"Ah, how satisfying," Shisui said with a smile on his face as he watched the golden flames being consumed.
But what was important at that moment was Azula, who ran towards Shisui, jumping at him with outstretched arms, letting him catch her in mid-air and spinning to slow down the momentum.
"Stupid ShiShi, why did you take so many risks?" Azula complained under her breath, even giving Shisui a small bite on the shoulder in retaliation, but her fiancé just burst out laughing.
"I wanted to fight," was Shisui's simple reply, but from the tone of his words, it was undeniable that he had been quite sincere and just wanted to fight.
"Looks like this guy picked the wrong time to provoke you," Zuko said, resisting the urge to draw his sword and cut Cao-Cao to pieces.
How could that bastard have such strange ideas about his sister? Had he not been one of their own, Zuko would not have hesitated to draw his sword and show the young man on the ground just how powerful a member of the royal family could be.
"He has a problem, apart from the supplements he ate, he seems to be affected by something else," Shisui said openly, not caring who was listening he wanted Zhao, who had approached, to pay special attention to his words.
"You mean...?" Ty Lee was about to say, but Mai covered her mouth as she looked at Zhao questioningly.
"May I purify him?" Petra asked with particular interest, and Shisui simply nodded before patting Azula on the back.
"I need to talk to that respectable dragon over there, may I have a moment?" Shisui whispered to Azula, who simply nodded before kissing the boy on the cheek and giving Cao-Cao a vicious look.
"If this guy was influenced by something else, then part of the blame for this situation is not his, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he has annoyed me to no end, besides owing you your reward from the Agni Kai. I'll be sure to heal him... "Azula narrowed her golden eyes, and Zhao, who was a little worried about his nephew, felt a chill.
There were stories of the princess's brutality on the battlefield, how could she 'heal' others? Was that code for her killing them? After all, if someone died, they would no longer be wounded or sick.
But there was little he could do when Cao-Cao's body was covered in dense, intense blue flames, and though he tried to move to avoid it, he felt as if something sharp had pinned him down.
"I think you have misunderstood, Vice Admiral Zhao," Zuko's voice seemed to be only a whisper, but his stance and the intensity of his golden eyes never failed to look directly into Zhao's eyes.
The prince was ready to strike, his body tensed and somewhat hunched for action, even the cold metal of his sword was exposed a bit, an indicator that Zuko might draw his weapon at any moment.
Not only he, but also Ty Lee had a warm smile on her face, but her hands made a gesture she always used when pressing someone's pressure points, and her eyes seemed to be searching for weaknesses in Zhao's body.
Mai, on the other hand, covered her face with a black metal fan, but Zhao could make out the sharp edge of such an object, and it seemed to be stained with a strange liquid that was undoubtedly poisonous.
Petra, on the other hand, had begun to control the surrounding sand, putting on a show for the people watching from afar. The sand swirled around her before it began to emit a golden light.
"You may begin," Azula said as she removed the flames from Cao-Cao's body, surprising the crowd with the condition she left him in.
"I thought Princess Azula was cruel, you know..." said a sailor who had unconsciously held his breath and now sighed loudly.
"The princess is only cruel to our nation's enemies," said Lee-Lee, who was taking note of the people's reactions.
Her words seemed to enlighten the crowd, especially since Cao-Cao no longer looked so injured, except for his bloody nose, which still seemed to be crushed. All of his twisted limbs were now properly positioned, and the bruises on his body had disappeared.
Azula looked particularly tired from this, and she did not heal Cao-Cao at all, not because she could not, but because she did not have enough energy and mastery to do so, at least for now.
The princess only repositioned his bones and partially connected them, which shortened Cao-Cao's recovery time. Getting rid of the bruises was much easier, there were already therapies that used heat for such things.
And the broken nose? She left it intact because it was something Shisui had wanted to do to Cao-Cao for a long time, and Azula wasn't going to heal that wound. Why should she ruin what her fiancé had finally done?
The golden sands then enveloped Cao-Cao, and wisps of black energy, now visible to the human eye, erupted from his body. He was not the only one, perhaps due to the influence of the residual glow of the golden sands, many of the people present felt their thoughts become clearer.
