ATLA, In A Darker World

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Please read the Author's note at the end for my thoughts.

For those readers who are fans of my old work and are still expecting updates, I will be updating after this.

For now, Enjoy the new Chapter.

New Week, New Chapter. Powerstones people.

...

Southern Earth Kingdom….

Rumble!

The Earth Kingdom soldiers sealed the entrance shut.

"It's done sir".

"Alright boys. That's a wrap on this work". The leader of the group uttered expressionlessly, his back facing the sealed entrance.

"They are Fire Nation prisoners now. So it's time to transport the other refugees to .....".

Squelch!

The sickening sound of flesh being pierced through rang out within the tunnel. Their leader had his eyes widen as did theirs at the sudden attack he had just experienced.

His eyeballs shifted downwards to see a metal blade sticking out of his chest. Blood flowed from the area, quickly dying his clothes red.

"... How ….".

The leader opened his mouth to speak.

Only one word came out. In the place of the rest was blood.

The blade was drawn out, and the Earth bending leader fell to the floor with the loss of support.

"Argh …. Ugh".

Thud!

The Earthbenders were stunned. They had just sealed the entrance. How the hell did this guy appear?

The fall of their leader seemed to snap them out of their daze, and they moved to attack ….

The torches in their hands dropped to the floor as they raised their feet.

"Lesson one when fighting Earthbenders ….".

Luca remembered his time at the Fire Nation military academy when the class instructor was giving a lesson.

"... The less skilled ones always start their attack by slamming their feet on the ground, making rock projectiles emerge for their attacks".

The combat instructor uttered with a stern expression. Come to think of it, it was quite similar to his Math teacher back in grade school.

"There is always that split second delay before their feet touches the ground. A certain distance away, it's difficult to take advantage of. Even if you were close enough, a regular fighter wouldn't be able to take advantage".

At that moment, the instructor's eyes narrowed like a hawk's.

"Under my tutelage, bender or not, you will be the exception". —

A master bender wasn't created solely by mastery of the elements. What made one worthy of the title master was their knowledge of application of said element in battle.

It wasn't all about how hot your flames were or how large the rock you could carry was. Sometimes, it was all about the little things. Movement patterns, momentary habits, distance measurement, anticipation .....

They didn't need to showcase enough power to destroy mountains at times to defeat the enemy.

Their rich combat instinct let them know what move to make and when exactly to make it.

Just like Toph. Capable of defeating other Earth benders with more ease than one could think possible.

In this scenario, a rightly timed fire blast to the legs was the best course of action. Destabilizing their movements, halting their attack, and throwing them off balance.

The follow-up would be easy.

Due to his lack of bending, Luca had been trained to use Long ranged weapons to achieve a similar effect.

Darts, throwing knives ..... He was similar to Mai in this regard. Unfortunately, he didn't have throwing weapons on him at the moment. Fortunately …. he didn't need them.

Spirit Chi: - 10 -

Dexterity: 9 (20)

Squelch!

The first one hadn't even touched the floor when he felt a numbing sensation on his waist area.

With the sword slicing through his lower body, Luca didn't stop. He twisted the sword in the opposite direction and attacked the next one.

Bam!

The second slammed his foot against the floor, rocks slowly emerging from the floor under Luca's gaze.

'Too slow …'. He thought as he slashed the sword diagonally.

Once again, the sickening sound of ripping flesh resounded as the Earthbender was slashed across the chest. Blood splattered across the wall as the body was pushed backwards, falling to the ground.

"Damnit!" Their rocks had barely flown upward, and two more had already been killed.

What the hell?

One of the remaining five screamed in shock at the scene that played out before him. It was all too fast. So fast that they couldn't react to it.

The five Earth benders were startled, quickly turning their attention and changing their center of gravity.

At that moment, however, Luca had turned his gaze to the next closest victim. A speed of 20 points couldn't be crudely described as double the speed of a regular male.

Within short bursts, his acceleration, and reflexes could rival a cheetah's.

His sword struck out once again, blood stained with the intent to take another life.

Only the two successive kills had brought the earthbenders some leeway to think. This soldier acted almost instinctively.

Before Luca even raised his sword, he moved the rocks he had previously risen as an attack to defend his path while kicking off against the earth in a nasty retreat.

A skilled and agile swordsman was best at close combat. If he were allowed to strike first, then the distance of a few meters was tantamount to giving his head away.

