Korra stood nervously in the Agni Kai arena she had spent so much of her time training in, with the person who stood twenty metres directly in front of her, ten metres from the centre circle each. They stared each other down coldly, Azula with an evil smile on her face. She was wearing a tight, long-sleeved red shirt, and black leggings to go with it. The bun that usually kept her up was gone, letting her surprisingly short hair drop. The ninety-year-old woman looked comfortable, in contrast to Korra's pounding heart. It wasn't helped by all the spectators.
Everyone on the island had come to this match. All two hundred or so had dropped whatever they were supposed to do, whether it be cooking or guard duty, to come witness the event. In Korra's previous Agni Kai, everyone had been packed in tightly, but now, most were watching at a distance, as was the norm when two combustion benders fought. There were only forty people who stood around the edges of the arena, including Azami, surprisingly. The girl was barely capable of sitting up though, and wouldn't make eye contact with Korra. She seemed to feel guilty, somehow.
The ref was none other than Tatsuo. His long, black hair glimmered in the weak sunlight as he wordlessly regarded both Korra and Azula. At first, Korra had thought that he wouldn't be a fair ref, and she still thought that, but she soon realised that she couldn't exactly be picky. Everyone hated her, even Azami to a certain degree, by the looks of it, so she would just have to suck it up.
The most unnerving thing, funnily enough, was that no-one gave her any disrespect when she made her way to the arena. No glares, no nothing. They all just seemed to feel sorry for her, which was extremely unnerving. They'd all been letting her know that they despised her every single day, so for them to feel pity must have meant Azula wasn't the type to go easy.
It's an Agni Kai to the death! Korra thought. Of course Azula won't go easy on me!
Tatsuo stretched his hands out, either nervous or excited himself. Korra tried to keep these intruding thoughts out of her mind as she continued to stare down Azula. Azula rolled her shoulders back, stretching all of her muscles. Korra had already done so back in her house, so she just stood there, taking deep breaths in and out through her nostrils.
"This is a challenge to the death, so very little is not allowed," Tatsuo began, breaking the deafening silence. "Lightning is permitted, but any form of attack must come from your own body. You may use any means to defend yourself, so long as it does not include myself, or any spectators.
"Advice from spectators is allowed. If one wishes to forfeit during the match, they shall be killed as a consequence," Tatsuo continued. Korra swore that what the ref back during her other Agni Kai was different, but she couldn't remember what it was. Tatsuo's next lines were definitely different from what Korra had heard the last time though:
"This is an official Agni Kai for leadership of the island," Tatsuo said. "That means that there is only one option for this match to end. One must be killed by the other. Do you accept this challenge from Avatar Korra, Master?"
Korra's heart sped up as Tatsuo mentioned the obligation to kill. She didn't exactly have an ironed-out plan, but she did intend to render Azula incapable of fighting rather than kill her, however that may be. After that, she would see. Korra wasn't sure that the islanders wouldn't just accept their master being killed.
Easier said than done, Korra thought.
"I accept!" Azula declared, taking in a deep breath through her nose. Korra recognised what Azula was doing, and banished all doubts from her mind. She would have to go hard at Azula, mobility at Azula's old age didn't matter much for a combustion bender. Korra inhaled deeply through her nose.
"Begin!" Tatsuo announced from outside of the arena.
A small bullet of compressed fire shot out from Azula's forehead immediately. Korra had been anticipating this though, and tensed her whole body up as her own bullet shot out of her new tattoo. She pinpointed it on Azula's, and they met halfway. The two bullets exploded on contact, sending a shockwave throughout the arena that far exceeded the explosion. Korra's hair rippled back from the force of it, and would've thrown her bun out of place anyway if she had it in. Korra sprinted to the side to get a better angle of Azula, then skidded to a stop. The twenty-three-year-old got into the correct stance and unleashed twin streams of blue flamethrowers, which joined together into one large flamethrower. It roared towards Azula, threatening to gobble her up.
