Chapter 57.4- And so the Dragons Danced

“And Toph, no funny business” He called off to the side, pointing at the most powerful woman in the world like she was an errant child to be disciplined.

“Got ya, Dad” She replied with a tone almost like she was genuinely warned off.

The two assassins were clearly irritated at being taken so casually. The woman that had sent what Korra now understood to be combustion bending at the emperor stepped forward and shoved her head forward in an obviously telegraphed attack. She watched as the distortion in the air seemed to zig and zag through the air while the Emperor, to the shock of everyone else stood there as if he was waiting for the attack to land. Korra felt her water come to her control as she sought to do her part as a loyal citizen of the Empire and protect her emperor, even if from himself.

Before she could move though, he jumped right at the distortion in the air, tapping it with his fingers and then stretching his fingers towards the watrbender with no arms. The distortion that marked combustion bending disappeared as he touched it, and came out of his other am almost immediately.

The water bender had little chance to bring forth her water to shield herself and even though she tried, the explosion that the combustion bending created when it hit her shield was much larger than that that had proceeded from two attacks of like nature hitting each other.

“Sorry, added a bit extra to your attack if you don’t mind” The emperor smirked at the firebender even as her friend fell to the floor, the top half of her body gone completely. Someone suddenly began to vomit, breaking the lull between both combatants. As the woman realised there were others in the room. She turned to them, even as the ground around the emperor turned to lava, becoming red hot. The Emperor scarcely even reacted, shifting his stance only to point his finger at a corner of the room’s ceiling. The lava, boiling only a second ago, turned to cool stone and from the emperor’s fingers came a rush of hot air that lanced through the room’s regular air.

It hit the man who had been hidden in the shadow of one of the columns and the man fell to the ground. He wasn’t even screaming. Korra had never seen burns so severe. The heat had burned through his skin, muscle, and gone down to the bone. The firebending woman screamed in rage and made as if to fire one of her attacks in the crowd.

For the first time, Toph Beifong seemed about to move to intervene, but it proved unnecessary as the Emperor appeared in front of the woman so quickly it was like a mirage. She stumbled backwards, and he stepped into her space. She tried a roundhouse kick, he shifted his stance into something that looked like what Bolin had favoured in his fight with his brother and blocked the attack with his forearm. He shifted to the side to avoid something that screamed as it soared through the air.