Kuvira rolled over onto her side with a groan. Her body reacted sluggishly, each twitch of her muscles a desperate struggle to obey her mental commands. She had never been chi-blocked before, but she'd heard Korra describe its effects. Pins and needles rippled along her arms and legs, rendering them limp and near useless, and she wouldn't be able to bend now for at least an hour. The mere act of sitting upright proved a near impossibility, as she tightened the muscles in her abdomen to lift herself from the ground.

Still in her chi-blocking stance, Ty Lee stood over both her and Korra at the ready. The remainder of Sen's puppets stood over the others—Suki over Katara, Mai over Toph, and Sokka over Zuko. If she'd been paying more attention, Kuvira might have seen them coming. Should have seen them coming. If not for Anraq revealing himself to be Sen in disguise... Dear spirits, Anraq. If Sen had been disguised as him, then his essence was already gone, same as so many others.

Kuvira's thoughts warped away from any concerns she had about Anraq as the last glowing remnants of the Mother of Faces disappeared, absorbed by Sen into his body. In mere seconds, the only being that could have helped them, that could have shown them how to stop this mad spirit, had been wiped from existence, and perhaps their last hope along with it.

"Korra…" she uttered, arms shaking like jelly as she pushed her way up to her elbows. "What do we do?"

Korra sat upright, arms hanging limp at her sides, and stared wild-eyed at Sen before them. "I… I don't know."

A mocking cackle lifted from the spirit's throat. He glared back at them, gaze narrow. "Did you really think I would allow myself to fall victim to the same demise as before? No, this time around I made sure there would be no one who could stop me, not even my own mother. All I needed was to find her, and then you led me right to her. I suppose I owe you my thanks."

"How do we stop him now?" Kuvira asked, turning a frantic look to her wife. "How do we save his victims?"

"You don't." Sen stood straight and tall, his eyes glaring daggers into the Avatar. "My mother was the only being who could remove my essence and lock me away. Now that she's gone, I cannot be stopped."

Korra bowed her head, staring at the ground. With a reflexive jerk of her arms, she managed to curl her fingers into fists. Her body trembled, near unresponsive after being chi-blocked, but still she forced her way upright. "No, that's not true. There's still me. There's still Raava."

She made it halfway to her feet before Ty Lee aimed another strike at her ribs. The blow never hit. Korra lashed out with exceptional quickness and grasped the chi-blocker's wrist, stopping the attack cold. When she lifted her head again, her eyes erupted with a bright white light and narrowed into a piercing glare. Casting her arm aside, she threw Ty Lee airborne into the surrounding bushes. "We can stop you. We will stop you."

A grin carved across Sen's face. "Oh you can try, Avatar, but I think you'll be sorely disappointed. Besides, have you forgotten your friends?"

The spirit's words gave Korra pause. She glanced back over her shoulder. Suki stood with her sword drawn, pressing the edge of the blade close against Zuko's throat, while Mai held a pair of knives against Toph's neck, and Sokka had hooked the curve of his boomerang below Katara's jaw. If Korra made a move against Sen right now, those three would die. If she didn't, there was a good chance all of humanity would die along with them. The choice should have been simple, from a logical perspective, but then humans were seldom logical by nature. That reality held Korra back, on the cusp of attacking.

"Oh come on, Korra, you're not really falling for that, are you?" Toph chided, with a disappointed scoff. "Don't you worry about us. We got everything under control."

The original metalbender flashed a smirk and shifted her wrists. The knives in Mai's hands, as well as Suki's sword and Sokka's boomerang, twisted away from their owners and scattered through the air. The earth beneath their feet churned, sliding Mai backwards into Suki. The two women promptly toppled over each other. Katara took the opportunity to roll away and strike her brother backwards with a lashing whip of water. Once she was free, she kicked up to her feet and regrouped with Toph and Zuko.

"Go on, Korra, stop him!" Zuko called, with a pair of flames burning in his palms. "We'll handle them."

"Try not to hurt them!" Katara urged, as she watched the other three recover. Ty Lee stumbled out of the bushes a moment later to join them. "Those are still our friends."

"And my wife," Zuko added. "Believe me, I know."

