Chapter 176: A Spar of Fire
Nik opened his eyes after another session of meditation. It was a little before dawn and he opened his status screen to note the changes.
[Name: Nik Faran
Age: 20 (80)
Code: GC—EHG—98034
Authority Rank: 1 (9.65→9.77/100)
Paradise: Transmigration
Title: Transmigration Intern
Bloodline: Adonis' Ember (Common)
Physique: 2.5→ 2.7
Mental: 2.4→ 4.3
Energy: 30→ 30.1]
Nik, from the information collected in the library, already found out that many benders when reaching the zenith of their respective bending styles may have extraordinary strength so beings like Iroh and Bumi could kick his ass physically without resorting to bending.
And training more in various bending styles had started to improve his overall strength.
The most notable growth came in his mental stat. It was related to his ability with digesting information, forming quick decisions, and other mental factors, and given that he could absorb information by looking at things due to the library he had absorbed... his mental stat would only continue to grow. The thing to note, however, was that absorbing the library didn't increase his stat at once due to all the knowledge it contained but only grew at a quick pace afterward.
Finally... his energy stat had the least growth but he already overshadowed others in this area by far. It was better to use his extraordinary reserve of chi to train bending styles and spar with the girls to pump his physique instead.
Soon, Iroh called him down from the roof and Nik found Zuko and Azula waiting behind the store.
Jin... had decided to stay inside. But she was at least on speaking terms with Iroh after all that. Azula's and Zuko's actions hadn't clouded her mind against Ursa and Iroh. Both of them have been nothing but kind to her, after all.
"Was this wall always here?" Azula noted as she stopped beside the store.
"How the hell would I know?" Zuko shrugged.
Ursa didn't have any reason to fret over her children wanting to train with their uncle. Heck, Iroh was the only one she trusted from the entire royal lineage of the Fire Nation.
As the siblings squabbled, Iroh and Nik walked out of the store. Iroh was supposed to teach them firebending, or at least, guide them correctly on what they already knew. Before that, he must assess their current level and depth of knowledge regarding the bending of an element in the first place. Nik was aware of this. Hama did the same when she first began teaching waterbending and Aang was similar when it came to airbending. Each bending style had its own beliefs even if it didn't match with the spirit of the particular element itself.
La, for instance, is a tyrannical spirit of sea and ocean. But she didn't represent the entire aspect of water, Nik understood that after going through waterbending theories from the library. This only affirmed Nik's quest to learn from others and master their teachings in a manner that suited him the best.
But just because Nik found this reasonable and would be willing to easily bear someone else's assessment didn't mean the siblings would be the same.
They had entered one of the more spacious tunnels with Nik earth bending a path for them and the siblings soon showed what they knew. Iroh was naturally amazed by Azula's blue flames. They were not only hotter but more intense and 'substantial' in his words while Zuko had an amazing drive and stamina for bending, too... however...
"It's alright," Iroh smiled, "The two of you just need to practice the foundational Kata stances and it will help you grow better."
"Huh? I just did those," Zuko frowned.
"Oh, Zuzu, Uncle must have his reasons to speak, right? Let's hear him out," Azula's smirk didn't quite reach her eyes. It was as if... Iroh didn't see her bending blue flames.
Meanwhile, Nik just enjoyed the sight of the crystal-covered cavern and picked one of the crystals to eat them knowing full well that these were earthen candies of sorts.
And it was good!
"I mean what I said," Iroh smiled and sat down on the ground, "The two of you still lack... foundation. Your balance is off. You two certainly have the experience to back up your skills but... subpar skills will only take you so far."
Iroh then plucked a crystal, too, and ate it with a pleased expression.
"Our skills are the best in this village," Zuko retorted.
"It just so happens that the world is far beyond the scope of a village." Iroh patiently replied but he was once young, too, and understood words wouldn't convey his meaning. It was a good thing he could give a demonstration... in the form of his earlier disciple.
Smiling and completely laid back, Iroh chuckled and gestured towards Nik, "Why don't you have a go with him? Hmm... the two of you can spar with him together."
"What?" Nik's eyes widened. This wasn't right at all... he had seen the two and their moves and he didn't understand why the hell Iroh would ask him to take them on...
"Oh, I don't expect you to win but having a sparring partner will help you improve, too."
