Chapter 47: Fire Dragon Attack
The vortex of fire twisted higher and higher, screaming with the sound of a hurricane until suddenly, it collapsed. The storm of flames snapped inward, imploding into Zuko's body in a rush of heat that seared the battlefield. The air stilled. Dust swirled low across the torn ground. For a heartbeat, silence reigned.
Fong's chest heaved as he narrowed his eyes through the haze. His lips curved into a mocking smirk. "All that noise for a speech, boy? Do you plan to kill me with words alone? Or did you simply want your soldiers to hear your last prayer?"
Zuko did not answer. His one good eye glared at the general with unflinching malice. His face—split and bloodied, his cheek swollen, his skin smeared in streaks of red, twitched into a grotesque smile.
His lips parted, and his voice rasped hoarse but unyielding:
"Fire Dragon…"
He arched his back, his chest swelling with air, the veins on his neck bulging as if he were swallowing the entire sky.
"ROAR!!!"
The flames erupted from his mouth in a torrent so massive it seemed to split the battlefield in half. A spiral of fire surged forward, twisting in a tight helix as it expanded. Not a simple jet of flame, but a rotating, concussive storm of red and orange fire. It howled as it shot across the ground, tearing the soil to ash beneath it, melting stone into rivers of molten slag.
Fong's eyes widened. Too fast. Too wide. Too much. He slammed his palms into the earth, raising a thick wall of rock in desperation, but even as it rose he knew, it wouldn't hold. Instead, he slammed one heel down and thrust with his entire body, launching a pillar of stone beneath his feet. The ground buckled, and the general was hurled sideways like a boulder fired from a catapult.
The roar of fire swept past, engulfing the place where he had stood.
The world shook.
The blast tore open the battlefield. Soldiers from both sides screamed as the shockwave ripped the air from their lungs. Dust and gravel rained down in choking waves. When the firestorm cleared, a crater the size of a city square yawned where the general had been standing. Its edges were jagged, glowing red-hot, the earth itself charred and blackened, radiating heat like the mouth of a furnace.
Fire Nation soldiers stared in awe, some raising their fists with cries of triumph, others too stunned to breathe. Earth Kingdom soldiers faltered, their confidence shaken by the sheer devastation of one man's attack.
Fong, crouched atop his pillar of stone fifty meters away, ground his teeth. His face was smeared with soot, and one arm was scraped raw where the fire's edge had licked him. "So. The boy has grown teeth," he muttered. Then louder, "But tricks will not win you this battle, boy prince!"
Zuko dropped to one knee, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as the effort shook his body. But when he looked up, that grotesque smile remained. His voice cracked through the smoke like a blade:
"Then let me show you what a Fire Dragon truly is."
He dug his heels into the ground, leapt forward, and twisted his body mid-air. Flames burst from his fist, spiraling into a condensed spear of fire that he hurled with a snap of his arm.
"Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!"
The spear split into three mid-flight, streaks of burning red that curved like serpents. Fong stomped his foot, summoning a forest of jagged stone spires that shot upward to intercept. The fire spears slammed into them, detonating one after another, blasting shards of molten rock across the field.
Zuko was already moving, flipping over the falling debris, fire igniting around his heel. He twisted in the air, spinning down like a hawk.
"Fire Dragon Wing Attack!"
Twin blades of fire erupted from his arms, extending outward like burning wings. He swept them down with a scream, slashing through the stone spires and shattering them into chunks of molten gravel.
Fong thrust his palms outward, and the broken chunks froze mid-air before spinning into a whirlwind. He hurled them back at Zuko like a storm of knives.
The prince dropped low, flames exploding from the soles of his boots. He rocketed forward, weaving through the storm with acrobatic rolls, his body a blur of black and crimson streaks. One stone grazed his arm, tearing flesh, another clipped his ribs, but he did not falter.
With a guttural roar, he inhaled deeply once more. The heat gathered in his lungs until his chest burned like it might split open.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
He slammed his flaming fist into the earth, and a pillar of fire erupted outward, splitting the ground in a line that shot straight for Fong.
The general crossed his arms, and the earth surged upward into a dome. The fire smashed against it, splitting stone apart, the ground glowing with heat but Fong stood within, teeth clenched, forcing the dome to hold. When it finally cracked and blew apart, he burst from the rubble with a roar of his own, launching twin slabs of stone the size of oxen directly at Zuko.
The prince twisted into a roll, flames shooting from his hands to boost him sideways. The slabs missed by a breath, crashing behind him with an explosion of dirt. He landed hard, knees nearly buckling, but the fire around his body flared bright again.
Fong sneered. "You've improved. But you burn too brightly, too fast. And when the fire runs out…" He raised his arms high, earth rising with him into a massive hammer of stone suspended above his head. "…only ashes remain!"
Zuko wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. His smile never wavered. His voice was steady.
"Then I'll burn until nothing's left of you first."
He spread his arms wide, the flames around him thickening, circling. He inhaled, every nerve in his body screaming as Ki and sun-fire merged.
"Fire Dragon Crushing Fang!!!"
He lunged forward, his hands closing like the jaws of a dragon, fire coiling between them into a spiraling maw of flame that snapped toward Fong's descending hammer.
The battlefield shook once more, fire and stone colliding in a storm that lit the world red.
