Huo's eyes widened, Tu suffered a sharp incision by the Khan's saber. In the process of saving Huo, he used his own body to block the blade.
"Tu!" Huo cried. She somewhat felt guilty that she may have indirectly injured her friend.
Tu is barely standing, and there are multiple wounds on his chest. It's remarkable that he is still alive. Judging by his painful expression, he is clearly trying to suppress his agony.
The Khan marched towards him, but Tu bend a piece of rock to divert the Khan's strike. The second blow was dodged, as Tu meekly leaped backwards. But when Tu tried to counterattack by bending a chunk of rock towards the Khan, the seasoned warrior only evaded the projectile and forcefully kicked the Earth bender. This time, a sound of cracked bones was heard, as the Khan have no intentions to go easy on him.
After trading blows with one another for a while, Tu finally dropped to the ground after repeated failures to defeat the Khan. The combination of unprecedented heavy lamellar armor and mastery in combat allowed the Khan to always possess an advantage over Tu.
He tried one last time, mustering all his strength by lifting a large boulder nearby and tossed it towards the Khan. Just when he thought the armored man would be crushed underneath it, the boulder was instead pushed back towards Tu by a powerful gust of wind. The Khan only swung his saber, and the air currents generated is strong enough to deliver the rock back to the sender.
Tu quickly rolled to the sides, the boulder crushed onto the original spot where he was, causing him to tremble at the intense impact. Before Tu can act, he felt a heavy grip on his neck as he is being lifted up to the air.
His throat became stiff as the Khan's iron gloves refused to let go, creating an uncomfortable tightness that restricted his breathing.
"Let him go!" Huo demanded. She tried to get to the Khan to stop what is happening, but even her fire bending no longer listens to her plead. Her legs cannot carry her, yet she is still desperate to save Tu.
The Khan closed his ears to Huo's cries, but the voice of another caught his attention.
"I wouldn't kill him first if I were you," Shui said unapologetically. "Might as well as get the most use out of him first!"
The mighty Khan in armor turned around to face Shui. With Tu still in his iron grasp, he noticed that Satchiko is now in the hands of Shui. The water bender used one hand to grab Satchiko's shoulder and her right directly placed on the Kyoshi warrior's chest plate.
Whatever is happening, the Khan's body became rigid. Yet Satchiko have mo idea what is going on. She is clueless at how much danger she is in. In fact, no one on the scene seems to know what Shui is doing by placing her hands on her hostage.
"While I might be a bit insane, I am not completely unreasonable." Shui began. "Release Tu and let us go, if you comply, I will not harm this kid." Like before, Shui wanted to use hostages to exchange the life of Tu. It's daunting that this is the second time of today that she has to get that Earth bender away from these people's mercy. "I suppose you can let just us three go, after all it's better that we bring her and her sister back, ALIVE!"
"Don't do it my Khan!" Ganbaatar jumped to oppose this statement. Everyone have saw what she has done to their fellow warrior when they have reluctantly agreed to the last deal. They saw how three of their brother in arms are punctured by Shui's ice shards the moment they released Tu. "That blood bending witch is dishonest, she will not honor this deal!"
The Khan, who is leader of all these warriors, now stand in a very similar dilemma as his warriors. If he allowed Tu to go, Satchiko and Mayumi would be unharmed. But they would still be taken back to the bandit's liar, making this whole fight pointless. Not only that, this would bring great shame to his own name and the reputation of his people. What would the world think if he had failed those who have helped his people? How could they ever see him as someone genuine?
The leader turned his head and saw an unconscious air bender lying on the ground. His face is pale and eyes are still closed. The ice shard impaled in his chest are becoming more painted with red, the blood of this man even seeped onto the ice. The scratch wound from Shui have also widened.
A good leader always looks after those their guidance. This Shui will not be forgiven.
