'Do not think of it. Do not hesitate and do not fear. Kill them quick and clean.' Toji thought as he spun around while pulling an arrow from his quiver, notching and loosing it right as the door behind the civilians burst open.
The Fire Nation soldier that tried to rush in was quickly knocked back by the arrow forcing itself through his eye and into his brain, Toji pulling another two arrows from Chung's quiver right as the boy punched two of his rocks down at the soldiers charging into the town.
Notching and loosing one after the other, the two arrows flew out the door and into the throats of two other soldiers rushing into the room, Toji quickly two more arrows from Chung's quiver before running out the door and snapping it shut behind him.
Notching one arrow while putting the other one next to his own, Toji was a blur as he raced down the steps, not even stopping at the corners as he heard footsteps from below while rushing down the stairs.
With no hesitation, he leapt out with an arrow aimed down the hallway, watching as one of the soldiers turned to him right before letting it fly.
Whilst the arrow was midair, Toji was already pulling out another three and shot them as well, knowing his aim was as perfect as usual as he heard the sound of flesh being pierced four different times as well as the sound of the soldiers gargling on their blood.
As he charged through the front door, he didn't care for the anarchy of flames greedily devouring the buildings in a scorching blaze nor for the numerous Fire Nation soldiers bodies lying around as he raced directly for the village's entrance.
"Hey, we got a kid!" His gaze flickered to the side to see a group of seven soldiers racing around the corners of some of the houses and frowned before he smirked as he came to a sliding stop.
However, to the surprise of the soldiers, he spun and raced into the house opposite of them, giving them a finger right as he slammed the door shut before his gaze flickered to his surroundings.
"Oi! Get out here and we won't hurt you too bad!"
"We could just burn the place down."
"And risk having the sergeant mad at us? Hell no. Besides, if we want those people fighting at the walls to surrender, we need to bring their kid there."
"Urgh, fine~ Kid! Get out here before something bad happens!"
"Go jump off of a cliff, you fire-shitting dumbasses!" Toji shouted back as he raced up the stairs before sitting flat against the wall, taking all the arrows out from the quiver and grasping them in one hand before taking aim.
With a deep breath, Toji felt his emotions shutting off as he tightened his grip around the handle whilst focusing his concentration on the door, already detecting the rise of temperature in the air as the door was blown from its hinges with a burst of flames.
His enhanced sight, though, let him see the shadowy figures through the flames and he quickly let loose the first arrow, flicking his wrist up and notching the second before letting it fly as well.
The sound of the two arrows piercing through the first two soldiers at the front door felt satisfying as he continued to rapid-fire downwards, watching as another soldier tried to swing it with a punch only to get an arrow to the throat and one through the gaps of his armour into his heart.
However, he didn't push it further and rolled away, lying flat a meter away from the top of the stairs right as a barrage of fireballs flew up the stairs and impacted the ceiling.
"That's it, kid! One more chance, but this time, we're taking a fucking arm as compensation for killing some of our members!" One of the soldiers shouted angrily, but Toji simply waited until the crumbling of the roof stopped before he shot out two arrows.
Thankful for the metal points that he could see from, Toji watched from the arrow points' reflection to see where the last four soldiers were and right as they all punched upwards, the boy flew to his feet and fired a quick barrage of arrows down the stairway.
Only three of the four soldiers however were hit as the fourth managed to move his body slightly, though not enough and a stifled, pained scream came from his lips when he got an arrow to the shoulder.
Hearing the rapid footsteps of the man coming up the stairs, Toji waited for a brief moment before rushing forward, notching and firing his last arrow while jumping through the open door at his side right as the last soldier punched forward with his good arm.
"Get the fuck out here!" The man exclaimed as he continued to unleash punch after punch at the doorway Toji was in, the boy staying silent despite the flames licking greedily at the door as he took a few steps back before taking a deep breath.
'I can at least be thankful these walls are thin.' Toji thought as he snapped his bow over his knee, letting one half of the handle hang as he let his breath out slowly before rushing forward and diving right through the wall.
