Chapter 53.4- And so the Dragons Danced

I landed in the throes of a building ice block as two men worked in concert to encase me in their newly created trap. Foolish. In one breath, the ice had turned to naught but steam and I was in their faces before they could do more than blink at the failure of their admittedly crafty trap. The first, clearly a twin to the other moved to decapitate me with a blade of ice as I stood still before them for a second, deciding which to kill. The second, moved in the opposite direction, trying to gain space from me as he brought his water to bear.

I decided to let Agni decide and spat out a firestorm in their direction. The green flames turned water into nothing, and men into charred husks. I turned to my next target, only to notice that the waterbenders were backing up away from me and trying to avoid being the next to draw moire. It was a valiant effort, but a useless one in the end. Not a single imperial firebender had managed to be felled so far. Boosted by the comet as we were, we had become more than firebenders. No longer children of Agni, but sharers in his glory.

—

“And so you are the famed Chief of the Northern Water Tribe” I said, relaxed into the throne that the Northern Water tribe reserved for its leader. The comet had now gone, and while there were a few things that I had begun to figure out thanks to the boost, they would wait for me to finish consolidating my more worldly gains before turning to the knowledge that I had unlocked as a result of the boost and my experimentation as I cut through man after man.

The white haired man looked up from his position, chained and bound as he was, and I could see the defiance even from here. His attempt to spit at me failed pitifully as the glob of spittle splattered uselessly next to my boots. I tilted my head to the side and just gave the man a look.

“You think you have broken us, bastard? Never! The Northern Water Tribe will never submit to one such as you.” I stared at him as he began to rave and bluster, until he came to an abrupt stop as he realised that I looked neither awed, afraid, nor particularly offended.

“You have fallen know. At the sight of two fishes, you surrendered and did not look back. I don’t know what you call that, but I call it submission. Your tribe will bend, and if they do not bend, they will break. What do they tell you I am? I’ve heard it all, you know? Murderer, thief, monster, abomination, and a million things. So many men have fallen at my hands that it would be more efficient to tell you who didn’t. So, you should have been smart enough to realise that your resistance was futile, and wouldn’t even be a footnote in the annals of history.” I said, before I turned my hand against his position.

He screamed when he burned.