The rocks would block the sword, bringing the swift attacks to a halt while giving him room to retreat and maximize his advantage as a bender.

Or ..... At least that's what he thought.

Crack!

All his eyes registered was a flash, the sound of breaking rocks and .....

Squelch!

A stabbing pain in his chest. Like his previous comrades, the soldier had his eyes widen, clearly not reacting to what had just happened.

Luca didn't know the specific details. But for water to cut through stone and steel with a single strike, it needed an extremely high-pressure point.

And if that logic were to follow in this world, it meant that benders like Katara could make a single water strike carry enough pressure equivalent to 90,000 psi. Making it capable of cutting stone and steel in one concentrated blast.

If not, it meant that Chi had truly magnificent properties.

Either way, if water could cut steel, then why couldn't a chi infused sword strike cut through a hastily made rock defense?

Answer. …. It was as easy as cutting through butter.

Thud! The soldier fell to the ground with a sword embedded into his chest. Eyes wide open as blood began to pool out.

Nevertheless, his sacrifice hadn't gone in vain.

Luca had struck this one, giving the others the time needed to effectively retreat as they stomped against her earth, propelling themselves backward as far as they could get.

Landing on their feet, the four men fixed their gaze forward, eyes wide and sweat on their foreheads.

"...".

"Ugh… …". The soldier who was stabbed through the heart twitched for a few moments before falling still.

Thud! Thud!

The clear footsteps resounded in the cave as Luca took two steps forward and drew his sword out.

Squelch! It was that sound again.

"Four down ….". Luca said, stopping the use of Spirit Chi and sweeping his gaze over them.

- Spirit Chi: -30 -

"..... And four more still alive".

All of them felt chilled. How many seconds has it been? Yet four of them had died. Even casualties against Fire benders had never occurred this fast.

"... Unfortunately. I only need one".

"Kill him".

All four of them immediately attacked, a rumble expanding from their feet towards their target. Reaching a certain distance, four earth spikes shot out from the ground.

Seeing this, Luca immediately raised his sword and struck. A crescent line of ivory white chi energy emerged from his blade as he slashed at the incoming attack.

'… What is that?'

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Rargh."

A large rock rose into the air and shot forward.

Slicing the last spike in half, he leaned his body to the side, dodging by a hairs' breadth before infusing more chi into his sword. With a spin and a swerve, the blade drew another crescent line of energy shooting right towards the four opponents.

In a battle, there was barely anytime to react to an attack yourself, much less warn others.

The ivory chi slash had been displayed once and directly destroyed their earth attacks. Seeing him swing his sword towards them, some reacted later than others.

Three chose to dodge. The last one picked differently. Raising an earth wall to shield himself, one properly reinforced, unlike his previous companion's hasty defense.

Crack!

The same sound, the same effect.

The energy slash went right through the reinforced wall of earth, dissipating some of its energy but continuing movement nonetheless.

It hit directly across his chest, going several Inches deep and taking him off the ground.

"Arghhhhh!" The man was sent flying and screaming.

"Dodge, don't defend". One yelled out loud as yet another sword slash rushed in there direction.

The remaining three hastily moved out of the way, not daring to try their luck. Lest they get mutilated.

"Hold him still!" The same man yelled again as he stood a bit further back. The other two regrouped together in front of him, channelling all their chi and slamming their hands against the floor.

Under Luca's gaze, the earth starting from their position turned into quicksand and rushed in his direction. Without moving, Luca watched as the attack enveloped the earth beneath his feet, turning it from solid stone to squishy soil.

'They can do this?' Looking back, he saw the four corpses he had killed enveloped into the quicksand.

Then he turned to face them again and realized that performing such an operation had most likely drained them for every ounce of energy they could muster.

However, that was enough. The one behind immediately raised his hands upward and the ceiling began to rumble.

"Rarghh!" With a strained roar, he pulled down, causing the earth on the ceiling to collapse inwards.

Earth poured, engulfing Luca completely.

Silence returned to the tunnel with the exception of slightly rumbling stone.

"Ha ..... Ha …. Ha .". The tunnel was now dimly lit with nothing but a single torch. The others were buried on the other side.

The three soldiers stood in place at alert. Watching the area where the rockfall covered up.

The seconds elapsed. Eventually .....

"We ..... We got him". A soldier exclaimed with bated breaths. His chest heaving up and down constantly as sweat trickled down his neck.

