were on, her most striking feature being her glowing eyes.

- Who is she? - asked Sokka as he stood next to Suki, protecting her from the tornado of fire.

- It can't be... - said Suki in amazement.

- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. - Aki laughed and clapped her hands at the display of power. - My wait was worth it, it's been a long time Avatar Kyoshi.

All the Kyoshi warriors were surprised by this statement, especially the village leader, who saw the Avatar as a goddess in her eyes.

- Celestial dragon Aki... - whispered Kyoshi, assuming a combat stance. - Leave this island if you don't want to be defeated, I know you can't use all your power in the mortal world.

- Hundreds of years ago, you didn't stand a chance against me, why should it be any different now?

- Back then, I had a lot to learn and develop as a warrior. My current strength is dozens of times greater than last time.

- If you think I haven't increased my power, you're wrong. - I scoffed, smiling mischievously. - The power of dragons always increases with the use of our powers, even the slightest manipulation of fire promotes a small evolution in me. I hope you're more challenging than your predecessor.

- You unjustly killed Avatar Kuruk! - said Kyoshi in frustration.

- That piece of shit involved innocent spirits in his hunt. - My eyes flashed menacingly and my mood grew angrier. - It's always like this, you Avatars always ruin everything!

Kyoshi quickly enveloped Aki in a huge ball of lava, turning tons of rock into pure lava and petrifying her in a second. Without delay, he lifted the large mass of newly formed rock and threw it into the sea at high speed, causing a huge explosion of the impact wave, until, in less than 3 seconds, the whole area turned to ice, suddenly creating an iceberg more than 30 meters long.

Tizo and the other soldiers were stunned by the power of the explosion and, without exception, were unable to move due to the pressure exerted by the Avatar.

Kyoshi turned to his allies, admiring every citizen of his island, proud of everything that had been done over the years.

- My warriors, I am proud to have protected the citizens and my legacy. - Kyoshi made sure everyone heard her. - But my time is long over, and you must go your own way.

- What are you saying? - Suki asked worriedly, because Kyoshi's way of speaking was more like a farewell.

- What I just did didn't kill this woman, it will only slow her down. - Kyoshi turned to the iceberg, which had several visible cracks. - Evacuate the island, steal a Fire Nation ship and sail east, you'll have a chance to escape.

- We're not going to escape! - said Sokka, confident of victory.

- Listen to me! It's impossible to protect this island with Aki, all I can do is buy you some time.

- But... what about Aang? - asked Katara, who had just arrived in the village, exhausted from running through the forest.

- Don't worry, Aang will be fine.

As Kyoshi said goodbye, a huge pillar of flame exploded from the core of the iceberg, its power and immensity turning the sky a hellish orange, along with a great roar: ROOOAAAARRRRRR!

A great tremor accompanied the enormous light and the roar, causing several Fire Nation soldiers to freeze in fear.

- Retreat! - shouted Zhao, seizing the opportunity to flee.

Seeing the soldiers running, Suki split his group into two, one to steal the ship and the other to keep the civilians off the island.

As the huge pillar of fire disappeared, a human figure landed at least 15 meters from Kyoshi, leaving a crater from the impact.

Aki appeared with a broad smile on his face and a small drop of golden blood on his lips, but he didn't seem to mind.

- Tizo, I recommend you leave the island. - I warned without looking at Tizo, who was clearly stunned.

Tizo sighed, realizing there was nothing he could do, just nodded and ran to his boat.

- I have a favor to ask. - Kyoshi seemed confident, but worried about the enormous amount of power Aki was unleashing.

I stayed silent, tasting the blood in my mouth, and I couldn't help but feel my blood run hot with adrenaline and anticipation.

- I want you to leave the people of this island alone, they have nothing to do with this duel.

- It's hypocritical of you to say that, Avatar, but this time I can make an exception.

- If I lose, I want you to let Aang escape, he's just an innocent Avatar.

- No Avatar is innocent, but I can only consider one condition. - I smile and show my fangs. - If you survive me for 10 minutes, I promise not to kill the possessed boy.

Kyoshi adopted her traditional combat stance, a warrior's stance used by the women of this island who carried on her legacy. With her bend in the air, she picked up two golden fans from the ground and her eyes glowed, proof that she had unleashed her full power when she was alive.

- It's been a long time since I've felt so much power coming from an Avatar. - I can no longer hide my excitement at having been wounded. - Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle is going to be more than legendary.

Next chapter: Absolute Power