"Are you sure?" Korra pointed to Akashi with her thumb while looking at Tenzin. "No offense, but I may hurt his feelings."
Akashi raised his eyebrows, and then shook his head.
He, who had risked his life in the field, was being trivialized by her, who had recently left the South Pole.
Well, to be fair, she's the Avatar.
If he were her, he wouldn't give a fuck about anything, conquer the world, and announce himself as the ultimate ruler. If anyone had an opposite mind, they could suck it.
But he guessed that the Avatar had some mental barrier that kept them from doing so. Just like Homelander was trained to please the people, the Avatars had been trained to follow certain guidelines.
"Trash talking already." Akashi said. "You can use the Avatar state if you want."
"No offense, Akashi. But you only have a chance against the kids." Korra said proudly. "You know, I may seem like a pretty girl, but I'm the Avatar, after all."
"That's a lie. I almost beat you if you didn't use the Avatar's state!" Ikki pointed at Korra, the latter blushing slightly upon that remark.
But the kid was ignored as quickly as she spoke.
"You know what I like about you the most, Korra?" Akashi asked.
"What?" she smiled.
"Your humbleness." Akashi deadpanned.
"Thanks." She smiled widely. "I try to lower my head to the ground sometimes."
Akashi sighed and walked to the field, to the starting point of the race.
He jumped slightly, and a small sphere appeared under his feet, carrying him.
"You can't do this, can you?" asked Akashi, turning to Korra.
"It's just a trick for the show. If you want to win, you need to do the real deal." Korra replied, waving her arms, spinning and jumping, creating a spinning air ball that carried her.
"OK. It started." Korra said, before her sphere carried her quickly through the race.
Akashi turned his eyes to the left, opening the system, and nodded to himself. The screen appeared somewhere in the corner of his vision, and he could use it to increase his stats as quickly as possible. Or rather, he would use it to increase his skills level.
'I haven't tried what's being level 22, other than creating multi Rasengans and throwing them at Amon. That, and some air bullets. Man, I love shooting bullets. It's nostalgic.'
Akashi moved quickly, in a high speed that put him in front of Korra in no time.
Korra, who had taken a look behind her, found Akashi had yet to move, turned her head forward and smirked.
She didn't want to hurt her new boyfriend's feelings. But he asked for it. Well, he wasn't a petty person to begin with, so he wouldn't take a thing seriously. Maybe, he would start admiring her instead of that bitch armored old police chief.
"You have to take a turn. Stop daydreaming." Akashi's voice came from her left.
She turned, horror in her eyes.
But then, there was no one.
She smiled, believing that he used that sound trick.
But when she turned to the right, she saw him, putting his hands behind his back and looking at the sky, dust failing to keep up with him. To be fair, her ball created more dust.
"As expected, you're good at airbending." Korra smiled. "I applaud you for catching up with me." She stretched her hand to him and patted him on the shoulder. "But that's where it ends."
Akashi wasn't hoping to win in the first place, but to use her as a banner in her avatar's state.
The race was still early, so it's best to provoke her.
Akashi turned, gave the racing field his back, and increased his speed, looking at Korra in the process.
He had been here some time to know the racing field. And he had enough air sensitivity that he could partially see shortly behind him.
With each second, he was getting further from Korra.
"Beat her, Akashi."
"Go for it."
"Show that cheater."
The kids that were on the side were cheering for him.
"Sorry Korra. Can't let you win after the kids bet on me." He gestured to her with his hand.
Korra furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes glowing blue.
The weather didn't change, and the ground didn't split. But in no time, her airbending strength increased almost a hundredfold, and in no time, she was in front of him. Not mainly due to the power boost that the spirit gave her, but due to the connections with the previous Avatars, she got their experience in airbending.
"Never noticed your eyes were this blue." Akashi commented as she passed by him. He smirked. She got the Avatar's state under control. It meant that he could hide behind her whenever some major threat happened or he needed someone to help him.
[Airbending up to level 25]
[A sub skill can be learned]
Akashi clenched his fist excitedly upon hearing the notification.
He unlocked another sub skill at level 25.
It meant that he could fly, like a flying bison now.
And without a thought, he used one skill point to learn flying, leaving him with 9 skill points.
[A skill has been learned]
[Flying (1/10)]
And from nowhere, a new sensation took over Akashi. It was as if he wasn't held by the air. He could slip through the air with a thought. And with another, he could change his location, and the air would do him the rest.
'Not in a level where I could fly fast, float, though. But man, I can't help imagine. If I created an air shell around me to push the air behind, would it look like I have a Ki aura. Now, I don't want to show it because simply I don't want to deal with questions now.'
Akashi looked at Korra as she was getting further and further.
'Removal. Increase.'
He increased the air resistance around her. But the shell of air he created did nothing and got shattered in no time. Then, in the next second, Akashi appeared next to her as he removed the resistance and pushed himself faster, burning through his chi.
Korra looked at him with her glowing eyes. Somehow, inside them, he could see a woman with a shaved front head and a blue arrow staring at him.
The air resistance he removed came back from nowhere.
Akashi quickly changed his direction.
'Somehow, she has a bitch with her that knows how to make the air resist me. But she can't do so completely.'
Nevertheless, Akashi removed the resistance against and pierced through it.
Violet winds surged through the temple as Korra got more competitive.
As Akashi got ahead of Korra, spikes from the ground appeared as obstacles. Since he had sensed them earlier, he had a better reaction time. Not to mention, thanks to his agility points, he had already a very fast reaction speed. And he dodged so fast and gracefully.
"Guys… stop it!" Tenzin yelled.
But the finishing line was approaching. And in front of that line, water, and fire appeared as obstacles in front of Akashi.
'Okay… Last shot…' Akashi thought.