132 Slayer's Slayer (3)

"Hey, Combustion man, don't you talk or something?" Sokka stretched his neck out from behind an icy wall as the silent but burly man looked in his direction. A thin stream of air visibly heated in a form of a projectile as Sokka had already jumped out of the way but the resulting explosion still propelled him into the snow.

Zhao had long fled the scene with this individual dubbed as 'Combustion Man' by Sokka stalling them with an uncomprehensible bending style that even put Sun into an unconscious predicament as Aang continued to protect Sun while Sokka snuck around to distract the stoic man. The man was capable of firebending just fine but clearly enjoyed making things explode with his sigh and even his range of attack was demonic!

Aang barely kept up with Combustion man to create more and more distractions by forming shapes of ice that blocked the man's sight but not his might.

"Aang, could you power up?" Sokka exclaimed, fortunately dodging another blow on time due to the tribe brightening ever so slightly with firebenders invading the front.

"Power up?"

Aang threw Sun backward and promptly formed a slide of ice that took Sun even further away.

"You know? Make your tattoos glow! We could use it..." Sokka picked up his broken spear and rushed towards Combustion Man as Aang used Boomerang Air Strike once again, making the man's head snap downwards while Sokka bluntly struck at the man's crotch.

"Ow..." Aang winced while Sokka, too, had a cringed expression as he quickly rolled aside, a heated stream of air passed through the spot where he stood while with veins bulging over his temples, the Combustion Man glared at Sokka.

"Aang!"

Sokka gasped, this might really be the end. He had successfully attracted the aggro but at what cost?

However, a wave of water suddenly covered the Combustion Man in a bubble and the entirety of it exploded the next second with the Combustion Man flying out and having severe burns over his body, including his forehead.

"... Woah..."

Sokka mumbled but Aang wasn't any better as he stood rooted.

A mistake from their side as the Combustion Man's eyes snapped open and he looked at Aang and Sokka with bloodshot eyes.

"Hmm!" Audibly snorting, the man attacked the unprepared and inexperienced youths yet...

Aang's and Sokka's eyes widened as they saw sparks triggering right in front of the half-burnt vertical eye tattoo on the man's forehead.

"Hmm?" The man's expression changed for a moment.

*Kaboom*

*Splat*

*Splat*

*Splat*

Without the cover of water... the man strangely blew himself up as if the tattoo was an important aspect of his combustion bending or it may have been facing an explosion directly beforehand in the first place. Aang didn't know. He couldn't afford to know as he gazed at the torn and bloodied bits and guts of the man splattered close to him. His body visibly quivered and he buckled down on his knees, splattering the contents of his stomach.

Groaning with disgust himself, Sokka held himself better and exposed his humorous spirit to be almost unfazed, "Hey... Aang, I'm no bending master... but if I were you, I would stay away from this bending style... one crotch shot and explosion... and you're done."

"Not... now, Sokka," Aang may not have killed the man but it didn't stop him from vomiting and feeling guilty about it. Patting the boy's back, Sokka retrieved his boomerang and went towards Sun to wake him up.

"Hey... You're the avatar!" The commotion had indeed attracted trouble as a lone fire nation soldier chanced upon the pale Aang only for a boomerang to accurately strike the man's face as he went down while Aang heard a faint but notably excited "Gotcha!" from Sokka's side.

{A/N: P'li was a cool combustion bender as she could even bend the trajectory of the path of combustion but this bloke was an absolute menace who can only get a tribute of a quick appearance and a kaboom.}

---

Nik and Mai walked in the direction of the explosions until his expression brightened and he hurriedly pulled Mai into a narrow alley before raising a wall of snow and ice similar to the walls around them as she struggled against the sudden change not with her words but her actions.

Instantly slipping her hand on Nik's balls, her gaze gained a predatory glint and she warned, "Try to take advantage of me and you won't have the necessary tools to keep my mother interested in you any longer."

Looking down at her, their bodies almost touching one another, Nik shrugged, "I don't think Michi is that vain but sure, think what you want. I just heard Zhao passing by with only three soldiers, so, I'm curious what he's up to."

Mai frowned, her grasp turning slightly firm, "I still suspect your intentions..."

"Keep on squeezing like this and you will make a wonderful companion downstairs," Nik smiled as she squeezed harder, almost sure that this would hurt Nik but he only blew a soft whisper, "Almost... hmm, right there..."

Feeling an undeniable reaction down there, Mai hurriedly retracted her hands and glared at Nik, "You're a freak!"

Unable to stop himself from teasing her as Zhao had yet to pass, Nik snickered, "What does that say about your mother?"

With a noticeable colder expression, she snorted, believing her mother to be better than his but didn't voice her opinions, afraid that Nik might destroy her beliefs with cold and ironically hot facts.

