ATLA, In A Darker World

Southern Earth Kingdom .....

Few hours to sunset .....

"The spirits must be favoring you then. Running into disguised enemy forces are quite common around here, alongside thieves, murderers, and mercenaries".

It was three days ago, when he met the Earth Kingdom captain and he was told those exact words. Now three days Later, Luca couldn't say otherwise even if he was paid.

"Intrude.....".

- Spirit Chi: -5 -

— Strength 10(14), Dexterity 9(15)

Shiing!

Luca rushed forward with his body enhanced to varying degrees.

Squelch!

The sound of flesh being cut through resounded in the otherwise quiet forest. The Fire Nation soldier had his body stiffen, his wide eyes widening even further as the world around him seemed to be in constant motion.

Time seemed to slow down infinitely as his brain went into overload and blanked out at the same time. In that one moment, his life history flashed before his eyes.

His life growing up in the Fire Nation Colonies, his stern and unsmiling father who was a captain officer in the army. His calm and collected mother, who displayed all the good qualities of a housewife.

His life throughout military school, making friends, graduating, getting assigned to the battlefield, his first kill, working his way up the ranks, narrowly escaping death on four occasions, his father's retirement, his mother's death, the death of his best friend, death of his school peers in other divisions …. He wasn't master Fire bender. He wasn't skilled in any area.

He wasn't the son, friend, father, or neighbor of any shown character in the series.

He wasn't even worth being remembered.

After many years, he wasn't even a lieutenant.

He was just a random fire nation mook with a semi tragic life story. One of the vast majority born within the hundred-year war.

War never sided with anyone and took from everyone. Both the aggressors and the defenders. He had taken a good number of lives, gained a considerable amount of money, looted many villages and lost a good lot in life. Now today, he lost the last thing he could ever lose.

'Goodbye father... I'm coming, mom ….'.

Thud! The world returned to normal as his spinning head fell to the floor, blood flowing out from the neck area.

His eyes were open and the sight before him was the dry, black dirt, but he couldn't see it.

What followed after his death was eternal peaceful silence .... But unfortunately for some, that silence was only for him.

"Idiot!"

As before his untimely demise, he had screamed at the top of his lungs in an attempt to inform his allies of the appearance of an intruder.

This was his job as a lookout. Unfortunately, he never realized that he would lose his life for it when he did.

In the small fire nation camp within the earth kingdom forest, everything immediately descended into chaos.

"Enemy Attack". Before his eyes, more than a dozen soldiers rushed towards his direction.

Some barehanded and others with spears and swords.

The leading three all took their stances and thrust their arms forward.

Swoosh!

The fireballs shot in his direction quickly as Luca raised his blade in a defending posture.

Boom! The area he stood was immediately enveloped within the attack, causing a loud explosion.

"Got him".

"He's hit ….".

"We ….". Their yells were short-lived as several knives were thrown out of the flaming area before they could finish their sentences.

Squelch!

Caught off guard, they were unable to react, leaving the flying weapons to make a direct hit at their intended parts.

The pierced flesh brought about a burst of pain, followed by silence as two of them were pierced straight through the head. The last of the three had the blade inserted into his shoulder.

Lucky guy …. Or was he?

The pierced area brought about a momentary burst of pain. At least the soldier only felt it for a moment, as the next second, the follow up force impacted as the dagger was thrown with as much strength as a heavily built, professional wrestler.

Crack!

"Argh!" The sharp blade pierced through his skin, straight through his bones. If it weren't a throwing knife but a spear, his shoulder would have probably been nailed to a nearby tree behind him.

The flames hadn't dissipated, and a figure stepped out of the flames.

- Density Shifting -

".... You almost ruined my stuff". Luca uttered with annoyance. He had accrued a large number of herbs and fruits inside the bag on his back.

A single fire blast would have burned it all to ash.

His gaze swept past everyone before him. The sight of him walking out of the flames unscathed drew exclamations and changing expressions.

Everyone's faces had condensed. Especially those at the forefronts. Looking at the two soldiers who had knives in their skulls, a small, unnoticeable, inaudible gulp was taken down their throats.

Cold sweats forming on their backs. Thankfully, they weren't the first ones to charge forward. Otherwise, it was uncertain who would be in their place instead.

"I would have preferred to give you all peaceful deaths in your sleep. Looks like that can't happen".

If they were wary before, then his remarks successfully angered them.

"Identify yourself. Which rebel force do you come from, Firebender?".

"Firebender?" Luca raised an eyebrow. He walked out of the flames unharmed, and they thought he was a firebender. "That's where you're mistaken. I'm no Fire bender. I am, however .....". Chi flushed down his arm onto his blade.

"The last thing you will ever see".

"Fire!"

Several Firebenders all released their flames in unison.

At the same time, Luca swung his sword forward.

Chi: -100

They were feeling lucky that they weren't the ones to take the knives? How would they know that it made no difference how they died? On this day, death was inevitable.

- Chi Slash, Razor Blades -

What followed after the slashing of his sword wasn't a singular line of energy or a simple enlarged version of it, but a torrential wave of seemingly endless attacks.