"You know that's not nearly enough to even faze me!" Azula laughed, taunting the one who had just granted the old woman her bending back. Azula held out a hand casually in front of her body, the flamethrower parting before her. She took another breath through her nose, and a bullet whizzed right through the heart of the blue flamethrower, not being slowed down in the slightest despite the effort Korra was putting into it.
Shit! Korra thought as she sensed it coming right for her. The Avatar abandoned her efforts and dived to the inside of the arena with all her strength. Half a second later, the space she had been standing in exploded with a bang. Korra avoided the worst of it, but was still thrown onto her side, scraping her arm against the harsh rock. Korra didn't let it distract it her though, and used her momentum to swing into three huge fire helicopter kicks. They sped out to meet Azula, enough force to blow up a house, but the firebending master just carelessly waved them away. The sheer heat caused most on the side lines to back away, but Azula had the opposite reaction.
"What's that?!" she lambasted, as Korra jumped to her feet. "If you're taking me for a joke, I'd warn you now to get serious. I don't take kindly to that type of treatment." The annoying thing was, Korra's attacks were 90% of her full capabilities, yet Azula wasn't even breaking a sweat.
I'll have to go at her with intent to kill if I want to try get anything out of this match, Korra realised, amazed at how powerful this woman was. Katara was meant to be one of the best waterbenders in the world back in her day, yet Korra's last memory of her was struggling to walk without the assistance of a stick. Azula hadn't firebent for three decades, and yet she was holding Korra at arm's length at the minute.
Imagine how hard it would've been for Aang back in her prime, Korra thought. She must've been a right pain in the neck.
Korra stood up, staring Azula down, who had her hands on her hips, waiting for Korra's next move. Korra decided to bring it to her, and started rotating her forearms, gathering lightning. She did seven rotations, the most she'd ever successfully managed to control in training. A huge amount of lighting started crackling around Korra, spreading eight metres in all directions, sizzling around her body. Azula raised an eyebrow, then got ready to redirect it. Korra touched her index and middle fingers together.
The water-tribe girl nearly fainted as she felt the enormous rush of energy enter her body. All of it was sucked into her stomach region, disappearing momentarily as Korra extended her right arm at Azula. Then, the entire force of it blitzed at Azula. It was a truly awe-inspiring sight to most of the people watching. The blue flash lit up the entire mountain side as Azula stared straight down the barrel of the gun.
Azula caught the lightning bolt as it zapped towards her, gritting her teeth as she struggled to contain the power. She took a few steps back as it fizzed around her, closing her eyes in concentration. One slip-up, one small mistake, and her frail heart would stop in an instant. Korra began to get a feel for the extent of Azula's power.
Korra was then taken aback, however, as Azula's expression was suddenly wiped from her face. The old lady smirked at Korra, her previous expression all an act to get Korra's hopes up. Korra's eyes widened, but there was no acting about her reaction, as Azula started dragging her fingers around the air while still holding the lightning Korra had shot at her. She gathered twice the electricity that Korra had, the immediate range of just the lightning traveling around her twenty metres in every direction. Everyone by the sides of the arena, including Tatsuo, started running away out of the zone. Even Azami managed a hobble.
Azula's smirk grew into a wide, crazy grin as she touched her fingertips together, her hair flying all over the place, the crackling sound drilling into Korra's ears. Korra shoved all external thoughts out of her mind as she prepared herself to redirect an energy nearly as strong as Kuivera's spirit cannon through her body. She pointed all four of her index and middle fingers at Azula, not taking any chances. Azula made eye contact with Korra, then let loose her power.
"AGH!" Korra shouted as the lightning zapped right back at her. The width of the bolt was three times the size of Korra's body as she absorbed it. Korra traced her left fingertips down her right arm, across her body, and then pointed them at the sky. She released the power as Azula continued to blast lightning at Korra. Six seconds passed from Korra catching it to Azula running out of juice. When the last volt passed through Korra's fingers, she collapsed onto the ground on her hands and knees.
"What's the matter?" Azula teased, although she was breathing heavily too. She clearly had intended to take Korra out with that strike. "Tired?"
