The Avatar looked at Tai Lung, and for a brief uncertain heartbeat, he was about to attack Tai Lung. But then Aang's entire body shook violently as a groan tore from his throat, his face twisting with pain. Tai Lung tilted his head, one brow lifting in faint surprise at the sight before him. The boy's knees buckled, and Aang dropped to the ground, clutching his chest as though an invisible force were tearing him apart.
"Is there a limit," Tai Lung asked quietly, his tone curious rather than mocking, "on how long you can stay in the Avatar State?"
Aang lifted his head, sweat glistening on his brow, and forced himself to stand. The tremor in his body did not fade, yet his voice came firm, no longer layered with the echoes of his past lives. "I will defeat you," he said, his tone carrying a solemn rare weight, "no matter the cost… even if my body breaks."
As he stood, his chest began to glow. Strange markings etched themselves across his skin, spreading like living light. The marks of Raava. His whole being became consumed by a blinding azure radiance, the glowing lines burning white-hot, filling the field with the soundless hum of spirit power.
Tai Lung watched this change with a flicker of interest behind his golden eyes. The air around the boy was thick, heavy, his chi spilling outward like the tide of a storming sea. It wasn't merely power now; it was presence. At this moment, he was more of a Spirit than a human. Then, Aang let out a roar, a sound both his own and not his own, resonating with something vast and ancient. From his chest burst a lance of blue energy, tearing through the air toward Tai Lung.
In an instant, Tai Lung sprang aside. The beam hissed past, and the earth behind him crumbled into dust, rock disintegrating beneath its touch. He landed lightly, eyes widening ever so slightly in admiration. "Pure chi…" he murmured. "In raw power, I truly am no match for the Spirit of Light and Order."
But there was no time to dwell. Another beam screamed through the air. Tai Lung darted aside again, then lunged forward in a blur of motion. The Avatar began to summon a third, but Tai Lung was already upon him. His fists blurred, one strike after another, raining down with terrible force.
The ground beneath them split open, great cracks spidering outward. A blue shockwave burst from the clash, flinging dust and shattered stone in every direction. Tai Lung could feel it now, the raw chi acting as armor, each punch meeting resistance like striking the sea. Then Aang's mouth opened wide, and from his throat and eyes came another surge of light. Beams of blue chi burst forth, forcing Tai Lung to leap back and retreat, the air sizzling between them.
The glowing body of the Avatar swelled, growing larger and larger until a giant of pure, radiant chi stood where Aang had been. The light it gave off turned the mountains pale and ghostly. Tai Lung rose into the air, a trail of fire behind him, and landed upon a distant boulder, watching the Avatar become a titan of pure chi. The colossal Avatar turned its gaze toward him and roared. A massive beam of energy erupted from its chest, tearing the sky apart as it rushed toward him.
Tai Lung's breath came calm and measured. His hands moved in wide, deliberate circles, his eyes closing briefly as the golden glow around him deepened. Before him, a great shimmering shield took shape, the form of a Yin and Yang symbol, spinning with serene balance. The blast struck it with a deafening boom. The shield trembled, the golden light flickering under the impossible pressure, yet it did not shatter.
Then Tai Lung's eyes snapped open. He brought his paws together, recalling a memory, the quiet rhythm of Po's chi palms. His paws began to glow, brilliant and sure. Then he began thrusting his paws forward, with each thrust of his paws, massive golden palms appeared in the air, striking out toward the giant. The Avatar was too vast, too ponderous to dodge. Each impact thundered across the plain, shaking the ground and forcing the giant back step by step. But though each strike drove him backward, none were strong enough to fell him.
Tai Lung stopped striking and narrowed his eyes while the colossus began charging its power again, gathering energy into another devastating beam. He did not wait for it to block. The instant the blast erupted, he leapt upward, spiraling through the sky to dodge it, closing the distance with terrifying speed. His right fist clenched, glowing gold and then, around that glow, bloomed a faint, flickering blue fire.
"This should end it all" he whispered.