"You know, I feel like I shouldn't have been rude to my wife earlier..." a man holding a wineskin muttered, looking at the object with some reluctance, he capped it before he had a thought, maybe he had drunk too much already.
"I've made up my mind, I'm going to propose to Nora, the worst that can happen is that she refuses me!" said a young sailor, who was patted on the back by one of his shipmates.
"Good for you, brother!" he said, and other sailors gave their encouragement to the young sailor, who was now red in the face.
"What are those lights...?" asked Zhao, speaking for the first time since everything had ended.
For some reason, certain strange ideas in his mind were softened, they didn't disappear, and residual purification didn't eliminate one's thoughts, but maybe they would make Zhao reevaluate things more if he set his mind to it, just maybe.
"Spiritual purification, all elements can do it, even if it looks more on the water element side," Azula said with some annoyance, she didn't like Zhao at all and the phase of pretending was over.
"Wow, I never expected to see something like that. I guess you can do it too, Princess Azula," Zhao said, quickly pulling himself together.
Though Zhao wanted to ask about the black energy his nephew had expelled, he knew better than to bring up those subjects for now, especially when his sensitivity to the emotions of the people he interacted with told him of the young people's obvious dislike and rejection of him.
To get as high as he did, one had to have a fairly high EQ and know how to discern the emotions of others towards you, and coupled with his experience, Zhao knew exactly what he had to do at this point.
"I sincerely apologize for the unpleasant situation tonight and the trouble my nephew caused. But except for a few minor problems, nothing bad happened, and Sage Shisui seemed to take it quite well.
Therefore, I will demote Cao-Cao one rank and also send him to another Fire Nation fleet so that he can reflect on his actions and his presence will not be uncomfortable for him," after these respectful words, Zhao even performed a rather standard 90° bow.
Azula remained expressionless and said nothing more, her companions approaching her and preferring to pay attention to Shisui's side, indicating that the matter was settled here.
In addition, some very interesting things happened on Shisui's side that caught everyone's attention and will undoubtedly be told, illustrated, and referenced by everyone in the future.
Shisui was in conversation with spiritual beings who seemed to be quite powerful and known to experts who popularized this knowledge. The caption of a picture painted that very night was 'Shisui and Elder Spirits.'
...
Shortly after Shisui left Azula, he approached the Great Golden Dragon, Agni, the Spirit of Fire. This one was in a secluded part of the beach, away from the people, looking up at the starry sky with his huge golden eyes.
"You know, every star up there is a sun like the one you see every day, some of those suns are much bigger than ours, with worlds similar to ours, many lifeless, but some... some have, and they also look up at the starry sky," those were the words Agni said to start the topic of conversation.
"I know, I like to look at them, and since Gal-Leo improved the telescopes, we humans have been able to get a better look at these worlds, though we still have a long way to go to even see what they are like on the surface," Shisui replied, sitting down next to the big dragon, who was strangely friendly.
"Humans... at first, they couldn't live properly unless they were in the Lion Turtle, without any natural elements at their disposal like now, afraid of any spirits when both realms were connected.
Then this Avatar guy came along, an interesting guy, but he separated the two worlds. Then humanity spread over much of the earthly world, living in an era that was right for you.
As the sun of this world, though I am worshipped by the firebenders, they killed my children until they realized it was not necessary, but the fear in them will not go away, you know?
But do you know why I never took the gift of fire away from humans? Sage Shisui," the spirit asked solemnly, turning its huge head to look at Shisui, who was looking down at the waves breaking on the sand of the beach a few meters away.
"Does it matter?" Shisui asked in reply, and Agni was silent for a moment before bursting out laughing.
"Exactly, it doesn't matter! My children will gradually return to this world, though I regret the deaths of the others, they are spirits who chose to stay on the earthly plane, they knew the consequences.
It's not like I lost them forever, they are there, in the Spirit World, and soon they will return to me," Agni said with a tired voice, Shisui even felt the enormous weight of years in that sigh.
"But I guess you know that I didn't accept your request because I wanted to see you beat up a human fool," Agni said, causing Shisui to become serious at this point.