"So what would it be? Foolish KHAN!" Shui said while mocking the sacred title. Even until now, she still wanted to feel superior to these people. "Unlike that dying man on the ground, you have it easy! Let us go, and we will leave in peace. Perhaps a brute like you should be reminded that none of your lowly underlings are my hostages."
That is true, Satchiko is one at risk here. If anything out of the ordinary happened, she would be the one to die.
"She does not have an ice shard on her now, and blood bending shouldn't kill the girl in a short amount of time," a warrior near Ganbaatar whispered. "If we attack with our arrows, she would be done for."
"No, she can still use that ice over there." Ganbaatar said while pointing at Mayumi's position. The Kyoshi warrior is still trying to break out of it without success. "She can just run there the moment she saw us doing something fishy."
While those two talked about tactics, the Khan paid no heed to them. If only they are in the Khan's shoes, then they would be extremely hesitant to excercise any form of action. Shui might just be putting her hands on her hostage's chest, but it's much more sinister than what it appears. Water benders are renown healers, but few are aware that the exact opposite is also true. This whole time, the Khan focused on Shui's right hand.
"Shui, you can't kill her, she is too valuable!" Huo said to the water bender. "Just take her and her sister and get out of here!"
"I know what I am doing!" Shui responded with irritation. She held Satchiko closer, her right hand still placed on the chest plate.
The stand off continued, the Khan and Shui both have hostages. Mayumi watched nervously as to what the Khan is about to do. Ever since this fight has begun, it has just been a rollercoaster ride. They went from almost able to get out of here, to now having their fate determined by others.
"Last chance, either you hand him over, or this girl gets it!" Shui demanded once again. Satchiko felt very uneasy, her hands are tied up, and she has no idea what Shui would do should the Khan refused to hand Tu over. Even if he does, Satchiko already knew she and Mayumi would be brought to this mysterious 'master' person, who seemed to be highly exalted by these bandits whenever they had the chance.
The Khan held Tu by lowering him to the ground. However, he refused to let go of Tu. He looked at Shui, who watched as he raised his saber near Tu's neck. The blade lies dangerously close.
Shui widened her eyes. "You wouldn't dare!" She angered.
The Khan nodded, decided to use Shui's own medicine against her.
"Shui, the mission is more important!" Tu said while having a blade near his throat. "Don't worry about us, just go!"
The Khan grasped Tu by the neck harder, he waited for Shui's response. Knowing she wanted all of her teammates to make it out safely, the Khan waited patiently for Shui's next move. While he has been a cautious man, this time, he needed to take some risks and test the waters. It's all up to him to ensure Shui does not harm Satchiko right there.
"Just release him already!" Shui yelled, sweat is starting to drip down her forehead. Those small droplets solidified into ice, causing them to stop there. Her personality boiled when the Khan made no attempts to respond. "Can't you at least say something!" Sensing that this might be going no where, Shui softened her grasp on Satchiko. To the surprise of everyone else, the water bender appeared to be releasing Satchiko go.
"Why?" Tu said in disbelief. They worked so hard to capture Satchiko, and now Shui is just letting her go.
Huo also wanted to object Shui's rash decision, but she didn't said anything openly. Despite her deep commitment to the mission given by their master, she subconsciously wanted Tu to be saved. It's as if she cared more about her friends than this paramount task they were given.
"Now walk! Before I changed my mind!" Shui said with a mean tone. Satchiko did so, she is of course still concerned about Mayumi.
The Khan released Tu, the Earth bender walked forward as well.
While none of this is verbalized, everyone knew that this is a hostage exchange.
With each step Satchiko took, she is going nearer to Tu, she maintained eye contact with him to make sure he doesn't try anything funny. She also felt Mayumi was being left behind, seeing that her sister is still trapped in ice.
By the time Tu and Satchiko walked pass each other, Satchiko made a sigh. She felt a sense of safety when she got out of Shui's hold-
Her left foot is suddenly immobilized by something very cold, a small chunk of ice bind her to the ground. Satchiko widened her eyes. She quickly looked back at Shui, who is now surrounded by dry grass. In her hands is a small volume of water that is possibly extracted from the plants.