He punched forward. A gigantic spectral golden fist wreathed in blue flame burst from his strike and hurtled toward the Avatar. The giant raised both arms to block, but too slow, too late. The glowing fist crashed against its head with cataclysmic force, the world flashing white as an explosion rang out like thunder from the heavens.
When the light faded, the giant's head was gone. Its towering form knelt slowly, the brilliance dimming, breaking apart into drifting motes of spirit light that scattered on the wind.
Tai Lung hovered in the silence that followed, breathing softly. Then, as the last remnants of Raava's light faded, he released a quiet sigh of relief.
Tai Lung descended through the settling dust, the ground below fractured and scorched. His golden eyes swept slowly across the devastation, searching among the broken stone and shimmering remnants of chi. And there he found him.
Aang lay motionless in a shallow crater, his body small and fragile against the ruins they caused in this battle. Tai Lung paused above him, hovering for a moment as if uncertain whether the boy lived or not. Then he caught sight of it, Aang's chest rising and falling, slow and steady. Alive. Barely. Unconscious, but alive.
Tai Lung exhaled through his nose. He descended the rest of the way, landing silently beside him. For a long heartbeat, he only stared at the fallen Avatar, at the faint blue lines still flickering weakly along his skin. Then, without a word, Tai Lung bent down, lifted the boy onto his shoulder as one might lift a sack of grain, and turned his gaze eastward.
The wind whipped around him as he rose once more into the air, carrying the Avatar toward the distant cliffs where the audience, those who had borne witness to the battle, waited in fearful awe. When he descended, he landed upon the nearest rock column with the grace of a shadow, the force of his presence drawing every eye. Around him, the crowd shrank back instinctively, as though the very air around him burned.
They had seen it all. Tai Lung, brought to his knees. Tai Lung, transformed into that monstrous, bestial form that defied all human shape. The Avatar towering like a god of light, and the land itself, torn apart and ruined in their wake, stood as eternal witness to the clash of two inhuman monsters.
For a long, terrible moment, there was only silence.
Then Tai Lung shifted. With a single motion, he took Aang from his shoulder and held him aloft by the neck, limp and dangling, like a captured fowl. His voice, when he spoke, rolled across the broken earth and crowd like thunder.
"The Avatar is defeated," he declared. "And starting today, he is no longer the maintainer of balance in this world." His eyes glinted, gold and fierce. "This is the birth of a new order."
The words fell like a spell. All around, soldiers, leaders, and bending masters stared, pale-faced and trembling. Even those who had supported the Avatar did not move, did not breathe. His gaze swept over them, finally resting upon his father, Ty Lee and the others who stood nearest the front. Instead of smiling for his victory, their eyes were wide in astonishment. None among them had ever seen Tai Lung like this before. He had not needed to use his animal state in battle before today, the only other time he used it was to prove he came from another world to Wan Shi Tong.
"The world's new order," Tai Lung continued, his tone measured "shall be established today."
He turned slightly "Fire Lord Azula will be responsible for explaining how things will proceed henceforth."
He loosened his grip upon the boy's neck, shifting his hold instead to Aang's stomach so the Avatar hung limply in front of him. With his free hand, Tai Lung extended his fingers, catching the index finger of the arm that held Aang, a subtle movement, as though preparing for some ritual only he understood.
His gaze flicked once more toward Azula.
"I will go to the Spirit World, as we planned, I will return when I am finished with my work there. Make sure they understand how things will be going forward." he said.
Azula blinked, her shock giving way to something sharper, composure, calculation. Slowly, the familiar confident smile curved her lips, and she inclined her head.
"I will" she said.
Tai Lung's eyes narrowed slightly, satisfied. He raised his pink finger, holding it aloft in a delicate gesture that seemed almost out of place after such destruction. Then, very softly, so softly that only he could hear, he muttered a single word under his breath.
"Skadoosh."
A blinding golden light exploded in all directions, and a golden mist began to spread all around. Tai Lung and the Avatar were nowhere to be seen.
The people kept staring at the spot where they had stood, silent and unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.