"I want answers, I could have gone to the Spiritual World, but..." Shisui was silent at this point, and Agni's experience told him the last part of that sentence.
Shisui didn't want to draw attention to anything when he started to ask about certain topics. Fortunately, he was only summoning a reflection of the Spirit World, something that bypassed those restrictions somewhat.
"Curiosity is sometimes not good, young man," an ethereal voice was heard at that moment, and the huge figure of a spirit with multiple faces on its head and many ethereal faces floating around it appeared at that moment.
The only difference was that those faces were particularly female, and coupled with her soft voice, it was obvious who had appeared at that moment, the Mother of Faces.
"The child is curious, why avoid it?" something seemed to 'jump' out of the ocean, it looked like a big whale, but soon its body turned into a huge bird that landed near Agni.
Its body full of black feathers seemed to be pearled with blue, red, and golden shimmering dots, as if it was a creature made of stars. The spirit's eyes glanced at Shisui before nodding, and a smile even appeared on its beak.
"At last, a human wants to reach for the stars, boy, if one day you want to travel through the dark and cold void between worlds, call me, I, Kung Peng, will take you on a journey like no other," the great bird said, causing a smile to appear on Shisui's face.
"I hope you keep your promise!" Shisui ignored the other two spirits and stared intently at Kung Peng's feathers as he puffed out his chest as if to show off even more.
"Tu and La will be killed if you hurt this little human, Peng," said a voice that sounded like thunder, and black clouds formed in the sky.
Even though the clouds soon turned multicolored, hundreds of thick lightning bolts shot out of them, eventually coalescing into a strange animal, with four legs like a horse, the head and horns of a dragon, blue scales adorned with dense white fur that seemed to be constantly releasing discharges.
The beautiful creature descended from the sky, treading the air and leaving multicolored clouds in its wake. The creature was huge, as were the other three spirits present. The spirit's eyes landed on Shisui before bending down and licking his cheek.
"Boy, the others couldn't come, but they hear everything we say, even those pesky Avatars and Vaatu, but don't be afraid, we're all at peace because something greater unites us, you know?" said the last spirit to join in, ignoring the fact that Shisui shook the saliva from his face in particular disgust.
"Kirin, you have to stop licking people, no one likes it," Agni said annoyed, but Kirin stuck out his tongue playfully as if being an ancient spirit was nothing to him.
"It's because you're so boring that Gaea doesn't want to hang out with you," Kirin said, causing Agni to emit golden flames from his nostrils, but he didn't act, just looked at Shisui.
"Sage Shisui, you and the Avatar are part of the few actual humans who can attract our attention. Only another Enlightened One would have the right to chat with any of us. So, ask the questions that made us come here," with Agni's words, the brief cheerful aura of the moment was suppressed and became completely serious.
"I'll be blunt, does the world want to fuck me? Or is it some great super-hidden spirit in the Spirit World?" Shisui was blunt, but his question was quickly answered by the Mother of Faces.
"We can't say that the world wants to... annoy you," the spirit hesitated for a bit before finding a better word than the rudeness Shisui had said, but soon continued speaking after her short pause.
"But as you say, a spirit that is deeply connected to this world wants to annoy you, not just you, everyone. Luckily, it's always sleeping most of the time, but apparently, you've disrupted what its dream had been 'planning' for the past few years, which has caused its defense mechanism to partially focus on you," Mother of Faces said before Kirin took over.
"That's why I licked you, boy. I don't like to lick people just because, you know, I removed the 'Doom' that was building up in you, if it built up to a large extent, many bad things would happen to you for no reason, you might even drown while drinking water, ironic for a human with the gift of Tu and La," Kirin gave a humanized smile to Shisui, who had a great suspicion at that moment.
Why could all the spirits smile? And why were they so damn scary when they did? But the revelations he had heard distracted him and made him angry.
His anger caused his chi to flow intensely through his body, his impulse surging, startling the spirits who, even though they were far stronger than Shisui, couldn't help but feel a little respect for this human.
A thought even appeared in their minds, would Shisui join them as a spirit in the future? Not a dependent spirit, but a true spirit that would reach the potential that every human has to become a spiritual being.
