With that, everybody except Bumi and Zuko advanced to the tent. Inside, they were greeted with a peculiar sight. Grandfather sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
“Generating a twister to isolate us from the rest of my army. I would’ve been proud if not for the timing of this entire situation.”
“You crossed the line, Father,” Wang said, swishing his spear. “Didn’t you warn us not to do the same thing you’re doing now?”
“I did, and I did not plan to take over the boy until I was driven from the Avatar’s body,” he said, opening his eyes. “But then I stumbled upon something fascinating when I invaded the boy’s mind through that mental probe.”
“Their benefactors are not as powerful as I was led to believe,” he smirked. “There is something beyond them. Administrators. They cannot affect the world they’ve chosen to dump their champions into in any meaningful way. They are completely isolated from it. That means we’re free to do as we please with them.”
“The geezer is lying,” Mark quickly said. “Or at least, he’s not telling the whole truth. The countdown is very much real.”
“Oh, that it is,” he said. “It’s the System’s way of punishing me for trying to steal its secrets.” He raised the stump that was his other hand, and before their very eyes, they watched as flesh and bone grew, wriggling until it stabilized into the mirror of his previous arm.
“I’ve only had the system for a few hours and I can already regrow limbs. I guarantee I’ll be able to bypass the execution order.”
The tent was deathly quiet save for the buffeting wind around them, everyone too stunned to speak. Belatedly, Aaron realized that Grandfather had healed the boy’s throat too at some point.
It was hard to argue against him, given what they’d all just witnessed, but Aaron was sure to remind himself what sort of person his Grandfather was.
“Unless you can prove that you have any capacity to break into the system, I think we'll finish what we came here to do," Aaron said.
Grandfather folded his arms behind his back and raised an eyebrow. “You let a child speak for all of you? Don’t forget that the world will not survive without me.”
“It won’t survive you either,” Wang pointed out. “Your reckless actions put us in this position in the first place.”
Grandfather turned to the rest of the Phantoms. “Is this how you all feel? You must understand that everything I’ve done is for your sake. You know, they won't be the only set of travelers that will visit our world. Your fear will leave us exposed when the next set of travelers invade our world.”
“We appreciate the concern, but we'll manage when the time comes,” Aaron said, seeing through the obvious manipulation.
“You made plans for my great-grandchildren.” Yara seethed. “You’ve lost all right to pretend as though you care.”
“This ends tonight,” Wang said. “One way or the other.”
Grandfather’s confident façade broke. His face was pale, and his eyes betrayed his pain.
“Abandoned by my offspring,” he said. “You don’t deserve all that I have given you.”
The Old man’s hand swished out, sending an avalanche of blue fire towards them at near supersonic speeds. Immediately, Mark raised a wall of reinforced earth that protected them while the rest of the phantoms layered spheres of air to safeguard them.
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The fire disintegrated the wall and blasted through three of the four shields surrounding them before finally slipping past them and burning away the remainder of the tent.
Aaron's eyes bulged at the display of power before he quickly checked on Bumi and Zuko. The tornado keeping them all safe from the army had survived, but it was considerably smaller than it’d previously been.
That soon changed as a ball of compressed air shot through the enclosure. Wind and Stones buffeted outwards and inwards, forcing them to raise yet another wall of protection from a second front.
Grandfather did not languish, noting our vulnerability, however. He shot forward, unleashing an intertwining wave of flame that shot out at near super-sonic speeds. Ren stepped forward and unleashed two powerful gusts of wind that canceled the approaching flame.
“He’s here,” Yara said, “Looking back in the direction that the airball had come from. In Aaron’s Chi senses, he saw Uncle Harlan’s simmering chi signature. He was in his captain outfit. It was a jerkin jacket, leather pants, and a loose cotton shirt. On his face was an uncharacteristic scowl that drove home just how angry he was.
“You know what to do,” Wang said, and Yara surged forward with two of her daggers drawn. She joined the team of Zuko and King Bumi as they faced the approaching tide of soldiers.
Ren and Wang approached their Father as one with their Chis roaring, moving at speeds Aaron and Mark could hardly track.
Ren wielded a staff while Wang stuck to his spear. Grandfather summoned a sword out of nowhere. The blade burned with fire, and they exchanged dozens of strikes in seconds. Jets and wide arcs of flame surged out intermittently, eviscerating everything around them for several feet.
“Are you seeing this?” Mark asked, his voice vibrating in awe. “How is this even possible?”
Aaron blinked at the impossible sight. Wang hadn’t moved nearly as fast in his previous fight. “They must be burning tons of Chi.” Even with his spiritual and Chi reinforcement, he wasn’t sure he would be able to do such a feat.
“I don’t see us lasting long against the old man,” Mark murmured.
“Wang won’t be able to keep up this tempo for long,” Aaron said, activating his spiritual senses. “And I think the same goes for the old man. Underneath it all, he still seems to be trying to break into the traveler’s system.”
“How is that even possible?” Aaron asked.
“Anything is possible with the Old man, apparently,” he muttered.
As Aaron predicted the tempo of the battle shifted considerably when Grandfather landed his first hit on Uncle Wang. It was veiled behind a fire-enhanced punch. Uncle Wang stepped back, only to be bowled to the side by a concussive wave of air.
Aaron’s eyes bulged. ‘He can airbend.’
Aaron flashed forward to quickly intercept his Grandfather, but it was too late. The old man slipped under Ren’s guard in a moment of distraction, and Judo flipped him into Wang, who was just getting up before unleashing the most powerful cone of fire Aaron had ever seen. It engulfed them and carried them through the tornado, keeping the thousands of soldiers back. It started an enormous blaze that burned red as it charred the bodies of the dying Fire and Earth Nation soldiers.
Aaron felt their Chi signatures vanish, and it was as if time itself stopped, and that single moment stretched into eternity. Again and again, he witnessed it happen. His father and Uncle’s life flickering out. A scream ripped from his throat as he charged Grandfather with his blade drawn, primed with a wind blade and white flash.
Aaron reappeared in front of the old man with a blade aimed at his neck, yet he managed to duck in time. Aaron landed on the ground, pivoting hard into a quick stab charged with a spirit and Chi-infused Stinger. He followed with a dozen others.
Somehow, Paku weaved through it all but at a considerably slower speed. Near the end, one of his strikes had come uncomfortably close, prompting Paku to shove him back with a powerful gust. With his one-with-the-world, the Paku should be near-omniscient on the battlefield, but for some reason, his body couldn't keep up.
Aaron's eyes shone with intention as he zipped back into his Grandfather's range.
“They were your sons," he growled. "How could you do that to them?” Paku’s eyes seemed to wander off before they met Aaron’s.
“They...they knew the risks." The answer came slowly.
Aaron frowned, noticing the shift. 'Was that remorse?'
“Don't you fucking dare pretend like you cared!" Aaron swished his sword and started to channel Chi again.
“I refuse to let some unknowable entity control our fate," Grandfather roared. "Never again, will I return home to find it on fire, my people slaughtered. Can't you see I am trying to give us all a fighting chance?" he said. "If I succeed, their sacrifices would've been worth it."
Aaron glared at him in disgust and charged, leaning into the knowledge he’d drawn from Paku’s mind. He weaved his Air bending with slashes, parries, dodges, stabs, and counter-attacks, all fuelled by Chi and spiritual energy, and lashed out with unrestrained fury.