บท 56: Ch. 55 - The fall of the Firefall Kingdom [Final]

As soon as the catapults were reloaded, they were about to cut off the ropes when another sea of flames flooded the north side of them, burning and destroying at least 20 catapults in the process.

"Don't mind the casualties, quickly unleash that boulder!" The knight general was truly angry now after losing 25 catapults in just a few minutes, a single catapult costs so much to the Knight Army's budget and as the general, he obviously would be the one taking in the pain.

Following his orders, the remaining catapults quickly cut off the ropes, launching tens of boulders towards Jin.

"I can't burn them off to ashes yet, so I could only dodge for now." Jin muttered to himself after seeing the sky being rained with nothing but large boulders.

*Swooosh!*

*Boom!*

Quickly running to his side, Jin avoided one of the boulders before jumping and stepping on one of the boulders mid-air and jumped, landing on another boulder.

Jin kept on repeating this process before he finally managed to reach the sky.

Looking at the small catapults in his vision, Jin inhaled deeply before unleashing one of Iroh's moves that made him famous.

The Breath of Fire!

"Fuwaaahhh!"

Quickly, his breath of flames swarmed the ground, burning everything in its path, overhearing the metallic swords on the ground, melting them.

The flames were like the waves of a sea, continuously flooding the entire area.

"R-run!" The knights that were managing the catapults quickly tried to run away from the area.

Even the knight general wasn't excluded as he was also running away, pushing the knights in his way just to save his own skin.

Flicking his hand, the sea of flames quickly stopped in its tracks and changed direction towards the knight general.

Looking back and seeing the enormous flame that stood 50 feet in front of him, the knight general could feel the heat burning his skin inside his metallic armor, cooking his body to a high degree.

Before the sea of flames consumed him, he uttered one last complaint.

"Why me?!?"

*Fwooossh!*

Without further ado, the 50 feet sea of flames swarmed him, burning him into crisp, slowly turning his body into ashes and melting the metals to the point of making them almost a lava.

After reaching a considerable distance, the rest of the knights stopped and took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling consecutively as they watched their knight general being consumed by the sea of flames.

While some sighed in relief, the others looked around in fear, they were thinking that Jin was perhaps still around, waiting for them to lower their guard so he could kill them.

Fortunately, a few minutes had passed, there was no sign of Jin, indicating that he ags already left but he left with a kingdom in ruins behind his back.

For sure that after this, the Firefall Kingdom is no more. The King is dead, the general is dead and almost half of the soldiers have defected while the rest would either escape from the sinking ship and jump to the other.

One thing for sure, Jin's name would surely resound across the entire world.

***

Meanwhile, Jin was already outside the front gate where he met his new followers along with their families. Tigress was also among them, comforting some children in her human form.

Jin also noticed that the citizens of Firefall Kingdom were packing their things and running away from the kingdom.

'They must've hated the king so much for them to have no loyalty towards their kingdom.' Jin muttered to himself as he stared at them.

"Everyone, it's time to depart. Hold on tight to your wives and children, this'll be a long journey." Jin announced and after that, they started their journey back to the Corona Kingdom.

Because of the ex-knights and their families, Jin and Tigress obviously can't run up ahead of them and go back to the Corona Kingdom as fast as they can as they'll be the one leading them and they can't be left behind. Who knows what will happen to them.

The journey was very long. Without any ride or some sort of transportation, they were forced to walk on foot and take at least 2 weeks before they finally arrived at the Corona Kingdom's territory. During their journey, they encountered some more runaway citizens who had decided to join them in the Corona Kingdom.

During the trip, Jin heard some of their stories and he was right! Their king is indeed a notorious dictator as he casually takes women left and right from his kingdom to not only warm his bed but also serve him as his slave.

Their daughters and wives fell victim to his atrocity and they can't retaliate as the king's right hand man is the General and his personality is the same as the king. He also takes up random women in the streets to warm his bed.

