Playing Airbender (Legend of Korra SI)

Chapter 136 136

Zaheer slowly turned his head in Akashi's direction.

Just a few hours ago, no, maybe less, he had talked with Akashi in the spirit world, and the latter had told him that he would be coming to him.

Now, Akashi was sitting next to him, reading the ancestor's wisdom.

'Is it one of the hallucinations one has when they meditate with a weak mind? Is my mind that weak?' Zaheer thought.

"Are you denying it in your head? In case you are wondering, you have not gone crazy," commented Akashi, seeming to be aware of what was going through Zaheer's mind.

"No. This can't be. Even with a flying bison," explained Zaheer. "But again, people here talk about you as if you are the one who reached the peak of airbending. But one would always realize that there are no peaks. You can only climb more."

"And you're at the peak of your life. There is only a fall." Akashi said, "and I'm the one who's going to bury you to the ground. Or maybe not. I may vaporize you to nothing."

"And despite claiming to be an air nomad, you are thinking of taking a life. That goes against the teachings of a monk." Replied Zaheer.

"Well, I was taught by Tenzin's kids, so they didn't teach me anything." Akashi laughed about it. "Not anything mental, that's what I mean."

And just then, Tenzin arrived with a few others.

"I've heard that you are a man who fights for freedom and the oppressed," Zaheer said to Akashi, "I'm trying to achieve a world where no man like you has to go through hell to achieve what you achieved, and for that, I've done what I've done. I understand that you have some earthly attachments, but you have to think about the rest of the world."

Akashi shook his head.

Did Zaheer think that he could convince Akashi to join his side so that they could achieve a better world?

People tend to think that he created a rebellion for the sake of the weak and the poor. But he did it to take down a tyrant in the most peaceful way that wouldn't harm the innocents, for personal reasons.

"Zaheer," Akashi called, "You forget that you are talking to an angry boyfriend whose girlfriend you are targeting. You're an international criminal above that, and killing you on the spot is just logical."

Even if Zaheer was a good person at heart, his methods were wrong. And the canon showed it when he created a more chaotic world than the one he had in mind.

"Zaheer!" Tenzin opened his eyes widely, looking at the person sitting next to Akashi. "I see. You've made your way through our lines. No wonder your skills were above everyone else's."

And just like that, Zaheer tried to take Tenzin's appearance as a chance.

He stood on his hands and pushed with his feet, creating a strong current that pushed him back and attacked both Akashi and Tenzin.

Tenzin quickly swung his arms, while Akashi just stood there, the winds not touching him.

Between the small buildings in the yard, Zaheer jumped and shot air wind shots.

Akashi looked at Zaheer and his attacks, thinking that they were cute.

After leveling up for so long, Akashi felt that this was child's play.

As for Zaheer, who had defeated many people using airbending despite awakening it recently, had felt that he was onto something. He thought that Akashi wouldn't predict the patterns of his attacks and would fall for it. But Akashi simply blew forward with his mouth.

All of Zaheer's attacks were nullified.

"If you want to play, I'll play," Akashi said.

His words soon turned into massive sound waves that hit Zaheer. The frequency wasn't changed. But what was manipulated was how strong the wave was. Zaheer found himself achieving his dream of flying away… uncontrollably.

Zaheer flew out of the temple and started falling. Since the temple was on top of a mountain, the fall was anything but merciful. In the middle of rolling down, Zaheer quickly regained his balance, bent the air with his feet, and stabilized his body, before creating a spinning sphere that carried him down all the way.

'He's so strong and skillful at airbending. Just by talking, I almost lost my life to his sound waves. I didn't see them hitting me.' Zaheer thought, 'The rumors don't seem to be an exaggeration.'

You know, that old man in your neighbor, telling you exaggerated stories about their youths. Those ancient bodybuilders claiming to lift weights humanly impossible, and more.

Zaheer thought that the rumors about Akashi killing thousands with a swing was one of those exaggerations made. It's not something new, after all. And many characters in history had been overdisplayed, like that Chin, the Conqueror, who could stand winds strong enough to move an island in front of Kyoshi.

"He's not bad." Zaheer nodded to himself, "Need to re-plan my plan since he's her boyfriend."

Zaheer could understand Akashi's love for Korra, since the former had a lover as well.

"Not bad? Excuse you. I'm excellent." Akashi's voice echoed.

Zaheer slowly turned his head to see that Akashi was floating next to him.

From his facial expressions, Akashi appeared to be relaxed.

"Can't we let this go?" Zaheer asked.

"Nope." Akashi lifted his hand and waved it in front of Zaheer. The latter crossed his arms to parry it. Zaheer found himself flying in the air again, his arms cracked and almost broken.

'If I didn't create an air ball to lessen the damage, I would have lost my arms. This is inhuman strength, for sure." Thought Zaheer as he slowly turned and jumped. 'But at any time now, he will let me go, in hope that I will lead him to the others. This should be the moment.'

Meanwhile, Akashi looked at Zaheer's figure in the sky.

There was a reason why he was playing with him a bit.

And that's because Akashi didn't want to give him an easy death for targeting someone he loved.

As for letting Zaheer go so that he could lead Akashi to the other members of the Red Lotus.

Akashi had time to think about all of this in the hours he flew to this temple.

And guess what.

But cutting the snake's head, the tail would be useless.

Maybe the rest of the members of the Red Lotus order would come and target him — which would save him time, and he would deal with them very easily.

And so, Akashi aimed his finger at Zaheer, forming a small vacuum with air around it, taking the shape of a sphere.

As his finger shook, the small sphere moved at the speed parallel to the sound, hitting Zaheer in the head.

"A vacuum bullet. No noise, no pain, no extra damage. Yet, very effective when dealing with a single target."

Akashi looked as Zaheer fell, blood flowing out of his head.

[Defeating Zaheer. +20,000 exp]

'Even Tarrlok was worth more experience points than him. And I didn't have experience boost when I defeated Tarrlok.' Akashi shook his head at one of the later villains of the story.

Very soon, Tenzin arrived, stopping in front of Akashi, and looking at the falling man.