(Woohoo! The big chapter 100!! 🎉🎉)
Time. It continued to pass as innumerable corrupted spirits rushed towards Jathr, yet they were met with fierce resistance. The weakest spirits would be torn to shreds before entering the tornado; the stronger ones, capable of withstanding the powerful, deadly winds, would be picked up from the ground, as the winds inside the tornado were even stronger.
Those who were able to traverse through the interior of the tornado without being lifted from the ground would meet their swift end from the countless, much smaller, yet equally large tornadoes spinning in the opposite direction. With two opposing forces acting on their bodies, they would be ripped in half before dissipating into the atmosphere; hopefully, to be reborn free from Father Glowworm's corruption.
As for those who managed to survive even all that, they'd be forced to deal with me, and very few reached me; however, it was relative. The amount of corrupted spirits was staggering, a mind-bogging number, and as such, even though only a fraction of a fraction managed to survive through all of it, I was still forced to personally deal with several corrupted spirits.
Worst of all, the strongest spirits would always retain some of their original ego, which made them a much more formidable opponent. It's only been around two hours since the battle started, and currently, I am already fighting two Koh's, three Wan Shi Tong's, two General Old Irons, and one Mother of Faces, who happened to be the most formidable spirit I've ever encountered.
I've already killed multiple of these enemies, but as time continues to pass, more and more of them arrive, and it wasn't like I was in peak condition either.
Leaping backward, I swung my bo-staff, launching a powerful gust of wind that knocked away the two lunging Koh's before slamming the but of my bo-staff on the ground, narrowly evading a General Old Iron. As for the other one, he attacked me from behind, though with nothing escaping my senses, I opened my palm, creating a small air scooter as I rode across his iron-coated arm, reaching his shoulder, where I proceeded to use the air to spin me before releasing a sharp blade of air, though unfortunately, his iron armor protected him.
However, my first attack was merely a ruse as I landed on his shoulder and clenched my bo-staff, gathering a tremendous amount of air at the tip of my bo-staff, creating a massive vortex, which I rapidly compressed—using my own technique, the Rasen. Once I finished compressing it, making it equivalent to the size of his eyeball, I thrust my bo-staff into his head, tearing through his tough iron armor and piercing his head, causing his body to rapidly destabilize before he dissipated.
As I fell to the ground, the three Wan Shi Tong's flew at me from different angles, brandishing their talons as they sought to rip my flesh. Knowing I wouldn't be able to dodge, I took a deep breath and released a mighty scream, using sound-bending and causing a potent shockwave to tear through the air as it hit the three of them, disorienting them and knocking them to the ground.
Landing softly, I use this brief respite to catch my breath, only to be attacked by tree-like roots, forcing me to evade each one deftly; I couldn't get even grazed by one, otherwise it would spell my end as the one attacking was Mother of Faces. As the Mother of Koh, she could also steal someone's face, though even without a face, with my ability to sense through the wind, I'd still be able to fight; what's scariest about her is that she's able to manipulate memories.
If she so much as touches me and erases my memories? 'I'll die.' Maybe not in the literal sense, but technically, Aang, the current me, would die, and a whole other personality would be born.
With her numerous attacks preventing me from escaping, I punched my fists together, manifesting a powerful vortex around me that rapidly expanded, pushing away the tree-like roots, allowing me to back away from her. Yet, I was given no break, as Koh's attacked me from the left and right, prompting me to slam my bo-staff onto the head of one, forcing it down while I leaped and did a backflip kick underneath the other one, forcing it upwards while I slipped right between them.
'They give no breaks.' Wiping sweat, I spun my bo-staff in my hand and thrust it forward, creating a wind shield that absorbed and cushioned the force of General Old Iron's punch, which would've otherwise flattened me and the ground I was standing on.
Jumping, soaring into the air, I was about to attack him, but the three Tong's had regained their bearings and flew at me once more, forcing me to cancel my attack as I pointed my palm at three of them before pulling back, creating a large area void of air, causing them to helplessly fall.
