The southern tribe members looked at Akashi, doubt and hesitation filling their eyes.
Akashi was a stranger to them. He was just the Avatar's boyfriend. And his girl hadn't interfered, giving their rebellion less credibility. Sure, they knew that it was her job to stay out of internal conflict.
Yet, Akashi, who didn't know about their little rebellion, came to stand for them and spoke against the Northern Tribe soldiers.
It was either he was too cocky or suicidal. There was no man in his right mind who would put his life on the line for a foreign land.
It seemed that he was just too cocky, considering how many cigars were in his mouth.
"by all means. Do what you see fit. A soldier must follow orders. But must prepare himself for death," Akashi replied to the threat, by giving another threat of his own.
The commander, feeling offended, groaned and took a bending stance, ready for attack.
Akashi snapped his fingers.
The commander fell to the ground, not realizing that a wave had hit him, making his brain shake as if he had been punched on the chin.
Someone rushed to the commander, flipping him onto his back and checking on him.
He then glared at Akashi and yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU GUYS ARE OUT OF OUR INTERNAL MATTERS."
Akashi stared at him blankly. He replied calmly, "A tourist getting into a fight with local forces. It seems that it's an internal matter that doesn't concern the Avatar. So, stop me."
"Cocky mother fucker thinks he can take on thousands on his own," grumbled the man. "TEACH HIM A LESSON. BEAT HIM ALMOST TO DEATH. DO NOT KILL HIM."
The soldiers with their spears, trained non-bender units, dashed at him. Since this place was quite wide and on the outskirts of the city, they surrounded him without having to break their formation into lines.
Akashi looked at the ground and inhaled deeply, taking in all the smoke from the cigars before exhaling it all out. He looked like a dragon that had just used his dragon breath.
The smoke grew lighter and denser, spreading rapidly, creating a smoke veil.
Bang Bang Bang.
In the middle of the smoke, Akashi clapped his hands repeatedly, not giving a damn about the world around him.
Just to make sound waves, he tapped his feet on the ice and controlled the waves, gathering them, amplifying them, and getting their frequency right before directing them.
Like flies being sprayed, they fell, bunch after bunch.
The air was very pure in this part of the world, and the pressure was low.
By the time Akashi was done, all of the marching units were down. What was revealed was Akashi standing among the fallen bodies.
Silence dominated the atmosphere. The tension from the watching eyes was palpable.
[You leveled up]
Akashi sniffed his forearm. "The smell of smoke stuck. I need to take a shower later."
But despite the grumbling nature of his words, he was happy with the level-up notice. Taking down a bunch of non-benders had helped him this much.
The native people of the land looked at him in greater shock.
Akashi wasn't cocky. He wasn't suicidal.
He was beyond common logic.
The fact that the cigars had tactical use in battle indicated his strategic thinking.
To clap people's awareness out—that was something they didn't understand.
But no matter what Akashi's secret technique was, or how powerful it was, the army of the waterbenders was still large. Not to mention, he had knocked down common soldiers, not the trained waterbenders.
"If he had only joined us from the beginning, we would have had a chance."
"I see it. No matter what, he's a lone man. He'll get tired and run out of Chi when this is done."
At the same time, the Northern side shared the same idea.
With slow and steady steps, the waterbenders formed lines, taking their bending stance and approaching Akashi.
Defying common logic again, Akashi took off his coat, muttering, "Truth to be told, I will lose most of my spiritual energy using my powerful techniques, and it won't be enough. But stamina isn't my weakness. And I have been dying to train my muscles."
Akashi threw his coat, revealing a sleeved black shirt and black sport pants.
"Cocky son of a bitch."
The first three lines performed a combined move, thrusting their arms forward symmetrically.
The ice on the ground turned into a massive wave that was about to swallow him.
The wave hit the ground and continued marching toward the city of the southern tribe.
The defeated rebels forced themselves to stand up, thrusting their hands and freezing the massive wave before it hit their town and families.
It was an amazing sight, showing how much power a defeated man can muster when the lives of loved ones are at risk, despite being injured and beaten.
The wave froze.
As for Akashi, he was nowhere to be seen, not even deep in the cold transparent ice.
The waterbenders from the invading side smiled, seeming happy to have gotten rid of a strong enemy.
"Get him before he dies. Don't want avatar rage on us."
The first line of benders went to the frozen wave, melting a hole through it.
As they entered, searching for the frozen rebel, they didn't find him. Confused, they started melting the ice chunk by chunk.
Only then did they realize that he wasn't there.
They ran out of the hole.
What they saw were their colleagues looking at them, confused.
The lines behind had their soldiers flying through the air.
Yet, no one was paying attention.
Akashi was taking a fighting stance, moving at high speed, and punching everyone. However, his punches produced no sound, nor did their screams. It was as if they were being beaten in silence.
"Look behind you!" he pointed his finger forward.
The few lines that remained turned.
Well, the few amounted to half.
Akashi moved like a blur, leaving afterimages. A waterbender shot a wave at him, and he dodged gracefully, appearing in front of him, punching him in the gut, and pulling his fist back.
"Took you so long to find me out," Akashi said.
As that wave had hit him, he flew and removed air resistance. Combined with his high agility stats, he moved so fast that they didn't see him ascending the wave and getting behind them.
As he had done so, he had started thinking of the best way to conserve energy while beating most of the enemies.
And so, he decided to use some wavebending.
Using his fists to beat them, conceal the sound, and amplify the shortwaves from his hits—and combining this strategy with his speed and strength stats—the results were nothing short of instant KOs.
Though, when a bunch of waterbenders found out and attacked him at the same time, even if he dodged, the compressed water grazed part of his skin, causing wounds to appear. Yet, it was no problem for his minor regeneration.
Not to mention, when leveling up, he'd get all of his stats restored.
And he did level up again—twice in a row.
Though he used more stamina than Chi, putting a lot of stress on his body in the process, given the intensity of his actions. But still, he had a massive reserve and could recover in the middle of the fight. At worst, he would fly to the sky and recover for some time.
"Ho…" he exhaled deeply when they noticed him, still taking a boxing stance.
The bonus experience was showing its magic.
For a long time, he had stalled in leveling up.
But when facing such an army, he had just gained three levels in total.
He assumed that the rest had two or so levels in them.
Suddenly, the sky darkened, and violent wind surged.
"What are you doing!" echoed a strong sound.
Korra appeared, flying from the sky on what seemed to be a tornado.