He wasn't the only one. The three of them were in similar condition. Tired and their chi almost exhausted.

"We did. I don't know who this guy is. But unless he's an earthbender, no one can survive that".

"Who. …. Who is he anyway". The question stunned the other two. They didn't pay much attention to the refugees, hence Luca's face was unfamiliar to them.

"..... I have no idea .....".

Swoosh!

Squelch!

It happened then.

From out of nowhere, a longsword emerged from the rock wall like a ghost, shooting through the air and impaled the speaking earthbender right through the face.

Thud!

The impaled soldier made a forceful thud, his body already a corpse before he hit the floor.

The sudden turn of events stunned the other two as they turned their gazes to see what happened.

Then ..... Their pupils constricted to the point of needles.

Fear gripped their souls at the sight of the body with a sword straight into the skull.

".... I have to admit. You guys are good". A young male voice resounded from the rockfall, causing their constricted pupils to widen in disbelief.

As if both sides were in two different dimensions, a hand stretched out from the rubble, followed by the rest of the arm, body, and face .....

Under their terrified gaze, Luca stepped right out of the rubble. His clothes not looking one but like he had just been buried under a rockfall.

The bag on his back remaining the same way he always carried it. Simply because he wasn't.

"Ha …. Ha …". Similar to them, his chest heaved up and down but not as violently as theirs.

'You truly can't underestimate anyone'.

- Chi: 844/1385-

- Fatigue: 34/100 -

- Spirit Chi: 964 -

Fighting in an underground tunnel was basically the territory of earthbenders. If his opponents were more skilled, then perhaps this battle would have been more difficult.

"You ….". The scene of Luca stepping through solid objects as if they didn't exist magnified the fear in their hearts to the extreme.

After all, people were most afraid of the unknown. Coupled with his previous display and the fact that spirits actually existed in this world, his actions immediately caused them to start panicking.

"... Who … What are you?"

".... You don't remember". Luca raised an eyebrow. "Well let me remind you. I am a refugee".

"Impossible..... Refugees can't do …. that".

Luca raised an eyebrow.

"I can".

"But enough about me. Because now, there are two of you. But like I said before, I only need one. So .....".

His words fell, and wisps of white chi emerged on his palm. Seeing this, both men's expressions changed drastically.

One attempted to raise an attack subconsciously.

'It's you then'.

Unfortunately, Luca was one step faster. The soldier had barely begun his attempt to earthbend when Luca caught his outstretched fist in a tight clamp.

However, contrary to his usual actions of absorbing chi, this time, he did the exact opposite.

"You ….".

The soldier opened his mouth, but .....

"Ugh!"

It happened then. A large amount of foreign energy rushed through his skin into his Chi pathways and began rampaging violently.

"Arghhhhh!"

- Chi: -50 -

With sufficient reserves left, Luca injected a large amount of energy into the body of the soldier and let go of his hand right after.

This was an experiment. He wanted to see what would happen if he transferred his Chi into another living human and let it roam around unchecked.

Under his curious gaze, the soldier backed up several steps, eyes closed while clutching his arm. The next second, the results displayed themselves.

The skin around the soldier's dark arm began to crack. Following which, blood flowed profusely from those cracks.

But that wasn't the ending.

"Arghh!"

Although he couldn't see it, cracks began to appear on other areas of the Earthbender's body underneath his clothes.

Luca could tell simply because his uniform was soon soaked red with blood.

The foreign chi spread wantonly like a virus on a rampage, coursing through the chi pathways and destroying everything it could find in its wake.

Unbearable screams of agony resounded in the tunnel as the soldier was tortured without a single weapon being placed on his skin.

Seconds passed, blood flowed from his nose, ears, mouth and eyes, all until.....

Squelch. The sound of something being ruptured could be heard as the man's screams ended abruptly. Following which, his body fell backwards, eventually marking the beginning of his existence as a corpse.

'Well ... Perhaps ..... a bit too much'.

Luca frowned at the scene before him. It seemed that fifty points of Chi was an overkill.

That aside, he turned his gaze to the only other person left alive. Presently, his complexion was deathly pale and his body was trembling slightly.

Luca couldn't tell if it was due to fear or Chi exhaustion.

"Alright ..... Now that everyone else is taken care of….". Once again, wisps of white energy flooded his palm.

The earthbender's face, if possible, grew paler.

"..... Let's have a nice friendly discussion. Shall we?"

.....

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