"Are you trying to blow the whole mountain away?" Korra asked, not afraid of showing how much that had taken out of her. She'd never experienced anything nearly that exhilarating in her whole life, apart from when she had bonded with Raava right before Harmonic Convergence had ended. She pushed herself to her feet, feeling the static electricity riveting through the air. She heard gasps of amazement as she stood up.
"That's impossible!"
"She should be burnt to a crisp!"
"She didn't even go into the Avatar State!"
"Just you," Azula answered Korra's question, although secretly, she was a little unnerved that Korra was able to stand up so soon after that. She hid it when she spoke though; "Oh well, I'd expect nothing less from my personal student."
Azula started gathering the static electricity from the air around her, getting enough for a standard bolt of lightning, in just a second or two. Korra didn't sit around for round two though, and gathered the remaining lightning left.
The two women both blasted their bolts at each other, meeting mid-way. There was a brief moment where the two energies conjoined into a small ball of electricity, then zapped dozens of small bolts in every direction. Korra got a few static shocks, but only enough to make her skin crawl. She brushed it off easily, even though she was still feeling frail from the first shot from Azula, and she had dealt with that perfectly. Her opponent was unscathed, but Korra noticed how Azula's shoulders sagged compared to her usual rigid form.
"You're tired, I can tell!" Korra called the egotistical lady out. "I can go all day." I can't keep up a lightning battle up though, she thought.
Without further comment, Korra shot an intense bullet of compressed fire out of her forehead, harrowing straight for Azula. How do you like that?
Korra found herself seriously wishing she wasn't so cocky only one second later, as Azula shot out her own bullet. This would've been fine, except right at the last moment before contact with Korra's bullet, it split into two.
The first bullet collided with Korra's bullet, exploding, but the second one made straight for the twenty-three-year-old. Korra dived out of the way just in time, the bullet exploding the spot she had been in, with intent to erase Korra from the face of the earth. A chunk of rock flipped over to her, nearly breaking Korra's foot, but the young woman managed to pull her foot out of the way just in time.
Azula created two massive columns of blue fire, both twice as thick as her huge lightning bolt. She seemed to be playing, but Korra didn't let her guard down, as Azula let them rumble down on top of the Avatar. Korra held her hands out above her head, the flames abruptly halting to a stop, never letting Azula out of her sight. Just as well too, as the old woman shot a combustion bending bullet at Korra, but Korra cancelled it out immediately with her own bullet, resulting in yet another large explosion in the middle of the arena. The floor was really getting torn up now.
"What's the matter?" Korra called, holding her hands out as the dust settled. Splitting a combustion bending bullet into two had really taken a toll on Azula, who couldn't hide the fact that she was panting. "Old age caught up to you? You seemed energetic enough earlier when you were beating that poor girl!"
"Silence!" Azula demanded, standing up straight again. "I will not be talked down to by the likes of you!"
"Fuckin' prove it then!" Korra shouted, and started running towards Azula. But instead of regular sprinting, rockets erupted out of her fingers and heels and she glided over. She got to within ten metres of Azula, but was forced to stop as Azula started shooting four medium sized fireballs every second at Korra from her finger tips. Korra was forced to retreat, graciously dancing out of harm's way, knowing that the longer this fight dragged on, the more Azula would rapidly get drained compared to Korra, who still had galleons left in the tank.
As Azula's barrage of fireballs slowed down, the newly recognised combustion bender erected a wall of blue fire just in front of her. Azula's fireballs were soaked up easily by the wall, the heat of which nearly caused Korra to pass out. Korra held the firewall up with one hand, while a fire whip formed in her other.
Korra curled the fire whip around the side of the wall, the tip just about reaching Azula perfectly. Azula had to give up her flurry of attacks to deal with Korra's fire whip. Through her wall, Korra saw Azula subconsciously rub her lower back as she beat away Korra's whip with her own. She had turned her body to deal with the fire whip, as she wasn't too flexible anymore.
Don't look away, hag! Korra thought as she dropped her firewall. She breathed in deeply through her nose, and glared at Azula. A bullet shot out of Korra's forehead, heading directly for her elderly teacher. Part of the reason Korra had gotten so close was because of Azula's lack of mobility. If this attack hit her, Azula would definitely die.
