Sukuna: The Last Sorcerer 13

His chest was still hot, raw where that last guy’s fire blast had hit him straight-on. Even with the blisters on the rest of his skin, the black tattoos somehow didn’t seem to have a single scratch on them.

At all.

Weird.

But not the most important thing right now.

His eyes trailed all the bodies scattered around him, especially the three closest. The one he’d hit first was crumpled against a tree, folded wrong. The one whose ribs went poppoppop lay facedown in mud. The last one…

The last one wasn’t one at all.

Whatever his dark chi was about, it wasn’t exactly neat about what it did to the body.

The smell was the worst part, definitely. It was a smell he was way too familiar with, the same one that reminded him of waking up in that blood ocean so many times with Sukuna laughing his ass off for no reason.

Azula walked through it all with that same calm she used for everything else; leather boots soft on rocky ground as she stepped over puddles of red and gray ash.

Golden eyes tracked gore as she crouched next to the spot where the last deserter had been kneeling before Ryo had… made a mess of him. One gloved finger ran over the scorched stone beneath the body before she raised it to her face. 

He didn’t need to look any closer to know there wasn’t a single speck of ash on the glove.

“Remarkable.”

That the word? Ryo watched her study the blast site, an ugly surge of pride in his gut at what the princess had to say. What the hell’s wrong with me?

“Yeah, well,” He flexed his fingers as the words came out rougher than he meant them to, hands still twitching with a little bit of dark chi. “I didn’t exactly lose my jawbone half a dozen times to go easy.”

Azula stood, brushing dust off her pants as those eyes turned his way. For a second, he felt like she was seeing right through him; past skin and bone to the part of him that wanted to laugh blasting away that kid.

“No,” she said slow, not blinking at all. “I imagine you did not.”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The ride back to the ship was as quiet as it could be with miserable rattling clink-clink-clink of chains following behind them.

The few deserters they managed to capture, the ones who’d surrendered first or gave up after seeing so many others go down to steel and flame, stumbled along behind the soldiers with their arms and legs in cold iron links.

Ryo tried not to look at them.

I could have been one of these guys.

Sure, if things had gone different. If he’d been born here instead of… wherever he was from. If he’d still been weak. He knew he was already strong even before the chi, but strength only took him so far and now, he was tough enough that he could face at least two or three of the benders head-on.

But without that?

Ryo felt his face turn down as he folded his arms over his bare chest. Should I have…

What?

Not killed them?

It was a dumb idea, considering they wanted him dead. It wasn’t like they didn’t know any better either. These weren’t exactly kids, either. These were full-on soldiers who took an oath, benders who definitely killed and burned people alive.

He couldn’t just pretend like they were kids trying to survive or anything. But still…

Still, you did what was necessary. Sukuna’s voice slithered through his head, low and way too amused for Ryo’s liking. Power is not about fairness, brat. It is about will. Their will to live was weaker than your will to survive.

Shut up.

There was no heat to it, even as he tried to wave Sukuna away; just deep, heavy tiredness that had nothing to do with the fight itself.

Even with the straight blast of fire to the chest, the fight had been easy.

Too easy.

It took a full-day’s walk through the wilderness and past the crumbling village to make it back to where the boat was docked. The sun was starting to set, the sky all orange-red as Ryo stared at the anchored iron ship sitting in the water like a giant black knife; all spiky and ominous the way the Fire Nation liked.

Azula’s voice cut through the noise of soldiers moving, crisp and clean as she sent them off to secure prisoners below deck and get the ship ready to leave. The second the soldiers marched off, she turned back around with a certain look in her eye.

Curiosity?

Not exactly the first time he’d seen that particular look aimed at him, but still. Huh.

“Walk with me.” The princess raised ahand toward the ship’s bow. 

Ryo raised a single eyebrow at what she said; Azula’s words not quite an order but definitely not just a request either. It was more like when a teacher said something like “can I speak to you after class?”

The ship was already pulling away from the dock as they reached the railing, the soldiers working doubletime to carry out the princess’s orders like usual. In no time at all, the coastline got smaller, the last bits of sun catching on cliffs as they glowed a bright orange. 

That old itch crawled up between his shoulder blades, Ryo crossing his arms over his bare chest one more time. I really need to learn to swim. As much as he hated admitting Sukuna was right about any damn thing, it was just annoying how even with nothing around them for miles but wild open water, he still felt boxed in on this metal ship. Weird how that works.

“The power you used against the deserters,” those golden eyes dug into him as Azula looked his way again. “It was no bending.”

It wasn’t anywhere near a question, which was good, because Ryo didn’t feel like pretending Azula was all about patient asks. “No. It wasn’t.”

“Then what, pray tell?”

Ryo leaned against the railing, a sigh leaving him. You know, it’s hard enough when you don’t fully get it yourself. “Dark chi…”

Azula raised an imperious eyebrow. “Dark chi?”

