During my time training with Tof, not only did I manage to teach her something new, but I also uttered many wise truths myself. Of course, these revelations concerned battles; earth magic allowed for the use of a myriad of powerful tricks to defeat the enemy, and throwing stones was only a crude but effective basic technique. The most effective technique was changing the landscape. If the action was not taking place at sea, then you had complete control over the battlefield. It was not even necessary to use the arena to attack the enemy!
If sand is about a subtle and dexterous approach, then earth is the ultimate destructive force in the role of an armoured tank. Few people came up with so many ways to surprise the enemy with forceful techniques, which I wasn't very good at, but Tof happily shared every idea, and in the evenings, while resting from training, she would start a conversation about cool and destructive tricks. At such moments, she seemed the most cheerful. I practised one of her techniques separately from all the others, because its power could help, even despite the fact that I was kind of a trickster.
The Qi instantly spread across a large area of our clearing, capturing and subjugating the entire ground and the stones beneath it. A tenfold response to a large explosion should have been terrifying, but more importantly, it should have destroyed the trees my opponent was hiding behind. With a swing of my weapon, I used a single thin iron fan to launch a wave of rising earth that took the form of huge hexagons. Like a water wave, they began to flow forward, grinding all the trees in their path into small pieces.
Before the horizontal landslide could reach the mage, the stones were unfortunately destroyed by a new explosion, leaving only huge elevations on either side, a kind of gorge, but now I could see my opponent perfectly. A real bruiser, a head taller than me, and not even an earth mage! The two-and-a-half-metre-tall giant was breathing heavily, his chest heaving, but his narrowed gaze never left me for a second.
The distance between us was only ten metres, just enough time to throw my sphere. And he would have had time to form an explosion and blow us both up, which I understood perfectly well.
"...So, whoever attacks first wins? - Still not opening my eyes, I could feel him shifting his fingers, like a cowboy in the Wild West, getting ready to shoot at the perfect moment. It's funny that we both rely on our third eye in this battle. However, my opponent was a little short-sighted; his third eye only allowed him to attack.
Spirit*
In the blink of an eye, a large cobblestone torn from the ground flew into the back of his head, causing him to stagger. At the same moment, I reached the mercenary and delivered a powerful blow that could have knocked him out. However, the iron hand in his way only made a metallic clang. He came to his senses catastrophically quickly and hung over me at full height. For the first time in my life, after all my training, I had to raise my head so high to look someone in the eye. His muscles were incomparable to mine, apparently pumped up from the inability to use magic in close proximity. And indeed, he could have killed most of the mages - deftly reaching for my neck, apparently to break it with one squeeze, he did not realise how his hand had become trapped in my iron grip.
"Huh?" Seeing my palm crush the prosthesis into a pulp, he opened his eyes. The next moment, the limb was gone, but the prosthesis continued to grind, unable to move. The prosthetic leg also began to twitch and quickly dropped to his right knee. The mercenary watched in horror as my hands roughly controlled such a solid object as if it were an ordinary doll.
Finally, deigning to open his eyes, he looked at this silent thing sprawled on the ground.
"I was planning to disappear from the radars of Zhao and the Fire Nation. I'm sorry, you'll probably never see them again... scum.
***
My dear enemy, who had shown all the charms of the wonderful magic of explosions, was now chained in shackles, with a very strong steel mask made from his own prosthetics. While the third eye on the mercenary's head was closed, it was safe to say that he would not be able to perform any tricks — even though he was capable of shooting his beams from anywhere, literally, but he could only control his abilities normally, without being blown up by his own power, by concentrating on his forehead, where a tattoo of unknown purpose was tattooed. Fully aware that Afka would be dying to know what all this was for, how the magic worked, and whether there were any other members of the explosive community, I began to search the unconscious body.
The mercenary kept all his belongings with him in an inconspicuous belt bag attached to his back. To my surprise, I found a couple of burn ointments, a sharp razor and a scroll of unknown purpose. I quickly unfolded the latter and understood why Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Man had been so slow to destroy my fortress.
Several letters, addressed, as I had suspected, to Zhao, were nothing less than extortion. More precisely, the mercenary had apparently been given orders to destroy Shen Guan, the payment had been made, but there was no information about killing all its inhabitants and destroying the second fortress. When most of the soldiers moved to an even stronger position, the mercenary realised that he could extort an additional sum. He mocked the inhabitants and at the same time corresponded with the Commander.
"Zhao almost agreed," I was surprised. He clearly did not want to spoil his relationship with such a talented mage and was probably planning to use him somewhere else. Well, it doesn't matter anymore.
Crumpling the piece of paper, I pointed my hand at the man in chains and, exerting a little force, lifted him into the air. Making another person literally fly was no easier than lifting myself into the air, but by clinging to bits of the ground, I managed it quite well. Returning to the fortress in this manner, I quickly realised that several surprised faces were staring at me. They were fire soldiers, who, logically, should have been kept locked up and away from such a dangerous place, but among them stood Suyuki, who blinked in surprise.
Everyone silently watched me as I walked towards the city gates. As soon as I entered, I threw the man in chains in front of the soldiers. The palette of emotions quickly changed, and the shock was diluted with pure hatred. They saw a man on whom they could vent their anger.
"You are magnificent, sand mage! - Baoqin, struck by your skill, stepped forward without exaggeration," - I have no words to express how I underestimated you, but... ha ha, you managed to defeat the best mercenary in the world!
The man raised his arms enthusiastically and ran up, kicking my captive in the stomach with all his might.
"Excellent! Dagoth, I apologise for everything I said to you, you saved us all! We will execute this monster right now, celebrate his death and lay the souls of those who died at his hands to rest. Guys, take this...
Without hesitation, I placed my heavy foot on the captive's body and glared at the crowd of jubilant soldiers who had rushed over.
"If anyone wants to kill him, they'll have to get past me first. The same goes for the soldiers of fire — I'm taking this man alive.
At that moment, the crowd froze. No, not just the soldiers, but also the captain standing nearby, who looked at me as if I had decided to make a stupid joke. Their frozen eyes said that no one had expected this. The people's reaction was easy to predict: standing before them was someone who had surely killed someone's family. But it was impossible to please everyone, just as it was impossible to pretend that the enemy's body had been buried somewhere under the rubble, which could have been done to avoid a confrontation. But any attempt to wriggle out of it would have counteracted the chakras that were already open and could have prevented the next ones from opening. There was only one way out: to arrogantly raise my chin and narrow my eyes threateningly.
"Are you kidding?" Baoqin asked me.
"I will make this man's life hell, but his fate will be decided by King Omasu, not you.
"This damn monster killed a dozen of my loyal soldiers!" Behind the captain, who was barely holding back, stood a group of warriors who were not in a friendly mood. "Look into their eyes. Into the eyes of those whose families were torn apart.
"And look into mine... and tell me, do you really want to do something stupid? - The situation could have ended any way... but at that moment, Suyuki came down and stood next to me, protecting me. Then all the other Kioshi warriors began to approach, first a couple, then the whole squad, surrounding the chained monster like a real prisoner of war.
"Suyuki, what about you...
"I agree with the Captain. This man must be killed... but I cannot stand by and let someone who has helped us several times be harmed.
"Fyur! - Afka, who had appeared near Suyuki, rubbed herself against the leg of the squad captain.
"Hmm... I suggest we don't escalate the conflict, but instead negotiate diplomatically," I quickly suggested not escalating the conflict after such a difficult situation and agreeing on a peaceful resolution, already imagining Anubis's choice, which would be to sever all ties with the local people. Moreover, Anubis said that the conflict could be resolved in a way that would leave everyone satisfied.
***
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