"We don't mention its name because it would put our luck under its control, we don't even give it a random name because it would take over. It is a being who was born with the world itself, the First Spirit, and is a blessed one.
When it was alone, it was boring, and that made it.... unpredictable. When life arose, both earthly and spiritual, that being found no better activity than to take over the destiny of others to influence them," said Kung Peng, showing a special hatred in his words, indicating that there was history there.
"No one likes to be manipulated, so there was a big fight back then. The struggle was so intense that it reduced the humans to a useless state. They chose to cede their elements to Lion Turtles and lived in fearful isolation for tens of thousands of years until there was no history left to record this being.
In time, it fell asleep, but its dream spread throughout this world and took root. It automatically invented 'stories', and perhaps many things that have happened in the history of the earthly world are its fault.
Although its control is not as direct as it used to be, a coincidence here, a little accident there, and the world fell into place according to its particular liking, until you were born, things started to go wrong in its latest "story," and when you attained enlightenment, well, you destroyed its story.
You're not the first to do this, nor do we have any hope that you're the only one, but that spirit's dream will do its best to eliminate you, but don't worry, it's even more limited now than Vaatu.
Also, Kirin has licked you, so you won't develop extreme bad luck that would make your situation much worse, but many things will happen around you, all to eliminate you.
From natural disasters, people who dislike you, spirits who ran into you and were in a bad mood, and a meteorite that will conveniently fall near you.
Nothing directly or controlled by that being or its dream, but it will try to overwhelm you, keep you on constant alert, wear down your mind until you give up or until you die" Agni's words only made Shisui's impulse grow more intense.
...
Aang, who was happily playing with penguins at the South Pole, stopped abruptly and looked in the direction of the Fire Nation. For a moment, the arrows tattooed on his skin and his eyes glowed with white light before returning to normal.
"Someone pissed off Shisui and even here you can feel it, how over the top, I'll ask Roku later," Aang said before looking at Katara who was gliding over a penguin and a smile broke out on his face.
...
At the North Pole, Yue, who was quietly reading a book in her room, looked toward the Fire Nation's direction, then seemed to hear something only she could, and a smile broke out on her beautiful face.
"Someone is going to be unlucky," the princess muttered before concentrating on her reading.
...
An immortal fan of Avatar Kyoshi's novels sat comfortably by a campfire in the wilderness, though this time he wasn't alone; he was sitting next to a blind teenage girl who wouldn't shut up, and he suddenly looked at the Fire Nation's direction in exasperation.
"That brat is making trouble," the old man complained, and the blind girl, Toph, turned her ear to him curiously.
"What happened?" asked Toph, causing the old man to look at Toph with a bit of annoyance before he sighed.
"Child, just feel the world, but instead of just feeling the vibrations, try to feel the spirituality. You can do it because you have already interacted a lot with the Badgermoles, just concentrate," the elder advised, and although Toph pouted, she heeded his words.
"Come on Lao Ge, why are you boring me so much with... who the hell is so angry!? I doubt that even if he dies, this anger will dissipate, by Gaea, what did they do to him?" exclaimed Toph as he felt Shisui's momentum growing more and more.
"That, Toph, is the anger of an Enlightened One. Even I remember when Laghima was angry, the wind of the world carried his anger to all parts of the world. When Kyoshi was angry, the earth shook.
Also..." Toph's small hand covered Lao Ge's mouth, preventing him from talking any further.
"Dead old man, I don't want to hear your memories of thousands of years," Toph shouted, causing Lao Ge to raise an eyebrow, Toph could talk all the time and he couldn't?
'Young people don't respect millennial elders like me anymore,' Lao Ge mentally complained before his thoughts turned back to Shisui.
'This anger is like Laghima's, but instead of the wind, water carries his anger to everyone, how wonderful, I would like to meet him,' Lao Ge thought before pulling Toph's hand away from his face, he remembered that this rude girl was playing with mud a while ago.
...
"You should calm down, things are not as bad as they seem," Kung Peng said to a very angry Shisui, and he had reason to ask him to calm down.
Motes of Chi danced around Shisui, swirling and vibrating around him. The beach had become chaotic because of him, with huge waves crashing onto the beach, but not a single person was affected.