Still, they were in a compromising position and Nik looked toward the wall he had created. Even Mai could hear the soft sound of ice and snow getting crushed under their boots. After all these months, Mai knew that Nik had remarkably better hearing than most, his rival only being Aang in this regard but to think it would be to this degree broadened Mai's horizon. This made her ponder something for a second.

Without Nik and his group... she would have still been engaged to kai as he snuck maids into his room despite their reluctance, Michi would be still miserable, and her father would be still committing horrible crimes...

Although she could argue her life hadn't gotten too better, it had certainly become more interesting.

However, a battlefield was no place for such a thought so putting a pin to them, she concentrated once again and grew ready for action at any second.

Nik soon took down the wall and mumbled, "It's strange... Zhao wants to enter the Spirit Oasis..."

"Let's follow him," Mai replied and they began spotting Zhao from the back but the situation had turned strange. What could Zhao hope to achieve by sneaking toward one of the least protected regions? With most of the battle taking in the front and a smaller number of combatants preparing to defend close to the palace, Spirit Oasis was truly left unprotected since it simply wasn't in priority despite its cultural importance. Yoki had a choice to do so and he did it to have enough men in the targetted region.

Such thoughts ran in Nik's head but their objective was still to take Zhao out, or worse, detain him to get ahead of the situation. While he played with the idea to bring Yue out or get into the personal space to discuss the situation, it may just waste their time instead and so, Nik decided against it.

"This is it... Hahn may have been called a traitor but he had ironically saved the tribe from complete annihilation back then..." Zhao mumbled, unaware of Nik following him closely while the two soldiers pushed open the entrance of the spirit oasis.

The trio stepped inside and the expressions of the two soldiers under their masks instantly turned wondrous. However, Zhao glanced at the small lake with unknown depths surrounded by the small piece of land and smiled coldly, "We meet again Tui and La."

"Where are they, Admiral?" The soldiers grew tense as they wrapped their fists in flames only for Zhao to chuckle lightheartedly. He was evidently in good mood with his objective so close and remarked, "At ease. The spirits of myths and legends are said to be mighty but the reality is extremely different. Unknowingly, the Water Tribe has always been dependent on a pair of mortal koi fishes and that is why they will always remain barbarians."

As Zhao explained, he led the two surviving soldiers to the center of the region and took out a small pouch while eyeing the two koi wishes, one white and the other black, silently swimming and chasing each other's tails.

Not waiting for another second on explanations and planning to end this long drawn out war, Zhao reached out for the white koi fish when the peaceful surface of water surged out in an outrageous wave that froze a better half of Zhao's body while he heard two whistling sounds followed by the sound of his two soldiers groaning and falling back.

"You do know that if you don't follow a special method... any spirit you do kill is bound to incarnate once again. With that said, I think we have a score to settle by me beating your sorry ass with a stick," Nik stood close to the entrance with the staff Aang had commissioned for him.

"You..." Zhao hissed through gritted teeth as the temperature of his body spiked up and caused steam to ooze from the ice around him while the two ishes continued to swim indifferently despite how close one of them was to a certain, even if temporary, demise.

"Why didn't you kill them?" Nik looked at the soldiers soon getting back up with blood flowing through their pierced shoulders as they took out the knife and cauterized their wound decisively.

"There are only two of them and I'm not a beast who goes all out while hunting pests," Mai replied calmly as she didn't even look at Zhao... or as if, "Besides, I have no interest in those that are defeated but choose to attack behind the opponent's back."

Zhao's expression fell further as he glanced at the fishes for a second only for the slowly melting ice to frost around him once again, causing Zhao o looked at Nik who seemed to be sporting a mocking smile, "Thinking of fishing on the sly? Well, my princess loves seeing these fishes so spirit or not, I ought to protect them just for the good time I have had in this oasis."

However, Zhao was shocked by the sight of Nik waterbending without any physical movement, an act only achieved by three particular masters in his experience with one of them being none other than the crippled King of Omashu— Bumi.

***

A/N: After the continuation of the avatar in form of comics and Korra, I truly believe that there are only special ways to truly 'defeat' a spirit. As Nik did with Koh but even then a special mask remains.

In one of the comics, a spirit incarnates as a human and dies but then incarnates as a spirit before revealing that spirits who lose their mortal shell would eventually reappear in other shells. Similarly, Raava can temporarily disappear if the Avatar is taken out in avatar state but a new Raava will appear from Vaatu instead.

Even Mokshi cannot die but only leave this world to pursue some form of freedom.

So... what I mean to say is that while Yue's sacrifice in the og series was very noble... the series itself has kind of made the sacrifice pointless since I believe that the spirit of the moon, Tui, would have incarnated once again and La's anger at the time was more of a primordial spirit's annoyance. I can't say that I am entirely correct, but this is the headcanon I am basing the lore upon.

Shoutout to Chase Alexander~!

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