"Tu, now!" Shui yelled, indicating him to retrieve Satchiko. The earth bender was also caught surprised by this sudden escalation. He quickly tried to run towards Satchiko, but a powerful gust of wind knocked him back to the ground.
When Tu recovered and climbed back up, the first he saw was instead a large arrow going right towards him. Before he can even process what it is, he was rammed backwards towards the cliff. Multiple bones within his body must have cracked.
The giant object landed near Satchiko. It was a large flying bison from which the Khan jumped off. Now it has returned once again, to join the battle directly.
Satchiko cannot help but admire in awe, as she has never seen the beast at such close proximity. Despite seeing one flying in the air before, getting close to one is another type of experience. The animal's fur is a little grey, but Satchiko still gazed at its majestic appearance.
Huo ran towards Shui's side. She felt her body has regained parts of her strength. She spurted out a flame of fire from her hands in hopes that it would panic the beast.
While the flame has managed to intimidate the bison, the beast instead roared back at Huo with more ferocity. It charged forward, and threw her back towards the trees. It then turned around and intended to do the same to Shui.
The water bender dodged the giant horns, and splashed some waters onto its eyes. This blinded it temporarily, but Shui nonetheless forcefully thrown aside.
"Ah!" Shui said when she landed on the ground. The impact severally shocked her. Removing the grass off her face, Shui noticed Satchiko is desperately trying to remove her leg from the ice.
Before Shui can act, she rolled over to avoid the Khan's saber. When he missed, he used his legs to pummel Shui.
"I will not lose to you! Not to a creature like you! Take this!" Shui used her hands and proceeded to control the Khan's body.
The Khan himself obviously felt the strain of blood bending, his movements are slowed and clunky. He tried to attack Shui, but he felt his entire body is working against him.
Just when Shui displayed an triumph smile, she stopped after the Khan slowly regained his control. The armored body seemed to be able to fight the blood bending. Seeing this, Shui concentrated more, but the Khan just slowly walked forward. Each step he took sounded painful, as he made a grunt whenever he moved.
By the time the Khan shifted closer to Shui, he forced his arm to slash the saber towards the water bender. Shui moved backwards, making the him missed his strike. Afterwards, the man greatly exhausted his stamina, and breathed heavily.
Shui gathered a small shard of ice, created from the water drawn from nearby plants. But before she can use it to attack the Khan, the Khan instantly used his shield and slammed Into her.
The water bender landed on her back, Tu threw a piece of the earth at Khan to cover her escape. Instead of letting a projectile hit him, the Khan extended his saber and conjured the air so that it would deflect Tu's attack. In the process, Shui was flung towards Satchiko.
Ganbaatar unsheathed his saber, and decided to help his Khan by silencing another enemy. A few warrior watched this, and slowly tried to recover from the blood bending. Eventually, few of them managed to crawl back up, and joined with Ganbaatar.
Realizing a potential opportunity, Shui set her target on Satchiko. If she can take her hostage one more time, she might be able to bargain their way out of this.
While Ganbaatar is occupied in fighting Tu, and the sky bison still blinded. Shui knew that there is still a chance. A chance to end all of this.
Shui ran with all her strength, her leg was suddenly pierced with a dagger from Mayumi. Shui is surprised by how quick the ice has already melted, which allowed Mayumi to threw one of her knives. Shui clutched her fist, which have already suffered previous injury of arrows. She regained her momentum and continued towards Satchiko. There is a lot of rage in het eyes, in a fit of anger, she extended her right hand towards Satchiko.
"This is all your fault!" Shui muttered under her sharp teeth.
The young Kyoshi warrior didn't realize that the water bender is rushing towards her, as she is solely focused on freeing herself from that small piece of ice. When she heard foot step approaching her, she spun around and saw Shui. The water bender's palm is now fully on Satchiko's chest plate. For a small moment, Satchiko felt her heart might have skipped a beat, a slight cold was also felt near her right chest area.