Still, it was not good for anyone's health to watch the spectacle of gigantic waves, so the beach had been abandoned, except for Shisui's companions, who watched him from a distance with concern.
"There are two things I hate, no, there is no word to describe the abject emotion I feel in every cell of my body when I know of two particular subjects. Possession and manipulation.
I hate it when people are moved to act without having chosen to do so. Vaatu is passable because it just brings up negative thoughts and is part of the normal cycle of this world, but I still don't like it very much.
But from that to what you just told me... I can't stop this emotion, and I can only release it in the form of anger and pure rage," Shisui could barely say these words, his teeth clenched from the great emotion he felt.
"Human, I only represent the chaos that exists, every spirit with my energy has willingly surrendered to me, and every person affected by me does so because they want to. I am just a part of this world, like everyone else, but... I share your hatred," a deep voice full of malice was heard at that moment.
Vaatu's voice came through.
"I can give you the power you need if you want, I never force anyone to do what they don't want to do, you know? And I have a preference for waterbenders," Vaatu's voice was as seductive as ever, but Shisui smiled, showing all of his white teeth.
"I don't need your help, Vaatu," Shisui said, identifying the owner of that voice, and a sigh of exasperation could be heard in the background.
"Human, no, Sage, what are you going to do about it? You can't defeat it, its dream will always try to repair its history, you will attract many flies, and in the end, after fighting so hard, you will finally perish.
Whether it is through injury or old age, your life will come to an end, even if you become a spirit, so what? Nothing will change, this dream will come back to weave another story, to enjoy it as an audience, to change what it doesn't like, to manipulate the actors.
Sage Shisui, what can you do?" the voice of Vaatu had a strong touch of mockery this time, but his last question was quite serious, and all the spirits, avatars, and even the dream itself paid a moment's attention to this place heard Shisui's answer.
"I will rip and tear until it's done. No one will try to manipulate my life, ruin my luck, or even try to reassert their control over my environment without me getting in their way." At that moment, Shisui's impulse completely dissipated, and Shisui fell backward onto the sand moistened by the salt water of the sea.
In contact with the seawater, Shisui looked up at the stars and raised his hand as if to grab something, at which point Vaatu's laughter could be heard.
"If you're still alive when I leave here, I want to meet you, Sage! I hope you enjoy your busy life and hold on until my eventual return," Vaatu's voice faded, along with the reflection of the spirit world.
The spirits disappeared, and the beach was quiet again, but Shisui continued to lie on the sand, looking up at the starry sky with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Ah, my life couldn't be boring, could it? If it wasn't Ozai or the Avatar, who else would it be? Well, I'm ready," Shisui whispered before he felt the closeness of his companions.
It was time to get up.
...
"The Red Lotus has to get going this time, our target is no longer just the Avatar, but Sage Shisui. I have concluded that we do not need such prominent figures to lead humanity."
...
"To achieve true peace, the Fire Nation must fall completely! For the sake of the Earth Kingdom!"
...
"This is a great display of power, what will it be like to have this face in my collection?"
...
"A waterbender cannot be the prince of the Fire Nation, we must eliminate the Sage Shisui so that we can regain our position as the possessors of knowledge in the nation, all knowledge must belong to us, the nobles, the alchemists!"
...
"If Sage Shisui is a waterbender, why doesn't he support our Northern Water Tribe, we must teach this traitor a lesson!"
...
Many people began to have certain thoughts based on small ideas and conclusions they were involved in. Dream spent all of its energy on this before falling silent, perhaps Shisui had unknowingly hurt it so much that it was unable to act afterward.
Now, Shisui's problem was not with that being, but with the effects of the butterfly effect that began with his birth.
-------------
AN: Sorry for the late and dialog-filled chapter... but I feel better, my spirits are much higher. I made this chapter late because of homework, but hey, here it is.
I hope you enjoyed it!
By the way, would you guys like an OMAKE of Shisui interacting with the main character of my Dragon Ball fanfic and the main character of my original novel? It would be something short, and it would be just pure humor.
By the way... read my original novel and give me an opinion(?)