"But why the two of them?" Nik frowned.
"Why not? External pressure works wonders in improving oneself..."
"You just don't wanna take one of them yourself," Nik was quick to catch the truth while Iroh's smile widened, "See? External pressure made you more perceptive, too."
Nik scoffed, not even angry by Iroh's response but more amused.
"I disagree," Zuko shook his head, "I'm more than enough."
"Oh, you," Azula shook her head while she finally found a way to have some payback, "This is not some Agni Kai. Of course, we must spar to understand each other's capabilities better."
Again, external stimuli proved beneficial as Nik understood the unsaid meaning— Azula was out for payback...
'Damn... shouldn't Mai be here then?'
After all, he wasn't the only one...
Shaking his head, Nik prepared himself. He wasn't about to just bend over in front of the two siblings and if they thought they were the only ones who had enough experience in fights then had another thing coming. After all... Nik did watch them bend fire to the best of their abilities. He understood what they were capable of but they didn't have any idea about him.
"What if we are injured too severely?" Nik inquired as he found Azula's eyes light up. Her lips tugged into a very diabolical smirk.
"I won't let it reach that far," Iroh assured and Nik believed him. After all... he had seen Iroh bend and he was a monster as great as Bumi.
Taking off his shoes, Nik stretched a little while the siblings prepared themselves, too.
And what Nik heard Azula whisper wasn't reassuring in the slightest bit.
"Say, Zuzu... wouldn't you feel the slightest bit better if the prospects of Nik being with your beloved Jin is... none," Her golden eyes grew electric as she enticed, "It would not be the most terrible thing in the world for his... willy nilly to get burnt off, right?"
'Now that is personal beyond kicking the nuts... and the Nut Crushing Messiah does not approve of the Balls Boiling Wench,' Nik grew solemn. Even if Yue could heal such an injury... Nik didn't want to go through with it.
Zuko was certainly gripped by the idea. Although he didn't respond with anything more than a snort, Azula knew that she had successfully inclined her brother to aim at Nik's weakest spot... and she would surely have Mai under her feet not soon after making Nik prostate.
What about her uncle?
She didn't believe the rotund uncle of hers would be quick enough to stop them.
And as such, they entered their stances, wholly unprepared for the beast they had unconsciously awakened.
Staring at them... and deciding to use the full intensity of his reserve, Nik took a deep breath. The sound of which echoed, almost howled within the closed and spacious tunnel as Iroh raised his brows in surprise.
The area around Nik grew warmer. Would he choose to be tyrannical? Would he choose to be cold-hearted? Frivolous? He had sparred with so many that Nik had begun to understand that he couldn't adopt a single measure for all the circumstances.
But it was easy to adopt the measure of striving to completely dominate the siblings who were now targeting his precious jewels.
As he pulled back his fist, the siblings smirked confidently. Of course, they were confident.
But the color on their faces paled as a pillar of flame as thick as an ordinary cottage escaped Nik's fist and throttled in their direction as an angry flaming beast threatening to swallow them whole!
"What?!" Zuko gasped, not expecting an earthbender to firebend while Azula's eyes widened at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation as she waved her hand around, forming a dome of blue flames that exploded outward while shouting, "Why are you just standing still?!"
Zuko came to be and he quickly snarled and punched with both fists to eject flames barely half the size and intensity of what Nik produced.
They managed to successfully fend the attack off. Nik's attack was simply too wide and unfocused and given that fire didn't have a solid-state such as rocks, Zuko and Azula managed to defend themselves well. Yet, Azula found herself clutching her stomach with Nik already dashing in Zuko's direction who realized a little too late that the opponent had used such a large portion of his energy to distract the two of them.
Kicking out two flaming arcs to disrupt Nik's momentum, Zuko did not even consider Nik's next act of simply tilting sideways then tearing the arcs of flames off of Zuko's control and slapping them forward in his direction.
Zuko's eyes widened and he crossed his hands in front of him. Azula had regained her breath by now and she snarled, too. Utterly infuriated by Nik as she kicked with haunting blue flames following Nik.
By now Nik was beginning to realize how easy it was to steal their control over the flames. Heck, it was easier than stealing the control of a wave of water from Katara and it spoke a lot as Katara had only started to bend water alongside Nik... meanwhile Zuko and Azula should be at this for years.