A scream escaped the soldier's lips as Toji impacted his injured shoulder, but the boy was already throwing one end of the broken bow around the man's neck before catching it with his other hand and pulling back with a grunt.
He wasn't going for a chokehold either as he stabbed both broken ends of the wooden handle into the sides of the soldier's neck before ripping them out.
As he did so, the soldier's body went slack before falling to the floor as Toji rolled with the drop, still keeping a tight grip on his wooden handles as he relaxed only when he saw the soldier's body stilling.
"Damn, still got it." Toji muttered as he stood up, taking a final glance at the corpse before shaking his head as he jogged down the stairs and out into the street.
However, as he did so, his eyes widened slightly and he cursed as the entire front side of the house was surrounded by numerous Fire Nation soldiers.
"Stop! In the name of Fire Lord Azulon, you are hereby under arrest for assaulting numerous soldiers of the Fire Nations!" The sergeant that his parents spoke to shouted as he stood in the middle back of the group, Toji frowning at the burn wounds on the side of the man's neck as well as the dark bruising on his left arm.
Looking around, his frown deepened as he saw no sign of that guy Chun, his parents or Chun's parents as the group of scared civilians behind the soldiers only contained some of the elderly and younger kids that were in the house.
"Ah, you must be the kid of that traitor and his bitch wife, huh?" The Sergeant said with a look of recognition in his eyes, but Toji frowned slightly as he turned his gaze towards him before speaking.
"Where the hell are they?" He asked and the sergeant snorted as the soldiers readied themselves.
"They have been sent to the great Agni to be judged for their sins. Now, you can either join them or you can surrender and become a prisoner."
"How about this? You guys surrender and I don't kill everyone here?"
"Hahahaha~! I admit that you're pretty skilled since you took out ten of my soldiers, but those were with cheap tricks and tactics. In a full-scale battle against all seventeen of us, you will lose. I hate having to take a child's life, but I will if need be." The sergeant spoke with a frown as he let out a breath of fire that made the air crackle.
Toji, though, looked at the man before dropping his broken bow to the floor, taking a deep breath and raising his hands with a sigh.
"Fine, you guys win."
"Seize him." Sgt. Liang ordered and one of the Fire Nation soldiers walked forward with a long chain before wrapping it around Toji, who stared at the man even as his arms and legs were bound together.
"You will make us a wonderful profit on the black market. As for the rest of you…" The sergeant trailed off before Toji shook his head as the soldiers around their leader spun around and unleashed a powerful blast of flames upon the civilians.
He expected to feel something as he watched the villagers burning to death especially with the time he has spent with each of them, but surprisingly, there was nothing but cold acceptance, something he could only say he got from his past life.
After all, the strong survive while the weak die.
"We do not need extra mouths to feed. You! Tie him to one of the rhinos! The rest of you! Burn the bodies and parts of the buildings to make it seem as if there was a big skirmish here."
"I didn't know the Fire Nation consisted of liars." Toji spoke and was not even fazed as the sergeant smacked him harshly, simply spitting to the side before further annoying the man with a smirk.
"You will soon see what comes to those with little respect for their betters, half-breed."
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It has been a day since the destruction of Tu Zin and Toji was still thinking of whether or not he should have just ran.
Don't get him wrong. Running was not something new to him as he had already done so a few times to most of the women he slept with, but he would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was going to miss the interactions he had with his parents.
That and he did owe it to his village to at least make sure that this group doesn't make it alive out of the desert.
'But not yet. First…first I need to make sure they take me to a town.' Toji thought with a frown as he made himself comfortable, deciding to meditate for the time being whilst synchronising his breath to that of the beast's steps.
"Do you know why you're still alive?" However, it appears he wasn't going to get the peace he was expecting and stared at the soldier that spoked to him with a bored gaze.
"No, please enlighten me."
"Your mom and dad asked the sergeant to spare your life in exchange for everyone else's lives in the village and he told the man that you could serve a purpose."
"And what purpose would that be?"