Korra hadn't expected it to work though, as Azula saw everything from the corner of her eye. Fire blasted out of her heels, elevating her just above the ground and saving her as flames erupted violently beneath her. She wasn't entirely in the clear though, as the force of it still rocked Azula. She flew twenty-five metres away from Korra, landing unsteadily.
Korra created another whip of blue fire, except this time it was giant, more like one of Azula's columns, and a lot, lot hotter. Korra brought it around in a wide arc to swallow Azula up, but Azula was prepared for that trick.
The old lady firstly created a ring of blue fire with a radius of four metres, herself at the centre. Then she circled her hands above her head as the giant fire whip got ever closer. She straightened her hands out fully, palms open towards the sky. Just as Korra's whip was about to crash into Azula, a fire tornado blazed upwards, protecting Azula perfectly. Korra tried to beat away the tornado, but her giant whip just got sucked in with the circulation.
I'll have to get up close and personal then, Korra thought. She started sprinting normally, and got within ten metres of the fire tornado until Azula dissolved it. Korra kept charging, bringing her good fist back, then thrusting it forward with all her might. A huge blue fireball roared out of her knuckles, enough to swallow up an entire tram from an angle.
Azula realised she had a perfect opportunity when she saw Korra so close. She shot a bullet right from her forehead into the heart of the flame, but little did she know, that the fireball was actually just a diversion. Korra shot a bullet out of her own forehead in the same motion as punching her fireball. They connected perfectly right in the middle of Korra's flashy fire punch.
The resulting explosion sent both women flying back, Korra skidding along the rough stone and tumbling in a heap. Azula rolled her ankle as she touched the ground, and screeched like a cat, her old body much more susceptible to pain. Korra grimaced as her left thigh was scraped open, getting pebbles stuck in there as she began to bleed. Korra pushed herself to her feet, wobbling as she got up, but her heart lifted when she heard Azula. As the smoke and dust cleared, Korra was the one looking better off. Azula was putting all her weight on her good leg, breathing sharply.
"Not looking too good," Korra shouted, making sure that everyone watching heard her too. "Regretting your decision to torture a teenage girl?"
"My ankle isn't nearly as bad as your leg!" Azula replied, although it was quite snappy. Her comment about Korra's leg wasn't exaggerated though. Blood was seeping freely out of the wound, most of the trouser leg having been torn off. That left Korra wearing one full trouser leg, and practically nothing on her other leg, the boots making it look even weirder. Her short trouser leg came up quite high on her inner thigh, showing off Korra's impressive quads.
"We can compare injuries later," Korra said, and front flipped forward onto her hands, wanting to prove that she was able to move just fine. Fire trailed after her heels as they came down, and shot towards Azula. Korra landed perfectly on her two feet, but her injured leg buckled partially under the weight almost instantly. The sudden attack worked well though, as Azula still hadn't recovered fully from the initial pain, and took the attack quite roughly, stumbling back.
"That's it, you're getting it now!" Azula screamed after she recovered, and glared at Korra. She shot a bullet out of her tattoo, splitting it quite early. The two bullets curled around to hit Korra side-on, while Azula roared a medium sized flamethrower at Korra out of her mouth.
Incredible, Korra thought, appreciating Azula for the second time in their fight. So naturally talented, even at her old age. Such a waste.
Korra made up her mind on how to counter this without too much deliberation, as they sped towards her. She blasted rockets at the ground, rising up to twenty metres. There wasn't nearly enough scope for Azula to change direction that late, and the resulting shockwave rippled Korra's skin even at her height as Azula's attacks converged into each other in one big explosion.
I'm surprised she didn't see that coming, with the distance between us, Korra thought, but was snapped back to reality as Azula started gathering lightning, albeit a lot more lethargically than the first time, and with about a fifth of the power than her first huge shot. She zapped it at Korra, who had to abandon the rockets at her finger tips to catch the lightning, as she couldn't move out of the way.