Toph shifted her stance and pushed her hands forward, causing a ripple of earth to race forward and slide Sokka's feet apart. The poor man yelped as he fell with his legs extended, performing an exaggerated split on the ground. "Relax, Sugar Queen, I got it."

Katara raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Really? Nicknames, right now?"

Toph gave another flick of her wrists, causing Sokka to spin around in a circle and fall flat on his face. "You know it!"

Zuko grumbled, as he ducked below a pair of knives thrown by Mai. "At least you're not 'Fire Flake'."

"Ha!" Toph laughed. "I'd almost forgotten that one! Thanks for reminding me, Fire Flake!"

With her friends taking control of the situation, Korra turned to face Sen. Unalaq stood close by, watching, but making no move to assist his master. Sen didn't move, either. He waited with a mocking sneer carved across his face, daring her to attack.

"Are you ready, Raava?" she asked.

The Light Spirit's voice echoed in her mind. "I am always ready, Korra."

Korra's eyes glowed brighter, fueled more intensely by the Avatar State than ever before. Everything was riding on their success here. Everyone was counting on them. They could not fail. They wouldn't. Lifting upward on a whirling cyclone, she flew across the ground and attacked. "Your nightmare ends here, Sen!"

She might not have any idea how to remove his essence, but either way she'd have to beat him first, or at least weaken him. Once she had subdued him, she and Raava could figure it out from there. At least, that was the plan. Scorching jets of fire erupted from her palms. Sen remained stationary, continuing to smirk as the flames wrapped around his human vessel and left him unharmed. Korra scowled, and switched to a different element. The air beneath her feet vanished, allowing her to plummet downward.

The moment her boots met the ground, she shifted her stance forward and exploded the earth between them. Jagged crags burst forth from beneath the spirit and roared skyward. Sen emerged from the debris, falling down from the air towards the water of the open spirit pool behind him. He hit the water not with a splash, but with a nimble crouch on his feet, standing atop the mirrored surface as though he weighed no more than a feather.

Korra leaped into the pool to join him. Water churned beneath her feet, lifting her upon a roaring wave as she gave chase. With a firm thrust of her arms, a towering spire of water exploded skyward and enveloped the spirit. Lowering her arms again, she gave a deep, steady exhale. The tower froze, locking Sen beneath a solid block of ice several feet thick.

Korra waited. The water in the pool calmed, sinking back into its pristine, mirrored state, broken only by the icy crag at its center. Had it worked? Had she trapped Sen for the time being? If she had, she might have bought herself some time to come up with a new plan. Her thoughts went answered by a loud bang, as a deep fissure ripped open across the front of the ice. A second bang surged, as the fissure exploded, releasing a spray of icy shrapnel so violent it lifted Korra from her feet. She flew airborne back to shore, bouncing across the ground three times before righting herself with a steadying burst of air.

When Korra looked back at the water to find her opponent, she found Sen standing face-to-face with her, staring directly into her eyes. An audible gasp lifted into her throat. She took an instinctive step backwards and whirled an arm forward to strike. Sen countered with a motion nearly too fast for normal eyes to follow. Clenching her wrist, she forced her arm back down to her side. Korra swung with her other arm, but he did the same.

Sen held her with an iron grip, firm and unyielding. Her muscles strained and flexed, desperate to break free, but even with the strength of the Avatar State she could not budge from the spirit's grasp. Deep, frigid dread spread outward from Sen's touch, rooting her feet to the ground with an overwhelming storm of despair that sent her heart into a pounding frenzy. The steel of her demeanor vanished, replaced instead by instinctive fear, as she lifted her glowing eyes in panic.

What kind of power was this?

"You are wrong, Avatar." Sen leaned closer so that his face was mere inches from hers. A wicked grin curled wide across his face. "This nightmare is only beginning."

A violent tug ripped at something deep within Korra. Not merely in her body, but in her very soul, as though a piece of herself was being torn away. Pain surged through her chest. Intense, convulsive, and raw. Her vision went dark. She couldn't see anything. Couldn't even hear anything. At least, not anything from the outside world. Deep within her own being, she bore witness to a shrill scream of torment so horrible that her heart seized, and brought her to the edge of tears. That scream became all the more impossible to bear when she realized who it was.

Raava!