And because Jin was the one who freed them from the kingdom and killed the people that had been terrorizing them, they were thankful to Jin and Tigress to the point that the ex-knights had swore their loyalty to Jin by doing the Knight's Oath.

Obviously, Jin was surprised but who is he to deny an army? Only an idiot would.

'By now my Dukedom should be finished, it doesn't have any walls yet and only has my Dragon's Nest's temple in it but with my knights, I could build walls and houses for their families. In the meantime, their families could stay over at the Corona Kingdom while my Dukedom is still in its infancy stage.' Jin muttered to himself as he noticed that his sleeve was pulled by Tigress.

"What is it?" Jin looked at her and asked.

"Are you sure you can trust them?" Tigress whispered as she looked back to make sure that no one heard what she would say.

"Of course, I don't. But I have ways to make them trust me instead of me trusting them." Jin replied and smiled in confidence.

"How?" Tigress asked back.

"Tell me, my dear kitty. What are the things that Kings do to make their subjects loyal to them?" First, Jin asked Tigress back.

"Make their subjects loyal to them?" Tigress contemplated for a few seconds before she finally got her answer.

"Fear. They use fear by showing them what will happen if they betray them, right?" After getting Tigress's answer, Jin smiled and nodded his head.

"How about the other?" Jin then asked, making Tigress contemplate again before shaking her head.

"I can't think of anything else. What is it?"

"Be kind to them. Show them that you're better than their previous king, then they won't even think of betraying you. However, this isn't plausible enough, sometimes people will stomp on you by taking advantage of your kindness, so this isn't my solution." Jin answered before shaking his head as he continued.

"Then what's your solution?" After hearing Tigress's question, Jin stopped in his tracks before turning around to face Tigres.

"....Use them both." Jin said before smiling and continued.

"Be kind to them but also make them fear your strength. Show them that betraying me will bear them no fruits and at the same time, give them no reason to betray you. That's the perfect way to make your subjects loyal to you." Jin smirked and said. He was tempted to scrub his beard right now but unfortunately he doesn't have one. His Iroh Template is really rubbing him off and in a good way of course. Perhaps he should grow a beard like Iroh. He'd think about it after some time.

"Then, you will show them what will happen if they betray you? Will you kill them?" Tigress asked once again.

"Kill them? Oh dear, no...." Jin answered before stopping, wanting it to be as suspenseful as possible.

"I want them to imagine. I want them to imagine what would happen to them if they ever betray. Will I kill them? Would I subject them to torture? Will I kill their loved ones? Or will I be compassionate and forgive them? In this world imagination is a human's most powerful ability but at the same time, it is so powerful that it could dictate their choices and lead them to horrible paths." Jin continued, unconsciously dropping a wise quote.

[A/N: I didn't use chat-gpt on this one, I swear.]

"...." Tigress stopped in her tracks, as she watched Jin's back, Master Oogway's figure is overlapping on him.

'He's becoming as wise as Master Oogway....Is this what will happen to those who achieved great strength?' Tigress said to herself as she clenched her fists and continued in her mind.

'Then that only means I am not strong enough. I could only consider myself as strong if I became as wise as him and Master Oogway.' Determination flashes in her eyes as her blood is now boiling for a fight that will make her surpass her limits and become stronger than ever.

However, where would she find that kind of enemy? Sure she could ask Jin to spar but he's not the type to fight her with the intent to kill, something that makes Tigress annoyed at him.

She wanted a fight that would push her into a life and death situation. She believes that only through such experience can she overcome her limits.

'God. If you're listening I hope you can give me a strong foe.' Tigress prayed inside her heart. Fortunately for her, God heard her prayers.

***

"You should have used 'Think Before You Speak'. Now, don't regret what you wished for." In the white space, God chuckled to himself as he heard Tigress's prayers and as her father in-law, it would be cruel of him if he didn't fulfill what she wished for.

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