Zuko wiped a smear of blood from his mouth with the back of his arm. His body screamed in protest, every muscle torn between exhaustion and fury, but his eyes, burning with that same molten fire as the sun itself, never left General Fong.
"You think you've seen everything?" Zuko rasped, his voice hoarse but steady, teeth shining blood-red from the iron taste of his own cuts. His lips twisted into a grin, crooked and fierce. "You haven't seen anything yet."
He slid his hands together, fingers curling, twisting into strange, deliberate shapes, motions utterly foreign to this world. Fong narrowed his eyes, confusion briefly flickering across his face before he braced for whatever madness the young prince had conjured. Zuko ended with his right hand pressing against his mouth, his left hand forming a brace beneath it.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Zuko roared.
From his lips, fire erupted, not in one stream, not in one burst, but in a flurry of flame projectiles, each spitting from his mouth like arrows dipped in the sun. The flames twisted into dozens of smaller spheres, glowing crimson and orange, scattering like a storm of burning petals. They hissed through the air, crackling and shrieking as they fell upon the earth like raining stars.
Fong ducked the first, his body snapping to the side as a fireball burst where his head had been, turning dirt to molten glass. He spun and raised walls of stone to block the next, but two spheres curved around, exploding against the earth at his feet and showering him with molten sparks. His uniform smoldered. He cursed under his breath and dashed left, weaving between the falling arcs, while Zuko, standing upon a high, jagged pillar of earth torn up by Fong himself earlier, kept spitting fireballs relentlessly.
The battlefield watched in awe. Fireballs rained like divine wrath, detonating with heavy booms across the ground, igniting corpses, burning shattered wood, consuming broken catapults. Even the sky above them shimmered with heat waves.
Fong rolled behind another wall of stone, raising it with a stomp, but Zuko's voice thundered across the carnage:
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
The world seemed to hold its breath. Then it came, a tidal wave of fire, massive, blinding, roaring from Zuko's mouth as though he himself was the furnace of a god. The sea of flame surged forward, orange and red and blistering white at its core. The earth hissed as the fire washed over it, rocks glowing red before collapsing into pools of bubbling black slag. Corpses were reduced to ash in moments, charred armor collapsing into hollow husks. The battlefield, already a hellscape, became an inferno.
General Fong gritted his teeth and bellowed, slamming both fists into the ground. The earth shuddered. With sheer will, he pulled a massive wall of stone up from the ground, thick, jagged, a fortress unto itself. The tidal wave of flame struck it with a deafening roar, licking and devouring its surface. Fong strained, veins bulging in his arms, sweat sizzling on his skin as he held his defense. For a moment, it seemed as if the wall might hold…
But Zuko was already moving.
The prince used the raging sea of fire as cover, his body darting low, leaping from rock to rock, flames glinting across his bloodied skin. He closed the distance like a predator. His face was streaked with soot and blood, his eyes mad with determination.
By the time Fong realized Zuko had disappeared from atop the pillar, it was too late.
Zuko burst through the wall of fire, a streak of black and red, fists already ablaze.
"Fire Dragon Secret Art: Crimson Lotus!"
Flames spiraled violently around his arms, wrapping them like molten gauntlets. He drove his right fist forward with a scream, the fire spinning, boring through the air like a flaming drill. It slammed into Fong's chest. The explosion cracked like thunder, hurling chunks of molten stone in every direction.
Fong staggered back, coughing blood, but Zuko gave no pause. His left fist slammed forward, another spiral of fire blasting through the wall of dust and smoke. It tore into Fong's shoulder, flesh searing, uniform blackening and curling as the smell of burned meat filled the air.
Fong roared and lashed out, sending jagged spears of rock shooting upward, but Zuko's acrobatics saved him, he twisted, flipped over the spikes, landed with a slide, and came up swinging again. His fists were a storm of drilling flame, each strike exploding upon impact, tearing through stone and flesh alike.
Blood sprayed across the scorched ground as Fong's body took the punishment. His uniform hung in tatters, his skin blistering beneath the heat. He swung a boulder the size of a cart at Zuko, but the prince didn't dodge this time. He roared and slammed both fists forward, the spiraling flames of the Crimson Lotus boring through the stone, shattering it into fragments that sprayed harmlessly around them.
Fong's eyes widened, fear at last.
Zuko's face was savage, streaked with blood and ash, his teeth bared in a grin that was closer to a beast than a prince. His fists hammered again and again, fire bursting outward with every blow. The ground beneath them cracked and cratered under the force, the air shimmering with suffocating heat.
At last, one strike landed clean across Fong's jaw. The flames exploded, ripping flesh from bone. His mouth burst with blood and broken teeth as his body spun and slammed into the ground with a wet, sickening crunch.
Still, Zuko did not relent. He leapt upon him, fists blazing, raining down blow after blow. Fire and gore mixed as Fong's armor cracked, his body bloodied beneath the relentless storm. The earth itself seemed to recoil, scorched black and trembling beneath the assault.
By the time Zuko drew back, panting, his arms still smoking with flame, Fong lay half-buried in shattered rock, blood spilling freely, his chest heaving in ragged gasps.
The prince stood above him, swaying on his feet, blood dripping from his face onto the broken general. His voice was low, guttural, filled with fury and triumph.
"I told you… this battle will end differently."
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