On that day, Akashi kept grinding through the levels, sweat covering his face. Not because he was tired, but because he tried to be as careful as possible. He didn't aim to kill as many soldiers—who were not agents.
In the middle of the fight, Akashi decided to calm down after testing those powerful techniques. He finished punching one guy, with twenty behind him falling to their knees from the shockwave, the system counting them as experience points. Akashi stopped and turned his head.
Hundreds… No, tens of thousands, were laying around. Some were dead, some unconscious, and some groaning in unimaginable pain. Well, even if those living ones survived, they wouldn't live long unless they got healed by waterbenders, given the side effects of internal bleeding and internal damage. At best, they had a couple of weeks to live. A few days at worst.
And Akashi didn't feel guilty for it. He had shown them the best mercy he could show. And He just didn't want to be seen as a monster by his girls or by himself.
After all, would Korra see him as the same man if he killed endless soldiers? Would Lin do,? Would he see himself in the mirror the same as always if he broke the set of rules he had for himself to make killing feel right?
But even then, Akashi was still in conflict not to hold back as much. These soldiers were caught in the middle of a political conflict, and even though they were ordered soldiers, they were here to kill—to kill people who had rebelled against the unfair policies of this country and suffered a lot. Killing them felt right to some degree.
So, he had ended up using only necessary force to put them in the line between living and dead.
If these people lived or died, it's in the hands of the rebels, who could choose to treat them or let them die. Though, the latter felt more likely to happen.
Just shortly after, the battle continued, and rebels joined. The soldiers of the other side began running or threw their weapons, giving up—knowing fully that they saved their own lives.
The Queen and the higher-ups got captured by Tarrlok, and so, the battle was over.
Akashi, in this fight, gained more than a billion experience points.
And it earned him a total of 9 levels, making him level 92, only 8 levels short of level 100.
It was a bit more than he hoped, but it could have been more, so he was disappointed.
He looked at the soldiers who gave up after realizing they lost, which stood far away.
He may should beat them up as well. And who knows, maybe he should beat up his allies. That would put him at level 100. There was something addictive about leveling up.
But even then, Akashi held back the urge.
The ordered soldiers had already given up, and the war seemed to be over.
Even though it was rewarding to beat everyone here, he didn't want to.
And by this point, Akashi had reached his original goal. He didn't just survive. He thrived in this world and reached a higher level in this game.
Very soon, loud cheers erupted as the rebels began cuffing the soldiers.
Not many died on the rebels' side, less than 0.01%. But it was still a considerable number. As for how they died despite having Akashi and Noatak on their sides, well, accidents happen, and a stray flying rock could kill a man when hitting him hard on the head.
The rebels surrounded Akashi, as if expecting him to lead them.
Akashi scratched the back of his head. He wasn't here for levels only. There were other agendas, like an old hag who had made his life hard for a while.
She was a good friend who provided him with chances to level up. And she was a good enemy. It's time to say goodbye to her, now that killing her was without side effects.
-x-X-x-
The battle went as Akashi anticipated. Those he had defeated were captured by the rebels, and they took the credit.
Some tales about his strength had spread, and they were considered legends. But the only true thing here was that he was stronger than the bloodbenders. And everyone knew it.
The rebels marched to Ba Sing Se and took over the palace.
By now, it's obvious that who ruled the country has changed.
And since this was an internal matter, the other nations couldn't interfere, nor the Avatar.
Though, if they wanted to interfere, they could use Tarrlok and Noatak as an excuse. Bloodbending, after all, was a forbidden bending art. But since Akashi got involved in this war, it would be hard to get Korra involved. And since Akashi talked to Korra in advance, she'd not say anything. If anything, Korra hated the Earth Queen as well for her attempts to assassinate Akashi.
"So, we will have to find a proxy to rule over the palace," Akashi said while sitting on the throne. "After all, if we have bloodbenders to rule, any nation could use that as an excuse. The Order of the White Lotus will do something, and I can't guarantee that Korra won't get somehow emotional."
In front of him were some of the rebel leaders, Noatak, and Tarrlok. In the middle of the room was the Earth Queen and some of the higher-ups that were known for being tyrants.
Talking about Korra, Akashi thought about how she was doing.