Stopping in his way, Nik spread his arm out and aimed at both of them. Realizing what was next to come, they quickly raised their flaming shields yet Nik never did push out arcs of flames. Instead, flames expanded out from the base of his feet and shot him high in the air before he raised his hand and did the same with his hand against the tunnel's ceilings and shot down on Zuko.
"Hmph," Azula snorted. The ends of her limbs ejected wild blue flames and she quickly covered the distance and jumped, intercepting Nik with a kick that he quickly defended by his arms across his chest and was quickly smashed into the ground and rolled for a few seconds before crawling back to dodge Zuko's stomp almost smashing his face in.
"Is that all?" Zuko growled a taunt, his expression growing more earnest while Nik's lips twitched. He did make a bad call just now but it was a good learning experience either way. He had gotten a little impatient after being flustered by their intentions but now he was back in the game. Jumping up, Nik exhaled sharply and gazed at the siblings rushing in his direction.
Without missing a beat, he pulled back. There was no need to actually face them together now that he knew they certainly were more than just boastful and once he had pulled enough distance, Nik went ahead and kicked low, layering the ground with a sea of flames as both of them scowled. While Azula adopted to stay on her grounds since Nik had just made the same mistake, Zuko didn't know any better and jumped. And as he did, he opened himself to Nik's further attack as Nik kicked out multiple arcs of flames before pulling back the sea of flames and not letting it go to waste.
What came afterward was a brutal punch that contained the flames into a ball and shot in Zuko's intended landing. Nik immediately heard some other movements but chose to ignore him and focused on Azula.
It was already hard to defend against Nik's previous attack but before the flaming ball could explode on his face, Iroh's aged hand surprisingly dissipated the flames and he smilingly patted Zuko, "Right, you can watch your sister and Nik spar now. Rest."
Although unwilling, Zuko knew he had come surprisingly close to getting out of commission temporarily. And the thought of it brought him to the grounded reality...
He gazed at Nik confronting Azula next who had grown more aggressive... to the level Zuko had never seen her like that before.
"Woah!"
Nik chose to dodge the curve of blue flames aimed at his neck by crouching down and then quickly launched himself forward instead of letting Azula berserk. Her flames were definitely hotter. The tips of his hair were already curled about with a toasty scent escaping his body.
Curling his lips, Nik chose not to give Azula enough space to use her flames and deflected her palm sideways as another wave of flames escaped her hand.
There were no words exchanged as the duo exchanged blows. Azula knew full well she might end up saying something she doesn't want others knowing and it may just interrupt this very sweet chance she had gotten to blow her flames on his face!
Or his nuts!
She kneed forward, something Nik quickly stopped as her hand sliced at his face and Nik could just see blue flames searing his face in half. Startling Azula, Nik headbutted her hand before a swift slap struck her face. As her head snapped sideways, Nik quickly tilted his body as a forceful kick to the side of her face sent Azula tumbling down.
And she didn't get up this time.
"Phew... did I really do that?" Nik exhaled, pleasantly surprised by his own growth. The two were comparable to Zhao and Nik didn't even have to adopt waterbending to defeat them...
"Indeed, you did," Iroh smiled. He was slightly surprised by Nik's victory, too. It could simply be that he overestimated Azula's capabilities since she seemed a bit too rushed. She could have, after all, pulled back from Nik as he closed in the difference without accounting for the difference in strength their physique held.
"Well, thank you for going easy on me," Nik shrugged and looked at Zuko while Iroh woke Azula up by pressing on her neck for a few seconds.
"Hmm?" Azula sat up slowly. Her cheek stinging and her stomach aching.
Did she...
Looking around, Azula's lips quivered for a second.
She saw a slightly worse Zuko sitting not far from her with his shoulders slumped and Nik idly humming a tune while her uncle checked her condition as she let him.
'Damn it!' She clenched her fists.
{A/N: Let me get this straight, a fully trained Azula from the canon at the age of 20 would kick Nik's ass five ways to Sunday... but she ain't that version.}
---
After the sparring match, Iroh found that Azula and Zuko were quite willing to listen to him and adopt the most basic of kata stances. Then again, they had no other choice. Even if the two had won against Nik, Iroh would have utterly decimated them right after. A flawed foundation even if supported by pillars of experience would result in flawed thinking.