While still in the air, I created small vortexes beneath my feet and kicked the air, bursting them with enough force to give me lift as I practically flew through the sky towards the three Tong's. Reaching them, I swung my bo-staff three times, launching three sharp blades of wind that each slashed through the Tong's causing their bodies to destabilize before rapidly dissipating.
"H-Half down." Muttering softly, I let the air return to normal as I turned around, quickly dodging the attacks from Mother of Face while lunging at General Old Iron, who was manipulating some of the iron covering his skin, hurling it at me. Blocking them with my bo-staff, I knocked away the two Koh's and narrowly dodged General Old Iron's punch while doing the same I'd done with the previous one.
Achoring myself onto his armor, I thrust my bo-staff, which had a highly compressed rasen at its end, into his head; it tore through his defenses and penetrated deep into him, causing him to slowly dissipate. Leaping off his body, I quickly distanced myself from Mother of Faces and lunged at the two Koh's, wailing at them incessantly with blunt attacks and powerful gusts of wind, so although their carapace remained intact with just dents, after a few minutes, they too began to dissipate.
With the two Kohs out of the equation, I shifted my focus, faintly smirking since now that it was one-on-one, I could handle this easily. Landing just outside Mother of Faces' range, I stabbed my bo-staff into the ground and pointed both of my palms at her, surrounding her with a large vortex, which she rapidly attacked, destabilizing it, but as time went on, her efforts grew pointless.
I'd already tried attacking her before, and any damage she sustained would be quickly healed, given her tree-like body. If I cut off one of her arms, horns, or even face, they'd just regrow given enough time, and since several other spirits had attacked me, she'd always be given enough time to heal. 'But not anymore.'
Once my vortex firmly surrounded her, the sharp winds slowly damaging her, I lifted her from the ground, uprooting her like a tree, and floated her in the sky as I slowly compressed the vortex, causing its power to grow.
It was a slow process, taking multiple minutes of focused effort, but eventually I compressed the vortex until it was the size of my fist, while the last remnants of her body dissipated into the atmosphere.
Seeing Mother of Faces finally gone, I lowered my arms and plopped onto the ground, gasping for breath. "I-I'm so exhausted." Fighting nonstop against powerful spirits while constantly using my chi to keep the numerous tornadoes active was draining.
However, my minute of rest was interrupted when I sensed several others near me, having managed to survive the brutal onslaught of tornadoes. Raising my head, I looked at the approaching spirits, groaning when I saw two Mother of Faces, leading the pack, followed by five General Old Iron, six Koh's, and nine Tong's.
As I stared at them, I sighed deeply and stood up, ignoring the aching of my muscles and my headache as I grabbed my bo-staff. "Honestly, I'm just satisfied so long as Vaatu or Raava don't appear." Steadying my breathing, I narrowed my eyes and lunged at the new enemies, ensuring no spirits reached Jathr.
___
___
I've lost count of how long has passed; all I knew was that I was at the end of the rope; I'd faced countless spirits and fought as fiercely as I could. However, I'd reached my limit. I've grown weak and injured, my head was pounding nonstop from my lack of chi, the tornadoes were nowhere to be seen, and I was exhausted beyond belief.
And to top it all off, facing me was the horde of corrupted spirits; with no chi to control the air, they were able to easily enter the valley. They were charging towards us in a frenzy; I could even see some of the most troublesome spirits scattered amongst them.
"D-Damn. L-Looks like I wasn't enough." Wiping blood from my mouth, I closed my eyes and deeply sighed, though when I opened them, the horde had stopped. Not only that, the corruption leaking into this realm from the skies had vanished; any trace of corruption was nowhere to be seen, not just in the realm, but from the horde as well.
"Hehe, t-they did it? W-What timing." Faintly chuckling, I fell forward, losing consciousness while collapsing onto the ground.