Captain Masaru was an accomplished officer of the Fire Nation's Land Army.
He was a pivotal member in the taking of Quan Sho's mines, one of the three who volunteered to destroy the northern fortress with nothing but his firebending and wits, and a great warrior who has mastered all the katas of the Military Firebending arts.
He was there when the great prince Iroh, the Dragon of the West, had blown through the Outer Walls of Ba Sing Se. He was there when the man had ended the seven year long siege because his son had died, even when Iroh had not cared for the thousands of other sons and fathers he had sent to an early grave.
He was there when the siege of Omashu had begun anew, almost breaking through had it not been for King Bumi's intervention at the last moment to feel victorious.
And now here he was, outside the walls of Shen Guan and ready to take the fortress town for the Fire Nation so that they can recover and try a second assault on the city of Omashu.
Yet, as he stared down at the army, he had to wonder what gods he had entered to see his army being cut down by the dozen.
It was not even the work of another army nor the work of an elite group of benders. No, it was the work of one singular individual, a non-bender who had earned the ire and the fear of everyone who knew his name.
Toji Fushiguro, the Sinful Phantom.
He had heard the stories of the boy ever since he became famous and infamous eight years ago. From how the boy was responsible for the eradication of the Crimson Fleet pirate armada at the eight of eight to how he was the one to kill the Council of Five and the Grand Secretarial Long Feng on his own in less than five years' time.
Then, there were the stories of his ruthless murdering and hunting of anyone who had a bounty in the last four years, cleaning out the Earth Kingdom of those with a bounty on their head in that same time frame and forcing them to run lest they become his target as well.
It was not just bounties that he was after. He had heard that the teenager was available for hire to anyone that had the money to buy his loyalty and that he was also the reason why the Beifong's wealth had nearly tripled in the last two years.
The teenager was the blade of their family, one that reached their enemies and gave them eternal sleep while the Beifong patriarch took anything and everything that was up for grabs now that the owners were no longer there to stop him.
As he watched the teen slice through everything in his path with nothing but a jian in one hand, he had to admit one thing that many agreed upon when they saw Toji Fushiguro.
He was no human. No, that right in front of him…
"That's a damn demon."
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'This is a lot easier than I was expecting,' Toji thought with a frown as he kicked out the legs of a swordsman, grabbing him by the arm and throwing him into a group of firebenders.
Dodging backwards in rapid succession to avoid the streams of fire trying to hit him, Toji smirked as he tightened the grip around his jian before shooting forward.
The first firebender lost their hand before they could turn, their throat being the next to get cut as they went to scream and Toji continued onwards.
Zigzagging to dodge the firebender shooting at him, Toji slid past the bender while cutting their head off, flipping through the air to avoid the stream of fire that was fired low.
With a flourish, blood sprayed into the air as more lost their limbs and heads, each of Toji's slash bringing more and more joy to the teenager as he blocked a naginata trying to cut his head off.
Parrying the barrage of strikes from the spearman, he lunged in while slashing through the wooden section of the staff, surprising the man holding it who got a sword through his neck for getting distracted.
Ripping his blade out while spinning around and leaning back, Toji dodged the flame shot at his head before standing up straight, flicking his jian to get rid of the blood on it while staring at the carnage of blood and flesh around him.
Bodies littered the ground, some mostly intact and others carved into pieces, and those that were still standing were quite literally quaking as the ones on the walls of Shen Guan stared in awe at their saviour.
"Okay! Does anyone still want to fight after all of that?! If so, keep your weapons up and your fire on! If not, you know what to do!", Toji shouted, not surprised when most of the group immediately dropped their weapons before staring as a figure on a komodo rhino rode through the mess.
"Toji Fushiguro, I am Masaru, officer of the Fire Nation, and we shall pay you-"
"20 000 gold. That's how much I'm getting," Toji answered, smirking as the Fire Nation officer grimaced the second he heard that number and not surprised to see that.
After all, Lao Beifong was a man not many could match in terms of wealth and political power.
"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I assume your pride as a Fire Nation officer is stopping you from surrendering?"
"…It is."