For his nephew and niece, Iroh wanted only the best. Even if it meant being a little tough at the beginning, Iroh knew it would do them well to grow a little more humble. He was already quite happy by the fact that both of them were away from the venom their father happened to be.
Nik practiced alongside them. He had surprised Iroh greatly and Iroh found no reason to not further his practice with additional bending techniques now. Again, Iroh kept to basics and made it clear that they would only learn the very foundation of techniques from him.
Although this ruffled some feathers within the siblings, they ultimately decided to go along... for now.
And their first practice session came to an end during the break of dawn as they returned to the store at once.
When they returned, Ursa awaited their return... and Jin continued to ignore the siblings, only greeting back once Azula casually called her out.
"Where is everyone?" Ursa inquired.
"Hmm? You didn't see them outside?" Nik inquired, hiding the mischievous twinkle in his gaze as Ursa held back the urge to fuss over her children... it would only trigger them, after all. But it was hard seeing them so roughed up. Even Nik looked a bit haggard after all had happened.
Ursa shook her head and Nik walked into the dining area of the tea store and soon returned to the kitchen, "I don't know... they seem there to me," he shrugged.
Exasperated, Ursa repeated, "I'm telling you, they aren't—" and as she pushed the door open, her voice was stuck in her throat.
---
While the fire nation's department was destroyed from the library that now merged with his mind through spiritual voodoo, it still contained a large deposit of many strange articles of knowledge, and being a spirit himself, Wan Shi Tong had quite a large base on spirits themselves. So, in the past few days, Nik had started to truly focus on that aspect of information submerged in his brain and found out the legends of many spirits he had already seen and the ones he had only heard of. This included the famous Sun Spirit Ra who the moon spirit warned him about alongside the Flower of Fertility and also... the Goat Butcher Mo.
This is the peculiar spirit that had gotten on June's tail.
"Say what?"
Toph was already struggling to breathe as she wheezed while Suki's shoulders shuddered, too.
Nik had spent his day idly waiting on tables and when the trio returned, he was quick to bring up the subject to June.
Shrugging as he served them tea, Nik sat down, "I said that the Goat Butcher Mo turns its victims into goats if they aren't one already and then have them get fucked before being sacrificed as ripe flesh... so, that's the reason you were slowly getting fur on your body each day when you woke up."
June's lips twitched constantly, "Well? What can I do to stop it?!" Her panic was... reasonable.
"There isn't any... you either turn into a goat within a month or you don't and the spirit leaves you alone," Nik shrugged, and June groaned.
"Talk about being an asshole," she rubbed her temples before a seductive smirk reached her lips, "So? All I have to do it... keep on doing that, hmm? Oh, what a terrible task I'm forced to do."
"Peh," Toph spat, "Even lying has limits!"
"Not for me~" June smirked and added, "I guess I get to be the one to give you the good news, hmm? We found a prison hold. All metal and iron."
"You did?" Nik's eyelids jumped in surprise as Suki nodded with a smirk, "Yes, we did. Thanks to Toph."
"Aw... you don't have to be so obvious... I know I am awesome!" She grinned.
"Hmm, well, let's discuss this with others later," Nik smiled, "Oh, I'm hitting the tavern today? Any company?"
He had tried to bring others along... but training and working barely left them with any energy. While it wasn't obvious before... others had started to think about having different shifts. As expected, Suki shook her head while a yawn also escaped Toph's lips. Only June got reinvigorated by the thought of getting drunk as a skunk and having her morning worse alongside a hangover... well, anything was better than slowly transforming into a fucking goat come morning.
So, Suki and Toph went into his personal space to rest, leaving Nik and June alone.
Thinking for a second, Nik inquired, "Hey, want to make the visit more interesting?"
Blinking in surprise, June's smirk turned equally lewd, "Sure, lover boy. If you can handle more than me."
Nik scoffed with a smirk. Like she didn't know already he WOULD handle her pert ass for hours to come tonight now that she threw out the challenge. Then again, that's exactly what she wanted.
So, while Nik deposited Nyla, June's pet Shirshu into his personal space to rest, June went ahead and kidnapped a stumped Jin.
***
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