Chapter 182. The Final Battle
Spirit Realm. Day of Harmonic Convergence. Roku-Yuki-Yo-Wan.
"It's begun," I whispered softly, standing alongside my other bodies. To this day, none of my most trusted or closest allies know that all four individuals are the same person. I believe revealing such information would distance the people from me, so we'll only merge once everyone is focused on their tasks.
Above our heads, an arc of intensely concentrated spiritual energy formed. As soon as the two beams of energy merged, a powerful and blinding flash of light erupted. From the heightened tension of the spiritual particles, even the air itself seemed to thicken and grow heavier.
Not far from me stood Aang, whose task was to release Raava at the right moment. He had managed to restore nearly ninety percent of the spirit of light and harmony's power, and depending on the situation, the now-awakened Raava herself would decide when to enter the battle. There's a tiny hope that I alone can hold back Vaatu without spending Raava's energy. The challenge is complicated by the need to not only contain the enemy in one place but also reduce his power to Raava's level, so they can create a balance.
"Long-awaited freedom!" boomed the voice of the freed spirit of darkness, engulfing everyone in his viscous and repulsive energy. Some of the weaker-willed individuals lost their sanity.
Quickly scanning the area, I exhaled in relief. Everyone responsible for creating the barrier held their ground, and their faces now showed even greater determination.
Vaatu, relatively small in size, began to grow rapidly. As we already knew, his "hollow" in the tree couldn't be called a proper prison, as it didn't even prevent him from restoring his strength. Raava, on the other hand, often had to deplete her already half-empty reserves.
"You've created the perfect conditions for me with your own hands!" Vaatu declared—I assume it's time for the obligatory villainous monologue? "I've been fully restored for a long time and could have left the Tree of Time at any moment!" I have a bad feeling about this...
"But I waited until I grew even stronger!" His massive, ray-like figure trembled slightly, growing larger still. At the same time, black energy began to be drawn toward him from all sides, leaving the bodies of other dark spirits. It was clear that this event reduced the overall power of all enemy spirits by about thirty percent, though the intensity of the clashes didn't lessen in the slightest. Apparently, Vaatu was reclaiming the energy he had once lent.
"He's stronger than before!" a worried female voice echoed in my ears. "Be careful, child of another world!" The spirit of light never called me anything else. It seems my neutral energy puzzled her, as by the laws of this world, it simply shouldn't exist in this universe.
"Something like this is what Wan Shi Tong expected..." I thought grimly. We had assumed that the excess energy he had already released wouldn't help him, though we didn't rule out the possibility that he could become even more powerful.