Korra caught it, but wobbled unstably on only the rockets of her two feet. As the lightning threatened to break loose and ravage Korra's body, Azula capitalised on Korra's difficulty in maintaining the lightning and her rockets at the same time. The old woman shot a combustion bending bullet out of her tattoo, the sight of which nearly made Korra lose control of everything, as she had a third thing to concentrate on. Korra extended her arm wildly at the bullet, hoping for a miracle.
Said miracle occurred, and the lightning bolt connected with Azula's bullet of compressed flames, much to the old lady's disappointment. Nothing happened for a second, while all the different pressures were shoved against each other, resulting in a number of sizzles and pops ringing out. Then, a blinding flash of light emerged, followed by a low boom, as the energies shot out in every direction. It didn't hurt anyone, but it was dazzling for the spectators, as Korra lowered herself down to the ground, touching down softly. The water-tribe girl looked at Azula raggedly, while the leader of the island put a hand on one knee, exhausted.
"You know," Azula called out, stopping to breath, "I've got to say, I'm proud of myself for making you into firebender you are now." Korra closed her eyes for a brief moment, a result of all the flashing lights, but Azula spotted the slip-up in concentration instantly. She cut whatever she was about to say short, and slashed at Korra, fire belting out of her fingers, not able to produce another combustion bending bullet with her current energy just yet.
Korra opened her eyes weakly, just in time to see something flying at her. She barely had enough time to register it, nevertheless react, so she was left completely open.
"Agh!" Korra cried as the blue fire crashed into her, burning into her stomach and arms. The young Avatar was thrown back due to the velocity of the attack, aggravating the wound on her leg even more as she fell on her ass. She scrambled up into a boxing stance, eyes wide open. Her red stomach was exposed for everyone to see, also showing off the eight-pack Korra had gained during her time on the island.
"I'm surprised that worked," Azula commented, trying to act like she was bored. But in reality, she was extremely tired. She had thrown all her most powerful attacks at Korra, but the Avatar had dealt with them all. She knew that it was technically an unfair fight, given how Korra had been intensely train for the last year while Azula hadn't produced a spark in thirty years up until recently, but she didn't care. Azula's pride was on the line, and with every passing minute, she was at more and more of a disadvantage due to Korra's shape and stamina.
You're gonna pay for that! Korra thought, anger spurring on her conviction. She started running again, and hoped into her rockets with perfect timing, gliding over to Azula. She knew that the further away Azula was, the better it was for the old woman, so she made for Azula in a straight line.
Azula, who realised what Korra intended to do right away, shot another bullet out of her forehead, on target with Avatar's gut. It wasn't nearly at the strength of her previous combustion bending bullets, and Korra managed to equal it in mid-air without breaking stride. She flew straight through the smoke cloud the two bullets created when they collided, causing Azula to step back subconsciously.
Korra landed within a few feet of Azula, and quickly kicked vertically with both feet, one after the other. Two small columns of blue flame flew at Azula, who barely managed to wave them away, singing a few loose threads from her hair in the process. Korra followed this up with a fire jab, fire backhand, fire jab and another fire backhand, the four fireballs being shot rapidly. Korra wasn't done there though, and used the momentum from her last fire backhand, which she'd put all her weight behind, to spin into a fire roundhouse kick. She finished off the combo with the dragon breath technique, the blue flamethrower roaring out of her mouth.
Azula cried out as the flurry of attacks crashed into her, unable to deal with them all at such a high intensity so close, and tumbled down onto the floor. She was covering her face with one hand, as she'd been caught with one of the jabs right smack-bang in the forehead.
The elderly lady had been temporarily blinded as a result. She was lucky that Korra's dragon breath didn't last more than a few seconds, or the damage would've been much worse. She lashed out blindly with her other arm while wailing, a slash of fire belting harmlessly into the sky. She kicked both her legs in the direction Korra had been coming at her from, two small columns of fire all she could manage.
Azula heard Korra's boots tap off of the stone as the Avatar easily side-stepped her fire kicks, but to make matters worse, her back gave out at the worst possible time. She heard several clicks as she got a painful reminder of why she took tablets every day, having forgotten to take them today because she was so fixated on the match.
No! Azula thought desperately, realising that the previously impossible now very much looked inevitable. As a last resort, with her hand still over her eyes, she roared fire at Korra, using the same technique Korra had used just a few moments ago.