She hissed a little as she watched Shui's body dropped lifelessly towards her. It laid near Satchiko's shoes, and the Kyoshi warrior did not dare to say anything. She was simply too stunned and shocked to make a move. At the same time, her skin felt a swirl of wind coming from the direction of the Khan.
A large saber, clearly belonging to the Khan himself, was now seen stuck into Shui's back. It remained there as Satchiko tried to comprehend what just happened. Judging by what she has witnessed, the Khan threw his saber at Shui with the help of his Airbending. This caused a fatal blow to Shui.
"Shui!" A tearful voice of a female called out. Satchiko located the origin, and saw Huo emerging out of the trees. Disregarding all danger, the fire bender rushed forward to the side of her friend. She tried desperately shaking Shui, but no response ever came.
"What did you do!" Huo screamed. Her expression is both distress and hostile. This presentation stunned Satchiko, as she doesn't even know how to respond.
"I-I didn't do it!" Satchiko stuttered. Seeing Huo worried by the death of Shui created a strange feeling within Satchiko. These people who wanted to kidnap them are so...human.
"Huo!," Tu cried out near the cliff. He managed to fend off Ganbaatar and a few of his men. Using earth bending and surpassing his limits, he manipulated the surrounding ground so that they would constantly batter Batu's people. "Complete the mission, I will hold them off!"
At this moment, Khiimori, the last person they expected to join the fight, suddenly jumped towards Tu. With all the existing injury on his body, he is still determined to fight. His body is weak, and his face does show a man that is not fully conscious. Using Air bending, he tried to push Tu off the cliff. But Tu managed to hold on to Khiimori, and dragged him off the cliff as well.
"No!" Huo cried in despair. Tu just sacrificed himself to take out an enemy. Ganbaatar and the others went to the cliff's edge to survey what's happening below. None of them is focused on Huo.
Huo herself tried to hold in her tears, two of her teammates are gone. She needed to complete this mission, for the sake of their beloved master. She cannot allow the death of Tu and Shui to be in vain.
But when Huo tried to get up and grab Satchiko, she suddenly felt a person is standing right behind her.
A round shield bashed Huo's head, knocking her out. It was the Khan. He then walked over to Satchiko, raising his shield.
The Kyoshi warrior did not know what to expect, he held up her arms in defense. While she knew the Khan tried to save them, she still felt a sense of uneasiness around him. After all, these people are still strangers to them.
Crack!
The ice chunk that trapped Satchiko's foot is now shattered. When Satchiko removed her hands, she now realized the Khan has freed her. The girl watched as the Khan moved past her, retrieving his own saber from Shui's body without saying anything.
Shui's water bottle just so happens to be lying around, and the Khan picked it up and examined it further. He is intrigued by its design, and proceeded to hold it firmly.
The wind around them begin to swirl, Satchiko looked up into the sky and noticed several flying bison slowly descended on the ground. One of them, however, went on to search Khiimori. Even though the chances of a person surviving a fall from this height is slim, they still wanted to find Khiimori and see if he is ok.
It is finally over, for real this time. Mayumi thought to herself. While a few warriors in lamellar tried to chip away the ice she is trapped in, she herself decided to rest a little after all that action.
"I don't know who you all are, but thank you for saving us." Mayumi said to the warriors nearby. She seemed very tired, and decided to close her eyes for a little just so that she can recuperate from what has happened.
Within the dense forest, Feng watched all of this with great discomfort. He dared not to intervene as he knew he would be dead the moment he step out of hiding. Since Satchiko has done more chi blocking on him, he took more time to come here. But it was too late. He watched Huo's unconscious body, and decided to turn away from all of this. It was painful for him, and shameful a the same time. He has technically abandoned his friends.
There is no use going back to that master of theirs. He thought. He ventured deeper into the wilderness, until he is no longer visible to the world.