He shrugged, doing his best to go for casual. “I mean, yeaaah. That’s one name. Sukuna’s got another name for it, though. Cursed Energy.” Ryo flexed his fingers as he raised his eyes to meet hers. “It’s… all he gave me to work with.”

“Cursed Energy.” For a second time, she rolled the words around on her tongue. “Quite the term.”

“Yeah, well, apparently it’s from way back. Way back.” Ryo sighed, remembering how often Sukuna would talk shit about everything old and new. “Sukuna… he says it’s from before benders started ‘proliferating like vermin.’”

Another eyebrow went high again.

Ryo snorted. “Hey, look, it’s his words not mine. Anyway, they called it energy back then, not chi.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised to see her surprised but everytime those golden eyes widened, it always felt like the first. “Before bending became widespread.”

“Before it existed at all, the way he talks about it.” He snorted, too many dressed-up rants about curses and spirits and upstarts rolling through his head. “If you could listen to him, you’d think benders are some new thing that showed up and ruined everything. But when you’re like eleven thousand years old, everything’s probably new.”

“And this energy,” she nodded as she spoke, one hand coming up to cup her chin. “It operates differently than bending.”

“Like complete opposites, from what I can tell.” He nodded back. “Bending is all about harmony, right? Working with the elements, finding balance, all that spiritual stuff you guys are into.” His hand gestured vague at the water around them. “This is the opposite. It’s about forcing your will on everything. Making reality do what you want instead of what it wants. It’s…”

His mouth worked silently as he tried to find the right words. “…selfish.”

Azula went quiet again, this time for even longer as those eyes of hers locked on to the horizon as it finally went dark. She spoke again when the sun fully vanished over the horizon, voice more distant than usual. “In the Fire Nation, all children of Agni are taught that power comes from within. That the strongest flame burns in the heart of the bender, and that not even the world around us can compare.” A small smile, one of her real ones, tugged at her lips. “Perhaps we were not entirely wrong.”

“Maybe.” Ryo held up his hand, letting that familiar black-red energy dance across his knuckles for just a second before shaking it off. “But your fire still follows rules. Still acts like fire.”

His fingers clenched.

“This… doesn’t give a shit about rules.”

Something shifted in her face right then, a flicker of hunger in those eyes.

There and gone, almost before he could catch it.

Almost.

“Show me.” The words came out soft, Azula almost whispering, but this time Ryo heard the difference. This one was a demand.

“What?”

“Show me how it works. Show me what you can do.” Her gaze locked on him, intense and sharp like one of her men’s spears.

“You already saw it, though?” Ryo blinked at her, unfolding his arms as he tried to understand what she was getting at. 

“Yes,” she almost drawled out the word, stretching it out like taffy as she kept her eyes firmly on his. “And I wish to see it again. The technique you used on the final deserter. The one that left him… scattered.”

Red eyes blinked slowly, a little caught off-guard by the hunger in Azula’s voice. “I…I don’t think that’s a good idea, princess.”

“Why?” Her smile went wide, all edges. “Are you afraid you cannot control it?”

The challenge in her voice, the casual way she poked at the one raw nerve he had left, made something hot flash in his chest. Before he could stop himself, cursed energy was already pooling in his palm; liquid darkness and hate gathering between his fingers.

He hated that she could get to him this easy. He especially hated that he wanted to prove her wrong.

“怒 (Do).”

The blast shot out over water, black-red punching through waves. Where it connected, ocean hissed and steamed, water turning dark and oily for a second before waves closed over it.

Gone.

No trace.

Azula watched with that same focused intensity from examining corpses back at camp. When the energy faded, she turned back his way, eyes gleaming.

“Remarkable.” Her voice came out low, thoughtful. “No forms. No breathing techniques. No kata or stance.” She took in a breath of her own.  “Just… will made manifest.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get too excited,” he muttered, anger already fading out and leaving him feeling hollow. Empty.

She smiled at him, a small thing that lasted maybe a second, before turning on her heel and walking away. “Good night, honored Avatar.” 

“…good night, princess.”

Her footsteps echoed on the metal deck as she headed back toward her cabin.

Ryo watched the girl walk down into the ship, a strange knot of hunger and something else still twisting in his gut. However bad his mood might have been, it only got worse as a certain someone spoke up again.

That one. Sukuna’s voice drifted through his head, thoughtful and way too amused for Ryo’s liking. She reminds me of Yorozu. 

Who?

If Yorozu had any sense of decorum, at least.

Ryo blinked again as he repeated the thought. No, seriously, who?

Silence answered him back. The kind that meant Sukuna was done talking, leaving him with another name he didn’t know and no way to figure it out.

Great.

Ryo stood at the railing for a while after that, staring at the stars as he tried not to think about the way Azula had smiled when he’d shown her his power.

Tried not to think about the bodies they’d left behind.

Tried really hard not to think about that last deserter’s eyes going dark.

But mostly?

Tried not to think about how much, for one terrifying second, he’d actually enjoyed it.

…whatever.