Nice try, Korra thought as the attack rushed to meet her. Korra just clapped her hands together, then started circling them as the blue flames approached. They spun out harmlessly around Korra as she kept circling her hands patiently, like an invisible drill, hollowing out the flamethrower. After a few seconds, Azula ran out of oxygen, and her final resort faded into thin air. Korra walked up to the stricken Azula, not allowing second thoughts for what she was about to do. Whatever happened, she definitely wouldn't be getting anymore lessons after this.
Korra raised her knee, then dug her heel into Azula's gut as the old woman lay in the dirt. Azula's hands immediately went to her gut with a wheeze, revealing her scarred face. She squinted at Korra with her right eye, her left potentially blinded for the rest of her life. Korra just rolled Azula onto her front, so she couldn't combustion bend, then grabbed both her hands.
Stunned silence was the only thing that came from the crowd, all of them in disbelief to see their master at the mercy of Korra. Korra ignored this, knowing her job wasn't done, as she placed both of Azula's hands behind her back, sat on them to keep them in place, and shoved Azula's head firmly into the ground. The water-tribe woman swore that she heard a whimper from the former heir to the Fire Nation throne, and formed a searing fire dagger in her free fist. She glanced around, but nobody, not even Tatsuo, was intervening, thankfully. Korra pulled Azula's hair up, lifting her head just a tiny bit, so Azula could see the fire dagger right by her face.
"This is the end, huh?" Azula asked bitterly, spitting out dirt while accepting her fate. "I guess I should've learnt from my lifetime that you should never take any second chances with the Avatar."
"You let your ego get to you," Korra told her as she inched the dagger closer to Azula's temple.
"Perhaps," Azula said, even now not willing to completely admit that she was wrong. Just this one time though, she couldn't think of a good enough argument to get her out of this predicament.
"Any regrets?" Korra asked, noticing how a lot of people were edging closer to try and hear what they were saying.
"That I didn't take my… rightful place as the Fire Lord," Azula said, struggling to breath with Korra's weight on her frail figure. She didn't squirm though. "And that I never had my own child. And while we're in this position, that I couldn't officially give Tatsuo the reins. I always intended for him to take over soon enough, or when I died. Funny enough, I didn't even consider that you could actually win until a minute ago. Life is full of surprises."
Azula closed her eyes as Korra set her heart on what she was going to do. Azula had been peaceful just then, but couldn't keep her mouth shut as Korra ran the tip of the fire dagger along her temple. She just kept in mind that it would all be over in an instant, but after a few seconds, the pain still hadn't subsided.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" Azula screamed, mentally cursing herself for showing weakness in her final moments, as Korra made light incisions into her head. "JUST GET IT OVER WITH!"
After what felt like three minutes, but in reality was just fifteen seconds, Korra stopped slicing along into Azula's skin. She got up and stood over the old lady, who was whimpering.
"Death is too kind a punishment for you," Korra declared, spitting on her old master, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "Instead, I'm going to leave you with this humiliating defeat. You'll live the rest of your days with it. The incisions I just made into your temple were to let you know an ounce of the pain you inflicted on that girl, Azami, today. It will also stop you from combustion bending for the rest of the day, probably, so don't even think about shooting me in the back. I'm taking my leave now. Otherwise, thank you for teaching me. The experience has been invaluable." In her heart, Korra knew she just didn't have the conviction to kill Azula, but what she had said was also very relevant.
With that, Korra turned on her heel, walking away. To say that the audience was shocked was an understatement. She saw countless gaping mouths staring her way, unable to conjure anything other than pure disbelief. Korra harrumphed, pretending she didn't care, deciding that she would go back to her house to collect whatever measly belongings she had accumulated during her time on the island, then would get a boat back to the mainland, patching herself up on the journey. Korra could also decide what her next steps would be while she did that. Everything had been so sudden today that she hadn't even given it a thought yet.