"Well, we could do the whole song and dance of me trying to convince you not to fight me and then you saying that death would be better than admitting defeat, but I don't want to. Instead, I won't move from this spot. You can use your firebending, your rhino and any weapon you got. If you, and you specifically, manage to make me move, I'll stop and go back home. If any of your men interfere, then I'm killing everyone here. Sound good?"
"It sounds good," Masaru answered as he gripped the sides of his komodo rhino tightly with his leg, Toji just smiling as the rhino huffed while the man let out burst of flames from his hands.
"Let's go," Toji murmured as he crouched low, watching as the man growled and pulled his fists back. However, before he could punch forward, his eyes widened as he felt pain exploding in his chest.
"I said I would not move. I never said my weapon would stay with me," Toji spoke as Masaru stared at the jian stabbed through his chest, slowly looking back up at the teen before falling off the side of the rhino.
That seemed to set the beast off as it charged towards the teenager, who readied himself as he discreetly pulled out his butterfly sword and leapt over the beast's charge.
Stabbing through its skull, he landed behind it and back on his spot, swinging it to get the blood off of it while cracking his leg as the beast fell onto its side behind him.
Walking over with a soft whistle to where he saw the captain lying on the floor, Toji pulled the blade out before cutting the man's head off. Cleaning his blade on the man's clothes, Toji tore off the same cloth and wrapped the head in it with a whistle.
"Hey! You, up on the walls!", Toji shouted, ignoring the Fire Nation soldiers still hesitant to attack while watching as the leader of the defenders looked surprised when Toji shouted at him.
"Right now, there's about twenty of these guys instead of the two hundred you were going to fight. They were just the opening attack as I'm sure the actual army is heading over here so take these guys prisoners or execute them and then fortify your defences, okay?!"
"O-Okay! Thank you, Toji Fushiguro!"
"Thank the man who sent me here!," Toji shouted back before letting out a sharp loud whistle, running to the back of the ground before everyone turned to see a komodo rhino that looked twice the size as the others charging through the forest.
With a grunt, Toji leapt into the air and onto Iron's back, a grin on his face as he grabbed the beast's reigns before nodding.
"Speed up, Iron! It's time to head back home!"
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"One head as agreed upon," Toji spoke with a smile as he walked towards Poppy, who gave a thin smile as one of the guards took the sack that contained the head of Masaru.
Before she could leave, she frowned as Toji pulled the bag back, looking at him only to be surprised by the serious look in his eyes.
"I'm going to talk with him."
"I don't think-"
"He owes nearly double his wealth to me. Either he talks or I decide to start asking for a bigger share. I'm thinking two-thirds of the Beifong wealth sounds good?"
"Don't get-"
"Cocky? Have you forgotten who I am?", Toji asked with a bored look aimed at the guards, but neither of the two dared to move as they saw the bloodlust dancing behind his boredom.
"Listen, Toph might hide it, but you and I both know that she longs for the praise of her father. Let me set him right."
"Why do you care?", She asked even as she turned and began walking, Toji following after her with a smirk before shrugging.
"She's the person I'm guarding and she's paying for my salary. It's the least I could do," He answered, to which Poppy smiled softly as they stopped in front of the main study, the woman knocking on the door.
"Come in," Lao's voice spoke from within, Toji entering after Poppy did and was not surprised to see the man narrowing his eyes at him before looking back down.
"Poppy, pay him so he may leave."
"I want two-thirds of the Beifong wealth if you're going to keep this up," Toji spoke up before she could, Lao stopping his writing and looking up to see any sign of playfulness in Toji. However, he saw none and scoffed before continuing with his work.
"You may ask that, but you will not get it."
"I can simply kill you and every guard that would protect you. Then, Poppy will take over."
"You think she understands the inner workings of the Beifong business."
"No, but what's so hard about numbers?", Toji asked with a smirk, Lao slowing down his writing before looking up and linking his fingers in front of him with a frown.
"Very well. What is it you actually want?"
"For you to start hanging out with your daughter."
"Out of the que-", The table was cut in half before he could finish speaking, blood dripping slowly from Lao's forehead while Toji sheathed his jian.
"I wasn't asking. Now, up and go on. I'll check in with both her and Poppy tomorrow and if you didn't, well, then you don't need the thing that makes you a father, right?", Toji whispered as he pulled out his butterfly sword halfway, cackling as Lao paled before nodding to Poppy and walking out the room.