"Korra!" Kuvira staggered to her knees, her body still limp and unresponsive. While the physical effects of chi-blocking were beginning to fade, her body continued to pulse with pins and needles. She could do little more than look on, unable to bend or even stand as she watched the scene unfold before her. "No!"

The light faded from Korra's eyes. Her legs buckled and sagged, until she fell limp in Sen's grasp. The dark spirit's human vessel opened his mouth wide, and with a deep inhale he drew out a glowing wisp from her throat. The wisp floated in midair for a brief moment, before drifting into Sen's open mouth and disappearing.

Zuko and Katara rushed to Kuvira's side, their faces alight with panic. Toph joined them, but her expression was one of confusion and uncertainty, unable to see what was happening. Behind them, Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, and Suki lay unconscious, bound tight with earthen restraints.

"What's going on?" Toph asked, pointing a blank stare towards the commotion. A sudden burst of wind erupted, forcing them back a step.

"He… he's stealing Raava from her," Zuko uttered, in horrific revelation. He tried to take a step forward to help, but the rush of energy pushed harder, flooding the air with a physical force that held him back.

Katara attempted her own step forward, but the force pushing against them grew stronger. She raised her arms to shield her face, barely able to even keep her eyes open to watch. "I can't get close! There's too much energy!"

The display ceased moments later, as the wind died down and the waves of energy settled to an overwhelming calm. Korra's head slumped forward, eyes closed. Sen finally released her and let her fall. Unable to move or catch herself, she hit the ground in a crumpled heap, motionless in the sand.

"Korra!" Kuvira hobbled forward, fighting against her own deadened legs long enough to collapse back to the ground at her wife's side. "Can you hear me?"

Korra looked straight upward, but her gaze was distant and unfocused, as though staring straight through Kuvira at the sky. Her eyes remained open only a second longer before finally wilting closed.

"Korra?" Kuvira's voice faltered with a fearful shudder. Korra felt limp in her grasp. Limp, and cold, almost like she was… "No… no, no, no, no, no! Korra!"

Mocking laughter echoed over her anguished shouts. Sen looked down at his hands. Long, glowing cracks had begun to form along his skin, cracks that spread and broke like fissures across ice. "Yes… so much power within that essence. I can feel it. This physical vessel cannot hold me any longer! I am—!"

Zzzzzttttt!

A sizzling wave of lightning ripped through the air and struck the spirit square in the chest, forcing him back a step. He fell to a knee, but the lightning didn't let up. It held strong in one continuous stream, flooding an endless current of electricity through him. Sen heaved a deep, pained grunt, and lifted his gaze upward to find its source. Azula stood at the other end of the bolt, two fingers extended to emit the endless surge.

"Sen!" Azula shrieked, with a splitting crack to her voice. Tears streaked down her cheeks, a look of panicked distress twisted across her face the likes of which she hadn't expressed since Zuko's death at the hands of Yula. It was a look that did not suit her, a look that seemed out of place on the normally composed and fierce woman, like a hateful scowl on an innocent child. "Give Annie back! Give Kanna back!" She pumped more of her chi into the flow of lightning. The bolt surged stronger, heating the air to an unbearable degree. "Give them back!"

In spite of the lightning coursing through his body, Sen rose to his feet and stood firm. The glowing cracks on his body split open wide, and he smirked. Casting an arm forward, the lightning reversed directions in an instant, pulsing out of his own body and redirecting towards Azula. Sizzling electricity tore into the ground at her feet and exploded. Azula launched airborne. With a sickening crack, she struck the trunk of a tree behind her and plummeted back to earth.

"Azula!" Zuko called, running to his sister's side.

"What do we do?" Katara stared at Sen, watching as the glowing cracks grew more intense across his body. "Do we fight?"

Zuko lifted Azula into his arms and hurried back to their side. "No, we can't fight him like this. We need to get out of here. Now!"

"I'm on it!" Toph spread her arms out, causing the earth beneath them to shift away from the rest of the ground. It pulled them all close together—her, Zuko and Azula, Katara, Korra and Kuvira, and even Sokka, Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee. With another flick of her wrists, the earthen sled rocketed forward towards the surrounding forest, forcing trees and brush out of the way to give them a clear path.

The last thing any of them saw before breaking into the treeline was the physical body of Shin Tsang burning away in a blinding flash of light, and a set of clicking, insectoid legs emerging from the shell.