"Not just yet!" Azula screamed from behind Korra, resulting in a groan from the twenty-three-year-old. Korra turned around to face Azula, who somehow, at her old age, still had the energy to push herself up to her feet. Her left eye was squeezed shut from both the burns and blood dripping down over it. "This match isn't over yet! Until one of us is killed, this Agni Kai will continue!"
"Give in!" Korra urged the stubborn old lady, who had the look of a mad woman in her one open eye. "Just accept your defeat, Azula!" Korra quickly got her hands up, ready to redirect the lightning that Azula began to conjure with the last dregs of her strength. Azula grinned toothily at Korra.
"Kill me, or I'll kill you!" Azula demanded, her emotions getting the better of her properly for the first time in front of Korra. Azula licked her lips, her serenity from a minute ago gone, but still, Korra refused.
"No!" Korra insisted, keeping all of her attention on Azula's fingers as they crackled with power. "Just give in, Azula, or I'll really have to kill you!" It was a bluff though, and Azula saw straight through it.
"You still refuse to just do it, do you!?!" Azula asked, her whie hair flying all over the place, blood dripping down her wrinkled face, burns littering her features. "Let me tell you, after the first time, it comes so much easier for all the others!" She looked like a witch that lived in the woods, and ate children for breakfast.
"Stop this madness!" Korra demanded, her anxiety rising. "Azula, please!"
"You know," Azula began, trembling as her body screamed out with old age and pain, "I never taught you the one thing that everyone in a position of power should know. Never spare an enemy's life, or else, they will come back later to bite you in the ass!"
"I can and will redirect everything you throw at me right back at you!" Korra warned, her breathing irregular and sharp. "I'm giving you one last chance!"
"Kill me now then!" Azula told Korra, but the young woman just stared back rigidly at her former teacher, unable to move. That gave a mentally unstable Azula an answer to her offer. Azula succumbed to the darkest, most extreme corners of her mind. She gave Korra a sly look, about to play the final card she had up her sleeve.
Here it comes, Korra thought, bracing herself for the attack. But as she followed Azula's fingers, her brow furrowed in confusion as Azula pointed to her right. Korra eyes followed where Azula's fingers were pointing, realising too late what Azula's alternative to not being killed by Korra was. Just as the realisation hit, lightning zapped out of Azula's finger tips, travelling at the speed of sound while everything else stopped for Korra. The target didn't even realise her fate as it blitzed towards her.
Azami's head was blown clean off her shoulders by Azula's lightning bolt, splattering blood everywhere. Everyone, from Korra to even the most dedicated islander, including Tatsuo, looked on in horror as Azula shamelessly murdered a teenager. Azula, to make matters even worse, laughed. She laughed while everyone stood there, speechless. There were many hardened killers on the island, but even they drew the line long before children, and especially their own comrades.
Let her have it! Vaatu urged suddenly in Korra's head, after a few moments where nobody moved apart from Azula, who threw her head back in laughter. Use my power, do it, Korra!
Korra stood there silently, Azula's laughs echoing around the shocked mountainside. All of her hate, disgust, anger, and general negative feelings, all bundled into one, and focused themselves on the lady just across from Korra.
You must be decisive, Kyoshi's voice rang out in Korra's head.
Sometimes, you can't be righteous and noble when the weed grows back, Aang's voice told her.
Korra's eyes and new tattoo suddenly glowed with a demon-like red, as the string that bound Korra to her morality snapped. She stared at Azula wordlessly, who was still cackling.
Korra couldn't find strong enough vocabulary to describe her malicious feelings, so she decided to be decisive, as she had been urged so many times before. Or rather, she let Vaatu lift the restraints as she growled, her intent crystal clear in her mind.
Korra punched the ground with one fist, a small, narrow shockwave travelling through the earth towards Azula. The hag continued to laugh during her last breaths, but was cut short by the ground at her feet suddenly erupting with lava. Azula was swallowed up immediately, no time to register what was happening as her bones were stripped away of their flesh, and then burnt to ashes themselves, as Korra watched through the comfortable red glow of Vaatu's spirit.
Azula, after ninety years of terrifying the world, of causing so much unnecessary suffering with her abuses of power, was dead. Burnt alive in lava. And it was none other than Korra who did it.