But what he knew for now was that she was safe, considering that Zaheer had a job to do—and it was freeing his teammates, who happened to be locked in different places across the world.
It would take months before hearing about them again.
"Obviously, we will," Noatak said. "I have thought about that before, and I have a suitable ruler."
As he said so, someone approached, a handsome young man with a charismatic look. He slightly bowed and said, "I'll be glad to follow the will of the Leader."
"Forget about it, we have more important matters to discuss," Tarrlok said, anger seething through his teeth as he looked at the Earth Queen.
"Yeah, that old bitch gave some headaches for a while," Akashi said. "I think I'm going to kill her with my own hands."
The queen just looked silent. She couldn't even kill herself at this point. And her life, her short future, was in the enemies' hands. She just hoped that she'd get out of this with the least amount of pain. But well, if there was something to be happy about, it would be that she had no three generations of her family—other than some nieces and nephews that were studying in Republic City.
"No," Noatak objected. "I think that she stabbed me in the back and tried to control my whole operations in the past, so I get to be the one to deliver the killing blow."
"Are you kidding me!" Tarrlok shouted. "I almost got raped by her, and shit myself thanks to her. I have the right to pay her back. I'll do what she failed to do to me. And I'll make sure to clean her ass before that!"
Akashi gave Tarrlok a pitying look. "Dude, relax. It's not that serious. Nothing happened to you."
"Are you shitting me!" Tarrlok snapped.
Akashi heard him, remembered something, and laughed. "Yeah, I made you shit once."
Some of the people standing on the side chuckled.
Tarrlok glared at them, and they shut their mouths, averting their eyes somewhere else.
Not everyone had the guts to mock a bloodbender.
But Akashi was a different case.
"And I want to shave someone's head," Akashi added.
Noatak coughed and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. There is no need to shave the queen's head."
"I don't know. As a gambler, I never forget my losses, and I never forget my wins," Akashi replied.
Noatak swallowed his saliva hard. "Let's not talk about such a trivial matter. We have a nation's fate in our hands. That's more important to talk about."
"You know what," Tarrlok quickly added, "Let's not kill the queen and set her free."
The queen looked at him strangely, but hope filled her eyes.
"She already gave up on life. Let her get free, try to gather some allies, and when she has hope, we kill her." Tarrlok said.
"Dude, don't be petty just because she tried to peg you." Akashi said.
Tarrlok blushed.
Some of the allies walked out of the room.
But their loud laughs echoed.
At the same time, when no one was paying attention, something happened. Only Akashi and Noatak felt it through their bending sensors.
The queen sighed. Since the bloodbenders were around, nobody shackled her. So, she tore a piece of cloth and swallowed it, choking herself.
"Guess she's fated to die choked." Akashi sighed, looking at her face that was getting blue. He pointed his finger at her, and an air bullet pierced through her head, taking her down.
[Taking down a ruler]
[+5 Million experience points]
Akashi looked in shock as the queen dropped dead.
Never did he know that killing a ruler who was weaker than a soldier would yield this much experience points.
It made him wonder that if he tried to kill her in the past, would he have had a smoother sailing to higher levels.
But well, if he did, this country would have gone into chaos.
So, he had no regret.
"Tsk. You got her first." Tarrlok, who had raised his hand, lowered it.
"Anyway, I'm going to give a speech. Zodak. Let's go." Noatak walked down and pulled the one he had chosen as a ruler, and walked so fast that the others couldn't follow him.
Akashi smirked. 'Do you think that I'd forget about shaving your hair? Man. Seeing him trying to escape the bet is so funny.'
Akashi stood up from the throne, gave Tarrlok a pat, and said, "Well, I'll be out."
"Going to Republic City. We could tag along," Tarrlok replied, clearly wanting to go and eat something good.
"I just want to take a look," replied Akashi. Instead of walking through the door like a normal human being, he floated, made the winds open a window, and flew out of it.
And just as he got out, he noticed something floating above, and it seemed to be waiting for long.
Above the Flying Bison, which Akashi knew belonged to Tenzin, sat Korra and Lin.
"How long have you been waiting?" Akashi asked.
"Not too long." Korra said, "I've talked with Lin about what we said, and she hurried me here."
"Well, well. Look who has been hiding a thing or two." Lin tightened her green eyes at him.
Akashi forced a smile and waved his hand.