Avatar - Conquering the Elements-Chapter 182. The Final Battle

Spirit Realm. Day of Harmonic Convergence. Roku-Yuki-Yo-Wan.

"It's begun," I whispered softly, standing alongside my other bodies. To this day, none of my most trusted or closest allies know that all four individuals are the same person. I believe revealing such information would distance the people from me, so we'll only merge once everyone is focused on their tasks.

Above our heads, an arc of intensely concentrated spiritual energy formed. As soon as the two beams of energy merged, a powerful and blinding flash of light erupted. From the heightened tension of the spiritual particles, even the air itself seemed to thicken and grow heavier.

Not far from me stood Aang, whose task was to release Raava at the right moment. He had managed to restore nearly ninety percent of the spirit of light and harmony's power, and depending on the situation, the now-awakened Raava herself would decide when to enter the battle. There's a tiny hope that I alone can hold back Vaatu without spending Raava's energy. The challenge is complicated by the need to not only contain the enemy in one place but also reduce his power to Raava's level, so they can create a balance.

"Long-awaited freedom!" boomed the voice of the freed spirit of darkness, engulfing everyone in his viscous and repulsive energy. Some of the weaker-willed individuals lost their sanity.

Quickly scanning the area, I exhaled in relief. Everyone responsible for creating the barrier held their ground, and their faces now showed even greater determination.

Vaatu, relatively small in size, began to grow rapidly. As we already knew, his "hollow" in the tree couldn't be called a proper prison, as it didn't even prevent him from restoring his strength. Raava, on the other hand, often had to deplete her already half-empty reserves.

"You've created the perfect conditions for me with your own hands!" Vaatu declared—I assume it's time for the obligatory villainous monologue? "I've been fully restored for a long time and could have left the Tree of Time at any moment!" I have a bad feeling about this...

"But I waited until I grew even stronger!" His massive, ray-like figure trembled slightly, growing larger still. At the same time, black energy began to be drawn toward him from all sides, leaving the bodies of other dark spirits. It was clear that this event reduced the overall power of all enemy spirits by about thirty percent, though the intensity of the clashes didn't lessen in the slightest. Apparently, Vaatu was reclaiming the energy he had once lent.

"He's stronger than before!" a worried female voice echoed in my ears. "Be careful, child of another world!" The spirit of light never called me anything else. It seems my neutral energy puzzled her, as by the laws of this world, it simply shouldn't exist in this universe.

"Something like this is what Wan Shi Tong expected..." I thought grimly. We had assumed that the excess energy he had already released wouldn't help him, though we didn't rule out the possibility that he could become even more powerful.

Neat rows of mages began to concentrate, infusing small stones inscribed with Wan Shi Tong's writings. The space immediately filled with the colossal energy of all four elements.

"Your toys won't help you!" Vaatu roared, his terrifying tentacles moving chaotically.

"It's good he's underestimating us for now," I thought, wasting no more time as I merged with all my bodies. Closing my eyes briefly, I focused on my inner world. Deep within, hidden away, lay my true strength—my inner spirit. Soon, a figure bathed in dim light appeared before me. If Korra's astral projection was blue, mine leaned more toward beige. The energy, incomprehensible even to me, arose from the vast diversity of sources coexisting within my body.

In the next moment, I opened my eyes, already thirty meters above the ground, encased within my divine spirit. Yet, Vaatu was nearly twice the size of my astral projection, clearly demonstrating the difference in our powers.

"Interesting," the spirit of chaos remarked, examining me like an unknown creature in a zoo. Too bad it's a petting zoo, and I'm clearly about to be in pain...

I couldn't maintain this forced state for long, so without wasting time on unnecessary talk, I immediately headed toward the spirit. From my back erupted numerous "tentacles" that latched onto his appendages. Upon contact with his body, a hissing sound erupted, as if fire and water had collided. In those places, the light of my projection dimmed slightly. It seems that without my neutral energy, I would have lost my integrity long ago.

"I'm waiting for my true opponent!" he declared, sending a concentrated beam of dark energy at me. Dodging was no longer an option, as I stood mere steps from his face. There was hardly any space—literally five or six steps and we'd be near the mages. I managed to withstand the blow, but my consciousness grew foggy. Before a second passed, he sent an even more deadly beam, which I couldn't endure. My massive body was hurled upward, nearly crushing the firebenders. Fortunately, even now I could still control the elements, and at the last moment, I used airbending to prevent the collision.

"Pathetic creatures, who could only hide on lion-turtles!" he sneered, unleashing several more energy blasts that left entire rows of our mages empty...

"Fill the empty spots! Quickly!" boomed the voice of the spirit of knowledge. Other mages from the reserve rushed to fill the gaps without needing to be told, ensuring the barrier's creation wasn't interrupted. We knew it wouldn't be that simple, and we'd accounted for, if not all, then many possible scenarios.

"Damn!" Even the airbenders were affected, and many of them were familiar to me from my teaching days.