"You look like a smart kid, so you should be able to figure out what we want from you, especially after you took out ten of our best fighters." The soldier answered with a smirk and Toji rolled his eyes before looking out at the horizon.
As he did so, he frowned slightly as he saw a small dust cloud that was slowly getting bigger, smirking as he saw that it was not a dust cloud but in fact groups of people sitting on top of sailing boats that slid across the sand.
"Sandbenders! At the ready, men!" Sgt. Liang barked out and Toji grunted as their rhino along with the others and the rest of the soldiers waited tensely for the potential battle ahead.
"Hello there, soldiers!" Toji watched as one of the people clad in multiple layers of clothing climbed down from one of the sand sailing boats while pushing their goggles upwards.
"Hello, Sandbenders. What has made you cross paths with us?" Sgt. Liang asked with an inviting smile, but his eyes were narrowed slightly as he focused on the movements of the other Sandbenders in the background.
"Oh, hahaha~ Nothing much. We were on our way to the Misty Palms after a successful day only to see you all walking about."
"I see. Well, we wish you the best of luck in your journey."
"Just like that, friend? Why are you in such a rush?" The Sandbender asked and Toji readied himself as Sgt. Liang looked at the man.
"I actually don't have much time to do so now. We are in a hurry."
"Is that why that boy is locked up?" He asked while gesturing at Toji, who was looking back at the Sandbender as Liang frowned.
"He is our bounty, friend, and we do not like to share."
"Never said anything about sharing, friend." The Sandbender responded back and the two men stared at each other before Toji gritted his teeth and shattered the chains around his hands.
The moment he did so, the Sandbender kept their attention on him as he unleashed a burst of sand into the air, Toji rolling backwards off of the rhino right as the soldier in front of him tried to spin around to try and knock him out.
The boy quickly slipped under the rhino whilst delivering a powerful kick to the rhino's leg that made it roar and buck, throwing the soldier off right as the beast stepped down and shattered his chest.
Quickly picking up half of the shattered chain in the ground, Toji had a single job on his mind as he raced forward, flipping and dodging the attacks of the other Fire Nation soldiers as Sgt. Liang turned his head to see the boy rushing at him.
"Well, come on then!" The man exclaimed as he spun his rhino towards the boy before letting it charge, Toji not letting it intimidate him as the rhino lowered its head before Liang punched forward to unleash a burst of fire.
However, his eyes widened as Toji crouched before leaping high, swinging his chain whip and shattering the man's wrist with a smack before wrapping it around his neck right as he landed behind him.
With a roar, Toji heaved and picked the man off of his rhino before swinging him through the air with a spin and slamming the sergeant skull first into the ground.
He was not done though as he lunged forward whilst pulling the chain back, spinning it rapidly as he leapt into the air as the sergeant's form fell onto its back right before he grunted as he swung forward and tore open the soldier's throat with the jagged ends of it.
'Hah…hah…at least I can say that I've avenged the others. Now, I don't owe anyone anything.' Toji thought with a deep breath while turning to the rest of the battlefield, watching as the Sandbenders were slowly but surely losing the battle.
While he could help them and assure that the Sandbenders survive to see another day…he also couldn't bring himself to care for them.
Looking at where the rhinos were running around, he walked over to the corpse of the sergeant and took out a small pouch and a map from his person, rushing over amidst the battle towards the rhinos before leaping onto the back of the one the sergeant was using.
"All right, you damn beast! You're going to listen to me, understood?!" Toji grunted as he shifted the charging beast away from the battle, following the trail they had made from the village as he had a few things to get before he could truly leave that place behind.
'First things first…I need to make sure everyone at least gets buried successfully.'
A/N: Okay, sorry for the late upload, but figuring out how to shift the timeline around to make everything fit was a struggle but I think I've managed to do so.
Anyway, Toji has had his first battle and is slowly but surely slipping back into the killer mindset he had in his past life.
However, will he let it determine who he is once more or will he finally become someone more than just a hired killer? Guess we'll have to find out.
And now, like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!