Razor sharp blades of energy shot towards the Fire Nation group, first coming In contact with their fire blasts. Upon confrontation, it posed no resistance whatsoever, quickly ripping apart the flames and continuing unscathed.

Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!

The soldiers opened their mouths to scream, barely released a sound before being silenced completely.

Without enough time to react, their bodies were split apart into numerous pieces as close to two dozen blades of energy tore through their uniforms, flesh, bones and emerged unfinished on the other side.

The chi blades rushed forward rampantly with no control whatsoever, quickly impacting against the area behind the soldiers, who had already been ripped to shreds.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Loud collision sounds rang out in the area as the earth experienced a thrashing for a good five seconds, with dust and debris flying into the air to cause a big dust cloud.

'..... Perhaps ….'. Luca's thoughts began to run rampant as he stared at what he had created while the chi within his body settled down. '..... I made a miscalculation on the damage assessment ….'.

His mind wandered as he stood where he was. Seconds elapsed. Soon enough, the dust began to settle and everything on the other side was made clear.

One word. Wrecked.

The miniature chi blades released had thoroughly destroyed the Campsite that had been created with effort. The tents, the soil, the trees, the animals ..... All gone.

Luca's eyes drifted to the ground. Deep pits could be seen. The tents had been ripped to pieces, the trees looked as if they had experienced a tornado, with branches and wrecked logs scattered in all directions.

This was an attack using a full hundred points of Chi at once.

'..... Yep, definitely underestimated the damage impact'.

Shiing! The blade slid back into its sheath.

"... Three days ...". He uttered as he spared a look at the campsite. Blood, ripped up corpses and severed limbs. The depressing atmosphere was tinged with a hint of blood as the metallic smell flooded into his nostrils.

Truly disgusting.

Aside from the mass destruction, It looked just like all the others. Both before and after he drew his sword from his sheath.

"... Three days …. Six camps ..... Two rebel teams, a mercenary group ...".

The Captain was right. Luca had been considerably lucky to walk for two days without encountering a single enemy.

And after his encounter with the captain, that luck seemed to turn upside down. In the past three days, he had encountered, stumbled upon and destroyed several enemy groups he had come against. And that was without counting the ones he could and did avoid.

Just like this camp, Luca had killed all of them making sure a single soul didn't escape to tell the tale.

Though not like this.

At most before, he had killed everyone, absorbed their chi and left while covering his tracks.

This move was a momentary idea coming into fruition. Luca had replicated one of Uchiha Madara's moves in the use of Susanoo.

Countless mini blades of energy packed with the more power than a full on Chi infused slash.

He had expected it to be difficult to master. The results proved. ... Quite the contrary. The condensation had gone on so smoothly that he himself had doubts about whether he had achieved success.

Or perhaps he did, but the power would not be up to par. It was within this debate that he discovered yet another fire nation outpost and decided to put it to the test.

As a result ... The dissipating dust cloud was enough to give him an estimation.

Luca felt like he still vastly underestimated how much control over his own Chi he had until this very moment. Something in this world that was fairly impossible for anyone could be performed so easily.

Although it was a bit of a pity for the Chi he didn't siphon off, Luca didn't feel bad about the loss.

After killing a lot of Fire Nation soldiers, Luca's reserves had increased considerably. Although not enough to make a fundamental difference, it was notable.

In this region, all the information he needed to know had long been extracted from last attacks.

His bag was now filled to the brim with all sorts of supplies and herbs he would need, and additional weapons were unnecessary.

If anything, he felt slightly sorry for the Komodo Rhino's that could actually be used as good mounts, but at this point, he wouldn't need them anymore.

Not for where he was going.

After three days of traveling and extracting information, Luca determined he was close to his destination. An earth kingdom settlement, one the captain he met last time told him could get him out of the Fire Nation Colonies.

In the past three days, he had confirmed this fact himself.

Of course, he didn't expect it to be this far through Fire Nation. Nevertheless, it didn't matter anymore.

So the Komodo Rhino's weren't a shame. Riding over on them would only bring about more trouble than it was worth.

The camp was best left destroyed as it was now.

Taking one last look, Luca turned away from the destroyed outpost.

This earth kingdom settlement was once a village called Haican, but due to oppression from the fire nation, numerous people had fled from their homes towards the village.

Over time, as one of the last few areas under the Earth kingdom's control, it's strategic value and importance grew more and more to this very day.

More Earthbenders were stationed there, and the small walls were raised higher and higher with each passing year. Now, it was no longer the small village of the past but a heavily guarded stronghold holding almost thousands of refugees.

Luca had seen the much more detailed map. As far as these parts of the Southern Earth Kingdom was concerned, sandwiched between two rivers, it was considered the last Earth kingdom stronghold still under their control.

That's right, the last one. And for the meantime, it would remain that way. For Luca, this was all that he cared about.

Sunset was approaching. The map didn't have a clear image of Haican itself, so Luca could only see what it looked like when he saw it in person.

And after walking for so long. Luca standing on a high hill looked at the large city a distance away with tall walls and a whole lot of security.

Haican.

.....

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