Not giving him another chance to wreak havoc, I quickly reached him, wrapping my arms around the base of his body. This time, I didn't have enough limbs to bind all his tentacles, and some continued to strike randomly, taking the lives of benders. I had to control each new appendage, placing a colossal strain on my four streams of consciousness. Additionally, Vaatu didn't ignore me—his body generated new dark energy beams. My astral form seemed to melt, transmitting excruciating pain to my physical body. I couldn't suppress the pain with life energy, so I had to grit my teeth and endure.

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Such close contact with negative energy clearly eroded my will. Unconsciously, more and more shameful thoughts crept in, convincing me that nothing could be changed—it would be better to bargain with Vaatu for my life and my family's lives. The worst part was that these thoughts seemed increasingly rational...

Has it been thirty-five seconds already? Or... have we already lost?

"Don't give up!" A strong female voice washed over my body like a warm wave, restoring clarity to my mind. Shaking my head, I noticed that much had changed on the battlefield: Raava's massive, ray-like body stood beside Vaatu, and nearly half the benders had been replaced by spirits. Even my wives and Tomoko stood among the airbenders.

"So many lives lost forever..." I thought bitterly, finally looking at my pitiful state. My astral figure had shrunk significantly, so now I seemed to be embracing just one leg of the spirit of darkness and chaos. Numerous deep cracks had formed across my body's surface. Most likely, if Raava hadn't entered the fight, I wouldn't have lasted much longer.

"Father, I believe in you!" Tomoko suddenly shouted, momentarily distracted from her task. She must have seen that I'd finally come to my senses.

"Chief Yuki! We're with you!" another voice unexpectedly called from the waterbenders.

"Teacher Yo, let's finish this quickly—otherwise, you won't have any students left!" a girl said, seemingly with a smile, though it looked too artificial. As far as I remember, a manly-looking man—her future husband, another of my students from the first cohort—had been standing beside her earlier...

"I probably shouldn't have underestimated their perceptiveness," I thought. After all, I'm not some specially trained spy who can masterfully alter my behavior. Most likely, many had already guessed but kept quiet.

Somehow, my shoulders straightened, and confidence returned to my eyes.

"Aaah!" Letting out a battle cry, I began to grow in size, simultaneously sealing my "wounds." Will—this is the most important connecting force within the inner spirit. Until now, I'd relied too heavily on my sources, inadvertently convincing myself that I was a full step below Vaatu and therefore inherently weaker. No, it was all fundamentally wrong. Within each of us lies an unshakable essence that can stand against the entire world!

"I'll hold him—act now!" the smaller Raava entwined her tentacles around Vaatu's body, immobilizing him.

"Ora-ora-ora!" Of course, I wanted to shout it aloud, but some part of me was too embarrassed. With the enemy immobilized, I began to strike quickly with my fists. With each blow, dark energy spilled from the spirit's body, letting me know that some damage was being done.

"No! I won't allow it!" The game was over, and Vaatu began to take things seriously. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for him, it was too late. Just then, Wan Shi Tong informed me that only five seconds remained until the barrier's completion.

I had to start literally burning through my energy. Vaatu still held the advantage—I needed to equalize their chances with Raava as quickly as possible. My mind raced, searching for a new way to strengthen myself. With no other choice, I began to scrape together as much energy as I could. At one point, the damage increased nearly tenfold! But the cost was high. The fire source completely extinguished, as did one of my consciousness streams.

"Even more power!" Soon, the earth and water sources joined them. I didn't care if they could recover in the future—the main thing was to defeat Vaatu at all costs.

"Get out of there!" a loud voice echoed in my head—the great owl's. Delivering one final, elegant uppercut, I immediately began to leave the battle area. Overwhelming weakness engulfed my body, and someone's hands carried me out of the barrier's coverage.

"Close the barrier!" Despite feeling horribly weak, I found the strength to turn my body and witness the spectacle created by the united forces of spirits and mages. A massive, spherical, four-colored barrier began to enclose the two most powerful spirits in this world. From the other side came Vaatu's final curses, his body firmly held by Raava.

And as soon as the barrier was fully formed, other equally mesmerizing events began to unfold. The intertwined bodies of the Great Spirits filled the entire space, forming something akin to a three-dimensional yin-yang symbol—a testament to the unity of opposites. I would have continued to admire this sight, but the world had other plans.

It seemed as though entire fragments began to detach from the spirit world. Out of the corner of my eye, I even saw one of Ba Sing Se's administrative buildings—an entire group of mages had fallen into it. Overall, this development was encouraging, meaning the world wouldn't bury us all here.

"Stay close to each other! Ideally, each group should have one mage of each element and at least one practitioner!" I quickly shouted, using life energy. My energy body immediately responded with searing pain—I'd overexerted myself too much that day, and it seemed recovery would take a long time.

"We're here, Father!" Apparently hearing my voice, all members of my family rushed to me. Each bore injuries of varying degrees, but most importantly—they were all alive.

Soon, I found myself in Dria's arms, surrounded by the happy faces of my girls. I didn't even have the strength to move a finger, but my state remained contemplative. I enjoyed hearing my daughters' chatter, seeing my wives' concerned faces, even just breathing this air... It's so good to be alive.