'Why do I care for her? Is it because she reminds me of Hana?', Toji thought with a frown as he walked down the stairs, making his way to his room where he was sure the servants had already prepared a bath for him.
He will admit that Toph acted almost identical to Hana, down to her not wanting to be like a lady in public and the crass tongue that comes with it, but that could not be all, could it?
'Am I missing her that much that I see her in a 12 year old girl?', Toji thought before shaking his head, nodding to the maids who walked out of the room before making his way to the bathroom.
It did not take him long before he found himself sitting in the bath, letting out a blissful sigh as the hot water warmed his body. He didn't exactly need it since his chi was always forcing his body to be in the best of conditions, but it was nice to just take it easy and relax.
'Well, with that matter with Lao settled, all I got to do now is enjoy my lazy life as a bodyguard/ mercenary.'
"Brooowwwwww~"
"…Unless you want me to cut your throat open and ruin my bath, get out."
"Brrrrrrr~ Papa~~", The voice sent a chill down his spine as Toji's eyes snapped open, slowly looking down and feeling his heart skip a beat at the familiar purple fetus-like worm slowly crawling towards him.
"Papa~~"
"…Wormy?", Toji whispered, watching as the spirit crawled up his arm and wrapped around his head.
"Wormy? Wormy, that you?", Toji asked once again, watching as the spirit just nodded before his eyes widened in surprise as it gagged and spat out a familiar blade.
The Split Soul Katana looked as radiant as ever, its steel blade gleaming in the light of the lanterns while the fur-wrapped tsuba got wet from being held in the water.
Now having forgotten about his bath, Toji stood up and climbed out of the bathtub, swinging the sword around while feeling the abundance of ki radiating from it.
"How in the hell did you even get here?", Toji murmured as he let Wormy swallow the blade once again, watching as it simply wrapped itself tighter around him and rumbled with a pleased smile.
"I let him come," A voice spoke from the side and Toji turned his head only to narrow them at the sight of his smiling clone standing there, still in the outfit that he wore in Shibuya.
"Hello."
"Great, it's you. So, what? Does this mean I'm going back?
"Oh, not in the slightest. I simply decided to let another of your world through that I believed would help you heal your mind, though I had to store him away until I believed you were ready."
"So, is this actually Wormy?"
"Wormy. Such a childish name, don't you think?"
"Eh, never had the best childhood nor was I the best with names. It was simple and childish for a reason," Toji answered with a shrug as he dried himself off, putting his clothes before raising an eyebrow as they didn't slip through Wormy like usual.
"Ah, that won't work in this world. Spirits are visible beings that even the regular human of this world can see. If you wish for him to stay a secret, you'll have to teach him how to turn invisible."
"We'll do that another time. Wormy, gut," Toji spoke as he held out his hand, watching as the worm uncoiled itself before it began to swallow its tail. It took only a few seconds before the worm had swallowed as much as it could, shrinking to the size of a small marble.
Falling into Toji's hands, the teen immediately threw it into his mouth and swallowed, feeling the worm settling right above his stomach before smirking as he looked at the clone.
"Nice and easy. Also, Wormy, begin your training in turning invisible."
"Hmm, it appears I was not needed, then. Very well, I shall bid you adieu."
"Wait. Before you go, what the hell is your game here? You do all of this, but you don't ask for anything in return. Why?", Toji asked, watching as his clone looked at him before smiling softly.
"I believe everyone deserves one fair chance at a new life. You had a rough life before so I wish to give you a new life where you can be pleased with what you achieved. Now, this will be the last time we see each other. Until we meet again at your death, Toji Fushiguro," The clone spoke and Toji watched as he vanished, simply shaking his head before getting dressed.
It was just as he put his shirt on that the door burst open, raising an eyebrow at Toph glaring at him.
"What's this I hear about you threatening my dad?!"
'This day just kept getting more and more confusing.'
A/N: And here we are~! Thanks to John for helping me get through that writer's block because now I found a new path for the story to take.
Anyway, next chapter: Journey to Enlightenment~And stealing a few Sacred weapons along the way.
Anyway, check out my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories that may peak your interest. 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 the next one...
Ba-Bye~!